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Urban League of Portland is Recipient of OnPoint’s Membership Campaign
OnPoint’s Refer a Friend campaigns have raised more than $296,250 for six non-profit organizations since 2018
PORTLAND, Ore. /PRNewswire/ — OnPoint Community Credit Union today kicked off its Refer a Friend non-profit campaign to benefit one of the region’s oldest civil rights and social service organizations.
OnPoint selected Urban League of Portland for the campaign that runs February 1 through March 31. Refer a Friend provides members with the opportunity to support local community organizations while introducing friends and family to OnPoint’s full range of financial services.
Founded in 1945, the Urban League of Portland invests in and provides programs for areas that affect the social and economic security of Black families in Oregon and SW Washington. Those include:
- Multicultural Senior Center, a Northeast Portland activity center that provides healthcare and preventative services, transportation and community connections
- Workforce development, including job fairs and skills training
- Academic support for middle schoolers, such as paid internships
- Advocacy and civic engagement to influence public policy and legislation to promote racial equity
“Our programs have played a crucial role in improving the civil rights and social justice for Oregon and Southwest Washington’s Black community since our founding,” said Julia Delgado, Vice President, Urban League of Portland. “The support from OnPoint and its members will enable us to build upon our work and continue providing services and programs to help our region’s Black community achieve equality in education, employment, health, economic security and quality of life.”
$50 for referring members, $50 for new members, $50 for the Urban League
OnPoint’s Refer a Friend incentivizes OnPoint members year-round to recommend the credit union to their friends, family or business associates by giving $50 to both the new and referring member when an account is opened. At select times throughout the year, OnPoint donates an additional $50 to local non-profits for each new account opened through Refer a Friend.
“We must continue to come together to remove barriers and actively create opportunities for underrepresented communities,” said Jo Davis, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Program Manager, OnPoint Community Credit Union. “We are proud to build on our support of the Urban League of Portland through our Refer a Friend program and advance its critical work in our fight for racial equity in Oregon and Southwest Washington.”
OnPoint’s last Refer a Friend campaign, held in September/October 2022, raised more than $33,850 for JoyRx | Children’s Cancer Association. Since the beginning of the Refer a Friend program in 2018, OnPoint has donated $296,250 to six organizations through eight different campaigns. OnPoint members who are interested in learning more can visit www.onpointcu.com/rates-rewards/refer-a-friend/, or stop by their local OnPoint branch.
In November 2022, OnPoint announced donations of $2.3 million to more than 377 non-profits in Oregon and Southwest Washington, with more than $695,000 pledged to organizations focused on diversity, equity and inclusion. Visit www.onpointcu.com/community-giving to learn more about OnPoint’s support of local organizations like the Urban League of Portland.
ABOUT ONPOINT COMMUNITY CREDIT UNION
OnPoint Community Credit Union is the largest credit union in Oregon, serving over 500,000 members and with assets of $9.1 billion. Founded in 1932, OnPoint Community Credit Union’s membership is available to anyone who lives or works in one of 28 Oregon counties (Benton, Clackamas, Clatsop, Columbia, Coos, Crook, Curry, Deschutes, Douglas, Gilliam, Hood River, Jackson, Jefferson, Josephine, Klamath, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Morrow, Multnomah, Polk, Sherman, Tillamook, Wasco, Washington, Wheeler and Yamhill) and two Washington counties (Skamania and Clark) and their immediate family members. More information is available at www.onpointcu.com or 503-228-7077 or 800-527-3932.
ABOUT URBAN LEAGUE OF PORTLAND
Empowering Black communities in Oregon and Southwest Washington since 1945. Urban League is one of Oregon’s oldest civil rights and social service organizations, empowering African-Americans and others to achieve equality in education, employment, health, economic security and quality of life. We do this by investing in stable housing; through workforce development; community health; education and well-being; for our youth, adults and seniors. Our culturally specific programs and services, combined with our powerful advocacy and civic engagement, empowers Black communities to thrive across Oregon and SW Washington.
SOURCE OnPoint Community Credit Union
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New hybrid event aims to give grieving audiences meaningful holiday viewing, with films from more than 25 countries and a mission centered on love, loss, and emotional truth.
A new film festival debuting in late 2026 is taking a different approach to holiday entertainment. Grief Fest™: The Grief Film Festival, created by My Grief Angels Inc., is being introduced as what organizers believe is the world’s first film festival dedicated entirely to grief, remembrance, resilience, and healing.
The hybrid festival will run in two segments: November 25–29, 2026, during Thanksgiving week, and December 24, 2026, through January 3, 2027, during Christmas and New Year’s. Top Honors films will be announced on December 31, 2026.
Organizers say the timing is intentional. Research cited in the announcement shows that grief and loneliness are major holiday stressors for many Americans, making the season especially difficult for people coping with loss. In that context, Grief Fest™ is positioning itself as an alternative to the flood of traditional feel-good holiday programming.
The festival is open to short films, features, documentaries, experimental work, AI-generated projects, and VR experiences. It is described as inclusive, non-religious, and LGBTQ+ friendly, with submissions already received from more than 25 countries. All films will be presented in English, either spoken or subtitled.
Grief Fest™ will be available both in person and virtually through Film Festival Plus, making it accessible to audiences worldwide. The launch of GriefFest.com also includes Lumen, a multilingual AI guide designed to help filmmakers and attendees navigate the festival in their preferred language.
Rather than focusing on industry prestige, organizers say the festival is centered on community and emotionally honest storytelling. For audiences who feel unseen during the holidays, Grief Fest™ is aiming to offer something rare on the seasonal screen: recognition.
Source: PR Newswire
Related Reading
- Grief Fest: Official festival site
- My Grief Angels Inc.: About the nonprofit behind the festival
- Film Festival Plus: Virtual access platform
Catch the latest in movies, TV, music, pop culture, and live events in STM Daily News’ Entertainment section.
As the United States moves toward the 250th anniversary of its independence, a new public storytelling project is asking Americans to answer a big question: what does the American Dream mean today?
McCourt Entertainment has launched America-Dreams.com at SXSW as a digital platform designed to collect video submissions from people across the country. The goal is ambitious: gather one million voices reflecting on hope, opportunity, and what Americans want the future of the country to look like.
The initiative is tied to AMERIGO, an upcoming documentary presented by South Florida PBS and distributed by American Public Television. The film, which will be available to PBS stations nationwide beginning in June as part of 2026 programming tied to the nation’s 250th anniversary, explores the past, present, and future of the American Dream through conversations with people across the United States.
According to the project team, selected user-submitted videos may become part of the broader AMERIGOstorytelling effort, turning the campaign into more than a promotional rollout. Instead, it is being framed as a living archive of public voices gathered during a milestone moment in American history.
South Florida PBS President and CEO Dolores Fernandez Alonso said the goal is to make the anniversary feel inclusive and participatory.
“To celebrate the 250th anniversary of America’s independence, we wanted to do something truly remarkable and invite all Americans to share their hope for the American Dream at America-Dreams.com,” Alonso said. “We are extremely proud of the cross-section of voices from across our nation and we want to capture these stories, experiences and perspectives so that people feel included in this historic national conversation.”
Emmy Award-winning producer David McCourt said the project builds on the documentary team’s nationwide reporting.
“As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, this project asks a simple but powerful question: ‘What is your hope for the American Dream?’” McCourt said. “We want to hear directly from people across the country.”
The campaign arrives at a moment when interactive documentary projects and audience participation are becoming a larger part of public media storytelling. With AMERIGO, the combination of a PBS documentary and a nationwide video submission initiative gives the project a broader cultural footprint than a traditional film release.
Submissions are now open at America-Dreams.com. A trailer for AMERIGO is also available on Vimeo.
For entertainment audiences, the project stands out less as a conventional documentary launch and more as a large-scale invitation to participate in a national media moment ahead of America’s semiquincentennial.
Catch the latest in movies, TV, music, pop culture, and live events in STM Daily News’ Entertainment section.
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Viewpoint Hosted by Dennis Quaid Brings Attention to a Little-Understood Condition Affecting Families Nationwide
A new Viewpoint hosted by Dennis Quaid segment with APFED raises awareness of eosinophilic esophagitis, its subtle symptoms, and its impact on families.
For more information, readers can visit viewpointproject.com and apfed.org.
For many families, health conditions do not always begin with a dramatic diagnosis. Sometimes they show up in small, everyday habits that seem easy to explain away. Cutting food into tiny bites. Drinking extra water with every meal. Quietly avoiding certain foods altogether. A new educational segment from Viewpoint hosted by Dennis Quaid is shining a light on those subtle warning signs through a collaboration with the American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders, helping more people recognize the realities of living with eosinophilic esophagitis, or EoE.
Viewpoint hosted by Dennis Quaid
The segment, distributed to Public Television stations across the country, focuses on making this chronic inflammatory condition easier for the public to understand. For viewers, that matters because EoE is often misunderstood or overlooked, even as it affects daily routines, family meals, and quality of life. By connecting medical information to real-life experiences, the program gives audiences a more human picture of what people with the condition may be facing.
When everyday habits tell a bigger story
Eosinophilic esophagitis occurs when eosinophils, a type of white blood cell, build up in the esophagus, causing inflammation that can lead to tissue damage and narrowing. But what stands out most in this story is not just the science. It is the way people often adapt without realizing it. Behaviors like chewing excessively, avoiding certain textures, or relying on liquids to help swallow can become so routine that they no longer feel unusual.
That is one reason the segment carries real community value. It encourages people to look more closely at symptoms that may have been normalized for years and to seek evaluation from specialists such as gastroenterologists or allergists. It also raises awareness among parents, caregivers, and primary care providers who may be the first to notice that something is not quite right.
More than awareness
The program also explores the emotional and social side of the condition, especially for people navigating dietary restrictions and the uncertainty of delayed diagnosis. In that sense, this is not only a story about medicine. It is also a story about advocacy, support, and the importance of helping people feel seen.
APFED Executive Director Mary Jo Strobel noted that many people with EoE do not realize they have adapted their lives around a medical condition. That message gives the segment its strongest human element: awareness can change lives, not only by leading to diagnosis, but by helping families better understand experiences that may have felt isolating or confusing.
Originally distributed in January 2025, the documentary will continue to be made available to stations through March 2027, extending its reach to more households nationwide.
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Read more from STM Daily News on community issues, public television, health awareness, and stories that connect national topics to everyday life.
For More Information
- Visit the official Viewpoint hosted by Dennis Quaid website
- Learn more about the American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders
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