Meet CM

CM Hall is a proud lifelong Oregonian and gleefully makes her home in Newport. She has long been a community activist, committed to equity and social justice as well as the belief that we are stronger together than we will ever be apart.

CM believes that it is her work experience as well as her volunteer activities that have prepared her to run and serve the Newport City Council. Professionally, CM has managed careers in the fields of interpreting grant administration, teaching, and campaign management and issue advocacy. She is a nationally-certified sign language interpreter, having earned a Bachelor's in Interpreting from Western Oregon University and a Master's in Education with an emphasis in LGBTQ and Gender Studies from Oregon State University.

For nineteen years, until October 2025, CM worked at Western Oregon University as the Co-Director for the Protactile Language Interpreting National Education Program - an interpreter training grant funded by the U.Sl Department of Education to prepare sign language interpreters across the country who work with a highly specialized population - DeafBlind individuals - as they are using a new language called Protactile. Sadly, the current Administration notified CM in September 2025 that they would not receive the fifth year of their grant’s funding simply due to the phrase “diversity, equity, and inclusion” being found in a keyword search from their 2021 grant application to the Department of Education. Contextually, there is considerable diversity in terms of vision and hearing loss and language acquistion in the DeafBlind community and how interpreters equitably serve and include the needs of these DeafBlind individuals does indeed vary. That did not matter. There were over 13,000 users in the 13 online modules that had been created for interpreters and professionals serving DeafBlind individuals across the country. That did not matter. CM had to inform those 13,000 users to hurry and finish working in the 13 modules with 3 weeks notice. The national DeafBlind interpreter training grant was solely pulled because of FOUR WORDS: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The loss of this interpreter training grant will have wide-reaching reverberations for decades that will adversely impact the DeafBlind community and their access to culturally-competent interpreters who desire to work honorably and skillfully with this highly specialized population.

From 2008 to 2025, CM also taught DeafBlind Culture, Communication & CoNavigating as well as LGBTQ sociology courses to students enrolled at Western Oregon University. Among her professional accomplishments, CM co-created DiscoverInterpreting.com, to encourage those considering a career in interpreting. She created and ran an active Facebook group of over 17,000 interpreters. CM has provided national trainings and workshops on topics related to interpreting and for several years provided ongoing professional development for the sign language interpreters on Guam and Saipan.

CM now works as the executive director for Emerge Oregon, bringing her background as an educator, political strategist, and fundraiser for nonprofit organizations and campaigns to training for women interested in running for office.

CM has been recognized for her advocacy work by Basic Rights Oregon, Pride Northwest, the Gay & Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest, Campus Pride, the Human Rights Campaign, the Oregon Association of the Deaf, the Oregon Deaf & Hard of Hearing Advisory Committee, the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, and Western Oregon University’s Stonewall Center. CM is proud of these honors as they represent projects and collaborations with many individuals over the years. In 2015, she was invited to present at a TEDx on the topic of linguistic access as a social justice issue. CM founded Newport Oregon Pride and has been involved with Central Coast NOW, Oregon Coast PFLAG, the Central Coast UU Fellowship and the former Lemonade Project at the Newport Farmers Market. She is a graduate of Leadership Lincoln, is a Senior Fellow with the American Leadership Forum, and currently serves on the boards of Oregon Humanities and the League of Oregon Cities. She has also produced two seasons of the Her Own Wings podcast featuring Oregon women in elected leadership.

Since being elected to the Newport City Council in 2018, CM has served as liaison to the Bike & Pedestrian Committee, the 60+ Activity Center Committee, and the Parks & Rec Committee. She has also served as Vice Chair for the Urban Renewal Agency and two terms as Council President.

It is these experiences, along with CM's passion and vision, that have prepared her to serve as a member of the Newport City Council. 

CM with Callie at South Beach State Park