Closing The Opportunity Gap With A Commitment To Social Justice
In this edition of Making Oregon, our guest is Andrea Valderrama, senior policy advisor for City of Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler. With a background in grassroots organizing and community outreach, Andrea has a passion for economic and social justice as the daughter of political refugees forced out of Peru. She has been working specifically in Portland’s East Side neighborhood to help identify and prioritize the needs for this oftentimes underserved area, and to help insure equity and inclusion for women and minority groups. It’s from this public service perspective that we chatted with Andrea about her background, her passion for social justice, the value of public service and leadership, the role of a city government in economic development, and her views on how to close geographic, economic, and demographic opportunity gaps in a fair and equitable way.