On November 5th, Portland made history. With ranked-choice voting, we now have the most representative city council in Oregon’s history—one that is more reflective of Portlanders than ever before.
For the first time, East Portland, which has had little representation at the city, now has three councilors representing their diverse communities and unique concerns. The diversity of the new council is unprecedented: 5 people of color, 6 women, 3 renters, with ages ranging from 28 to 70.
Following the success of the 2024 election, we are proud to report that 91% of Portland voters found this system easy to use and that it has achieved our goal of greater representation.
This achievement didn’t happen by chance. It is the result of years of community-driven organizing, advocacy, and mobilization for systemic change.
Back in 2018, as the city prepared for its 2020 charter review, the Coalition of Communities of Color (CCC) advocacy staff began participating in research and policy development. As more established stakeholders expressed interest in building a new system, we quickly realized that if Portland's communities of color weren't at the table, no one would ensure the system worked for us and not just the status quo.
So, we stepped up. As a coalition of culturally specific organizations deeply affected by Portland’s governance, we set out to build a system that better reflected all Portland residents. In the years that followed, we held over 20 workshops to hear from BIPOC Portlanders about representation and the policy changes they wanted. We learned that a more equitable system was needed, so we advocated for an expanded city council and a new voting system where voters could rank candidates in order of support.
Working alongside many incredible partners, we successfully led the campaign to pass Measure 26-228 in November 2022, bringing these reforms to reality.
When we began, we had no dedicated grant funding for the project: donors made the launch of this work possible. We relied on grassroots contributions to fuel our work of breaking down systemic barriers for communities of color.
But this was just the beginning. We quickly pivoted to focus on the implementation of the new system, ensuring that BIPOC voters felt confident using it in the November 5th election.
As part of a comprehensive voter education effort led by our outstanding partners at Next Up, over 20 staff and volunteers canvassed neighborhoods, knocking on over 677 doors to directly connect with voters about the new system.
After we returned to the office, our group reflected on the canvassing experience. Story after story highlighted how strongly voters believed in the power of their ballot to bring about change. In a time when so much of politics is met with cynicism, these conversations were a powerful reminder of hope, especially from young BIPOC canvassers who had meaningful, real conversations with voters.
At CCC, we carry that hope forward through our mission of advancing racial justice through cross-cultural action. We know our work goes beyond a single victory or a single election—it is rooted in creating meaningful, long-lasting systemic change.
We invite you to join this legacy by contributing to this work and supporting CCC today.