Director’s Desk: September

It’s my great pleasure and honor to be addressing you all for the first time as Executive Director of Neighborhood Partnerships (NP). I want to thank you all for the warm welcome, NP’s staff and Board for their support and help as I step into my new role. I feel excited and ready to get […]

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 […]

Equity Update: Updating Hiring Practices at NP

As part of our internal equity goals, NP has been looking into making our hiring and onboarding practices more equitable and inclusive. About a year ago, a subcommittee was formed to take a look at existing practices, form a set of goals, and implement practices to achieve those goals. Increase the number of BIPOC applicantsWe […]

Welcome Loren!

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 […]

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 […]

RE:Conference 2020

Stay tuned for details of our annual RE:Conference, which will kick off on November 16 and 17 and continue through mid-December. We expect to open registration after Labor Day. RE:Conference will be fully virtual this year. We are working hard to plan content that is as interactive and thought provoking as what you expect from […]

Director’s Desk: August

I’m thinking a lot about change and evolution this month, as I write my last Director’s Desk message to the Neighborhood Partnerships community. I’m excited for the future of Neighborhood Partnerships. In spite of the uncertainty in the world around us, brought on by a virus, failed leadership, and economic upheaval, NP is in good […]

Thank you, Brian Stewart!

This month at our August Board meeting we’ll be saying goodbye to Brian Stewart, who is rotating off the Board after fifteen years of service, six years as Board Chair between 2013 and 2019. Brian has been instrumental to so much of the success of NP over the past years. He has shared his enthusiasm, […]

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 […]