Julia Brim-Edwards

As Commissioner for District 3, Julia Brim-Edwards calls on her experience as a longtime East Portland community and business leader, parent activist, and volunteer to bring people together to find solutions to Multnomah County’s most urgent problems.

In addition to her role on the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners, Julia also sits on the Portland Public School Board, having served one term from 2001-05 and another starting in 2017 through the present day. During her time on the School Board, she has served as Chair twice, as well as Vice Chair, Chair of the Policy Committee, and Chair of the Audit Committee. 

Julia most recently managed a consulting business, and previously served as a Senior Director at Nike, with a focus on strategy, public engagement, and, recently, business continuity and the response to COVID-19. 

Some of Julia’s accomplishments of note include: 

• Co-leading efforts to manufacture more than 300,000 units of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) for Multnomah County hospitals at the start of the pandemic to protect local health workers.
• Taking the lead on delivering historic funding for our schools by working with labor leaders and legislators to pass the Student Success Act. The measure provides more than a billion dollars a year of investments in Oregon schools for smaller class sizes, stronger Career and Technical Education, more counselors, and social and emotional supports. The Student Success Act also includes millions of dollars every year directly to Portland and East County schools.  
• Being a founding Board member of the Oregon Vietnam Economic, Education, and Cultural Association, which focuses on expanding ties between Oregon and Vietnam and small and medium businesses and cultural relationships.
• Working with Multnomah County Health officials and education leaders to reopen local schools safely and get students back in classrooms.
• Providing statewide leadership to pass a measure to ensure equitable access so all students can participate in Outdoor School.
• Co-writing PPS’s nationally recognized Climate Crisis Response Policy with a zero-carbon goal by 2040 with resources and supports focused on frontline communities and those most impacted by climate change and severe weather patterns. 
• Helping secure employment non-discrimination legislation for LGBTQ Oregonians and led state and national business efforts to support marriage equality legislation, including leading business coalitions that submitted amicus briefs in support of marriage equality in Oregon courts and with the US Supreme Court.  
• Launching and operating a mobile vaccine clinic in partnership with public health officials, elected leaders, and firefighters that administered more than 50,000 community vaccines.
• Chairing the Portland Public Schools 2020 Bond campaign to modernize and rebuild Portland Schools.  

Julia has lived in Southeast Portland for more than 45 years, attended Glencoe Elementary, graduated from Washington-Monroe High School, and earned a BA from Oregon State University. She is a six-sport athlete, has been inducted into the Portland Interscholastic League Hall of Fame, and was a co-founder of the PIL Foundation, which supports equitable access for all students to middle and high school sports. In 2016, she was appointed by the Governor to serve as a Board Trustee for Oregon State University and recently was a Board appointee to the team that recruited and hired the new OSU President, Jayathi Murthy.

She and Randall Edwards have raised three children in Southeast Portland, and as parents, they both participated in their kids’ school communities, including 18 years of PTA and Site Council meetings and volunteering in the classroom and with athletics.