your average rigmarole

you know how you meet somebody, somebody new, at a party or at a bus stop or at a support group/arraignment hearing? and s/he asks you, "so, what do you do?"

(more times than I care to remember, this question has been greeted with laughter of the "did-it-have-to-be-that-loud" variety by whatever friend happens to overhear la pregunta...)

the short story is, we saw this new economy growing, this sustainable development thing. we noticed it wasn't just the treehuggers or policy wonks doing the pushing and growing, it was the development agencies and the chambers of commerce - groups whose green interests tended more toward the dollar than the earth. we saw new jobs, new businesses, new money.

and we thought, "damn if they're going to grow this economy without us."

us: the brown, the black, the red, the people without money and without connections, the last hired, the first fired, the economically marginalized, the people working (more than one) jobs which are low paying, unhealthy, and that offer little/no chance to build skills or a career.
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Today, I'd also like to say goodbye to someone, to Jose Luis Velasco, one of the Nursery's 1st two crew members, who came on board when we'd no equipment, no contracts, no garage, no website, just some good folk, some seed funding and a whole lotta fast talking. Jose's going to back to Cali, to be close to his parents, and I just wanted to thank him for all the time and hard work he gave over these last 2 years, and wish nothing but good things for him and all he cares about

p&l,

-alan

verde joins the 20th century

so, as we like to say around here, poco a poco - little by little we grow something from nothing, and so it is today as we take an important step, shooting our organization straightforward to the late 1990s: the launch of our website.

nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something, and our website would not be possible without the time and effort of 3 very important partners:

thanks to Bridget Gregory/The Frause Group, a Seattle- and Portland-based marketing firm which provided probono consulting services, for helping us reduce our big-to-us story to a manageable size, and helping us find a web designer.

thanks to Isaac Phillips, a web designer who took our words, pictures and ideas, transforming them into a good-lookin' and easy-to-use site we could call our own, and doing so for a graciously provided discounted fee.

and, thanks to Technical Assistance for Community Services, a Portland-area nonprofit corporation. TACS has served the nonprofit community in Oregon for over 25 years, providing training, consultation, information, and resources that nonprofits need to do their work better. Verde received a mini-grant from TACS's Small Organization Support program, in part to design and implement Verde's website.

and, thanks to you, of course of course, for checking us out, we hope you like our story

dassall/eso si que es/much obliged...

-alan