It was late in the day on March 6th when all of a sudden text messages started to quickly pile up on the screen of Neighborhood Partnerships Executive Director Janet Byrd’s iPhone. She scanned the new messages and quickly printed out four pages of budget information. She ran her finger down the list of projects Ways and Means had allocated money for in February’s short Oregon Legislative Session. Then, the corners of her mouth began to turn up. Two days later the staff of Neighborhood Partnerships and several key partners were clinking glasses celebrating one of our most successful sessions to date.
I can’t take credit, having only been on staff for two weeks. But seeing my new organization secure four major legislative victories in a tight session left one question in my mind: how’d they do it?