Program date: May 30, 2025
Air date: June 2, 2025
From the City Club of Eugene:
Every year, City Club of Eugene gives Turtle Awards to community members who have stuck their necks out to advocate for a cause that others might have seen as lost. The Awards Committee is composed of Turtles from previous years; they submit nominations and make a collective choice. This year, three new turtles will join the bale (group of turtles): Sharon Posner, Paul Solomon and Oblio Stroyman.
In addition, seven community members will join the Order of the Turtle, awarded posthumously occasionally to individuals for service to the community consistent with the purposes and mission of the City Club. The Club will honor Dallas Boggs, Nancie Fadeley, David (“Frog”) Miller, Marshall Peter, Lyllye Reynolds-Parker, Nancy Webber – and in a break with tradition, to recognize her impact on us and our community, a past Turtle honoree, Anita Johnson.
Information on past Turtle and Order of the Turtle awardees, as well as the history of the Turtle Awards, is available here.
This program features City Club’s annual meeting, including the election of new board members.
Speakers:
For 60 years, Sharon Posner has been a strong advocate for the arts and humanities in this community, usually working behind the scenes and without recognition. She has dedicated her time and passion to forming and serving on many boards and commissions. Among the groups benefiting from her leadership are the League of Women Voters of Lane County, the Eugene Public Library Foundation, and the Fortnightly Club. She has been a major inspiration and influence on this community. This is a different community because of Sharon and it’s time to recognize her!
Paul Solomon is the former Executive Director of Sponsors, a non-profit organization that serves individuals with conviction histories. He retired from Sponsors in 2024, after working there for 23 years. Sponsors is recognized nationally, regionally, and throughout Oregon as a model for prisoner reentry services. Since retiring, Paul has worked as a consultant to organizations focused on issues such as reentry, housing development, corrections, and deflection. Paul co-chairs the Governor’s Racial Justice Council on Criminal Justice Reform and Police Accountability, and serves on the Governor’s Reentry Council and the University of Oregon’s Institutional Review Board. He is a past chair of the Dave’s Killer Bread Foundation, Lane County’s Public Safety Coordinating Council, and Lane County’s Reentry Task Force and previous vice-chair of the Oregon Public Defense Services Commission. Paul is a national expert on the development of housing and the delivery of evidence-based reentry interventions for people with conviction histories.
Oblio Stroyman (he/they) is a licensed marriage and family therapist; diversity, equity and inclusion consultant; and clinical supervisor. Oblio works with all types of people, developing models that promote healthy relationships based on the relevant contexts. He earned an MEd in relational therapy from the University of Oregon. He describes himself as a “white, Jewish, queer, transgender parent“ with an autistic son from a mixed-race family. He has been designing and delivering formal and informal training, for public and private organizations, in practices that address Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Justice (DEIBJ) since 2006. Often this work puts him in the middle of situations and structures that are causing harm to communities that he is a part of. And yet, Oblio continues to show up, day after day. He explains that “this work, how it is offered, and what we call it, continues to evolve” and characterizes himself as a student on this journey as well. He works to incorporate voices that represent perspectives beyond his own into everything that he does. He is a member of the team at Relatable, which strives to foster belonging and increased understanding for individuals, groups, organizations, and systems. Relatable helps to shift barriers and models healthy communication, empathy, connection, and understanding across diverse perspectives and positional power.
About the City Club of Eugene:
The mission of the City Club of Eugene is to build community vision through open inquiry. The Club explores a wide range of significant local, state, and national issues and helps to formulate new approaches and solutions to problems. Membership is open to all, and Club members have a direct influence on public policy by discussing issues of concern with elected officials and other policy makers. The City Club’s mailing address is PO Box 12084, Eugene, OR 97440, and its website is cityclubofeugene.org.
Video and Broadcast
This program will be live streamed, and the videotape will be made available on the City Club of Eugene’s Facebook page and You Tube Channel, in addition to our website. It will be broadcast on Monday, June 2, at 7:00 p.m., on KLCC 89.7 FM.
Contact: For more information, visit CityClubOfEugene.org.