New grant funding available for site assessment

The Portland Brownfield Program has new funds available to provide Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessment and cleanup planning to sites in Portland. Our goal for these funds is to work in partnership with diverse community organizations to identify strong projects in need of assistance. Selected projects will benefit existing neighbors, and funds will bridge a critical gap to bring contaminated land back into active reuse. Funding has a target area of East Portland; certain projects in other areas of the city may qualify.

The purpose of the assistance is to catalyze brownfield property cleanup and redevelopment in order to protect human health and the environment, revitalize neighborhoods, recapture lost tax revenue, provide employment, and enhance the economic well-being of Portland’s commercial and industrial districts. Past projects have included brownfields that became small businesses, nonprofit offices, affordable housing, gardens, and many other end uses. For a look at some funded projects, explore our website www.portlandoregon.gov/bes/brownfields. If you know of a project in need of assessment funding, please contact Jenn Bildersee for more information on eligible sites and activities.

Survey seeks to gather input on the obstacles and opportunities for brownfield redevelopment

The Oregon Brownfield Coalition, led by Metro, is gathering input from brownfield stakeholders around the state to inform the development of future priorities. If you have ever participated in or considered working on a brownfield redevelopment, answer these seven short questions to help our partners develop more useful tools and programs. Take the survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MT9M3J3

Help shape the future of the Portland Brownfield Program

The Portland Brownfield Program is recruiting new members for our Brownfield Advisory Committee. The committee has around 10 members, from public agencies, the private sector, and the community. We meet about three times per year and discuss business as needed via email. Interested? For more information, contact Jenn Bildersee at jenn.bildersee@portlandoregon.gov.

The Portland Brownfield Program welcomes Claudia Christensen García

Claudia Christensen García has joined the Portland Brownfield Program as the new Program Assistant!

Claudia has lived in Portland just over four years, and this is her first time working with the City. The majority of her previous work experience has been in the environmental education field. She has had the pleasure of doing classroom presentations throughout the Portland metro area, living in a cabin in Opal Creek Wilderness, and taking youth from affordable housing communities out to natural areas in their local communities. While she loves to spend time in remote wilderness settings, her heart is in environmental justice work and making urban environments livable for people of all socioeconomic and racial backgrounds.

As a native Spanish speaker, Claudia is passionate about inclusive outreach and looks forward to working with Portland’s diverse communities in her new role. In getting to know our program’s past, Claudia has been pleasantly surprised to realize how many sites she has been in or by without realizing they were former brownfields in our program. In her new role, she will encourage and support others to dream big and transform unused spaces into urban gems. She will be attending community events that address equity and land development, primarily in East Portland. Claudia is available to answer questions about our program and is happy to meet with community groups and members of the public. She is in the office part-time and can be reached by email Claudia.christensen-garcia@portlandoregon.gov or by phone 503-823-5863.