4. • The working poor made up 23%
of Multnomah County Households
in 2005-07.
• The median household income
for African American households is about
1/2 of the citywide median for all groups.
• In the 2000-2008 business cycle, Portland
had very little job growth
(0.1 percent average annual growth rate).
5. • Only 53% of Portland's high school students
graduate in four years.
23% drop out.
• Graduation rates for youth of color and
youth in poverty are significantly lower.
• The four-year graduation rate for Native
American youth is 39%.
6. • Chronic disease rates have increased.
• 53% of Multnomah County residents are
overweight or obese.
• Portland and Multnomah County’s total
carbon emissions are 14% below 1990
levels.
• We are doing better than the rest of the
nation, but by 2030 emissions need to be
40% below 1990 levels.
7. • Governing based too much on anecdote
and not enough on factual analysis
• Siloed and fragmented planning, budgets
and actions: internal and external
• Incremental change lacked context of
bigger picture goals
• Uneven accountability mechanisms
• Ineffective “hand-offs” when leaders and
staff change
• Projects not always people focused
12. City Bureaus and Offices
Environmental Services | Development Services
Parks and Recreation | Neighborhood Involvement
Healthy Working Rivers | Transportation | Housing
Human Resources | Management and Finance
Emergency Management | Equity and Human Rights
Community Technology| | Fire and Rescue | Police
Water | Fire and Police Disability and Retirement
9-1-1 Emergency Communications | Internal Business Affairs
Procurement Services | Technology Services |
Business Operations | Financial Planning | Revenue
Government Relations | City Attorney
13. City of Portland | Metro | Multnomah County
Portland State University |Oregon Health & Science University
Portland Public Schools | Parkrose School District
Centennial School District | David Douglas School District
Reynolds School District |Worksystems, Inc.
Portland State University | Portland Community College |TriMet | ODOT | ODLCD
| Regional Arts and Culture Council
Mt Hood Community College | University of Oregon
Portland Development Commission |
Home Forward | Port of Portland
East Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District
West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District
Multnomah County Drainage District No. 1
Built with Partners
16. All communities
need the ability to
shape their own
present and
future. Equity is
both a means to a
healthy community
and an end that
benefits us all.
A Framework for Equity
24. What improves prosperity:
Traded sector job growth
Innovation
Port infrastructure and efficient
transportation services
Attractive business districts and
conditions that support business
expansion
25. What improves affordability:
Housing supply adaptable to
changing needs of our population
Developing housing in areas with
good transit and services
Increasing access to services critical
to household success, like child care.
30. • Partnerships:
•Education: All Hands Raised
•Prosperity: Greater Portland
Inc
•Health: Ecodistricts.org
•Equity: Bureau of Human
Rights
• Linking to annual budgets
• 5-year actions
• New Comprehensive PlanPutting the Portland Plan into action
31. Sam Adams
Director, U.S. Climate Initiative, Climate Program
World Resources Institute
10 G Street, NE, Suite 800
Washington, DC 20002
www.WRI.org
Direct: +1 202-729-7934
sadams@wri.org
Twitter: @SamAdamsWRI
LinkedIn: formermayorsamadams
Skype: sam.adamsWRI
Editor's Notes
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this gathering
My congratulations to my colleagues at WRI India and the sponsors for a great conference
The creative and enthustic manner in which you are approaching your work inspiring
Portland is known for its commitment to positive change and resilient communities.
We were the first city in the U.S. to adopt a formal plan to lower carbon emissions.
We promoted new ways of managing waste and stormwater.
We are now a home for the clean technology revolution.
We linked land use and transportation, green spaces and people and poured efforts into creating neighborhoods instead of sprawl.
But, as we look forward, we can see that significant challenges stand between us and a more prosperous, healthy and equitable Portland.
Underlying strategic problems…
We all know that times are tough. It’s easy to think we can’t afford ambitious plans.
But, we also know that if we are going to succeed, if we are going to tackle our key challenges, we need a plan to guide us through the tough times.
We need a different kind of plan.
.
We need a strategic plan.
We need a plan that is resilient and nimble. The Portland Plan sets long range goals and identifies short term actions for the next five years.
Although the plan sets the framework, it doesn’t inhibit innovation in later years. We know we may need to use different tactics to achieve our goals in 10 or 15 years because circumstances, challenges and technologies will be different.
Portland has never had a real, complete strategic plan. We completed parts of a strategic plan, but we’ve never come this far before. We have completed compelling vision statements before, state of the art land use and transportation plans, we have collected data, we have developed indicators, and initiated action plans. But we have never connected the dots to create a citywide strategic plan that combines the facts with vision and specific action.
We need a plan for people.
In the past, plans started with questions like: Which is the best route for the train? Where do we need more parks?
Portland Plan is different.
It started with: What do Portlanders need? What kind of place do Portlanders want to live in?
Then we asked: How do we get there?
We are becoming a racially and ethnically diverse city. We have more newcomers. We also have more income polarization. Many Portlanders face institutional and social barriers to success.
For the city to succeed—all Portlanders, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, where they live, their age, income or where they were born—must have access to opportunities to advance their well-being and achieve their full potential.
Partnerships will be the driver of change.
Collectively, the local public agencies that operate within the City of Portland spend over four billion dollars annually on activities related to prosperity, health, and equity.
To get more from our existing budgets, the Portland Plan emphasizes actions that have multiple benefits, improve alignment and improve efficiency.
Staff from many agencies and community advisors, particularly from the health and equity communities helped write the reports and the plan.
Staff worked with a hands-on all volunteer community involvement committee.
Community leaders reviewed materials and leadership from partner agencies met quarterly to discuss the content of the plan.
Together, we will implement the plan and carry it forward.
And we worked very closely with City bureaus and offices. We need to coordinate our in-house work, too to get more out of each budget.
We couldn’t have done this alone. We worked with more than 20 agency partners, many of which have representatives here today.
What we need to achieve goes beyond what City government can affect. These inter-agency partnerships are essential.
In order to make this plan, we needed to understand the trends that are driving change in our city…and ground ourselves in the facts.
City and partner agency staff did extensive research to produce a set of reports on Portland’s existing conditions – on standard issues like housing, infrastructure and the environment – as well as unconventional planning topics such as public health, food systems, and arts and culture.
While Portland is known for its good transit system, proximity to nature, and clean drinking water, our review of the facts uncovered many challenging issues. (Susan mentioned them)
FACTS
Graduation rates are very low (only 60%), and students of color graduate at even lower rates.
Only 1 out of 3 graduates continue their education after high school, and college attendance is lower for students of color.
There are enormous building maintenance backlogs in our public school buildings; some students are trying to learn in rooms without heat, and under leaky roofs.
Average wages in Multnomah County are not keeping up with rising costs of living. The “working poor” now make up at least 23% of Multnomah County households.
Median household income for black and native American households is less than half of the citywide median [2008 - 47% and 48%, respectively]
Although we are known as a livable and walkable city, in truth only 45% of Portlanders live close enough to parks, grocery stores, schools and transit to safety walk or bike to meet their daily needs.
We gathered community ideas through surveys sent to every household, via social media, we learned from national experts at Inspiring Communities speaker series.
20,000 people replied to surveys or wrote specific comments on the plan.
More than 5000 people attended 300+ meetings and community events to discuss the plan.
Background Information
Surveys – Paper and online surveys to made it easier and convenient for Portlanders to voice their issues and concerns. We also developed a business-specific survey and youth specific surveys and received more than 19,000 survey responses throughout the Portland Plan process.
Fairs and Workshops – Portland Plan staff hosted 10 general workshops, five business-oriented workshops, youth-oriented workshops, four community fairs across the city; and three Planning and Sustainability hearings—two of which were located outside of downtown at Parkrose High School and Jefferson High School. Thousands of Portlanders attended the fairs and workshops.
The equity framework sets forth a new way of working that puts achieving equity front and center and identifies some of the specific actions needed to ensure that the Portland Plan’s equity foundation is strong and supportive.
The equity framework sets out an action plan to:
Make sure we consider how our actions affect disparities among groups.
Measure our performance.
Increase transparency and inclusion, especially for underrepresented groups, to improve decisions and build cohesion.
Take special measures to address the persistent disparities faced by racial and ethnic groups.
Strengthen collaboration among partners, the non-profit and private sector
You can’t track what you don’t measure. In order to track our progress implementing the Portland Plan, twelve citywide measures of success were identified.
The Portland Plan has three elements that work together to help us achieve our goal.
1. A framework for equity -- The equity framework provides direction for changing the way the city and partners work: how we make decisions, where we invest and how we engage with Portlanders.
2. Three integrated strategies -- The strategies organize policies and actions to address Portland’s top priorities, including creating jobs, improving affordability and providing high-quality educational opportunities and building a vibrant, healthy connected city.
3. Measures of success -- As we implement the action plans, we will evaluate progress by checking our measures of success. The measures are like vital signs for the city. Each one provides insight on Portland’s overall health.
Each of these elements share the same foundation: the nine action areas. We based our initial research and goals on these nine areas. But, as the plan was developed, we recognized that we needed more integrated things. You’ll see the nine action areas throughout the plan.
We also need a plan that recognizes that one size does not fit all.
The city is full of unique places and unique neighborhoods. We need a plan that respects local culture, history and the environment.
The Portland Plan will include citywide actions that will help the entire city, no matter where you live.
But, it will also include local actions, which is where many people will see change and results.
Portland’s districts have distinct issues based on topography, natural features and when and how they were developed. Some areas have been part of the City for 160 years, while others just for 30 years.
The Portland Plan recognizes that Portland’s districts have distinct needs and supports implementation measures that do the same.
It is important to recognize that not all parts of East Portland or West Portland are the same or have the same issues. In earlier phases of this work, we head that load and clear from the public.
The sub-areas include groups of neighborhoods and generally a commercial core or hub that ties them together. On average, the sub-areas have approximately 11,000 households, but there is some range. The least populous area, Hayden Island, has about 2,500 households and the most populous area, the Central City, has more than 21,000 households.
As we move forward, we’ll see how the plan is improving conditions in 24 local sub-areas.
Commitment to the City’s Economic Development Strategy w/ emphasis on traded sector growth, innovation especially in the Central City and NED.
Providing for basic needs of economic development – infrastructure and economically viable space for growth
Improving the pipeline of workforce for current and emerging economic opportunity
This is not just about providing affordable housing. This is about making it easier for people to meet their daily needs near where they live and making sure that housing for all incomes is located near transit.
Much of Portland’s affordable housing options are located in East Portland. Yet, transit service in East Portland is not great and travel times to job centers are long.
This is an example of what centers and city connections might look like on a map. Embedding this concept in the City’s Comprehensive plan will help us achieve this vision.
Potential 5-year actions include:
Creating 1000 new community garden plots.
Complete a Citywide housing strategy to locate new housing in and around neighborhood hubs, in service-rich areas – particularly housing for mobility-impaired residents or elders.
Address high priority gaps in the sidewalk system – especially in East Portland.
Habitat Connections
are forest and stream corridors and neighborhood tree canopy that weave nature into the city by preserving existing natural areas, restoring degraded habitat, and recreating habitat connections to improve stream water quality and provide travelways for native and migratory birds, fish and other wildlife.
Neighborhood Greenways
will be a citywide network of green streets and trails that makes it safe and fun to walk and bike in the city, while treating stormwater runoff. They extend Portland's greenway system into neighborhoods and provide park-like connections to natural areas, parks, schools, business districts and other key community destinations.
Civic Greenways
imagines Portland's major streets – such as Sandy, Barbur and Powell – transformed into premier streets for pedestrian safety, community pride, and ecological design. Civic Greenways would also improve neighborhood livability by making transit corridors enjoyable places to live, work and gather.
It is important to recognize that not all parts of East Portland or West Portland are the same or have the same issues. In earlier phases of this work, we head that load and clear from the public.
The sub-areas include groups of neighborhoods and generally a commercial core or hub that ties them together. On average, the sub-areas have approximately 11,000 households, but there is some range. The least populous area, Hayden Island, has about 2,500 households and the most populous area, the Central City, has more than 21,000 households.
As we move forward, we’ll see how the plan is improving conditions in 24 local sub-areas.
How will the Portland Plan be implemented?
Partnerships At its core, the Portland Plan is about doing more with less by aligning the efforts of multiple agencies. Throughout implementation we will need to continue to work together with partners to avoid duplicating important efforts to improve efficiency.
Linking to annual budgets The Portland Plan strategies and measures set the goals we need to achieve. Bureaus and offices will need to direct discretionary funds toward those goals.
Actions We need to elevate and advocate for the completion of the five year actions each year during the budget process.
New Comprehensive Plan The Comprehensive Plan is the tool we will use to implement the land use and transportation elements of the Portland Plan.
Measures We will track our progress. This will help us figure out if our actions are working, or if we need to adjust our approach to making Portland more prosperous, educated, healthy and equitable.
You can’t track what you don’t measure. In order to track our progress implementing the Portland Plan, twelve citywide measures of success were identified.