Welcome to the August 2020 edition of the Equity Lens! Since our last edition, the CCC has continued to grow as we welcomed new members to the team.
HERE'S A QUICK OVERVIEW OF THIS EDITION OF THE EQUITY LENS:
Executive Director's Update
“A Change Is Gonna Come”
Dear Members, Partners, and Community,
Over 50 years ago, in the throes of the Civil Rights Movement, Sam Cooke wrote the melancholy lyric “a change Is gonna come” to share his anger at being turned away from a hotel because he was Black, and to detail the larger laments of generations of struggle with the daily indignities and trampled rights of living in America as people of color.
Since the time of the Coalition of Communities of Color’s (CCC) last newsletter less than 100 days ago (just April, but it seems an eternity), we have endured much.
We have continued the trauma and violence of COVID-19 and our current recession, this rocky road to perdition gifted to us by an incompetent administration; we have endured the searing tragedy of the murder of George Floyd, followed by the revolutionary and inspiring youth-led protests that have gripped our nation and the globe; we have witnessed the heartless, mindless, even malevolent response by a wannabe totalitarian national regime, and the challenge of maintaining the focus on the fundamental reason for these protests: Black Lives Matter.
We are also mourning the loss of great leaders and friends, both national (John Lewis and C.T. Vivian) and the beloved local (our own Kaeti Namba of NAYA and Tony Lamb of the City of Portland). All left us too soon.
The Census process, a decennial accounting of all residents of the United States, is under siege from forces that wish for not all of our Black and Brown, multiracial, and immigrant communities to be counted, with the goal of diminishing representation of these residents in Congress and cutting into our fair share of national dollars invested in our communities.
In the midst of all this, there is hope, as there have been some incredible wins:
Your CCC team has persevered, and even grown by two, creating a burgeoning Dream Team of committed staff serving Oregon: Jenny Lee has rejoined the CCC as its inaugural Deputy Director, and Mira Mohsini, Ph.D. has doubled the capacity of our Research Justice Institute, which focuses on decolonizing data for the benefit of communities of color. Please reach out to them and welcome them, as well as the amazing staff already on board.
CCC and its members were instrumental in helping to secure $62 million for the Black community in federal CARES dollars for COVID-19 relief, creating the Oregon Cares Fund for Black Relief.
Portland United Against Hate (PUAH) and CCC have just completed a report detailing testimony from our fellow residents of police brutality from May to July 2020; this report uses first-person accounts to share activities occurring in our region.
Two CCC member Executive Directors, Nkenge Harmon Johnson, and Kayse Jama, one immediate past CCC Executive Director, Chi Nguyen, and CCC’s own Executive Director have been asked to join the Governor’s Racial Justice Council, to continue to fight for the rights of Oregonians to be treated with equity and to share in the bounty that is Oregon;
CCC has redoubled efforts to recruit members for the City of Portland’s Charter Review Commission, and otherwise lead a BIPOC-centered collective to analyze the form of government, voting methods, and other areas for review before this process is complete.
CCC continues to press on the issues that matter to our members and community: transportation, parks, housing and homelessness, the Portland Clean Energy Fund, environment, community-based research, police issues, education, early learning, and more. Call us for support/feedback on these activities.
CCC member organizations, Unite Oregon and PAALF have taken the lead on many issues surrounding policing, launching a new vision for community safety, and securing investments in Black communities.
CCC and several member organizations were involved with the recently announced ReImagine Oregon project, which involves all level of governmental leadership in our state (federal, state, regional, and local) making a commitment to work together in concrete ways to support Oregon’s Black community, a model that will serve as a template for other communities going forward.
CCC was entrusted with grant funding from Oregon Community Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, Libra Foundation, New Seasons, OnPoint Credit Union, and more, contracts from Washington County and Clackamas County and more, and even more individuals (a full listing will be posted shortly on our website). We are grateful for this support during this time of unprecedented challenges and are continually seeking more so that we can deliver support for our members to meet growing needs in our communities.
There are thousands of issues besetting our communities of color, and we disproportionately bear the collective brunt of the dystopian leadership afflicting America, but we will continue to work for you; we must still have hope.
Here is hope: in less than 100 days from now, we can make changes that benefit our region, our state, and our country:
We can vote. Candidates of color are vying for seats on the Portland City Council, Gresham City Council, Washington County Commission, Multnomah County Circuit Court, state legislative races, and elsewhere in the state. CCC does not make endorsements, but embraces such options, finally, being presented to the Oregon electorate; (Never think your vote doesn’t matter: a different vote 4 years ago could possibly have saved over 150,000 American lives).
We can fill out the Census and be counted (CCC representatives have co-chaired the process from its inception, and urge all of us to be counted so we can get resources to Oregon); BIPOC communities in the Census continue to be under attack from the federal administration.
We can continue to support those that reaffirm that Black Lives Matter, especially the Black leaders building this unprecedented movement, by following their leadership when we are asked to show up, providing direct and financial support, and taking action on the movement’s priorities.
We can follow, get involved, and APPLY to the City of Portland Charter Review Commission which will help determine the future of Portland’s government and democracy. Applications are due Sunday, August 30. CCC can help you apply. Contact jenny@coalitioncommunitiescolor.org.
We can continue to support the thousands of essential workers in Oregon that make our days livable and possible, many of whom come from the communities of color our organizations serve.
We can be vigilant in our public health and economic response to the pandemic and economic devastation, fighting to track and address the disparities that have led us to this moment for Black, Latinx, and Pacific Islander Oregonians.
Despite all, I remain hopeful that change is gonna come, this time, with this set of allies: this will be what gets us past the finish line. I embrace the hope that brother Sam Cooke did when he ended his classic tune with:
“There’ve been times that I thought I couldn’t last for long
But now I think I’m able to carry on
It’s been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gon’ come, oh yes, it will….”
Respectfully,
Marcus Mundy, Executive Director
Coalition of Communities of Color
ADVOCACY UPDATE
Advocacy continues to focus on COVID-19 health and wellness, police accountability and anti-racism work, maintaining economic stability, and addressing the revenue shortfall facing Oregon. We have an opportunity to dismantle white supremacy and anti-Black racism within our structures and institutions, and we can no longer ignore how these systems serve some and harm others, particularly Black, Indigenous, People of Color. The health and economic impacts of COVID-19 on all Oregonians—but in particular Black Indigenous and Oregonians of color—have been both devastating and unsurprising.
The state is facing a dramatic $2.7 billion dollar revenue shortfall across the entire state budget this 19-20 biennium, and a $10.8 billion shortfall in the next 5 years. The chairs of the Joint Ways and Means Committee released their 2020 Rebalance Plan for the 2019-21 Biennium, and subcommittees are meeting virtually to further flush out the initial proposal. The total cuts amount to $400 million, which includes $79 million in reductions to the education budget, although it appears they will seek to minimize cuts to education. In mid-July, the Legislature’s Emergency Board responded to significant community advocacy, including CCC’s, to fund the Oregon Cares Fund for Black Relief and Resiliency at $63 million dollars. These resources were an important complement to the police accountability legislation, led by the POC legislative caucuses, that passed in the first special session earlier this month. This legislation included reporting police use of force to the Attorney General; restricting the use of chokeholds; requiring police to intervene to stop the misconduct of other officers; establishing a statewide database of police disciplinary records; banning the use of tear gas, long-range acoustic devices or sound cannons; and restricting arbitrators from softening disciplinary action.
Locally, the City of Portland allocated $114 million in CARES Act funding. We saw investments in the following areas we’ve been advocating on:
$3.5 million for bridging the digital divide, which disproportionately impacts BIPOC students, families, and community members from accessing an equitable education, key services, and other resources needed during this crisis.
$15 million for business and nonprofit support, with an emphasis on business owners of color, undocumented individuals, and nonprofits which continue to be an urgent need.
$37 million for Multnomah County Public Health and COVID-19 Response including PPE, free rapid testing, and food security.
$48.5 million for household and housing stability, including the Joint Office of Homelessness Services, stabilizing families who will be at risk of eviction once the moratorium is lifted.
These investments are not adequate to meet all of these needs, and we call upon governments to prioritize BIPOC communities in future allocations of resources.
Our communities have been facing serious crises—from losses in jobs, classroom time, healthcare access, and stable housing. After hundreds of years of our Black, Indigenous, and brown communities being taken and murdered at the hands of law enforcement and institutionalized white supremacy, people in hundreds of cities and dozens of countries have been protesting in a historic movement for Black Lives Matter. Here in Oregon, thousands of peaceful protestors have hit the streets for over two months, with groundbreaking divestments in the Portland Police Bureau, police accountability legislation, and calls to address anti-Black racism and white supremacy. All of these inequities have culminated into a historic moment for us here in Oregon and across the country to center BIPOC voices, leverage the incredible people power we have organized, and secure needed resources.
Lastly, we’ve moved forward with endorsing two ballot initiatives for the November ballot:
Multnomah County
Preschool for All will give every child in Multnomah County the opportunity to start kindergarten ready to learn, grow, and be successful.
Statewide
More Treatment Measure will greatly expand access to drug treatment and recovery services throughout the state.
REDEFINE: ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE UPDATE
For the past several months, CCC, along with Oregon Environmental Council, Willamette Partnership, and the University of Oregon, has continued to move forward with the Oregon Water Futures Project. The project is centered around a series of community conversations with BIPOC communities throughout the state to learn more about concerns and priorities related to water. Community knowledge and lived experience gathered through conversations will ultimately help guide the development of a statewide water justice framework. This framework will connect community concerns and priorities to tangible policies that advance more equitable outcomes for BIPOC communities. Although community conversations have been pushed back to the fall, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team has engaged project partners through the following series of webinars:
Summer Webinar Series
State of Water in Oregon, June 24 (recording here)
Water Justice Movements + Oregon Water Agencies, July 22 (recording forthcoming)
Creating a Water Justice Framework for Oregon, August 19, 3:00–4:00 pm
Links to webinars will be posted here.
On August 19th, CCC will be hosting a webinar about the creation of a water justice framework in Oregon. We encourage member engagement in this important conversation. Please contact CCC's Environmental Justice Director, Taren Evans, at taren@coalitioncommunitiescolor.org if you have an interest in participation. Please note the webinar is currently limited to CCC members and project partners.
Portland Clean Energy Fund Update
The Portland Clean Energy Fund Coalition has been busy focusing on the launch of the PCEF Grant Program at the City of Portland. The request for proposals is set to launch in mid-September, 2020, with funds moving out to grantees in early 2020. Sign up for regular updates here, and check out the Portland Clean Energy Fund website! Learn more here.
Research Justice Update
The Research Justice Institute (RJI) welcomes a new full-time Senior Researcher to our team, Mira Mohsini, Ph.D. Dr. Mohsini is a trained cultural anthropologist and has years of experience applying community-driven and participatory methods to understand the everyday lived experiences of marginalized populations. Please welcome her to the coalition.
The RJI has focused its efforts this past quarter on collecting, organizing, and sharing data essential for the advocacy of our communities, consulting with researchers and research studies to center community needs, solutions, and resilience, and planning for sustainable research and data practices and strategies. Below are a few snapshots of our current and future work.
Portland United Against Hate (PUAH) and the CCC co-authored a report on police violence that will be released in early August, titled “Police Violence is Hate Violence: Testimonies of Police Brutality from the Streets of Portland” (available for download here). The report presents first-hand testimonials from Portlanders who were targets of or witnesses to police violence and hate during seven weeks of protests in support of Black Lives Matter. These testimonials were reported to PUAH through its crowdsourced tool called ReportHatePDX, where members of the public can submit hate incidents. We want to thank Ph.D. student Susan Halverson Fonseca, M.S., and the leader of PUAH, Rabbi Debra Kolodny, for their hard work and guidance to help the RJI complete the report.
We have launched Phase One of our research with Clackamas County, which aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of communities of color in the county. This first stage of the research is an environmental scan of community members and organizations that work with and/or support communities of color in Clackamas County. We have developed a survey that is being widely disseminated to better understand the demographic makeup of the county and to identify challenges and successes that communities of color experience.
The RJI has spent numerous hours working with OHSU to help center equity in their Key to Oregon (K20) study. This has been possible due to the collaboration between RJI and folks from the Decolonized Data Workgroup, including representatives from community-based organizations and research organizations, OHSU, Portland State University, Multnomah, and Washington County, to name a few. The group has helped to reshape various aspects of the K2O study, including developing a racial justice research charter, co-leadership on nearly every K2O study team, a new mixed-method study centered on community testing events, advocating for the hiring of two leading metro area evaluators of color, and providing education and training on anti-racist and decolonizing research practices.
Our community-based participatory action studies have shifted slightly to pair community-centered data collection with programmatic offerings to address the specific needs of communities of color during these two pandemics. Our project with Multnomah County Library has nearly completed its specific programmatic strategies for supporting Black families with children, with advertising and recruitment for various online events to occur in mid-August. Our Oregon Health Authority study on the barriers to accessing behavioral health care services in Oregon has convened two Steering Committee meetings and is currently developing culturally appropriate programmatic strategies to be implemented early fall.
To learn more about the various research projects of the RJI, please reach out to the Research Director, Andres Lopez, Ph.D. at andres@coalitioncommunitiescolor.org.
Bridges: Leadership Development Update
Now more than ever, we need representative leadership. Since March 2020, we have engaged in a strategic planning process to revamp the Bridges Leadership Development Program and recommit ourselves to our mission of advancing racial equity in Oregon through a stronger pipeline of leaders of color with more development opportunities, a denser network of connections linking leaders of color to each other and to leadership opportunities, and the dismantling of structural racism that constrains all our communities.
We are having ongoing conversations at the state and local levels regarding increasing BIPOC representation on boards and commissions. If you are interested in learning more about how you can get involved, please see our Leaders Bridge Newsletter for opportunities or contact SeeEun@CoalitionCommunitiesColor.org directly.
Below are two opportunities for our member organizations to engage students in their work. For more information on these, please contact SeeEun@CoalitionCommunitiesColor.org directly.
Lewis & Clark’s Engage for Racial Justice Event
In partnership with Lewis & Clark's Student Leadership and Service office, we are seeking member organizations to host an info table at an upcoming event. Lewis & Clark’s Student Leadership and Service office works with community partners in a number of ways, but this is a specific ask about our Engage for Racial Justice event on the afternoon of Saturday, 8/29/20. This year we've transformed our annual service day (20+ volunteer projects, 400+ student volunteers) into an on-campus race dialogue event. We hope to partner with RACE TALKS to utilize their community dialogue structure and are looking for a few more racial equity partners to join us for the final portion of the event where students learn about ways they can support racial justice work in Portland. Interested in hosting an info table? Reach out to seeeun@coalitioncommunitiescolor.org for more information.
Student Fellows through Portland State University
The Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies at Portland State University is seeking community partners interested in hosting fully paid student fellows to work on projects focused on responding to and recovering from the effects of COVID-19. We know that our communities, particularly those that have been historically underserved and marginalized, are suffering and that organizations may not have the capacity for recovery efforts as budgets and staff are under enormous pressure as a result of the pandemic. This moment offers an opportunity to rectify these through recovery efforts. We want to help by directing the knowledge, skills, and experience of PSU students toward community recovery through short-term placements with your organization.