Email: community_engagement@maxvilleheritage.org
Title: Community Engagement Strategist
Organization: Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center
Community: Joseph
Population: 1,189
County Served: Wallowa County

Meet Ruby Barrera (she/her/ella):

Second year RARE member, Ruby earned her undergraduate degree with majors in Marketing and Sociology from the University of Portland. She is a proud daughter of immigrants who planted roots in Eastern Oregon. Ruby is excited to continue her work with Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center and build upon her experiences in community engagement, program development, and volunteer management. Ruby looks forward to enjoying another year of arts, local music, chilly mornings, and learning in Wallowa County.

Community and Organization:

Joseph, located at the base of the Wallowa Mountains, is Oregon’s first arts and culture district and the tourism center of northeastern Oregon.

Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center (MHIC) focuses on gathering, preserving, and sharing the diverse logging stories of African American, Indigenous, and immigrants in the Northwest. Maxville, a segregated logging community established in rural Eastern Oregon in the 1920s, was created during a period when exclusionary laws prevented free Black individuals from living, working, owning property, or conducting business in the state of Oregon. What was once a ghost town is now being brought back to life through storytelling, education, land stewardship, collective healing, arts and music.

Projects:

Ruby will continue adding capacity to MHIC by building upon her projects from last year. She will continue her support in community engagement, volunteer recruitment, social media marketing, outreach initiatives, and communications.

Ruby will also be a lead in the development, implementation, and facilitation of “Seeding Hope, Healing Community” a new program offering by MHIC. A program initiative that encourages reflection on personal roots, sharing diverse perspectives, and fostering dialogue for collective healing.