Delivering Results
Julia Brim-Edwards
Delivering Results and Driving Real Change
Through her work as a community leader and activist, and results as a leader in the public and private sectors, Brim-Edwards has substantial experience to lead as Multnomah County Chair and a track record of getting things done, working in close collaboration with colleagues and the community. She has also twice been the presiding officer of the largest school district in the state, during challenging times and economic downturns. Here are highlights of her work at Multnomah County making progress and improvements.
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Expanding and securing more diverse shelter with the Commission and in partnership with the City to get people safely off the streets to access basic services, safety, and a path to housing, reducing street camping and encampments.
Increasing recovery beds with Commissioner Moyer by funding more than 240 recovery housing beds for families with children or people who need a sober living environment as they engage in treatment and recovery.
Successfully pushing for better data and the public dashboard so the County can measure whether its actions are leading to a reduction or increase in homelessness and make data-informed decisions.
Restoring vital employment programs following devastating cuts by the Chair that provide low-barrier employment for homeless people to build economic self-sufficiency, earn income, gain job skills, and provide career-oriented work force training.
Supporting East County homeless service delivery and eviction prevention, working with Commissioner Jones Dixon, who spearheaded the East County work.
Funding/requiring person-level transition plans when shelters closed this summer.
Moving the County to be a Good Neighbor through regular community engagement in her Commission district with the neighborhoods as shelters come online and once shelters open.
Charting a more sustainable path for Permanent Supportive Housing.
She was the leading voice on the Commission that stopped the routine County’s distribution of tents and tarps.
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Championing and led the planning for the building of the 24-7 Sobering and Crisis Stabilization Center and adding urgently needed new sobering and withdrawal management beds. The county secured $25M for the Center and it’s under construction.
Reforming the County’s drug deflection program to expand access to treatment services and add requirements for engagement with treatment services.
Restoring funding for Mental Health Court that the Chair had cut in two budgets.
Securing funding for the County’s Treatment Court and Civil Commitment Unit that give justice-system involved individuals a path to recovery and behavioral health services
Restoring County school-based mental health services to more than 500 students in school districts across the County.
Supporting opening 74 in-patient treatment beds for severe addiction and mental illness at 16 x Burnside.
Continuing funding for 48 specialized housing units for people living with serious mental illness at Bridgeview Mental Health Residential Services.
Restoring support staff for the Mental Health Court that the Chair cut.
Preserving needed capacity to address severe mental illness through programs like the Stabilization and Readiness Program.
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Restoring funding to reduce auto theft and organized retail theft in neighborhoods and local business districts.
Protecting funding for domestic violence investigations and prosecution.
Securing funding to adequately staff County jails for safety, to maintain open booking, and prevent emergency releases.
Advocating at the State for an adequate amount of public defenders.
Advancing building the “Re-Entry Transition Hub” at the Multnomah County Detention Center with Commissioner Jones-Dixon to lower recidivism rates.
Leading the Concealed Weapons Prohibition in County Buildings (including libraries) Ordinance that the Commission unanimously approved.
Establishing Safe School Zones that prohibit mobile needle distribution within 1,000 feet of a school with unanimous Commission support. Enforcement funded.
Reducing ambulance delays by pushing the Chair to modify the staffing model leading to reduced wait times, especially in East Portland and East County.
Taking on graffiti and trash clean up in East Portland by creating the Gateway service district and adding more trash clean up services to 82nd Avenue.
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Creating a new County Economic Development position to support accelerating economic activity and workforce initiatives.
Fighting and defeating a 30% fee increase for small family-owned and locally owned restaurants and voting against them again in the past two budgets.
Directing the County to create a roadmap to successfully achieve free, universal preschool while making the program more effective and accountable by requiring improved cost of care and updated demographics forecasting with Commissioner Moyer.
Building a foundation for a sustainable food and agricultural system in Multnomah County with Commissioner Jones-Dixon.
Assessing the County’s role in the local economy through an economic landscape analysis.
Directing the County to create its first Affordability Index that considers key factors impacting affordability to inform County policies, programs and budgets.
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Continuing emergency, after-hours veterinary care for stray animals in the County’s care.
Restoring funding to provide daily exercise and human engagement for animals at the Multnomah County Animal Shelter that the Chair had proposed to cut in two budgets.
Leading the effort to modernize the outdated and undersized animal shelter to adequately support animals in the County’s care.
Cutting through permitting red tape and helping the community to improve Lao Temple and community center in East County.
Securing funding to keep the County’s commitment to fund the completion of the Lone Fir Chinese Cemetery Memorial Project with Commissioner Moyer to acknowledge the harm of the County’s historic desecration of Chinese graves.
Preventing SUN School closures at 9 Portland schools serving 2,000 children with Commissioner Moyer by restoring funding the Chair had cut.
Preserving culturally-specific mental health services in East Portland by restoring funding for the Asian Health and Services Center in East Portland.
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● Laying the groundwork for reforming the County’s contracting system, working with the County finance staff and the County Auditor.
● Progressing a Good Governance Agenda to improve the Commission’s effectiveness and increase transparency and accountability.
● Leading the drafting and passage of a new lobbying registration and reporting ordinance required for those attempting to influence the County.
● Implementing County audit recommendations to improve accountability, transparency, operations, and curb the misuse of taxpayer dollars.
● Eliminating senior administrative layers and identifying administrative savings to fund direct services and also supporting Commissioner Moyer’s Span of Control study to reduce administration to fund direct services.
Modernizing budget practices that improve accountability and measure outcomes instead of activities.
Community Leadership and Partnership
Delivering for our Community
Prior to serving on the Board of Commissioners, Julia provided leadership as a community volunteer and in her professional work. That work included better funding our schools, creating emergency supports for health workers during the pandemic, fighting for marriage equality, adopting bold climate action policies with students, defending Oregon’s immigrant community, and fighting for and instituting performance auditing at Portland Public Schools.
Here are highlights of her work in our community, local schools and at the state level.
Advanced historic funding for schools, including millions more for Multnomah County Schools through the her creation of the labor-business Coalition for the Common Good that worked with legislators to pass the Student Success Act in 2019, making corporations pay their fair share for our schools.
Led efforts to pass the 2016 Outdoor School for All ballot measure, alongside other Outdoor School advocates, parents, and students.
Co-wrote PPS’ nationally recognized Climate Crisis Response Policy with a zero-carbon goal by 2040 with resources and supports focused on frontline communities and those most impacted by climate change and severe weather patterns. Three all-electric high schools are under construction; Chaired Bond campaigns to fund them.
Coalition building and business community leadership on marriage equality and employment non-discrimination in Oregon and nationally through filing of amicus briefs..
Founded and managed the Nike School Innovation Fund, providing $15M in investments in Beaverton, Portland, and Hillsboro schools.
Leader for major construction and infrastructure projections, including the 10-year Nike headquarter & manufacturing expansion, and chaired the bond campaigns for $3 Billion+ in school construction projects.
Successfully launched BIKETOWN with the City of Portland as the main community partner.
Co-led Nike’s manufacturing work to produce more than 200,000 units of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), which was desperately needed at local hospitals at the start of the pandemic to protect local health workers.
Supported the creation and operation of Washington County’s community mobile vaccine site launched in 2021, which provided 50,000 urgently needed covid vaccines.
Advanced the creation of the Office of the Internal Performance Audit (OIPA) at Portland Public Schools so there was internal capacity to provide ongoing performance auditing to assess and improve operations of the $1.5-2 billion budget.
Pulled together and led a citywide coalition, raised $16 million to create the 10 Great Fields Project so that all PPS high schools had a high quality turf field and track.
Supported establishment of the Vietnamese Dual Language Immersion (VDLI) Program in PPS, one of the first in the country in a public school system.
Required allocating more than $150 million to mitigate lead, asbestos and other environmental hazards in local schools.
Designed and secured approval for the commitment of $33 million of the 2020 PPS bond to make the main floors of all Portland schools fully accessible to students, families, and staff.
Co-led multi-year efforts to ensure students in every Portland neighborhood had a safe and modernized high school, also required directing $100M to seismic improvements in the highest risk schools in 2025.
Provided more than one thousand students in East Portland’s underenrolled K-8 schools with expanded enrichment opportunities and more rigorous academic offerings and advocated to re-open middle schools in underserved areas of Portland.
Led the successful local effort to secure $120 million from the State of Oregon to move Tubman Middle School away from I-5 to a healthier location and away from the construction and air pollution.
Authored New Lobbying Registration Policy so the public can see who is attempting to influence Portland Public Schools.
Committed the school district to investigate allegations of decades of misconduct by an educator and oversaw the implementation of comprehensive recommendations that came out of the investigation report to improve student safety.
Protected Oregon’s sanctuary status by engaging with the coalition that successfully fought the ballot measure to repeal it in 2018.