Report: $500,000 Water Equity Fund supported community grants; University of Oregon subawards reached tribes, immigrant and frontline communities

The Joint Committee of Education received a report on May 13 on use of a $500,000 one-time general-fund appropriation from 2023 (SB 5506) that directed the Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC) to support the University of Oregon's Just Futures Institute to research and fund water-equity work in environmental-justice communities.

Alej Reyes Santos, professor of practice at the University of Oregon and director of the Water Equity Fund, told the committee the appropriation primarily funded community subawards and that award decisions came from a selection committee that included non-applicant members who each received $1,000 to participate. "Water equity, meaning that we all have access to clean, healthy water regardless of our income, where we live where we come from, our educational background, or economic status," Reyes Santos said when describing the Fund's goals.

Reyes Santos reported $36,154 in payroll for staffing to coordinate contracting, $11,409 in finance and administration, and total spending of $521,688 after the Fund matched additional money the following year to make two additional awards. Named subaward recipients listed during the presentation included affiliate tribes of Northwest Indians, Coalition of Communities of Color, Ethiopian and Eritrean Cultural Resource Center, Friends of Bridal Creek State Park, Future Generations Collaborative, Long Tom Watershed Council, Niconicom Watershed Council, Portland Harbor Community Coalition, Portland State University (support for tribal engagement reported), Rios De Rivers (project in Chiloquin, $28,125), Verde ($30,000) and the MET Partnership ($5,000 for dissemination).

Santi Sanchez of the Coalition of Communities of Color described work to build a statewide water-justice network and local workshops that bring community members, Multnomah County and the Portland Water Bureau together. "The coalition helps support a statewide water justice network, and through this funding has been able to connect us with a lot of these organizations that received funding," Sanchez said.

Presented project examples included tribal restoration and cultural-fire training tied to watershed health in Selma, educational workshops where immigrant and refugee households brought home water for testing, workforce-development activities, emergency-preparedness projects in the Portland metro area, and community-led planning and indigenous water ceremonies at the Willamette River. Committee members emphasized the household-cost and trust benefits of outreach: one member noted that knowing tap water is safe can reduce household spending on bottled water.

Department of Administrative Services Chief Financial Office staff and the Legislative Fiscal Office both recommended the subcommittee acknowledge receipt of the report; the committee moved the report to the full committee with the LFO recommendation. Committee members asked that the agencies and recipients continue outreach and coordination with local water agencies and climate-justice planning efforts.