Advocacy & Awareness

City Club Town Hall

City Club's Advocacy & Awareness program turns research into action by informing decision-makers and the wider public about the Club’s adopted policy positions. Besides promoting positive change, advocacy committee members develop their policy knowlege and gain experience with a range of advocacy and awareness strategies. The Advocacy & Awareness Board provides support and oversight for these advocacy committees.

Below you'll find information about the Club's current advocacy committees. These committees are open to all City Club members who agree to restrict their advocacy and awareness efforts to the Club's officially adopted policy recommendations.

Regional Transportation Governance Advocacy Committee

Chair:

Leigh Stephenson-Kuhn

The Regional Transportation Governance Advocacy Committee works to promote the recommendations in the Club's 2010 report: "Moving Forward: A Better Way to Govern Regional Transportation." Committee members are seeking changes to the regional transportation governance system that would more adequately prepare it to address the challenges of population growth, aging infrastructure and climate change.

Initiative Reform Advocacy Committee

Chair:

Leslie Johnson

The Initiative Reform Advocacy & Awareness Committee works to promote the recommendations in the Club's 2008 report: "Making the Initiative Work for Oregon: A City Club Report on Reforming the Initiative, Referendum and Referral Systems in Oregon." Committee members have appeared on OPB's "Think Out Loud" program, helped organize a City Club Friday Forum on "Restoring Integrity to Oregon's Initiative System," and testified during the 2009 state legislature on behalf of four bills inspired by City Club recommendations.

Partisanship Advocacy Committee

Chair:

Scott Warnick

This committee works to promote the recommendations in the Club's 2009 report: "Bridging the Partisan Divide: A City Club Report on Reducing Excessive Partisanship in the Oregon Legislature." Committee members are seeking to raise awareness about the need for a nonpartisan redistricting commission, annual legislative sessions, and legislative rules designed to guarantee a more meaningful role for the minority party.

Want to make a difference?

If you're a City Club member and would like to participate in one of these advocacy efforts, contact the Club's research and policy director, Tony Iaccarino, at 503-228-7231 ext 103 or by email.

What people are saying about City Club advocacy efforts

"The Club's research report in 2006 on Portland's Fire and Police Disability and Retirement system was the touchstone for the City Council's action on that issue and ultimately led to the voters' approval of the reforms that were so badly needed. Not only did the report analyze and make comprehensible a very difficult subject, but the Club's advocacy effort made all the difference." -- Portland City Commissioner Dan Saltzman