Category: Events

Civic education forums, luncheons, social events

April 4 Panel Discussion on Mental and Behavioral Health, Housing and Homelessness

Zoom Webinar
April 4, 2023 from 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm

Join us on April 4th when a panel of community leaders will discuss chronic homelessness as a public health issue. They will explain the consequences of not providing health care to people with mental illness or addiction, who have experienced trauma resulting from homelessness. They will also focus on the lack of shelters and beds and of extremely low-income housing.

Members of the public are invited to join us for this Zoom Webinar, by registering on or before April 3 at 8 pm.  To register, complete the short registration form here, or enter the following link in your browser: https://forms.gle/ooRW5NfePQkixxCZA. LWVpdx members do not need to register and will receive a Zoom link before the meeting.

The panel includes:

Rachael Duke, Executive Director of Community Partners for Affordable Housing, who will discuss the lack of low-barrier shelters, beds, and extremely low-income housing, which can result in people having a higher risk of ending up on the street.

Jill Kahnert, a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor, retired from Central City Concern, who will cover the high prevalence of both mental illness and addiction for adults and youth.

Scott Kerman, Executive Director, Blanchet House, who will speak about how trauma, the mental health crisis, and self-medicating with dangerous substances impact people in our community, and the lack of resources and access.

Jason Renaud, LWVPDX League member, will be the panel’s moderator. Jason is the Voluntary Managing Director of the Mental Health Association of Portland.

Portland Police & Alternatives

PROGRESS & CHALLENGES FOR PORTLAND POLICE AND POLICING ALTERNATIVES:

presented Via ZOOM: FEBRUARY 8, 7-8:30 PM

This zoom webinar was presented live on February 8, 2023, and will be available via video and podcast on or about February 15. The public and League members were invited to attend the live webinar and submit questions via the chat.

The panelists were:

  • Rev. Dr. LeRoy Haynes, Jr., Chairperson, Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform.  Dr. Haynes made the opening comments, discussing police accountability and oversight and what has changed in the last 5 years.

 

    • Juan Chavez, Project Director and Attorney, Oregon Justice Resource Center, updated the audience on the developments and challenges with the Department of Justice’s settlement agreement. 

 

    • Gina Ronning, Ph.D., M.S, Member of the Portland Police Bureau’s Training Advisory Council (TAC) and Focused Intervention Team Community Oversight Group (FITCOG).  Dr. Ronning gave an update on TAC and FITCOG, with an emphasis on TAC’s program successes, challenges, and upcoming areas of focus. 

 

    • Kaia Sand, Executive Director and Columnist, Street Roots Newspaper,  gave an update on progress and concerns regarding the Portland Street Response.

 

 

James Ofsink, a League member and Chair of the LWVPDX Justice Interest Group, served as the moderator.

This program was recorded by MetroEast Community Media and will be available as a video and Podcast by February 15 from links on this website. The video will also be cablecast on the public access TV channels, as shown in the schedule below.

Climate on an International Scale: Notes from COP26

LWV of Portland Zoom Panel Discussion with LWV members who were at the 2021 UN Climate Conference

WATCH THE VIDEO by clicking below!

Here is the link to the podcast of this program.

MORE ABOUT THIS PROGRAM: The UN’s Climate Conference—the “Conference of the Parties” or COP—is  the official meeting of member states who signed the UN’s climate treaty.  Every year, the parties to the treaty, including the U.S., meet and negotiate various aspects of the treaty.

Seven League of Women Voters members from around the U.S. attended the November 2021 Climate Conference in Glasgow. We heard from five of them on Wednesday, March 9.  The panelists discussed:

    • an Overview of COP26
    • Transparency
    • Indigenous Peoples
    • the Sustainability Innovation Forum, and
    • Finance
    • Gender and Climate

The panel included:

    • Robin Tokmakian, UN Observer for Climate Change for LWVUS; LWV of Portland member
    • Carol Parker, North San Diego LWV
    • Toni Monette, co-president of the Nebraska LWV
    • Ashley Raveche, LWV California
    • Cynthia Bell, Hudson Valley, NY LWV

MetroEast Community Media records Portland League programs for rebroadcast and online streaming from lwvpdx.org. Funding is provided by the Carol & Velma Saling Foundation.

Charter Review Commission Panel – Video & Podcast

Members of the Portland League have been following the work of the Charter Review Commission

Zoom webinar on Commission’s work

We invited the public to join us for the live Zoom presentation of this panel discussion on Wednesday evening February 9. If you missed the live program, you can watch the recording by clicking the arrow below.

Here is the link to the podcast of this program. You should soon be able to find it on your favorite app.

The panel for this presentation included:

      • Julia Meier, the Charter Commission Project Manager
      • Charter Commissioner Candace Avalos
      • Charter Commissioner Amira Streeter
      • Charter Commissioner Melanie Billings-Yun

During the first phase of the Commission’s work, the group has focused on two topics: form of government and city council elections. The League of Women Voters of Portland has been actively following the Commission’s work (Read more about our League’s advocacy to the Commission here.) During this webinar the panel answered questions from LWV members and the public.

MetroEast Community Media records Portland League programs for rebroadcast and online streaming from lwvpdx.org. Funding is provided by the Carol & Velma Saling Foundation. The schedule for replays of this program on community access channels is shown below.

Immigration & Refugee Resettlement

Every year, Oregon offers new homes and a new start to hundreds of refugees who have escaped intolerable conditions in their home countries. Now in late 2021 and 2022, we are preparing for resettling as many as 1,200 new Afghan refugees. In November 2021, the League of Women Voters of Portland presented a panel discussion about the important ways in which Oregon helps immigrants and refugees.

Watch the video of the panel discussion by clicking the arrow below:

 

The panel included:

  • Shannon Singleton, Governor Brown’s Director of Equity and Racial Justice
  • Lee Po Cha, Executive Director, Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO)
  • Safia Iman Ali Noor, Upward Bound Academic Advisor and Administrative Assistant, IRCO
  • Matthew Westerbeck, Director of Refugee Services, Catholic Charities of Oregon
  • Moderator, Kathleen Hersh, co-chair, League of Women Voters of Washington County

MetroEast Community Media records Portland League programs for rebroadcast and online streaming. The Carol & Velma Saling Foundation provided the funding for presenting and recording this program.

NEW LWVPDX Study of Police Accountability

We are excited and proud to present our new study of the Portland Police Bureau: Oversight and Accountability. For decades, Portlanders have responded to police violence by demanding reforms and better oversight. This study describes both the problems encountered and the progress made. A major section lists the “Opportunities for Change” that will improve safety and fairness for both Portland civilians and the police officers who serve them. As the study’s conclusion states:

Portland’s police and City officials have work ahead to improve police accountability structures and authentic community engagement. The relationship between the public and the police is necessarily a two-way street, demanding mutual participation and investment, to build mutual respect and trust. The League stands ready to continue upholding our part in advancing a public safety environment that is fair, healthy, and just for all.

This study is the product of nine months of work by a 22-member volunteer study committee. Committee members reviewed 55 documents and also interviewed 22 key stakeholders, including police leadership, elected officials, and advocates for change.

Read the study online here.  When this study has been printed, we will send some copies to the county libraries.

Read the Executive Summary of the study here.

An important addition to the study report is the Online Appendix, which you can read here. This not only has links to key source documents, but also brief summaries of each. It offers information that truly enhances the data in the study.

And a Panel Discussion of the Issues!

We also produced a panel discussion about Portland Police Oversight and Accountability. You’ll find the recording above this post. The panelists are:

  • Representative Janelle Bynum, who serves in the Oregon Legislature representing the 51st District, which includes East Portland and cities in east Multnomah County. Rep. Bynum serves as Chair of the House Judiciary Committee and Subcommittee on Equitable Policing. Her legislative proposals in the 2021 session include bills for a database on police use of force, prompt medical assessment for arrested persons, and limits on the use of arbitration to reverse police agency findings of police misconduct.
  • Shawn Campbell, Chair of the Training Advisory Council (TAC) for the Portland Police Bureau. The TAC is a group of civilians who advise the PPB Training Division and Chief of Police. The TAC has outlined how changes in accountability, officer wellness, public safety specialization, procedural justice, and restorative justice could improve public safety.
  • Carol Johnson, JD, MA, an attorney who has spent her career working on civil rights. In 2019, she was appointed to Portland Police Citizen’s Review Committee, which advises the Bureau’s Independent Police Review (IPR). Johnson worked with the Portland League and The Links, Inc. on our newly published study, Portland Police Bureau: Oversight and Accountability.

MetroEast Community Media records our panel discussions and our candidate interviews and forums.

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