Education

Portland has 6 school districts within our city limits. Schools are a central hub for many families and communities and there are many ways the city can intersect with these various school districts. One issue we are working on with my neighborhood community school is transportation and safety of getting kids to and from school. There is a committee working on traffic flow because standing outside before school is a terrifying experience. Even with crosswalks and safety patrol, there are near misses every day. A group of parents, school administrators and PBOT are looking at ways to help direct the flow of traffic, working on walking school bus routes and safe bike routes to get our kids to school safely. There’s a lot of work going into the for one school - and that needs to be multiplied for ALL the schools within our 6 school districts.

More on Safe Routes to School

Collaboration between groups, agencies and community education is helping solve this one need in our neighborhood.

In 2007 I founded Vibe of Portland - a visual arts and music educational nonprofit because I saw a need in our community for our youngest residents that wasn’t being met. I didn’t want to wait for politicians to figure out how to create more funding for the arts - I didn’t want kids to fall through the system and miss out on opportunities to express themselves through the arts. Since our first programming at a K-8 school in SE Portland, we have worked tirelessly to provide youth a safe space to create, connect, and express themselves.

This advocacy was well before the Arts Education and Access Fund (the “arts tax”). I served on the volunteer Arts Oversight committee from 2017-2022 and served as it’s chair from 2019-2022 where I lead our committee towards standardized reporting schedules and worked to add a logo to all organizations and schools to highlight where you Arts Tax dollars were being spent.

Now there is Federal Legislation taking shape thanks to Oregon Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici‘s Arts Education for All Act

I have officially endorsed Participatory Budgeting. It will be on the ballot in November of this year for voters to tell our city leadership that they want to participate and get involved with decision making of where our tax dollars go within our city budget.

Raising up the next generation of involved, invested Portlanders

Younger folks care deeply about some of our most pressing challenges and they are coming up with creative ways to meet and solve those challenges. One way that our city can get them more involved and excited about civics and service is through Participatory Budgeting or PB. This is where a small % of the general city budget is set aside for community involvement and input.

Youth Matter & Grassroots Democracy

What is Participatory Budgeting? - Grassroots democracy for all residents 14 an older!

The kids are doing it in East County. - Look at the early start of PB in the Portland Metro region