Rose City Self-Defense Instructor Volunteer

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ORGANIZATION: Rose City Self-Defense

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Rose City Self-Defense wouldn’t be able to teach our FREE classes to the City of Portland without our amazing volunteer instructors! We are looking for cis and trans women, non-binary people comfortable in women-identified spaces and members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community to train to become volunteer instructors to teach empowerment-based, trauma-informed self-defense skills in our community.

Volunteer Requirements:

  • Must be 18 years of age (Youth volunteers will need to pass a background check)
  • Complete the RCSD volunteer training
  • Commit to teaching with Rose City Self-Defense for one year.

About the New Volunteer Training:
RCSD Volunteer training takes place every other Saturday from the end of January through early March.
Trainings covers both curriculum and teaching strategies as well as information related to the root causes, prevention and intervention strategies surrounding gendered violence. Childcare can be provided during the Volunteer Trainings!

After you have completed the trainings, you will then shadow and apprentice with experienced instructors as you get comfortable with the material and teaching. Within 6 months, you should be ready to teach a class with a group of other instructors!

What is a Rose City Self-Defense class like?

We focus on a HOLISTIC APPROACH, including ways to avoid safety risks if possible. Examples of topics are: the way our intuition keeps us safe (and how bias can affect it); being assertive (internally, physically and verbally); how to use our voices to set boundaries; benefits and risks of different escape options; how to communicate assertively with friends, adults and strangers; signs of healthy, unhealthy and abusive Relationships; what is consent; physical self-defense skills and strategies.

2 Shifts

  • 03:30 PM to 08:00 PM PST - FULL
    Self-Defense Youth Workshops are generally one day per week, after school, for 1.5 hours (offered each term one per week for 9 weeks).
  • evening / 05:00 PM to 09:30 PM PST - FULL
    Self-Defense Community Workshops are generally one night per week, on evenings, for 3.5 hours (3 sessions, one per week for 3 weeks).
More Shifts

More opportunities with Rose City Self-Defense

No additional volunteer opportunities at this time.

About Rose City Self-Defense

Location:

2712 N. Mississippi, Portland, OR 97207, Portland, OR 97207, US

Mission Statement

Rose City Self-Defense serves all cis and trans women, as well as non-binary people who are comfortable in a space that centers the experiences of women with a focus on engaging communities of color, people with disabilities, women with unstable housing, and sex workers. We offer separate classes dedicated to all genders and sexualities of the LGBTQIA2S+ community.

Description

Rose City Self-Defense began in 1979 as WomenStrength, providing empowerment-based self-defense classes and personal safety workshops to people
around the Portland metro area. In 2008 the GirlStrength program was added to expand the reach to youth students, grades 4th-12th. After moving within the City of Portland in July of 2022, The Strength Programs was renamed Rose City Self-Defense and now works in conjunction with the Safe Blocks Program under the Community Safety Division. Between 2020 and 2023 the curriculum was revised to better focus on including the most vulnerable members of the Portland community. Since its inception, the program has taught self-defense skills to approximately 40,000 women and girls, and safety workshops to over 110,000 people.

CAUSE AREAS

Children & Youth
Emergency & Safety
Women
Children & Youth, Emergency & Safety, Women

WHEN

We'll work with your schedule.
This opportunity has 2 shifts

WHERE

2712 North Mississippi AvenuePortland, OR 97207Portland, OR 97227

(45.5422,-122.6756)
 

SKILLS

  • Teaching / Instruction
  • Youth Services
  • Safety & Disaster Education
  • Critical Thinking
  • Problem Solving

GOOD FOR

  • Teens
  • People 55+

REQUIREMENTS

  • Must be at least 18
  • Orientation or Training
  • The initial New Volunteer Training requires 5 Saturdays (8 hours each) total = 2 in January, 2 in February and 1 in March 2025.
  • After Training, we ask that you commit to a minimum of one year of volunteering with Rose City Self-Defense.

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