On March 10, City Council formally approved Ordinance No. 190321, authorizing the hiring of two coordinator positions within the Office of Community Civic Life to directly support neighborhood associations in Southwest Portland. The Ordinance also authorized Civic Life to enter into a grant agreement with a nonprofit organization to provide liability insurance coverage for neighborhood associations and place-based community groups in Southwest Portland. After the passing of the Ordinance, Civic Life released their 100-day plan to help us focus on swiftly executing the plan.
We are happy to report that we are on track for completing our 100-day plan:
Insurance Coverage
In April, Civic Life launched a RFP for a qualified nonprofit organization to provide liability insurance coverage to Southwest neighborhoods. Through Civic Life’s public request for proposals process, East Portland Neighbors, in partnership with North Portland Neighborhood Services, Inc., was selected in May and our office is currently coordinating their agreement process.
As nonprofit partners, EPN and NPNS Inc. currently provide insurance to their respective City-run district coalition regions and are highly experienced in working with Civic Life, neighborhood associations, volunteer groups, and insurance brokers to successfully provide coverage.
Tom Badrick of EPN and Thomas Karwaki of NPNS Inc. will serve as the main points of contact for insurance. They can be reached at swneighborsinsurance@gmail.com.
Staffing to Support Southwest Neighborhood
In May, Civic Life posted on the City of Portland’s job website two open coordinator positions to provide programming and communications support to the SW Neighborhood. We had more than 80 applications submitted for the two positions. Civic Life and Human Resources are currently reviewing applications and will begin the interview process shortly. We will continue to keep you up to date on the hiring process.