EDUCATION & COMMUNITY
Pictured: John Washington and JD Hodge co-host community listening session at Instrument HQ
“It was really the human element, how they take care of their people that drew me to Instrument and I am seeing that literally manifest. You know how well a company cares about their people during a big crisis you did not even plan for. It is the same care we give to our clients and why they are still with us.” Not as common are tech firms that prioritize community engagement, and perhaps that is some of the reason why there has been such a disconnect between technology and under-resourced communities. The team at Instrument is committed to changing that. “Everyone is starting to wake up to the fact that women and minorities were left out, pushed out even of the fast moving rocket ship of Silicon Valley and the innovation world,” JD stated. “We know that the most innovative ideas are not going to happen from a bunch of the same people from the same place with the same mindset. It is going to come from a melting pot of ideas that are coming from all different backgrounds, points of view and experiences. We have been vocal advocates of trying to cultivate diverse points of view so we can be innovative because it feels like that is a responsibility of ours and also it’s a way to do our job better, just straight up,” stated JD.
INVESTING IN THE SOUL
How the technology firm is working to help a historic Black business district in N/NE Portland reinforce their cultural identity.
Community Climate and Culture
WORDS BY | FAWN ABERSON
“We met with the developer of our building back in 2013 in consideration of being the anchor tenant so we were a part of the design discussion. We all agreed that we didn’t want a building that was this one giant box or big behemoth structure that fills a hole. We wanted to create a community oriented space with a courtyard in the center that could be a place for gathering and events.” Shared JD Hodge, Founding Partner and Chief Creative Director of Instrument. The result was three buildings with a shared courtyard to encourage tenant and community integration. 34
FLO S S IN
MAG A Z I NE
Instrument internal culture mirrors the stylish, chic corporate climates that tech-style companies have come to be known for, i.e. bring your dog to work, coffee or beer breaks, health care that covers acupuncture and etc. It’s a culture that helps keep employee morale and productivity on a high vibe.
Pictured: Jessica Hartley
Headquartered since 2015 in a modern, fourstory, secured building complex on North Williams avenue, and smack dab in the middle of one of Portland Oregon’s most starkly documented gentrified business districts(once referred to as “Black Broadway”) resides a creative team of technologists at a company called Instrument. With over 200 employees strong and a client roster that includes onepercenter corporate firms like Nike, Intel and Google, they “use the power of design and technology to solve complex problems and transform businesses.”
Jessica Hartley, VP of Strategy, felt immediately at home when she joined the company last year. Her feelings were reinforced when Covid-19 hit and in the span of just one weekend, 200 employees relocated to home offices
During the same time period Instrument’s owners were discussing design and expansion (2013-2015), the Black Lives Matter movement was born out of the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the killing of a Black teenager, Trayvon Martin. Black communities across the country became highly charged and vocalized and Portland was no exception. Not only was the social justice movement a mounting concern, the economic and physical foothold of the Black community in inner N/ NE became a major topic of contention with the City’s office of urban renewal, Prosper Portland (then PDC). As wealthy developers were digging in, the heightened demand for equity from the marginalized Black community historically rooted in the area dug in even deeper, demanding to be included in the boon of prosperity, rather than casualties of displacement. The struggle of Portland’s Black community to have a space and place that fosters generational wealth creation (home, land and business ownership) is well documented. These burgeoning issues did not escape the leadership at Instrument. “From the onset, we were asking ourselves how we could integrate into the community, make relationships and what could we bring as a benefit.” added JD. For their team, this meant immediately reaching out to their next door neighbors, a predominately Black-attended Church and the Kairos elementary school. They also engaged
