We are thrilled to announce that we have a new staff member! Loren Naldoza will be our new Legislative & Communications Manager!
Loren comes to NP from the Office of U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, where he has spent the last two years as a Legislative Aide, working on economic opportunity policy, fighting for a fairer tax code, and protecting consumers from predatory lending practices in Washington, D.C.! Prior to working for Senator Merkley, Loren worked for Hacienda CDC in both the Homeownership Support Department as well as the organization’s Communications & Policy Advisor.
We are thrilled to have Loren joining the team! He will be working on both supporting the advocacy efforts of the Oregon IDA Initiative and the Housing Alliance.
What does opportunity mean to you?
It means living a life with access to education, a paycheck with a little something left-over, robust and affordable health care, and a safe and secure place to call home. It’s also having the ability to chart your own path forward without having to worry about roadblocks or closed doors. It’s about having the option to own your own home if you want, or rent without burden, or pursuing your entrepreneurial spirit, or raising a family.
Opportunity is also certainly meant to be shared. It cannot be available to the rich, well-connected, powerful, or privileged. Opportunity is a common good that should be given to everyone, particularly to communities of color, who have been systemically and historically denied opportunity for generations, resulting in closed doors and walls that lead to housing instability and poverty.
What difference can financial security make for individuals and communities?
It makes all the difference! It can be the difference between housing stability or housing instability, having savings or fearing for the end of the month, or taking advantage of opportunities or letting them pass you by because of financial barriers.
If it wasn’t clear before, the pandemic has cast aside any doubt about the degree to which many families in Oregon and the rest of the country experience financial insecurity. Not having savings to fall back on during a public health crisis and its economic fallout should quickly show decision makers in our community that something has to change.
What’s your favorite quote?
This passage from John Lewis’ posthumous contribution to the New York Times on July 30, 2020:
“Ordinary people with extraordinary vision can redeem the soul of America by getting in what I call good trouble, necessary trouble. Voting and participating in the democratic process are key. The vote is the most powerful nonviolent change agent you have in a democratic society. You must use it because it is not guaranteed. You can lose it.
You must also study and learn the lessons of history because humanity has been involved in this soul-wrenching, existential struggle for a very long time. People on every continent have stood in your shoes, through decades and centuries before you. The truth does not change, and that is why the answers worked out long ago can help you find solutions to the challenges of our time. Continue to build union between movements stretching across the globe because we must put away our willingness to profit from the exploitation of others.
Though I may not be here with you, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe.”
Choose one author, living or dead, that you’d like to have dinner with.
Gabriel García Márquez. Though it wouldn’t be dinner – I’d invite him to a book club to discuss his books and read other Latin American authors!
What are you looking forward to most about this position?
Coming to NP, for me, means bringing home tools and experiences I’ve learned in Oregon and in D.C. that I hope are useful in promoting real change and advocating for progressive economic and housing policy. I’ve learned to really fight for Oregonians in Washington, and am excited to continue doing that here in Oregon.
Welcome Loren!