PCEF program update on COVID-19 

News Article
The health of our community, partners, committee, and staff are at the forefront as we consider the impacts of COVID-19 on individuals, families, communities, nonprofits, and local businesses. We are following guidance from the City of Portland and Multnomah County, our public health authority.
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The Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF) staff continue to develop the PCEF program alongside the PCEF Committee, which is charged with reviewing proposals and selecting grant recipients. We acknowledge that it is a privilege to do so and value the role of public input in the development of PCEF. So we will create new tools for collecting public feedback, while also promoting community health. It may be some time before we have certainty around an updated timeline. 

We are pursuing these changes to PCEF work and events in the coming weeks: 

  • In-person public events and meetings hosted by the City of Portland PCEF staff will be canceled or moved into virtual spaces.  
  • We are evaluating video meeting options for future public meetings, including PCEF Committee meetings. Please stay tuned via email and announcements posted on the PCEF website for further guidance.  
  • We are developing alternatives tools and methods for submitting input (web form, telephone, mail-in, webinar) to the team. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of prioritizing the health and safety of our communities and elevating interventions that serve the most impacted, especially our houseless community, low-income people, and communities of color. These are many of the same communities at the frontlines of climate change, which PCEF was created to serve. As we support actions to prioritize the collective health of our community today, we remain committed to work with compassion alongside our Portland community, partners, and the PCEF Committee to implement Portland’s vision of an equitable future through clean energy and climate action.  

Stay informed and take the precautions advised by health professionals to prevent the spread COVID-19. For the most current information and advice in Multnomah Co., visit https://multco.us/novel-coronavirus-covid-19.

If you have any questions, feel free to follow up with someone from our staff, email us at cleanenergyfund@portlandoregon.gov, or call 503-823-7713