After a nationwide search, Cascade AIDS Project (CAP) has hired longtime nonprofit leader Paul Lumley as its new CEO. Currently the CEO for the Portland-based Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA), and the former Executive Director of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Lumley will be CAP’s first Native American CEO. Lumley joins us to talk about the future of Cascade AIDS Project, and his legacy with NAYA and CRITFC.
Note: This transcript was computer generated and edited by a volunteer.
Jenn Chávez: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Jenn Chávez. Portland’s Cascade AIDS project supports people with HIV and LGBTQ+ communities with services, education and advocacy. And this year, it’s bringing on a new leader. The organization has selected Paul Lumley as its new CEO. He’s currently leading the Native American Youth and Family Center, or NAYA, and has also led the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission and he’ll be Cascade AIDS Project’s first Native American CEO. Paul Lumley joins me now to talk more about his work ahead and Cascade AIDS Project’s future. Paul, thank you so much for being here.
Paul Lumley: Thank you. Glad to be here.
Chávez: We’re glad to have you. So, first of all, what about the Cascade AIDS Project drew you toward its work and made you interested in joining the organization?
Lumley: Well, when I first moved to Portland in 1987, it was really at the height of the AIDS and HIV epidemic and there were enormous attacks on the LGBTQ community at the time blaming us for the “gay disease” and it was really expected that people could discriminate against us. But there was one group that stood out among all and it was Cascade AIDS Project and they started to advocate for us publicly and it made me feel like a real person for the first time and it just gave me the confidence I needed to step out myself and come out of the closet fully. And it just really felt great. I have always respected the Cascade AIDS Project. I just never thought I would ever have the honor to be their CEO so I’m really excited about it.
Chávez: Thank you for sharing that. It sounds like they really had a personal impact on you.
So we’re talking about this organization that’s been engaged in the fight against HIV and AIDS for decades. How has that landscape changed for that fight against HIV? What does it look like today?
Lumley: Well, we are so fortunate in our community here in Portland and Southwest Washington that Cascade AIDS Project has expanded into the healthcare arena with gender affirming healthcare. And I think that’s been a game changer. There’s also been some advances in medications for people who contract HIV or for preventing HIV, something we didn’t have when I was a young gay man. So that’s wonderful.
But the reality is HIV is still in our community. People have been living with HIV for decades now. And people are still contracting HIV. I found out just a few short months ago that my nephew just contracted it and it was heartbreaking to know and he was heartbroken but I was able to console him and tell that things are different. It’s not a death sentence anymore. You can live a full and happy life. You just have to be more careful with your health.
Chávez: I want to turn back to what you said about Cascade AIDS Project’s work around health and healthcare and in just a sec. But first, more broadly, your new job starts in just a few weeks. What will some of your first priorities be coming into leadership of Cascade AIDS project this year?
Lumley: Well, I think just getting to know the organizations because it’s so big now they brought on Our House, which is an amazing organization that helps AIDS people who are living with HIV for hospice care. And they also have a new health care facility called Prism and another one on the way. They have many facilities in Southwest Washington and the Portland area. So just getting to know a broad and complex organization will be my first priority and then after that supporting the staff because I want to make sure the staff have everything they need to be successful because their success is our success and that helps the community. And also because of my broad background already with Community of Color organizations, I’m going to be looking for partnerships that can be built upon if they don’t already have them at CAP.
Chávez: You spoke to some of some of the new healthcare capacities and facilities at CAP and I know you mentioned that one thing that is being provided is gender affirming care and transgender people in particular are under threat right now across the country. And this definitely relates to healthcare, but goes far beyond that, too. What role do you think CAP can play in supporting trans people in the fight for trans justice right now?
Lumley: Well, I hope to be a leader in advocacy in this arena. I think the shameless attacks on our community, especially our transgender and LGBTQ youth, are just shameless. It’s a scare tactic for people to get elected. And this kind of discrimination really needs to be recognized and really stopped.
I am very aware that where I am right now at the Native American Youth and Family Center that we identify as two-spirit, a term that has been around for only three or four decades, but we’ve been around for a long time, gay people in this continent. We’ve been around way before this became colonized and way before Christianity. So, I think that as a Native American, I will be that constant reminder that we’ve always been here. We will always be here. In fact, NAYA just hosted their Queer Prom. I am so proud of that. We had hundreds of kids show up and that was at the prestigious Portland Art Museum. I think CAP with all that they’re doing with gender affirming healthcare facilities in Our House and our advocacy to keep the LGBTQ community healthy, people can come and attack us all they want. Meanwhile NAYA is having a great prom. Meanwhile, CAP is having Prism and our house and doing all this work to keep our community healthy.
So they can attack us all they want, but we’re only going to get stronger and we’re not going away. We’ll be a constant reminder to them that discrimination is in our community and it needs to stop.
Chávez: As you mentioned, you are a two-spirit person and during your time at NAYA you helped found the organization’s Two-Spirit Safe Space Alliance. What did creating that space, in particular, mean to you?
Lumley: Well, just like any community, we know we can’t do this work alone, but we need a safe space. And so our two-spirit youth, in particular, have allies and we need to build upon that. We can’t just have our own little private club and make progress. We’ve got to open the door and let others come in to create a safe space with our allies as well. And so that was recognized soon after I became their executive director. I’m really proud of that work.
Dan Guilfoyle helped create that while I was there and it’s really amazing what Dan has been able to do. He actually was the one who led the Queer Prom at NAYA and that was really funded by the work of the Two-Spirit Safe Space Alliance. And while I’ll be leaving NAYA soon, I will not be going far from Dan because he’s also a board member for CAP so he’s going to be my new boss.
Chávez: So we’re talking about some of this work that you’ve been doing at NAYA. What are some of the other things you’re most proud of from your work with not only NAYA but also the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission?
Lumley: Yeah, let’s start with NAYA. I am so happy that I had my time with NAYA. It’s a little over six years. They have been the best organization I have ever worked for. The board has been so supportive. The staff are amazing and we have created so much together. I’m so proud of the work we’ve done with affordable housing development. We have eight properties. We just had a ground blessing ceremony on Wednesday of this week so I’m pretty proud of it. That’s going to be our next affordable housing project. We’ve got three that were built during the pandemic actually right in the Cully Neighborhood by NAYA, we have 165 new affordable housing properties. We introduced Native preference policy at these properties because of our partnership with the Siletz Tribe. And we also are involved in major art activities. The buildings are beautiful, they’re covered in art. There’s going to be art and sculptures in the community.
When I started at NAYA, they wanted me to bring the community closer and I just assumed they met geographically. So I started carrying it out like this and we’ve been pretty successful. When a Native family moves into one of our properties, many of them are coming right from the streets and I wanted them to walk into the building and see a beautiful building covered with native art that makes them feel like home of their loved and respected and that somebody cared this much to build them a property like this. And it’s also a place they can be proud to live in. And also I want the city to be proud of these properties, too. So I think we accomplished that.
Chávez: What do you expect from this transition for you? You’re going from leadership of organizations focused on Native communities to leading an organization serving people with HIV and broader LGBTQ communities.
Lumley: Well, for me it feels like it’s coming full circle. There’s always been LGBTQ advocacy in the Native community and the Native community also is affected by HIV more than other communities so it’s very prevalent. I’ve got several partnership organizations here in the Portland area and nationally that I’ll be able to rely upon, but I really have been doing a lot of work at NAYA with Communities of Color and so I’m really happy to bring that knowledge, experience and connections to the Cascade AIDS Project.
It’s also a little bit scary for me, too, because this is the first time I’ll have a professional position outside of Indian country. I don’t have that safety net of being Native American, but I think I can handle this quite well. I think people are very receptive and I feel really comfortable. I toured the CAP facilities. I toured their main headquarters downtown. It just feels good.
Chávez: I’m so glad to hear that. So you’re talking about how many different things that you have worked on and how it’s coming full circle and so you might have some perspective on this. I’m wondering how you think the movements for Indigenous rights, LGBTQ+ justice and more broadly racial justice can inform each other.
Lumley: Well, like I said earlier, we can’t do this work alone. We have to have allies and I recognized that right away when I became the executive director of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, but we couldn’t do this alone. We were combating years of discrimination, decades of discrimination, centuries of discrimination and we had to have allies on our side. So I knew right away we had to broaden our horizons and I found the same connection when I went to the Native American Family Center and I think is going to be the same that we have to rely upon our, our allies to,
to do this work.
It is sort of interesting for me that I’ve had these jobs where I was, you know, my, my geographic scope was so broad and it encompasses the whole Portland metropolitan area, including Southwest Washington and even throughout the whole Columbia River Basin and it feels good. I’m still really connected to all of these jobs. I helped create a new organization in the Columbia River called Nch’i Wana Housing to serve the housing needs for the Native community where I grew up. I felt really good about that. In fact, NAYA was the fiscal sponsor until May 1 of this year and they just launched independently and I’ll be joining their board next month. So I am really proud of the work I do.
I don’t really leave a job or leave a community. I’m still going to be here. I’m still going to be the same person caring about where I’ve been and where I’m going.
Chávez: I mentioned you’re a citizen of the Yakama Nation. You’re going to be the first Native American CEO of Cascade AIDS Project ever. What do you think your leadership of CAP will mean for Indigenous folks in our region?
Lumley: Well, I think they’re going to feel like there’s an open door there. There’s always been an open door, I’ll be honest with you. We already have a great connection with CAP and the American community. I think they might feel like the doors might be even a little bit more open. I have relationships with other Native organizations here in town. There’s some wonderful ones like the Native American Rehabilitation Association and the Northwest Area Health Board. These are great organizations that I’m looking forward to partnering with including NAYA is also partnering with CAP. So that’s going to continue as well. I think it’s just going to be building upon what we already have.
Chávez: I have one last question for you. It is Pride Month and earlier this week, I spoke with a few LGBTQ+ leaders in different communities across Oregon and I asked them a similar question. During Pride Month, what is bringing you pride right now?
Lumley: I would say pride in community and pride in the support that we have. I was at a big event last night at the Portland Art Museum and the whole program was led by drag queens and transgender people. And this is at a very prestigious organization with the people in the audience there were very powerful and very wealthy people. And the more that we get attacked, the transgender community, the gay community and the LGBTQ+ community, the stronger we get and I saw that last night. I was just filled with pride and I look forward to that same kind of powerful connection to the community and our allies at the Portland Pride Festival. It’s going to be exciting.
Chávez: Well, Paul, thank you so much for joining us today and congratulations on your new position.
Lumley: Thank you.
Chávez: I’ve been speaking with Paul Lumley. He’s the new incoming CEO of the Cascade AIDS Project.
Contact “Think Out Loud®”
If you’d like to comment on any of the topics in this show, or suggest a topic of your own, please get in touch with us on Facebook, send an email to thinkoutloud@opb.org, or you can leave a voicemail for us at 503-293-1983. The call-in phone number during the noon hour is 888-665-5865.
