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Culturally Specific Engagement

A series of community engagement opportunities, including an online survey and several community-focused events, are planned in August regarding proposals for new commissioner district boundaries.
News article
Release date: 08/12/2022
Sponsored by: Board of County Commissioners Department

Culturally specific community engagement begins on commissioner district reapportionment

Washington County is realigning the boundaries of its four Board of Commissioner Districts based on the results of the population changes from the 2020 census.

On July 12, 2022, the Board of County Commissioners reached an agreement on five options for the community to respond to regarding how district boundaries should be realigned. Working with Portland State University (PSU), the County has drawn proposed maps to ensure that each district is approximately the same population. The online mapping tool is available at this link, enter an address to see the overlay of each proposal.

Proposal-1.pdf (washington.or.us)

Proposal-2b.pdf (washington.or.us)

Proposal-3.pdf (washington.or.us)

Proposal-4.pdf (washington.or.us)

Proposal-5.pdf (washington.or.us)

Why do the boundaries need to be realigned?

Currently, the number of people living in District two (2) has grown more quickly than the other three districts. The County Charter states that if any district is out of alignment by more than 5% then a reapportionment process is triggered, and the district boundaries must be realigned to bring back population balance to no more than 3%.

The process requires a re-drawing of the boundary lines of the County’s four commissioner districts so that all districts are of roughly equal population. This happens every 10 years when the U.S. population count is released.

The new district boundaries that emerge from the process would take effect in time for the 2024 election cycle.

Community input needed for redrawing boundaries

The community is invited to participate in the reapportionment process of commissioner districts through a series of community engagement opportunities including an online survey and several community-focused events either in person or virtually.

Staff will also host culturally specific community engagement events with local partners in August. See dates below:

**STIPENDS ARE AVAILABLE FOR COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION

  • Bilingual (Spanish/English) Latinx/a/o Community event
  • Multilingual (languages TBD by demand) Community event
    • In-person 08/22 6pm-8pm (LOCATION: Muslim Educational Trust, 10330 SW Scholls Ferry Rd., Tigard, OR 97223)
  • Multilingual South Asian Community event
    • In-person 08/24 6pm-8pm (LOCATION: Bethany Library Annex, 4888 NW Bethany Blvd., Suite K-2, Portland, OR 97229)
  • Multilingual (languages TBD by demand) Community event
  • Bilingual (Spanish/English) All Community event
    • In-person 08/29 530pm-730pm (LOCATION: Hillsboro Brookwood Library, 2850 NE Brookwood Pkwy., Hillsboro, OR 97124)

Please RSVP by completing this form: https://forms.office.com/r/pWYv86S6a2

Everyone is welcome to all events. If you need assistance filling out forms, contact Marcus Ford (info below).

Finally, take the online survey by September 09, 2022

Reapportionment maps and survey (washington.or.us)

Why should community participate?

Reapportionment will determine which neighborhoods, schools and communities are grouped together into one district for the purposes of electing a Board of County Commissioners that represents the full population. It also ensures one area does not have more voting power than the other.

To learn more about the process visit us online at

https://www.co.washington.or.us/reapportionment

Community Engagement Contact:

Marcus Ford

[email protected]

971-329-3522

Media Contact:
Philip Bransford,

[email protected]

503-846-8685