Equitable Community Engagement
Civic Life programs create a culture of collaboration, expanding possibilities for all Portlanders to contribute their knowledge, experience, and creativity to address local concerns and make life better in the city we all share.
Our Equity Outcomes Statement
All Portlanders have the ability and opportunity to engage in civic issues that matter most to them and see their voices reflected in decision-making for a representative City of Portland government.
Evaluating progress towards the outcomes
Adopt key strategies for community engagement investments that contribute to measurable impacts for ALL Portlanders including Black, Indigenous, people of color, immigrants and refugees, youth, people with disabilities, LGTBQIA2S+ people, and systemically excluded communities.
Equitable Engagement Talks
These monthly talks provide a space and time for community engagement practice in the City of Portland. Community engagement practitioners can come to share City programs, projects, and services that strengthen community engagement. The goal is to promote a culture of collaboration in reaching and involving all Portlanders in civic life. Below are examples of specific topics covered and related skill-building resources shared:
- Future of Community Engagement, New City Engagement Officer Role
- Community Engagement Liaison Services Best Practices
- Language Access
- Portland Insights Survey Outreach and Engagement
- Youth Engagement and Immigrant and Refugee Storytelling
- Public Participation in Technologies and Digital Rights
- Report on Building Local Capacity for Community Engagement
Community Engagement Practitioners Cohort
Civic Life partnered with the Centre for Public Impact (CPI) to create a cohort of 25 dedicated City employees who worked together to reimagine equitable engagement practices.
Case Study: The Centre for Public Impact published the key learnings from the project.
Primary objectives:
- Building cross-bureau collaboration and community engagement coordination.
- Applying tools and concepts to build trusting community relationships with community leaders.
- Sharing storytelling practices that center communities most impacted by decision-making processes.
Portland Engagement Project (PEP) Results
The intended result of PEP is to create an equitable community engagement model that will help the Portland community and Portland City government rebuild trust and strengthen our processes to solve issues today and into the future.
Civic Life consultants worked to gain input from Portlanders, City employees, community leaders, and engagement experts to learn how our government can better serve Portlanders. Our consultant Pregame also created the facilitation process for the design of the new engagement framework. When Portland government changes in 2025, the City will have an opportunity to design and implement a new engagement model.
Read the PEP results, consultant reports, and recommended design process.