Over the next five months, we are asking Portlanders to inform the first-ever Climate Investment Plan, a five-year plan to guide PCEF investment funds. The PCEF Committee will consider and then recommend the plan for City Council approval by the end of summer 2023.
We know that there can be barriers to participation, so we started this process with a survey to learn more about participating community members and create an inclusive engagement process moving forward. Included in the survey were questions about individual motivations to participate, climate change concerns, and which efforts to address climate change interested participants the most.
What you told us
We were thrilled to see a wide range of community members’ participation in the survey. Representation was diverse across many demographics including age, racial and ethnic identity, geography, income, and people living with a disability. We looked for differences in accessibility concerns and while there was variance across all responses, what we overwhelmingly found were commonalities.
Concerns
- Making an impact on the climate crisis was the leading motivation to participate.
- Wildfires and smoke led the climate change impact concerns.
- Creating home and building efficiency, health, and affordability was the most important effort to reduce the impacts of climate change.
Barriers
- Concerns that individuals and groups representative of PCEF priority populations are being excluded from these conversations.
- Lack of transparency and accessibility to information throughout the process.
- Ability to participate: Preferred participation times for all respondents were mornings and evenings during the week. Youth respondents favored afternoons and evenings during the weekends.
What we will do
This valuable information informed our next steps in reducing barriers to participation. We will take your feedback and make changes that will increase opportunities for inclusion.
- Continue offering a mix of virtual and in-person options with a variety of dates and times based on respondents’ feedback.
- Increase communication efforts toward PCEF priority groups and encourage participation in the process.
- Report back at each community input round what we heard, how we’re responding, and any decisions made.
- Explain how community input impacts decision making.
- Offer incentives to participate to individuals and groups most impacted by the plan.
We appreciate your feedback about our CIP process and encourage you to continue to reach out to us with your thoughts and ideas.
We’ll continue to post updates on our site throughout the CIP planning process.
Questions about the CIP process? Visit our website, or email us at CleanEnergyFund@portlandoregon.gov