Ground Score Association

Mission

Ground Score Association (GSA) is an association of informal recyclers, canners, dumpster divers, and other waste pickers who create and fill low-barrier waste materials management jobs in Portland, Oregon. Ground Score is collectively-organized and radically inclusive, prioritizing work opportunities for those facing work and housing insecurity. Ground Score seeks to build a more environmentally and socially aware community, while also changing society’s perceptions of what and who is considered valuable.

Bottom Line for Portland

We organize easy entry jobs that pay $20+/hour in waste collection and materials management for those facing work and housing insecurity. Since having started working with us, 70+% of unhoused workers have become housed. The more we raise, the more shifts we can create to get folks started in moving up–and out of poverty.

-Our GLITTER Program provides jobs in litter and tentside waste collection and diverts clothing waste for reuse and redistribution through Hygiene 4 All.

-Through our Reuse and Repair Program, workers use diverted textiles to create handmade products such as zip-up pouches, handbags, large canopies, and more.

-The People’s Depot, our container redemption center operated by and for canners (those who redeem bottles and cans for income), processes 30,000+ containers each day for recycling and prevents the emission of 1,100+ tons of CO2 equivalent a year.

-We provide day storage for our unhoused neighbors; manage a housing program through which we have housed 17 people; and conduct health and environmental outreach.

-As an affiliate of the International Alliance of Waste Pickers, a union of 460,000 workers from 50 different organizations across 34 countries, we engage in local and international advocacy for waste pickers, our climate, and a strong and inclusive UN Global Plastics Treaty.

Quote

“I started out where everybody else started out, at the bottom…I [now] set the schedule and run the crews. I got 30 people I manage...And it helped myself to become a better person at the same time and actually figure out who I am. It actually gave me a purpose, and I like giving other people a purpose.” –Angela McGuire, GLITTER Program Manager

“I didn’t have a job when I got here. I got one here. I got an apartment a month later, and things are good.” –Jon, Ground Score Worker

“I really enjoy cleaning up the environment…I care a lot about the environment, and I wanted to do something to make it better. We’re helping. We’re actually helping.“ –Phorrest, Ground Score Worker

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Ground Score emphasizes inclusiveness and lifting up our most marginalized community members, especially those who are unhoused and/or BIPOC. We are one of few local organizations that employs those most in need with an emphasis on dignity and empowerment. Most of our workers start out unhoused and/or with significant employment barriers. The work we do protects our climate for all, prevents waste accumulation in our city, ensures basic sanitation for our unhoused neighbors, and pays good wages.

Incentives

All donors who contribute at least $100 to Ground Score through Give!Guide will receive a bookmark handmade by our Reuse and Repair team inside a card. The card will have artwork drawn by Phoenix Oaks, a Ground Score worker who has also created art for Street Roots, printed on the front.

Partner(s)

Call to Safety provides supportive services and education to survivors domestic and sexual violence with an emphasis on empowerment and anti-oppression.

Depave is an anti-racist environmental justice organization that transforms paved spaces into green spaces for all to enjoy.

Hygiene4All provides clean toilets, hot showers, first aid and personal care supplies, as well as access to community health workers and clean clothes and bedding through a unique laundry exchange–guided and run by a team of coordinators and unsheltered staff.

Portland Street Medicine provides quality medical care to community members who are unhoused or lack stable housing, meeting those most in need where they are.

Rose Haven provides day shelter, resources, emotional support, and community connections to women, children, and marginalized genders experiencing homelessness and poverty. Their vision is a community where everyone has safety, stability, love, health, and home.

Sisters of the Road builds community, advocates for systemic change, and provides low and no-cost food to those experiencing houselessness and poverty.

Street Books runs a bike-powered street library that serves unhoused and marginalized community members; it provides not only books, but also resources, referrals, and supplies.

Street Roots publishes a local weekly newspaper that centers those who are unhoused and marginalized, covering social justice, local politics, and environmental issues; the paper is sold by vendors facing poverty and houselessness and allows them to earn an income through paper sales.

SymbiOp is a local, worker-owned native plant nursery, garden shop, and ecological landscaping company working to cultivate greater community food sovereignty and wildlife habitat in the city.

Wapato Island Farm is a 32-acre family farm that includes regenerative agriculture in harmony with the Earth as well as wild areas where native biodiversity can thrive; its operation is guided by Indigenous values of nourishing the spirit and offering ethically grown and harvested plants.