APANO Board Member Ronault “Polo” Catalani is profiled in today’s Oregonian.  Article link. His work with immigrants and refugees, and his current leadership with the City of Portland’s Office of Human Relations is highlighted.

Exerpt:

For more than three decades, lawyer-activist Catalani has mediated between the Old World of immigrants and refugees and the “new world” they encounter in Oregon, easing cultural tensions, solving conflicts and connecting newcomers to resources.

Known to friends and colleagues as “Polo,” Catalani — also a columnist for the Asian Reporter — is a humble, quiet man. His speech is deliberate, accented, sometimes almost poetic. He will call you “Sister” (“Saya”) or “Auntie,” or “Elder brother.” “Terima kasih,” he likes to say, or, “I offer my love and thanks.”

But behind this mild-spoken manner is a tenacious philosophy of how best to welcome and protect Oregon’s immigrants and refugees, whose numbers have climbed during the past three decades. Foreign-born residents now make up 10 percent of the state’s population, 13 percent of Portland’s, 18 percent of Gresham’s and more than 22 percent of Beaverton’s, according to census figures.

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