Season 2, Episode 3 - A Double Scoop of Schmidt Show PDX
This holiday week, we’re breaking from our usual co-hosted current events + one-interview format and bringing you two back-to-back conversations with people doing deeply local work in Portland:
Tyler Pell from Tennis Courterly
Katie and Nicki from Sisters of the Road, talking about the Finding Home report authored by the Welcome Home Coalition
Tennis Courterly with Tyler Pell
First up, Mike talks with Tyler Pell, founder of Portland Tennis Courterly – an analog, paper newsletter devoted to all things tennis in Portland. While it’s technically about tennis, it’s just as much about community, public space, and how we use shared resources like parks and courts.
In this conversation, they discuss:
Why Tyler started an analog tennis newsletter instead of going online
How Tennis Courterly is trying to “rebrand” tennis in Portland and build political consciousness around public courts and budget priorities
What it looks like when a sport becomes a vehicle for community-building, not gatekeeping
Where to find Tennis Courterly (in the wild):
Select public tennis courts in Portland
Players Racquet Shop
Old Town magazine store Chess Club (downtown Portland)
Mother Foucault’s Bookstore (Where I got mine)
Online:
Website: https://tenniscourterly.com
Instagram: @tenniscourterly
Sisters of the Road & the Finding Home Report
Next, we bring you part of a wide-ranging conversation with Katie and Nicki from Sisters of the Road, a long-standing Portland organization that centers the dignity and autonomy of people experiencing poverty and homelessness through meals, organizing, and advocacy.
We highlight the new report Finding Home: Lasting Solutions Rooted in Community Expertise, produced with Welcome Home Coalition that captures the perspectives of 650+ people experiencing homelessness in the Portland region.
One stat that cuts through the noise:
91% of people surveyed said they would move into housing if they could afford it.
This challenges the myth that people on the streets “don’t want housing” or “prefer tents.”
In this conversation, they dig into:
What the Finding Home study asked
Why most respondents strongly prefer stable housing over shelters or living outside
How a shelter-heavy response misses what people actually need
The importance of peer support, rent assistance, and eviction prevention versus pouring more money into mass shelters and sweeps
The broader myths and tropes about houselessness that this research dismantles
Sisters of the Road & Finding Home & Welcome Home Coalition
Finding Home report (overview, toolkit, and links)
Extended Conversation on Substack
We only included part of the conversation with Katie and Nicki in this episode.
To hear the full, extended interview and explore more of the Finding Home data and policy implications, head over to our Substack and become a subscriber.
Subscriber support helps cover production costs and lets us grow so more people can hear stories about folks working to make Portland a better place.
👉 Extended interview and subscriber extras: Schmidt Show PDX Substack
