Big Believers in Participatory Democracy on KBOO

APANO Board Member and New Portland Program Coordinator Ronault LS Catalani is hosting a special radio show to highlight Portland's Mutual Assistance Associations (MAAs) and our city's civic culture. Listen and call-in on Wednesday morning!

A live call-in hour about Portland’s big believers in participatory democracy


Community Radio www.KBOO.fm online or tune into 90.7 FM
8am to 9am Wednesday, November 6

Hosted by: Lisa Loving, Producer of Wednesday Talk Radio and News Editor at The Skanner News

Ronault LS Catalani (Polo) New Portlander Programs, City Office of Equity and Human Rights

Presenters: Djimet Dogo, Portland African community elder and IRCO Africa Housemanager

Chhabi Koirala, Oregon Bhutanese Community Organization

Dr. Baher Butti, Iraqi Society of Oregon

Alberto Moreno, Oregon Latino Health Coalition



The federal designation: MAA (mutual assistance association) means many things. The MAA elders and activists on this radio show do many kinds of things for Portland’s newcomer communities – from refereeing family fights to translating emergency room matters; from engaging immigrant parents with community policing to advocating for legislative reform.

But two big things bind their work: Their Old World moral authority among their folk, and their New World personal commitment to participatory democracy.

Listen-in and call-up. Ask our heavy-lifters. One African, one Asian, one Arab, one Latino – all Portlanders contributing to setting straight the facts and clearing out our fears about where our city’s demographics are going.