The Village Building Convergence, organized by the City Repair Project, is an annual collaboration and cross pollination of neighbors, groups and civic partnerships to transform our city. It has been a catalyst for positive change in communities since its inception. By bringing people together and empowering them to take action, the VBC aims to create vibrant, inclusive, and sustainable neighborhoods.
Check out our schedule or map to find community projects, workshops, and gatherings happening soon and near you!
Event Schedule
We are still finalizing the schedule, so check back here or sign up on our Eventbrite above for latest updates!
Click on each title to find out more or register for the event.
Visual events page coming soon!
Saturday, June 14
PDX Food Forest Tour
workshop
10am-11:30am @ Cully Food Forests
Join us for a tour of two of our food forest demonstration sites in the Cully neighborhood which feature a diverse variety of fruiting plants and edible perennials laid out in urban-scale syntropic agroforestry and forest garden designs. Registration required.
Shared Spaces Festival
gathering, workshop, community projects
1pm-8pm @ Green Anchors
Celebrate community building and urban transformation with City Repair!
Explore workshops, enjoy music from local bands, partake in tea and wood-fired pizza, and discuss ways we can share space, resources, and collectively imagine and redesign our shared future. Learn about urban transformations already happening all over Portland!
Schedule of events here! Registration not required, but beneficial to account for amount of food and drink.
Features:
Kids nature activities space
Participatory art projects
Social connection & community design activities
Renewable/sustainable skills workshops
Live music
Tea + pizza!
Sunday, June 15
West Coast Re-Villaging Night
gathering
5pm-8pm @ Bridge Space
Join us for a collaborative mapping experience to connect the ecovillage movement! Contact wes@cityrepair.org to get involved.
Monday, June 16
Blackberry Bonanza
community project
2pm-9pm@ FIRL Farm at The Kiwi Palace
We warmly invite you to join us for a day of community gathering, hands-on learning, and joyful work as we come together to rebalance the landscape where Himalayan blackberry has spread widely. Rather than seeing this as a battle of eradication, we approach it as relational tending — honoring blackberry’s gifts while making space for native plants and greater biodiversity to thrive. Learn more here.
Schedule Highlights
— 2-6 PM: Afternoon blackberry work party (bring gloves + tools if you can!)
— 6–8 PM: A Permaculture Approach to Blackberry workshop
— 8–9 PM: Blackberry potluck + biochar workshop
This is a chance to learn, connect, and co-create — weaving together care for the land, each other, and the many species who call this place home. Let’s meet the edges together, and tend them with love. Questions or want to help out? DM us on Discord.
Tuesday, June 17
Treehouse Green Roof Building
workshop
9am-1pm @ Kailash Ecovillage
Learn about the process of and maintaining a green roof on a colossal treehouse at Kailash Ecovillage. This is a hands-on activity where we will be building together, please dress appropriately and wear sun protection! There will be tasks both on the roof and on the ground.
We will have a potluck following the workshop!
Milpa: Origin of Three Sisters
workshop
3:30pm-5pm @ Kailash Ecovillage
The Central American practice known as Milpa, or the Milpa Cycle, is a resilient polyculture farming technique that cultivates not just corn, beans, and squash, but over a thousand different plants in a multi-annual cycle. This method promotes abundant food production, yielding valuable resources such as fiber, medicine, and timber, while challenging the negative connotations associated with slash-and-burn agriculture. Milpa represents more than just a way to grow crops; it embodies a rich cultural tradition of food production that connects humans, animals, and the soil, with nixtamal being one of its notable contributions. Registration required.
Natural Building Evening+ Dessert Potluck
workshop
6pm - 9:30pm @ Camas Flower Home (Sellwood)
Come join us for an evening where City Repair and the VBC both began, in a natural building and permaculture demonstration site called Camas Flower Home. This evening will feature a presentation with Molly Murphy of the Mud Girls and dialogue on natural building, its culture, goals and ideals. Presentation will be followed by a dessert potluck party.
Email info@cityrepair.org for address.
Wednesday, June 18
City Repair Homecoming
Open to those who have been historically deeply involved with City Repair. Contact info@cityrepair.org.
thursday, June 19
Juneteenth
In observance of Juneteenth, we invite our communities leaders to learn about Black history and ways to support Black-owned businesses and communities in Portland and beyond. Learn more here.
Friday, June 20
Building A Cob Playspace, Day 1
community project
9am-4:30pm @ Wildflower Outdoor Learning Center
Join us for a fun day of building and playing in our Cob Playkitchen! Get your hands dirty as we construct this unique outdoor kitchen using natural materials. Great for kids and adults alike, this hands-on experience will ignite your creativity and connection to nature. Registration appreciated but not required.
Urban Village Design
workshop, community project
2pm-5pm @ Cully Neighborhood.
Join us for a hands-on, 3-hour design workshop with City Repair’s own Mark Lakeman. Engage in placemaking exercises and explore conceptual tools to adapt and evolve a site using real-world elements and a block-scale perspective. Registration Required.
Saturday, June 21
Activate Portland
gathering
10am-4pm @ Leaven Community Center
Join the Portland Placemaking Coalition and 25+ organizations committed to creating a more beautiful and connected Portland. This exciting day at the Leaven Community Center is filled with opportunities to network, attend workshops, and engage in meaningful discussions that empower our community to take action with a focus on regenerative agriculture, placemaking, community building, climate resilience, and land tending. Registration required.
Center for Native Arts and Cultures Street Painting
community project
10am-6pm @ Center for Native Arts and Cultures
At the Native Arts + Cultures Foundation (NACF) we are committed to sharing the valuable contributions of Native artists with our community. What better way to do that than to take the art out of the Center for Native Arts + Cultures (CNAC) and into the street! The best part of all is that you, our friends, family, and community are invited to join in on the painting of this one-of-a-kind mural.
The brilliant artists Jacob Meders (Mechoopda/Maidu) and Toma Villa (Yakama Nation) will complete a dazzling mural on Southeast Tenth Avenue just outside CNAC.
Join us on June 21st for good music, good food, and good company as we all come together to make our community a little more colorful. For those interested in extending a helping hand, there will be opportunities to volunteer throughout the block party.
Salmon Summer! Greenway Street Painting
community project
4pm-8pm @ SE Salmon St between SE 10th & SE 11th, Portland, OR 97214
Paint Salmon on Salmon Street! The goal of Salmon Summer is to celebrate the sacred Salmon by painting the SE Salmon St Neighborhood greenway with Salmon designs to encourage more sustainable methods of transportation that don't pollute as much into our waterways. Between warming water temperatures due to climate change and tire particulate matter seeping into the river/sea ecosystem the personal automobile is a strain on the species. Lower impact methods of transportation are made more realistic by neighborhood greenways where people feel safe. Placemaking efforts such as community street paintings accomplish many aligned goals, including but not limited to networking, pride, and respect for our neighbors & neighborhood, city, land, and region.
Join to meet neighbors and help paint the street! Volunteers are encouraged to walk, bike, or take public transportation to the event. Please wear clothes you don't mind getting a little paint on. Everyone is welcome. Donate to the project here! and check out the event link here.
Charleston Mural Refresh
community project
10am-4pm @ N Charleston Ave & N Leonard St (James John Elementary)
Join the James John Elementary School in refreshing one of the longest street paintings in Portland! Charleston from Central to Lombard and Leonard from John to Charleston will be Pedestrianized - closed to motor vehicles for a fun, safe, and welcoming day of repainting.
Solstice Gathering + Activate Portland Afterparty
gathering
6pm-10pm @ Rhythm Seed Farm
This project aims to bring people together to strengthen our web of connection through food, fire, and music. Rhythm Seed Farm is a nonprofit urban seed farm working to build community resilience through seed saving and seed sovereignty. We are supported by a network of volunteers who work together to grow millions of seeds each year, half of which are donated for free to BIPOC, low income, and school gardens across the region .
Event is open to all with dinner and homebrew by donation. BYO instruments, blankets, chairs, and dishware.
Sunday, June 22
Pedals, Places, and Possibilities
workshop
11am-1pm @ Irving Park, 707 NE Fremont St, Portland, OR 97212
Join us on a bike ride to explore how communities develop meaning, joy, and connection through creative transformation of public areas and private residences into shared spaces. Envision your own possibilities! Click here for details.
Building A Cob Playspace, Day 2
community project
9am-4:30pm @ Wildflower Outdoor Learning Center
Day 2 of our Cob Playkitchen build! Get your hands dirty as we construct this unique outdoor kitchen using natural materials. Great for kids and adults alike, this hands-on experience will ignite your creativity and connection to nature. Registration appreciated but not required.
Papercrete Workshop
workshop
1pm-4pm @ Cully Neighborhood
Come join us for a hands-on papercrete workshop. Learn how to create sustainable building materials using recycled paper and cement. This event is perfect for DIY enthusiasts, eco-conscious individuals, and anyone interested in sustainable construction methods. Get ready to get your hands dirty and unleash your creativity! Don't miss out on this unique opportunity to learn a new skill and contribute to a greener future. Email Andromedus@cityrepair.org and wes@cityrepair.org for address.
VBC 25 Closing Circle
4:30-7:30pm @ Cully Neighborhood
Where do we go from here? Collaborate and dream of the future with us as prepare. Open to VBC Partners & Volunteers. Registration TBD.
COMING SOON - Summer Project Map
Buzzing with excitement to get involved beyond the week of VBC? Our partner projects takes place all summer - Check out our map to learn about projects happening in your area!