Posted
For Immediate Release: Tuesday, June 08, 2021
Washington County Releases List of Qualifying Service Providers Eligible for Regional Supportive Housing Services Funding
Washington County is committed to begin deploying regional Supportive Housing Services (SHS) program funds starting on July 1 and is taking a big step forward. After reviewing over 40 proposals, the County has approved 38 organizations as eligible to partner with the County as providers of Supportive Housing Services. Qualifying organizations are a mix of established service providers in Washington County looking to extend their reach and organizations that are new to Washington County. Many will offer vital culturally responsive and culturally specific services to ensure funds are distributed equitably across the county, intentionally serving Black, Indigenous, Latino/a/x, Asian, Pacific Islander and other communities of color. According to Board Chair Kathryn Harrington, “Washington County has moved quickly to address the needs of people experiencing homelessness in our community in a thoughtful, compassionate, and responsive way. We know the need is great and I am thankful for the many organizations that have stepped up to the plate to join us in this work. This is only the beginning and we look forward to investing in both innovative and established effective processes to address this crisis head on.”
Here are some highlights from a few of our new Supportive Housing Services partners with the full list included below. We look forward to partnering with these organizations and sharing the impacts of their work in the months to come!
Urban League of Portland has a long history of providing culturally specific services to the African American community. As the Washington County Leading with Race report showed, this has long been a gap in services in Washington County. Working with the Urban League will be pivotal to closing this gap in housing services. Denetta Monk, Director of Housing Programs: “The Urban League is dedicated to building momentum towards goals of expanding our unique culturally-specific model of services to support African American communities in Washington County. Our strategy in fusing housing advocacy and racial justice has a proven track record of success and we are committed to serving the most vulnerable and ending homelessness.”
HomePlate Youth Services has been providing services for youth ages 12-24 experiencing homelessness or housing instability in Washington County for over sixteen years. With additional SHS funds, HomePlate will be able to expand youth-centered street outreach, extend their geographic reach, and expand drop-in hours and housing placement services. Bridget Calfee, the HomePlate Executive Director shares, "Youth are incredibly resilient, but there has been a lack of affordable housing and support to help youth achieve their stability goals. , we are thrilled about the collaborations and transformational impact to come with these new resources and partnership with Washington County.”
New Narrative (formerly Luke Dorf) works with people to support their recovery from mental health and substance abuse challenges, often times working with participants through homelessness and housing instability as part of their care. New Narrative hopes to expand their programs to include housing navigation and wrap-around services to ensure folks are supported in their new homes.
These are just a few of the exciting proposals reviewed by Washington County staff. Below is the full list of qualifying organizations:
Alano Club of Portland
ASSIST Program
Bienestar
Boys and Girls Aid
Bridges to Change
Catholic Charities of Oregon
Centro Cultural del Condado de Washington
College Housing Northwest
Community Action Organization
Community Partners for Affordable Housing
Community Warehouse
Easterseals Oregon
Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon
Family Promise of Greater Washington County
Family Promise of Tualatin Valley
Forest Grove Foundation
Friendly House Inc.
Good Neighbor Center
HomePlate Youth Services
Immigration and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO)
Impact NW
JOIN
Just Compassion of East Washington County
Latino Network
LifeWorks NW
New Narrative
Open Door HousingWorks
Project Homeless Connect
Reach CDC
Salvation Army
Sequoia Mental Health Services, Inc.
Telecare Corporation
The Commons Law Center
Transition Projects
Unite Oregon
Urban League of Portland
Virginia Garcia Memorial Health Center
Worksystems, Inc.
This network of community based organization and service providers will work in partnership with the Department of Housing Services to provide 1,665 supportive housing placements, create a shelter system that provides 250 beds for people experiencing homelessness, and ensure a quality standard of care and culturally specific services for our communities in need. Already the Washington County Housing Authority supports more than 3000 families and individuals who have limited incomes with housing stability through public housing and rent assistance programs. These new resources expand our programs to reach families and individuals most struggling to access safe and stable housing.
The Department of Housing Services has begun to build a team of dedicated and experienced staff to lead program development and implementation of these dynamic and integrated housing programs. The diverse and growing team, assembling talent from across the country and includes Jes Larson as the SHS Program Manager, Emily Roots as the Public Affairs Administrator, Allie Alexander Sheridan and Stacy Williams as Program Coordinators, Prinice Strubb as the long-term Rental Assistance Program Supervisor, Lisa Alvarado as the Occupancy Specialist for the long-term Rental Assistance Program, Alex Devin as the Services Network Administrator, Austin Saldana as the Administrative Specialist, Heather Skriver as the Data Analyst, Ty Schwoeffermann as the Community Engagement Program Coordinator, and more hires to come.
Media Contact:
Emily Roots, Public Affairs Administrator503-846-3790
[email protected]