Equity-driven policies and programs invest directly in the community, support community leaders, lift up existing culturally appropriate practices, and leverage the creativity of residents to find solutions.

Equitable community engagement involves decision-making processes that: 

• Support meaningful participation to influence decisions.
• Acknowledge the barriers to accessing decision-making.
• Recognize diversity as both a strength and opportunity.
• Affirm that a healthy democracy requires outreach and public engagement.

The City will connect with community partners that can offer unique and important insights into the challenges and opportunities facing residents in order to integrate equity into the fabric of the delivery of public services.

Stipend Policies Support Community Participation

Community members, advisory group participants, and community-based organizations may be eligible to receive stipends when they support the City of Hillsboro in shaping more equitable policies & programs by sharing their time, lived experiences, and wisdom. 

Providing payment recognizes and honors the value and expertise that community members and community-based organizations provide.

By reducing financial barriers to participation, the City can engage diverse voices, reach communities who have previously been excluded, and advance racial equity. Read the news article to learn more.

• Community Engagement Stipend Policy
  
  
• Advisory Group Member Stipend Policy

Engage Hillsboro

Engage Hillsboro helps the City hear from and respond to more people and enables community members to see what others are saying.

Visit Engage Hillsboro to see the latest projects and provide input and feedback anytime and anywhere on your phone, tablet, or computer.

Community Engagement Resources

• City of Hillsboro Community Engagement Framework
  
  
• Presentation: Utilizing the Equity Toolkit & Community Engagement Framework
  
  
• Capacity Building for Community Based Organizations: Recommendations for Washington County & City Partners
  
  
• 2023 ARPA Multijurisdictional Community Outreach Final Report

Community Engagement Process

View larger image.

Use this process model as a guide to plan, strategize, implement, and evaluate community engagement efforts. Although these seven steps are sequential, they will overlap with each other throughout the process:

1. Outline Project
2. Determine Engagement Level
3. Identify Stakeholders
4. Plan Engagement Roadmap
5. Engage the Community
6. Evaluate & Make Decision
7. Report Back & Reflect

Relationships are central to community engagement and should be prioritized at every step of the process.

Community Conversations: Community Engagement

We can create a future in alignment with our values by explicitly and proactively advancing racial equity through rigorous, data-driven strategies. 

Applying an Equity Lens

An equity lens is a set of tools that seeks to answer the core question: Who benefits or who is burdened by a policy, program, process, investment, or decision?

The equity lens involves asking questions during each stage of the process when creating a policy, program, or service.

The Equity Lens involves utilizing a toolkit that asks questions during each stage of the process when creating a policy, program, or service.

• City of Hillsboro's Equity Toolkit
  
  
• Presentation: Utilizing the Equity Toolkit & Community Engagement Framework
  

Equity Leadership Council

The City's Equity Leadership Council is made up of 31 members from across City departments and acts as an internal governing structure to guide and support our diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. See the Equity Leadership Council Members.

Artist rendering of the Nueva Esperanza affordable housing project.

The City's Supplier Diversity Program advances racial equity in the spending of municipal dollars in the local community and throughout Oregon. 

Business opportunities with the City strengthen social and economic community ties and create jobs and income.

The program reduces barriers for minority-owned, women-owned, Veteran-owned, and small emerging businesses to do business with the City.

• Visit our Supplier Diversity webpage to learn more.
  
  
• Find current business opportunities with the City. 
  
  
• Join or browse our Minority & Women Business Directory.

Community Conversations: Hillsboro's Supplier Diversity Program

A racial equity culture produces a workforce with diverse representation at all City employment levels, an inclusive workplace culture, and meaningful engagement by all employees.

Workforce equity aligns policies, programs, processes, practices, and investments to support diversity and inclusion.

To support an inclusive culture, the City has developed initiatives and trainings to align policies & practices to eliminate barriers to employment and ensure employment success & career growth for all. These include: 

• Required Equity in Recruitment Training for interview panelists
• Mandatory Equity Foundations Training for Employees
• Equity Toolkit & Community Engagement Framework Trainings
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Lunch & Learns
• Support for Employee Affinity Groups & Related Events
• An Employee Health & Wellness App

Employee Affinity Groups

Employee Affinity Groups promote diversity, inclusion, and a stronger sense of community by connecting employees with similar identities or shared experiences. Formed and coordinated by employees, they provide space for support, networking, mentorship, and growth.

Groups include: 

• Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander
• Caregiving & Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Developing Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Allyship
• PRISM: Centering LGBTQIA2S+ Voices
• Raíces: Hispanic and Latino Employees
• Veterans & Military-Connected
• Women in the Workforce 
• And more!

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when federal soldiers finally arrived in Texas to enforce emancipation and free enslaved people.

While we recognize the Emancipation Proclamation and Juneteenth as milestones in the end of slavery in our country, the journey to freedom for enslaved Black people in America was much longer and more complicated.

In 2021, President Biden established Juneteenth National Independence Day as a United States federal holiday. He reflected that this was "one of the greatest honors" of his presidency.

Explore the history of Juneteenth and the many paths Black Americans traveled during the Emancipation and Reconstruction eras with books, web resources, and streaming video from our Hillsboro Public Library.

• Juneteenth for Kids

• For Adults: Celebrate Juneteenth!

• Watch: Juneteenth: Then and Now
  Streaming recommendations available on Kanopy.
  Access with your Library Card and password.

• Lectura y video en español: Por qué Juneeteenth importa

Race in the United States

By broadening our reading experience, we gain understanding and insight of the history race relations in our country. By developing insight and understanding, we can strengthen empathy and compassion.

Below you will find curated lists of reading, videos, and research articles created by Hillsboro Public Library staff and available through the Washington County Cooperative Library Services catalog. 

Books for Adults

Books on Understanding Race for Adults by Hillsboro Recommends is a staff-created list. These titles were selected because they can help us gain a broader understanding of race relations in our country. Through insight and understanding comes greater power for change.

• Browse the Understanding Race for Adults book list. 

Streaming Documentaries

These documentaries can help us gain a broader understanding of race relations in our country.

• Browse Understanding Race documentaries on the WCCLS website.

Podcasts and Videos

Covering current events, history, popular culture, parenting, criminal justice reform, and more, this list of podcasts and online talks has something for everyone interested in anti-racism.

• Browse Podcasts & Videos on Race and Racism in the library catalog.

Books for Kids and Teens

Understanding Race for Teens and Understanding Race for Kids by Hillsboro Kids are staff-created reading lists.

• Browse the Understanding Race for Teens book list.
  
  
• Browse the Understanding Race for Kids book list.

The City's racial equity approach reflects a targeted universalism strategy.

Targeted Universalism is sets universal goals and uses targeted processes to achieve those goals. 

Watch John Powell's Targeted Universalism Video

Report a Hate Crime to the Hillsboro Police Department

If you or someone else is in danger, call 911 for immediate assistance.

For non-emergencies, please report hate crimes to the Hillsboro Police Department at 503-629-0111.

Oregon's Report & Support System

Oregon’s Non-Emergency Bias Response Hotline is here to listen, support, and help survivors and witnesses of hate crimes and bias incidents. Tracking these events will also help inform Oregon's legislature, governor, law enforcement, and community about the extent of the problem.

Call the Hotline

Phone: 1-844-924-BIAS or 1-844-924-2427

Trauma-informed operators are standing by 9 am to 5 pm Pacific time, Monday through Friday. Interpretation is available in over 240 languages and all Relay calls are accepted.

Report Online

Report a hate and bias incident online.

Bystanders to racist attacks can sometimes feel afraid or unsure of how to intervene, but inaction can leave everyone powerless. You can make a difference by learning the Five Ds of Bystander Intervention.

The Five Ds of Bystander Intervention

1. Direct. Directly address the incident.
2. Distract. Use distraction to stop the incident.
3. Delegate. Ask for help from a third party. 
4. Delay. Take action after the fact.
5. Document. Create a record of the incident.

Practice Scenario: You are waiting in line to check out at the grocery store and witness the cashier make racist comments and refuse service to an Asian family in line ahead of you. 

Which bystander intervention strategies would you use?

Visit the Southern Poverty Law Center website for more information on Bystander Intervention.

Lea la Declaración de Equidad en español.

Equity Statement

The City of Hillsboro is committed to equity. Equity work aims to remove barriers and eliminate social and economic disparities by centering those who have been excluded from the decision making process. Equity is the pursuit of equal outcomes.

We acknowledge that equity, particularly racial equity, is essential to providing exceptional public services — and to creating an inclusive and safe work environment for everyone.

The City recognizes that people of color and other communities continue to be marginalized and excluded – both intentionally and unintentionally — from constructing the institutions that govern our lives and the services we depend on to protect our health, safety, and well-being. We further acknowledge that structural and cultural barriers impact access to, and representation in, City government.

The City of Hillsboro has a pivotal role in creating a sense of belonging for all people. We must be inclusive in developing and implementing policies to ensure that City services are responsive to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ability, religion, and other individual identities.

We acknowledge that without an intentional focus on equity, we will continue to perpetuate and deepen inequality.

To realize our mission and core values, the City of Hillsboro commits to integrating equity into the fabric of our organization and the delivery of public services in pursuit of equal, fair, and just outcomes for all.

Background & Public Engagement

In 2019 the City’s Equity Team drafted an Equity Statement to reflect why our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is central to realizing our mission and core values. 

In August 2019 the Equity Team shared the draft statement and requested comments from community members, employees, and City Council. With this feedback, the Team created the Revised Draft Equity Statement.

The Hillsboro City Council voted unanimously to approve the Official Equity Statement during its December 3, 2019 meeting.

Expanded Immigration Resources Webpage

Community members can now access in-depth resources & support on the City’s expanded Immigration Resources webpage, including detailed safety planning toolkits, steps for what to do if you or a loved one is detained, legal resources and immigration court information, and guidance on documenting and reporting ICE activity.   

• Visit the Immigration Resources webpage in English.
  
  
• Visit the Immigration Resources webpage in Spanish.

ICE Response Plan

The Hillsboro City Council and City staff continue to support community members impacted by ICE activity and federal immigration enforcement in Hillsboro.

In 2025 and moving forward in 2026, the City Council and City staff have worked to develop and implement a plan that is responsive to addressing many of the community’s concerns. 

The plan provides our community, Council, and staff with a clear, adaptable approach that will be used to take actionable steps in responding to the impacts of ICE in our community.

Visit our ICE Response Plan webpage to learn more.

Watch the Webinar

SOAR Immigration Legal Services & the City of Hillsboro are sharing a free webinar with information about:

• What sanctuary city and state designations mean
  
  
• How sanctuary designations impact the community
  
  
• "Know Your Rights" information & how to protect yourself
  
  
• Community resources

We encourage you to watch the webinar and share with your network. Recordings are available English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Hindi, Chinese, and Ukranian on SOAR's Know Your Rights webpage.

Hillsboro's Sanctuary City Status & Codification

The City of Hillsboro became a Sanctuary City in March 2017 and codified the sanctuary city status into our Municipal Code in March 2026. These actions reflect our commitment to providing a safe community for all individuals, regardless of ethnicity or immigration status.

Resolution 2552 reaffirms the Hillsboro Police Department and the Hillsboro Fire & Rescue Department will respond to emergencies and provide public safety assistance whenever called upon.

Hillsboro public safety officers and staff will not inquire about immigration status. 

Oregon state law does not allow law enforcement agencies to use money, equipment, or personnel to detect or apprehend people whose only violation of law is that they are citizens of a foreign country who are in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws. 

Hillsboro's Sanctuary City designation does not provide any additional protection from federal immigration law enforcement.

For more information: 

• Read the March 2017 Sanctuary City Announcement & Frequently Asked Questions.
  
  
• Lea el anuncio de ciudad santuario y preguntas frecuentes en español de marzo de 2017.

The City of Hillsboro has adopted a land acknowledgment statement recognizing the Atfalati-Kalapuyans as the ancestorial people of the Tualatin Valley and the role government has played in colonization of indigenous people.  

The statement could be read at City events and activities, including groundbreaking ceremonies, ribbon cuttings, cultural celebrations, meetings, and more.

An indigenous community engagement group with representatives from nine tribes worked in partnership with Washington County to develop the statement.

Learn more and read the Land Acknowledgment Statement.

Image: Wapato Woman by Travis Stewart located at Rood Bridge Park, created through an intergovernmental agreement with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.

City of Hillsboro Strategic Plan

Hillsboro City Council Priorities

Hillsboro 2035 Community Plan

Engage Hillsboro