Cascade Chapter: 2018 PI Works! Conference

  • June 21, 2018
  • (PDT)
  • June 22, 2018
  • (PDT)
  • Thursday, Catholic Charities Portland and Friday, St. Philip Neri Church, Portland

2018 PI Works Conference!
June 21 & 22 in Portland


Come join the IAP2 Cascade Chapter for two full days of sharing, learning, and networking as we discuss how to proactively remove barriers and create a more diverse community. The conference will bring together experts, community members directly affected by hot-topic issues, and public participation professionals. 

We've kept our ticket prices the same since 2014! All proceeds are directed back into the community through our outreach/scholarship activities.

AICP Credits are available to planners. Learn more about the credit program

Day 1 - Thursday, June 21, Portland, OR


8 AM to 3 PM, Catholic Charities (2740 SE Powell Blvd., Portland, on the #9 bus line; parking is limited). We will have three facilitated, town-hall sessions on the following topics:

  • Policing our communities together: public safety partnerships, facilitated by Ronault (Polo) LS Catalani         
Oregon law is alien and often not well communicated to New American and ethnic minority communities. Local public safety agencies have always adjusted Anglo American law to changes in our immigrant nation. Likewise, Oregon’s legislature has slowly been more inclusive of diverse cultural and religious values. Still, our police officers, prosecutors, and judges are daily burdened by historical racial and ethnic biases that continue harming newcomer and minority communities. Because both our communities and our criminal justice system public safety care deeply about our security in our homes, in our neighborhoods and cities – we have to police our communities together. Community policing is based on knowing that our communities know best what we need, and that our professional public safety officers know best how to secure what our families and businesses need. Community policing requires constant communication and trusted working relationships between communities, our police, prosecutors, and courts. 

Come join us to learn from law enforcers and community leaders as we address the struggles, lesson learned and ideas to move forward in community.
  • Home stress: affordable housing crisis among under served communities, facilitated by Christine Chin-Ryan
The crisis began in 1977 with the Community Reinvestment Act, which morphed from a regulation of lending standards to a demand for investment in low-income communities to increase housing availability. Over the coming decades, these changed lending standards, coupled with a decrease in interest rates, resulted in an overall increase in low-income community lending. This increase in lending created an investor demand for profit and caused popularized low-income securitization (i.e., pooling low income loans) and later gentrification of real estate development. Although gentrification is appealing with its ability to increase home values, channel funding into schools and restore aged homes, these deceivingly positive aspects are coupled with the displacement of original residents and loss of neighborhood culture and history. Gentrification also means that these neighborhoods also become unaffordable for low-income residents, pushing them further away from places of employment, services and community.
  • Community engagement: ensuring equality via equity practices, facilitated by Kheoshi Owens 
What are the best mechanisms to ensure equitable access to housing, education and employment? As the debate over some of these policies, such as affirmative action and affordable healthcare continues, it is worth exploring what these kinds of policies have wrought in the past and what can be done moving forward. Engaging people from underserved communities is one of the best ways to determine effective policy; they have the most experience and the most to gain from equitable access. Yet, true engagement takes an investment of time and energy that may not be prioritized in government and private sector practices. In this panel we will address this dilemma, and share solutions to effectively engage members of diverse communities. Among key issues we will address in this panel are ensuring representativeness, avoiding disillusionment, establishing governance arrangements and support, and changing professional and management practices in community engagement.

3 to 5 PM, No-host happy hour at Dot's Cafe (2521 SE Clinton St., Portland, about a 10-minute walk from Catholic Charities) Around 3 pm, the town-hall sessions will end and participants will be invited to walk, bike, or drive to socialize and network for two hours before the next event.

5:30 to 8 PM, National Dialogue Dinner at St. Phillip Neri Catholic Church (2408 SE 16th Ave., Portland, on the #4 bus line; parking available in the lot off Division St.) During dinner, we'll have facilitated "world cafe" discussion around the following questions:

  1. We hear a constant message that we are a divided country. What are the challenges to our work?
  2. How are those challenges affecting public participation?
  3. What might we do to support quality public participation in our communities and nation?

Day 2 - Friday, June 22, Portland, OR

8 AM to 4 PM, St Philip Neri Catholic Church (2408 SE 16th Ave., Portland, on the #4 bus; free parking)
Seven TED-style sessions with ample time to ask presenters questions and time to connect with fellow practitioners. Registration will take place from 8-8:30 am and then we'll launch into our amazing lineup, with just one room (so you don't have to choose between multiple great presenters). 

  • SUZANNE DONALDSON, Donaldson Enterprises - Indigenous Land Acknowledgement

Acknowledgment is a simple, powerful way of showing respect and a step toward correcting the stories and practices that erase Indigenous people’s history and culture and toward inviting and honoring the truth.

  • PEGGY MORREL, Metro + EMILY LAI, Momentum Alliance - Beyond Inclusion: Community partnerships for racial justice

What happens when a majority white government agency partners youth of color to try to advance racial justice? What are the possibilities and complexities of doing this work through the community partnership between Momentum Alliance, a youth-led social justice leadership organization, and Metro, the Portland area’s regional government? In 2016, the Metro Council adopted the agency’s Strategic Plan to Advance Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion after four years of deep and sustained community engagement. A year later, Momentum Alliance and Metro entered into an agencywide community partnership to help implement the racial equity strategy.

What emerged from the 15-month partnership between Momentum Alliance, is a message for all public agencies investing in community partnerships – Metro’s racial equity strategy demands more than just change within the agency. It’s a call to action for change within the people who work there. Through this case-based presentation, participants and panel explore the role of “community partnerships” in racial justice work. What makes a good partner? Why are “government” and “community” considered separate concepts? What should public agencies and the people who work there understand about collaborating with community organizations? And what does it look like when institutional – and individual – racism shows up?

  • CARLOS KAREEM-WINDHAM, Resolutions NW - How to facilitate with equity in mind
What is the purpose of dialogue, if not to inform our action? For the most impacted among us, dialogue without action is performative, and does not serve to alleviate suffering, or mitigate harm. Explore what it means to hold conversations that: centers the most impacted - asks who will be burdened, and who will benefit by engaging. This presentation looks for actions that can lead to more balanced and equitable outcomes.
  • LORNA FLORMOE, City of Eugene - Innovative outreach for the Parks and Recreation Systems Plan 
The City of Eugene Parks & Recreation Systems Plan outreach and involvement with Eugene's Latinx communities won the State of Oregon's Achievement in Community Engagement (ACE) Award. Learn about how this two-year project built common goals with community partners, leveraged resources, and engaged communities in multi-generational play and storytelling to gather input resulting in the creation of more culturally inclusive and welcoming park systems and environments. Hear how learning and relationships generated during this project continue to grow.
  • KIT COLE, Kit Cole Consulting - Storytelling makes for a good story
Kit will spend 20 minutes speaking about her work in Southern California for large public utility organizations and how she has used storytelling to connect with stakeholders and the public, followed by 25 minutes of interactive discussions with the audience and opportunity to answer questions. Raised by hippie activists, Kit sold out and now does public participation and tells stories for The Man. Find out how she is sharing her client’s stories (from projects throughout California) while still changing the world.
  • JESS COLUMBO, Med|Ed Digital - Storytelling for social media
Are you leveraging social media to its fullest professional potential? Whether you're representing a complex institution or a nimble non-profit, great organizations are built with great storytelling. Learn how to engage your constituents, promote your organization, and develop your own professional network for long-term career growth. Jess Columbo, of MedEd Digital, will share today's digital marketing best practices and proven strategies for successful content planning and social media marketing.
  • YEE WON CHONG, Yee Won Chong Consulting - Incorporating trans-justice into public involvement
Our society tends to look at gender rigidly – from birth certificates to pronouns to restrooms. How can public participation practitioners ensure that transgender people can participate in decision making when even an act that most people take for granted, such as using the bathroom, can be agonizing for a gender non-conforming person?
  • JOY ALISE DAVIS, Portland African American Leadership Forum - Creating the People's Plan
The Portland African American Leadership Forum (PAALF) People’s Plan serves as a powerful tool for research, organizing, and implementation. By viewing the community as the drivers of change, this project empowered the Portland Black community to assert their right to actively shape the city they live in. While traditional planning engagement models often intimidate community members through complex, technical language and processes; the project’s aim was to engage the community on their terms to ensure that the solutions are informed by the people they affect.

Early Bird Ticket Prices (Before June 1) Register here.

  • All day Thursday + Friday = $300/$350 members/non-members
  • Thursday evening + all day Friday = $250/$300 members/non-members
  • Thursday only = $50 per session
  • Student tickets = $160 for 2 full days

Email to become a sponsor.

  • Bronze $300 = Business advertised on social media/print materials/event signage
  • Silver $500 = 1 ticket for 2 full day attendance + all the above
  • Gold $1,000 = 1 additional ticket for 2 full day attendance (2 total tickets), a table to market your business + all the above

Purchase tickets today!

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