About the Community Involvement Committee

Purpose of the committee

The Community Involvement Committee (CIC) will:

• Review and advise City staff on their engagement with the public in land use and transportation planning projects and programs.
• Not review content of planning projects; it focuses on the community involvement process.
• Work with planning staff throughout the City to ensure that projects have strong community involvement practices.
• Maintain and update the Community Engagement Manual.

Projects related to the Comprehensive Plan that are large in scope or that may benefit and/or burden different communities will include CIC review and feedback as early in the project as possible. These projects will also check in with the CIC during the project and present an evaluation after the project is over.

Other projects related to the Comprehensive Plan may come to the CIC for review if the Committee requests it or if staff choose to. The CIC will be kept updated about the status of all Comprehensive Plan-related projects. Planning projects that do not amend the Comprehensive Plan may also ask the CIC for review and feedback at staff’s discretion.

Community Engagement Manual

The Community Engagement Manual will guide City staff when implementing the goals and policies established in Chapter 2 of the Comprehensive Plan.The manual establishes the baseline expectations for all relevant projects. It also supplies a framework for staff, community members, the CIC and others to use when designing and evaluating projects to help keep community involvement work on track.

Background information

The role of this committee is shaped by Oregon Statewide Planning Goal 1 and Policy 2.19 of Portland's 2035 Comprehensive Plan.

• Oregon Statewide Planning Goal 1 requires that “(T)he committee for citizen involvement shall be responsible for assisting the governing body with the development of a program that promotes and enhances citizen involvement in land-use planning, assisting in the implementation of the citizen involvement program, and evaluating the process being used for citizen involvement.”
• Policy 2.19 of the 2035 Comprehensive Plan states that “(T)he Community Involvement Committee (CIC), an independent advisory body, will evaluate and provide feedback to City staff on community involvement processes for individual planning and investment projects, before, during, and at the conclusion of these processes.”

Application and selection process

The first seven members of the CIC were appointed in May 2018. A second recruitment in 2019 resulted in the appointment of seven new members.

PIAC vs. CIC

Both the CIC and Public Involvement Advisory Council (PIAC) are charged with improving the City’s involvement of the community in government planning and decision-making. Both do their work by setting standards (the City’s Public Involvement Principles and the goals and policies of Chapter 2) and supporting staff to meet those standards.

The PIAC provides citywide support and guidance on public involvement guidelines, policies and practices. In this role, PIAC focuses on specific issues with citywide application and provides input to individual bureaus on efforts to engage the public. Based on its charter and the capacity of volunteer members, PIAC does not work on individual projects within a single bureau, nor does it have any monitoring or oversight responsibilities.

The CIC’s role is limited to oversight of projects related to the Comprehensive Plan. It works on individual projects and has oversight and evaluation responsibilities. While the two committees’ roles are different, they are complementary. The CIC will benefit from ongoing communication with PIAC to share lessons learned and inform each other’s work.

Will the CIC act as a watchdog?

The CIC will not take on an ombudsman role or a policing role, but it will be sensitive to issues rising up from individuals and organizations. Community members with concerns or suggestions about community involvement in Comprehensive Plan-related projects should first contact project staff. This will allow concerns to be addressed more directly and efficiently and give the CIC room to focus on the main body of their work. However, if these concerns are not addressed at the staff level, community members may bring their concerns to the CIC. The objective of the CIC in these situations is to identify what can be improved at a systemic level and support staff to make those improvements.

Committee members

City Code calls for the CIC to have 5 to 12 volunteer members, serving three-year terms.

Current CIC members

Susan Novak

Susan lives in SE Portland and is a partially retired consultant addressing issues of social inclusion, involuntary resettlement, ethnic minorities, and environmental management in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Susan has served a previous partial term on the CIC and is currently on her first full term. She has extensive background in working with different cultures and communities and speaks 4 languages (Spanish, English, French, Khmer).

Calvin Hoff

Calvin has a passion for empowering community members to participate in processes that impact their own communities. After moving to Portland from south suburban Chicago in 2016, they spent four years working at Venture Portland supporting Portland's 50 neighborhood business districts. As a recent graduate of the University of Oregon's Master of Regional & Community Planning Program, they are currently conducting research on immigrant experiences on decision-making bodies in Oregon. In their free time, Calvin enjoys watching live music and riding their bicycle.

Term: October 2022 – October 2025