The Melting Pot Becomes a Collaborative Café
Written by Tim Buckley, September 2025
“The Melting Pot,” a play by British playwright Israel Zangwell (1908) looks at the process of assimilating into a new society, where you largely give up your uniqueness in favor of blending in.
CBEL’s Collaborative Gatherings (six times a year) are more like artfully assembled garden salads, where dozens of unique cultural perspectives help build a shared experience of belonging, personal growth and social cohesion.
Rich Kansky, CEO of Green Acres Landscape said of the event: “It was transformative for me.”
The September Collaborative featured a shared breakfast, a short presentation and a half hour of small group discussion about building resilient neighborhoods in Salem and Keizer, through the lens of safety, housing and education.
Through personal stories, the participants pieced together a blend of ideas that will inform public policy and inspire healthy change. The group of about 70 was a rich mix of age, ethnicity, station in life and experience.
Elizabeth Heredia, Secretary of the Cummings Neighborhood Family Council talked about the gradual “stepping stones” her family took to acquire their first home. It started as a multi-family arrangement, each contributing to make it work, despite crowded conditions and inconveniences.
“In our efforts to put apartment living behind us, my husband and I were looking for a forever home, somewhere to feel financially and emotionally secure.”
“Right now,” she continued, “there are more than 1,000 Salem and Keizer children who don’t have a place they can call home. A lot of families must pay half of their total income each month just to make the rent!”
Sue Bloom, organizational consultant and former CEO of Boys & Girls Club of Marion and Polk Counties, said that “safe spaces help to build personal and civic empowerment.”
Omar Alvarado, another Cummings Neighborhood Family Council member, said that new, healthy partnerships between neighborhoods, the police and schools are making a difference in family life. “We’re helping to bring more social and emotional education to schools and to families with the RULER program. That’s one example of how cross-cultural collaboration is helping kids in school, strengthening families and creating safer streets.”
CBEL Director Jim Seymour recalled his rocky adolescence which included a jail term. “It was only because a couple of community leaders saw me as having potential value that I’m here today. They showed me an alternative and then found added support for my attempts to redirect my life.”
In small, dynamically diverse groups, similar stories of family instability and financial woes create deep yearning to be safe, and to belong. Likewise, whether talking about housing, public safety or education, a common thread was the value of community awareness and collective resources to combat poverty and inequality.
Twenty small tables, each adorned with a butcher paper covering, provided space to capture experiences and ideas. Here is a snapshot developed by participants:
Common Themes:
Safety is more than the absence of crime; it comes from trust, belonging and community connection
Safe environments are supported by infrastructure, including good lighting, sidewalks, parks, libraries, childcare, grocery stores and positive activities for children and youth
Safe, stable housing is the foundation for strong families and community health
Education succeeds when parents, teachers and community members see themselves as partners
Children thrive with consistent love, encouragement and role models
Teachers need support to focus on teaching, not replacing parents.
Key takeaways:
Connection, belonging and stability are the foundations across the three areas: Safe neighborhoods, stable housing and supportive schools reinforce one another.
Create topic-specific groups (safety, housing, education) to refine next steps and partnerships
We must continue to center the “lived experience” of residents of Salem and Keizer’s most challenging neighborhoods.
“Seeing the Chief of Police cooking hamburgers for hundreds of families helped me change my attitude about what police represent in our neighborhood,” said one participant, who met Keizer Police Chief Andy Copeland at a Fun Friday event in July.