Skip to main content

Oregon State Flag An official website of the State of Oregon »

Engage




Proclamation and Celebration

The Oregon Advocacy Commissions historically work with the Governor’s Office to celebrate the contributions and leadership of Oregon’s Communities of Color and women statewide.   Together they have hosted Heritage and History Month proclamation signings, community gatherings with the Governor, and Women of Achievement awards.   The Oregon State Capitol and the Oregon Advocacy Commissions also join with community partners for open weekend celebrations at the state capitol, with historical exhibits, capitol tours, interpreters, festivities and cultural presentations.

See the most current Governor’s proclamation for:
Hispanic Heritage Month (English)
Hispanic Heritage Month (Spanish)

​Listen to ​Governor Brown's recorded remarks for Hispanic Heritage Month 2021​ (English)



You will need to submit an application to Executive Appointments in the Governor's Office: https://www.oregon.gov/gov/Pages/board-list.aspx

The Advocacy Commissions hold public meetings every other month. For the list of OCHA's upcoming public meetings, click here​. For the list of all the Advocacy Commissions' upcoming meetings, click here​.​​​

​As part of their statutory missions, the Commissions maintain an independent policy voice within the three branches of state government. They collaborate with the Governor’s office, Senate President's and House Speaker's offices, legislators, and judicial branch, in support of mutual areas of public policy concern, addressing long standing issues and lifting lesser known but important policy areas into prominence with advocacy, equity-focused policy research, partnerships and community engagement. 

Community Partnerships:
The Oregon Commissions on Asian and Pacific Islanders Affairs, Black Affairs, Hispanic Affairs, and the Commission for Women work with their constituent community partners to grow the voice of underrepresented and marginalized communities in public policy statewide. Together with community partners, the OACs plan legislative advocacy, host joint legislative days at the Capitol, co-host community forums, and study longstanding community challenges.

Departmental Partnerships:
The Oregon Advocacy Commissions engage with state departmental leadership to plan and conduct equity-focused joint policy research; develop partner research/data sharing agreements; present research outcomes; advance equity-focused legislation and administrative rules, and access to granular data and equity-focused analytics.

Governor's Initiatives Partnership:
The Oregon Advocacy Commissions have a long history of working with Oregon governors to bring community voice and equity focus into their strategic initiatives to build a more equitable Oregon. This has included voter registration, supporting key initiatives around family leave, affordable housing, home ownership, diverse work forces, access to higher education, excellence in schools, and diversion from prisons, mental and behavioral health services.


Legislative Partnerships: 
The Oregon Advocacy Commissions build policy partnerships with legislators during interim around emerging issues and policy considerations, with OAC presentations to legislative committees, joint policy research, legislative partner discussions, issue forums, shared listening sessions, and OAC workgroup engagement. 

Research Partnerships:
The Oregon Advocacy Commissions develop ongoing collaborations and partnerships with interested universities statewide for equity-focused policy research with the Advocacy Commissions.  This may include research with graduate/PhD students or faculty, jointly writing grants, and co-authoring research articles impacting equity in the OACs’ constituent communities.​


Interested in learning more about partnering with the Advocacy Commissions? See our Partnerships page, and you can email us at OACO.mail@oregon.gov​. Please include "Research Partnership" in the subject line.​​​​​​


Research internships with the Advocacy Commissions

The Oregon Advocacy Commissions (OACs) provide Masters, PhD, and 3L Law students with for-credit public policy internships addressing their strategic priorities. The equity-focused, applied policy research is conducted jointly with state data and policy partners, the Governor’s Office, and legislators serving on the Advocacy Commissions, to study data, best practices, effective policies, literature review, analyze gaps, suggest remedies and produce reports, which are used by the OACs and their partners to inform new or revise existing policies and statutes, develop strategic approaches and craft legislation that improve the success of the Advocacy Commissions constituent communities statewide.

Graduate students and their major professors may propose a research topic to the Advocacy Commissions or explore current recruitments for policy research internships being conducted by the OACs by contacting the OACs Office at OACO.mail@Oregon.gov with “Research Internship Request” in the subject line.

Explore the OACs’ current and past research internships and related applied policy research here:​

OCHA's Policy Research and Recommendations

Leadership Development opportunities may include scholarships from individual Commissions to attend culturally-specific leadership training and development opportunities. The Advocacy Commissions and Governor Brown also encourage community members to participate on Oregon's 200 + Boards and Commissions.​

​Commissioners are volunteers, appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. Contact the Oregon Advocacy Commissions Office at OACO.mail@oregon.gov​​ with the date, time, location, length of speaking time and which Commission you are interested in.​

 Click here​ to donate to OCHA.

If you are seeking a personal advocate or are experiencing problems or issues associated with government services, please call the Governor’s Constituent Services Office at 503-378-4582.​​