Welcome to the recap of the Allocation Committee meeting on Feb. 12, 2025. Multnomah County Commissioner Meghan Moyer joined the committee, replacing Commissioner Julia Brim-Edwards. Welcome, Commissioner Moyer!  

You can watch a YouTube recording of the video by clicking the image below.

Revised bylaws

Allocation Committee members voted unanimously to amend the body’s bylaws to include the most recent authorization by voters and the effective dates. The update also removes language referring to the City “Commissioner-in-charge” due to the City of Portland’s change in governmental form as of Dec. 31, 2024.

Application characteristics report

TStaff provided a high-level overview of key data to help committee members better understand the types of applications received during the large grant funding process, median reviewer scores and other details. Some highlights include:

  • 168 applications received, a 45% increase from the 116 applications received in the previous large grant funding round
  • $222 million requested over a three-year funding period, more than 3 times the $64.7 million available for grants
  • 90 volunteer reviewers scored applications; each application was scored by 4 reviewers
  • 76 of the applications are from organizations who do not currently receive PCL funding, a more than 200% increase from the previous funding round

View the meeting slide deck to see more data.

Community Council update

photo of PCL Community Engagement Coordinator Katrina Peterson and Community Council member Kamla Hurst seated at a table
PCL Community Engagement Coordinator Katrina Peterson (left) and Community Council member Kamla Hurst describe the application characteristics that Community Council members prioritized during their Jan. 24 meeting.

The Community Council advisory body met Jan. 24 to provide guidance to staff on application characteristics members want staff to prioritize in creating two portfolios of applications to recommend for funding. Staff sought council input because using only score to make recommendations has shortcomings.

In general, after score, council members voted to prioritize applications:

  • focused on serving Black and Indigenous children and families, and children and families of color
  • from organizations with annual revenues under $6 million
  • focused on serving 1-2 specific racial/ethnic PCL priority populations and/or 1-2 other PCL priority populations

View the meeting slide deck to see more information on Community Council priorities.

Funding process next steps

PCL staff are currently working to develop two anonymous portfolios of funding recommendations for the Community Council to consider at the March 3 meeting. To create the two portfolios, staff will consider:

  • Application score
  • Community Council priorities
  • Program feasibility and scale
  • Past performance of current grantees’ programs
  • Cost of the proposed program in relation to program scale and size
  • Applicant organizations’ financial health

Future milestones include:

March 3: Community Council meeting

March 7: Recommendations sent to applicants and Allocation Committee members

April 4: Testimony due from applicants (instructions to be provided soon)

April 23: Allocation Committee makes funding decisions

View the meeting slide deck for more details, including an example of hypothetical portfolios.

2023-24 performance report

Multnomah County Commissioner Meghan Moyer provides feedback about the 2023-24 performance report.

Staff presented performance data summarizing results of grantees’ work during fiscal year 2023-24, including the number and demographics of people served, service level, participation and program outcomes. Key highlights include: 

  • More than 9,600 children served in after school, child abuse prevention and intervention, early childhood, foster care, mentoring and small grants.
  • Many grantee organizations continue positive recovery from the pandemic.
  • Hunger relief programs served more than 12,000 children and distributed more than 2.5 million pounds of food.
  • Staffing remains a challenge for some programs.

View the performance data slide deck and appendix for more detail. 

City of Portland transition

The Portland Children’s Levy is currently part of the Vibrant Communities service area in the City of Portland’s new governmental structure. The new City Council and mayor could further revise this structure, and assign PCL to a different service area.  Budgetary and other impacts of the potential change are not yet known.

Miss the meeting?

Watch it on YouTube. You can also view the full slide deck from the meeting.  

Join us for the next Allocation Committee meeting

Our next meeting will be 1 to 4 p.m. April 23, 2025. Agendas will be sent to this email list, shared on our social media channels and posted on portlandchildrenslevy.org

We welcome your comment on agenda items or the work of the Portland Children’s Levy. If you would like to join the next meeting to participate, please join our email list and stay tuned for the meeting invite.