In 2002, Myron Orfield, who authored Portland Metropolitics in 1998, approached the Coalition for a Livable Future about updating it. Orfield’s work helped establish regionalism as a way to approach community organizing and politics, and his Portland work was instrumental in the formation of CLF in 1994. His second book on this subject, American Metropolitcs, was to be published soon, and he had updated data on key demographic trends in the Portland region available.

Through a series of discussions with CLF board of trustees and other community leaders, CLF concluded that there was great demand for a broader analysis of equity conditions. Thus, the Regional Equity Atlas Project was born.

The Atlas Primary Research Team
It took another year to raise seed funding and secure a partnership with Portland State University Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies (IMS), before research began. Local writer and CLF Co-founder, Tasha Harmon, and then, Director of IMS, Ethan Seltzer, worked with CLF Director, Jill Fuglister, to develop the project in that first year. Next, Ken Radin joined the team first as a Research Assistant at IMS, and later as a GIS Analyst at the PSU Population Research Center (PRC). Dr. Irina Sharkova from PRC also came on board as the lead faculty member working on the Atlas. Later, Alex Campbell and Jim Labbe joined the primary research and writing team. Along the way, research, writing and editing help came from dozens of individuals from all corners of the region.

The Community Shapes the Research Agenda
In the spirit of participatory research, CLF convened a series of workshops involving CLF member organizations, community members and other local experts to identify potential research questions. Over 100 individuals helped shape the research agenda for the Atlas.

Using this information as the base, the team spent the next several years, working to produce the Atlas. CLF had a number of check points along the way that involved focus groups and inviting community members to validate and/or revise the direction of the project, so that, in the end, we would have the most useful product for the community.