eUpdate: See you on the 20th (and other news)!

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We hope you are staying cool in this heat! Despite it being the dog days of summer, we have a lot going on at Human Solutions – and we’re writing today to share it with you. We would be delighted to share more with you in person – and answer your questions – at our upcoming Happy Hour at the Oregon Public House. It’s this Monday, August 20th – details are just below.

You’re Invited! Join us for a Casual Happy Hour & Conversation 

We’re hosting a casual happy hour at the Oregon Public House in North Portland – and we’d love for you to be there! With homelessness and the local housing crisis on everyone’s minds,  this is an opportunity to connect with experts from Human Solutions who are in the community every day providing emergency shelter, working with community members to find and stay in stable housing, and supporting people’s goals to get a job through skills training and career coaching. Here are the details:

  • WHAT: A casual happy hour gathering to learn about the local housing crisis, how Human Solutions is working to solve it, and how you can help. We’ll have knowledgeable staff on hand to answer your questions.
  • WHEN: Monday, August 20th from 5 – 8 PM, program starts at 6:30 PM
  • WHERE: Oregon Public House @ 700 NE Dekum in N. Portland (here’s a map)
  • WHY? You care about the future of your community, you believe people deserve a stable place to live, and you want to be part of the solution!
  • KIDS? Bring them, too!
  • FOOD? The restaurant and bar will be open for business! In fact, Human Solutions will receive a portion of the day’s sales to fuel our work. So eat and drink up!
  • RSVP? Just show up! We’ll be glad to see you 🙂

Cooking Classes with Kids: The Pizza Challenge

We’re grateful for our partnership with Oregon State University Extension’s Food Hero program, which sends experts to our affordable housing communities to teach kids how to cook healthy food that can easily be cooked at home. Recently, they made pizza – actually, they took a pizza challenge. Read all about it here. Warning: it may make you hungry! And it will definitely make you smile 🙂

 

Walk With Us for Immigrants & Refugees: Sunday, August 19th 

We are proudly participating in this important solidarity walk, hosted by Parks for New Portlanders in partnership with Sunday Parkways, which is the same day in outer NE Portland. Human Solutions is joining with community members and elected leaders for a one-mile walk from the brand new Discovery Park (we had tons of fun at the grand opening earlier this month – see below) to Knott Park, alongside our refugee and immigrant neighbors in a show of support. This event recognizes the unique experiences of new Portlanders, of all ages and backgrounds.

Everyone is invited to join this walk to inspire a more compassionate, generous, and welcoming Portland! If you’d like to walk with Human Solutions, just meet us by the giant chess board in Discovery Park (near the corner of 106th & Halsey) at 10:45 AM. We’ll be findable in Human Solutions t-shirts! Details here and an event Facebook page to invite friends here.

Welcome to Gateway Discovery Park!

What a day! On Sunday, August 4th we participated in the grand opening festivities for Portland’s newest park in East Portland’s Gateway neighborhood. We’re excited about this new public gathering space for many reasons, but a few standout:

  • Outdoor public gathering spaces like parks are essential for healthy communities where all neighbors can share space that is free and welcoming to all.
  • The Gateway neighborhood has been asking for and waiting for this kind of public investment and community asset for nearly a decade. East Portland has long been underinvested in, but that is beginning to change.
  • Human Solutions’ next affordable housing community and service center will be built adjacent to this park, a wonderful combination of
    housing and outdoor access and space. We can’t wait to be there!

Thank you to all the people and partners who made this incredible space a reality – especially our great partners at the City of Portland, Portland Parks & Recreation and Prosper Portland.

Congratulations! Another Human Solutions Employee Wins an Award!

We are so proud of Nancy Jason, Human  Solutions’ Eviction Prevention Manager, for earning this year’s HILLTOP Award for Agency Staff/Volunteer Achievement. After years of working directly with families experiencing homelessness, Nancy now supervises a team and advises our senior leadership on best practices, helping to instill a culture of trauma-informed care at the agency and to grow the agency’s equity committee to better reflect the role that institutional racism and bias plays in poverty. In her own words:

“My own family lived close to poverty as an immigrant family in New York, but we also had a lot privileges because we were Asian,” Jason said. “You can give someone a house, food and clothing. But it’s not just about those resources. It’s also about shifting a whole society and making a shift in people. It’s asking not, ‘what’s wrong with you?’ but ‘what’s happened to you?’ It helps get things in perspective.”

You can read the full announcement from Multnomah County here.

Thanks, as always, for reading. I sincerely appreciate your interest in and support of our work in the community. In coming together we are more powerful in our efforts to solve one of the biggest moral crises of our day.