Member Meetings and Calendar
Kitchen Cabinet Meetings
2nd Thursday, 4:30- 7 pm
September through May
Hosted cocktail hour with hearty snacks
We hope you’ll come to the most of these meetings. This is where we learn together, build trust, and align strategies. The meetings are designed to be interactive and to call on your expertise, insights, and leadership roles. These meetings will be facilitated, casual, and dare-we-say fun?
Table for Six
4th Wednesday, 12-1:30 pm
September through May (Most Months)
Hosted lunch
It’s a “lunch and learn” with a twist. Join us in to hear from members who serve and represent communities in each of the four new City districts. In two additional meetings, we’ll dive into citywide priorities that span the districts — local transportation funding and affordable housing. Here’s the twist: We’re matching you with lunch dates at small tables (of four or six) to break bread and break the ice.
Skunkworks Meetings
Skunkworks teams set their own schedule. Meetings are open to all members, but the general idea is that a smaller group of dedicated members will use this time to roll up their sleeves and move toward a goal. The is where we move from alignment to action.
Community Events
All of you are in leadership roles that convene, serve, or represent parts of the greater Portland community. You host events that are open to the public and we’re happy to share them here. Just ask!
What to Expect in Our Gatherings
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We’ll have tasty snacks and beverages. We encourage you to come early or stay afterwards to catch up with friends and colleagues or foster new relationships.
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We hope this is a private space to learn together. We appreciate the Chatham House Rule as a guide. It helps create a trusted environment to understand and resolve complex problems. Its guiding spirit is: Share the information you receive, but do not reveal the identity of who said it.
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The Public Will Building is ADA accessible for those with mobility needs. If need additional accommodation, please let us know so we can ensure a comfortable and enjoyable experience for you.
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If you need work space before the meeting, just let us know! There is often a comfortable place to work or meet available. Use this form with two days notice. But we can probably find a spot for you on meeting days if you just come early.
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We’re investing in building trusting relationships and problem solving dynamics among a dedicated group of civic leaders who connect with the broader community through their roles in government, philanthropy, business, community advocacy, media, and the arts. As we get started, we’re trying to keep the space small to give new relationships the best chance of emerging and forming.
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Someone will be ready to let you in at 4:00 pm. You are welcome to come early and socialize, work, or get a little quiet time in the living room.
We'll offer beverages at the start of the meeting: Coffee, tea, water, beer, and wine.
Meetings will start at 4:30. The meeting will typically include a very short presentation or speaker, followed by facilitated and interactive engagement around a topic.
We'll offer cocktail hour snacks and beverages at 5:30.
Stay for the After Meeting. Feel free to stay and socialize after the meeting!
Waterfront Wednesdays
Wednesday mornings, June 3rd through August 12th, 8:00AM to 9:30AM
Deepen your connection with members outside the strategy sessions and skunkworks teams, and get your steps in while we’re at it! No RSVP needed. Just drop in!
We’ll meet at Simple Local Coffee (115 SW Ash St).
Arrive early if you want to buy coffee or a biscuit to go.
Choose between a 50 minute short circuit or a 90 minute long loop.
Downtown for All Listening Session: Make Downtown Work for the Whole City
Make Downtown Work for the Whole City: A Conversation About Employers and Employees
Focusing on strategies that stabilize jobs, expand commuter benefits, and support workforce access region-wide.
Who is this listening session for? This session is designed for employers, workforce development advocates, childcare providers, transit partners, labor leaders, and other civic leaders. Our conversation will center around stabilizing the jobs, payrolls, and daily activity that fund public services and support citywide affordability.
Strategy Examples: Improving workforce access and amenities by scaling employer retention and recruitment efforts. Expanding commuter benefits, and providing parking access for service industry workers. Pioneering innovative downtown co-working and childcare pilots.
Downtown for All Listening Session: Align Capital, Infrastructure, and Innovation
Align Capital, Infrastructure and Innovation: Coordinating Long-Term Investment
Coordinating long-term investment by aligning capital pipelines, major infrastructure development, and governance models.
Who is this listening session for? This session is intended for institutional investors, major infrastructure planners, climate and energy experts, philanthropic funders, and government policymakers. Our conversation will focus on aligning capital, infrastructure, and governance to support long-term competitiveness and an inclusive, climate-aligned downtown.
Strategy Examples: Coordinating major infrastructure pipelines like the Rose Quarter and OMSI District. Establishing an "Opportunity Portland" investment recovery initiative. Advancing a Downtown Net Zero buildings strategy. Expanding community ownership models.
OMSI Field Trip with Nick Hara
Bull Run Field Trip: Climate Change Exhibit at OMSI
Join Bull Run Center Member Nick Hara, and step into OMSI's newest permanent exhibition with a tour from Creative Director, Ciera Iveson. The Nancy Stueber Natural Sciences Hall: Climate of Change / Clima de Cambio invites you to explore a powerful question: what can we cultivate together?
Through immersive, hands-on experiences, explore how people and the environment are deeply connected, and people of all ages can be empowered to take informed action on today’s climate challenges.
Created in collaboration with more than 15 regional partners, Climate of Change / Clima de Cambio amplifies local voices and real-world solutions—from Indigenous leaders to youth changemakers shaping the future of climate storytelling.
Just 20 spots are available for this free tour, so sign up early to reserve your spot!
Lunch: Annual Meeting
Annual Watershed Lunch 2026
It’s our last big group gathering before the summer — turn up, y'all!
It’s time to reflect on our first year and envision our shared impact in the year ahead. This is the only meeting of the year that we ask you to focus on the Bull Run Center itself, and how we can best serve Portland.
Featuring a Por Que No Taco Bar and Jason Hill Photography
(Stellar Professional Head Shots! Take advantage of an exclusive membership perk for professional head shots with Jason Hill before or after lunch on the 27th. Spots are $100 and are limited).
Kitchen Cabinet Session: If You Designed Portland’s Waterfront
If You Designed Portland’s Waterfront
Co-created with Randy Gragg, Design Portland
Portland’s waterfront could be so much cooler. More inviting. More dynamic. More saunas? More slip and slides? How about closer to housing? More connected to Downtown?
As the City considers the future of the waterfront and many community partners invest in the future of river, we’re asking both what’s possible and what we should prioritize — and for who. This session invites members to take on that challenge directly. Through an interactive (and fun!) design exercise* members will develop visions for the waterfront—each shaped by different values, tradeoffs, and constraints. At the end of the session, we’ll share concepts and reflect on what they reveal about our collective priorities. Craft night + civic discourse? See you there.
*No design experience required—just a point of view!
Kitchen Cabinet Session: What Will it Take to Deliver Universal Preschool in Portland?
What Will it Take to Deliver Universal Preschool in Portland?
Co-created with Lauren Johnson, SVP Portland and Jon Rork, Reed College
In 2020, Multnomah County voters passed Preschool for All—a bold step toward universal, publicly funded preschool. Four years later, the vision is still powerful—but the pathway to sustainability is complex. How do we deliver on the promise of truly universal preschool in a way that’s equitable, financially sustainable, and grounded in community needs?
This month, we’re exploring what it will take to make universal preschool a reality in Portland—from infrastructure and workforce capacity to family access and long-term funding.
Whether you’re a policymaker, advocate, parent, or just care about Portland’s future, this is a conversation about how we turn bold policy into everyday systems that work for families, educators, and our region.
Kitchen Cabinet Session: Is It Time for Comprehensive Tax Reform?
Is It Time for Comprehensive Tax Reform?
Our region faces generation-spanning economic adversity. Even with Portland’s outsized talent, creativity, natural resources, and collaborative spirit, the fundamentals are worth naming plainly: Our local governments are looking at more than a decade of “structural” budget shortfalls, our local business community has been pummeled by five years of headwinds, and working families in every neighborhood are struggling to find affordable housing, child care, and transit. It’s time for a holistic conversation about our tax system and all of the communities that public investments serve – and what role economic growth investments might play for governments, small and large businesses and employers, and working families.
This program is part of a three-part series of member discussions
This winter, Bull Run Center members will take on one of Portland’s most defining issues: What it means to grow with purpose, accountability, and shared prosperity.
Over three sessions — spanning the city, the region, and the state — we’ll explore the forces shaping Portland’s future and the choices that will determine whether growth becomes a catalyst or a constraint.
We hope this series can help us bring divergent views about growth to the surface in a way that leads to finding new common ground. Together, we’ll dig into the hard questions:
Who benefits when Portland grows — and who gets left behind?
What responsibilities does Portland have to the region around it?
How will we fund the future we say we want?
And what would it take to align our values, policies, and budgets with a vision for a more equitable, resilient, and economically vibrant city?
How Could Growth Shape Economic Mobility in Portland
Thursday January 8, 4:30 PM
How Can Portland’s Growth Strengthen Our Regional Economy?
Thursday February 12, 4:30 PM
Is It Time for Comprehensive Tax Reform?
Thursday March 12, 4:30 PM
RSVP for all Three
Unlike our usual “Kitchen Cabinet” sessions, this discussion series will build on insights and agreements from month to month — with a goal of finding shared direction. We hope the majority of participants will buckle up for a committed exploration of thorny issues at the heart of envisioning Portland’s future. (But we won’t turn away members who can only join for one.)
*Lunch* Kitchen Cabinet Session: The Future of Transportation Funding
The Future of Transportation Funding
Co-created with Tyler Frisbee, Institute for Metropolitan Studies.
The Institute of Metropolitan Studies (IMS), housed at Portland State, is a tool for local governments and community leaders to solve deep-seated, systemic policy challenges related to the built environment in the greater Portland area. They convene, inform, and develop recommendations that are grounded in research, vetted by impacted parties and partners, and readied for implementation by local governments.
Background
As the federal government curtails its long-standing transportation funding role, and the state’s funding future looks bumpy, the cities, counties and transit districts in the Portland metropolitan area face the most significant impacts of an inadequate transportation system. Combine that with the leading role that transportation plays in greenhouse gas emissions, the increased understanding of the harm that transportation projects inflicted and continue to inflict on communities of color, the need for increased economic development in the Portland region, and a world supply chain that depends more on transportation delivery and reliability, and it becomes clear that the current spending and funding approach does not meet anyone’s needs.
With the leadership of Jennifer Dill, PhD, Director of Portland State’s Transportation Research and Education Center, and former Congressman Earl Blumenauer, who spent 54 years in elected office working on transportation and infrastructure funding initiatives, IMS is developing a white paper that looks at how local transportation spending and funding in our region compare to other regions across the US, and how potential revenue sources align with revenue needs, policy goals, and ease and efficiency of implementation.
Join a conversation with the IMS team that will take place at the mid-point of the IMS research and coalition engagement work — following several month of research, but before the have begun to crystalize final recommendations. The conversation will seek feedback on initial findings, and explore key questions.
Kitchen Cabinet Session: How can Portland’s Growth Strengthen Our Regional Economy
How Can Portland’s Growth Strengthen Our Regional Economy?
Portland doesn’t grow alone. What happens in the city ripples across the suburbs, small towns, and rural communities that make up the broader Oregon ecosystem. This session explores the shared destiny of the region — and how Portland’s choices can either deepen divides or weave stronger connections.
This program is part of a three-part series of member discussions
This winter, Bull Run Center members will take on one of Portland’s most defining issues: What it means to grow with purpose, accountability, and shared prosperity.
Over three sessions — spanning the city, the region, and the state — we’ll explore the forces shaping Portland’s future and the choices that will determine whether growth becomes a catalyst or a constraint.
We hope this series can help us bring divergent views about growth to the surface in a way that leads to finding new common ground. Together, we’ll dig into the hard questions:
Who benefits when Portland grows — and who gets left behind?
What responsibilities does Portland have to the region around it?
How will we fund the future we say we want?
And what would it take to align our values, policies, and budgets with a vision for a more equitable, resilient, and economically vibrant city?
How Could Growth Shape Economic Mobility in Portland
Thursday January 8, 4:30 PM
How Can Portland’s Growth Strengthen Our Regional Economy?
Thursday February 12, 4:30 PM
Who Will Pay for Growth … and What Can Growth Pay Back?
Thursday March 12, 4:30 PM
RSVP for all Three
Unlike our usual “Kitchen Cabinet” sessions, this discussion series will build on insights and agreements from month to month — with a goal of finding shared direction. We hope the majority of participants will buckle up for a committed exploration of thorny issues at the heart of envisioning Portland’s future. (But we won’t turn away members who can only join for one.)
Kitchen Cabinet Session: How Does Growth Shape Economic Mobility in Portland?
How Does Growth Shape Economic Mobility in Portland?
For some, growth means opportunity; for others, it means being priced out. In this Kitchen Cabinet session, we’ll talk about what growth really does for Portlanders’ ability to move up—or down—the economic ladder. We’ll touch on livability, affordability, workforce shifts, and the reality that downturns—budget cuts, layoffs, contraction—shape mobility just as much as booms. Expect a head-and-heart conversation that mixes lived experience with strategy chops.
This program is part of a three-part series of member discussions
This winter, Bull Run Center members will take on one of Portland’s most defining issues: What it means to grow with purpose, accountability, and shared prosperity.
Over three sessions — spanning the city, the region, and the state — we’ll explore the forces shaping Portland’s future and the choices that will determine whether growth becomes a catalyst or a constraint.
We hope this series can help us bring divergent views about growth to the surface in a way that leads to finding new common ground. Together, we’ll dig into the hard questions:
Who benefits when Portland grows — and who gets left behind?
What responsibilities does Portland have to the region around it?
How will we fund the future we say we want?
And what would it take to align our values, policies, and budgets with a vision for a more equitable, resilient, and economically vibrant city?
How Could Growth Shape Economic Mobility in Portland
Thursday January 8, 4:30 PM
How Can Portland’s Growth Strengthen Our Regional Economy?
Thursday February 12, 4:30 PM
Who Will Pay for Growth … and What Can Growth Pay Back?
Thursday March 12, 4:30 PM
RSVP for all Three
Unlike our usual “Kitchen Cabinet” sessions, this discussion series will build on insights and agreements from month to month — with a goal of finding shared direction. We hope the majority of participants will buckle up for a committed exploration of thorny issues at the heart of envisioning Portland’s future. (But we won’t turn away members who can only join for one.)
Winter Social
Join us for a spectacular evening of civic celebrations
Seasonal hospitality and festive libations. Splendid attire requested.
This will be a casual and delightful evening. No fundraising pitch. Just good people, gratitude for our members, and a little winter cheer.
Please invite your special someone, a colleague, or a prospective member!
The more the merrier.
Tickets are free for members. Guest tickets $45.
Generous & delicious grazing options
Hosted bar with spirited and spirit-free selections
Cozy conversations with your favorite civic friends
And, yes, dancing
RSVP HERE
Member Briefing: Commercial Real Estate Distress & Downtown Recovery Recommendations
Member Briefing: Commercial Real Estate Distress & Downtown Recovery Recommendations
Skunkworks Committee Research: Learn and Discuss before Voting on Member Endorsement.
Over the past year, this Skunkworks team has been hard at work developing a simple guide to interventions that have the strongest potential to focus limited resources and optimize the strengths of the city, focusing on commercial real estate distress & downtown recovery.
Their report provides a new entry point for civic leaders who want to understand and act on Portland’s complex and troubled commercial real estate and economic development position. It is an invitation to reimagine our shared roles in shaping a hopeful future for our region, beginning with concrete near-term actions. These shared roles require civic leadership in multiple sectors: State and local governments, philanthropy, financial institutions, the commercial real estate sector, business leaders and community.
Kitchen Cabinet Session: How Are Public Safety Decisions Guided by Portland’s Values?
How Are Public Safety Decisions Guided by Portland’s Values?
Co-created with Chief Bob Day, Portland Police Bureau
From protests to policy shifts to interagency tensions, Portland’s public safety system has been under the spotlight. But beneath the headlines is a deeper question: How are decisions about public safety—especially in high-stakes moments—guided by community priorities? We’ll explore what it means for Portland to align its approach to public safety with the values of its people—and what happens when priorities clash across city, state, and federal levels.
Whether you work in government, for a community-based organization, or run a small business—this conversation isn’t just about policing. It’s about values, accountability, and civic culture. Come prepared to reflect, ask bold questions, and help us imagine a public safety system that is grounded in—and responsive to—the voices and priorities of Portlanders.
![Better Portland — Portland Issues: Who’s Helping Businesses Scale [Virtual]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61d9c838d523942093799ba7/1759177845098-RS6N6WDGJHTBU4AZQYYI/Bull+Run+Center+Events.005.jpeg)
After the Protest: Exploring Your Role in an Emergent Authoritarian State
After the Protest: Exploring Your Role in An Emergent Authoritarian State
For this briefing and discussion, we invite members to invite senior-level peers in the focus sectors — business, public safety, faith, philanthropy, and civic. (The RSVP form includes space to share their names. Thanks!)
Join Bull Run Center members for a briefing and discussion about the likely impacts of authoritarian policies on stability, security, and freedom of expression. We’ll focus on the potential leadership roles for members of the business community, public safety, faith, philanthropy, and other civic sector leaders, and will structure a conversation that uses historic precedents to help us consider and share ideas about our potential roles.
This conversation will include Scot Nakagawa, the co-founder and co-director of 22nd Century Initiative, a national strategy and action center that is building a movement to resist authoritarianism and preserve the possibility of a more democratic future. Scott is a past Open Society Foundations fellow, and Senior Fellow on Nationalism, Authoritarianism, and Race with Race Forward: The Center for Racial Justice Innovation. He is a writer whose essays on authoritarianism and resistance can be found online in The Anti-Authoritarian Playbook on Substack.
Literary Arts: Timothy Snyder
Literary Arts is thrilled to present Timothy Snyder, bestselling author of On Tyranny. Literary Arts’ Executive Director Andrew Proctor will be in conversation with Snyder about his latest work, On Freedom at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.
Timothy Snyder has been called “the leading interpreter of our dark times.” As a historian, he has given us startling reinterpretations of political collapse and mass killing. As a public intellectual, he has turned that knowledge toward counsel and prediction, working against authoritarianism here and abroad. His book On Tyranny has inspired millions around the world to fight for freedom. Now, in this tour de force of political philosophy, he helps us see exactly what we’re fighting for.
Tickets at the $95 level include a paperback copy of On Freedom, and a post-event reception with the author.
Member Briefing: Multnomah County Charter Changes
Skunkworks Committee Research: Learn and Discuss before Voting on Member Endorsement.
Transforming Tom McCall Waterfront Park: What Portland Can Learn from Memphis
Transforming Tom McCall Waterfront Park: What Portland Can Learn from Memphis
An evening with renowned urbanist Carol Coletta, Bloomberg Public Innovation Fellow, CEO of Memphis River Parks Partnership.
7 pm, Wednesday, October 15 at Sanctuary Hall at First Congregational UCC. Doors open at 6pm.
City of Possibility is honored to present one of America's most influential thought leaders on public space, Carol Coletta, as part of its ongoing programs devoted to the revival of downtown Portland.
Carol has spent her career focused parks, plazas, and open space and their impacts on cities. As CEO of Memphis River Parks Partnership, she led the creation of a new riverfront public space concept and the award-winning Tom Lee Park, a transformation of underutilized waterfront into a vibrant, inclusive, world-class public park that fosters joy, rest, connection, pride, and meaning for all visitors.
As Portland begins a major rethink of Tom McCall Waterfront Park and how downtown can better connect to it, Carol will offer inspiration and insight, as well as lessons learned.
Admission is sliding scale. Everyone is welcome for what you can afford.
![Better Portland — Portland Issues: Effective Advocacy [virtual]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/61d9c838d523942093799ba7/1759177637263-AEA38WE7Z28W1GWMBD4Y/Bull+Run+Center+Events.003.jpeg)
Kitchen Cabinet Session: Can Portland Reimagine Its Value Proposition for the Arts Sector and Turbo Charge Creative Revitalization?
Can Portland Reimagine Its Value Proposition for the Arts Sector and Turbo Charge Creative Revitalization?
Co-created with Subashini Ganesan-Forbes, Chair, Oregon Arts Commission; Creative Laureate of Portland (2018 - 2021); Founder & Director, New Expressive Works; Artistic Director, Natya Leela Academy
Portland has been lauded nationally as one of the most vibrant and authentic creative communities in the country. Major recent investments point to the potential for a transformational moment — From the Portland Art Museum and Keller renovations, to the PSU Portland Performing Arts + Culture Center, new music venues in Lloyd District and the Central East Side, and new investments in organizations like Portland Center Stage. Yet, both artists and creative institutions struggle to gain committed local recognition, including sustained funding and intentional inclusion in planning and visioning work. Join us for a head and heart conversation that will delight your senses and draw on your strategy chops.
*Notably, Metro bucked that trend this summer by including the arts right at the center of their 2050 Visioning project. Bravo!
League of Women Voters of Portland: What does Multnomah County Do for You?
The League of Women Voters of Portland Presents a Panel Discussion: What Does Multnomah County Do for You?
LWV of Portland is holding its next Community Education program, “What Does Multnomah County Do for You?” on October 8 from 7:00 to 8:30 pm via Zoom.
This webinar clarifies how Multnomah County’s government and programs impact its residents.
Multnomah County has been a recurrent topic in local news lately, from homelessness policy to public safety to Preschool for All. But how much do you really know about the county?
What are Multnomah County’s structures and powers?
What services does the county provide?
How does it divide responsibilities with the cities and towns in its jurisdiction?
How are county taxes and fees assessed and what do they pay for?
To answer these questions, the League has invited a panel of county experts to lead an interactive conversation about what the county does, how it works, and what are its biggest challenges. At least half of the session will be given to answering audience questions. Our panel includes:
Susheela Jayapal, 2019-23 Multnomah County Commissioner
Jeff Renfro, County Economist
Denis Theriault, Interim County Communications Director
This webinar is one of the League’s community education programs, held free of charge and open to the public. All of our programs are recorded for rebroadcast by MetroEast Community Media and available by video and podcast from our website, lwvpdx.org.
To receive the Zoom link to the live event, please register above. You will receive the link on the day of the program.
Funding for production is provided by the League of Women Voters of Portland and funded by the Carol and Velma Saling Foundation.
Lewis & Clark Environmental Symposium
Common Ground: How We Can Engage Across Difference With a Shared Love of Land
Lewis & Clark's 38th Environmental Symposium
Workshops, panels, and discussions bringing together rural and urban Oregonians, across generations, will happen on L&C's beautiful forested campus in SW Portland, Sept 29-Oct 3. All events are free and open to the public.
Learn more here: