Ground Score Association

Portland, Oregon, United States of America

Primary information

Language

English

Type of members

Members are waste pickers

Occupation of members

Waste pickers

Type of Organization

Association

Organizational Reach

Local

Membership

No

Women composition

Social networking sites

Facebook

Benefits

Services

Complementary Information

Information source

Comments / Narrative

Organizational structure is still loose. Workers have resisted the establishment of membership guidelines in an effort to be as inclusive as possible. Thus, the group decided to call themselves “workers” rather than “members.” There is some core funding for several people to provide paid administrative and coordination support, and that role currently rotates between 5 core workers who have demonstrated an ability to lead. Workers are selected for jobs based on: their capacity and skill set to meet the requirements of the job, attendance at monthly meetings, their performance at previous jobs, and their housing and employment status. The designated coordinators select workers for jobs based on those qualifications, and additionally try to prioritize opportunities for workers facing the highest levels of housing and job insecurity. Decisions about activities, grants and other opportunities are made on a consensus basis at monthly or twice monthly public meetings. The group aspires to have a system of democratic election once they are more established.