Portland, OR. The Oregon Community Foundation (OCF) is announcing that Options for Helping Residents of Ashland (OHRA) has been selected to receive the first Project Turnkey grant of $4.2 million in state funds to purchase and transform a Super 8 hotel into the new OHRA Center. “The opportunity to acquire a Project Turnkey facility is a game-changer for our work with homeless individuals and families, including those displaced by the September 2020 wildfire,” said Oregon State Representative Pam Marsh pictured above. The hotel will become a 50-person shelter.
Many have been working to help those displaced by wildfires with meals.
Last fall, the Oregon Legislature’s Emergency Board allocated $65 million in state funding to purchase financially distressed motels across the state to deliver safe shelter in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and wildfires. OCF is administering the funds and convening a statewide community advisory committee to select qualified applicants to ‘Project Turnkey.’
“Last year’s wildfires were devastating. Many survivors lost everything,” Oregon Senate President Peter Courtney said. “The Emergency Board stepped in with funding. That was just the first step. Now this project will give them a place to stay. I am happy to see Project Turnkey hard at work.”
Oregon Community Foundation OCF is managing and deploying grants in two waves: $30 million to fire-impacted communities and $35 million to communities throughout the state with an expressed need for safely-distanced shelter for people experiencing homelessness. Community-based organizations will apply for funding from OCF to acquire motels or hotels and operate the shelters. Long term, properties will convert to meet the future housing needs of the community, addressing the gap in transitional and affordable housing.
Oregon’s housing issues were already in crisis before the pandemic and wildfires hit.
OCF has been studying Oregon’s dual crises of homelessness and affordable housing, beginning with research commissioned from ECONorthwest, “Homelessness in Oregon” which provided a statewide analysis of a disproportionately large homeless population in Oregon.
Portland, OR. As of June 5th, the Oregon Community Foundation (OCF) has offered $19.8 million in grants to 773 different nonprofits. $15 million has been contributed for relief since the start of the pandemic. 481 people have stepped forward recently to donate; here’s a link to the list of donors.
Organizations like the Sisters of the Road Café (pictured above) in Portland’s Old Town neighborhood, provide area-sourced meals plus opportunities for the homeless. They have seen an increase in costs due to COVID-19 in order to continue serving their community in the safest way possible. An Oregon Community Recovery grant helps Sisters to meet their Hot Meals Barter Program expense and dedicate funds to unforeseen costs during the pandemic.
In collaboration with a large network of statewide partners, OCF is mobilizing resources through discretionary dollars, donor-advised funds and pooled community funds.
Here’s a video about the fundraising efforts of the Oregon Community Fund.
With input from a network of volunteers, community leaders and partners, OCF is deploying funding and resources to nonprofits to help them fill gaps in funding during the crisis, providing resources where and when they are critically needed, focusing most on Oregon’s most vulnerable populations. Organization leaders say, “Demand for funding has been high, and our team is reviewing applications as quickly as possible. Grants are announced each week.”
Portland Refugee Support Group (PRSG) provides bags of food, household supplies and WinCo gift cards to more than 100 refugee families in the Portland metro community. An Oregon Community Recovery grant is helping the PRSG assist refugee families with emergent needs.
In addition, OCF donors also continue to award COVID-related grants from donor-advised funds, and Supporting Organizations of OCF continue to support organizations in their COVID-related needs. Here’s a link to the list of the organizations which have received help.
Oregon Community Foundation puts donated money to work in Oregon. Since 1973, OCF grantmaking, research, advocacy and community-advised solutions have helped individuals, families, businesses and organizations create charitable funds to improve lives for all Oregonians.
Portland, OR. The state’s largest public charity announced it is the recipient of $75 million from the Ann & Bill Swindells Charitable Trust. The assets were bequeathed as part of the late Bill Swindells’ estate. The contribution will be added to Oregon Community Foundation’s existing endowment and will honor the Swindells’ vision and legacy of strengthening communities in Oregon through philanthropy.
The Oregon Community Foundation thanked the family in a written statement:
The Swindells family has a long tradition of charitable giving in Oregon. Bill Swindells’ father William Swindells, Sr., was the founder of forest products company Willamette Industries and co-founded OCF in 1973. From its early days with an initial gift of $63,000, Oregon Community Foundation (OCF) has grown in 45 years to more than $2 billion under management through 2,800 charitable funds.
Bill Swindells served on the Oregon Community Foundation board from 1983 to 1991 and helped lead the foundation’s growth. He and his wife Ann formed the Ann & Bill Swindells Charitable Trust in 2002. Other Swindells family members are involved with Oregon Community Foundation as donors, advisors and volunteers.
“This donation—one of the largest in Oregon Community Foundation history—represents the tremendous and lifelong commitment to Oregon of Bill and Ann Swindells, and the entire Swindells family,” said OCF President Max Williams. “Bill and Ann knew the value of investing in the success of all Oregonians, and we are committed to continuing that legacy at Oregon Community Foundation in the years to come.”
In a community foundation, donor funds are pooled under shared management to maximize community benefits and impacts. Though some donors request funds be used for specific purposes, the Swindells’ estate directs the fund administered by the Oregon Community Foundation Board, a diverse group of 14 volunteers, representing all areas of the state of Oregon, who govern the work of the Foundation.
“It was very important to my dad that his estate be transferred to Oregon Community Foundation as an unrestricted gift, for the use of the OCF Board on priorities they identify,” said William R. Swindells, Bill’s son. “As someone intimately involved with philanthropy, he understood the value of such flexibility as Oregon’s needs change.”
A strategic priority for Oregon Community Foundation is bridging the “opportunity gap”—decreasing inequities in access to education, health care, services and jobs, particularly for Oregon children born into poverty and children of color. Nearly half of all children born in Oregon are born into low-income families, and these children are less and less likely to reach the middle class. To combat the persistent gap in access to opportunity, Oregon Community Foundation deploys research, advocacy and grant-making to:
Strengthen neighborhoods and communities. This includes developing new affordable housing and preserving existing affordable housing; providing opportunities for economic mobility out of high poverty neighborhoods; and improving low-income Oregonians’ access to financial services.
Create economic security. This includes supporting paid family and medical leave, expanding the earned income tax credit and increasing subsidies for childcare for low-income families.
Expand access to education and jobs. This includes expanding apprenticeship programs; services for young people not currently in school or working; providing access to quality early childhood education and scholarships for disadvantaged students.
“Today, access to opportunity and a healthy, successful life can be predicted by the zip code into which you are born,” said Williams. “At OCF, we are on a mission to ensure that no matter where an Oregon child is born, they have the chance to achieve and thrive.”
For more than 28 years, the Miracle Theatre Group has been dedicated to bringing Latino theatre to the Northwest. Now the group’s world premiere of Raíz, a bilingual celebration of Día de los muertos (Day of the Dead), is onstage through November 11th. The production is directed by Arturo Martinini.(Photo Credit, Russell J. Young)
Miracle Theatre Group’s world premiere of Raíz, a bilingual celebration of Día de los muertos (Day of the Dead), at Milagro Theatre (525 SE Stark St., Portland); Photo by Russell J. Young
In addition to the production, an exhibit of Day of the Dead altars created by local Latino artists will be on display one hour prior to each performance in El Zócalo, a community space adjacent to the theatre lobby.
Here’s more information about the play: Every year, the dead are commemorated in Portland’s longest-running Día de los muertos celebration. This season, a cabal of Aztec gods, having fallen out of favor in the modern world, seek to revive their relevance by reuniting a young clown with his departed partner, Augustina. Time turns backward as we unearth the interwoven roots of pre-Hispanic customs and traditions found at the juncture of life and death. Are we but dreaming and awake only when we die? Through music, dance and legend, we explore that thin veil that separates our world from the realm of our indigenous ancestors.
SPECIAL EVENTS: • Los Porteños writers group will present original stories and poetry written for the Day of the Dead prior to the matinee on Sunday, Nov. 4, beginning at 11:30 a.m. Free.
Olga Sanchez … Artistic Director, Miracle MainStage
José E. González … Executive Director
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Arturo Martinini began his career at a very young age as actor, director and filmmaker. He has directed and toured with several theatre companies (performing works from Lorca, Pasolini, Shakespeare and Barry), and has worked as an independent filmmaker for notable organizations in Europe. Most recently he acted in Romeo Castellucci’s latest work, Attore, il tuo nome non è esatto. The writings of Antonin Artaud are lately his strongest influence regarding the relationship between the public and the reality of the play. This is Arturo’s first production with Miracle Theatre Group, and his U.S. debut.
ABOUT THE SPONSORS
This production is sponsored by The Oregonian.
Miracle Theatre Group’s 2012-2013 season is supported in part by Regional Arts & Culture Council and Work for Art, Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Oregon Arts Commission, Collins Foundation, Ronni Lacroute, Oregon Community Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Kinsman Foundation, Shubert Foundation, Juan Young Trust, PGE Foundation, US Bancorp Foundation, KeyBank Foundation, Multnomah County Cultural Coalition, Rose Tucker Charitable Trust, Carpenter Foundation, Jackson Foundation, Hoover Family Foundation, Templeton Foundation, Portland Timbers, El Centinela, and El Hispanic News/PQ Monthly.
ABOUT MIRACLE THEATRE GROUP
In addition to its national tours, Miracle provides a home for Spanish and Latin American arts and culture at El Centro Milagro, where it enriches the local community with a variety of community outreach projects and educational programs designed to share the diversity of Latino culture. For more information about the Miracle Theatre Group, visit www.milagro.org or call 503-236-7253.
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