Our city’s recovery hinges on the success of our small businesses through entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as the growth of union labor and workforce development. There are important and realistic steps we can take to get East Portland back on track after the very real challenges of the pandemic. We need a City Council that gives Portlanders clear pathways to economic mobility and good paying jobs. This includes supporting East Portland’s small businesses, creating more apprenticeships for young people and career changers to learn trades, and generating living wage jobs with City investments. There is a disconnect when the average Portlander can see the influence of big business interests in City Hall, but that influence is not felt across all businesses equally, particularly the small businesses that have made their home in East Portland. By prioritizing everyday Portlanders and working to decrease the stark wage pay gap, we can ensure that the affordability and livability of our city continues to be a cornerstone for how we grow.
Small businesses are crucial threads in the fabric of our community. They foster innovation, create jobs, and enrich our neighborhoods with unique character. These businesses can be an essential economic entry point for immigrants or other new residents, and I would support creating financial services and mentorship programs to help them thrive. Supporting small businesses promotes economic justice, provides opportunities for entrepreneurship, and helps build a more inclusive and sustainable local economy.
We need to ensure big infrastructure investments like the PDX Airport include opportunities for our communities, not just for large corporations. Additionally, our industrial districts hold the promise of creating good-paying jobs that can support families and drive economic growth. It’s crucial that we prioritize these areas for development, advocating for policies that promote living-wage employment and economic stability for all residents. By aligning our economic assets with community needs, we can build a more inclusive and prosperous East Portland.
The city must safeguard the right of workers to organize unions. We must also incentivize local unions to expand apprenticeship programs and trade schools, creating more opportunities for people to benefit from well-paying jobs — especially East Portlanders, people of color, and youth. I would fight to stop the City’s procurement practice of contracting out public work to non-union companies to save costs. This undermines our commitment to organized labor and fuels a race to the bottom.
Let’s invest in community colleges, trade schools, and workforce development programs, especially in the historically underserved neighborhoods of East Portland. These key pipelines to good jobs can give young people hands-on learning opportunities — and they can invest their talent back into their communities.
The lack of investment capital puts underserved communities like East Portland at a disadvantage in catching up to other areas economically. One growing solution is community led TIF districts, which leverage future increases in property tax to fund projects now. Candace worked collaboratively with other community based organizations to create an innovative, community-led TIF district in Cully, which could invest tens of millions of dollars over the next two decades. The Cully TIF district now serves as a model as new districts have emerged, including a new East Portland TIF district currently in progress, and she will use her experience to ensure its success.