Category Archives: Community Involvement

Portland Seeks Input on Earthquake Plan

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The Portland Bureau of Emergency Management (PBEM) wants to hear your thoughts about our city’s newly proposed earthquake response document.

Having grown into a major city long before scientists discovered its unique seismic vulnerabilities, Portland is now expected to experience a potentially devastating earthquake of magnitude 9.0 or greater. Work is underway to identify those vulnerabilities and make Portland a more earthquake-resilient city. This work–now embodied in the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management’s new Earthquake Response Appendix–will help lessen the severity of an earthquake’s impact on residents.  See pp. 53-54 on how to prepare your household.

The Earthquake Response Appendix is a supplement to the City’s Basic Emergency Operations Plan and a framework for Portland’s ever-evolving approach to earthquake response. Soon, this document will reach Portland City Council for consideration. In the meantime, PBEM is asking the public to thoroughly examine the appendix and provide feedback.

To learn more about the threats facing Portland’s energy, water, sewer, transportation, communication and building infrastructures; to understand the roles elected leaders, city officials, emergency responders, the private sector and community-based organizations play in the context of earthquake response; and to understand the partnerships established among public and private agencies to help support this response, please read the appendix by clicking here.

To provide insight and comments about the document, click here and fill out the feedback form.

Portland OIC seeks hosts for Job Shadow Day

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From Asa Pritchard, career coach and youth advocate at Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center:

Many employment programs have been cut from Portland schools, thus reducing the chances our youth have to be successful in today’s workforce. I have come up with a plan – JOB SHADOW DAY! And now I need your help; just one half of a day is all that I am asking.

By allowing a student to observe you on the job, you are providing them with a firsthand look at the skills and knowledge required to succeed in your job and build a career. I know this may be a lot to ask. But we must look out for our youth in our city and do what we can to assure that our future will be in good hands.

This is just a general inquiry. I’m trying to get a sense of who is interested in participating and what positions are available to be observed by our students.

The students really need your help on this one. If you have any other contacts that may be interested please send them my way. I am very much interested in creating a Portland Job Shadow Day. With your help we can make this happen.

Attached is a “Host Profile” for you to complete and email back.

Thank you for your time, I’m looking forward to hearing from you.

Asa Pritchard
Career Coach / Youth Advocate
apritchard@poicrahs.org
Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center
Rosemary Anderson High School
717 N. Killingsworth Ct. Portland, OR 97217
www.portlandoic.org

Host Profile Form

N/NE Economic Development Panel Discussion

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Join the NECN Community Economic Development Council for:
A Framework for Community Economic Development in N/NE Portland

Learn how current state, regional and city policies shape neighborhood-level community economic development. Panelists will address how governmental policies and programs set the stage for local work and translate into community benefits.

Join us on Wednesday, February 1st at St. Andrew Catholic Church, 806 NE Alberta, Portland. Doors open at 6:30pm for networking and refreshments, program from 7:00pm – 9:00pm.

Panel Speakers include:
• Karen Wilde Goddin, Managing Director of the Business, Innovation and Trade Division, Oregon Business Development Department
• Charles A. Wilhoite, Commissioner, Portland Development Commission and Managing Director, Willamette Management Associates.
• John R. Williams, Deputy Director – Planning and Development, Metro
• Rey España, Director of Community Development, Native American Youth and Family Center
This event is part of an ongoing series. Please join us for this and future events as we explore economic development. For additional information please see the attached flyer, visit necoalition.org or call 503.823.4575.

Click here for the flyer:ExploringEconomicDevelwSpeak

Neighbors, PTA Pitch In on MLK Day of Service

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The community turned out on Monday, January 16th on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service to make a dent in the weeds and trash at King School Park. English ivy had taken over the south side of the parking lot at the King Neighborhood Facility and was hiding all manner of things thereunder. A robust group of neighbors, King School PTA members, and invasive species foes dug, hacked snipped and pulled all day. The result is that the strip of land is now nearly completely cleared and several truck loads were hauled away.

Thanks to a grant from NECN and the East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District, the area will be re-landscaped with native plants that are not invasive and that will thrive in the location while providing an easily maintained habitat. There are tentative plans to finish the clearing on President’s Day, February 20th.

Special thanks go to all the volunteers, Portland Farmers Market, Whole Foods, Starbucks, and Metro.

ABC’s of Land Use Workshop Returns

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Are you interested in learning more about Portland’s land use and development process?  Neighborhood associations and leaders often are asked to respond to land use notices or to help neighbors who are struggling with a land use issue. Many neighborhoods have a land use chair or other volunteer who is the point person for responding to these requests.  It can really help to learn more about how the land use system works and how to advocate for the community’s interests most effectively. Also, it’s often comforting and helpful to share experiences with other neighborhood activists facing the same challenges. 

The ABCs of Land Use workshops were designed to meet this need. The neighborhood coalitions, the Planning Bureau, and ONI have teamed up to host ABCs of Land Use workshop in different parts of the city a few times each year.  The next ABCs workshop is being hosted by Southeast Uplift Neighborhood Coalition on Sat. January 28, 2012, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Southeast Uplift office.

You can register for the workshop on line at:

http://www.portlandonline.com/oni/index.cfm?&c=57317
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