Introducing the Bull Run Center

Since time immemorial, people in this place have stewarded the land we call home for future generations. 130 years ago visionary civic leaders saw great promise for the small town of 17,500 on the banks of the Willamette. They preserved land and a lake that now provide fresh drinking water to nearly a million people.

The Bull Run legacy inspires us today, and invites us to ask how we’re preparing for future generations. We established the Bull Run Center to foster trust among civic leaders, embolden our shared vision for Portland’s future, and open pathways for aligned action.

The Bull Run Center is a member-led relationship, strategy, and action group. We built it over two years with leaders like you, for you. We strive to imagine — and embolden — a shared vision for Portland’s brightest future. That future is built on trust, and trust starts with getting to know each other.

What do we do?

  • Kitchen Cabinet Sessions: Monthly candid strategy meetings, co-created by civic leaders who work at the forefront of innovation and solutions-finding in Portland. We explore different perspectives, approach disagreements with curiosity, and inform strategies with the civic leaders most ready to take action. These evening gatherings are casual and spirited.

  • Table for Six: Citywide small-table meetings to learn about district leadership and place-based visioning for Portland. Linger over lunch to deepen connections with fellow civic leaders at your table.

  • Skunkworks Projects: Small group projects to deepen understanding of a problem, and lift up solutions. Projects may seek member-wide endorsement.

  • Your City, Your Choice Survey: Advise on annual, benchmarked public opinion research to hear Portlanders’ views on local government, community and civic life.

  • Stumptown Stats: Advise and strategize a public-facing civic data dashboard to track Portland’s progress.

I appreciated the candid conversations I had at these events, and the enthusiasm and positivity that came from the interactions. It gave me hope for our community and for our City overall that we will be able to work together making it a better place for everyone.

—Member feedback, 2025

  • Membership Dues

    Members’ most impactful investment is the time, focus, and insight that you share freely in our gatherings and work groups. Thank you!

    Flexible annual membership dues support the community. All membership levels includes access to regular gatherings and engagement in the governance and leadership of the Center. Members may benefit from discounts at partner events and other perks.

    • Dues will be billed annually, and may be paid annually or monthly.

    • Dues above $120 are tax deductible.

    • Failure to pay dues for four months may result in loss of membership.

    • Dues may be paid by an employer. This payment does not create an “organizational membership” or grant access to the Center for other employees or representatives of the employer.

    • We recognize that different people have different capacites to pay for memberships like this. Consider what your capacity is and choose the price that is most appropriate for you – no questions asked.

      • Watershed Membership: $500

      • Rainfall Membership: $300

      • Reservoir Membership: $120

    We deeply appreciate donations beyond your membership dues.

    • Participate in dynamic strategy meetings that are targeted to the specific needs and interests of senior-level civic leaders like you.

    • Represent the communities you serve or convene to brighten insights and ground-truth solutions as we dig into Portland’s challenges and opportunities.

    • Access exclusive data, perspectives, and ideas presented or shared in meetings and studies sponsored by the Center.

    • Grow professionally in a group that includes diverse experiences and perspectives that may require you to stretch or “bridge.”

    • Find new common ground from which to take aligned action, by exploring new ideas with generative conflict and frank discussion.

    • Inform, debate, vote, and take action on concrete civic solutions and recommendations.

    • Contribute to a powerful new vision for Portland’s future.

    • Co-create an effective new space to serve the City — a legacy to support civic leaders now and into the coming century.

    • Engage wholeheartedly in gatherings, partner events, and outings throughout the year. Aim for at least six to maximize your opportunities to meet and work with civic leaders throughout the city.

    • Vote on recommendations to move Portland forward.

    • Support the community with annual membership dues.

    • We are steadfast about our welcoming culture. We treat each other respectfully. While diversity of thought is essential, divisive rhetoric is not welcome. 

    • We foster a culture of learning. To support this, meetings are confidential and follow Chatham House Rules. 

    • Although topics studied and discussed are political, the forum is not a platform for campaigning. No pitching (or bitching).

  • We’re building a space for civic leaders that prioritizes building trust across differences. To support this commitment, we have capped total membership and developed a process that evaluates new members to help balance the makeup of the group by sector, ideology, demographics, and geography.

BACKGROUND

In late 2021, the North Star team invited a small group of individuals from Meyer Memorial Trust, Oregon Humanities, Social Venture Partners Portland, United Way of the Columbia-Willamette, and Western States Center to an open-ended conversation about what role we might collectively play in addressing the signs of clear civic distress in our city —  increasing property crimes and homicides, un-civil engagement with elected leaders, racialized police violence, increased presence of anti-government and white supremacist paramilitary groups, and a growing sense among Portlanders that the city is moving in the wrong direction, and that too little is being done about it. 

We saw that Portland leaders across different sectors are hungry for a space to work together on “the future of Portland” — whether they define that as reviving downtown, investing in neighborhood centers, addressing homelessness, finding dynamic leaders to serve in public office, or fully reforming the City’s elections and governing charter. 

We believe that how civic leaders come together in this pivotal moment will likely set the course for where we arrive in five, ten, twenty years. So, it’s important to do it in a way that builds civic strengths that we know we’ll need throughout that period — and in a way that identifies, cultivates, tests, and supports people (and communities) who can work together as leaders now and in the future. 

Our Research and Progress

During the course of our engagement, we came to see that our best focus might be to: Foster creativity, connection, and equitable outcomes for Portland by creating a meaningful “shared learning” space that can engage, support, enrich and deepen trusting relationships among the people who convene and lead civic spaces in our region.

Our report shares the key themes and takeaways from four areas of research and “testing the water” on these ideas:

  1. Engaging Civic Leaders - “Building Bridges” (2022)
    North Star, Western States Center and Oregon Humanities hosted a series of gatherings for executive leaders of civic organizations in Portland in a broad range of sectors: arts, business, philanthropy, activism, direct service, media, and government.

  2. Discovery - Shared Learning Spaces (2022)
    We learned about the power of “shared learning communities” to help metropolitan areas respond to crises, build trust, and create equitable outcomes and economic growth.

  3. Community Interviews (2023)
    We interviewed people to gut check the need for a new civic space, and to flesh out the approach. We came away with complex insights and an appetite to address the clearest through-line: Although Portland has many opportunities for broad civic engagement, the region does not seem to have a multi-sector civic space for leaders to build trust and work collaboratively on challenges facing Portland.

  4. Design Workshops (2023)
    North Star hosted an afternoon of interactive “design workshops” that explored design challenges with creating a new civic space, including how to ensure the space is action-oriented, inclusive, builds trust, and supports of the existing civic ecosystem.

  5. Pilot Year (2024-2025)

    North Star invited a small group of civic leaders to help build a new center where civic leaders can bridge difference, strengthen trusting relationships, learn together about the challenges and opportunities in our region, and develop a vision for Portland based in experiences from business, philanthropy, public service, arts, culturally specific communities, and a broad range of policy expertise. The pilot year ends in May 2025, and we will evaluate the program in the summer of 2025.

  6. Launched Bull Run Center - August 2025
    In August 2025 we launched the new Bull Run Center: Portland’s Wellspring for Civic Leadership. For our first year, members have prioritized staying small and intentionally using the space to build trust among cross-sector leaders, with a focus on Portland’s future and revitalization.