Proud of you, girl

Dear Nana, Andy, Shelby, Jazanna, Brooke, Teresa, Naomi, Habiba, Nargis, Marzia, Basira, Samia, Grey, Denise:

I’m sure I haven’t fully expressed my appreciation for your efforts on the WaterStrong CPR Training Team. Your early fearlessness to learn an essential lifesaving skill, then take the step to certify as instructors, and now stepping into a leadership role in the community, OUR COMMUNITY. You are brave, you are solid, you are beautiful and brilliant. With Nana at the helm to coordinate scheduling and class registrations while also leading a city agency office and raising four young children, Nana is my north star in this program. Andy always at the ready to provide support on a moment’s notice. Jazanna eager to take on class offerings. Habiba ready to lead the CPR delivery in Dari, with participants transforming into leaders. Thanks to you, WaterStrong is a Red Cross licensed training provider now delivering a regular schedule of Adult & Pediatric Basic First Aid / CPR / AED certification workshops to our communities. We are blessed to have your incredible talent and vision on this team.

I admire you. I honor you. I’m proud of you.

You might recall about a year ago WaterStrong received a $10,000 community enhancement grant from Elevate Oregon. We leveraged that grant to sponsor the delivery of 8 Red Cross CPR workshops in East Portland and build the WaterStrong CPR Training Team. Those 8 workshops provided essential life saving training to 78 community members. Among those 78 community members, 15 continued on to become certified CPR Instructors. Among those newly certified instructors, 14 are women, 2 are non-binary, 11 are women of color, 2 are a mother-daughter pair, 7 speak languages other than English.

You are this powerhouse.

Why are the numbers important? They are important because women, people of color, and non-English speakers encounter more barriers to lifesaving services - actually, barriers to any service, any opportunity, any support, any resource - than men, dominant culture white, English-only speakers. This is important because you, this team, are driven to bring essential lifesaving power to disempowered spaces. You do it because it’s the right thing to do. And right now you are leading WaterStrong in this space to make a real, real difference.

Save a life, save a world. With my deepest appreciation and honor for you and your good work here.