Commissioner Singleton's Approach
Affordability is a priority for families need to focus on it. For most of the county’s work, this means making sure our safety net is delivering for families, whether that’s rent assistance, critical health services or services for seniors and those with disabilities. Multnomah County can have success as the social safety net, but if we want to solve the root cause of the problem, we must have an approach that helps end someone’s poverty. We must improve job opportunities throughout Multnomah County. We should leverage our assets and resources with the economic development activities of our partners at the Cities, the Port, Metro and State.
Workforce
While campaigning for office, I said that I wanted to connect the people who are receiving County services to family-wage careers - and that is exactly what I set out to do when I was elected. In May, I convened a workforce table focused on trades and manufacturing. Throughout this process, we explored the challenges and workshopped potential solutions. I want to thank everyone who took the time to share their expertise, experience, and ideas. I learned a tremendous amount from this process and look forward to the work ahead.
The County has a variety of programs and services that involve workforce and economic development. Preschool for All, our transportation and infrastructure projects, and even our local purchasing can be significant drivers of economic growth in Multnomah County. Investing in preapprenticeship and apprenticeship programs with the building trades, College to County, Summer Works internships, and behavioral health apprenticeship programs supports the development of our future workforce and boosts the local economy.
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Preschool For All (PFA) and Preschool and Early Learning (PEL)
Families depend on Preschool For All for early childhood learning. It is critical that we acknowledge the economic development of this program, particularly for culturally specific providers to open and/or expand their small businesses. I am in favor of creating policy changes that make sense. We should be focused on improving the program with increasing seats, stabilizing providers, expanding culturally specific services, improving inclusion supports, and integrating this with our workforce development goals because affordable and reliable child care is necessary for a strong workforce.
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