Reflections on the 2024 Elections: AMA PDX Agency Leaders on Advocacy & Community Impact
This conversation between AMA PDX Agency VP Corinne Gould and AMA PDX Agency Director Ines Giovannini includes their personal reflections on the 2024 elections and their concerns about environmental issues, queer and trans rights, and immigration. They discuss the importance of local activism and the role of organizations like AMA PDX Agency in supporting community causes.
Read more about the AMA PDX Agency leadership team, the Agency's long history, and its recent projects, including supporting OPAL Environmental Justice, Albina Vision Trust, and Portland Refugee Support Group. Corinne and Ines emphasize the need for meaningful action when feeling powerless, frustrated, or anxious, and invite you to learn more about how AMA PDX Agency can be a lever to support the community organizations that are directly addressing our communities' most critical issues.
Edited Transcript
Corinne Gould (CG)
Hi, Ines. Thanks for joining for a conversation about this year and AMA PDX Agency in 2025. Tell me about your experience this past week with federal and local elections.
Ines Giovannini (IG)
I am not a US citizen, so I wasn't allowed to vote, which on the one hand, made me feel pretty powerless. On the other hand, knowing that we live in a blue state, I felt a little bit of a relief. I struggle with the US election system, but I learned that you found a bit of a workaround.
CG
Yeah, I was feeling boxed in picking between two platforms I didn’t really believe in, especially considering the US funding of weapons for Israel. I was grateful to hear about and get matched with swapyourvote.org, which made me feel better on election day, but I'm certainly coming away from the federal elections feeling worried about my queer and trans community, immigration policy, and environmental policy. But, there is also some good momentum in Oregon with progressive local policy work. Getting engaged at your local level is one of the places that you can make the most change and have the most influence. That's how I'm thinking about digging more deeply into AMA PDX Agency as a way to come together with community organizations that are making a difference.
IG
There are so many great organizations out there. I was a Greenpeace member when I was in grade school in the early 90s, way before environmentalism was considered trendy. My "Save the Whales" t-shirts were mostly met with bullying, but I stuck with it, and I'm really proud that my professional job is about raising awareness for sustainability solutions within my company. Climate change is scary, and it's our next generations—my daughter's generation and those after her—who will be affected by it without any fault of their own. How do you think about environmental issues?
CG
In the wider view of global decision-making, community action, and policies that limit corporate emissions, I’m also thinking about the effects of war. In addition to the dramatic human trauma, the dropping of bombs creates absolute havoc for our climate, and that's another reason I am really passionate about an arms embargo and ceasefire in Gaza and Occupied Palestine and other peace and liberation movements.
I'm really proud that our Agency program supported OPAL Environmental Justice back in 2022 with their brand guide and style guide to help them amplify their work, which centers the communities who are the most affected by the climate crisis with activism and policy lobbying around transportation justice.
IG
Organizations like Keep Oregon Green or Friends of Trees are critical because trees are so good for capturing carbon, which is one of the most important vehicles for slowing down climate change in my view. I would love to see more environmental organizations that are addressing the urgent needs around climate and environmental justice get supported through our program.
CG
I want to mention a few organizations that we've worked with in the past that I think are great models of the kinds of success we can see again. Each of these three organizations have taken an innovative angle at addressing income inequality and housing and homelessness, which is one of the most pressing issues in our region.
In 2022, we did a marketing and communications workshop for the Albina Vision Trust housing policy team. The 2024 team working with Outside the Frame—an organization that offers professional education and empowerment for youth experiencing housing insecurity—did communications strategy consulting and created a pitch deck for launching in new geographies. You were the account manager for Pacific Refugee Support Group (PRSG) in 2023 and helped them overhaul their volunteer recruiting strategy.
IG
It was so inspiring to see the humility, grace, and respect PRSG had in supporting communities who are immersed in a new culture and are experiencing all the difficulties that come with it. I'm privileged to be born as a white German woman—I could have been born somewhere different or with a different skin color, and wouldn't have all those privileges. I'm very aware of the fact that it's all a coincidence, and with privilege comes a responsibility.
CG
That sense of responsibility is how I joined the American Marketing Association. I was looking for a way to volunteer to feel more fulfilled, and I wanted to do something that related to my skill set. I got connected to AMA PDX Agency in 2021 as the account manager for Call to Safety, delivering an email fundraising campaign when they couldn't host their annual fundraising gala due to COVID-19. I identify as queer and nonbinary, and I'm often bringing that equity lens to the work that I do because it is just so much a part of who I am. I was moved by the organization's approach to changing their name from Portland Women's Crisis Line when they realized that they were excluding trans women and queer people who didn't see themselves as part of the client base. I loved supporting an organization that was willing to grow and change to be more inclusive and comprehensive in their outreach. That experience also helped me expand how I think about queer and trans rights, which includes scaling the resources that already exist to be more inclusive of the LGBTQIA+ community.
As VP of AMA PDX Agency for the last three years, I’ve gotten to learn about my biases and assumptions working closely with the community organizations who are directly providing social services. Our community organization clients guide us to learn more about how to serve their communities while we guide them about how to do marketing and communications.
IG
Thank you for sharing, Corinne. I feel like I'm learning something from you every time we talk. For me, one of the biggest divisive issues in this presidential campaign is the right to abortion. Being a mother myself, it was really important for me to determine the right time so I could give my daughter the best life I can. But also, the fact that it requires similar treatment to having a miscarriage just breaks my heart. I have friends who've gone through what they call “little births” (language matters). It is amazing to have organizations like Planned Parenthood fight for reproductive rights and choice. I would love to encourage local organizations who support those causes to apply.
CG
I know that the Agency program is just one small piece of supporting the community organizations that have been doing social justice work, but this is such a good place to put fear and frustration. I'm really hopeful we'll get outstanding applications from great community organizations this year, and I hope we see a lot of volunteers who raise their hands to put their time and energy into something that can really support change.
IG
As former volunteers and account managers ourselves, we would love to answer your questions and share more about how gratifying and wonderful it is to volunteer with AMA PDX Agency and and make an even bigger impact. Reach out to us at amapdxagency@gmail.com with any questions. The more volunteers we get, the more community organizations we get to serve next year!
Here are some ways to get involved today:
Send the community organization application to your favorite community organizations and nonprofits in Oregon and SW Washington.
Learn more about the AMA PDX Agency program, and consider applying to volunteer with us from March through August 2025
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Original transcription by otter.ai. Edited for concision and clarity.
To listen to the full conversation between AMA PDX Agency leaders, Corinne Gould and Ines Giovannini, click here.