Alison Killeen

Rev. Alison KIlleen is the Executive Director-Organizer of Leaven Community and Lead Pastor-Organizer of Salt & Light Lutheran Church in Portland, Oregon, where she helps cultivate a shared community hub bringing together mutual aid, arts and culture, climate resilience, spiritual practice, organizing, and neighborhood connection. Her work centers on creating spaces where people across difference can belong, build relationships, and act together for the common good.

Over the past 15 years, Alison has led community-based work in food justice, anti-poverty advocacy, congregational transformation, participatory leadership, and community resilience. She is especially interested in how relationships, storytelling, ritual, and grassroots organizing can help communities navigate isolation, climate disruption, and social fragmentation while building more equitable, connected, and resilient neighborhoods. Prior to her work at Leaven Community, Alison served at Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon as a Co-Executive Director. She holds a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York City.