From the offices of the County Commissioners: activities and appearances for early March 2022
Commissioner Lori Stegmann and Chair Deborah Kafoury at the March 10 COVID-19 Remembrance.
Commissioner Lori Stegmann
March 10 marked the two-year anniversary of the first confirmed COVID-19 case in Multnomah County. Joining Chair, Deborah Kafoury and her fellow board members, Commissioner Stegmann remembered those we have lost and reflected on all we have experienced at a memorial and illuminated remembrance walk over the Hawthorne Bridge. While the State mask mandate has ended, we need to be respectful of each person’s choice to to wear or not wear a mask based on their own risk level and and situation.
Bringing together the City of Gresham, Multnomah County Office of Sustainability and Landscape Architect Dave Elkin, Commissioner Stegmann led an Issue Forum on Climate Resiliency Interventions and techniques for reducing the impact of urban heat islands, specifically in the Rockwood neighborhood. The heat island effect is where the physical makeup of an area traps heat in the concrete in buildings and the asphalt such as roads and parking lots. Even during night cooling, the areas are two to five degrees hotter than surrounding areas. The heat also traps pollutants close to the ground where people live and walk and recreate.
The team working on a Climate Resilient Rockwood has identified a variety of solutions including planting 425 new trees, expanding green spaces and promoting green roofs, and removing pavement. green spaces, pavement removal and the promotion of green roofs. Taking care of our community so we can all benefit while reducing our climate footprint is critical to ensuring healthy neighborhoods. You can find a recording of this issue forum on her Facebook page.
Commissioner Stegmann is also working on solutions to community violence in our community through local public safety and justice reform. Last week she continued her discussions with Ctrl+Alt+Del-Hate:PDX, an innovative initiative to help mitigate targeted violence and violent extremism in the Pacific Northwest, and looks forward to their continued work to educate and bring solutions to our community.
Commissioner Sharon Meieran
Commissioner Meieran provides direct service as a volunteer with Portland Street Medicine, and her policy work is informed by those experiencing houselessness and providers doing the frontline work. To understand the landscape of potential opportunity, including alternative shelter models which Commissioner Meieran advocates for in Multnomah County, Commissioner Meieran toured the “Safe Stay Communities” alternative shelter in Vancouver, Washington, along with its partner Safe Parking Zone. Joined by staff at all levels, including Adam who founded the peer-driven “Outsiders Inn”, Commissioner Meieran was blown away by what Vanouver has accomplished. In particular, providers and individuals living in the site validated what Commissioner Meieran has heard from providers and those living unhoused for years: not everyone is ready to transition from living on the streets directly into permanent housing. Alternative shelter can provide a first step to improve health and safety, allowing people to begin to feel secure enough to develop the consistent relationships with providers that will allow services to be successful. And small, scattered sites can effectively meet the needs of a broad and diverse array of individuals in a way that other models cannot.
She also attended the groundbreaking for “The Joyce”, which will house 66 individuals experiencing significant behavioral health issues and provide the wraparound services that can support them. She joined community members at the “Eat and Greet” hosted by innovative service provider, Cultivate Initiatives, learning about the broad array of services and supports they provide to people living unhoused, and the invaluable work and training opportunities they provide. She attended the gallery opening at a joint event hosted by Outside the Frame and P:ear, two organizations supporting marginalized and homeless youth, including through opportunities to create art in various media. She also attended the grand opening of the Rose Haven shelter for women, children, and gender diverse individuals, and was a guest panelist for the Pearl District Neighborhood Association’s forum on alternative shelters and Safe Rest Villages.
Commissioner Susheela Jayapal
Commissioner Jayapal closed out the last days of Black History Month by attending the first Annual Interfaith Black Clergy Breakfast, hosted by Bridge-Pamoja and Coalition of African & African American Pastors; and the Allen Temple CME Church Grand Re-opening. She was honored to speak at Allen Temple, celebrating the rebuilding of this historic Black church in Albina after two devastating fires experienced in 2015. Black faith leaders have been a driving force in the racial justice movement, and play a powerful role in community outreach and services in Multnomah County.
Food insecurity is often tied to lack of affordable housing — Catholic Charities of Oregon’s Germaine’s Kitchen and Cafe is addressing both. Commissioner Jayapal visited their 16-week culinary workforce program for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The program, in partnership with the Joint Office of Homeless Services, creates employment opportunities and serves 1,500 meals a month to people living in shelters and affordable housing.
On March 10th 2022, Commissioner Jayapal sponsored Multnomah County’s first Abortion Provider Appreciation Day Proclamation. The proclamation was made in partnership with Pro-Choice Oregon, Planned Parenthood of Columbia Willamette, The Lilith Clinic, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon, Forward Together, and Basic Rights Oregon. The Commissioner was proud to proclaim from the dais “As a community that has repeatedly shown that we value the rights of all people to make the reproductive health decisions that are best for their lives, including abortion, we welcome abortion providers as an essential part of our community, serving not only residents of Multnomah County but those who must travel for care due to ever-increasing restrictions on abortion access throughout the country.”
Commissioner Jessica Vega Pederson
When a homeless shelter was first proposed in the Foster neighborhood in 2017, neighbors were upset, especially about outreach. In response, Commissioner Vega Pederson formed a steering committee of neighbors, local business owners, non-profits, city and county staff, and the shelter operator to improve communications and dispel fears. The end result was a Good Neighbor Agreement, that stipulates how information is communicated between the shelter and neighbors and how complaints are handled. Since then, more than 1,000 individuals have sheltered in what’s now the Laurelwood Center, and 300 people have moved from the shelter into housing – all without major issues with the agreement.
Commissioner Vega Pederson described the Laurelwood experience and lessons learned at a tour March 11 with Washington County Chair Kathryn Harrington, Commissioners Nafisa Fai and Pam Treece and Beaverton Mayor Lacey Beaty. With new legislative funding, the Beaverton City Council is considering where to locate shelters, while Washington County is similarly providing housing and services associated with the passage of Metro’s Supportive Housing Services measure in 2020. Obtaining community buy-in and support for shelters and supportive housing will be key to addressing our regional housing crisis.
She also celebrated the signing of another Good Neighbor Agreement, between the Hazelwood Neighborhood Association and Central City Concern’s Blackburn Center, that came about in part because of the Laurelwood experience. The Blackburn Center provides residential care and wrap-around services to those coming out of homelessness, but issues have arisen since the Center’s opening that needed to be addressed. After several months of negotiations, facilitated by the commissioner’s staff, an agreement was signed on March 4.
Commissioner Vega Pederson also attended a Love Is Stronger gathering at a Bullet Free Weekend event in Cully and co-chaired the first Gas Powered Leafblower workgroup, which is developing policy to phase out the use of gas powered leaf blowers. She also co-chaired the Earthquake Ready Burnside Bridge senior policy advisory group with Chair Deborah Kafoury, and attended the Multnomah County COVID memorial, the Muslim Education Trust’s annual dinner, and co-hosted a constituent coffee event in Woodstock with state Representative Rob Nosse.Upcoming
March 15, 6-7:30 p.m. - Commissioner Lori Stegman's Constituent Conversation with Representative Anna Williams
Join Representative Anna Williams and Commissioner Stegmann for a virtual conversation about the 2022 legislative session, impacts to East County residents and critical investments to support houseless residents and reduce violence in our community. Join us by clicking here.
March 17, 3:00 p.m. - Commissioner Sharon Meieran's Virtual Office Hour
Join Commissioner Meieran for her monthly office hour. The virtual office hour is an opportunity for community members to share any thoughts or questions they may have for the Commissioner. People can register using this link: https://forms.gle/LdZkbeTj5rNJoyBt7