Community Engagement & Outreach

The Formation Lab views community engagement not as top down, but rather the core moving outward. Through stakeholder interviews, focus groups, community benefit analysis and power mapping, we seek to understand implicit and explicit community needs. We connect with local leaders, resource sharers and community-based organizations to understand opportunities for reciprocal benefits. We seek to understand the experience of priorities populations who live, work and travel in the project’s areas of influence and how they interact with the technical requirements of the project.

Our engagement has a singular focus – transforming community engagement into community outcomes. We understand how to bring community priorities into project decisions, integrate equity initiatives into project delivery processes, and navigate organizational barriers to implementing community benefit projects.

Selected Projects

Bull Run Filtration Program
Portland Water Bureau

The filtration facility project is the first large capital project where the City of Portland is engaging government-to-government with tribal nations. The Formation Lab is supporting the project team in coordinating engagement, developing strategies to integrate indigenous technology (ITECK) into site restoration, coaching development of a new ITECK firm, and leading a pilot advisory group to improve ongoing bureau communications with urban indigenous populations. The Lab’s role has also included developing public communications around equity, facilitating conversations on social justice, hosting trainings, facilitating large technical advisory workshops, and developing an overall equity strategy for the program.

Advanced Metering Infrastructure Owners Agent
Portland Water Bureau and Portland Bureau of Environmental Services

The Formation Lab supported the Portland Water Bureau and Portland Bureau of Environmental Services in integrating digital, language and economic equity into the city-wide implementation of smart meter technology. Through conducting focus groups with multilingual, multicultural and low-income customers, the Formation Lab developed inclusive messaging, equitable engagement strategies and process improvements that alleviate current customer concerns. These recommendations resulted in the creation of a Communications Plan and Equity Plan that will guide citywide public communications.  

Water Quality Line Equity Evaluation
Portland Water Bureau

The Formation Lab conducted an equity review of Portland Water Bureau’s Water Line—the customer service resource for the community’s questions about water quality—to identify barriers for low-income Portlanders. Working closely with community based organizations at the intersection of environmental justice and community health, The Formation Lab mapped customer experiences and promoted opportunities for equitable engagement.

Outreach to Underrepresented Communities
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ)

As part of DEQ’s Recycling Steering Committee’s efforts to modernize the state’s recycling system, The Formation Lab engaged with underrepresented communities as a subconsultant to Barney & Worth. The State of Oregon is evaluating how the system is managed, who pays for it, which items can be recycled, and how their recycling systems affect underrepresented communities. Engagement includes workshops and online surveys with representatives from rural, houseless, low-income, and small business communities, as well as communities of color. The Formation Lab synthesized input from these diverse groups into actionable input for the steering committee. Follow-up listening sessions focused on health and safety of Material Recovery Facility workers. This work contributed to new standards for Material Recovery Facility works including setting a living wage requirement.