Come to DPG West 2025!
The 2025 Western Dual Power Gathering is a three-day camping event for community organizers from the Rockies to the Pacific.
This event is a space to network, to workshop, to skill-share, and to strategize about building dual power in our region. All levels of experience are welcome, from longtime organizers to folks who are completely new! The gathering will take place July 25-27 at a campground in Northern Oregon, not far from the PDX International Airport. The address of the campground will be released to folks who RSVP in the weeks leading up to the gathering. To RSVP, head to our RSVP site, select "Donate and Tickets" above and select one of the RSVP ticket options (or, select the embedded link below).
Campground lodging will be available starting Thursday evening (July 24th), as the gathering will kick off promptly on Friday morning.
Folks are encouraged to bring their own tents and sleeping bags. ADA-accessible bathrooms and running water are available on site, as well as a limited shuttling service, and vegan food for all participants. Cell service is not available at the campground, and electrical outlets are very limited. If you need help finding an alternative place to sleep, like in a hotel or on a couch, let us know and we’ll try to set this up (resources are limited.)
Families with children are also encouraged to attend! There are even plans to have youth-organized sessions so kids and teens can take an active role in creating the event. Please let us know if you would like any help with childcare during the gathering. Service animals are also more than welcome, but unfortunately the grounds do not allow pets.
We want the event to be as accessible as possible: if you have any access needs or questions about the accessibility of the event, please feel free to get in touch by emailing us. We will do our best to make accommodations. At this event, we hope to mitigate the spread of COVID. You can read more about our COVID and masking policy here in the Orientation Guide.
Attendee participation fuels this gathering. It is structured as an "unconference".
What this means is that at the start of each day, we will gather and collectively create a schedule of sessions for the weekend. Everyone attending will have the opportunity to put unconference sessions on the schedule.
In past years, we’ve had a range of different types of sessions: from the formal to the informal, the prepared to the spur of the moment, the demonstration of a working tool to the whiteboarding of something completely new. This event is what you make it! Here are a few examples of previous sessions:
- Food Sovereignty, Foraging, and Farming (hands-on skill share)
- Conflict in Social Movement Spaces (roundtable discussion)
- What is Dual Power? (presentation and conversation)
- Indigenous Values vs. Capitalist Values (presentation and discussion)
- Narcan Training (hands-on skill share)
- Worker’s Cooperatives and the Labor Movement (roundtable discussion)
- Radical Media: Reflections and Scheming (roundtable discussion)
- The No Borders Struggle in Europe: a Reportback (presentation and conversation)
- Countering White Supremacy Culture (presentation and discussion)
- Radios for Community Defense and Disaster Relief (hands-on skill share)
- Bodywork and Co-Regulation as Mutual Aid (hands-on skill share)
Participation in the gathering is open to everyone, not just those camping: feel free to participate on any day in any activity or session that you choose to!
In addition to the self-organized unconference sessions, you can also expect shared meals, river frolicking, folk dancing, live music, and collaborative art making. For more info about the event, check out our orientation guide here.
We need a lot of help to pull this off! If you are interested in helping prepare for or volunteer during the event, please reach out to us at DualPowerGathering@proton.me and we will get you connected!
Here is a rough schedule of the gathering:
Thursday:
2-6 - Set up camp
6-7 - Dinner
7-8 - Unconference Facilitation Training
8-late - "Campfire" hangouts
Friday:
8-9 - Breakfast
9-12 - Opening Assembly and Welcome
12-1:30 - Lunch + Live Music
1:45-3:15 - Unconference Sessions
3:30-5 - Unconference Sessions
5:15-6:45 - Unconference Sessions
7-8 - Dinner
8-late - "Campfire" hangouts, games, storytelling
Saturday:
8-9 - Breakfast
9-10:30 - Morning Assembly
10:45-12 - Regional Breakouts
12-1:30 - Lunch + Folk Dancing
1:45-3:15 - Unconference Sessions
3:30-5 - Unconference Sessions
5:15-6:45 - Unconference Sessions
7-8 - Dinner
8-late - "Campfire" hangouts, Midnight Poetry
Sunday:
8-9 - Breakfast
9-10:30 - Morning Assembly
10:45-12 - Unconference Session
12-1:30 - Lunch + River Time
1:45-3:15 - Unconference Sessions
3:30-5 - Unconference Sessions
5:15-6:45 - Closing Event + Goodbyes
7-8 - Dinner
8-late - "Campfire" hangouts
Monday:
8-9 - Breakfast
9-12 - Take down and clean up