Help build this

Portland Civic Lab is an open project, and everything on it gets better with more hands. You don't need to be a programmer. Data sleuthing, writing, design, and knowing your own neighborhood all count.

Engineers & designers

The whole platform is open source. Pick up an issue, improve accessibility, extract shared components, or build a new dashboard topic.

Read the contributor guide

Data hunters

Several sources still need manual refreshes or public records requests. Help automate a feed, track down a dataset, or verify numbers against official documents.

See the source inventory

Writers & researchers

Plain explanations are half the product. Help write a topic explainer, document how a source works, or check a deep-dive against its footnotes.

Pitch us

Neighbors with local knowledge

You know your street better than any dataset. Flag numbers that don't match reality, suggest what we should track next, and tell us what's missing.

Send a note

Not sure where you fit?

Tell us what you're good at and how much time you have. An hour a month is enough to be useful, and we'll find something real for you to own. If you would rather pick the subject yourself, every tool and open question is listed on the About page.

Get in touch