Community Engagement
Community Engagement
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Welcome to Community Engagement, where PPS' Vision is anchored in strategies that uplift student voice and BIPOC student leadership, bolster the cultures of PPS' multilingual students and families, and weave equity and racial justice in decision-making and support efforts. Our team of engagement specialists and community agents serve the district's mission to authentically engage with our diverse communities and cultivate the success of every student.
How You Can Support Our Communities
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Be an active citizen.
Register to Vote
With ongoing elections every year in our communities, resources like levies and bonds help fund critical supports for PPS students. In Oregon, people as young as 16 can register to vote. If you are not yet 18 years of age, you will not receive a ballot until an election occurs on or after your 18th birthday.
Register online at sos.oregon.gov/voting. To register to vote in Oregon, you must be:
- A U.S. citizen
- A resident of Oregon
- At least 16 years old
To Vote in May:
- Voters must be registered to vote by April 28, 2020.
- Voters must be registered in the party they intend to vote for by the April 28th deadline.
- All registered voters will receive a ballot about three weeks before the May 19th election.
- Voters can check, update, or become newly registered at OregonVotes.gov
- Vote-by-mail offers a safe way to vote. Stay home. Stay safe. Vote by mail.
Complete Your Census
Every 10 years, the census impacts funding decisions that shape resilience in our school communities. The U.S. Census shapes $675B in funds that contribute to Portland Public Schools after school activities, head start, special ed, school meals, & other resources needed throughout this pandemic. Visit here for more information.
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Donate to our Coronavirus Relief Fund.
The Fund for PPS has established a Coronavirus Relief Fund to help the most vulnerable in our community. We realize that families will struggle to put food on the table, and we aim to provide $100 in groceries to the 10,000 plus families whose students qualify for free and reduced price lunch. If you are able to give, visit this link: The Fund for Portland Public Schools or text the word GIVE to 1-844-334-1540.
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Core Functions
Portland Public Schools is committed to (re)building trust within the broader Portland community, and fostering student leadership to support a sustained, collective effort to transform district-wide policies & protocols. We seek to provide a engagement opportunities that nurture growth and success of every student across the district.
Within the Office of Strategic Partnerships & Engagement, engagement is a strategy to listen to, learn from, and involve our key stakeholders in district decision-making and policy change to accelerate the elimination of the achievement gap.
This team plays a critical role in cross-functional capacity building to;
- maximize the racial identity development of graduates,
- prepare them to lead a more socially just world by partnering effectively with school leaders, families, community organizations, faith-based institutions, business, and civic leaders as key collaborators.
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Beliefs
We believe capacity-building and movement-building practice helps PPS engagement result in systems shifts that benefit racially diverse communities.
We believe strongly in the value of stakeholders having the right to participate in decisions in service of students, especially those who are directly impacted.
We believe that diverse communities have the cognition and insight that helps improve district systems, and our ability to be responsive to the needs of every student.
We believe cross-functional engagement approaches should involve multiple groups and people:
- Who carry out the work, i.e. school-building staff, advisory councils, and/or unions
- Who make decisions about the work, i.e. departmental staff, or leadership
- Who are disproportionately impacted by a decision about the work
