Incorporating Social Equity and Climate Justice into Climate Action Planning in Higher Education
Portland Community College
Project Overview
Portland Community College’s 2021 Climate Action Plan: Resiliency, Equity and Education for a Just Transition (the CAP) centers people at the heart of creating benefits and solutions to the climate crisis. In this plan, social justice is a focus of bringing resiliency into the climate action planning process, rather than a byproduct. This approach allows Portland Community College (PCC) to continue to mitigate the college’s contributions to global climate change while ensuring that benefits from solutions are distributed equitably both locally and globally. In addition, it enables PCC to acknowledge that our neighbors in frontline and vulnerable communities are among those most at risk from the global climate crisis. Answering resiliency challenges forces PCC to answer the climate crisis with holistic and community-based solutions and to confront adaptation on a local level.
The CAP is the college’s five-year roadmap towards climate justice. Unified under a shared vision, this plan establishes a new carbon neutrality goal of 2040 and outlines clear pathways for equity-focused climate action to be woven throughout operations, academics, student engagement and future planning.
The CAP has four focus areas, two of which address PCC’s greenhouse gas emissions from its operations, a section focused on education and outreach to ensure the PCC community has the tools, resources and knowledge to lead in climate action and a resiliency section to help PCC equitably adapt to global climate change. Each focus area has five-year goals and outlines associated strategies. The goals and strategies were vetted with the use of PCC’s Climate Action Equity Guide, to set PCC on the path to 2040 carbon neutrality and climate justice.
In the development of this plan, PCC used science-based targets to update its carbon neutrality goal to 2040. In support of climate justice, PCC reduction targets are aligned with the global need for GHG emissions reduction that will keep global warming below a 1.5°C increase from pre-industrial levels, since this is the threshold scientists have identified to protect many low-lying and island nations from disastrous sea level rise. This CAP also integrates resiliency to address the global climate emergency. Resiliency emphasizes both mitigation and adaptation to climate change. Furthermore, resiliency calls for equity-focused responses to climate change since the consequences of increasing global temperatures disproportionately impact populations that have contributed least to the climate crisis locally and globally.
Background
Portland Community College signed the then named American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment in 2007 and produced its first Climate Action Plan in 2009. The last update was completed in 2013. In 2019, PCC Sustainability Staff began to outline the process to bring our Climate Action Plan into alignment with the college mission and strategic plan process, while embedding climate justice throughout the new plan and introducing resiliency.
In embedding the concept of climate justice in the 2021 Climate Action Plan, the PCC Sustainability Department sought to ensure that the impacts of global climate change and benefits from solutions are equitably distributed and shared, while acknowledging that those most harmed by climate change are not always those responsible for causing it.
PCC is Oregon’s number one gateway to higher education and lifelong learning. As the region’s largest post-secondary institution, PCC serves some 60,000 learners a year across a 1,500-square-mile district serving 1.9 million residents. PCC aims to educate a skilled workforce, prepare students to successfully transfer to four-year schools, enrich the community through career and technical education, build a greener workforce while shrinking its carbon footprint and be a sound financial steward of public dollars. Through a focus on reducing barriers to student success and ensuring equitable opportunities, the college offers high-quality education for its students, which in turn contributes to the vibrancy of Portland's community.
The climate crisis poses barriers to opportunity by magnifying pre-existing inequities. The Portland metro-region, home to the majority of the PCC community, has already seen and will continue to experience the effects of climate change through changing temperature and precipitation levels, reduced access to green space and increased exposure to weather events and natural disasters. While the community as a whole experiences climate change through disasters such as wildfires and power outages, society’s frontline and most vulnerable communities experiences are magnified due to racial and economic inequities. The devastating toll of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly on Black communities, Indigenous communities, communities of color and on rural communities unveiled long-standing, systemic public health disparities, economic inequities and problems in the food system. Outcomes for groups facing these same problems will only worsen in the face of rising global temperatures and increasing carbon emissions. As PCC works to address systemic injustice through access to quality education and meeting basic needs, just climate action is a responsibility of PCC.
In alignment with the 2015 City of Portland and Multnomah County’s Climate Action Plan, PCC’s 2021 Climate Action Plan seeks to spotlight the importance of climate justice to PCC’s campus community and advance climate resiliency work. Unified under a shared vision, the 2021 Climate Action Plan outlines clear pathways for climate justice to be woven throughout operations, student engagement, academics and future planning.
Note Definitions can be found in PCC's Climate Action Plan.
Goals
The goals of this planning effort were to update PCC’s Climate Action Plan while Centering equity throughout the entire process; Fostering inclusive stakeholder engagement; Including resiliency; Using science-based targets to create actionable steps towards GHG mitigation; and * Aligning with previous and ongoing campus planning efforts, as well as with broader efforts and commitments in the region.
Implementation
Implementation Overview This project was led by PCC’s Sustainability Department with support from our consultants and included input from key stakeholders across the college including the Office of Equity Inclusion, Facilities Management Services, Planning & Capital Construction, Parking & Transportation, the Office of Institutional Effectiveness, Central Distribution Services, faculty, staff and students. The process began with the development of a request for proposal and included sharing data with consultants. Stakeholder engagement consisted of two parts: community input (survey, community listening sessions and student class visits) and work with the Climate Action Task Force (development of the mission, vision, goals and strategies). Community input included an online survey developed by the Sustainability Department with input from the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and community listening sessions. The Sustainability Department developed a lesson plan around the CAP for interested faculty and then visited classrooms to receive feedback from students. In addition, the mission, vision and values were developed through a Climate Action Task Force, which split into focus area work groups to develop the individual goals and strategies. The Sustainability Department also developed a Climate Action Equity Guide and social justice/equity training for use by members of the Task Force to assist in ensuring equitable outcomes. (It should be noted that while PCC chiefly used the term equity throughout the process, the focus was more on social justice, that is to say, PCC focused on centering the needs of people.) Additional meetings were held with key stakeholders as needed during the development of the goals and strategies. In the final phase of the plan, the Sustainability Department made presentations to cabinet and executive leadership of the final draft goals and strategies and created the final draft of the plan.
The remainder of this section is dedicated to providing additional details as to how equity was centered throughout the entire implementation of the Climate Action Plan.
Request for Proposal The PCC Sustainability Department was intentional in centering equity and climate justice from the very beginning. The PCC Sustainability Department issued a request for a RFP for climate action planning services that included requirements for extensive integration of justice, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) throughout the planning process. This included emphasizing the equity goals of the project in the request for proposals (RFP) for climate action consulting, as well as the expectations of firms to support and advance these goals throughout the entire process. PCC’s Sustainability Department included a requirement as part of the deliverables for consultants to support an equity conscious and approach that incorporated social justice principles throughout the process, including in stakeholder engagement and in the selection of adaptation and mitigation strategies. Firms received additional award points for past experience centering equity in a planning process.
Equity in Community Input (Community Listening Sessions, Survey & Class visits) The selected firm, GreenerU, supported the PCC Sustainability Department in aligning the college’s equity goals with the process. PCC Sustainability staff crafted an approach to inclusion of equity and social justice or collecting stakeholder engagement that included: Making personal efforts to engage the Office of Equity & Inclusion and leadership within the multicultural centers to participate in the process; Creating a listening session specifically for PCC’s Identity-based equity centers during broad stakeholder engagement; Involving a paid equity evaluator at every open listening session; Infusing climate justice and equity-specific questions in all forms of outreach (e.g., listening sessions, surveys, student assignments); and Asking for demographic data (as an optional item) in the survey with the intent of ensuring that we disaggregate the data and give the opinions of communities of color additional weight.
Providing a variety of meaningful opportunities for stakeholders to engage and share ideas was a core goal of this planning process. All community engagement efforts supporting the development of this Climate Action Plan were remote due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the beginning of the 2021 Climate Action Plan process, the Climate Action Plan Task Force co-chairs modified engagement opportunities to reflect current conditions with equity in mind and engaged the community through:
- Administering a community-wide survey;
- Providing lesson plans for faculty to use in a remote setting;
- Hosting remote listening sessions for community members to provide ideas and feedback;
- Adjusting all of the planning meetings to a remote setting as well as slowing down the pace of the planning process; and
- Inviting stakeholders to attend a remote community review near the end of the planning process.
The community survey provided invaluable baseline information on interest and support for the 2021 Climate Action Plan. PCC Sustainability staff designed listening sessions to create space for review, reflection and feedback from community members. The outcomes of these 12 sessions provided insight from diverse viewpoints and supplemented the quantitative data from the survey. Participants were asked to provide feedback about what they value in climate action and what strategies the college should take. There was overwhelming interest in resiliency, diversity, equity, inclusion and justice.
Equity in Development of the Goals and Strategies PCC’s Sustainability Manager Briar Schoon and Sustainability Analyst Stephania Fregosi identified co-chairs for each focus area. Co-chairs supported meeting facilitation and coordination. Through the survey, class visits, work with student leaders and listening sessions, the co-chairs solicited stakeholders from across the college to be part of the Task Force. Over 80 people were active in the Climate Action Plan Task Force workgroups, representing students, staff, faculty and community partners. PCC stakeholders represented a variety of disciplines, committees and departments such as Aviation, Business, Chemistry, Dining Services, Environmental Studies, Facilities Management Services, Landscape Technology, Microelectronics, the Multicultural Center, the Office of Equity and Inclusion, Parking & Transportation, Planning & Capital Construction, Student Leadership, the Sustainability Leadership Council, the Sustainable Practices for Academics and Resources Council and more. Community partners included utility providers, a local environmental justice organization and a local anti-poverty advocacy organization. Students were represented on the Task Force and participated in each of the four focus area work groups.
The Task Force created the goals and strategies for the Climate Action Plan. Focus area work groups each hosted a series of at least five two-hour meetings per focus area to draft plan content and incorporate community input from the survey and listening sessions. Co-chairs facilitated these meetings with use of PCC’s Climate Action Equity Guide and equity decision making tools. In addition to these focus area work group meetings, Task Force members met with a number of community partners and organizations to ensure the updated CAP aligned with local and regional initiatives, as well as community priorities. The Sustainability & Equity Specialist facilitated an equity training, which was offered twice in order to accommodate as many people as possible.
PCC’s Climate Action Plan Mission, Vision and Values The Climate Action Planning Task Force was also responsible for creating a vision, mission and values for the Climate Action Plan. In developing the value statements, the CAP Update Task Force took into account: PCC’s mission, the urgency to address climate justice and the scope of the climate action plan update. The statements were refined by the Task Force leadership to use language aligned with PCC’s 2020 Strategic Plan and values expressed by PCC faculty and staff during our fall 2020 annual kick off event. These were then brought back to the larger Task Force for a consensus vote.
The value statements acted as anchors for each focus area work group to define criteria for its strategies, ensuring they support PCC climate justice vision. Each focus area work group also created a set of criteria to apply to the goals and strategies in alignment with PCC’s Climate Action Equity Guide. After confirming the criteria using Fist of Five voting, focus area work group members then confirm the language and content included in the goals and strategies aligned with the CAP values.
PCC Climate Action Vision: PCC envisions an equity-focused transition to a resilient, thriving society with net zero greenhouse gas emissions that addresses historical injustices, through education and empowering a diverse community to engage in climate action.
PCC Climate Action Mission: PCC provides climate education, green workforce development, carbon neutral operations and advances collective action to confront the global climate crisis in support of a Just Transition.
PCC Climate Action Values: We believe
- Planning for the future is critical for student success. We will prepare our grounds, facilities and operations for a changing climate. 2. Education is a human right. We will apply integrative learning strategies to empower students, staff and faculty to adapt to and thrive in a changing environment.
- Everything is connected. We will continue to use our college as living laboratories where PCC and the community can be engaged in stewardship and research sustainability solutions.
- Success requires equity. We will actively use social justice and equity frameworks to center those impacted most in creating climate and sustainability solutions.
- Our responsibility to our community goes beyond the college’s doors. We will root climate action in our bioregion in the Pacific Northwest, while ensuring that we reduce our global carbon footprint.
- We can go further together. We will work collaboratively with our community and other stakeholders to support sustainability leadership development and a green workforce.
- A just transition is imperative. We will address historical injustices with restorative, place-based climate action to uplift and empower our diverse community.
Accessibility Accessibility was addressed by using closed captioning during zoom meetings, always offering technical support for those less accustomed to using zoom, other online tools and recording sessions and making them available to the group for later review (useful for both reviewing a meeting and for ensuring people who could not attend could still participate). The final draft of the document is being reviewed extensively for visual accessibility.
PCC’s Climate Action Equity Guide As part of the process, PCC’s Take 5: Critical Race Theory Toolkit has the college community take time to pause and reflect on intention, identities and beneficiaries of proposed actions. PCC’s Sustainability Department designed PCC’s Climate Action Equity Guide for this planning process, based on the PCC Strategic Planning Equity and Empowerment Guide and drawing from both Critical Race Theory, Multnomah County’s Equity & Empowerment Lens (Multnomah County 2014) and the City of Portland, Oregon’s Climate Action Plan Equity Considerations (City of Portland 2016).The Climate Action Equity Guide is designed to infuse equity throughout the climate action planning process, across 5 P’s: Purpose, Power, Place, Process and People. The guide consists of a number of guiding questions that build on PCC’s Take Five process and other resources. PCC’s Task Force used the CLimate Action Equity Guide to help identify the equity impact of the focus groups' goals and strategies, as well as to ensure an anti-racist engagement process. Each P has an overarching question which highlights the intent with many sub-questions to help reflect and answer the overarching question while focusing on equity.
Each focus area work group used the 5 P’s process to evaluate and refine the draft outcomes of the plan to ensure that equitable outcomes were the foundation of the goals and strategies of the plan. Among other things, using the 5 P’s as the framework for this equity evaluation tool helped the Task Force to understand how it impacts the many locations the college is in across the city. This framework takes into consideration the varying racial and ethnic demographics and other socioeconomic factors which impact those neighborhoods. The result is that the Task Force was better able to understand the potential equity implications of how PCC has historically and continues to distribute college resources.
The Sustainability Office will continue to embed climate justice into work plans, something that is done annually as part of the Sustainability Leadership Council work. The Climate Action Equity Guide and other equity tools will continue to be used during the Sustainability Leadership Council meetings.
Equity Training and Additional Equity Tools PCC’s Sustainability & Equity Specialist was a member of the core planning team and co-facilitated the required equity training for all focus area members. The training session introduced task members to new topics such as white supremacy culture and the intersections of racial and social justice with sustainability and climate action and prepared the Task Force to use a host of tools from PCC’s Office of Equity & Inclusion Take 5 Toolkit and PCC’s Climate Action Equity Guide.
Two important tools from PCC’s Office of Equity & Inclusion Take 5 Toolkit are identity cards and Fist of Five decision making. Identity cards served as a reminder to think about how different folks may be impacted by the decisions the core team makes in the planning process and how actions may be modified to better benefit the diverse PCC community. Throughout the planning process the core team also used a consensus-based decision making process, called fist of five, to ensure consensus before moving forward with a decision.
Timeline
PCC has been working to increase education around equity, social justice and sustainability for a number of years. The college’s first Annual Eco-Social Justice Event and renaming of the student Green Initiative Fund to the Eco Social Justice Grant took place in 2017. During the Spring of 2019, the PCC Sustainability Department gave a formal presentation to the Sustainability Leadership Council about the City of Portland’s inclusion of equity in Climate Action Planning and how equity ties to resiliency. PCC began this effort by securing funding and launching the contracting process in 2019 and then proceeded to work with GreenerU to execute the plan beginning in March of 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Milestones December 2019 - Completed Request for Proposal March 2020 - Hired GreenerU March-April 2020 - Baselining April 2020 - Data gathering May 2020 - Launch, Video release to PCC website May-June 2020 -Collegewide survey, class visits and listening sessions, including use of an equity evaluator June-September - Task force launch, equity training, task force meetings (4-5 for each of 4 focus areas), including the use of an equity evaluator October 2020 - Task force summit November 2020 - Goals and strategies drafting December 2020-March 2021 - Written text drafting January - March 2021- Final presentations to the Sustainability Leadership Council, executive leadership and PCC’s cabinet April 2021 - Goals and strategies published to the PCC Sustainability Department website in time for Earth Week April - May 2021 Review & finalize design May 2021 - Final Climate Action Plan to be released * June 2021 - Climate Action Plan publicity and outreach
The process was extended and slowed down from a six-month to one year. The plan was created over a year that was fraught with additional demands on participants' attention such as the need to address social injustice and to adapt to the everyday demands of the pandemic (e.g. childcare, internet access) and the wildfires and power outages that plagued Oregon. The designed plan will be available at the end of May 2021. The goals and strategies have been finalized and are available on the college’s website.
Financing
Funding for the use of a consultant, the Boston-based firm GreenerU, for the climate action plan came from a combination of the Executive Vice President’s Office along with additional funds from the Portland Community College President’s Climate Action Fund and the Sustainability Department’s budget. Using PCC Sustainability staff to lead engagement efforts and to write parts of the final document helped to reduce capital costs. PCC’s Sustainability Department also employed PCC’s Sustainability and Equity Specialist to serve as an equity evaluator during stakeholder engagement which equated to approximately 50 hours of her time. Details on the use of equity as a criteria in the request for quote can be found in the implementation section of this submission.
Results
The CAP covers the next five fiscal years (2022-2026) and sets PCC up for long-term success. The plan establishes an updated carbon neutrality goal of net zero emissions from Scope 1 and 2 by 2040 and interim goals for 2026. (PCC will continue to address its Scope 3 emissions.) This plan creates a roadmap to account for and reduce the totality of PCC’s direct and indirect GHG emissions and outlines clear strategies to track, assess and mitigate emissions as well as increase PCC’s commitment to climate justice. Goals and strategies from PCC’s 2021 Climate Action Plan: Resiliency, Equity and Education for a Just Transition can be viewed on the PCC Sustainability Department website.
Here are examples of how centering people and climate justice within the Climate Action Plan influenced the four main focus areas, Scope 1 & 2, Scope 3, Outreach and Education and Resiliency.
Our Scope 1 and 2 goals include a renewable energy goal which states, "Goal 2: By 2026, PCC has reduced its Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 75% below 2006 levels, through decarbonization of its energy sources." The renewable energy goal seeks to take into account much of the privilege associated with the installation of renewable technology. While installing photovoltaic arrays has dropped over time to the point of being competitive with the utility market, the cost for the individual still mostly requires home ownership and the incentives are better for higher tax payers. This only adds to the perception that these technologies are meant for a privileged class, primarily higher income. The precursor of having to own your own home renders this technology less accessible to Black Americans, who are less likely to own their homes. According to USA Facts, the US homeownership rate was 64.6%, while among Black Americans, it was 42.1% (USAFacts, 2020). Sadly, the pollution from utility companies is also more likely to impact BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) populations, which results in a challenge to participate in solutions that affect this group. Strategies linked to equity and inclusion include linking these arrays to their educational value and in particular engaging students, staff and faculty in determining the appropriate mix of energy sources for PCC’s commitment to decarbonization. One way PCC can help to make renewables more accessible to BIPOC communities is to partner with community based organizations working on Community Solar. Multi-stakeholder conversations around community solar can help PCC determine the appropriate balance , while shifting the balance of power so that BIPOC communities get a say about the shape of a just transition.
In Scope 3, PCC's goal 2 states, "By 2026, PCC purchaser and vendor contracts align with the college's diversity, equity and inclusion, sustainability and climate action goals and values to ensure long-term viability of our enterprise." Strategy 2.1 under this goal is explicit about aligning vendor selection and purchasing habits with the diversity, equity and inclusion goals as a college in addition to sustainability and climate action. Actions under this strategy include: Requesting vendors to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability and diversity, equity and inclusion in their operational practices and policies when contracting with the college and working with the Procurement office to ensure strong equity language is used in the RFP templates and other procurement materials.
Here's an example of how the resiliency focus area integrated the place element of the Climate Action Equity Guide. The resiliency goal 4 states, "By 2026, PCC has incorporated design criteria that promote habitat stewardship and the wellbeing of students, staff and the neighborhoods the college inhabits. These criteria contribute to a healthy learning and working environment, ecosystem health and a sense of belonging to all.” Goal 4 focuses on the relationships and connections between members of a thriving college district, health of the environment and the social systems we are part of. Strategies in this goal really look at actions and programs related to design and maintenance of the built environment and the development and implementation of change contribute to well-being and belonging. These strategies speak to food security, clean air, clean water, active design, the importance of feeling invited and welcome in all spaces at PCC and more.
Here's another example from goal 1 in Education and Outreach. Goal 1 states "By 2026, all students are supported and encouraged to engage with sustainability and climate justice education through student-centered curricular and co-curricular offerings that are equity-conscious." As the Climate Action Task Force crafted the strategies for this section, they worked to specifically tie efforts to the college DEI values, the college’s strategic plan and PCC’s commitment to equitable student success. Strategy 1.3 states “Ensure all sustainability and climate justice curricular offerings are culturally responsive and support anti-racist pedagogies.” Actions under this strategy include partnering with PCC’s Office of Equity & Inclusion on faculty training, accumulating resources on decolonizing sustainability curriculum and broadening representation in course materials by centering BIPOC voices and efforts.
PCC Sustainability Staff presented this plan to executive leadership, including PCC’s cabinet and their reactions were overwhelmingly positive, particularly around the way the CAP aligns with the PCCs Strategic Plan and Mission and centers people and learning.
Lessons Learned
Ensuring Access to Engagement is Critical Meetings were conducted in Zoom and used the Google Suite so that multiple people could be contributing simulatenously. In terms of tools, while PCC Sustainability Staff offered zoom tips at every meeting, it was clear that not all participants had the same level of access and experience with technology. For example, switching back and forth between windows could be challenging for folks without multiple screens and displaying all the programs on one monitor frequently rendered text too small to be useful. The use of smaller group meetings to gain clarification where engagement was low helped to gain additional feedback. Additionally, Sustainability staff helped task force participants who were calling in or having trouble engaging with the online tools during the meetings to ensure their feedback was captured. Participants were also encouraged to provide feedback after meetings or via email or phone to further ensure everyone had an opportunity to participate. Diversity in engagement opportunities, especially in a virtual setting, was key to the success of this process.
Diverse and Inclusive Stakeholder Engagement Leads to Success To be transparent, many courses were not offered in 2020, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The smaller than normal number of courses may have limited engagement from those programs that require hands-on learning for success (e.g. PCC’s trade programs). Notably, survey engagement was also lower than expected. Nevertheless, there was broad cross-disciplinary stakeholder participation from students, staff and faculty, throughout the listening sessions, in small group meetings with key stakeholders and on the Task Force, which was critical to the success of the plan. This also expedited executive approval since the stakeholders responsible for implementation of the many goals and strategies were involved in the process and thus supportive. In terms of external engagement, we invited our external Energy Coach to serve on our Scope 1 & 2 Task Force and two community based organizations to serve in our Resiliency Task Force; this provided invaluable insight, expertise and support to our process. PCC Sustainability Staff received feedback from participants that they appreciated the transparency throughout the process as well as the intentional engagement across the various departments and programs at PCC.
It is Important to Acknowledge and Account for Current Events Throughout this process, PCC Sustainability Staff have been particularly aware of the ongoing uptick in violence against Asian-Americans and the ongoing police violence against Black Americans. It is painfully obvious that underlying inequities in our society are a factor in how people experience disasters. The pandemic, like climate change, magnifies these inequities. Upon reflection, it was a particularly challenging year to be asking for participation from community-based organizations and people of color in PCC’s process. Throughout the process, PCC Sustainability repeatedly acknowledged the challenges of meeting and focusing given all the things that were happening around us (e.g. protests, wildfires, elections, etc.) and sometimes meetings were rescheduled or work continued with the understanding that participants were not always able to be fully present. While many have called 2020 an unprecedented year, it is becoming increasingly clear that the challenges of climate change will likely mean that 2020 set a precedent, rather than remaining unique. While PCC Sustainability staff slowed the process to ensure stakeholder participation, staff feel that it would be preferable to be able to pay community-based organizations and students for their participation and would have liked to do so even had there not been a pandemic taking place. PCC Sustainability Staff did their best to move the project forward.
College-wide Support for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Created the Foundation for this Climate Action Plan The college’s focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the last several years created the foundation for this work. PCC faculty, staff and students were eager and enthusiastic about centering equity in the climate action plan, sometimes even to our surprise. We launched this discussion beginning with a presentation to the Sustainability Leadership Council in 2019. This approach allowed the PCC Sustainability Department to teach connections between climate change and local equity issues. PCC Sustainability Staff believe that this approach helped to make climate change more relevant on a personal level. Notably, students have been passionate and vocal about incorporating social justice into sustainability work for a number of years. In 2017, PCC students voted to rename the Green Initiative Fund to the Eco Social Justice Grant to make it clearer that their funds were also intended to support social aspects of sustainability.
Equity Work Shouldn’t Start or Stop Here The equity/social justice training prior to the start of the Task Force was particularly useful. In addition to the practical aspect of having Task Force members get comfortable with the tools, this training sent a strong signal that equity and social justice were to be fundamental components of this climate action plan. While PCC Sustainability Staff have had extensive equity training, it would still have been useful to have the equity evaluator attend every Task Force focus area meeting in an equity evaluator capacity. Upon further reflection, PCC’s Sustainability Staff have done considerable advance work both within the Sustainability Department and in other parts of the college prior to creating the request for proposal to build more equity into sustainability processes. This may have led to more inclusive face to face stakeholder participation. This included partnering with our Multicultural Center staff on other projects, working with the Associated Students of Portland Community College on their Eco Social Justice day events and providing a day of training on Environmental and Climate Justice for student leaders. This may be partially responsible for the participation of Office of Equity Inclusion staff and students on the Task Force.
References City of Portland (2016, July 12). The integration of equity in the Portland/ Multnomah County 2015 Climate Action Plan. https://www.portland.gov/sites/default/files/2019-07/cap-equity-case-study-web29jul.pdf Multnomah County (2014). Equity and Empowerment Lens. https://www.multco.us/diversity-equity/equity-and-empowerment-lens Portland Community College Office of Equity and Inclusion. Take 5: Critical Race Theory Toolkit. https://www.pcc.edu/equity/tools/critical-race-theory-toolkit/. USAFacts. (2020, October 16). US homeownership rates by race. USAFacts. https://usafacts.org/articles/homeownership-rates-by-race/.