News and Announcements

State of the Alliance - October 1, 2026

(10/01/2026)

This is your weekly informal update from the PLA President. It's happened on Thursday three weeks in a row now, so it's officially a Thursday Thing now.

Shorter update this time. Most of my effort this week has gone into preparing a budget proposal for the rest of Fiscal Year 27 (July 2026 - June 2027), including working a lot with Carslyle to hammer out a budget for Kinkfest 27. I'm happy to say that we have a full proposal for the PLA that I believe to be defensible and financially sustainable. We'll present this at our Board meeting next Tuesday, October 6.

We've also been preparing logistics for the Board general election. Anyone looking to run for the Board must either self-nominate or have someone else nominate them at the October 6 Board meeting to be included on the ballot. Candidates will have the opportunity after the meeting to submit a written statement on their qualifications and goals as a Board member, to be included with the ballot sent to members in mid-October.

Aside from that, the PLA Space committee has been doing some back-office work, figuring out billing and rental agreements to begin opening the space to outside groups. You can check out an overview we wrote here, and check the PLA Space account in the next few days for a more detailed breakdown of our accessibility audit and ongoing improvements for users of wheelchairs and other mobility devices.

The Kinkfest Core Team has also started meetings, in the early stages of planning and logistics for KF27. Likewise, the Community Education Committee has been putting together lists of BIPOC and Leather educators to bring (back) to teach for the PLA in the coming months.

Finally, Board members have been meeting individually with our DEI consultant Erin Waters to process the feedback we heard in and around our listening session two weeks ago. The survey we created for that remains open here for anything you'd like to pass onto the Board.

https://www.portlandleather.org/survey.php?menu=showsurvey&surveyid=4

And as always, my inbox is open at president@portlandleather.org, and the Board as a whole can be reached at board@portlandleather.org. Feel free to reach out to either with any questions or concerns for the Board.

Yours in Leather,
Andy, PLA President