About ONI's Director

Amalia Alarcón de Morris has spent over 20 years working with under-served and under-represented communities to improve access to community services, healthcare, and the political process.  Her work has included managing an OB/GYN clinic for Cuban and Haitian refugee women in Miami; directing a project to assist African American and Latino families affected by HIV in New York; and, developing a statewide grants project to support community based organizations’ efforts to educate women of color, women with disabilities and lesbians regarding the early detection of breast and cervical cancer in Oregon.  Ms. Morris also managed the Metropolitan Human Rights Center (MHRC) and the Neighborhood Resource Center (NRC) for the City of Portland and Multnomah County for six years.  MHRC and NRC are both programs of the Office of Neighborhood Involvement (ONI), a City Bureau that focuses on community involvement.  Ms. Morris was appointed Director of ONI by Portland Mayor Tom Potter in June of 2006, making her the first Latina Bureau Director in Portland’s history.  Throughout her career, Ms. Morris has focused on convening groups of individuals across cultures and facilitating consensus driven processes designed to identify and achieve common goals.