694-2022

As Mayor and Police Commissioner, I request Council confirmation of the following appointments to the Portland Committee on Community-Engaged Policing (PCCEP):

I also request Council confirmation of the following extensions and reappointments to the Portland Committee on Community-Engaged Policing (PCCEP):

The full membership of PCCEP, following this confirmation, is:

Respectfully submitted,

Ted Wheeler
Mayor

Portland Committee on Community-Engaged Policing Reappointments

Lauren Ceaser

Bio

Lauren Ceaser is a student at Helensview High School. She is passionate about making sure all community members have a chance to feel safe, no matter their race, religion, or neighborhood. Lauren looks forward to contributing perspectives from her community and her peers to PCCEP's work.

Statement of Interest

As a PCCEP member, Lauren plans to use her communication skills and open-mindedness to build relationships and work towards improving the City of Portland. She aims to use her voice to make sure the interests of youth and people of color are reflected in policing.

Kevin Provost

Bio

Kevin is an Oregonian since 1994 and a NE Portland resident since 2002. He has worked in technology sales and marketing throughout his career in small- to medium consultancies and agencies. He is an occasional volunteer to local mutual aid efforts and to political campaigns, and is eager to contribute to the realization of Portland’s role as a model city in terms of environment and livability.

Statement of Interest

Kevin’s interest in taking a role the PCCEP is in fostering a sure relationship, built on clarity, accountability, and wise planning, between civilian Portlanders and those entrusted with public safety.

Robin Wisner

Bio

He has been involved in a broad array of issues, areas of the community and constituencies. He has worked from Gresham to Beaverton and from Portland to the State Capitol in Salem. He has volunteered in various ways for the Portland Police Bureau, including on their Hiring Review Board, Crises Response Team, Ride Along as well as several other areas. As a minister he serves on the Albina Ministerial Alliance Board of Directors and has been involved in several ecumenical endeavors. As an activist he has been responsible for either coordinating or strategically assisting a number of significant community projects, such as: the Rosa Parks Blvd renaming, Caesar Chavez Interstate name change attempt, the march to bring together City of Portland and Northeast community for Portland Police Officer Mark Zylawy (known as Z-man), and leading intervention in incidents of youth violence in the City of Gresham with the Chief of Police and the Mayor. He currently serves as City Councilman in the City of Maywood Park and the Community Engagement Director for Trust Lab . As a charismatic, caring person for the wellbeing of humanity he has been very successful in bringing people together from all walks of life in many ways: politically, socially, spiritually, etc. He has served with all the various levels of leadership in making our city a better place and challenging every known kind of problem we face. As many have said, the city of Portland is a better place because of him.

Statement of Interest

Giving back what others have given me--the choice of living in a safe neighborhood and great schools to send my sons and grandchildren so they can make Portland their choice to live with others who care about this city. Building Portland as our beloved community when we volunteer helps all of us be able to say we made the right choice making Portland home.

Gloria Canson

Bio and Statement of Interest

I attended University of Portland and completed undergrad and Graduate degrees from the School of Ed. While working on my degrees, a Youth Counselor position opened at Don E Long School, my stay there was for two summers. After graduating I was hired as a Literature and Writing teacher, Roosevelt High School.  I taught twenty-eight years at Roosevelt High School, Jefferson High School 3 years, and Martin Luther King Middle School two years. In the summers I worked as an Urban League Summer School Teacher, as well as Benson High School Summer sessions. I have been awarded five National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships. In the summer of 2005, I became a consultant editor for EMC Paradigm Publishing, which was adopted as High School Curriculum by Portland Public Schools. My religious affiliation is Baptist. Community Affiliations: Black United Front, Portland’s Rethinking Schools. I am a mother, grandmother, great grandmother and still yearn to learn. My reason for joining Portland Committee on Community-Engaged Policing (PCCEP) is because; It is important for me to invest my time and energy to insure a safe, trusting policed community, for my grand-children and great-grands.

Tia Palafox

Bio and Statement of Interest

Tia Palafox is a retired K-12 School Counselor from the Eugene School District.  She worked as a detention Group-worker at Skipworth Detention Center (Lane Co. Youth Services) meeting police with the youth about to be detained to complete intake and work with the youth throughout their detention; as well as an Employment Specialist/ youth counselor for teens who dropped out of school at Looking Glass Job Center (Eugene), while working on her bachelor’s degree in Human Services at UO in the early 90’s, she knew that she had a passion working with and serving youth who were really struggling. Tia worked in non-profit agencies that were youth centered, until she returned to get her master’s degree at OSU to become a School Counselor, she was hoping to be more on the prevention side, after building so many skills in intervention. While working towards her master’s degree in School Counseling in the late 90’s, her & her spouse at the time became treatment foster parents for SCAR Jasper Mountain Center and she became a Qualified Mental Health Assistant. She volunteered for several family & youth centered non-profit organizations in Eugene over the years.  Once obtaining her master’s degree, she became a School Counselor in 1998, starting off in rural Harrisburg, OR, then shortly after began working for the Eugene 4J School District.  While at 4J she made a commitment to equity & inclusion and became a leader for the Minority Student Achievement Network to “close the achievement gap”; attended hours of Center for Equitable Education trainings and became a leader for Taking It Up, the second part of the CFEE training.  She volunteered for Centro Latino Americano and helped educate immigrants on their rights when stopped by law enforcement.  Tia became specialized in suicide intervention & prevention while working with Lane County Mental Health & Public Health, as a School Counselor.  She completed the Initial Administrative program in Education at UO in 2009 and focused on alternative education. In December 2009 Tia had a massive stroke, which caused her to have a brain injury & disability.  Becoming disabled didn’t stop her, she continued to stay active in her community and returned to work as soon she was released to do so.  She said that she was able to have a new lens on accessibility and empathy for others with a disability. Tia retired from the 4J School District and moved to Portland in 2017.  She began volunteering at Buckman Elementary School (PPS); as well as at Rahab’s Sisters, a small program that serves marginalized unhoused women, as soon as she moved here.  She has been getting very involved with Portland’s unhoused community and is passionate about social & racial justice and mental health & wellness for our community members. Tia is very involved with her niece and nephew, who both attend Jefferson High School, and are the most important people in her life.  She enjoys traveling, especially to Mexico. 

Byron Vaughn

Bio and Statement of Interest

Currently working at JOHS Joint Office of Homeless Services, it is a County position of Portland. 25 years of extensive experience in leadership roles, focused strategic planning; and process improvement with having an equity lens. Equity Inclusion and Diversity. 2 years of being on the negotiation table for union contract , Was a shop steward for Local 2505 now with Local 88. Now on PCCEP Behavioral Health Sub committee and the Youth Sub committee since August of 2021. Homeless for 8 months and City Team And Bud Clark Center is where I was Living at for the time being. Tireless activists for racial justice and equity. Advocate for young black males. Byron is very involved In getting the black communities back in Portland. Born in Oakland California, Relocated to Portland Oregon in 1994.