We are thrilled to share the Housing Opportunities portfolio’s grant awards for the 2016 funding round. All 39 awards support our vision for every Oregonian to have a decent, safe, and affordable place to call home. And all align well with our equity mission, either by working to reduce the disparities faced by marginalized people, supporting vulnerable populations or strengthening the many dedicated organizations working to bring stable housing to every Oregon community.

Beyond those common elements, we see the batch of awards as extremely diverse. It contains both solid and proven approaches and new, innovative efforts to increase stability and success for residents and address affordable housing needs. Some awards centered on bold approaches and others much more subtle.

Before looking at the grantees, we’ll explore a few notable themes evident in this batch of awards:

Equity is most prevalent in the populations served

The projects in the Housing Opportunities batch are all aimed to reach people living on lower-incomes. Our requirement was generally 60 percent area median income, but many projects reached populations at much lower-incomes, from zero to 40 percent  area median income. The capital projects reached a variety of vulnerable populations and those most affected by the housing crisis: seniors, people with severe physical, developmental or behavioral disabilities, foster youth, pregnant and parenting youth, formerly incarcerated people, veterans and people of color. Other projects are designed to serve formerly homeless families and individuals, survivors of sexual assault and Latino seniors.

This funding batch also reaches several culturally specific organizations and some other culturally responsive organizations serving predominantly communities of color.

Equity also showed up in how projects are carried out.

All capital projects reflected a commitment to use minority-owned, women-owned and emerging small business contractors. (See more in our blog, Focus on Contracting). And where projects needed help to secure minority contracting, technical assistance support was awarded. Similar technical assistance was awarded for some projects that included equity components or for which we saw that equity training would be an important step for the organization.

Some goal areas reflected better geographic diversity of applicants than others

Most of our larger capital projects are concentrated in the seven largest municipalities in the state, and only one reaches outside of the I-5 corridor. Smaller and more rural communities were better reflected in our Goal 2 and Goal 3 areas. We were less successful in reaching some more remote parts of the state, including eastern Oregon, Tribal reservations and many parts of the coast. In the coming months, we will investigate methods to better reach more rural and tribal communities.

We saw several common themes emerge across the thirty-nine awards:

• Awards cover a wide range of the housing stock continuum. From those exiting homelessness into supportive housing, rental housing, manufactured housing and single family homeownership options.

• The awards reflected energy and creativity around finding and retaining housing in a tight market. Several models of housing are reflected in this batch, such as house sharing, tiny houses, accessory dwelling units and intergenerational housing.

• Projects often straddle systems of care. Housing is often paired with other significant systems of care, including child welfare, foster care, domestic violence, mental and physical health, or civil and criminal justice.

• Leverage opportunities are prevalent. Many projects directly leverage large public investments, which often come from restricted funding sources (e.g., tax increment financing that must be spent on capital in a certain neighborhood region) and philanthropy can play a role in helping to fund the staffing and support services needed to deploy such funds.

• Several projects center on evaluation and data. These are often structured as pilot programs, prototypes or demonstration projects that are designed to give tracking and evaluation data to support future funding from public sources or other private sources.

• Grants went to both new and experienced organizations. Nearly a quarter of the awards — 23 percent — were made to organizations that had never before received Meyer funding. This batch also includes our first award to a for-profit housing developer. Pacific Crest Affordable Housing LLC, based in Bend, is contributing much needed affordable housing development capacity in central Oregon.

• The influence of the Affordable Housing Initiative (AHI) is clear in this batch. AHI’s strategies include funding advocacy, access to private market units, broader systems alignment and larger-scale preservation work through targeted investments. Those efforts continue parallel to this funding opportunity. Several projects here either deepen, further or complement the work of initial investment made in AHI. We expect to see the continued interplay of AHI and the statewide housing work.

Summary of awards

The 39 awards were spread across the three overarching goals of the Housing Opportunities portfolio:

Goal 1: Preserve and increase the number of affordable housing rental units

We anticipated that this goal would receive the largest demand for grant dollars and it did. Of the nine awards made, three are for preservation of existing affordable housing units, many with federal rental subsidies attached (Human Solutions, Caritas Community Housing Corporation, Catholic Community Services Foundation). Collectively, these projects will result in a total of 123 units of preserved affordable housing stock.

The remaining six awards support new housing development for very vulnerable and high priority populations (Housing and Community Services of Lane County, Pacific Crest Affordable Housing oregon, Bridge Meadows, Neighborhood House, Luke-Dorf and Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives). A total of 282 new units are expected to be added to the state’s housing stock in part because of these awards.

Goal 2: Support the stability and success of affordable housing residents

This pool of awards reflects a wide variety of approaches to accomplish the goal of increasing resident stability and success:   

• Four awards are aimed at removing a barrier to housing and/or employment or building up assets that can lead to housing and/or advancement: Oregon Law Center, Housing Works, ASSIST and Casa de Belen;  

• Several awards involve individuals and families that are transitioning from homelessness into permanent housing with supportive services: Portland Homeless Family Solutions, New City Initiative, REACH Community Development and Multnomah County;

• We saw awards aimed at supporting specific priority populations to access and retain housing from El Programa Hispano Católico, Bradley Angle and Neighborhood Economic Development Corporation;

• Hiring a staff position that can focus on housing retention was central to three more awards: Deschutes United Way, Yamhill Community Action Partnership and Housing Authority of Jackson County; and

• Both Native American Youth and Family Center and Florence Habitat for Humanity propose to make critical home repairs and weatherization upgrades to mitigate displacement of low-income homeowners.

Goal 3: Strengthen the housing sector by building the capacity and long-term health of housing organizations

Two awards under this goal have equity prominent in the project design. California Coalition of Rural Housing’s will build diversity in rural housing organizations with an internship program and Community Partners for Affordable Housing seeks consulting to build a resident advisory committee for its properties. Other awards contain equity components, such as diversity, equity and inclusion training for staff and board.

Three culturally-specific organizations seek assistance to build capacity and strategic vision, either after a major transition in the organization (Farmworker Housing Development Corporation) or to leverage large public investments (Self Enhancement, Inc. and African American Alliance for Homeownership).

Several more awards aim to build capacity in very specific and strategic ways within an organization: Habitat for Humanity Portland/Metro East, ROSE Community Development, SquareOne Villages, NeighborImpact, Habitat for Humanity of Oregon, Fair Housing Council of Oregon and ShelterCare. The award to Network for Oregon Affordable Housing will staff a collaborative effort to address manufactured housing issues.

For an overview of all 151 awards Meyer made this month, please see this blog by our Program Director, Candy Solovjovs.

Final words of gratitude

In the end, we are very pleased with how this group of awards aligns with Meyer’s equity mission and vision of systems change. Each grant stands well on its own, with special characteristics and different approaches to advance our goal areas. And together, they complement and accentuate each other, providing many opportunities for us to see leverage, innovation and learning play out. We appreciate the feedback you’ve given so far and look forward to hearing from all applicants in Meyer’s upcoming survey. We can wait to see how the work of our partners will contribute to an equitable and flourishing Oregon.

—Theresa

In the most recent round of grants, the application for Housing Opportunities portfolio funding posed a new question to applicants seeking capital support: What is your goal on this project for Minority-Owned, Women-Owned or Emerging Small Business participation? We have asked the question before but not consistently or as part of an application.

The responses were surprising.

Meyer has not set any particular bar for equity in contracting. That’s partly because we understand that contracting opportunities may not look the same in Grants Pass as they do in Gearhart or Gresham. But we do ask all capital applicants to consider their contracting policies and set a project target.

The nine capital projects funded in this latest batch all reflect a commitment to use minority-owned, women-owned or emerging small businesses for between 10 percent and 50 percent of their contract dollars. And where a project needed help in navigating minority-owned, women-owned or emerging small business contracting, Meyer added technical assistance support from expert consultants, Metropolitan Contractor Improvement Partnership (MCIP).  

We were especially pleased to see MCIP receive an investment from the Building Community portfolio to expand its work. This will involve analyzing barriers to hiring minority contractors; providing training to industry partners; identifying policy improvements to ensure fairness in procurement; increasing the size and visibility of minority-owned, women-owned or emerging small businesses; and providing more one-on-one mentoring and capacity building services to these firms.

Meyer is also considering sponsoring training or learning groups focused on how to start or enhance minority-owned, women-owned or emerging small business contracting in nonprofits, with a focus on housing developers. What do you think? Would you be interested in attending such a training? If so, please enter your information in this google form.

For additional information on minority-owned, women-owned or emerging small business contracting for your organization, check out these resources:

• Metro’s Annual Minority-Owned, Women-Owned and Emerging Small Business Report (includes a list of best practices)

• National Association of Minority Contractors - Oregon

• Business Oregon - COBID Certification

Housing issues in rural Oregon have always been central to Meyer’s Affordable Housing Initiative. Both in the initial AHI launched in 2007 and in the second phase (underway since 2013), Meyer has responded to emphatic and persuasive testimony from stakeholders around the state that rural Oregon has distinct and urgent needs around affordable housing.

In particular, our trustees were moved by the housing needs of Oregonians living in manufactured housing,* both because of their vulnerability to dislocation and because of the huge numbers of Oregonians living in older, substandard homes with few resources to address housing issues impacting their health, utility bills and basic housing stability.

Since 2007, Meyer has supported a network of amazing partners focused on these issues, around two broad categories: preventing displacement by helping residents form cooperatives to buy their own parks and identifying ways to leverage a variety of resources to improve the condition of manufactured homes around the state.

Resident-owned cooperatives

Across Oregon, rising land values are putting some manufactured home parks in the cross hairs of redevelopment. Residents of investor-owned parks are vulnerable to rents rising beyond their means, even as some owners may not be keeping up with basic infrastructure repairs and other ownership responsibilities.

Oregon has become a nationally recognized leader in the resident-owned cooperative movement, largely thanks to the pioneering work of CASA of Oregon, based in Sherwood. Owners of manufactured homes in a typical privately owned park are vulnerable to losing their homes and even potentially slipping into homelessness if the owner decides to close the park or increase space rents beyond what residents can afford.

It might appear that the homeowners could simply move their homes, but in many cases that’s not a real possibility. It may cost as much as $10,000 to move and install a home in a new location — and only if one is available (and often parks won’t accept an older home even if the owner can afford to move it). It’s not surprising that homeowners often will walk away from a home if they can’t afford to move or can’t find a park that will accept it.

More than a decade ago, CASA set about developing an alternative that provides long-term stability and affordability, helping the residents of a park form a cooperative to pool resources and get help to buy their park, make necessary improvements and control costs going forward. It’s complex, difficult work and doesn’t work for every park, but when it does come together, it provides more than housing stability — it preserves often irreplaceable communities where people have lived for many years.

With support from Meyer, Network for Oregon Affordable Housing, the state of Oregon and other partners, CASA has assisted the formation of nine manufactured home co-ops around the state, covering nearly 600 mostly low-income households.

CASA has also been instrumental in important policy initiatives at the state level to help protect the interests of park residents, including legislation requiring notification one year before a park closure, relocation assistance to residents of parks being closed and even right-of-first-refusal allowing residents an opportunity to buy their park before any sale.

Another approach to helping maintain housing stability and affordability in manufactured home parks is nonprofit ownership. On this front, St. Vincent De Paul of Lane County and NeighborWorks Umpqua in Douglas County have stepped in to purchase and manage parks in their communities to help improve the physical infrastructure, stabilize rents and address other issues in parks, often after years of neglect by prior owners.

Addressing substandard manufactured housing

Although there is a definite stigma attached to manufactured homes, advances in manufacturing and federal codes regulating their production have led to dramatic improvements in the quality, durability and energy efficiency of manufactured homes.

Unfortunately, many Oregonians are living in homes built before those changes and have no choice but to tolerate leaking roofs, drafty windows and, in some cases, structural, plumbing or electrical issues that are truly unsafe. When homeowners struggle to manage the upkeep of their aging homes, they may turn to nonprofits such as NeighborWorks Umpqua, St. Vincent De Paul of Lane County and sometimes local Habitat for Humanity chapters to help with basic repairs or even replacement of older homes.

Cost-effective replacement of homes has long been a key priority for advocates working with owners of older homes. Meyer supported an effort led by NeighborWorks Umpqua on the southern Oregon coast to pilot home replacements leveraging energy savings. And under the AHI, Meyer also seeded a research project including NeighborWorks Umpqua, St. Vincent De Paul of Lane County, CASA and Network for Oregon Affordable Housing to better understand challenges and opportunities around replacement.

The challenges are formidable. A clear path to replacing older, seriously substandard homes has been obstructed by some foreseeable issues (the high total cost of replacement and a lack of dedicated subsidies for this purpose) and some less obvious ones (owners’ attachment to their homes and strong resistance to taking on debt). But there is hope on the horizon. The Rural Development branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture is exploring ways to open its existing housing programs to manufactured home buyers and owners, and Energy Trust of Oregon is leading an effort to leverage the energy savings from replacing older homes, which can have shockingly high utility costs, with new, energy-efficient homes. HUD’s Oregon office has been actively engaged in manufactured home efforts around the state, and Oregon Housing and Community Services remains a committed and vitally important partner. We are happy to continue to engage with these partners and believe that solutions will be found soon that will retire many of the worst homes around the state.

In the meantime, we have continued to explore cost-effective repairs of older manufactured homes, drawing on the grants described above and on a recent Meyer-commissioned study of the work of Habitat for Humanity of Benton County on repairing manufactured homes under its Home Repair Initiative. Repairing manufactured homes raises its own thicket of issues, but we’ve become convinced it’s an important tool in the affordable housing toolbox.

Although putting several thousand dollars into an older structure that probably has negative value as a financial asset may not look like a good investment, it makes sense to see this through the lens of homelessness prevention. Talking with partners around the state convinced us that repair can be a cost-effective way to help people remain in housing they can afford and prevent a slide into a much worse situation. To that end, we recently launched a new Request for Proposals for grants to support repair programs (available here — the application deadline is 5 p.m. December 5).

Equity in the manufactured home context  

Not all park residents are especially low-income, but there is a strong equity dimension to this work, especially in rural parts of the state where parks may represent a large share of the existing housing affordable to very low-income people. Even if Oregon manufactured home park residents in general may be less diverse in terms of race and ethnicity than the state as a whole (NeighborWorks Umpqua and Portland State University are currently surveying park residents around the state, which will give us a clearer sense of these demographics), there are opportunities to target Meyer’s support to communities that need it most, in line with Meyer’s commitment to equity as a core value. We will continue to foreground equity in our work with partners on these issues.

Next up

Two other projects recently supported by Meyer deserve mention here: Innovative Housing Inc. (IHI), a Portland-based nonprofit, received a pre-development grant under our “Innovation in Affordable Housing Design, Finance and Construction” RFP early this year as part of our efforts to support pilots around lowering the cost of affordable housing development. IHI’s proposed innovation is really a variation on the familiar manufactured home park: in their case, brand-new homes in a community developed and managed by Innovative Housing Inc. as affordable rental housing. We look forward to seeing what lessons can be drawn from the effort to build a new park intentionally as permanently affordable housing.

And just this fall, Network for Oregon Affordable Housing was awarded a two-year Meyer grant to support a statewide steering group including all the public, private and nonprofit partners wrestling with supporting long-term affordability and housing stability in manufactured home parks. We are pleased to see them take on this important convening and coordinating role and will be interested in their progress identifying opportunities, resources and supportive policies to maintain manufactured homes as an affordable housing option for Oregonians.

Resources

What do we mean by "manufactured housing?”

Factory-built homes, commonly referred to as "mobile homes" in the past. (Corporation for Enterprise Development has a great fact sheet here).

Manufactured homes represent an important part of non-subsidized or "naturally occurring" affordable housing in Oregon, with over 65,000 homes spread across the state, both in the state’s 1,300 manufactured home parks and on privately owned land.

— Michael

We have been building toward this moment at Meyer Memorial Trust for more than two years: the first grants from our issue-focused, equity-based portfolios. Today we announce 151 grant awards totalling $17.3 million made under our spring 2016 funding opportunity through our Building Community, Healthy Environment and Housing Opportunities portfolios. These grants are an important milestone in our transformative, organizational evolution. Coming at this particular moment in history, when communities that have experienced disparities face ever greater threats, the work and organizations these awards support are tangible investments toward the equitable Oregon we envision.

Making decisions about where to direct our limited funding was no easy task, especially considering the robust response to our funding call. We received 675 applications requesting $95 million. The partners and work we are supporting are impressive, inspiring and dedicated to advancing equity for and inclusion of Oregonians who experience disparities because of race, ethnicity, income, gender, sexual orientation, disability or other oppressions.

How we got here

Over the past two years, we have sharpened our focus because we have learned from our nonprofit partners, expert staff, philanthropic peers and leaders in the state that housing, education, the environment and building community are the four key areas where the biggest barriers to equity exist. The data were unequivocal: Deep disparities and inequities are barriers to our vision of a flourishing and equitable Oregon and what communities across our state say are important Oregon values. We knew that to have the greatest impact in Oregon, we must work to close gaps created by these inequities.

We knew we couldn’t do this in isolation, and so we set out to listen.

We listened to leaders in marginalized communities, which taught us more about their visions and priorities, such as having seats at the tables where local and state policies are set, addressing poor housing conditions for tribal members, and ensuring access to clean air and water. We learned that rural and urban communities share similar concerns about climate change, want Oregon to be welcoming and safe for immigrants, need more affordable housing, and want inclusive schools, health care and other systems that support diverse Oregonians in reaching their full potential.

We surveyed nearly 2,000 nonprofit leaders, who informed us of the importance of Meyer’s flexible funding for changing policies and systems, building organizational capacity, supporting general operations and launching innovations. And we listened to peer funders, government leaders, academics and private sector experts to learn about their ideas for the role of philanthropy as partners in building our shared Oregon future.  

What we learned helped transform Meyer as an organization, and it naturally led us to redesign our grantmaking. We know that inequity is experienced throughout our communities every day and in many ways, and it is a pernicious obstacle to the flourishing and equitable state Oregonians deserve.

The grants we announce today are investments in removing barriers and advancing equity through policy and systems changes, coalition building, on-the-ground programming, strengthening organizational capacity and, in very specific situations, building capital assets.

 

Four Focused Priorities

Meyer has sharply focused on areas where inequity gaps are the largest.

The 65 grants made through our Building Community portfolio aim to improve conditions for communities of color, Oregonians living on low incomes and other marginalized populations. These grants will work to accomplish that. They will strengthen leaders, networks and organizations that break down barriers and build the power of Oregon’s diverse communities. They will increase civic engagement.  And they will build inclusive communities through arts and cultures.

Awards include capacity-building grants to organizations such as Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Artists Repertory Theatre and Rural Organizing Project. They also include grants that support the operations of Basic Rights Oregon, Miracles Theatre and the Black United Fund of Oregon. And lastly, they include project-support grants to On-the-Move Community Integration, Central City Concern, Multnomah County and CASA of Oregon.

Learn more about these and all of our Building Community awards here.

Our 47 Healthy Environment portfolio investments are grounded in our belief that a flourishing Oregon depends on healthy ecosystems and clean water and air for all. Grant awards prioritize efforts to protect and improve the health of the environment while addressing underlying disparities that affect communities of color, people living in low-income neighborhoods and agriculture and forest workers.

Grants will support organizations advancing environmental justice, including Beyond Toxics, Voz Workers’ Rights Education Project, Northwest Forest Worker Center and OPAL. Many awards  advance work to build an inclusive and diverse environmental movement, such as grants to the Center for Diversity and the Environment, Climate Solutions, Nature Conservancy and Vocoform. And grants to further triple-bottom-line work and support healthy natural systems were awarded to a range of organizations, from Lomakatsi Restoration Project to Oregon Environmental Council to Our Children’s Trust.

More information about these and all of our Healthy Environment awards can be found here.

The 39 awards made in our Housing Opportunities portfolio reflect our vision for every Oregonian to have a decent, safe and affordable place to call home and our belief that housing — and the stability it offers — helps to build better lives and strengthen communities. Funding is directed to under-resourced, low-income communities, including communities of color, underserved rural communities and other marginalized populations.

Grants made in this round complement our advocacy and other investments made through our Affordable Housing Initiative, and they include capital investments to preserve and expand affordable rental housing.

Grants to organizations such as Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives, Caritas Community Housing Corporation, Bridge Meadow, Luke-Dorf and Neighborhood House will result in more affordable homes for people living on low incomes, including people who have been displaced by gentrification, people in rural Rogue River communities, foster children, seniors, veterans and people living with mental illness. Funds to support the success of residents — including low-income people at risk of displacement, youths aging out of foster care, low-income people with criminal records, and Latino seniors — were awarded to organizations such as the Native American Youth and Family Center, El Programa Hispano Catolico, Oregon Law Center and Neighborhood Economic Development Corporation. Awards also strengthen the housing sector, including grants to Community Partners for Affordable Housing, Fair Housing Council of Oregon, Farmworker Housing Development Corporation and SquareOne Villages, among others.

Read more about these and other Housing Opportunities awards here.

We are finalizing the framework for our Equitable Education portfolio now and will announce details in early 2017.  Meyer plans to emphasize strategies that improve student achievement and close gaps in educational opportunities and outcomes in Oregon, specifically focusing on underserved communities.

Read more about our emerging vision for Equitable Education here.

 

Bound by common themes

Recurrent priorities surfaced throughout the many conversations we had with Oregon’s nonprofit, public and philanthropic leaders in the course of our redesign outreach and planning. You may notice  several of those themes threading across our portfolio awards.

• Equity and inclusion are crucial: Investments directly impact issues of race, class, sexual orientation, disability and other forms of oppression and inequity. Community leadership, community voices and meaningful community partnerships are reflected in funded projects. And staying true to our intention to support organizations that are committed to diversity, equity and inclusion but who may be early on in their journey, a number of grants support nonprofits to develop their own capacity for diversity, equity and inclusion, both internally and externally.

• Policy and systems change work is vital: We heard loud and clear throughout our community outreach and planning that policy and systems change investments — and Meyer’s willingness to support bold efforts to advance equity — should be elevated. This is perhaps one of the most visible shifts in our funding. Over the past year, Meyer has deepened our understanding of how philanthropy can support policy and advocacy work and expanded investments in advocacy, policy and systems change.

• Collaborations and coalitions build strength: We also heard from our nonprofit partners about the important role Meyer can play in supporting and encouraging groups to align their efforts — and that you wanted this highlighted in our funding. To that end, we created a distinct door for collaborations to apply for funds, and we encouraged applications from groups working statewide in partnership with local partners and communities. Among our awards are many grants that involve various forms of collaboration and partnerships.

• Innovation fosters creative solutions: Meyer is known for our interest in supporting innovation, and we heard from our partners that this support is highly valued. We looked for programs that are creative and have new models or applications of proven strategies to reach desired outcomes.

• Impact matters: Meyer staff worked with applicants to understand the potential for impact. We will continue to work to better identify outcomes of our investments. We are also restructuring how we track, assess and report the impact of our grants.

• Building capacity and supporting operations are essential: We believe that investing in organizations is crucial to advancing equity. Almost half of the grants awarded in 2016 are for capacity building or general operating support.

• Isolation carries risk: One of the risks in our new portfolio model is the potential to create artificial silos, despite the many ways that housing, environment, education and community intersect. We are pleased to fund a number of proposals from organizations working in the heart of these intersections, and our staff will partner internally to stay engaged with and learn from these investments.

 

Refining and learning continues

As mentioned earlier, we were struck by the large volume of requests for these initial funding opportunities. We recognize that many were strong, compelling proposals for work that promised to make life better in Oregon in a variety of ways. It was difficult to say to those organizations, “No, we simply can’t fund your efforts this round.”

We also received proposals that were an excellent match with our goals but were not quite ready in terms of what we look for in a strong request. Other proposals reflected good work, but the applicant organization's understanding of and commitment to advancing equity within its organization and community were not clear. And in some cases, we received proposals that would have been considered strong under our former grant programs but were not a good match with our focused funding goals.

In the end, we could not be more impressed with the ideas and opportunities our nonprofit partners put forward to advance equity in Oregon. Thank you! And thanks to all of the applicants who took the time to give us thoughtful, candid and constructive feedback on our new process through our recent survey. Your perspective and experiences are so important to us and help us learn what we need to fine-tune our process to be a better funding partner when we release our 2017 funding opportunities next spring.

At every step in our awards decisions, our vision, mission, values and goals served as our North Star. As we implemented our redesign, we held close the core values of our founder, Fred G. Meyer: staying relevant as times change, meeting the needs of our community, being innovative and entrepreneurial, and demonstrating boldness and courage in calculated risk-taking

We believe Mr. Meyer would be proud of our new approach and of these awards for work that seek to bring us all closer to a flourishing and equitable Oregon.

You can stay up-to-date with future funding opportunities from Meyer when you subscribe to our e-newsletter here.

— Candy

September always brings change: weather shifts from hot to cool, busy autumn mornings replace leisurely summer afternoons, days grow incrementally shorter. Here at Meyer Memorial Trust, in a year filled with changes, the month offers a moment to reflect on where we have been and on where we are heading.

Six months ago, we suspended our responsive grantmaking programs to refocus what we do to make a greater impact. We accepted our last batch of grant applications then, over 300 requests in all. The spring and summer have been extremely busy and productive. Since April, we have done due diligence on the requests, awarding 188 grants and loans, totaling nearly $16 million, to nonprofits in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Last year, Meyer awarded more grants than ever before — 515 grants and loans just over $46 million; we are again on track to make the largest payout in the foundation’s history.

But we haven’t only been making grants this year. While we wound down our Responsive and Grassroots grants programs and worked through our pipeline of applications, we began outreach in several of our four priority focus areas — housing, education, the environment, and supporting a vibrant nonprofit sector. More than 1,000 nonprofit leaders from across the state have taken part in surveys, interviews and listening sessions aimed at helping us shape the strategy of our new programs. We’re grateful for the input and guidance. It is helping us get closer to our goal of new programs that highlight the best of responsive grantmaking and initiative-based funding, all in the pursuit of achieving greater impact.

It’s also allowed us to learn more about the equity work being done in the community so that we can support it and also use our leadership to expand its impact.

As summer ends, Meyer continues to make awards focused on affordable housing under our Affordable Housing Initiative, to support watershed restoration efforts under the Willamette River Initiative and to underpin education work through the Chalkboard Project. And those initiatives have been busy working on special projects in support of their fields — look for the release of a cost efficiencies report on October 1st that helps identify opportunities to reduce the costs of developing quality affordable housing in Oregon and the first Willamette River report card, set for release later in October.

And we continue to listen to our stakeholders on housing, the environment and the resilient social sector portfolios. Groundwork for our education portfolio has begun but will get underway in earnest in the coming weeks.

We are on track to announce Meyer’s overarching framework for our new programs in December. It will be a high-level outline of our general funding strategies and direction. Look for additional information, including details, application criteria and timelines to be announced early in the new year. We anticipate opening the first opportunity to apply for grants under our new programs late in the first quarter of 2016. Our education portfolio may roll out a bit later due to the sequencing of the work.

Stay tuned as we work through our transition!

— Doug

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While Meyer restructured its grantmaking last year, it wound down its two main grant programs. But the work of the Affordable Housing Initiative (AHI) continued at full steam — and it was a very busy year of work for the AHI team, which offered six Requests for Proposals (RFPs), processed 108 applications and approved 61 grants, totaling $5.42 million. In this article, we’ll share an overview of the work of the Affordable Housing Initiative over the last year.

The AHI is structured around three broad goals: to strengthen the foundation, foster innovation and secure the future, and uses multiple strategies to reach those goals.

Most AHI strategies were funded over two years. In the coming year, we do not expect AHI to issue any additional requests for proposals. However, Meyer will be releasing information soon about its new funding opportunities, which will include some affordable housing work under the broader Housing Opportunities portfolio.

STRENGTHENING THE FOUNDATION

Under this goal, we aim to preserve federally rent-subsidized stock at risk of being lost and maintain manufactured housing as a viable housing stock for many rural communities around the state. We funded four specific strategies, described below.

Sustaining Portfolios Strategy. Meyer Memorial Trust invited applications from organizations for flexible funds and technical assistance to support the development and implementation of property-specific portfolio preservation plans to help ensure the long-term sustainability of Oregon’s existing affordable housing. We received thirteen proposals; nine were ultimately funded. Each organization was awarded $150,000.

Cascadia Behavioral Health (Multnomah County)

Catholic Community Services Foundation (Marion County)

Community Partners for Affordable Housing (Washington County)

Cornerstone Community Housing (Lane County)

Housing Authority of Jackson County (Jackson and Josephine counties)

Housing Works (Deschutes, Jefferson and Crook counties)

Innovative Housing, Inc. (Multnomah County)

ROSE CDC (Multnomah County)

Willamette Neighborhood Housing Services (Benton and Linn counties)

Total Amount awarded: $1,350,000 (over two years)

Capacity Building Technical Assistance Strategy. Meyer received seven applications from affordable housing organizations for support with capacity building and technical assistance to strengthen rent-restricted affordable housing portfolios. This opportunity was targeted at culturally-specific organizations and organizations that have a portfolio that serves at least 50 percent under-resourced rural communities and/or communities of color.

Each organization was awarded $50,000 (except where noted):

Community Action Team (Clatsop, Columbia and Tillamook counties)

Horizon Project (Umatilla County)

NW Coastal Housing (Lincoln County, $25,000)

Marion County Housing Authority (Marion County)

Northwest Oregon Housing Authority (Clatsop, Columbia and Tillamook counties)

Polk Community Development Corporation  (Polk County)

Sabin Community Development Corporation (Multnomah County)

Total Amount Awarded: $325,000 (over one year)

Preservation Strategy. Meyer made one grant to the Network for Oregon Affordable Housing to further the Oregon Housing Preservation Project, a program to preserve expiring contracts for federal rent subsidies at affordable housing properties throughout the state.

Total Amount Awarded: $300,000 (over two years)

Rural Manufactured Housing Strategy. This grant opportunity was made to Community and Shelter Assistance Corporation to support the conversion of manufactured home communities into resident-owned cooperatives statewide.

Total Amount Awarded:  $220,000 (over two years)

FOSTERING INNOVATION

Under this goal, Meyer strives to catalyze innovative strategies to increase availability of affordable housing and support residents’ stability and success. This year, Meyer funded three strategies under this goal.

Innovations in Affordable Housing Design, Finance and Construction Strategy. Meyer convened a panel of experts to dive deep into the cost drivers of affordable housing development. After publishing a report of the findings, we invited proposals that would test new cost-efficient approaches to providing more affordable housing in Oregon. Of the seventeen competitive proposals received, Meyer funded a total of five.

Innovative Housing - $149,138 (Multnomah County): To create a new rental housing community in East Multnomah County comprised of high-quality and energy-efficient new manufactured homes.

Northwest Housing Alternatives - $70,385 (Clackamas, Lane, Washington and Umatilla counties): To compare and evaluate strategies for lowering the cost of new rental housing construction on small-scale projects, with an emphasis on design concepts and financing strategies for rural and suburban infill.

REACH Community Development - $150,000 (Washington County): To pilot building larger, more cost-effective affordable housing projects by combining two kinds of federal housing tax credits, and by adopting design and construction strategies focused on reducing costs.

SquareOne Villages - $148,200 (Lane County): To pilot an improved version of the tiny house village model in a small community with fewer local resources, and to promote very basic, extremely low-cost housing through the development of a toolbox and training kit focused on replicating this approach in other Oregon communities.

Transition Projects, Inc. - $150,000 (Multnomah and Clatsop counties): To pilot a flexible, cost-efficient modular approach to housing development in partnership with Housing Development Center, Holst Architecture, and MODS PDX, a Portland-based manufacturer of modular housing. A second pilot is planned for the Oregon coast led by Northwest Oregon Housing Authority.

Total Amount Awarded: $667,723 (over one year)

Private Market Strategy. The Private Market RFP sought proposals to increase access by low-income renters to quality private market housing units in communities of their choice. Of the 17 proposals received, Meyer funded seven projects over a period of one to two years.

ACCESS - $80,500 (Jackson County): To develop a pilot project to use flexible rent assistance and a landlord risk mitigation fund to increase access for Jackson County families leaving residential addictions treatment with open Child Protective Services cases.

Community Action Program of East Central Oregon - $50,000 (Umatilla, Morrow, Gilliam and Wheeler counties): To develop a Housing Navigator position and setup a landlord risk mitigation fund for low-income Latino families in Umatilla, Morrow, Gilliam and Wheeler counties.

JOIN - $84,990 (Multnomah County): To co-fund, along with the Portland Housing Bureau, development of a homeless systems landlord retention and recruitment toolkit and training program for service providers.

Multifamily NW - $149,850 (Statewide): To fund the Housing Choice Educational Partnership to develop educational material and a training toolkit about fair housing laws.

Northwest Housing Alternatives - $149,510 (Clackamas County): For a pilot project aimed at increasing low-income renters' housing access in Clackamas County by using flexible funding tools to encourage private landlords to relax screening criteria.

Northwest Oregon Housing Authority - $80,000 (Clatsop, Columbia and Tillamook counties): To fund a collaborative to develop a security deposit loan pilot project aimed at providing case management for private market renters in rural Clatsop, Columbia and Tillamook counties.

Northwest Pilot Project - $130,000 (Multnomah County): For a pilot project to prevent the displacement of low-income residents from Inner Portland neighborhoods, using permanent rent assistance (S8) to help seniors [EH6] of color remain in their communities.

Total Amount Awarded: $650,000 (over two years)

Systems Alignment Strategy. Meyer invited proposals from collaboratives proposing to better align affordable housing with services that contribute to residents’ stability and success. We received 21 excellent projects looking to align housing with several different systems and funded nine projects over one to two years.

ACCESS - $24,000 (Jackson County): For piloting and documenting close collaboration between housing and other services in Southern Oregon to better meet the needs of families involved with child welfare and TANF programs.

Catholic Community Services of the Mid Willamette - $75,000 (Marion County): For the Fostering Hope Initiative, which will develop a 'Pay for Success' (PFS) system in Marion County focused on diverting children from the foster care system through strong coordination between affordable housing, education, health and other social service systems.

Columbia Gorge Health Council - $128,500 (Hood River and Wasco counties): For the Bridges to Health - Housing Pathways project, which works to better link housing and services in the Columbia Gorge through a 'Pathways' model basing payments on the achievement of specific pre-defined housing related outcomes.

Community Action Partnership of Oregon - $110,162 (Statewide, with a focus on Jackson, Klamath and Lake counties): For piloting and documenting close collaboration between housing and other services in Southern Oregon to better meet the needs of families involved with child welfare and TANF programs.

Enterprise Community Partners - $150,000 (Portland Metro): For 'Innovation through Flexible Spending Benefits,' a pilot program that uses flexible spending for housing-related expenses as a cost-effective strategy to support better

Klamath-Lake Community Action Services - $50,000 (Klamath and Lake counties): For piloting and documenting close collaboration between housing and other services in Southern Oregon to better meet the needs of families involved with child welfare and TANF programs.

REACH Community Development - $150,000 (Multnomah County): For the 'Housing with Services Pilot Project,' supporting a robust network of services to residents of affordable housing properties in Portland.

United Way of Lane County - $75,000 (Lane County): For the integration of early learning and affordable housing services in Lane County, to improve the kindergarten-readiness and family stability of affordable housing residents.

Worksystems, Inc. - $128,139 (Multnomah and Washington counties): For the 'Home to Work Collaborative Project,' which aligns housing support (and homelessness prevention) with employment resources in Multnomah and Washington counties.

Total Amount Awarded: $890,801 (over two years)

SECURING THE FUTURE

This third AHI goal aims to develop resources and policies that will expand the availability of affordable housing into the future. We funded one strategy under this goal.

Advocacy. Meyer’s advocacy RFP invited proposals from organizations engaged in community-driven public policy advocacy and community organizing to increase access to and resources for affordable housing in local jurisdictions and across Oregon. Advocacy is identified in the AHI Framework as a key strategy for advancing a broader agenda around improving access to safe, decent and affordable housing around the state. Of the 19 proposals received in this RFP, we funded ten projects that will run over one to two years.

Center for Intercultural Organizing - $80,000 (Multnomah, Washington and Jackson counties): To develop and mobilize tenants leaders in Multnomah, Washington and Jackson Counties around local and state housing policy issues that affect Oregonians, including low-income rural households, immigrants and refugees.

Community Alliance of Tenants - $88,746 (Multnomah County): To support community-based participatory research, organizing and advocacy around policy change to protect tenants from no-cause termination/eviction.

Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization - $62,000 (Portland Metro): To expand the diversity of voices in housing advocacy to address racial disparities directly related to housing and increase the availability of affordable housing for marginalized immigrant and refugee families.

Mid-Columbia Housing Authority - $35,000 (Hood River, Wasco and Sherman counties): To support a community-based housing network to address affordable housing issues in the Gorge.

Oregon Center for Public Policy - $40,000 (Statewide): For general operating support

Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence - $23,314 (Statewide): To expand partnership efforts in housing advocacy for survivors of domestic and sexual violence.

Tillamook County Community Action Resource Enterprises - $40,000 (Tillamook County): To support to a new countywide housing task force and complete a countywide housing assessment.

Urban League of Portland - $90,000 (Statewide) To organize Oregon's African American communities to improve access to affordable, accessible, culturally-appropriate and safe housing.

Welcome Home Coalition - $80,000 (Multnomah County): To support the Welcome Home Coalition's Leadership Academy.

Total Amount Awarded: $539,060 (over one to two years)

In addition, Meyer made a grant of $138,000 (over two years) to the Housing Alliance for its Diversifying Voices program. This project has statewide reach.  

ANCILLARY FUNDS

The AHI’s core investments are supported by a small pool of ancillary grant funds to help build capacity and long-term sustainability of affordable housing organizations serving under-resourced communities through technical assistance, training, operating support and strategic growth capital. In the last year, Meyer made eleven grants — mostly for technical assistance, training support and grants to support equity advancement in the housing field — that totaled $345,500 over two years.

On March 9, Meyer will announce Spring funding opportunities for our grants focusing on building community, supporting a healthy environment and ensuring housing opportunities.

Funding opportunities for our Equitable Education portfolio will rollout later in 2016.

Visit our portfolio pages for specific information on funding opportunities. And bookmark our events page for details on a series nearly two dozen of information sessions, including in-person and virtual open houses, beginning in mid-March and running through early April. Click the events to register for your preferred date.

Finally, to stay in the loop, please sign up to receive our general e-newsletter, Meyer Mail, as well as portfolio-specific e-newsletters.

Staff will answer questions on Meyer's four portfolios and new funding opportunities at community information sessions during March and April. Those include virtual open houses and in-person events in Astoria, Bend, Burns, Coos Bay, Cornelius, Corvallis, Enterprise, Eugene, Grants Pass, Klamath Falls, La Grande, Lincoln City, Medford, Oregon City, Portland, Redmond, Roseburg, Salem, The Dalles, Tillamook, Warm Springs and Woodburn. In addition, we've included conferences and Meet the Funder panels where Meyer staff will be on hand with representatives of other funders.

*Sessions can also be found in chronological order on our events page.

Metro Area

The funding information sessions for the Metro Area have ended, please stay tuned for updates.

Coastal Area

The funding information sessions for Oregon's Coastal regions have ended, please stay tuned for updates.

Emerald Valley

The funding information sessions for the Emerald Valley have ended, please stay tuned for updates.

Eastern Oregon

The funding information sessions for Eastern Oregon have ended, please stay tuned for updates.

Central Oregon

The funding information sessions for Central Oregon have ended, please stay tuned for updates.

Southern Oregon

May 18-20 Meet the Funders Panel (Canyonville)

All Day
This is part of a series of in-person information sessions Meyer plans to host after announcing new funding opportunities on March 9. Each two-hour event will include multiple staff members from each portfolio to answer questions and share insights about Meyer's redesigned grantmaking. Location: Seven Feathers Casino Resort, 146 Chief Miwaleta Ln, Canyonville, OR 97417. For additional information, and to RSVP, please click here 

Virtual Sessions

The virtual funding information sessions have ended, please stay tuned for updates.

Meanwhile, if you're thinking of attending a virtual open house, by phone or video conference, be sure to send us your questions on Twitter using #MeyerInfoSessions.

Today I am excited to announce that Meyer Memorial Trust is launching our new funding opportunities.

Over the past 12 months, we paid out nearly $38 million in grants and program related investments. At the same time, we completely overhauled our grantmaking to be more strategic, to have greater impact and to focus on what we believe is the greatest impediment to achieving an Oregon where all people can reach their full potential: Inequities.

The reasoning underlying our focus on equity is straightforward: inequity is a pernicious obstacle to the flourishing and equitable state Oregonians deserve.

Previously at Meyer, we had two main funding portals: Responsive Grants, aimed at larger projects and often larger organizations, and Grassroots Grants, which focused on smaller projects and emerging nonprofits. In addition, in recent years, we began funding three initiatives, one focused on the Willamette River, another focused on affordable housing and a third, in partnership with other local funders, the Chalkboard Project, focused on education. While the initiatives were targeted, most of Meyer’s funding went to assorted requests made through our responsive grants programs.

But our experience with the initiatives was eye-opening and instructive. Where we were unable to measure impact over time from our Responsive and Grassroots grantmaking, we were able to track it via our initiatives. Impact matters, particularly in Oregon, which has relatively few place-based foundations compared to other areas of the country. Although $38 million in grantmaking sounds like a lot of money, only when it is targeted can it help move the needle to make life measurably better in communities across the state.

Within our new focused portfolios — Building Community, Healthy Environment, Housing Opportunities and Equitable Education — we will prioritize work that increases equity for and inclusion of Oregonians who experience disparities because of race, ethnicity, income, gender, sexual orientation, disability and other oppressions. While we will still support some organizations that do not have equity as a primary focus, we are asking all our partners to explore equity within the context of their organizations. And we will challenge and support them to make progress on integrating diversity, equity and inclusion in their work, partnerships, outreach, policies, staff and boards.

One consequence of our new strategy and pursuit of deeper impact is that we will have to make difficult choices. Where in the past we assessed proposals based on their individual merits, we will now strive to identify the strongest opportunities to make progress toward our specific goals with partners who share our commitment to furthering equity. With our focus on building community, supporting a healthy environment, ensuring housing opportunities and achieving equitable education for all Oregonians, we recognize that there will be work and outstanding nonprofits that we have funded in the past that will not strongly align with our new direction and will be unlikely to receive grants going forward.

You’ll find details of our Spring 2016 Funding Opportunities, for which we will begin accepting Inquiry Applications on Monday, April 4th. Additional funding opportunities to support the sector and in the Equitable Education portfolio will be announced later this year and there will also likely be strategy-specific opportunities through our Affordable Housing and/or Willamette River initiatives. All told we anticipate paying out in the range of $36 million this year, including awards made under the Spring 2016 Funding Opportunities, existing and multi-year awards, initiative funding and other opportunities that may present as we get deeper into the new program work.

Before I let you go, a reminder: these shifts in our grantmaking are just part of the ongoing strategic changes you’ll notice at Meyer. We heard your calls for Meyer to take a more active role to convene and leverage our influence. Going forward, we will be an engaged partner in the shared work of making Oregon a more equitable place.

We enter this new era for Meyer committed and energized around the values that drive and shape our work: equity, transparency, responsiveness, innovation, collaboration and humbleness. So as we continue on this journey, we will evaluate our funding portfolios and encourage your candid and constructive feedback. Together we can strive for the greatest possible impact in Oregon. I’ve said it before, we know the road ahead will present some unanticipated challenges and we don’t have all the answers. We’re going to remain transparent about our progress as we move forward. Your input is key.

For now, I invite you to explore our website for details of Meyer’s portfolios, the latest funding opportunities and our updated Frequently Asked Questions about the changes. And be sure to check out Trustee Debbie Craig’s post about why Meyer is changing here.

—DS

Over the last month, Meyer has visited fourteen communities and connected with over 1,000 individuals representing the diversity of Oregon’s nonprofits, public educational institutions and government and Tribal agencies. Another 30 information sessions are scheduled over the next four weeks as organizations prepare their response to Meyer’s 2016 funding opportunities scheduled to be released on April 4th.

As Meyer staff has traveled across the state, we’ve brought together organizations interested in learning more about the four key areas we believe to be essential to a flourishing and equitable Oregon. Our visits with you have been an excellent reminder of our shared values toward service and support so that all Oregonians may thrive.

Thank you for your hospitality and candor. We’ve heard loud and clear the barriers urgently experienced by many communities across our state, and your voices continue to deepen our commitment to creating systemic conditions where all Oregonians experience the opportunity to reach their full potential.

Meyer’s working hiatus has deepened our commitment to dismantling barriers and finding meaningful, positive change in communities across our state. We’ve challenged ourselves, and we’re asking you join us in this challenge. Transformative work doesn’t happen overnight, and it doesn’t happen without you and the communities you serve. We’re grateful for your continued commitment to your communities and our partnership.

If you haven’t yet had an opportunity to connect with us, please consider joining us when we come to your community---we look forward to seeing you!

-Candy