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The Big Picture: Homeward Bound — Newport
\The Big Picture: Homeward Bound — Newport
Season 1, Episode 43 — Jan. 21, 2026 31:00
In this week’s episode of The Big Picture: The Voices of ODHS, Bethany and Shenika head to Newport, Oregon, recording live from La Roca — where the sounds of lunch, conversation, and community create the backdrop for a deeply human conversation about belonging, service, and trust. This installment of the ongoing Homeward Bound series focuses on ODHS staff who lead not just through their roles, but through sustained presence in the places they call home.
The episode features a wide-ranging conversation with Maria Calle Tamayo, a Newport-born ODHS staff member whose work begins the moment someone walks through the door. Maria reflects on what it means to be a first point of contact — greeting people in English or Spanish, navigating fear and shame alongside paperwork, and creating moments of calm for people who may not believe services are “for them.”
As the conversation deepens, Maria shares how Newport’s Latino community has evolved over time, including the growing presence of Indigenous Guatemalan languages like Mam. The episode explores how assumptions about language and culture can create invisible barriers, and how limited interpretation access complicates service delivery for communities whose needs are often misunderstood or oversimplified.
Maria also speaks candidly about her own lived experience — recovery, incarceration, family separation, and rebuilding — and how that history shapes her empathy and approach to public service. Her story reframes assistance as a stepping stone rather than a stigma, and highlights the quiet, relational work that helps people move from fear toward stability.
The episode closes with reflections on Oregon as a place of beauty, rain, resilience, and return — where community is built through recognition, memory, and showing up again and again, whether at a jetty, a grocery store, or a front desk overlooking the ocean.
Credits Hosts: Dr. Bethany Grace Howe — Communications, and Shenika — Community Partnership Coordinator, District 10 Produced by: Dr. Bethany Grace Howe Contact: Questions / feedback: [email protected]
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By Oregon Department of Human Services\The Big Picture: Homeward Bound — Newport
Season 1, Episode 43 — Jan. 21, 2026 31:00
In this week’s episode of The Big Picture: The Voices of ODHS, Bethany and Shenika head to Newport, Oregon, recording live from La Roca — where the sounds of lunch, conversation, and community create the backdrop for a deeply human conversation about belonging, service, and trust. This installment of the ongoing Homeward Bound series focuses on ODHS staff who lead not just through their roles, but through sustained presence in the places they call home.
The episode features a wide-ranging conversation with Maria Calle Tamayo, a Newport-born ODHS staff member whose work begins the moment someone walks through the door. Maria reflects on what it means to be a first point of contact — greeting people in English or Spanish, navigating fear and shame alongside paperwork, and creating moments of calm for people who may not believe services are “for them.”
As the conversation deepens, Maria shares how Newport’s Latino community has evolved over time, including the growing presence of Indigenous Guatemalan languages like Mam. The episode explores how assumptions about language and culture can create invisible barriers, and how limited interpretation access complicates service delivery for communities whose needs are often misunderstood or oversimplified.
Maria also speaks candidly about her own lived experience — recovery, incarceration, family separation, and rebuilding — and how that history shapes her empathy and approach to public service. Her story reframes assistance as a stepping stone rather than a stigma, and highlights the quiet, relational work that helps people move from fear toward stability.
The episode closes with reflections on Oregon as a place of beauty, rain, resilience, and return — where community is built through recognition, memory, and showing up again and again, whether at a jetty, a grocery store, or a front desk overlooking the ocean.
Credits Hosts: Dr. Bethany Grace Howe — Communications, and Shenika — Community Partnership Coordinator, District 10 Produced by: Dr. Bethany Grace Howe Contact: Questions / feedback: [email protected]