City of Portland

Community Development for  Portland’s Central City

Project Overview

Once known as the place to work and recreate in Portland, our Central City has felt the effects of post-pandemic life. Due to the ever-growing shift toward remote and hybrid work, plus rising concerns about crime and homelessness, this once-populated and well traversed area of the city became the focus of Governor Tina Kotek and the Oregon Business Council.

With our joint efforts, the council's aim was to bring together elected officials, businesses, nonprofits, public health and safety entities, and community leaders. The objective? Build a comprehensive strategy together that could address livability, behavioral health, and public safety issues in the downtown core of Portland, Oregon.

Problem

Along with our collective change in lifestyle comes a sharp decline in economic activity, and Portland's Central City is an example of it. Without strategic planning and initiatives to bring folks back into the Central City, cherished neighborhoods could be lost, taking economic opportunities for the entire state with them. As a support to the Portland Central City Task Force, we needed to find solutions, and cull together the right plans, voices, and future-forward ideas to ensure our downtown area wasn’t only revitalized long-term, but could turn a new leaf quickly with actionable, near-term solutions.

Solution

We always say real change requires a team. As a forum for elected, business, education, cultural, and community leaders, the Task Force is a place for all voices, ideas, and perspectives to discuss and agree on solutions for the Central City’s revitalization. And these ideas needed consolidating. Co-chairs, Governor Tina Kotek and Standard Insurance Company CEO Dan McMillan, charged the Task Force to articulate a compelling, actionable vision and develop a set of near-term, achievable strategies to revitalize the economic future and well being of Portland’s Central City—from Lower Albina to the South Waterfront and from Goose Hollow to the Lloyd District, and everything in between.

Results

As outside eyes and ears, our team at Interplay helped compile and synthesize a wide range of perspectives and expertise and develop a package of concrete tactical and policy-focused recommendations for revitalizing the downtown core. With insight from federal, state, and local government leaders, as well as private and non-profit stakeholders, we provided strategy, engagement design, and facilitation for the Central City Task Force. Our work aimed to identify priority challenges, articulate a compelling vision, and create swift solutions aligned with the aspirations of Portland’s diverse communities and businesses.