POIC

"You do not have to be me in order for us to fight alongside each other. I do not have to be you to recognize that our wars are the same." - Audre Lorde

Pride is a celebration, a statement, an affirmation: our q***r community here to stay. POIC is proud to uplift and protect the q***r youth and adults that make our community whole.

You are always welcome. You are always loved. Happy Pride Month to you, and to all of us at POIC! 🫶🏽🏳️‍🌈🫶🏾🌈🫶🏼🏳️‍⚧️🫶🏿

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If you or someone you know is struggling, please share these LGBTQ+ resources:

📱 Phone/Text
24-hour TrevorLifeline: 1-866-488-7386
24-​hour TrevorText: Text START to 678678
Crisis Text Line: Text START to 741-741
The LGBT National Youth Talkline (serving youth through age 25): 800-246-7743
National Su***de Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255

"You have to remember that through all the chaos in these photos, a good story came out of it. A lot of recovery came out of it." - Ronnie Salu, POIC Frontline Worker and Photovoice Team member.

POIC's Healing Hurt People team and researchers from the OHSU Trauma Center and the OHSU Gun Violence Prevention Research Center recently gathered to present their collaborative project in a soft launch exhibition. The study, "Journeys: A Photovoice Project," is rooted in visual storytelling and centers on the experiences of POIC intensive case managers to capture the unseen aspects of their work.

The project has drawn national attention for its unique research approach: the Photovoice methodology. Photovoice reimagines how violence prevention and intervention programs can collect and assess data by putting cameras into the hands of frontline workers. The resulting images offer an unfiltered look at the experiences of our team and the community members they serve.

Frontline workers are the core of the violence prevention and intervention movement. By documenting their realities, we can make this work more visible, valued, and viable.

Thank you to our research partners at OHSU for their dedicated time and collaboration on this project. We are proud to work alongside you on the path toward safer communities. ❤️