Thank You Commissioner Chloe Eudaly!
As 2020 comes to an end, we wanted to express our thanks and appreciation for Commissioner Eudaly. During her four-year term, she demonstrated her commitment as an unwavering advocate for equity, inclusion, and creating communities where all Portlanders feel like they belong.
She spotlighted critical issues for all Portlanders including renters, immigrant and refugee communities, and youth. Commissioner Eudaly also collaborated with other commissioners, bureaus and community leaders on the city’s responses to COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement, focusing on new city policies and initiatives to provide relief and aid to those hardest hit by the pandemic.
Most recently, Commissioner Eudaly led the city’s effort to earn the council’s unanimous support to allocate $2 million to the Oregon Worker Relief Fund, which provides emergency pandemic relief to Oregon workers who have been excluded from unemployment insurance and safety-net programs due to their immigration status. On Friday, Dec. 18, she held a joint media event on International Migrants Day with Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici and Oregon House Representative Andrea Salinas.
For more than two years, Commissioner Eudaly championed Civic Life’s role in getting all Portlanders to participate in the 2020 census, particularly groups likely to be undercounted, including families with children, limited-English speakers, and people experiencing houselessness. Unlike other census efforts, this was a historical undertaking as the city invested $600,000 in local outreach to “hard-to-count” communities.
“The right to be counted is the one act of civic participation protected by the Constitution for everyone regardless of age, status or background, and is the foundation for the rest of our representative democracy,” says Suk Rhee, director, Office of Community & Civic Life.
2020 will be remembered as a year unlike any other. It exposed many weaknesses and flaws in the structures and systems of our government but also the will our government has to address and fix these issues. While Commissioner Eudaly’s term is expiring, she shared that her work will continue from within the community. We look forward to her contributions in new and different ways to tackle the issues facing Portlanders in 2021 and beyond. Thank you, Commissioner Eudaly, for all of the ways you have served our city.
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OWRF Event
The Dec. 18 Oregon Worker Relief Fund joint press conference is now available to watch!
Oregon state- and local-elected officials and community leaders came together on Dec.18, International Migrants Day, to recognize the vibrant diversity in our community, acknowledge migrant Oregonians who are integral to our state’s collective prosperity, and reiterate the need to respect the rights and dignity of all.
During the event, leaders celebrated the successes of the Oregon Worker Relief Fund (OWRF), which provides emergency pandemic relief to Oregon workers who have been excluded from Unemployment Insurance and safety-net programs due to their immigration status. At the same time, they called for a permanent solution to the systemic inequalities faced by immigrant communities who are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 but have been left out of relief packages.
If you missed this event, you can watch it in English here (with American Sign Language and CART captioning) or in Spanish here.
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OB Hill and Swiggle Mandela talk during a Vanport Mosaic Constructing Civic Dialogues event.
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Grant Opportunity
As we reimagine and create new strategies to address conflict resolution, racism, and community safety that move beyond community policing, we recognize the need for opportunities for participants to develop foundational skills of their own around community conflict resolution and communication. The Constructing Civic Dialogues Program is a concrete way for the City of Portland to channel multi-year financial resources to groups doing this community-based work. The program will focus on groups who provide training in reflective listening, de-escalation, nonviolent communication, facilitation, disability justice, community dialogue, community organizing, transformative justice, restorative justice, civic engagement, and anti-racism work, as well as support for organizations that provide direct community conflict mediation as a service for free to Portland residents.
Applications are due Feb. 1, 2021 at 4:00pm, PST. Find out more about the grant here.
You are encouraged to attend one of the virtual information sessions to learn more about the funding and how to apply:
- Monday, Jan. 11, 2021, 7:00pm (CART captioning and ASL interpretation provided. Meeting will be recorded).
- Monday, Jan. 25, 2021 2:00pm
To register for one of the above virtual information sessions, please contact Carlee Smith, (503) 823-5905, Carlee.Smith@portlandoregon.gov
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NPPC Recruiting New Members
The New Portlanders Policy Commission is looking for new members to serve as a bridge between Portland's immigrant and refugee communities and City of Portland government. Members of the 25-person commission come from Portland's immigrant and refugee communities and work to shape, reform, and inform citywide policies.
Applications are due on or by Sunday, Jan. 17. Applications are available here in 10 languages.
Recently, the NPPC helped lead the effort to raise support for the Oregon Worker Relief Fund, which provides financial assistance to immigrant and refugee Oregonians during the pandemic. Kolini Fusitua, a program coordinator with the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization and a member of the NPPC, spoke at the event to bring awareness to the contributions of our Pacific Islander communities and the challenges facing them as a result of the pandemic.
“We work in the restaurant industry, the hospitality industry, and we work providing senior care. And because of the pandemic, there’s been lost jobs, lost wages, and we cannot file unemployment,” said Fusitua. “Having resources like this would benefit our community.”
Fusitua has been a member of the Tongan American Resource Committee for more than 18 years. In this role, he has linked members to resources and has coached community members to participate in local public budget hearings.
For more information or if you have any questions, please call us at 503-823-8548 or email Program Coordinator Marco Mejía at Marco.Mejia@portlandoregon.gov.
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Fix-it Fairs Now Online!
Have you ever wanted to learn how to repair your bike or mend a torn jacket? Do you need help finding ways to save money or balancing your budget? The City of Portland offers Fix-It Fairs, through the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, to connect Portlanders with experts – and each other – to learn simple, low- or no-cost ways to save money and be healthy all year long. Fix-It Fairs offer our communities resources, presentations, workshops, and skill-sharing opportunities on:
- Repairing your own goods like clothes, appliances or bikes
- Water and energy savings
- Weatherizing and insulating your home
- Gardening and growing your own food
- And more!
Civic Life’s own Community Safety team will be hosting several classes during this year’s Fix-It Fairs including a class on how to reduce social isolation on Wednesday, Jan. 6 and Feb. 3. You can sign up here. This class will provide helpful information on how to reduce social isolation by staying connected with your friends, neighbors, and family. On February. 24, Community Safety will also host a personal safety training that includes a variety of self-empowerment, assertiveness, and de-escalation options. You can sign up for the training here.
For more information or if you have any questions, call 503-313-3318 or send an email to fixitfair@portlandoregon.gov, and be sure to follow them on Facebook!
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Civic Life is Hiring!
Our office currently has two openings
Cannabis Business Technology Lead (Business Systems Analyst III) Do you have a strong technology background? Are you proud of your communication skills and ability to transform business and operational needs into designs and specifications for workable information technology solutions? You may be the Business Technology Lead we are looking for. Find out more here!
Livability Program Supervisor Civic Life's Livability Program provides a range of services and resources to address community livability issues, with a focus on the empowerment of individuals and communities to work together to make decisions that address both individual and collective needs. Find out more about the opportunity here.
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