Multnomah County will vote whether to join the City of Portland in adopting Resolution (21.05 KB) the East Portland Action Plan (EPAP) during its board meeting on July 22. The EPAP is a strategy for developing community programs and services in outer East Portland that was adopted by the city in 2009. Several EPAP strategies and action items fall under Multnomah County’s mission.
Following the board vote, Multnomah County will use the plan as a guide for improving wide-ranging community development and human services needs like housing, transportation, parks, public safety, education and economic development.
With over 125,000 residents and growing every day, East Portland represents 28 percent of the City of Portland’s population. This area east of the I-205 freeway and west of Gresham has been experiencing rapid growth and many demographic shifts in recent years, leading to challenges within the local communities, schools, businesses and services. Some obstacles East Portland continues to confront include:
- School districts near capacity with the influx of new families to the area
- Over 50 percent of all elementary students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch
- Inadequate means to accommodate greater populations of people living in poverty
- Strained infrastructure and community services that are unable to meet growing demand
In order to strategize the best course of action for addressing these issues East Portland faces, the City of Portland formed the East Portland Action Plan Committee in 2007. The EPAP, which is the result of the committee’s efforts, consists of nearly 300 action items that aim to:
- Improve the areas of connectivity throughout the area
- Boost equitable access to transportation
- Increase safety of bicycling
- Bolster the quality of both new and existing housing
- Add to trails and improve existing parks
- Promote economic development
- Strengthen education infrastructure and programs
Certain strategies and action items from the Action Plan have already begun to be successfully implemented, including $50,000 that was distributed by the EPAP Grants Program throughout East Portland, four graffiti removal days hosted in East Portland neighborhoods, and federal stimulus funds that were used to install new lighting on the I-205 multi-use path.
The EPAP resolution will come before the Board of Commissioners on July 22 at 9:30 a.m. in the Multnomah Building Board Room, 501 SE Hawthorne Blvd. Read the Action Plan at the EPAP website.
East Portland Action Plan
- East Portland Action Plan (1.77 MB)
EPAP Resolution
- Resolution (21.05 KB)
EPAP Executive Summary
- Multnomah County Executive Summary (540.38 KB)