by Holly McGuire, Director of Economic Opportunity As some of our readers may be aware, Neighborhood Partnerships embarked on a strategic planning process in mid-2021, supported by the UPRISE Collective. In August our Board of Directors approved the resulting document, our Identity Statement and Strategic Intention, which we are very excited to be launching at […]
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Open Mic: Reparations and Addressing the Racial Wealth Gap
by Annette Case, Asset Funders Network September heralds a fresh start of sorts – the beginning of a new school year (true it started in August for lots of kids) and back to work after Labor Day honoring workers for making the prosperity of the country possible. We like to tell a deeply held story […]
Equity Update: To Win Justice, We Need to Organize
By Ethan Livermore, Economic Justice Organizer Organizing is an attitude and a mindset. It’s a process where people who are close to each other or share some common problem come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Community organizing work is the response to material discrepancies. Who is underserved? Who is underpaid? […]
Using Data to Inform IDA Equity
By Erica Maranowski The Oregon IDA Initiative seeks to understand who we are reaching and who we are not, in terms of program participation and success, with a focus on communities that face barriers to wealth building and economic stability. Because of barriers that public and private institutions have put into place, we often see […]
Swimming in a pool or a river?
Imagine you are teaching someone to swim. Most likely, you start off in a controlled environment like a shallow pool with clear visibility of the bottom and sides. You teach basic water safety, the mechanics of floating, how to stay calm in the water, how to exhale underwater, the beginning stroke and treading water. That’s […]
Equity Update: Residents Organizing Change
“Why do you do what you do?” This was a prompt at a recent training for ROC leaders. Why is it that we believe in having those most impacted involved in policy change? In the words of one ROC member, TomiRene Hettman, “We are the true experts on homelessness!” Members of Residents Organizing for Change – who are residents of affordable housing and […]
Racial Equity Training Series Update
By Luke Bonham and Holly McGuire As regular readers will be aware, Neighborhood Partnerships has been centering racial equity in all of our work. As part of our roles as conveners and funder, we are looking at how to integrate the diversity, equity, and inclusion tools and learning spaces into our partnerships. Last month, Neighborhood […]
Help NP say Thank you & Welcome!
Earlier this spring, we shared some very important news that after fifteen years as our Executive Director, Janet Byrd is stepping down from her position this year. You likely also saw that we announced after a national search, we have hired Carlos David Garcia to be our new Executive Director! Carlos will begin his new […]
Exciting News! Our Next Executive Director
Joel Madsen, Board Chair, Neighborhood Partnerships Neighborhood Partnerships is excited to announce that Carlos Garcia will become executive director, effective September 8. Carlos has served as NP’s Director of Economic Opportunity since 2018. In addition to overseeing the Oregon IDA initiative, he works with local, regional, and national partners to support movements and create policies […]
Looking Back and Forward in the IDA Initiative
By Holly McGuire As we enter the second half of the calendar year at the IDA Initiative, compiling our annual report to Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) gives us a chance to reflect on the last program year. It was a powerful and intense year, even before the crescendo of the COVID pandemic lockdown […]