The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners began the month of September by approving four proclamations during its monthly Proclamation Day ceremony Wednesday, Sept. 2.
The event, held virtually due to boardroom renovations, saw the Board proclaim the month of September as Suicide Prevention Month, Emergency Preparedness Month and National Recovery Month. They also declared Sept. 15 through Oct. 15 as Hispanic and Latiné Heritage Month in Multnomah County.
“Proclamations serve to honor, celebrate and recognize groups and individuals for their contributions and achievements or to raise awareness of significant issues affecting our communities here in Multnomah County,” said Chair Jessica Vega Pederson.
Suicide Prevention Month Proclamation
Clair Raujol, the supervisor of the County’s Behavioral Health Prevention and Wellness Team, opened Wednesday’s ceremony by thanking commissioners for honoring and proclaiming September as Suicide Prevention Month each year. This year’s proclamation was sponsored by the Health Department.
The team comprises 12 staff, three of whom are focused on suicide prevention and providing post-intervention support for communities affected by youth suicides — work that Raujol said makes an immense difference. Multnomah County and its partners work to strengthen protective factors while promoting equitable suicide prevention policies and practices, according to the proclamation.
The team sees firsthand how encouraging every resident to learn the warning signs of suicide, engage in compassionate conversations, reduce stigma, and connect individuals to support before a crisis occurs can save lives.
Still, “suicide remains a leading public health concern affecting individuals, families, and communities throughout Multnomah County. Local data show that firearms and overdoses account for more than half of youth deaths, underscoring the importance of upstream prevention, safe storage, education, and early intervention,” Black Youth Suicide Prevention Coordinator James Dixon said, reading from the proclamation.
“Persistent inequities also demonstrate the need to address the impacts of racism and other systemic inequities on health outcomes. Multnomah County continues to see disproportionate impacts among LGBTQIA2+ populations including transgender and nonbinary youth,” he said.
According to the proclamation, 35% of deaths among young people so far in 2026 have been among transgender and non-binary youth — exceeding the entire previous year.
“Every person deserves to thrive in a community where they experience belonging, affirmation, safety and hope,” said Dixon.
“It’s about shifting from a culture of silence and lack of understanding to one of openness, empathy and support. Meaningful change begins with honest conversations, compassionate action, and communities willing to replace stigma with understanding, isolation, with connection and silence, with hope.”
Emergency Preparedness Month in Multnomah County
The Board proclaimed September as Emergency Preparedness Month, urging Multnomah County residents to work with their families, neighbors and communities to make preparedness a priority — starting by using the tools available at ready.gov and redcross.org/prepare, and participating in local preparedness training.
“We know emergency preparedness is something that we need to be thinking about every day," said Chair Vega Pederson, “But right now, as we’re seeing the impact of wildfires and severe weather, this work becomes more and more important.”
Over the past six years, the County and region have faced historic emergency events from extreme heat waves, snowstorms and wildfires, to life-threatening air quality and the COVID-19 pandemic. Multnomah County Emergency Management works closely with its counterparts across the region to build and maintain preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation programs that protect lives.
“Residents and businesses of Multnomah County can be severely impacted by natural and human-caused emergencies that can quickly disrupt services and overburden emergency response agencies," said Chris Voss, the director of the Office of Emergency Management, who read the proclamation.
But “personal, family, neighborhood and workplace emergency preparedness can help build a disaster-resilient community,” he continued.
Hispanic and Latiné Heritage Month
The Board proclaimed Sept. 15 through Oct. 15, 2026, as Hispanic and Latiné Heritage Month. Chair Vega Pederson, who has introduced the proclamation each of her 10 years serving on the Board, opened by reaffirming the County’s commitment to supporting the Hispanic and Latiné community.
“The celebrations that we’ll have over the next month to recognize, to honor, to celebrate our heritage is more important than ever given what our community is facing right now,” Chair Vega Pederson said. “I just want to reiterate today that Multnomah County is here for you.”
The County employs almost 900 Hispanic and Latiné people among its roughly 6,000 employees. The proclamation notes that Latiné communities have had a presence in Oregon for centuries and today make up roughly 15.3% of the County’s population, with more than 103,000 residents identifying as Hispanic or Latiné. By 2050, about every two in 10 Multnomah County residents are projected to be Latiné.
Mario Cardenas, a program coordinator with the Office of Consumer Engagement, introduced the proclamation.
“Your actions speak louder than words. Our community does feel supported,” Cardenas said, describing daily conversations with community members about their needs and the barriers they face.
Daysi Bedolla Sotelo, the County’s state and regional affairs coordinator, and Diego Basabe, the Health Department’s communications and marketing supervisor, read the proclamation together.
This year’s theme, “Healing Into Action: Our Roots, Our Power,” builds on last year’s theme of cultural healing. Bedolla Sotelo said it frames healing not as an endpoint, but as a foundation for purposeful action.
The proclamation acknowledges that this year’s celebration comes amid direct and persistent attacks on immigrant communities that have instilled fear around going to work, school, medical appointments and court.
“No one should have to choose between meeting a basic need, exercising a right or protecting someone they love,” Basabe said.
Even so, the proclamation affirms that the community’s story does not begin or end with fear, pointing to generations of organizing, advocacy and institution-building.
“Healing into action causes us to draw upon the strength already within our communities,” Basabe said, describing this year’s theme as a call to turn healing into advocacy, civic participation and solidarity.
The proclamation also reaffirms Multnomah County’s dedication to supporting its Hispanic and Latiné residents and providing essential safety net services to all community members, regardless of immigration status.
A community celebration is planned at the new East County Library on Oct. 8.
National Recovery Month
The Board proclaimed September 2026 as National Recovery Month, sponsored by Commissioners Meghan Moyer and Julia Brim-Edwards and the Health Department.
The proclamation honors people at every stage of recovery, from those newly starting out to those years into their journey, and remembers those lost to addiction. It also recognizes behavioral health professionals and those whose lived experience “becomes a light to others,” offering understanding, dignity and proof that recovery is possible.
“Recovery is not an easy journey, but it is one in which those who have gone through it lift a hand back to pull up those who are ready to begin,” Commissioner Moyer said.
She said Recovery Month is also an opportunity to highlight the County’s investments that help make recovery possible, pointing to recovery housing vouchers and the new Sobering and Crisis Stabilization Center, currently under construction, which will offer medically assisted detox services and a pathway to further care.
Commissioner Brim-Edwards said the County is expanding access to behavioral health and addiction treatment, including through its temporary Pathway Center, as the permanent sobering center gets ready to open.
“Recovery is real, recovery is possible and recovery transforms lives,” she said, noting the proclamation is built around four dimensions of recovery identified by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: health, home, community and purpose.
Deandre Kenyanjui, supervisor of the Office of Consumer Engagement, spoke about his own recovery, which reached 11 years in August.
“I owe my life to recovery,” he said, describing how his lived experience shapes his work supporting others.
“Recovery is possible,” he added, encouraging anyone who’s struggling to remember that their past does not determine how their story ends.
Cardenas, marking 13 years in recovery himself, read the proclamation: “Our lived experience is our expertise.”
“Together let us continue building Multnomah County where recovery is celebrated, lived experience is valued, hope is restored, and every person knows they belong.”