Counties: Multnomah, Columbia
Role: ROP Field Organizer (2002-2008), ROP Co-Director/Executive Director (2009-2020)
Interviewer: Sarah K. Loose
Interview: Session #1 August 28th, 2013; Session #2 September 12th, 2013 (with Amy Dudley); Session #3 September 21st, 2013 (with Amy Dudley)

Cara has an infectious passion for organizing. Since Cara’s early years in her home state of Michigan, she has been drawing people together to make the world a better place. As a student at Lewis and Clark College in Oregon, she organized over 10% of the student body to attend the direct action of the World Trade Organization in Seattle in 1999 where she saw the power of solidarity and democratic decision-making first hand. Cara joined the Rural Organizing Project in 2002 as an organizer and immediately fell in love with a life of meeting with folks in living rooms across the state, having conversations on how we build power and make change in our communities across rural Oregon. Cara played a crucial role as Co-Director for 10 years.