communities of concentrated poverty: a proposal for oregon

This paper is a proposal for how to address poverty in Oregon based on information gathered from interviewing experts in the field and reviewing literature produced by scholars and organizations that address issues related to poverty. The following outlines how we can best address communities of concentrated poverty in Oregon by (1) Addressing communities of concentrated poverty as well as individuals in poverty; (2) Designing efforts that focus on race, equity and social mobility; (3) Defining communities of concentrated poverty using a multidimensional definition based on the dimensions of poverty outlined in The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s 2016 DAC Guidelines; (4) Identifying communities of concentrated poverty using the “High Poverty Hotspots” list from the Oregon Department of Human Services Office of Forecasting, Research, and Analysis and measuring poverty using the Self-Sufficiency Standard developed by Dr. Diana Pearce at the University of Washington and adopted by Elizabeth Morehead, Ph.D., and Sheila Martin, Ph.D., at the Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies at Portland State University; and (5) Developing Communities of Opportunity (CoO) using the Center for American Progress State Promise Zone Framework.