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Kaia Sand

Executive Director

Kaia Sand
Motoya Nakamura

she/her

Kaia Sand became executive director of Street Roots in late 2017, two decades after she worked as a staff reporter for the Burnside Cadillac, the predecessor to Street Roots. In those subsequent 20 years, Sand worked as a poet, artist, community organizer, and university professor, focusing particularly on economic injustice and homelessness — from a magic show she created about the financial collapse to the Right 2 Survive Ambassador Program she co-founded for housed people to learn from people experiencing homelessness. She taught at Portland State University, Pacific University, Willamette University and St. Mary’s College of Maryland; co-founded Vignettes & Verses, a writing and personal history institute; and performed and taught internationally, including in England, Ireland and Brazil. She has widely exhibited her artwork and served in residencies, from a public art commision at the City of Portland Archives and Records Center to the Despina International Artist Residency in Rio de Janeiro. A  member of PEN America, she is author of three books of poetry — interval (a Small Press Traffic Book of the Year in 2004), Remember to Wave and A Tale of Magicians Who Puffed Up Money that Lost its Puff — and the co-author of Landscapes of Dissent: Guerrilla Poetry & Public Space. Two books in Jim Dine's Hot Dreams series are comprised of her text. In 2019 she was awarded a Spirit of Portland award by Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty; and in 2019, the regional Society of Professional Journalists small newsroom first prize for Best Column.

Articles by Kaia Sand

  • Street Roots
    Nick Laycox sits in front of monitors with headphones on and answers calls.

    Kaia Sand | Yes, please do call 911 for Portland Street Response

    Opinion | Requesting PSR requires calling 911, here's how it works:
    By
    Kaia Sand
    March 16, 2023
  • Street Roots
    DeVon Pouncey smiles holding up a cash box labeled "Snow Day Fund."

    Kaia Sand | You stepped up, ‘Supportland’ style

    OPINION | 890 Street Roots supporters pitched in $30,000 of snow aid
    By
    Kaia Sand
    March 7, 2023
  • Street Roots
    Exterior of Falls City High School building. A marquee in front of the building says, "Falls City High School. Home of the Mountaineers."

    Kaia Sand | Oregon HB 2001 addresses homelessness statewide

    OPINION | House Bill 2001 expands on Gov. Kotek's homelessness state of emergency
    By
    Kaia Sand
    March 1, 2023
  • Street Roots
    A building at the corner of SW Ash with a tent on a sidewalk.

    Kaia Sand | Halting tent distribution takes away an essential lifeline

    OPINION | Commissioner Rene Gonzalez's decision to halt tent distribution is punitive, performative and dangerous
    By
    Kaia Sand
    February 22, 2023
  • Street Roots
    Jessica Vega Pederson speaks into a microphone and addresses a crowd.

    Kaia Sand | $14 million toward a ‘housing first’ plan

    OPINION | County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson announces plan to begin housing homeless Multnomah County residents
    By
    Kaia Sand
    February 8, 2023
  • Street Roots
    Dennis Chavez sits on one end of a table and Sen. Ron Wyden sits across from him. Dennis is speaking while Wyden listens.

    Kaia Sand | Regard people not by their worst moment but by their best future

    OPINION | Late vendor Dennis Chavez taught us lessons in grace
    By
    Kaia Sand
    February 1, 2023
  • Street Roots
    Neon sign on the White Stag building. An outline of Oregon with a deer leaping in it with the words "Portland Oregon"

    Kaia Sand | This is our opportunity to reimagine a housing-rich downtown

    OPINION | I believe in a future utilizing vacant spaces downtown
    By
    Kaia Sand
    January 25, 2023
  • Street Roots
    Tina Kotek is smiling and sitting at a desk.

    Kaia Sand | Gov. Kotek’s executive orders provide a strong vision for state-wide action

    OPINION | Responsibilties of the state in addressing the homelessness crisis
    By
    Kaia Sand
    January 18, 2023
  • Street Roots
    Sign on a building that says "Multnomah County"

    Kaia Sand | Untangling the web of entities and officials responsible for addressing homelessness

    OPINION | A tour through local government responsibility regarding homelessness.
    By
    Kaia Sand
    January 11, 2023
  • Street Roots
    A collage of Street Roots issue covers from 2022. Some of the covers are in black and white and others in color.

    Kaia Sand | Good journalism is worth the investment

    OPINION | Street Roots editorial team continues in-depth coverage in 2023
    By
    Kaia Sand
    January 4, 2023

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