Portland, OR. Boys & Girls Aid (B&G Aid) has been helping struggling youth find foster families and support for over 135 years. According to CEO Suzan Huntington, foster parents have stepped during the pandemic more than ever. B&G Aid’s day programs are temporarily closed for public health concerns. Without the day program and without school, parents have their foster kids 24/7. But they are taking extra responsibility in stride.
“I can’t say enough about how grateful I am to their generosity of continuing to open their homes and hearts,” Huntington said. “These kids have had abuse and neglect since they were born, and that does something to our brains, and it’s hard. And not one foster parent said I won’t do that. Not one.”
Caring for the kids full time is extra work for foster families, but they say their kids are actually helping them to weather this tough time. “Foster children were born to live through a pandemic … I never thought about it like that until one of the foster parents said that these kids are actually helping us because they are used to total uncertainty and chaos,” Huntington said. “It isn’t a place where anyone thrives, but they have the skill set.”
Although the current COVID-19 situation challenging, this isn’t the first time the organization has had to face a flu pandemic.
Boys & Girls Aid has faced many challenges of its 135 years.
The Boys & Girls Aid day program is reopening because many foster parents are returning to work. Residential programs continue to be open as well. B&G Aid is proud to say it hasn’t had to lay off or furlough any of its staff during the lockdown, even though it has lost significant revenue from seven major fundraisers that were canceled.
“It is because our staff are diligent and committed to the work and the kids that we serve,” Huntington said. “Our foster parents are angels walking this earth, as are foster parents across the nation. We’re not gonna come through totally unscathed, but we’ve been able to keep everyone employed during the height of absolute chaos.”
The staff has been working hard to keep programs operating amidst limited funding.
Kids leave B & G Aid with the support they need to exit the foster care system.
In the last 7 years, B&G Aid has been relying on a trauma-informed care model, which sets it apart from other similar organizations. Huntington said this switch made the organization’s work and her job much more meaningful.
“Before [switching to this care model], we were a stop along the way. Now, we’re really meeting the kids where they’re at,” Huntington said. “We’re really diving deep into mental health, we’re making sure they have those lifelong connections, and really starting to see the trajectory of those relationships change with kids and how their growth is.”
Alongside coordination with foster families and guardians, B&G Aid works in family counseling to rebuild broken relationships to the best outcome for each client. Furthermore, they connect kids with stable figures, like an uncle or a teacher, to act as a point of guidance and support.
B&G Aid works to get kids into stable guardianships and loving homes.
“Kids do better when they have someone in their corner,” Huntington said. “We all do better when someone’s got our back.”
Huntington said she would like to see B&G Aid as a more visible part of the community. Historically, the stigma around adoption has limited the publicity for this long-standing organization.
“I would like to see in the future that Boys & Girls Aid is a more prominent figure in the community,” she said. “We could be a tremendous resource to a lot of community organizations.”
From Boys & Girls Aid:
Boys & Girls Aid is committed to ensuring children exit the foster care system to loving, stable families.
Portland, OR. Despite shelter-in-place, Friends of Trees(FOT) managed to finish its planting season in neighborhoods and urban green spaces in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Staffers like Tyler Rise (pictured above) are keeping things moving, but operations are quite different than usual because the typical neighborhood volunteers arenot allowed to work.
A pod from the Northwest Youth Corp, a roving group that does summer maintenance, helped plant trees in Forest Park. The planting season lasts from November to April, so thankfully the COVID-19 pandemic did not hit until near the end of the season.
Friends of Trees relied heavily on staff and trained crew-lead volunteers to finish projects by themselves. Trained individuals are continuing typical summer operations by surveyingtrees that were planted earlier in the year. These volunteers mulch and prune the trees as needed.
Friends of Trees’ impact in 2019
The benefits of trees
Future operations will look much different than normal. Interim Executive Director Whitney Dorer predicts that more plantings with fewer people will take place in order to prevent larger groups from congregating. The attendance of past planting events has reached over 250 people. Unfortunately, the traditional post-planting potlucks will be put on hold. Friends of Trees focuses not just on the environment but also on the community.
“It will take a lot of creativity on the part of our team of our supports and volunteers to find new ways to engage community while we are still planting trees throughout the city and in natural areas,” said Dorer. “We are just going to have to work with whatever is given in terms of social distancing guidelines.”
A volunteer shows her love for nature during a winter planting session pre-COVID
Friends of Trees is remaining active on social media. Short, educational videos on different trees have been put together by various FOT staff. In the spirit of community, every Thursday, a staff member is introduced on the FOT Instagram. Introductions include name, pronouns, position, favorite tree(s), favorite potluck food, and hobbies. Corporate and Business Relations Specialist Sam Erman even included his favorite hummus recipe.
In this time of isolation, Friends of Trees recognizes the growing importance of community building while remaining safe.
From Friends of Trees: We bring people together. Inspiring our community members to plant, care for, and learn about trees is key to our mission. We welcome individuals, families, and businesses throughout western Oregon and SW Washington to help restore and beautify our region.Friends of Trees recognizes that not everyone has equal access to the benefits of trees. As we work to remedy that, we strive to be a welcoming and safe place for everyone, regardless of age, ability, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, political views, or economic status. Without our volunteers, we are nothing. But together, we do amazing things.
Portland, OR. Students at De La Salle North Catholic High School (DLSNC) (pictured above before COVID-19) are excited about having a new facility. Since the launch of its Capital Campaign in March of 2019, DLSNC has raised $20.5 million to construct a new and more permanent school campus in the Cully Neighborhood of North Portland. However, the additional $3.65 million needed for a new gymnasium has not been raised. So far, DLSNC has raised $900,000 for the gymnasium, but time is of the essence because leaders will face a one million dollar price increase and the project will be delayed if the remaining $2.75 million for the gym is not raised by an August 3rd deadline.
Architectural rendering of De La Salle’s new school campus in North Portland.
“It’s not just about our students, it [the gym] will be apart of the Cully neighborhood, a place for after school sports and renting out the facility for youth sports on the weekend,” says Ashleigh de Villiers, VP for Advancement at De La Salle North Catholic High School.
Opened in 2001, De La Salle North Catholic High School serves a racially diverse population of students in the Portland area who typically do not have access to an affordable college preparatory education. De La Salle is the most diverse private high school in Oregon, with 93% of the student body being students of color. It also maintains an income cap that ensures students from low-income families can attend. Students cannot attend La Salle if their family makes more than 75% of the area’s median income.
Each student works one day a week as a part of DLSNC’s Corporate Work Study, a program that partners with corporations, local businesses, and nonprofits to work with students one day a week. By working one day per week, each student earns half the cost of their tuition throughout the entire four years they attend. DLSNC maintains affordable tuition to ensure a quality education for underserved populations.
Currently, the school rents gym space for sports, but even without a proper on-campus gym, De La Salle’s men’s basketball team earned the 2018 and 2019 state championship title. The high school has made a total of six state appearances.
“The gym is special to us because our boys’ basketball team were the 2018 and 2019 state champions, and they did this without having a home gym,” says Ashleigh de Villiers.
After renting current elementary school building in Kenton from Portland Public Schools, DLSNC decided to pursue a more affordable and sustainable option. It has faced ever-increasing rent, with next year’s rental bill topping out at $480,000. After three years of searching, the school signed a new 50-year lease agreement co-locating with the Saint Charles Parish on 42nd and Killingsworth. The agreement includes two possible 25-year lease extensions which could result in a 100-year lease.
DLSNC hopes to have the new campus built by the Fall of 2021. It will include a visual arts center, science center, and welcoming campus, with the gymnasium being the final part of the facility. Construction is planned to begin at the end of July and will take 12 to 18 months. The new school campus will also allow the student population to increase from 280 to 350 students. Currently, 95% of graduating seniors are accepted to universities.
Four graduating students, DLSNC Class of 2020
“To have a gym where we hang our banners and have our logo on the floor is something we really care about,” explains de Villiers,
De La Salle North Catholic High School serves a racially diverse population of capable, motivated, and interested college-bound students from the Portland area who would not otherwise have access to a faith-based, rigorous college-preparatory education.
Here’s more information and some additional architectural renderings of De La Salle’s new school campus in North Portland:
Many Portlander’s know Darcelle XV as the beloved “world’s oldest working drag queen,” who has been a staple of the Portland LGBTQ+ and nightlife scene for five decades. But what many may not know about Walter Cole—Darcelle XV when he is in drag—is that he lives in the historic “Elmer and Linnie Miller” Residence in Northeast Portland. The home was recently listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Walter Cole in his home, the Elmer and Linnie Miller Residence.
The new exhibit will feature the work of Portland photographer Tom Cook, and showcases Darcelle XV in the historic residence.
According to a press release: “Cook’s portrait series captures the unique character of the 1896 Queen Anne style house and its longtime owner, Walter Cole, best known as the female impersonator and performer Darcelle XV. The home’s décor has taken on the lavish style of Darcelle XV while still maintaining its original layout and details. Among the house’s features are stained glass windows created by Jerry Bosco and Ben Milligan, glass artists, work and life partners, and founders of the Bosco-Milligan Foundation, under which the Architectural Heritage Center operates.”
On top of being an example of historic architecture, the home has been a gathering place for political activists and gay rights events over the years. The residence also shows the indelible mark that Darcelle has left on the home.
Elmer and Linnie Miller House, Portland, Oregon.
The exhibit will be open to Architectural Heritage Members July 24–25, and will open to the public after that on Thursdays–Sunday’s from 11am–5pm. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, safety protocols will be in place for those who visit the exhibit, and masks will be required.
“My home is overdone, over-decorated and over jeweled, just like Darcelle, but it reflects me,” Cole recently told The Oregonian. “If someone gave me a framed photo, I wouldn’t have one spot on the wall to hang it.”
Darcelle XV sitting in the Elmer and Linnie Miller Residence.
Owned and operated by the non-profit Bosco-Milligan Foundation, we empower people in the Portland region to preserve both landmark buildings and the regular “vernacular” vintage homes and storefronts that collectively define our neighborhoods, traditional downtowns, culture, history, and quality of life.
Portland, OR. When shelter-in-place went into effect in March, Ecology in Classrooms and Outdoors’ (ECO’s) programs shut down immediately. Classes and service trips, like the planting pictured above, were canceled (photo credit, Wasim Muklashy Photography). ECO is a nonprofit focused on educating the younger generation about the environment through hands-on experiences. Coincidentally, ECO was already exploring online programming.
In order to reach more rural areas of Oregon, ECO began developing and implementing online learning materials prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.Known as Place-Based Units (PBUs), these programs are customized for different schools. Where ECO Educators would typically go to learning sites, this allowsprograms to reach areas that were not as easily accessible.Free resources can be found on the ECO website to continue environmental education from home.
Before facing the effects of COVID-19, students search for frog and salamander eggs while monitoring the wetlands.
One child’s response to ECO’s “Dear Nature” reflection activity
Children who are under-privileged are of special focus to ECO. It has been found that people of color and those with lower income are more affected by environmental injustice. For example, according to the National Conference for Community and Justice, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 11.2% of African American children and 4% of Mexican American children suffer from lead poisoning, where only 2.3% of white children are affected.
ECO was founded in 2005 by two women, Sarah Woods and Bethany Shetterly Thomas. All ECO educators happen to also be female, providing role models for young girls interested in STEM.
In February 2020, ECO received theImpact Award in Environment & Sustainability from Ninety-Nine Girlfriends. The mission of Ninety-Nine Girlfriends is as follows: “We are an inclusive women’s collective giving organization that provides opportunities for learning and grant-making to engage local women in our community. We strive for impact by making significant grants and becoming more informed and engaged philanthropists.” The impact award came with a $100,000 grant.
Students use movement to learn about leaf arrangement pre-pandemic.
A portion of this grant went to creating a new initiative known as Climate Action Education.According to Operations Manager Reade Weber, such a program was requested by students and teachers alike who wanted to know what they could do to fight the environmental issues they were learning about. Made of actionable steps the youth can take, the Climate Action Education program is made up of three lessons: Climate Science and Solutions, Green Jobs, and Consumption and Waste.
Directed toward all grades K-12, ECO hopes to relate to youth in a way they can understand, empowering students to create change.
From Ecology in Classrooms and Outdoors:
ECO inspires students to care for nature through innovative, hands-on science education. All our content is developed in-house by our team of outstanding educators, who draw from their STEM degrees and experiences as field scientists, park rangers, and environmental educators around the country. For over 15 years, ECO has implemented these lessons in classrooms and on trails, and empowered thousands of students to become the scientists and change-makers of the future. ECO prioritizes reaching low-income and minority students at under-resourced schools as these students are most impacted by environmental injustice. Together with Ninety-Nine Girlfriends, ECO is working to equitably integrate ecology education into science curriculum in Oregon.
Portland, OR. The Yale Union (YU) announced on July 16th it will sign over the ownership of the land and historic Yale Union building at 800 SE 10th Avenue in Portland to the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation. Foundation members (pictured above) are celebrating the Restorative Social Change.
“Together, the NACF board and staff believe that this free land and building transfer will set an example for recognizing the value of Native ownership of property in urban areas across the nation,” says NACF President/CEO Lulani Arquette. “It’s liberating and encouraging to witness this kind of support for First Peoples of this country. The potential for local community and national partnerships around shared interests through Indigenous arts and cultures is wide open. We are deeply grateful for this transformative opportunity afforded NACF by YU board and staff, and stand united with all to reclaim Native truth, engage anti-racism, and address important issues we face today.”
The new national headquarters for NACF will be called the Center for Native Arts and Cultures, and the property will continue to be a site of contemporary artistic and cultural production.
The process to transfer Yale Union’s historic property to NACF began in mid-2018 with discussions between YU’s then Executive Director, Yoko Ott, and YU’s Board President, Flint Jamison, regarding art institutions’ potential for proposing models of restorative social change.
Here’s a video about the Center for Native Arts and Cultures:
NACF is a Native-led national organization committed to mobilizing Native artists, culture bearers, communities, and leaders to influence positive social, cultural, and environmental change. As such, it focuses on strengthening Native arts, providing artists and the creative community with the resources and tools they need to be successful, and expanding awareness and access to Native knowledge and truth. NACF is accepting this special property with great appreciation for what came before. We honor and respect the elders past and present, and acknowledge the land that this building sits on and the previous Native tribes and peoples who inhabited the land.
“I am proud of what we have accomplished with Yale Union over the last decade. Having been able to fulfill our mission through the unearned privilege of property ownership, it’s now time that we hand over the keys!” says Flint Jamison, President, Board of Directors of Yale Union. “I am inspired by NACF’s leadership, unwavering commitment to their mission, and capacity to operate on a large scale. I am eager to listen and learn from them as they use the land and historic building to fulfill their vision.”
Supporters say the building will benefit the local community and be a strong cultural asset for the city of Portland. NACF has just completed a planning process that determines its national programming and includes a vision for how it plans to maximize opportunities in the new space. The building will be a gathering place for Indigenous artists and local partnerships. It will provide space to present and exhibit, places to practice culture and make art, and areas for cultural ceremony and celebration. There will be opportunities for broad community learning, including workshops and seminars covering pertinent issues relative to decolonizing space, anti-racism, and environmental justice.
Both NACF and YU would like to acknowledge Ms. Ott’s vision and leadership in initiating this transfer of ownership.
From the Yale Union:
Since opening in 2010, Yale Union has provided public programming and presented the work of hundreds of artists through the labor of its dedicated board and staff, and the incalculable support of its donors, volunteers, colleagues, and friends. It has created and fostered a cultural community by hosting countless events, providing subsidized studio space to dozens of local artists, and facilitated numerous community programs. It has preserved its historic building and used its 9,400 square-foot exhibition space to present the work of internationally-recognized and under-represented artists in Portland. Through its publishing imprint, YU has published ten books, and it has housed a unique and publicly accessible art library.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Yale Union has suspended in-person events for 2020, but it will collaborate with NACF to co-present artistic programming in 2021. Later that year, Yale Union will dissolve its nonprofit. The property transfer to NACF will serve as a natural culmination of Yale Union’s decade-long mission to support artists, propose new modes of production, and stimulate an ongoing public discourse around art. Yale Union’s board and staff sincerely thank all of those who helped in achieving its mission and building a community of artists around the Yale Union building and beyond.
Portland, Oregon. The Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon(FCCO) promotes the wellbeing of stray and feral cats around the Portland area. FCCO focuses largely on its trap-neuter-return program, meant to combat the overpopulation of feral cats and decrease their chance of disease. In July 2019, FCCO cared for Boo — their 100,000th cat (photo credit, Kathi Lamm Photography). In order to maintain social distancing guidelines, however, operations have been limited.
The FCCO clinic was closed for approximately six weeks during shelter-in-place before reopening in mid-May. Upon reopening, FCCO workers were split into A and B medical teams, ensuring no overlap between staff and minimizing contact. Fewer veterinarians are allowed in the building at a time, decreasing efficiency. Only 30-35 cats can be spayed/neutered per day.
Bubbles was brought into the clinic in March 2017 with 16 other felines.
Fluffy was recently brought into the FCCO clinic from Hillsboro.
“It’s disappointing and frustrating that we’re not operating at full capacity, but we’re doing everything we can to grow our capacity and be there for the cats in our community,” said an FCCO staff member.
The temporary closure in operations occurred during kitten season. This leads the FCCO community to worry that new kittens won’t find a home.Tame kittens that are brought into the clinic are given the option to join the Kitten Caboose program, where FCCO partners with the Oregon Humane Society to find permanent homes for the kittens. With less of these kittens being brought in at this time, they become more likely to live on streets and breed more in the future.
Appointments are now required to bring cats to the clinic, and no caregivers are allowed in the building. A full explanation of appointment instructions can be found at http://www.feralcats.com/covid19.
Services for feral cats are of no charge, but FCCO requests donations from caregivers at the time of service. In recent months, the average donations per cat dropped from $18 to $13, although FCCO recommends $40.Low-cost services for pet cats are not currently available.
From the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon:
FCCO is a spay/neuter program for cats. Our services are no-cost for feral, stray, and barn cats (donations requested) and low-cost for pet cats, including vaccines. The mission of the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon is to improve the welfare and reduce the population of feral and stray cats through spay/neuter programs and education.
Portland, OR. Although Unite Oregon’s office has been closed since March, the nonprofit continues to strive for intercultural justice through direct aid and policy advocacy. It did so last summer with a program called Rise for Refuge seen above.The organization’s mission is to serve the community by building a unified movement of people of color, immigrants, refugees and working-class people of all backgrounds.
Communications and policy associate Andrew Riley explains that recent events prompted a critical look at police activity. “I wouldn’t say yet that we are an abolitionist organization but we are having these conversations about what is the ultimate solution to this challenge … there can sometimes be friction with folks who have been doing abolition work for a long time, but finding ways to work together and finding folks with all these different orientations and all these different tactics working together has been really encouraging.” Riley continued, “I think that that has been a big change from previous uprisings and previous protest movements.”
Differences with regard to the best strategies for organizing have also divided activists in the past, but Riley said recent protests have shown more unity.
“I think one of the things that’s really good to see is that there’s a better appreciation of a diversity of tactics, in organizing, in the sense that there’s a lot more people pushing back against the idea that there’s a good way to protest and a bad way to protest,” they said. “I’ve seen a lot of folks working really hard to deconstruct that, because that’s a dichotomy that’s gonna just ultimately serve people in power.”
The nonprofit works to create safe and equitable communities for immigrants and refugees.
The workload at Unite Oregon has increased over the past couple of months, with efforts going both to anti-racist advocacy and the needs of community members during this economic crisis. Riley hopes to sustain this level of work over the coming months.
While Unite Oregon used to rely on community meetings to discuss the current challenges people were facing and how those needs could best be met. However, large gatherings are not feasible in light of public health concerns; furthermore, many members of the communities UO serves don’t have regular access to high-speed internet or technology, so switching meetings to Zoom is not an option. The organization has opted instead to check in with people through individual calls.
Unite Oregon has been distributing aid to community members since the pandemic hit, especially focusing on a donation-based relief fund for those who are not eligible for state programs like unemployment or stimulus checks. These funds go to grocery store gift cards, rent payments, and more. One current initiative is to provide translated and linguistically accessible public health informational materials to immigrant and refugee communities.
“We’ve been really fortunate to get a lot of support for the fund from the Portland community,” Riley said. “We’ve had a call to donate and a lot of folks have given to that so it’s really enabled us to meet some communities’ needs.
From Unite Oregon:
You can help the work at https://www.uniteoregon.org/covid19_support_fund
Led by people of color, immigrants and refugees, rural communities, and people experiencing poverty, we work across Oregon to build a unified intercultural movement for justice.
Portland, OR. With no end in sight for the COVID-19 lockdown, State mandates surrounding interactive museums and exhibits continue to affect the operation status of many organizations, including the Portland Children’s Museum, which remains closed.
One way staffers are continuing to serve the community is through popular summer camps. Located in the Portland Children’s Museum building itself, the kids attending have the unique experience of spending time in the museum without any of the normal attendees.
Under creative and strict social distancing measures, the campers are able to spend time in a unique setting under the Children Museum’s philosophy of “learning through play.”
Aside from the summer camps, the staff at the Children’s Museum is making a big effort to reach families at home through its Museum@Home newsletters. These are filled with clever ways for children and their parents to spend time learning together through activities that only require common household supplies, such as “nest” building and focus on thinking “outside of the box.”
From the Portland Children’s Museum, here’s all you need to know about camps:
The Museum may still be closed to the public, but 2020 Summer Camps are on and OPEN FOR REGISTRATION!
Beginning in July and running through August, Portland Children’s Museum will offer weekly camps with added safety measures for children ages 4–10. Using Governor Kate Brown’s statewide Guidance for School-Aged Summertime Day Camps, we have reenvisioned Summer Camp plans in order to continue to explore, discover, and create together this July and August!
What to Expect this Summer:
Groups of 10 or Less: Campers will be in stable groups of 10 or fewer with consistent staff members for their entire week of camp. If siblings are attending, they will be in the same group as each other despite age differences.
Building Closed to Public: Portland Children’s Museum will be closed to the public. Campers will have the unique opportunity to play and enjoy the Museum in their small group during the week without being alongside the regular summer crowds.
Designated Spaces & Staggered Timing: Each camp group will have designated indoor classroom space, bathrooms, and entrance to the building used only by their group and sanitized multiple times each day. Time in the indoor and outdoor Museum spaces will be staggered to ensure distance and time to sanitize between groups.
Wellness Surveys: Campers and staff will have wellness surveys each day to screen for symptoms of illness. This will include a temperature reading, checking for any new symptoms, and any known exposure to COVID-19.
Meal Modifications: Campers will be required to bring their own lunch and snacks for health safety reasons.Read the Museum’s Communicable Disease Management Plan.
Our Mission: To develop innovative problem-solvers through playful learning experiences that strengthen relationships between children and their world.
Our Vision: We envision a world where everyone retains and values the innate curiosity, creativity, and empathy of childhood.
Portland, OR. The Latino Network is gearing up for its big annual gala, Noche Bella (Beautiful Night), which is set to take place on Sept. 25th at 7:00 p.m. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the event will be held virtually. The picture seen above was taken at an event prior to the pandemic.
“We’re really excited to virtualize everything,” said Latino Network Communication Manager Martina Bialek. “We have an auction, and our auction items are coming through, and we’re just really trying to get people excited to attend, whether it is from the comfort of their homes or elsewhere.”
Normally, the event draws around 600 people and raises approximately $400,000 for the organization to fund programs, operations and administrative work, according to Bialek.
The pandemic has forced the Latino Network to alter many of its regular operations; however, the organization has been busy offering as much support as possible to the communities it serves. Everything shifted to virtual operations on March 13th, and since then, school coordinators have found innovative ways to continue to offer the education and support that the organization regularly provides to students and families.
“We’re basically an education focused non-profit, so, just from the sense of our programming, we’ve had to absolutely change everything, from the way that we interact with our students to how we show up for families who are in need right now,” Bialek said.
Latino Network program participants at a pre-pandemic event
One innovative way the organization has adapted its communications is through Facebook groups. “We created Facebook groups and invited parents and started doing Facebook Live nighttime reading for students,” Bialek said.
In terms of community assistance, the Latino Network has been working on the Covid-19 Response Team, which provides economic assistance to families, and also helps get them on the referral list for the Oregon Worker Relief Fund.
Through this program, the Latino Network has been able to help families cover their basic needs, such as food, utilities and rent.
Latino Network staff and program participants hosting standing food drive
“It has been a little challenging because we’ve reached the $10 million mark through the Oregon Worker Relief Fund, and we’re waiting for the second installment to come, which means that through that window, we’re not getting any new applications,” Bialek said.
Until the Latino Network is able to secure the additional funds from the state, the organization is keeping busy connecting families to any type of utility assistance they can get based on their circumstances.
“Being a nonprofit, it’s like we’re pulling money from all of our unrestricted funds, and all of our fundraising money, and we’re just putting it all towards helping the families,” Bialek said. “But we’ve reached a point where that’s just not a possibility at this point. So we’re getting other utilities involved and we’re really making sure that they can offer any type of assistance that they can to our families.”
Bialek applauded the work of the staff at the Latino Network through this time, saying, “They’ve just been going above and beyond to really put families at the forefront of everything.”
Throughout the pandemic, the Latino Network has also had many opportunities to work with other organizations: “Being able to work with other like minded community based organizations has been wonderful because we’ve been able to really tagteam all of our needs, and we were able to really expand on them,” Bialek said. “For example, we’ve been working really closely with the ACLU of Oregon, and we’ve really been able to create a partnership that is definitely going to last for years to come.”
Bialek said that those interested in supporting the Latino Network can make a donation or elevate the work being done by the organization.
“I feel like there is a big wave of change in the country, and the fact that our Black hermanos and hermanas are able to elevate their needs and are able to fight for what they need is wonderful,” Bialek said.
“We’re no strangers to police brutality either, we’re no strangers to racial targeting, we’re no strangers to discrimination or racism, and on top of that we have a pandemic that has completely devastated our community in ways that we’re only scratching the surface of right now. So any visibility we can get, any support we can get helps, whether it’s economic or just sharing something on Twitter—just making sure that our struggle is seen and heard.”
About the Latino Network:
Latino Network was founded in 1996 by community leaders who grew concerned about the lack of adequate resources to meet the needs of the growing Latino community. Since that time, we have evolved to become an organization that also encompasses transformational programs aimed at educating and empowering Multnomah County Latinos. Low achievement scores, youth violence and high drop out rates undermine the Latino community’s potential. We address these issues by promoting early literacy, encouraging parent involvement, working with gang-involved and adjudicated youth and families, and providing academic support and activities to high school aged youth. We also build leadership capacity for youth and adults.
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