Safe Blocks Monthly Report – August 2024

News Article

Monthly report of Portland's Safe Blocks Program.

What is Safe Blocks?

The Safe Blocks Program supports place-based activities to reduce violent crime's impact on public health, social well-being, and the local economy. Examples of the work include organizing block parties and resource fairs, enhancing green spaces, improving traffic control, and adding lighting to increase safety and decrease opportunities for crime.

Safe Blocks coordinators work directly in areas suffering from historical disinvestment, high rates of social vulnerability, and high rates of gun violence. The team is currently active in the Cully, Eliot, and Hazelwood neighborhoods, with work in Powellhurst-Gilbert scheduled to commence in 2025. Specific activities are determined through engagement with residents, businesses, and other stakeholders in the community.

What is Safe Blocks working on?

Safe Blocks Place-Based Violence Intervention Project (Byrne Grant)

In March 2024, Safe Blocks received a $2 million Federal Byrne Grantto fund place-based community violence intervention programming over four years in Portland's Hazelwood, Eliot, and Powellhurst-Gilbert neighborhoods. Residents in these neighborhoods along with Cully, Portsmouth, and Lents are encouraged to take a community safety surveyto help inform the grant's projects.

A project manager to oversee the grant will begin on September 26.

Neighborhood work

Cully

• Safe Blocks is still engaged with Reimagining Justice in Cully- a pilot project in partnership between Multnomah County and the Native American Youth and Family Center.
• The team is providing support for an event happening on September 21 called Cullyfest, including a community street mural project in the Cully 5 Corners area.
• Discussions are happening with Metro and the Portland Bureau of Transportation on corridor improvement efforts (including traffic calming, pedestrian safety, and lighting).
• Engagement is occurring with hard-to-reach residents in mobile home parks.
• Safe Blocks is supporting the Sunshine Divisionat three different sites with a mobile pantry.
• The team is tabling at the Cully Farmers Market.

Eliot

• An event happened at Dawson Park on August 6thcoordinated by Safe Blocks with support from the Portland Police Bureau, Office of Violence Prevention, and service providers to improve safety conditions in the area.
• The installation of bollards to prevent vehicles from entering the park is still being finalized by Portland Parks & Recreation.
• The team continues to coordinate with the Portland Bureau of Transportation on traffic and safety improvements.
• A food truck meetup is being discussed in coordination with the Portland Bureau of Transportation to establish a regular food cart presence to draw positive activity to the area.

Hazelwood

• The team hosted a Party On, Portland! (POP!) event on August 10thattended by more than 500 people at the TriMet Park & Ride at 122nd and Burnside.
• Discussions are underway with the community around developing a greenspace at 119th Ave and East Burnside.
• Coordination is continuing with the Portland Bureau of Transportation's 122nd Avenue Corridor Improvementsteam for traffic and safety improvements.

Security Assessments

Safe Blocks conducted five Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design - known as CPTED - assessments in August. Assessments are labor intensive, involving a team member meeting with the property owner/manager and tenants to walk around the property for about an hour to learn about how the space is used and what the concerns are. After the walkthrough, the Safe Blocks team builds a comprehensive report with photos, recommendations, and resources. Safe Blocks then follows up three months later to check on the work and suggest additional improvements.

For more information or to request an assessment, visit the Safe Blocks website.

Events

• September 21 - Cullyfest.

Rose City Self-Defense (RCSD)

Rose City Self-Defenseis an empowerment-based self-defense program that offers community-based classes and workshops for youth and adults. All RCSD programming is free because classes and workshops are taught by volunteer self-defense instructors. Since its start, RCSD has provided self-defense training to more than 45,000 students, and workshops to over 120,000 participants.

In August 2024, RCSD offered 13 workshops serving over 300 community members in Personal Safety, De-Escalation as well as Safety & Self-Defense. RCSD took August off from teaching Community and Youth Classes so that we could celebrate our volunteers at a summer picnic. We also tabled 2 events in August serving over 200 people.

Interns from the Lents Youth Initiative through the SummerWorksprogram spent 100 hours learning about urban planning, civic engagement, historical data around Portland - including its racist history of redlining - and Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED).

Rose City Self-Defense Volunteer Recruitment

Rose City Self-Defenseis looking for cis and trans women, non-binary people comfortable in women-centered spaces, members of the LGBTQIA2S+ and BIPOC communities to train to become volunteer instructors and teach empowerment-based self-defense skills in our community, youth or LGBTQIA2S+ programs.

Visit the Rose City Self-Defense websitefor more information. The deadline to apply is September 30, 2024.

Questions?

For more information, visit Safe Blocks at https://www.portland.gov/safe-blocks, email us at [email protected], or call 503-823-4064.