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In Her Own Words: Carmen Rubio Talks About Community Engagement
Carmen Caballero Rubio serves as the lead contact for Portland Mayor Tom Potter's office on community partnerships, citizen outreach and recruitment. She is also the point-of-contact for immigration and diversity issues; the Human Rights Commssion; Immigrant and Refugee Task Force; Boards and Commissions Coordinator; liaison to Rose Festival and Royal Rosarians.
Before working for the City of Portland, Carmen was involved with several campaigns, planned events and worked for Commissioner Serena Cruz Walsh of Multnomah County. She also worked for a public relations agency and a non-profit theater company.
Carmen shares her passion for connecting community to city government in a recent interview with Colors of Influence.
Focus on inclusiveness
As Community Affairs Director, a big part of what I do is serving as a facilitator of information. My primary charge is to make sure that the community has access to learning about the different initiatives, projects and policies of the Mayor’s Office. I also make sure that I bring “up” information from the community into the office: community projects, issues, and trends.
Everyone deserves to be heard. Everyone must have access to their government, regardless of who you are, what you look like and what language you speak.
When I first came to this role, I realized how much opportunity we have to bring people in, to engage them in the decision-making process.
From the outset, building trusting relationships in the community is vital. Instead of making decisions in a vacuum, there are wonderful opportunities for us to partner with community organizations or individuals who are experts in a particular field. It’s rewarding to engage people who have never been asked to participate ort share their opinion. I learned that if you give people a chance to engage, they’ll take the chance and would even be willing to meet you halfway.
There are so many different opportunities to get more diverse voices on the table. I was surprised by how little of it was actually done in previous administrations. It took a different, fresh perspective to look at who we’re engaging, because we really wanted to open up the process more. By opening the door and seeing who walks through, we’ve seen amazing ideas come through. There are also hard discussions that arise, but sometimes you need to go through the process of careful deliberation to accomplish goals.
It’s good to know that people – especially those who have never had access before – know that our Mayor is accessible. The “Ten Minutes with Tom” meetings are very popular and well-received. I’m also proud of the Office of Human Relations that will come out of the Human Rights Commission.
About Familia
My family comes from a farmworker background. I never had to work in farms. In the summers, my grandparents would take me to where they used to work. They wanted to make sure that we never forget what they had to go through. My family worked really hard. I don’t take for granted where my family has been, and where we are now.
My grandparents on my Mom’s side were from Durango, Mexico, and my paternal grandparents were from Guadalupe, a tiny town outside Chihuahua. My Dad was born in Guadalupe, and he grew up in El Paso and in New Mexico. My Mom was born in New Mexico.
My Mom’s family followed the seasonal agriculture harvest from the Southwest to the Northwest. My Dad’s family moved from New Mexico to Oregon. My parents met in Hillsboro.
When I was growing up in Hillsboro, the area was still very agricultural. The Caballeros and Rubios were among the first Mexican-American families to settle in the area. To this day, most of my family is in Washington County.
Standing up for change
I’m the first in my family to graduate from college. During college, I think part of me truly believed that I didn’t belong there. At the University of Oregon, I got my feet wet in activism. I went through a transformation. I went from feeling like an outsider, an impostor, to a strong belief that I have just as much right to be at the university as other people whose family members have gone there before. Just because I’m the first in my family to ever do anything like this doesn’t mean that I’m less important than the next person.
I got very involved in Mecha, the ethnic student union, and student government. It was a more rough-and-tumble environment: we were young adults. It was a combination of being naïve, raw, honest and sharp. Our emotions were a little more on our sleeves. That’s where I began to see the power of coming together and making things happen: giving voice to the voiceless, shedding light on important issues, impacting policy, and getting more people of color who are committed to equity on the same table.
Engaging immigrant communities
Working for the City of Portland, I’m quite proud of our work with the immigrant and refugee community. What contributed to the success of that project is that we had committed active community advocacy around the project. We were at the peak of national debates about comprehensive immigration reform. We had a supportive mayor who was willing to take the risk and go on record about how he feels about the issue. That really helped mobilize people to act.
An important step was the resolution affirming engagement of immigrant and refugee communities in civic life. That statement was profound, because it clearly stated that the City of Portland values the contributions and experiences that immigrants bring to the city. The resolution was a bold step, because it also called on our national leaders to find a solution toward immigration reform. It also called for the creation of a task force to examine barriers that may exist, and what the city can do to make an action-oriented commitment to all Portland communities.
A lot of people wanted to become involved in the task force. We formalized the selection process. On one hand, there are city politics, and on the other, community politics. We wanted to be transparent in how decisions were made, so we made a deliberate effort to remove community politics from the selection process. Our goal was to get a wide breadth of perspective and background to enhance the outcome of the task force.
Priority issues
From a macro level, the Mayor’s Number One priority is to build the city’s human infrastructure. That means investing in people and in ways to improve access to government. Tom has always been about restoring trust, integrity, and transparency. It’s a different way of doing business, and not always what people are used to.
The emphasis on trust and access has opened the doors of City Hall in a new and fresh way. We’re more inclusive: we have more people coming and out of our office from all walks of life, all ethnic backgrounds, and all kinds of abilities. The approach has allowed a more diverse group of people to be at the table when policy decisions are made. Setting the communitywide Vision Project was also a huge priority. It was important because it sets in policy the input of the community, about how their vision for the city.
Other priorities include restoring faith in community policing, and ensuring that human rights are respected in the city. We also want to make sure that services are utilized in all parts of the city. We’re also committed to doing what we can to make sure that our young people have access to good education and livable neighborhoods. More importantly, we work toward making sure that all points of view are heard and respected.
Cultivating alliances
Sometimes you have to do a lot of explaining, about the value of doing something different, especially when the value is not as apparent to dominant culture folks. It’s important to explain the value of inclusiveness in a way that helps people understand that it’s better for the entire community, that it does not only benefit a few.
Some of our most important allies include nonprofits and activists who do social justice work or work that increases the level of civic engagement in the City of Portland. We may not always agree on the route, but we all have the same ultimate goals. We have a good relationship with folks who do the hard work on the ground, outside of City Hall. It’s important to find out how they can support city initiatives through the community.
I also consider as allies community members who understand that it’s better for us all when all Portlanders have access to their city government.
For me, personally, some of my most important allies have been other staff members and electeds of color. We share a different perspective about things that we see and do in the course of our jobs. Often, issues look different to us because we’re always looking through the eyes of the underrepresented. It might mean an extra step – or 10 extra steps – but it’s important that we do some things differently so that we can be more inclusive and reach more people.
It also helps to bounce off ideas or get input and feedback from people who have been down that road before. Sen. Avel Gordly has a wealth of knowledge and offers a statewide perspective that goes beyond Portland. Maria Rojo Steffey and Serena Cruz Walsh are great at providing context and history to current issues. It’s great to access the wisdom of our community leaders, people who have done the hard work during a time when it was harder to do this kind of thing.
Spring 2008 Colors of Influence
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