East Portland Community Center.JPG

The East Portland Community Center is one of Portland's most diverse. Data collection will help park leaders determine just how diverse it is.

(Casey Parks/The Oregonian)

Athletes, artists and the other 60,000 people who pay to use Portland Parks & Recreation facilities and classes now face a new question when they sign up:



What's your race?



Portland Parks & Recreation leaders say their new practice of documenting the race and ethnicity of customers will help them better serve the city's increasingly racially and ethnically diverse population. The data could guide parks leaders as they create and market new programs as well as hire new staff.



"This helps us look at who we're serving but also who we're not serving," said Mark Ross, a spokesman for the city bureau. "We like to say 'Healthy parks, healthy Portland for all.' If we just do things the way we think they should be done without data and input from those communities, we'll just be treading water. We want to be excellent swimmers."



Parks employees first began talking about collecting race and ethnicity data back in 2012. The bureau's leaders had begun looking for ways to make sure people from all backgrounds were able to access parks and recreation centers. They wanted to look at what barriers existed for people of color in accessing parks' services. But they weren't sure exactly how many people of color were visiting parks facilities.



"Our city is changing both racially, culturally and ethnically," said Art Hendricks, the equity and inclusion director for Portland Parks. "If we don't ask the question, what we're left with is anecdote. We really need to be data-driven."



Community centers collected some data last year, but the parks bureau moved to a new system after having technical difficulties with the old one. They began collecting data in earnest this year.



Here's how it works: Parks employees will ask customers registering for a pass or program to specify their race or ethnicity. Customers can refuse to answer. Right now, parks employees are not collecting data on people who simply visit the centers during free drop-in times. Other customers can stop by the front desk at any community center to update existing accounts.



A parks committee spent the past two years talking about the best way to collect the data. They looked at models from public health agencies. They debated the best ways to identify racial categories. And they talked about how to train staff members to ask for the data.



For instance, Hendricks said, the parks bureau hires many seasonal employees to work the front desk and lead programs. Those temporary employees may not have had discussions about race.



"The committee decided that at each community center we need a program champion," Hendricks said. Those existing staff members would work with community center directors to train staff in how to have those conversations and how to accurately report the data.



In Beaverton, Tualatin Hills Park & Recreation District does not yet collect race and ethnicity data.



"Although we may at some point in the future," said Bob Wayt, a spokesman for the department. Because Beaverton is so diverse, Wayt said, staff members "do ask patrons their language preference from a fairly long list of possibilities."



Customers don't have to mark a choice, Wayt said.



Eventually, Portland parks officials will compare their data with that of the 2010 census and annual statistics from area school systems, including Portland Public, Reynolds, Parkrose, Centennial and David Douglas.



Anecdotally, parks staff knows that the Charles Jordan, East Portland and Matt Dishman community centers serve a more diverse population than, say, Northwest Portland's Hillside Community Center. But are those centers as diverse as the neighborhoods that surround them?



Comparing the data sets, Ross said, will show bureau staff if they need to ramp up marketing efforts to reach more people from diverse communities.



Update: This story has been updated to note that Portland Parks will compare survey data with the 2010 Census and information from multiple school districts, not just Portland Public.



-- Casey Parks





