Portland Underground Graduate School

Aligned by our mutual commitment to accessible, lifelong learning, we’re thrilled to announce that Alder Commons (AC) has acquired the Portland Underground Graduate School (PUGS)! The previous PUGS stewards approached AC to see if we would be interested in carrying the torch of this incredible organization, and we are so excited to move forward with this opportunity!

It has been an honor to have the opportunity to guide PUGS through the last four years. Through curiosity, uncertainty, hardship, and mutual aid, we have witnessed this community come together to support and learn from each other. We are grateful to each of you for showing up with open hearts and minds, and we are deeply grateful to Alder Commons for taking the PUGS baton into this project’s next phase. As committed members of the PUGS team, we are excited to continue to grow with you in the years ahead. Go team! —  Lyndal and Steph

About PUGS

Based in Portland since 2013, their vision “is a community where everyone has access to the education needed to transform their lives throughout their lives.” They do this by hosting financially accessible courses with an anti-credentialist lens on topics such as People’s History of Oregon: Constructing White Supremacy in our State, Redefining Masculinity, Fundamentals of Electronics, Psychology of Racism, Anti-Capitalist Business, Financial Freedom, and many more. They are “fundamentally about lifelong education for social justice, personal empowerment, and Portland civics.”

PUGS courses will be hosted both in person and online, only now coordinated by AC Staff instead of by PUGS. Courses will include previous subjects taught by seasoned PUGS Instructors, as well as new ones! The Alder Commons space will host some of the in-person classes, in addition to other locations around Portland where classes were previously hosted including SE Uplift, Leaven Community Center, and Northeast Coalition of Neighbors.

Upcoming PUGS classes

PUGS in the News!

We’re also excited to share that PUGS was featured in the August 2023 edition of the Concordia News!