Objective 4
Connect Portlanders to High Quality Jobs in Future-Ready Sectors
FINDINGS
Portland is home to a well-educated workforce with growing occupations requiring advanced skills. Compared to the fifty largest cities, Portlanders hold a much higher-than-average percentage of bachelor’s and advanced degrees. But workers employed in high-skilled and higher-paying jobs are disproportionately white. And BIPOC workers are over-represented in lower-barrier and lower-paying jobs. Portland’s employment centers are shifting westward, away from the Central City. Jobs are farther away from high-poverty neighborhoods with affordable housing like East Portland.
The actions in this section focus on improving workforce connections and inclusion by increasing employer-led programs and more inclusive hiring, training, and promotion practices.
Implementation
Partners
Higher Education Institutions
City of Portland & Prosper Portland
Neighborhood Prosperity Network Partners
Regional & State Partners
Workforce Development Partners
Outcomes and Actions
ONE
Increase Inclusive, Industry-Based Job Training and Career Path Employment
1
Invest in workforce training in the Portland region’s growing industries that create quality jobs
2
Identify industry-specific training and on-ramps that are responsive to growing opportunities in the Portland region’s growing industries via employer, union- and community-led industry groups
3
Provide access to resources through community-based workforce navigation in lower-income and struggling neighborhoods
4
Leverage significant and imminent public infrastructure investments to grow the presence of BIPOC and women in the construction workforce and related trades
TWO
Build Public-Private Partnerships to Improve Access to Employment Opportunities
1
Convene higher education institutions, the private sector, and workforce partners to identify gaps and opportunities for improving talent pipeline and upcoming employment needs
2
Strengthen relationships between critical partners providing workforce services to job seekers and increase private-sector engagement in and support for youth-centered skills development and workforce training opportunities
3
Address gaps in childcare availability in partnership with Multnomah County Preschool for All and Oregon Child Care Capacity Building Fund, and through policy changes
4
Advance culture change within companies to hire and promote equitably, building strategies for retention, promotion, and an inclusive workplace culture
THREE
Improve Connections Between Residential and Employment Centers
1
Encourage density and supply of mixed-income housing near job centers and high-access locations with good transit access
2
Augment transportation options to existing job hubs, including from Columbia Corridor to and from East Portland; promote and enhance transit
3
Ensure adequate industrial land supply, including for manufacturing, and address site readiness
4
Locate major economic investments and target business growth near underserved areas
