BIPOC COMMUNITY

Problem

Black, Indigenous, Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander, Arab, African, and immigrant communities helped build this country, yet continue to face systemic exclusion across wealth, housing, education, safety, and political power.

Wealth

• White households hold ~84 percent of national wealth.

• Median Black household wealth is ~15 percent of white wealth; Latino wealth is ~20 percent.

• At the current pace, racial wealth gaps may persist for centuries.

Housing

• Redlining, biased appraisals, and exclusionary zoning still shape where families live.

• Rent burden is higher in communities of color, limiting wealth building.

• BIPOC people experience evictions and homelessness at far higher rates

Oregon homelessness disparities

• Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander: 277 per 10,000

• Such housing instability is often compounded by criminalization, adding further barriers to stability and opportunity.

• Nationally, Black Americans are incarcerated ~5x white Americans.

• Oregon: Black residents incarcerated ~4x white residents; Native & Latino residents also overrepresented

Education

• Schools serving students of color face:

  • Higher turnover & fewer experienced teachers

  • More suspensions & expulsions

  • Less access to advanced classes and career pathways

Political Power

• BIPOC communities are underrepresented in elected office, boards, and decision-making

• Voting barriers disproportionately affect people without stable housing or flexible work.

Throughline: These gaps exist because of past and present policy choices. Policy can reverse these disparities, just as it created them.

Solutions

1. Build wealth and economic power

• First-generation down payment assistance + renter-to-owner pathways

• Zero-interest loans for BIPOC small businesses, co-ops, and worker-owned enterprises

• Support community land trusts and anti-speculation housing models.

• Enforce fair lending and appraisal laws.

• Federal economic support for Tribal sovereignty and development

Impact: Families and communities build wealth and gain control of local resources.

2. Justice and safety rooted in community

• End mandatory minimums and three-strikes sentencing.

• Decriminalize survival behaviors when shelter and care are unavailable.

• Scale community-led safety models: street response, violence interruption, youth mentorship

• Abolish private prisons and detention contracts.

• Implement automatic record expungement.

• Independent oversight + public reporting of policing

Impact: Communities are safer, and incarceration is reduced through prevention rather than punishment.

3. Schools that expand opportunity

• Fully fund Title I schools

• Invest in bilingual education, tribal language revitalization, and ethnic studies.

• Replace exclusionary discipline with restorative and supportive systems.

• Add counselors, mentors, and mental health services instead of policing.

• Guarantee dual-credit + pre-apprenticeship pathways

• Partner with community groups and tribes to shape curriculum

Impact: Students succeed, and future opportunities expand, with fewer children pushed into the juvenile system.

4. Housing justice and anti-displacement

• Right to counsel for tenants facing eviction.

• Permanent emergency rental assistance

• Prevent predatory corporate acquisitions in BIPOC neighborhoods.

• Build deeply affordable housing in cultural hubs.

• Support Native-led housing and Tribal land reacquisition when requested.

Impact: Families remain rooted, culture thrives, and displacement is slowed.

5. Representation and political power

• Automatic voter registration and restored voting rights for all except those currently incarcerated

• Ban partisan gerrymandering

• Expand multilingual ballots and civic education.

• Fund BIPOC-led civic organizations

• Require public boards and commissions to reflect population demographics.

Impact: Government reflects and responds to all people it serves.

Bottom Line

These disparities are neither accidental nor inevitable. With targeted investment and just policies, Oregon can become a place where families of color own homes, run businesses, and lead their futures.

A state where everyone belongs is a state where everyone thrives.