Volunteer; Non- Position - Portland Children's Levy Community Council

The Portland Children’s Levy seeks new Community Council Members!

APPLY HERE:

The Portland Children’s Levy (PCL) Community Council advises staff and the Allocation Committee on PCL policies and processes, including funding, grant and Levy performance, and community engagement plans and practices. After 3 years of focus on funding processes and grant-making, the Community Council will turn its attention to reviewing policies and practices used to assess Levy and grant performance. Council activities for this next term include:

• Providing input about how PCL measures and demonstrates performance
• Advising staff on questions of grant performance management
• Providing guidance on criteria used to determine grant renewal decisions
• Providing input on future community engagement processes

The Community Council was formed as a response to feedback received during PCL’s 2018 community engagement process. The Community Council launched in 2023 and since its inception:

• Identified goals for community engagement, priority topics for community input, and priority communities to engage for large and small grants funding processes
• Shaped the large grants funding process, including the application and scoring criteria, grant review process, funding priorities (which determine the types of services the Levy funds), funding recommendations, and lessons learned for future grant-making
• The Community Council is currently shaping the small grants funding process. They provided input on the application, will be scoring the video component of the application, and will be making funding recommendations to the Allocation Committee

Currently, 7 members are continuing their terms on the Community Council. PCL is looking to recruit 8 community members with the intention of appointing 6 this summer and inviting 2 to standby and fill any seats that open through this next term

Total number of advisory seats: 13

Number of seats available: 6, plus 2 standby

Members must live, go to school, work and/or do business in the City of Portland

We want people from every part of Portland here to share their voice on this committee, especially people who have not been involved before. If you want to serve your community and to help government make better choices, then we want to see your application. The attributes listed below are what will guide our selection process. It is helpful if you are specific in your answers.

We do not expect you to be or have everything listed

• You are committed to the city’s core values of equity, anti‑racism, collaboration, communication, transparency, and fiscal responsibility
• You have experience working collaboratively with diverse groups of people
• You do not have a conflict of interest with a current PCL grantee. This means you aren’t currently employed by a grantee agency and haven’t been for the past 2 years. You don’t currently serve on the board of a grantee agency. You don’t have immediate family members (spouse, child, parent, sibling) currently employed by a grantee agency. If you work for a public agency receiving PCL funds, you may apply unless you or an immediate family member work in the PCL‑funded program.
  
  See this list of PCL grantees to determine if you meet these requirements
• You are available to attend 16–25 hours of meetings and complete 5–10 hours of prep‑work per year
• We invite all Portlanders to apply, including community members who identify as Black, African, Indigenous, Latine, Middle Eastern, Asian, Pacific Islander, LGBTQ2
  
  SIA+, disabled, an immigrant or refugee, and/or folks navigating poverty or houselessness
• In order to ensure a variety of expertise, experience, and geographic representation across the city, we particularly encourage applications from community members with lived, professional, and/or volunteer experience in services for child abuse prevention/intervention, early childhood, and foster care; experience in grantmaking; and residents of Districts 1 or 2

• 3–5 full Community Council meetings per year, each generally 3–4½ hours long with 30–60 min of prep work/meeting
• Occasional 1:1 or small group meetings with staff,…