The Big Picture: “I feel it, too,” Jessica Ventura, director of OIRA

https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Podcasts221/v4/33/11/e1/3311e1c0-574a-7c1e-67c9-dbc4a1a7bec2/mza_5195918208340270181.jpg/600x600bb.jpg

Sometimes a Great Podcast

Oregon Department of Human Services

41 episodes

2 days ago

Catch up on this week's news from Discover and listen to interviews of staff from around the state.

Government

RSS

All content for Sometimes a Great Podcast is the property of Oregon Department of Human Services and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Catch up on this week's news from Discover and listen to interviews of staff from around the state.

Government

https://d3t3ozftmdmh3i.cloudfront.net/staging/podcast_uploaded_nologo/44437208/44437208-1758130448252-1e93b78ff4e89.jpg

The Big Picture: “I feel it, too,” Jessica Ventura, director of OIRA

Sometimes a Great Podcast

30 minutes 3 seconds

3 days ago

The Big Picture: “I feel it, too,” Jessica Ventura, director of OIRA

Season 1, Episode 25: Nov. 19, 2025

30 min

What’s inside The Big Picture

This week’s episode features Jessica Ventura, Director of the Office of Immigrant and Refugee Advancement, whose lived experience shapes her leadership in this moment of heightened fear and uncertainty. Jessica crossed the border at age five, grew up undocumented in North Portland, and carries firsthand insight into what communities are feeling today.

Jessica talks about why naming fear doesn’t make it bigger—it makes it survivable. She reflects on how “survival mode” became a path to service, and why strategic planning, community voice, and long-term vision are essential tools for supporting immigrant and refugee communities across Oregon.

The conversation also explores the ripple effects many are seeing now: veterans feeling retraumatized, small businesses losing customers, and families quietly making emergency plans. Through it all, Jessica returns to connection, honesty, and community as the strongest counterweights to fear. As Oregon’s people remind her that across differences, we share more in common than we think.

Credits:

Hosts: Dr. Bethany Grace Howe — Communications

Shenika — Community Partnership Coordinator, District 10

Produced by Dr. Bethany Grace Howe

ContactQuestions / feedback: bethany.g.howe@odhs.oregon.gov