State and county leaders are putting millions into a Portland nonprofit to expand trash clean-up across the Portland metro region.
Gov. Tina Kotek and Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson on Thursday announced a joint $2.5 million investment in Clean Start, a litter removal program run by homeless service nonprofit Central City Concern.
“While there are some who only want to fixate on or exploit the challenges facing the city, I’m focused on how we can move forward to solve problems and elevate the people, businesses, and communities that make Portland such a special place,” Kotek said during a meeting with the Portland Business Alliance Thursday.
FILE: A volunteer picks up trash from beneath a bush along Southwest 13th Avenue in Portland in May of 2021. It was the Downtown Volunteer Litter Cleanup Day.
Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB
The Central City Concern’s Clean Start Program employs people who have previously been homeless to clean up litter and graffiti on city streets. The six-month job program aims to teach staff the skills needed to eventually obtain long term employment. Clean Start also operates a temporary storage locker near the west side of the Steel Bridge where homeless Portlanders can store belongings during the day.
The women announced Clean Start’s expansion during the Portland Business Alliance’s annual meeting. The Portland Business Alliance, which has rebranded as the Portland Metro Chamber, already contracts with Clean Start to assist in trash cleaning in Downtown Portland
Kotek pledged $1 million from the Governor’s Strategic Reserve Fund to bankroll the program. She explicitly promised cooperation from the Oregon Department of Transportation, which the city has often struggled to collaborate with.
“We can do it. But just talking about plans is not enough. We need to deliver,” Kotek said. “Let’s clean up the damn trash.”
It’s not clear how the new investment will expand Clean Start’s current work. The leaders did not elaborate on how exactly the funding would be used. Andy Mendenhall, President and CEO of Central City Concern, said he was “beyond excited” about the investment.
Vega Pederson contributed $1.5 million from the Supportive Housing Service tax, a voter-approved fund meant to support organizations with programs that help move homeless people into housing and keep people from entering homelessness. In April, Multnomah County reported that the Joint Office of Homeless Services, the county’s homelessness agency, had spent less than half of the $83.4 million tax dollars that it intended to distribute in the current fiscal year, which ends on June 30.
On Thursday, Vega Pederson said that she’s dedicated an additional $4.6 million in supportive housing tax dollars to the city of Portland to fund a city plan to open two large-scale outdoor homeless encampments by the end of 2023. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has pressed Vega Pederson to commit funding to this program for months.
“I know that as we continue to build these strong collaborations, we are going to be able to address the big challenges in front of us,” Vega Pederson said.
She also announced that the county has hired James Schroeder, with health care management firm Health Management Associations, to evaluate the internal operations of the Joint Office of Homeless Services and make recommendations on how the program can better distribute funds. Schroeder, who briefly served as the interim director of the Oregon Health Authority, has 90 days to complete this work.