Lisa Freeman is the subject of a BOLI civil rights investigation, but other former city employees say the office has a problem with structural racism much larger than just one staff member. by Taylor Griggs Lisa Freeman, a candidate running for Portland City Council in District 4, is the subject of a complaint filed with Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI). The complaint, filed last November by a former staffer in Portland’s Office of Violence Prevention (OVP), alleges Freeman “has a history of discrimination against people in the BIPOC community” and says she created “a hostile workplace for [the complainant] and other employees.”  The Office of Violence Prevention was created in 2006 to address a growing problem of gang activity and youth gun violence. Its programs include street outreach to reduce the risk of young people becoming victims or perpetrators of violence, and to “limit their future involvement with the criminal justice system.”  The office has long relied on BIPOC staff, especially for leading outreach work to people most at risk of being impacted by gun violence, which disproportionately impacts communities of color. Black Portlanders in particular represent just about 6 percent of the population, but 40 percent of the shooting victims between 2019-2024. But complaints and employee exits suggest the city failed to create a workplace that supported non-white staff.   Freeman worked as a manager in the Community Safety Division from 2022 until earlier this year, when she left to campaign full-time. The person who filed the complaint, Crystal Badon, worked as Freeman’s executive assistant from October 2022 until she was terminated from the position in May 2023.  Badon is one of several Black OVP employees to be fired or pressured to resign over the last two years. In April, former OVP Director Marcell Frazier resigned after only eight months in the position, after being placed on administrative leave. Nike Greene, who served as OVP director for three years, resigned under pressure in November 2022. Other former employees told the Mercury they felt the office was hostile toward Black employees, who were not given the resources needed to succeed in their roles.  Badon told the Mercury she noticed the discriminatory treatment shortly after starting the job. She said while her immediate colleagues at the OVP were mostly other people of color, staff members who worked for other teams in Portland’s Community Safety Division were mostly white. Badon alleges a disparity between the resources she and her colleagues were provided and those given to white staff members.  “From the early days of working under Lisa I was treated differently, and I witnessed other Black and brown employees being treated differently too,” Badon said. “The OVP team did not have the tools we needed to run the office and support the community. There was a lack of support from the Community Safety Division management.” In her BOLI complaint, Badon said Freeman informed her she “was not meeting performance expectations,” but “refused to provide [her] with a corrective action plan” or documentation of her “alleged deficiencies.” According to the complaint, Badon filed several reports with human resources about Freeman’s behavior.  Lisa Freeman campaign photo Freeman told the Mercury she worked with HR to provide Badon with feedback and did not terminate her as an act of retaliation for any complaints made, as she was unaware of the allegations at the time. She refuted the allegations of racial discrimination.  Badon said Freeman belittled and controlled her, denied her opportunities for career advancement, and treated her differently than her white colleagues. She said Freeman used her probationary employment period as a way to threaten her job, and made charged comments that, to Badon, implied she was “responsible for the conduct of other Black people…assuming all Black people were related or knew one another.”  Freeman said the BOLI complaint is “certainly the most disheartening allegation of my entire career,” and said while she managed a team at the city that was mostly made up of people of color, Badon was the only person to file a complaint. “There is no history of discriminatory behavior on my part…I have nothing to hide in regards to my actions with this employee and will continue to cooperate with the investigation and welcome the results and findings,” Freeman told the Mercury. “No manager is perfect, but I do believe I created a positive and supportive work environment for my team as a whole at CSD.”  While the Mercury spoke with other former staff members who said they witnessed or experienced racially insensitive behavior from Freeman, others said they didn’t think she acted from a place of racism. One former staff member said they hope the allegations won’t get in the way of Freeman’s City Council campaign. Sameer Kanal, a District 2 City Council candidate who worked with Freeman at the CSD, endorsed her campaign and spoke positively about her at recent political events.  But the Mercury found a consensus among former employees that there’s a larger problem with structural racism at the city’s Community Safety Division. Freeman seemed to agree. She said she was also concerned with the high turnover of employees of color and thinks the CSD and city in general can “improve in its treatment of BIPOC employees.” In fact, she said she also filed an HR complaint on behalf of one of her colleagues who she believed “experienced a pattern of discrimination and harassment at the city.”  “Especially in the area of safety, which disproportionately impacts BIPOC communities, we must be able to recruit and retain a diverse City workforce that represents the most impacted Portlanders,” Freeman said.  Badon’s complaint is still under BOLI investigation. The bureau says the investigation process for civil rights cases can take up to a year after receiving a signed complaint.  The Office of Violence Prevention is housed in the Community Safety Division, a centralized office for the city’s public safety programs, currently led by Mike Myers. Myers is now the interim deputy city administrator for Portland’s new Public Safety Service Area. OVP staff reported to the mayor’s office until 2022, when the program moved under the purview of the Community Safety Division (CSD). The CSD, including OVP, now live in the Public Safety Service Area. In an email to the Mercury, Myers wrote “CSD continues to maintain a focus on recruiting, hiring, and retaining diverse employees,” adding that the transition of OVP out of the mayor’s office and into CSD may have contributed to some of the staff turnover. Myers said OVP has retained all employees since April 2024, and that the team is “continuing to take action to ensure the office is headed in the right direction at a time when its work remains vitally important to community safety.”  Myers also said the office takes employee concerns seriously, and “all employees are encouraged to come forward with any complaints they have.”  However, Badon felt her complaints were not addressed. After making several HR reports, Badon determined the city's labor relations coordinator Marquis Fudge “never really seemed to take [her] seriously and would try to brush off complaints about unequal treatment based on [her] race.” Finally, she decided to make a BOLI complaint to prevent other Black women from experiencing what she did. She hopes the city responds by “hiring and keeping more Black staff instead of firing them for no real reason.” “Also, the city needs serious training and education on cultural awareness and diversity,” Badon said. “The city’s core values don’t align with what is really happening.”