The Action Plan for the People, a project of the Oregon Center for Public Policy, is the product of a year’s worth of research and deep conversations with community partners about the policies that can advance economic justice in Oregon. Our goal with this document is to put forward policy solutions that reflect community priorities and make Oregon’s economy more just and equitable.

 

Many of the conversations we held were with organizations representing Black, Indigenous and other communities of color — and with good reason. This nation’s long history of exploitation and exclusion, as well as on-going discrimination, mean that these communities often face greater economic obstacles. Justice demands that we address these inequities head on. At the same time, public policies that lift up Black and brown communities are the very same kind of policies that lift up all Oregonians struggling to make ends meet.

 

Having set out the structural reforms to Oregon’s economy that will help all Oregonians thrive, we now turn to the campaigns and legislation needed to make this vision a reality. In the cases of establishing a guaranteed income program and reforming Oregon’s kicker, we intend to catalyze community conversations and long-term campaigns. We will work with partners to craft specific policy reforms that can become law. In other instances, we will provide research and support to community partners leading campaigns that advance our shared vision of an economically just Oregon.

 

This Action Plan focuses on actions Oregon lawmakers, the Governor, and Oregonians themselves can take. While our efforts will primarily be at the state level, we recognize that achieving economic justice requires progress at every level of government, including federal, regional, and local governments.  

 

We all have a role to play to make this Action Plan happen. We must come together and fight to advance economic justice in our state — to ensure that all Oregonians can live in dignity. 

 

If you would like to learn more about this Action Plan and how we are advancing these policies, please contact Daniel Hauser, the Oregon Center for Public Policy’s Director of Strategic Policy Projects, at dhauser@ocpp.org.