"Working Together for a More Sustainable Washington County"

Tri-Met MAX Lightrail CarPartners for a Sustainable Washington County Community (PSWCC) is a coalition of eleven Washington County governments working together on sustainability. The agency researches sustainable practices for Partners, facilitates collaboration between Partner organizations, and develops sustainability education and training for the Partners and the Washington County community at large.

The PSWCC was formed as a result of a January 2007 community summit on sustainability. The summit resulted in a consensus for the need to coordinate sustainability efforts across Washington County. On September 2008, five city governments, five special districts and the Washington County government signed an intergovernmental agreement to create the PSWCC.  In May 2009, the agency hired its first coordinator and started programming. 

The group currently consists of the County, the cities of Banks, Beaverton, Cornelius, Hillsboro, and Tualatin, as well as Clean Water Services, Portland Community College (PCC) Rock Creek, Tualatin Hills Parks and Recreation District (THPRD), Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue (TVF&R), and Tualatin Valley Water District (TVWD).

The agency is currently focused on improving the internal operations of its Partners.  Projects include:

  • sustainability benchmarking and reporting
  • energy efficiency assessments and improvements
  • research and knowledge sharing on best practices
  • internal training and education