The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday, Aug. 19, virtually celebrated its monthly Proclamation Day, adopting six proclamations celebrating hip-hop, the County’s Health Center, Black businesses, women’s rights, Portland’s film culture and the Portland Fashion Institute. This month’s event took place virtually due to the ongoing temporary closure of the Multnomah Building boardroom.
“Proclamations serve to honor, celebrate and recognize groups and individuals for their contributions and achievements and to raise awareness of significant issues affecting our community here in Multnomah County,” Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said.
Hip-Hop Week
The Board opened with a proclamation designating the week of Aug. 20 through Aug. 26, 2026, as Hip-Hop Week in Multnomah County. Co-sponsored by Commissioners Vince Jones-Dixon and Shannon Singleton, the proclamation honors the profound social and economic impact of Hip-Hop across Multnomah County.
Commissioner Singleton offered a short lesson about Hip-Hop, sharing about its South Bronx origins in the early 1970s and the foundational elements of Hip-Hop culture, including DJing, MCing, break dancing, beat boxing, and graffiti art.
“The grassroots movement provided a global window into the daily realities and resilience of youth in urban environments, evolving over the last few decades into the world’s most influential musical and cultural genre,” said Commissioner Singleton.
“The Hip-Hop community in Oregon has been spearheaded by an extraordinary collective of visionaries who have championed the region on local, national, and international stages — spanning global tours, commercial media, corporate campaigns, grassroots showcases and high-profile civic advocacy," said Commissioner Jones-Dixon.
“When we started Hip-Hop Day in Portland, the idea was about bringing the community together. And that community wasn’t just the Hip-Hop community… It really grew into creating a platform for connecting the next generation of leaders,” said DJ O.G.ONE, the official Portland Trail Blazers DJ for 19 years and a Recording Academy Governor Board member. “Using Hip-Hop as a tool to inspire other young people, that is the culture we want to create. We want to show that Hip-Hop can be the cool thing while you are connected to your community.”
Reading from the proclamation, Commissioner Jones-Dixon said, “Multnomah County actively strives to support, nourish, and uplift the individuals and organizations contributing to our cultural landscape and local economy, particularly through initiatives that foster inclusion, diversity, economic vitality, and community growth.”
Health Center Week
Multnomah County proclaimed Aug. 2 through Aug. 8, 2026, as Health Center Week.
Co-sponsored by Commissioner Meghan Moyer, Chair Vega Pederson, the Multnomah County Community Health Center and Community Health Center Board Chair Darrell Wade, and the Health Department, the proclamation recognizes the importance of Community Health Centers as critical pillars of the health system.
“We are recognizing the essential role that Community Health Centers play in our community,” said Chair Vega Pederson. “I’m so glad we are taking this time to celebrate and honor the work that happens. I want to express my gratitude to all the County staff at our Health Centers and the volunteers on our Health Center Board.”
Community Health Centers are a safety net network of eight primary care health care centers, seven dental clinics and seven pharmacies, as well as nine Student Health Centers. The system is the largest public Federally Qualified Health Center in Oregon, serving 60,000 patients annually. The Community Health Center also provides integrated behavioral health, specialty care for people living with HIV and other enabling and supportive services.
“You are the backbone of delivering preventive care throughout this community. You are often there when other systems fail people,” Commissioner Moyer added. “We are blessed to have such a robust system of clinics that we make available here in Multnomah County, regardless of income and insurance coverage. I am so proud to be a part of a county that really prioritizes access to healthcare and looks deeply at how we meet unmet community needs.”
The Community Health Center often provides the only accessible and dependable source of primary care in a community. These sites often integrate medical, dental and behavioral health care services into a single “health home” and consistently yield strong patient outcomes. Health Centers also play a critical role in closing health access gaps across diverse racial, ethnic, geographic and socioeconomic communities.
National Community Health Center Week serves as a chance to celebrate the County’s more than 600 medical and dental providers, nurses, pharmacists, behavioral health teams, community health workers and administrators who are committed to providing compassionate care to individuals and making a meaningful difference in their community.
“I want to express my deepest gratitude to the dedicated staff who bring Multnomah County’s Community Health Center vision to life every day,” said interim Health Center Executive Director Debbie Powers. “Our vision is for all people in our community to receive high-quality, inclusive and comprehensive healthcare, and it is the very dedicated Multnomah Community Health Center employees paired with the trust of individuals and families we serve that bring this vision much closer to a reality.”
Powers and Health Center Board Chair Wade read the proclamation.
“Community Health Centers serve as beacons of hope for many members of our community, and it is an honor to recognize and celebrate the tremendous contributions of the Health Centers, their staff, and the volunteer governing boards that build innovative care where it matters most, including that of Multnomah County’s Community Health Center,” said Powers.
“We appreciate the critical role that Health Centers play in serving communities across Multnomah County and celebrate the important partnership between our Community Health Center and the communities they serve,” said Wade.
Black August and Black Business Month
The Board adopted a proclamation declaring August 2026 as Black August and Black Business Month in Multnomah County. Co-sponsored by Commissioners Singleton and Jones-Dixon, the proclamation celebrates Black history and Black entrepreneurs in Oregon.
“It was particularly important to me that we celebrate these two occasions and have some engagement with the community around it,” said Commissioner Singleton. “We're living through a time of erasure in our current federal regime and moving back in a direction that seeks to go back to business as usual with marginalizing black voices and efforts. We've seen this through the aversion of equity work as well as DBEs [Disadvantaged Business Enterprises] and that focus on how we can make sure that businesses are equitably receiving resources.”
Black Business Month started in 2004 when John William Templeton and Frederick E. Jordan partnered to create greater economic freedom for Black communities by advancing policies affecting Black businesses.
Commissioner Singleton, in celebration of Black Business Month, launched the Singleton Scavenger Hunt, an interactive activity on social media that promotes over 50 Black businesses in the county.
“I hope you're going to join me in visiting and purchasing, hiring and highlighting some of these truly amazing businesses,” said Singleton.
“We have to double down on how we're creating the conditions where Black businesses can thrive here in Oregon and in Multnomah County, especially East Multnomah County,” said Commissioner Jones-Dixon.
Salomé Chimuku, a policy advisor to policy advisor to Commissioner Singleton, read the proclamation, stating, “Black-owned businesses are a vital part of the U.S. economy, and their continued growth has the potential to create jobs, wealth, and economic opportunity for the Black community and beyond. Generational and community wealth in the Black community has been stripped and remains under attack. There is no restorative justice without economic justice, and there is no thriving Black economy economy which doesn't include supporting entrepreneurship.”
Women’s Equality Day
The Board also proclaimed Aug. 26, 2026, as Women’s Equality Day in Multnomah County. Sponsored by Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards, the proclamation recognizes the certification of the 19th Amendment, cementing women’s right to vote, 106 years ago.
“The history we celebrate today shows us that expanding access to the ballot has required generations of people willing to organize, speak up and persist,” said Commissioner Brim-Edwards. “And we should know the work is not done.”
The proclamation references the historical progress made by Oregonians to advance voting equity in the state. In 1912, eight years before the ratification of the 19th Amendment, 52% of male voters in Oregon approved a women's suffrage amendment. Abigail Scott Duniway, the "Mother of Oregon Equal Suffrage" who signed Oregon's Equal Suffrage Proclamation that year at the request of Governor Oswald West, worked for more than 40 years with other activists like Maria Hendee, Dr. Esther Pohl Lovejoy, Mary Beatty and Hattie Redmond. Redmond is particularly notable in the state’s history as someone who led “efforts to engage African American women in the fight for the franchise as African American civil activists leaders of Oregon,” according to the proclamation.
Oregon demonstrated a unique commitment to this cause, placing the issue of votes for women on the ballot six times, more than any other state in the nation.
Brim-Edwards spoke about the relevance of voting equity in today’s political climate.
“Right now, we are again seeing voting access under attack in so many different ways to undermine our elections and limit voter access,” said Brim-Edwards. “That makes this proclamation more than a recognition of our history. It is a reminder of the importance of protecting every eligible voter's ability to participate in our democracy and have our voices heard.”
Debbie Kay, vice president of the League of Women Voters of Portland — whose mission is empowering voters and defending democracy — read the proclamation.
“On Women's Equality Day, we honor the courage of those who fought to secure the right to vote, and we rededicate ourselves to the work of dismantling systemic inequality and expanding opportunity for every woman and girl in our community,” said Kay. “It is in the spirit of endurance that we recognize that ‘Nevertheless, she persisted.’”
Film Appreciation Month
The Board proclaimed August as Film Appreciation Month.
The proclamation celebrates the “creative community that helps make Portland and Multnomah such a distinctive place for film, television and animation,” said Commissioner Brim-Edwards, who sponsored the proclamation.
That community, she noted, includes all manner of creative and technical workers who work behind the camera who “aren’t just creating great art and entertainment,” but are also “supporting good local jobs, small businesses and are an important part of Multnomah County’s economy.”
The Film Appreciation Month proclamation also celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Hollywood Theatre. Madeleine Criglow, its development coordinator, detailed the establishment’s history and its meaning to the region’s artistic community, calling the theatre an “irreplaceable cultural resource.”
Doug Whyte, the Hollywood Theatre’s executive director, shared that Portland and Multnomah County have the highest number of independent theatres per capita in the country.
“Almost every neighborhood has its own independent theatre, which is very, very unusual,” he said. “If you go to other cities, that is not the case.”
Whyte also revealed that work is underway to create “a destination for the film industry and film lovers” through a “film district” in the Hollywood neighborhood, which will include the homes of Movie Madness (now operated by the Hollywood Theatre), Oregon Film, the Oregon Media Production Association, filmscience and more.
“The diversity of filmmaking in Multnomah County enriches our cultural life, supports tourism, encourages entrepreneurship, and inspires future generations of artists and storytellers,” said White.
Portland Fashion Institute Day
The Board of County Commissioners proclaimed July 11, 2026, as Portland Fashion Institute Day.
Founded in 2002 originally as Portland Sewing, Portland Fashion Institute today is a nonprofit fashion design school that introduces people to the apparel skills they need to get a job — or a better job — in the fashion and apparel industries, or “to simply enjoy a more productive life,” according to the proclamation. The institute offers several levels of sewing classes, along with programs for apparel design, technical development and fashion business.
“Education is a noble pursuit, and the Portland Fashion Institute is more than just fashion,” said Commissioner Singleton, who sponsored the proclamation. “They provide opportunity, perspective and a place for youth to explore.”
Portland Fashion Institute Director Sharon Blair spoke about Portland’s place in the wider industry, noting the 41 apparel manufacturers in the greater Portland area, and that after global fashion hubs like New York and Los Angeles, Portland is “right up there when it comes to impact on the apparel industry.”
The Portland area’s apparel industry contributes $142 million in gross domestic product each year and employs more than 100,000 people — a true catalyst for the area’s economy and residents, Blair said.
Since opening 16 years ago, Portland Fashion Institute has seen over 8,000 people come through their doors, graduating and placing nearly all their students into good jobs that not only allow people “to be creative, but you get to make a living loving what you do.”
“More than training students, Portland Fashion Institute changes lives and helps
make fashion dreams come true,” said Chimuku, the policy advisor for Commissioner Singleton, reading from the proclamation.
