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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
    Street Roots vendors Charlie Lindsey, DJ Husar and Wendy Mustacci stand next to each other with orange Biketown bikes on the corner of a sidewalk.

    Kaia Sand | Bringing housed and unhoused communities together is vital

    OPINION | Two cycling events show how simple it is to be considerate, inclusive of unhoused neighbors
    By
    Kaia Sand
    August 31, 2022
  • Street Roots
    Several matchsticks are burning and aflame.

    Kaia Sand | Oregon Health Authority reports deaths of unhoused Oregonians in 2022

    Director’s Desk | These deaths are the horrible outcome of inequitable access to housing and other healthcare necessities
    By
    Kaia Sand
    August 24, 2022
  • Street Roots
    Jason stands for a photo outside on the sidewalk. He is wearing a Street Roots hat and holding a copy of the newspaper.

    Kaia Sand | How Street Roots found its new space

    Opinion | Spurred by need and creativity, Street Roots' growth demands more space
    By
    Kaia Sand
    August 17, 2022
  • Street Roots
    A photo of a building on West Burnside with a white hand-painted banner hanging over it. The banner says, "HOPE" and "Street Roots." The words sit above an open hand with yellow beams surrounding it.

    Kaia Sand | Street Roots sends a message of 'HOPE'

    Opinion | Street Roots invests in building on Northwest Third Avenue and West Burnside Street, plans to renovate
    By
    Kaia Sand
    August 10, 2022
  • Street Roots
    A person stands under a blue outdoor canopy tent to get misted outside of Street Roots office.

    Kaia Sand | Climate change harms poor people and must be dealt with equitably

    I'm proud that Street Roots received a Portland Clean Energy Fund grant
    By
    Kaia Sand
    August 3, 2022
  • Street Roots
    Gary Barker is talking and standing next to Raven Drake. Behind them is a wall full of sticky notes of various bright colors.

    Kaia Sand | 10 Street Roots vendors launch into a year of ambassador work

    Opinion | Born out of necessity, the ambassador program is thriving
    By
    Kaia Sand
    July 27, 2022
  • Street Roots
    Katherine Deumling is on one side of a table scooping food from a pot into a bowl to people lined up on the other side of the table.

    Kaia Sand | ‘Creative, Scrappy Cooking’: A Street Roots tribute to Katherine Deumling (1973-2022)

    Director’s Desk | Katherine’s legacy and passion for food are cherished
    By
    Kaia Sand
    July 20, 2022
  • Street Roots
    Wearing a blue Seattle Seahawks hoodie, Elizabeth smiles for a photo holding up a set of keys on a key ring in her hands.

    Kaia Sand | Street Roots vendors move into housing

    Director's Desk | At least 9 Street Roots vendors have moved from homelessness into housing in the last 3 months
    By
    Kaia Sand
    July 13, 2022
  • Street Roots
    A street sign says "NW Third Ave" and the cross street sign says "W Burnside St." Below, on the sidewalk are three police officers and a man smoking is standing beneath the sign.

    Kaia Sand | When policing is more important than housing, the unhoused are over-policed

    Opinion | Stable housing is vital, but remains underfunded compared to policing
    By
    Kaia Sand
    June 29, 2022
  • Street Roots
    A photo of two people smiling and standing next to each other on a sunny day.

    Kaia Sand | 10 ways to support houseless neighbors

    Opinion | While projections are nowhere near last June’s heat dome, sun exposure is always a challenge for people living outside. Here’s how to support your houseless neighbors through the heat, and in many other ways:
    By
    Kaia Sand
    June 22, 2022

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