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Portland Civic Lab
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About the Lab

We make Portland's public records usable.

Portland's budgets, audits, permit records and council files are public, but most of them are hard to read and harder to compare. We read them, check each figure against the source document, and build tools that residents, reporters, nonprofits and public agencies can use without a research staff.

A small core team runs the Lab. For each project we bring in the outside experts it needs, write down what each of them is responsible for, and put their names on the finished work.

Portland Civic Lab is a for-profit company. Public tools are paid for by nonprofit partners, grants and donors, and we also build software for organizations that hire us. Because we are a company, support isn't tax-deductible.

Independence and fundingHow we source the data

How the Lab is organized

Core team

  • Edan Krolewicz, Founder
  • Jonathan Pulvers, Partnerships & Development

Runs each project and keeps the archive.

Public program

Free tools, in-depth reports, public data releases and events in Portland.

Funded public tools

Tools built with nonprofit partners and paid for by grants or donors.

Software for organizations

Custom tools and dashboards for organizations that hire us.

Brought in project by project

  • Specialists
  • Partners
  • Advisors
  • Supporters
  • Volunteers

Everyone's role is agreed in writing before work starts. Contracts, sponsors and partners are listed on the Independence page.

  • Every number has a source

    Each figure points to the public document it came from, with the page number. When the records don't answer a question, the page says that.

  • Anyone can hire us, and nobody can buy a conclusion

    We publish every contract within a week of signing it and compete for public work through open procurement. A client's money never changes what we find.

  • Tools people can use

    Most of what we publish is meant to be used: calculators, watch lists with dates, records requests ready to send, and proposals specific enough for a vote.

How we work with others

The Lab works with four kinds of outside people and organizations, and each has its own rules.

Specialists

We hire engineers, architects, actuaries, researchers and lawyers for the projects that need them. Each engagement is scoped and priced on its own, and the specialist is named in the finished work. We don't keep a bench of staff we have to keep busy.

Partner firms

Design, strategy and consulting firms sometimes bring us into a client project, and sometimes we bring them into ours. There is one lead contract, with each firm's responsibilities in writing. Whoever brought the client keeps that relationship, and the Lab keeps the records and the sourcing standard. We work for only one side of any matter.

Public agencies

Small one-time jobs for an agency go through its normal small-purchase process. Anything ongoing, or above the informal purchasing limit, goes through a competitive process that someone else could win. We never write the requirements for a contract and then bid on it.

Supporters

Individuals and foundations can pay for a named program for a year. They are credited on the program page and on the work it produces, and they get a quarterly update and a yearly public accounting. They have no say over what we conclude.

Who runs the Lab

  • Edan Krolewicz

    Edan Krolewicz

    Founder

  • JP

    Jonathan Pulvers

    Partnerships & Development

Everything we've built, and what you can help with

Each name below opens a tool or a research project. All of them could use help with checking figures, filing records requests, code, design or professional expertise. Use “Work on this” next to the one that interests you, tell us what you're good at and how much time you have, and we'll come back with a specific task.

Offer to help

Tools

Research in progress

Propose a topic we don't cover Volunteer without a topic in mind Come to a Lab event Follow a district with a free account

Ways to join the Lab

We add a name to this page, and to the Independence page, in the week an agreement is signed. We don't list anyone on the strength of a conversation.

Advisors

If you know procurement, public finance, housing, health systems or research methods well enough to tell us when we're wrong, we'd like to hear from you. It takes a few hours a quarter, and advisors are credited on this page.

Offer to advise

Partners

Institutions, firms, nonprofits and city teams that build a tool with us, sponsor a research question or hire the Lab at our published prices. Partners are listed here and on the Independence page the week the agreement is signed.

Propose a partnership

Founding supporters

People and foundations who pay for one program for a year. They are credited on the program page and on the work it produces.

Talk about founding support

Volunteers

Researchers, engineers, designers and residents who check figures, file records requests or build part of a tool. Volunteers are credited on the work they helped with.

Volunteer

Supporters, partners and advisors

There are none yet. This list includes only people and organizations that have signed an agreement with the Lab. When foundations, firms or city teams sign on, they will appear here and on the contract register in the same week, with these details:

Founding supporters
name, the program funded, the amount and the period
Partners
organization, scope and dates, as on the contract register
Advisors
name, what they advise on, and since when
The contract register

Current as of September 2026.