Opened in 1979, Sisters Of The Road is a community cafe located in Old Town, Portland, Oregon that aims to provide low-income dining options with dignity, as well as a safe, non-oppressive environment to organize in and work together towards a more just society.
Sisters' firmly believes that those who experience homelessness, poverty, and oppressions are often the catalysts for great change in society, and has a long history of cultivating stable, sustainable, mutually supportive relationships.
Sisters Of The Road got their logo anonymously, when someone drew three X's inside a circle on the sidewalk outside the cafe, which is a universal symbol for good food and hospitality in the homeless community.
The cafe runs off a barter model as well as a pay model, and gets most of its food from local sustainable sources. The cafe's barter work program allows customers unable to pay for their meals the opportunity to trade 15 minutes for $1.50 credit at the cafe. Alternative options are available for anyone unable to do physical work.
Contact Information
Sisters Of The Road website
Sisters Of The Road on Facebook
Sisters Of The Road on Twitter
What's Driving This Trend
- Community-building Cafes
- Sisters Of The Road's low-income dining options with dignity model inspires more community-building cafes.
- Barter-based Payment Model
- Sisters Of The Road's innovative barter-based payment model presents opportunities for commercial businesses to adopt a similar model for efficient operational sustainability.
- Sustainable Sourcing
- Sisters Of The Road's focus on local sustainable sources presents opportunities for food industry companies to adopt a similar model for comprehensive sustainability efforts.
Who This Affects Most
- Food Service
- The food service industry can implement Sisters Of The Road's model of low-income dining options and community-building cafes.
- Non-profit
- Non-profit organizations can adopt Sisters Of The Road's innovative barter-based payment model for their programs.
- Agriculture
- The agriculture industry can take inspiration from Sisters Of The Road's sustainable sourcing and adopt a similar model for comprehensive sustainability efforts.
