Know Your City and CAT Launch Graphic Publication, RENTER'S RIGHTS: EVICTIONS

This week two local nonprofit organizations, Know Your City (www.knowyourcity.org)and Community Alliance of Tenants (www.oregoncat.org), announced the launch of a new graphic publication, Renters' Rights: Evictions. The publication aims to educate people about their rights as renters and what to do when it happens to them through a highly accessible medium: comics. A Request For Proposals is now open to invite local artists to submit applications until April 25th, with an honorarium of $1000 for the awarded recipient.

Renters will be able to use the book as a reference to understand the process of eviction and what to do if it happens to them. "When we talk to renters who are facing eviction on the Renters Rights Hotline, they are often scared and unaware of the complicated process. This will be a great way for folks to get the information they need in an understandable and engaging format," said Buri, describing the project. The aims of the project are to educate tenants as to their rights, create a simple and effective advocacy tool, and demonstrate the negative impact of no-cause evictions to policy makers.

CAT asked Know Your City (KYC) to partner on the program after seeing their Don't Move Out! poster, an illustrated fold out poster on housing foreclosures in Portland. KYC was happy to develop a collaborative program with CAT to help people with this critical need. Know Your City is a nonprofit organization that engages the public in art and social justice issues through creative placemaking projects, and has produced a number of similar publications in the last five years, including the recently published Comics for Change! Illustrated Stories from Oregon's Front Lines.

KYC and CAT are currently seeking artist submissions to participate in the creation of the Renter's Rights comic book until April 25th. A jury of prominent writers, artists, designers and civic leaders will select the artist, and the selected artist will work with KYC and CAT staff, as well as committed community members, to create the narrative. The comic will be celebrated at a release party, in the fall.

The program is funded, in part, with generous support from Sappi Fine Paper's Ideas That Matter grant program. Ideas That Matter is a highly competitive national design grant award that awards print projects for the common good. Know Your City has been a recipient of the award for three consecutive years. Additional funding is provided by a project grant from Regional Arts & Culture Council.

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