ENB-11.50 - Cully-Concordia Community Assessment and Action Plan

WHEREAS, the Cully-Concordia Community Assessment was initiated in 2007 as an outgrowth of the Schools/Families/Housing initiative – an initiative launched in 2006 to recognize the critical interplay between healthy, family-friendly neighborhoods; stable, affordable housing; and community-serving amenities, infrastructure and services; and

WHEREAS, underlying this effort is the premise that strong schools and strong neighborhoods are inextricably linked; and

WHEREAS, the Bureau of Planning’s District Liaison Program, which works closely with community stakeholders on community development issues and opportunities, identified the Cully-Concordia area as a place with acute issues, needs, and desires regarding livability and development that could be addressed through a collaborative problem-solving effort; and

WHEREAS, the Bureau of Planning and Portland Public Schools agreed to launch this assessment as a pilot project as an extension of the goals of the Schools/Families/Housing initiative and Portland Public School’s Reshape Schools initiative, which considered needs of future student related to curricula and learning environments; and 

WHEREAS, Portland Public Schools’ public involvement on Reshape Schools led to defining guiding principles including: schools as centers of community, creative and adaptive to change learning environments, reinvesting in and redeveloping older schools with antiquated facilities, and connecting the development of schools to community development; and

WHEREAS, Portland Public Schools conducted a school facilities physical condition assessment in 2008, identifying opportunities at school sites, which informed the Cully-Concordia Community Assessment; and

WHEREAS, the study area for the Cully-Concordia Community Assessment was drawn to include three public schools.  Faubion, Rigler, and Scott, have specific student and facility needs based on unique school conditions such as: high percentage of free and reduced lunches, higher number of English Language Learners, high turnover of students, low neighborhood student capture rate, and inadequate physical space and resources to serve students, and overall physical condition of schools rated poor to marginal, along with one vacant school site located at NE 42^nd Avenue near Killingsworth Street; and

WHEREAS, the Bureau of Planning and Portland Public Schools conducted extensive public outreach that began with individual and small group interviews with over 70 people from organizations and agencies that serve the Cully-Concordia area, a student administered student survey, and discussions with local groups to learn community values, issues, needs, and desires affecting family life and student success in the area’s schools; and

WHEREAS, the information received from this public outreach was incorporated in the “Community Voices” summary of the Cully-Concordia Community Assessment; and

WHEREAS, the Cully-Concordia Community Assessment report describes the existing conditions, needs, and trends of the Cully-Concordia area and highlights include: increasing population growth with diverse populations; significant pockets of poverty; unmet local neighborhood commercial and business opportunities; affordable housing on the decline; lack of public facilities and infrastructure especially complete streets with sidewalks and developed parks, a community center, and a library; a lack of services for children including daycare, an early child development center with pre-school activities, and after-school programming for children and youth; and active community organizations who are making positive contributions to the area; and

WHEREAS, a Community Discussion Group of diverse stakeholders met five times from April to September 2008 to review, discuss, and comment on assessment findings, and develop a draft list of strategic actions for stakeholder implementation; and 

WHEREAS, the Cully-Concordia Community Assessment and Action Plan list is organized by four goal areas:  1) Enhance the capabilities of schools to serve as multi-purpose centers of community life; 2) Expand community business and economic opportunities for the benefit of area residents and businesses; 3) Identify and pursue improvements to neighborhood amenities and infrastructure that affect neighborhood livability; and  4) Contribute to community-building, connectedness and stability; and

WHEREAS the Community Discussion Group recommended allocating $15,000 towards implementation of adult English as Second Language classes as short-term high priority, to be funded by Schools/Families/Housing funds allocated towards Cully-Concordia implementation activities; and