OUR SHARED VISION TO ADVANCE RACIAL, GENDER, AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE IN OREGON

To create a state budget that meets the needs of the people of Oregon today while building a healthy state economy for the long term, we must center the needs of those who have historically been left out of budget decisions in Salem. It is essential that we elevate the issues and solutions that we hear from our communities across the state and implement it in the state budget.

The People’s Budget provides Oregon state legislators with a clear set of funding priorities that should be included in the 2024 state budget to advance racial, gender, and economic justice. We believe Oregon’s budget should reflect our values, and we recognize that the decisions made in our state budget can advance our vision for a more just Oregon – or they can set us back. In fact, a legacy of exclusion and discrimination has created economic disparities in Oregon that persist today for Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Color, women, LGBTQ+ people, immigrants and working families. Without purposeful action by legislators, the racial disparities and wealth gaps in Oregon will continue to grow, regardless of whether the overall economy is “strong” or “weak.”

Let’s start our budgeting conversations by focusing on what our communities need, rather than how the current system limits our ability to realize our vision for racial, gender, and economic justice. When we invest in access to food, housing, and health care for our communities, and strengthen our workforce through fair wages, benefits, and protections, we create widespread economic opportunity for all. Many of the one-time investments that were part of the pandemic response at the state and federal level—child tax credits, rental assistance, unemployment support, expanded SNAP benefits, health care services—helped people weather acute financial hardship and stabilized the broader economy. Now is the time to prioritize investments in Oregonian’s fundamental needs and ensure these investments remain a foundational part of our state budget. Investments in our future will create more resilient and financially stable communities before we are faced with the next economic crisis.

We also call on our elected leaders to improve our state’s revenue forecasting. For several years, the state has severely underestimated revenues, which has reduced the ability of communities to address local challenges, fund essential services, or respond to crises. And we renew our calls to collect and analyze data that shows the impacts of policy decisions and investments on Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, women, LGBTQ+ people in our state. We need to know the full picture in Oregon, for everyone.

The People’s Budget lays out smart, community-led policies, investments, and workforce supports to address systemic inequities in Oregon and, ultimately, increase our shared prosperity statewide. We present the People’s Budget together, in solidarity across our communities, as a unified call to action to our elected leaders. The policies and investments in the People’s Budget are items that are necessary to advance gender, racial, and economic justice in Oregon.

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