Getting Involved: Portland’s City Club makes City Government Accessible
What Is the Portland City Club?
The Portland City Club has been around in some form for over 100 years, and with good reason. Portland’s City Club has for years successfully realized its mission to bring together groups of open-minded, diverse people, to study and discuss Portland’s civic problems, to work to improve the city’s economic and social conditions, and to otherwise improve the life and surroundings of the citizens of Portland.
Here’s a rundown of what they do, who they help, and how to get involved in this legendary PDX organization.
Who Joins the Portland City Club?
Anyone of high school age or older can join Portland’s City Club, and there are plenty of benefits to doing so. These include attendance at over 100 free events, the opportunity to talk about Portland’s most important issues with community leaders, networking opportunities, and the opportunity to be an agent of real change for the city of PDX.
Why Should Homeowners Join Portland’s City Club?
If you own a home in Portland, there are a lot of great reasons to join the City Club. For one, if you’re new to Portland, it can be a great way to network, to meet friends, and to integrate yourself into the community while enriching your civic contribution to the city. For another, the City Club of Portland discusses issues that may be important to you as a homeowner.
For example, a recent Friday Forum talked about what local school districts are doing to improve graduation rates for students of color. This forum included several school superintendents, as well as the Governor’s Education Policy Advisor. You never know what issues are going to be discussed at the City Club, and you never know who’s going to be there!
If you have concerns about anything that’s going on in your PDX neighborhood, the City Club is the perfect place to go and talk about it. In fact, if you have a specific issue you’d like to discuss or a specific person you’d like to hear from in one of the Friday Forums, you can directly submit your request via the City Club website.
How Do I Get Involved in Portland’s City Club?
Getting involved in the City Club is easy. Just go to the City Club website and click on the “Join” link under the Membership tab, then simply click to join or renew. There are a number of membership plans, including the standard membership, junior membership for those 30 and younger, student memberships, family memberships, and more. The rates are quite affordable (especially for the family plans), and you can even pay with monthly installments.
The city of Portland is known for being an active community. What sets Portland apart is its civic pride and the way its citizens reach out to take care of each other and to help each other resolve the most pressing issues of the day.
The Portland City Club is one of the best ways to do just that, allowing members to interact closely with their neighbors and government officials in order to achieve the best Portland for all of its residents.