The Future of Community Engagement at the City of Portland
The City of Portland will have an Engagement Officer who oversees the Office of Community & Civic Life and directly reports to the Assistant City Administrator, located in the City Administrator’s Office. This project is being led by the Transition Team and the recently adopted FY 2024-25 budget includes ongoing funding for the position.
The Engagement Officer will play a vital role in ensuring that all Portlanders have access to meaningful opportunities to participate in decision-making processes.
A goal of the Citywide Practices: Engagement Officer Project’s is to evaluate how the Engagement Officer may further centralize community engagement efforts, processes, and systems across all service areas. Civic Life and the Charter Transition Team are working collaboratively to prepare for an Engagement Officer by leading a project to identify:
- The scope of authority for the Engagement Officer.
- The initial priorities for the Engagement Officer.
- The ideal candidate profile for the Engagement Officer.
- The degree of future integration/centralization of community engagement functions across service areas
The information collected through research, surveys, and internal focus groups will be provided to the City Administrator, Assistant City Administrator, and Deputy City Administrators so they can make final decisions about roles, responsibilities, and authorities of the Engagement Officer.
Engagement Officer Job Posting Oct. 28, 2024, Closes Nov. 25, 2024
Job Opportunities | City of Portland Job Opportunities
Timeline
The following timeline is the most recent proposal for the recruitment and hiring of the Engagement Officer. The timeline may change and will be updated as needed.
Survey closed August 12th
We invited the community to offer their opinions about the roles and responsibilities of the future Engagement Officer by taking the Charter Transition Team’s survey! The survey opened on July 1 and closed at midnight on August 12.
The information collected from this survey will help to inform the decisions of the leadership team. Survey results will be considered as one part of a larger set of information the leadership team will use to make their final decisions on the future roles and responsibilities of the Engagement Officer.
You can also visit the Summer of Civic Engagement webpage to find the more engagement opportunities on transition-related topics.