Miguel (aka Mike Firm) is a Portland-based creative and education professional with a focus on multimedia, storytelling, racial equity, and community building. During the past decade he has worked in secondary and higher education, as well as the museum and nonprofit sectors.

Miguel currently works at RISE Partnership as their Director of Staff Learning and Equity, and he has an MFA in Collaborative Design from the Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) and BS in Mathematics from Portland State University.

He leads his work with systems-level, community-led, and relationship-based practices and values. Miguel’s role as a designer is to not only highlight the pervasive systems that adversely impact our conditions, but to also take actionable steps towards creating new and just futures with his communities. This requires an interdisciplinary, collaborative, and people-centered approach that centers design justice and participatory frameworks.