Virginia La Forte

Virginia represents Zone 5 on the PPS Board of Directors. A North and Northeast Portland resident for over 20 years, she and her husband are the proud parents of a PPS graduate and a current PPS student. A leading advocate for environmental health and safety in PPS schools, Virginia has initiated and volunteered for PPS task forces supporting academic programs, environmental health initiatives, and school bonds. She has also founded school-based community initiatives supporting both the performing arts and athletics. Her work has helped secure major modernization projects, environmental health and safety improvements, and enhanced arts programming and athletic facilities for PPS schools. Virginia believes rigorous academics and extra-curricular opportunities like arts, music, and sports create well-rounded, engaged students and advocates for programs that nurture the whole child.

Raised in a working-class family that valued public education—her father a special education teacher turned attorney, her mother a state university admissions director—Virginia developed a lifelong commitment to ensuring every child has access to quality schools and equitable opportunities. Civic engagement runs in her family, including her great-grandmother who worked on Jeannette Rankin’s campaigns—Virginia keeps notes from Rankin to her great-grandmother in her desk drawer, a reminder of the impact and importance of public service. Virginia holds a degree in journalism, which informs her focus on transparency, clear communication, and advocacy. She has built a career in marketing and the performing arts—first in the concert and live music industry, supporting and promoting developing artists, and now for brands, helping them grow through creative communications strategies. Her professional experience combines creativity, storytelling, and coalition-building, skills she applies to her work advancing public education. She is dedicated to ensuring every PPS student has a safe, inspiring, and supportive environment in which to learn and thrive.