Charles Lewis doesn’t just talk about change, he makes change happen. Whether it’s his dedication to children, keeping kids on the right track, promoting walkable communities or tackling the need for jobs that come and stay in Portland, Charles Lewis has innovative solutions to our toughest challenges.
Creating Jobs and Watching the Bottom-line
The City Council can do more to support small businesses in Portland. We’ve made good progress, but there’s more to be done. We can create more funding opportunities for small businesses and individuals. Programs such as the revolving loan fund can leverage a tremendous amount of money at very low risk for the City. Small business owners guarantee the loans themselves, resulting in a very low default rate. Small businesses make up the vast majority of the employment in Portland, and provide a stable economic, home grown base that cannot be replicated with big box stores.
As a former business owner and current non-profit executive director, Charles knows first hand how to create jobs, make payroll for employees that depend on him and provide important services while keeping a close eye on the bottom line. In these tough economic times, that’s even more important than ever.
Supporting Our Schools and Children
Portland schools continue to face the effects of years of budget cuts and disinvestments – and the impact of that is felt throughout the city. We do have some tools to use however that will help, such as the Portland Children’s Levy, which provides millions of dollars to fund after school programs, pre-K education and child abuse prevention and intervention. These programs reach 16,000 Portland children and for every dollar we invest in them today, we save seventeen dollars down the road. While some may question whether it’s really the job of the City to provide additional support to our schools, Charles believes that the Children’s Investment fund is an essential program and he will not sit idly by and watch our schools and children suffer when we have this alternative.
When budget cuts eliminated music from our local schools, Charles took action. With just a dream and a credit card, he created Ethos Music Center to provide all children, regardless of economic background, a well rounded education. Today Ethos serves over two thousand deserving children, providing an alternative to the streets, drugs and violence that might otherwise rob them of their future.
Creating Vibrant, Livable Neighborhoods
When Charles came back to Portland, he worked for with Habitat for Humanity, helping build affordable housing. We’ve seen too many families forced out of Portland because of the high-cost of housing and long commutes for employment. We need to do more to develop local economies and local communities.
Charles supports, and will work to increase, twenty-minute walkable communities that put new affordable housing units near job and retail centers. By doing so, we create vibrant neighborhoods, support local businesses that provide employment and services to the neighborhood, reduce traffic congestion, commute-times and in fact reduce carbon emissions. It just makes common sense.
