Charla Chamberlain,

Program/Administrative Coordinator

Since 1996 Charla has been busy building and activating community collaborations in Portland as a founding Board member and past event coordinator of the City Repair Project.  Her experiences in organizational development, event planning, group facilitation, and conflict resolution, inspired her to study Community Development at Portland State University in 2002.  Charla also served on Portland’s “Vision PDX” Vision Committee, and Transition Team between 2006-2008.

Before coming to VAN in 2007, Charla studied Music Education at Central Washington University and worked in diverse settings as an AmeriCorps volunteer in a rural North Carolina pre-school, a soap elf with a local handmade soap factory, and a Closing Coordinator for a local real estate broker.  Born and raised in her great-grandfather’s Seattle home, Charla’s northwest roots run deep.  She lives in Portland with 3 friends on their urban “farm”, raising vegetables, chickens, flowers, and their cat Tucker.  She loves keeping score at Mariner’s games, going to farmers markets, and playing guitar and singing on her front porch.

Inspirational quote:

"There came a moment in the middle of the song when she suddenly felt every heartbeat in the room & after that she never forgot she was part of something much bigger."  -- www.storypeople.com