At city council last Wednesday, Ira Bailey and Marvin Dean, members of the City African American Network (CAAN) who work at the Portland Housing Bureau, presented the Black History Month proclamation written by CAAN members. Watch the video at the link below:
 A screenshot of a City Council Zoom call. A title on the video call reads: Portland City Council, Wednesday AM Session.
February is Black History Month, dedicated to acknowledging the struggles of Black people worldwide and remembering important people and events in the global fight for racial equity and justice. As Black History Month approaches, we often see organizations talking about equity without examining how they show up for Black employees and communities. While discussions are important, doing the work to make systemic changes is even more important and impactful. Here are some recommendations on how to value and embrace diversity beyond just awareness by supporting Black employees:
Actions to Support Black Employees (provided by CAAN in graphic below):
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Create and encourage participation in identity-based safe spaces and groups and include paid time for all staff to participate in these groups.
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Evaluate how many Black staff have achieved leadership roles in your organization and whether staff in comparable roles are paid equitably.
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Put intentional effort to making sure the diversity of your team reflects the diversity of the populations you serve.
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Review and adjust recruiting, hiring, and onboarding practices. Assess hiring practices for full-time positions versus part-time, temp, or seasonal positions.
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Include at least two to three People of Color and at least one Black person on every hiring committee. If you do not have the staff to meet this goal, invite Black professionals or community members from outside your organization.
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Intentionally design funding and services with Black communities in mind and with their input.
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Support staff engaged in equity work and hold yourself accountable to the work they are doing.
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Do not be afraid to say Black or African American. Black people have unique needs and lived experiences and using BIPOC can sometimes lessen the value of those experiences and needs.
 An infographic with a red background writes out the eight Actions to Support Black Employees.
In this issue of Street Cred:
As we approach the third year working from home, we might be looking for a change of scenery in your video calls. Tired of the off-white wall? Have a family member walking around or a cluttered workspace? Explore our new gallery of amazing PBOT-inspired virtual backgrounds we created with PBOT mascots, assets, and designs to spruce up that meeting!
 A screenshot of seven people smiling on a Teams video call. Virtual backgrounds depict different, animated scenes and Portland landmarks.
A virtual background can be a fun way to express yourself or show some PBOT love. Plus, virtual backgrounds can help to limit distractions or start a conversation while waiting for a meeting to start.
Here are the instructions for uploading these images: Zoom instructions or Microsoft Teams instructions. But don’t limit yourself. You can make these your desktop wallpaper or screensavers, too!
Portland Streetcar has a new community outreach team to work with riders experiencing homelessness or riding without a destination. The newly hired Rider Ambassadors focus on responding to situations where a security or police presence would otherwise be requested.
The new team will carry backpacks stocked with bottled water, socks, and other supplies, along with resource guides and smartphones to help riders who may benefit from social services find and access them. Our initial team of Rider Ambassadors come from diverse backgrounds and have a variety of personal and professional experiences that will help inform the program’s development.
 Three people talk to each other while they ride the Portland Streetcar during the Rider Ambassadors training.
“Providing more helping hands on the Streetcar is a way we can help our neighbors in need while also keeping the Streetcar safe and clean for all riders,” said Dan Bower, Executive Director of Portland Streetcar, Inc. “The Rider Ambassador program is an extra layer of community support and will hopefully reduce the number of security responses to non-security issues on the system.”
The one-year pilot program is funded by a Covid-19 Research and Demonstration grant awarded to Portland by the Federal Transit Administration. The grant is also funding Streetcar’s transition from cloth upholstery to easy-to-clean vinyl seat covers as well as new information screens at key stops.
Portland Streetcar expects to collect data, stories, and rider feedback at the end of the year to evaluate the program’s effectiveness.
PBOT is kicking off our first data self-assessment, looking at how effective our current data management practices are and what improvements we can make to better support our bureau’s strategic plan and objectives..
Data is an essential asset. We invest thousands of dollars and countless hours each year collecting, managing and storing data. These investments allow us to make decisions, inform the public, manage and plan our work, and monitor performance. However, if we don’t treat data as an asset, we’ll never derive the full value of these investments. We need to understand what data we have and how it is being used, how much care this data requires to be useful throughout its lifecycle, and make sure staff at the bureau are accountable for managing it.
We will be using two self-assessment tools:
Tool #1: Data Value Assessment
We want you to rate the quality, availability, and usability of the data you use to support your work. Does it provide value and meet PBOT’s needs? A survey will go out in early spring. Look for announcements here or in the Scoop.
Tool #2: Data Management Maturity Assessment
Over the next month, our data governance committee and other key partners will be assessing how we manage data assets to maximize their value. This tool uses a maturity model approach and can help us improve data governance, architecture, integration, and quality.
Both these assessment tools ask five key questions:
- Do we have the right data to make good decisions and meet reporting requirements?
- Is our current data good enough?
- Are we making the best use of our data collection and management resources?
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Are we getting full value from the data we have?
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What do we need to improve?
These assessments will help us write our data governance roadmap and business plan. They’ll help us meet the future data needs and priorities of PBOT.
Look for updates throughout the year as well as opportunities for feedback. If you have any questions or want to know how you can get involved, reach out to PBOT’s Data Strategist Lauren Spear.
Don’t miss PBOT’s next Lunch and Learn Feb. 23, noon – 1 p.m. with Francesca Jones who will lead us in a mini-course titled “Emotions, Outrage, and Public Participation.” This Lunch and Learn will NOT be recorded. Click here to join the meeting
As we told you last Street Cred, PBOT’s Communications & Public Involvement team has a new form to request services! One of the many benefits of this form is how it guides you through all the services we provide and ways we can support your program or project. On our end, it helps us track projects and collaborate with you.
Even if your project is a long way off, please use the form instead of our email to make sure we have it in our queue. We will be at reduced capacity for the foreseeable future and this form will make it easier on you (and us) to get your project over the finish line.
We’ll need your contact information, details about your project, what type of communications or public involvement you’re looking for help with, and a rough deadline. We’ll follow up with you to determine next steps. Note: it may take several workdays before we can assign lead staff or triage what needs to be done. Be prepared: projects may likely take longer than the standard lead times outlined in our Comms Services Guide.
Has it been a while since you looked at PBOT’s media policy? We recently revised it to recognize Hannah Schafer’s new role as Interim Communications Director. Please familiarize yourself with PBOT's Media Policy here regarding rules around interacting with the media, using social media, and referring media to PBOT public information officers. Failure to follow these guidelines will result in disciplinary action.
This is also a great time to re-familiarize yourself with our standing policy around posting to the public events notification calendar. Any time staff holds a public event, speaks on behalf of PBOT at a public event, provides professional input in a public setting, or represents PBOT at a function where decisions/outcomes may affect PBOT, the event is required to be included in the calendar.
Management Team is responsible for ensuring all their team members' events are in the calendar and their team members use it to coordinate with their colleagues and avoid conflicts.
We’ve noticed several events recently that staff attended representing PBOT that were not added to the calendar. This deprives other staff of knowing about your event in advance (we post them in Friday’s Scoop email), and it also has the unintended consequences of catching our PIOs and social media monitors off guard if we get questions.
Bottom line: don’t be that person. Follow the policy, post to the calendar. Thank you!
We love seeing these thank you notes. Thanks to Scott Cohen for sending this to us and big thanks to all the PBOTers making these projects happen.
 A scanned image of a card. At the top it reads: Dear PBOT, thank you for bumping our street (SE Flavel Drive). Underneath there are many handwritten signatures and thank you messages.
 Another side of the thank youi card with handwritten notes of thanks and signatures.
PBOT Maintenance Operations Street Sweeping crews got some love on Twitter for giving the protected bike lane next to the Moda Center a nice scrub. Did you know that PBOT owns a narrow bike lane sweeper?!
Screenshot of a tweet that reads: Thanks PBOTinfo for the bike lane scrub. Underneath there is a picture of a protected bike lane that has been cleared of leaves and debris.
Submitted by Tosin Abiodun
On behalf of PBOT’s Equity & Inclusion team and the Transportation Justice Framework Project team, we wanted to update you on the progress we’ve made on the project, what we have planned for the coming months, and tell you about opportunities for you to support this important work.
About the Transportation Justice Framework Project
Our goal is to create a framework that helps familiarize staff with existing transportation-related disparities in our communities. This framework will equip them with tools to advance transportation justice across our work. It will empower PBOT teams to provide equitable services to historically underserved communities. And it will keep us accountable to our goal of becoming an anti-racist organization. In short, the Transportation Justice Framework is a compass to make sure we are headed in the right direction in pursuit of equitable outcomes.
In January 2020, PBOT’s Equity & Inclusion team, in collaboration with the Transportation Justice Steering Committee, organized a retreat at the June Key Delta Community Center attended by transportation justice advocates and representatives from several Portland-based community organizations including Coalition of Communities of Color, Play Grow Learn, Rosewood Initiative, Portland United Against Hate, Unite Oregon, Verde, Albina Vision Trust, and Seeding for Justice (formerly known as MRG Foundation). Attendees discussed what transportation justice means in the Portland context and shared their vision for a just and equitable transportation system.
PBOT’s Equity & Inclusion team ran with this vision and established a project team to advance this work. Still, the two years since has been tough and difficult with multiple crises including the global spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, racist violence, gruesome killings of Black people, the disparate impact of the health pandemic on historically underserved communities, and climate disasters.
Despite these overlapping crises slowing our work down, the team remained committed to advancing the work.
Director Warner addressing attendees and answering questions at the PBOT Transportation Justice Retreat
TJSC members, Irene Marion, Tosin Abiodun, Marisa DeMull, and Timothy Pittman at the PBOT Transportation Justice Retreat.
Irene Marion discussing the People's Plan by Imagine Black.
Here’s the work the team has delivered so far:
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Disparities Snapshot: Produced by Shawn Canny, this resource offers an overview of existing transportation-related disparities in Portland where data is available. Salient themes include access, safety, environmental health, gentrification and displacement, affordability, and community ownership of the transportation planning process. This analysis provides the foundation for our framework. It also informs updates to the city’s Transportation System Plan (TSP) which sets out the long-term goals and policies for our system. Big shout-out to the TSP project team including Shawn Canny, Eric Hesse, Bob Kellett, and Kristin Hull for their partnership and unflinching support.
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Transportation Justice Foundational Research Paper: Last fall, staff across the bureau dove into existing literature about transportation justice and what community members think it means. What does pursuing justice through our strategic goals really look like? This paper summarizes that research, including a working definition of transportation justice and the core principles we need to consider in our work. It outlines some of the key outcomes and emerging practices related to the various goal areas laid out in PBOT’s Strategic Plan and other organizational imperatives. It also provides a list of Portland-based organizations working on these issues as well as a glossary of key terms and concepts.
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Standalone definitions of transportation justice and core principles: Don’t have time to read the whole research paper? We get it! This document has working definitions and good prompt questions so you can start talking about these concepts with your team today.
Materials live on our new Transportation Justice intranet site here. Please keep in mind that these are living documents which will continue to evolve. We know there are gaps in our knowledge. We will be engaging community partners in the coming weeks to validate, challenge, and help create a deeper understanding of disparities and these principles.
There is much work ahead as we continue to refine our deliverables with internal and external stakeholders.
We will continue to update you in the coming months as we interact with advocates at the local and national level, share deliverables from Phase I with community stakeholders and PBOT teams, and continue strengthening our relationship with organizations advocating on these issues.
In the coming months, the team will work closely with PBOT’s Communications & Public involvement team and consultants to package Phase I deliverables into clear, user-friendly language. We’ll also kick off a roadshow later this year to engage your teams in this work.
We encourage you to attend future Transportation Justice Speaker Series, hosted by the Active Transportation Steering Committee, as well as equity-focused PBOT Lunch and Learns. Help spread the word to your colleagues! We plan to host community leaders and transportation justice advocates to learn more about their work.
Big thank you to the team
It takes a village comprising of intentional, collaborative, and committed leaders to move equity work forward. I want to thank equity champions across the bureau, the equity committees of our Active Transportation & Safety division as well as in our Engineering Services group, PBOT’s Transportation Justice Steering Committee, the leads from our Strategic Plan Goal Steering Committee, as well as the managers, supervisors, and allies who offered their time, wisdom, talent, recommendations, staff, resources, and leadership to this project.
We completed Phase I of this project through the support and tenacity of the entire Transportation Justice Project team including:
PBOT’s Strategic Plan goal leads are Dana Dickman, Wendy Cawley, Kristin Hull, Katie Root, Tosin Abiodun, and Michael Kerr.
In my first Accessibility Corner column, I wanted to offer ways to make knowledge of and comfort with disability and accessibility more routine in our world. Remember, somewhere between 20-25% of the population identifies as having a disability.
In the last couple of years, I have spent a lot of time reading and building my diversity, equity, and inclusion muscles. I hope this column is as educational and enjoyable for you as well.
One way I’ve shared this journey in my own family is by giving nieces and nephews age-appropriate books that combined learning with stories. As Graça Machel-Mandela said: “Preventing the conflicts of tomorrow means changing the mindset of youth today.” I didn’t feel bold enough to recommend reading to my siblings, but buying books for the kids felt acceptable and actually led to some conversations between the adults as well.
With this learning and stories in mind, I was excited to discover the American Library Association’s Schneider Family Book Awards which honor authors or illustrators of books about the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences. Until recently, I hadn’t encountered books that gave children an approachable perspective of disability, especially through the voices of other children. Publicizing these books seems like a fun, educational way to start this column off, both for my fellow PBOTers as well as the youth in our lives.
Here’s a summary of one book from each age group:
“A Face for Picasso: Coming of Age with Crouzon Syndrome” by Ariel Henley. A memoir of twins with the disorder that prevents typical skull growth affecting the shape of the face and head. It chronicles medical procedures, bullying, and lack of self-worth. “Beauty is subjective. Pain is universal.”
“A Kind of Spark” by Elle McNicoll. Addie is autistic. She is strong and determined, even as she is treated cruelly by her teacher. When that same teacher discusses the community’s history of women accused of witchcraft and executed, Addie is committed to finding a way to honor these misunderstood women.
“A Walk in the Words” by Hudson Talbott. An autobiographical picture book that illustrates the authors struggles as a different learner, transitioning from picture books that provide context clues to books with just words.
If you are looking for a book to kick off your own journey, these are three I recommend:
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“Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law” by Haben Girma
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“Capitalism & Disability” by Marta Russell
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“Pride Against Prejudice: Transforming Attitudes to Disability” by Jenny Morris
One thing is undeniably true at PBOT: we work hard. Every day, so much is happening across our large and multifaceted bureau. But while working hard is noble (especially during the last couple trying years!), we don’t just want to be working hard for the sake of it — we want to be working smart. This means the effort we put in moves us toward our goals and delivers on what we, and the community we serve, want to see.
But how do you know if you’re working smart? Or if your work is achieving your goals? You have to measure it! Measuring our performance is a critical way we learn more about what works, what doesn’t, and ensure our hard work is most efficiently applied. Performance measures also helps us tell our story: with better data and intel on what we’re actually accomplishing, we can build trust with the public and spark dialogue about what we should try in the future.
A new way to get support with performance at PBOT
So it’s simple: measuring our performance is a great thing to do! But the actual act of measuring isn’t always so straightforward. What exactly should we measure? Is the data available? Once I have the data, what do I do with it?
That’s where we can help! PBOT’s Performance Team, housed in Business Services, is a three-person section overseeing PBOT’s performance management work. We help teams make data-informed decisions through regular status sessions with leadership. We also create and maintain dashboards on strategic and operational priorities and ensure PBOT submits regular performance information to the city’s Budget Office (more on that below). But we’re also here to help individuals and teams across the bureau (i.e. YOU!) think about their own performance work and needs.
Using our new, simple Performance Support Intake Form, let us know how we can assist you with a performance question or conundrum. Whether you’re designing an evaluation strategy for a new capital project, struggling with a performance measure causing you angst, or wanting a better way to tell your team’s story, reach out! Once we receive your submission, a member of our team will be in touch shortly to discuss how we can help.
Get to know the analysts behind the form
When you submit your questions, it will be reviewed by our small but mighty crew of analysts. Here’s a little bit about who we are:
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Emma Sagor, Performance Section Manager, leads implementation of our broader performance work plan and facilitates collaboration with teams across the bureau
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Aaron Kaufman, Senior Performance Analyst, helps with all things performance at PBOT, and specializes in analysis of capital projects, mobility, and asset management
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Gabriela Bermudez, Senior Performance Analyst, also supports our full performance portfolio, and is our team’s lead on budget, workforce, equity, and safety-related topics
Our team can’t do this work alone. We partner with other analysts and staff across the bureau to make data-informed thinking a more common practice.
Want to learn more and get involved? Reach out to Emma Sagor about joining our monthly Performance Advisory Group, an informal space to share and provide input on performance topics du jour.
Tell me more about performance requirements at the city
If you’ve ever heard the term “CBO measure” and been confused, you’re not alone! Who is this mysterious CBO, and why do they want to measure us!?
We do performance work in-house at PBOT to improve our own work. But all bureaus are required to submit certain performance data to the City Budget Office (CBO) on a regular basis. City Council looks at this data and so does the public. These measures are meant to reflect key performance indicators that explain what each program accomplishes or contributes to help improve accountability across the city.
As we build out a more comprehensive framework for measuring performance at all levels at PBOT, we may update what we report to CBO. We look forward to working with staff on this, as well as reading your performance questions via our new Performance Support Intake Form.
Happy tracking. Hope to connect with you soon!
Want to share a PBOT story here in Street Cred? Limit your copy to less than 500 words, provide detailed captions for any graphics, and email kailyn.lamb@portlandoregon.gov by 5 p.m. Thursday the week before so we have time to copy edit and proof. For longer featured articles please reach out to us first so we can target the best date for you.
Upcoming editorial deadlines:
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Mar. 2 issue [deadline: Feb. 24]
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Mar. 16 issue [deadline: Mar. 10]
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Mar. 30 issue [deadline: Mar. 24]
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