Sam and Commissioner Saltzman display the freshly signed "Commitment Statement"On Tuesday, June 10th, the Commissioners Dan Saltzman and Sam Adams welcomed community leaders to sign a commitment statement [0] to create a Sustainability Center of Excellence to establish Portland and Oregon as the global leader in sustainability. This commitment statement has been embraced by leaders from the business, academic and nonprofit sectors, and sets in motion a process for working together to develop a large, multi-faceted center.
While individual momentum has propelled Portland forward, the Center will centralize diverse and innovative skills in a way that promotes cross-fertilization, collaborative decision-making and greater visibility in the national and international arena.
"To achieve the vision of being the world's best we all need to come together in one initiative. I believe our collaboration improves the scope, reach and probability of success for each of us," Sam offered the group in his opening remarks.
The City is working to find an interim space for the center, which could open as early as this fall. At the same time, a working group is being convened to determine the long-term location and programmatic development for the center. Recommendations will be made to the broader group in September.
More than 100 businesses, academic institutions and nonprofit organizations have expressed their support for this visionary approach, and many more are expected to join in their support as the center begins to take shape. These include Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Gerding Edlen Development, Oregon BEST, Portland State University, Multnomah County, Green Building Services, Lewis and Clark Law School, and the Association of Portland Neighborhood Business Associations.
To sign up your organization, please contact sustainable.portland@gmail.com [1]