Tuesday, February 8
6:00 p.m. — Portland Public Schools Board Meeting
Portland Public Schools’ school board will hold a regularly scheduled meeting. An agenda for the meeting is online and contains public comment opportunities for PPS’s new climate crisis response policy. The meeting will be in person but it will also be streamed on YouTube. Those who wish to testify at the meeting will need to sign up in advance.
Wednesday, February 9
Police murdered Quanice “Moose” Hayes on February 9, 2017. This year is the fifth anniversary. Our thoughts are with his family, who also lost Hayes’ great-grandmother — long-time activist Sylvia Dollarson — in January.
5:00 p.m. — Youth Voice Youth Vote Participatory Budgeting East County Information Session
Participatory Budgeting Oregon, in partnership with other local organizations, is holding an information session for youth in East County who are interested in taking part in a project to impact how federal funds are spent in East County. The session will be held on Zoom and attendees need to register in advance.
6:00 p.m. — Portland Drinking Water Town Hall with Commissioner Mingus Mapps
The Portland Water Bureau is hosting a town hall with City Commissioner Mingus Mapps to discuss lead in Portland’s drinking water. This may be a good opportunity to ask the city to provide free lead filters to residents who need them, as well as more transparency. The town hall will be held on Zoom and attendees need to register in advance.
Thursday, February 10
TBA — City Employees Strike Starts
Employees of the City of Portland who belong to one of the member organizations of the District Council of Trade Unions are planning to go on strike starting Thursday. While there are no public events scheduled so far, check in on DCTU’s Facebook page for plans as the date gets closer. In addition to planning time to support strikers, make sure to handle any business with city agencies before Thursday if you’re dealing with something that can’t wait until after any strike actions end.
3:15 p.m. — State Legislature Committee Hearing on HB 4131
The Oregon State House Committee on Judiciary will hold a public hearing on House Bill 4131, which rolls back parts of a 2021 ban on police using chemical weapons, munitions and other violent measures against protestors. The City of Portland is advocating for this bill, despite multiple ongoing lawsuits against the city government and its police bureau due to its use of violent tactics against protestors and city residents in 2020. You can submit written testimony as well as register in advance to testify by phone or video. ACLU Oregon and Oregon Justice Resource Center are also collecting feedback on the bill that especially asks for individual protestors’ experiences with tear gas, munitions, and other police violence.
DEADLINE — Applications Due for the Artist Resilience Program
The Oregon Arts Commission is offering a new round of COVID-19 relief funding for Oregon artists. The program will provide grants to professional artists who experienced lost revenue of at least $1,000 in 2021. Art forms eligible for funds are literature (creative non-fiction, fiction, play writing and poetry); dance (including choreography); music (composition and music performance); theatre and performance art; visual arts (crafts, drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, mixed media and new media); design arts; folk & traditional arts; and media arts. Applications must be submitted before 5:00 p.m.
Friday, February 11
6:00 p.m. — All Power to the People: Remembering the Legacy of the Black Panther Party
Vanport Mosaic is hosting multiple events over the weekend at Cerimon House, starting with a staged reading of Walking Through Portland with a Panther, a new play exploring the experiences of Kent Ford. Ford was a founding member of the Portland chapter of the Black Panther Party and continues to fight for racial justice. On Saturday, he will share his personal memories at 2:00 p.m. The weekend will also include screenings of Soul’d: the economics of our Black bodies and a discussion on the Black Panther Party’s Ten Point Plan. The event is free, but donations will be accepted on behalf of the repair fund for Albina’s historic Billy Webb Elks Lodge. Advance registration is required and all attendees will be required to wear masks and provide proof of vaccination.
Monday, February 14
12:00 p.m. — Tri-County Planning Body Application Information Session
Metro is hosting an information session on the tri-county planning advisory body for providing supportive housing services in the greater Portland area. The session will include information on applying to join the advisory board. Applications to sit on the advisory body are due by February 18th. The information session will be held on Zoom and attendees must register in advance.
Tuesday, February 15
DEADLINE — Portland Police Bureau Feedback Period
The Portland Police Bureau is accepting feedback on four directives until February 15. These are directives that PPB is planning to update, but that have not yet been updated. All four impact how PPB interacts with people under the age of 18 or 21, depending on the policy:
- 0850.39, Missing, Runaway, Lost or Disoriented Persons (covering people of all ages)
- 0640.70, Fingerprinting and Photographing Juveniles — This policy covers how PPB is supposed to process arrests of those under the age of 18, which is especially important to review considering how often PPB picks up young protestors and abuses them.
- 0640.40, Investigations on Public School Property (includes policies for Student Resource Officers) — In 2020, Portland Public Schools announced they’d be ending their SRO program, along with two other districts serving Portland residents.
DEADLINE — Pre-proposal Applications Due for Metro Investment and Innovation Grants
Metro’s Investment and Innovation grants program provides funds for projects that reduce waste throughout Portland. Grants ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 are available for for-profit businesses, nonprofit organizations, and colleges and universities. Recorded information sessions are available for applicants needing more details. Applicants will need to create a ZoomGrants account.
