Whether you choose a career in socially conscious business, local government, or the nonprofit sector, come learn how you can be a part of Portland’s sustainable future. Making sure our city still provides a healthy, affordable home to its most vulnerable residents creates opportunity for creative business, nonprofits, and policy makers. Join the PSU Alumni Association and the Institute for Sustainable Solutions for a timely discussion of gentrification and displacement and the organizations that are taking on these issues head on.
Earlier this year, Governing Magazine completed a national study of gentrification and found that Portland leads the nation for the number of previously low-income, underinvested neighborhoods becoming home to more affluent residents. The shift calls for community-developed solutions that will contribute to livability and vibrancy for all of Portland. Join the conversation and learn what you can do in your career to make a positive impact.
There will be a networking hour after the panel discussion is complete. Your cost of admission includes a free drink ticket for a BridgePort brew and an amazing spread of appetizers. Grab a drink and make some new personal & professional connections!
DOORS OPEN AT 5:30 pm
Moderator:
- Jennifer Allen, Executive Director, Institute for Sustainable Solutions, PSU
Speakers: 6:00 - 7:00 pm
- Victor Merced, Victor is the executive director of Hacienda CDC. Born in Puerto Rico and raised in the ghetto of South Bronx, New York, Victor developed an early passion for Latino and housing advocacy. Merced has held a number of leadership positions, including Executive Director of the Oregon Council for Hispanic Advancement; Deputy Administrator of the Oregon Department of Human Services’ Adult and Family Services Division; and as the Senior Program Officer at Meyer Memorial Trust. Most recently he served as the state’s Director of the Oregon Housing and Community Services Department.
- Cat Goughnour, Cat is a human rights advocate with a specialization in equity policy. She has served as a consultant to the Urban League/Metro Equity Baseline study, a Multnomah County Community Health Worker, and an equity and racial justice facilitator, among many other posts. She holds an MSc Sociology: Race, Ethnicity and Post Colonial Studies from London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London and a BA Liberal Arts: Social and Political Philosophy from Portland State University.
- Dr. Karen J. Gibson, Dr. Gibson joined the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning at Portland State University in 1998. She has taught courses on community economic development, urban housing and development, community organizing, urban poverty, and Black urban history. Her scholarship is concerned primarily with racial economic inequality in the urban setting. She has an M.S. in Public Management and Policy from Carnegie Mellon University and a Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from the University of California at Berkeley.
- Joe Zehnder, Joe is a planner and community development professional with more than 20 years of experience in large and small communities as well as public and private sectors. As the City of Portland’s chief planner, he oversees the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability’s district planning program for neighborhoods and larger areas, the Central City, urban design, economic development and demographics. Prior to moving to Portland, Joe was a principal with the architecture and planning firm SmithGroup JJR in Chicago and a senior policy director at the Urban Land Institute.
Q&A & Mingling: 7:00-8:00 pm
*Event cost includes appetizers and a complimentary Bridgeport Beer (21 years and older). Space is limited
No Refunds