As we traveled throughout the state this past year sharing information about Meyer’s new structure and funding opportunities, we heard you clearly: Meyer’s equity focus left some questions unanswered for rural communities. Leaders, community members and organizations want to know how Meyer is thinking about rural needs, concerns and strengths.
Meyer values rural communities. They are a crucial part of our Oregon community and identity. The rural entrepreneurial spirit has elevated Oregon’s diverse landscapes and waterways and opened doors for more people to explore them. Rural residents who depend on and care about their surrounding natural environment have innovated for decades to transition from natural resource-based economies and have persevered to recover from the last financial crisis. The resiliency and ingenuity of rural communities are strengthened daily through inherently collaborative approaches to work and life.
Although the strengths and character of rural communities help mitigate some of the impact, they can’t entirely eliminate existing and growing inequities. We know that Oregon’s rural communities generally experience higher poverty rates than urban areas. Oregon rural household incomes are comparable to the national average, yet home prices are nearly 60 percent higher in rural Oregon than the national average in rural communities. Higher unemployment rates and lower wages contribute to youth migration to urban areas, leaving a growing aging population to bear the cost of essential services. Historically under-resourced rural communities are left to deal with reduced or eliminated education, health care, emergency, social and economic services.
With economic challenges taking center stage, additional barriers faced by some community members are often unheard and thus unintentionally reinforced. People with deep roots in rural communities who self-identify as LGBT, women, people of color, indigenous, immigrants, and people with disabilities are left out of conversations that impact their daily lives. Local governments and organizations are challenged to engage representative voices at decision-making tables but often have minimal experience and resources to undergo change processes that deliver different outcomes. Opportunities to build strength across differences are missed, and community divisions can be exploited by external groups with no local ties. Compounded inequities contribute to loss of confidence in government, further decreasing civic engagement and participation in democratic processes.
We are on this journey together. As Meyer continues to deepen its approach in service of a flourishing and equitable Oregon, our commitment to rural communities is unwavering. We will continue to think inclusively and remain flexible and responsive to meet Oregon’s needs. We will promote advocacy to lift communities across Oregon that are most impacted by inequities rooted in bias and systemic oppression.
Inequities impacting rural communities mirror those elsewhere in the state, but we know they are uniquely experienced because of distinct circumstances such as population size, geographic isolation, poverty levels and compromised infrastructures. It is these distinctive circumstances that guide how Meyer thinks about rural communities to ensure support reaches historically under-resourced communities in highest need.
We invite you to read the factors we consider when thinking of rural communities included in our Applicant Resources along with other resources we use to think inclusively, equitably and at the intersection of identities. Knowing applicants are also interested in learning more about their communities’ demographics and how to best serve them, we have included links to tools applicants can use to collect demographic data in our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Resources page.
On this journey, we count on staying in conversation as we explore new ways of thinking about rural communities and the growing diverse communities that live in them.
Rural leaders are the experts in what equity looks like in their communities. Please join us for a virtual information session on Rural Equity on April 6, 2017. Local leaders will share their stories of advancing equity in environmental work in rural Oregon with potential applicants. Registration for virtual information sessions is open and can be accessed here.
Looking forward to more conversation as we make our way around the state.
This website was created using Drupal 6. Normally Drupal sites get upgraded to each new major version. This can be complex, but manageable with an upgrade path one can follow. Upgrading is important because the Drupal community only supports the current release and the previous one. In other words the day Drupal 8 is released our Drupal 6 site will no longer be supported. My current best guess is that D8 will be released mid 2014.
With the end of support for D6 looming you might expect that we would already have upgraded to Drupal 7, or at least be in the process of doing so. Instead we plan to skip D7 and go straight from D6 to D8. Why? Because upgrading to D7 is difficult and we think D7 will give us too little gain at too high a cost.
When I polled my peers they all had horror stories of upgrades that were more complex, expensive and time-consuming than expected. The differences between D6 and D7 were too pronounced. The result was an increasing consensus that it's faster and cheaper to completely redevelop sites than to upgrade them. They would build the site from scratch in D7, then port over the design and migrate the D6 content to the new site.
In other words the only difference between this upgrade-by-redevelopment process and a brand new "do over" site is the creation and implementation of a brand new design, which in terms of costs is likely about 20 percent of the overall outlay. Further, there is now also only one difference between upgrading to D7 and upgrading to D8, namely the complexities that arise from being on an unsupported version of D6 for some period of time.
To clarify this, here's one possible optimistic scenario: D8 gets released in July 2014 and D6 is no longer supported, the D8 modules we need catch up around January of 2015 and we start the move to D8, we finish in July, at which point we have been on an unsupported version of Drupal for a year.
Being unsupported means most D6 module developers will stop maintaining their D6 modules (in fact many already have) and more critically it means no more official security patches on both core and most modules if critical issues arise. There is assuredly risk in that.
However, the level of concern I found is low. D6 will still work exactly the same as it does now. Being unsupported does not mean broken. D6 is extremely stable and highly unlikely to fail. In the improbable event that something does go wrong there will almost certainly be unofficial patches contributed by the community.
Meyer is far from alone in this conundrum.
During the Core developer discussion at DrupalCon Portland earlier this year someone asked whether it was worth upgrading to D7 or if we should wait for D8. A panelist answered that upgrading to D7 could be good. Several others on either side of him shook their heads vigorously in dissent and then chimed in that skipping D7 would probably be best for most folks.
The problem is so widespread that there is significant discussion about extending support for D6 beyond the usual timeframe. An online discussion spurred so much conversation that the issue was moved to the core queue. Edit: Dries, the Drupal lead, chimed in with a recommendation for at least a year of extended D6 support, followed by a revisiting of the issue based on whether the D6 to D8 migration path is viable at that time.
Added to this comes a commitment from Dries, the creator of Drupal, that his firm Acquia would help get Migrate module functionality into core, including support for D6 to D8 migrations. The project he's committing to support is IMP. Drupal-to-Drupal migration being moved into core is a big deal and indicates the seriousness with which the community views this functionality in general, but the D6 to D8 piece also speaks to top-level recognition in the community that skipping D7 is going to be very common.
EDIT: There's an interesting section in a recent Acquia webcast by Angie "webchick" Byron where she discusses the community's new release proposal, which includes the concept of a long-term support release to handle D6 support, and later versions too.
We still considered switching to D7 because it would give us stability as it will likely remain supported for several more years. It's difficult not knowing when D8 will come out and just how long your D6 site will be unsupported. DrupalReleaseDate.com currently has no prediction and the Drupal 8 page has no estimated launch date.
Then you face an additional six months or so of waiting for the modules to catch up, even before you start planning for resources, time, etc to get the site rebuilt. This makes planning difficult. We can't set a date for the beginning of our new project and we could end up being on an unsupported version of Drupal for two years or more.
D7 also has better responsive themes (designs that work on all devices), better UI and UX, newer functionality, more current support and a few more niceties. In our case our need for these is very low, so this is no more than a bonus. With little functional gain with D7 to offset the staff learning curve and the time and resources needed to get a site that looks like the old one but has all the growing pains of a new one, and you get a net loss for us.
We still almost upgraded to D7 anyway, because our Communications Director is retiring and mmt.org site is part of communications. We didn't want her replacement to face such a complex and involved project so soon after taking the role. We hired an experienced vendor to give us an estimate of the work and the result was a huge number that made a D7 upgrade unjustifiable.
We still plan to stick with Drupal, despite these challenges. While we're not thrilled about all this, we do get it. The improvements to D7 that make upgrading so hard are the foundations on which the excellence of D8 is built. This sort of upgrade complexity is common in the software world whenever projects focus on the growth of the software in preference to the bloat and complexity that follows maintaining backward compatibility.
Unlike a D7 upgrade, when we have D8 I'm almost certain that the new Communications Director will be impressed by the differences. D8 is primed for devices, more customizable than ever, has improved UX including inline editing, web services built in, improved accessibility support and more. The useful and positive differences will be obvious.
So there you have it. Our poor new Communications Director who has not yet even been hired will have a big decision to make soon after joining, and it will probably involve a site redesign and a challenging early project. On the flip side it presents the new director with a big opportunity to take real ownership of the site.
Until then we're hoping that the Drupal community will be a big help to us with extended support for D6 and help with that inevitable migration to D8. Failing that we may have to hedge our bets and set up a support contract with an outside vendor as a kind of insurance policy.
Spring is finally making its appearance. The days are getting longer, and the crocuses are blooming, which means one thing: Meyer has begun accepting inquiry applications for our 2017 Annual Funding Opportunity!
Now, more than ever, we feel the urgency and importance of dismantling barriers to equity, eliminating disparities and creating conditions for every Oregonian to thrive. This year, we are pleased to invite applications to support efforts to advance equity in all four of our portfolio areas: Building Community, Equitable Education, Healthy Environment and Housing Opportunities. We know there is amazing work happening in Oregon to change systems and better communities. If you share our vision of a flourishing and equitable Oregon, please consider joining us — everything you need to know to apply can be found here.
The deadline to submit an Inquiry Application is 5 p.m., Wednesday, April 19.
This is our second open annual funding invitation for proposals since we redesigned Meyer’s grantmaking. We had a robust response in 2016. Quite frankly, we were blown away by the opportunities, ideas and innovations in the proposals we received and the grants we funded. So naturally we are eager to see what emerges in this 2017 round!
We recognize that Meyer’s new approach has come with a lot of changes, and we will continue to iterate on and evolve our grantmaking and related processes. We’ve always been committed to getting perspective and feedback from nonprofits about how we can be effective partners, so after 2016 we thought, “What better way to improve for 2017 than to ask you!” Our team invited all 2016 applicants — whether they received funding or not — to share their perspectives through a survey about our processes and communications. We also talked one-on-one with a lot of folks both in person and over the phone.
We received a lot of positive comments about our focus, communications and process and also heard about where we can be clearer, where additional information would be helpful and where our processes can be simplified, especially at the inquiry stage. We listened closely to your feedback and made a variety of improvements that you’ll see in our application materials.
The core of our approach remains consistent, including our funding goals, intended outcomes and priorities for who will benefit from our support. Equity remains our grounding center. Our eye remains focused on community and systems change, and community voice and leadership, combined with solid planning, continues to be key. We’ve made all these priorities clearer in this year’s application.
Here are few highlights of what is different for 2017:
Our Equitable Education portfolio is now online! We are thrilled to include Equitable Education in our 2017 annual funding opportunity. Find out more about the goals and strategies of our newest portfolio, meet the team here and read about the inclusive process that Meyer used to make sure that our approach supports the aspirations and priorities of our community for equitable education.
We have clarified what “fits.” We are quick to recognize that in the newness of our first application round, we couldn’t be as specific as we would have liked in response to questions about what types of proposals were a good fit with our new funding opportunities. Now, with a year of funding under our belts, we have provided clearer examples of the types of requests that fit and those that do not. We’ve offered clearer guidance about grant amounts and have provided downloadable lists of the awards made in 2016 for each portfolio (available on the portfolios’ Goals + Outcomes pages), categorized by goal area, to provide you with additional insight about our interests.
We’ve provided resources to explain how Meyer considers diversity, equity and inclusion in reviewing proposals. We’ve been clear: Equity is a central tenet in Meyer’s grantmaking. We are asking all applicants — regardless of where they may be today — to demonstrate a commitment to ongoing growth through the integration of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) into both their external programming or services and internal structures and operations. You will see that we have refined questions in the Inquiry Application to clarify what we are looking for, and we have introduced new DEI resources to our website, including a DEI Spectrum tooland examples of strategies to advance DEI within organizations. We’ll ask all grantees to identify what steps they will take to move equity forward within their organizations during the grant period and to report progress made.
We’ve streamlined our applications. Our questions are clearer, and we’ve moved some questions out of the Inquiry Application. We’ll either ask for that information in the full proposal, during site visits or not at all. Organizational and application budgets, detailed demographic data, and partnership agreements can all be provided in whatever formats you already use.
Our demographic data questions have been simplified. We will still ask about the demographics of beneficiaries, boards and staff, but we’ve simplified our form so you can base your responses on how you already collect data and highlight what you believe is important for us to know about the demographics of your community and organization. We will continue to offer a demographics data form for organizations that are looking for an example, but the use of our particular tool is optional.
Funding amounts are now consistent across portfolios. We will provide additional information to help you determine what amount to ask for and extend a clearer invitation to talk with us if you want more guidance. An important note: Requests for amounts above our stated limits will not be considered.
We have more clearly defined what we mean by collaborative applications. We are big believers in the power of collaboration for impact and change, and once again we have a specific path for collaborative proposals that allow for larger grant amounts. You can find additional information here and within our application question previews.
Our perspective on multiple active Meyer grant awards has been refined. Organizations that received a multi-year grant through Meyer's 2016 spring funding opportunity are not eligible to apply for a 2017 funding opportunity grant unless they receive prior written approval from the portfolio director of the portfolio under which they wish to apply. Applications received from 2016 multi-year grantees that have not obtained this approval will not be considered. We anticipate that approvals will be the exception and will be made only in situations in which total Meyer funding during the grant period would not comprise a significant portion (~20%) of the organization's total operating budget and in which one or more of the following apply:
the organization is applying on behalf of a collaborative or as a fiscal sponsor;
the organization is applying to the Housing Portfolio for a capital grant project and has other funding secured for the project;
there is an extraordinary and time-sensitive opportunity that clearly advances the portfolio's highest priorities; and/or
the organization has significant and distinct programming that falls in a different Meyer portfolio than its current grant.
Organizations receiving funds through Meyer's Affordable Housing Initiative, Willamette River Initiative or other special Meyer programming are eligible to apply for a grant through the 2017 funding opportunity; however, interested grantees are highly encouraged to contact their current Meyer program partner prior to applying.
Information sessions are new and improved: Check out our schedule here and reserve your spot soon. We’ve added portfolio breakouts to our general sessions so you’ll have more opportunity to connect with portfolio team members, discuss specifics of that portfolio’s funding opportunity and ask your questions. We will continue to offer portfolio-specific virtual sessions. Can’t make a session? You can still contact us at questions [at] mmt.org (questions[at]mmt[dot]org) and 503-228-5512 to get your questions answered.
We know there are many opportunities and much important work to be done to advance our Building Community, Equitable Education, Healthy Environment and Housing Opportunities goals. You won't want to miss blogs by our four portfolio directors Dahnesh Medora, Matt Morton, Jill Fuglister and Theresa Deibele, linked here. We invite you to explore our 2017 funding opportunity and consider how we might join together in creating a flourishing and equitable Oregon.
In early February, Meyer announced our newest portfolio, Equitable Education. After nearly a year of engaging stakeholders across Oregon, our clear vision has emerged:
Ensuring meaningful public education for all.
In service to this vision, the Equitable Education portfolio will focus on three key goals:
Build a unified movement to advance equitable education: The underpinnings of any success is the collective mobilization of committed and unified individuals toward a common cause. This goal will support a broad-based movement for equitable education that mobilizes the power and potential of students, families, communities and organizations toward unified action, meaningful change and education opportunity for all.
Create systems- and policy-level impact: Leadership, priorities and policies do not reflect the diversity of needs or the rich array of cultures and traditions that Oregon communities bring to support families and children. To create the system change needed at all institutional levels, this goal will support initiatives that demonstrate potential for positive policy- and systems-level impact in Oregon’s public education system.
Improve student achievement and college and career readiness: Research and practice demonstrate that focusing efforts on key transitional moments can boost student achievement. This goal will seek to partner with communities, organizations and institutions that build, expand and innovate to support student success.
What we support
Equity is central to all Meyer grantmaking. Successful applicants will demonstrate a clear commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. Through this lens, they have a vision and approach to analyzing and directly addressing current disparities so that all students in Oregon have the opportunity to obtain a meaningful public education.
Equitable Education portfolio investments will target increased educational opportunity and achievement in our priority populations, including:
Underserved communities of color
English Language Learners (ELL)
Students living in poverty
Students with disabilities
First-generation postsecondary students
We will look for opportunities to support systems- and policy-change that shift the structural status quo and focus on institutional opportunities that prioritize a vision for equitable education. Portfolio investments will seek organizations and collaborations with a high capacity for positive educational results, vision and innovation, organizing and alliance building, change communications, and diverse, inclusive and effective leadership.
What we won’t support
Meyer values the essential work happening every day across the education continuum, but our goals point to encouraging system-level, innovative approaches. Universal, one-size-fits-all strategies are not a good fit for this funding call, nor are proposals seeking to substitute public education.
Although we maintain our portfolio’s multi-year commitments to early education through collaborative partnerships such as the Oregon Parenting Education Collaborative and the Early Childhood Funders Learning Circle, Meyer’s early education investments will focus primarily on supporting students during the transition between early education programs and kindergarten and preparing public schools to offer a smooth transition from home to school. Direct early education services will not be an area of investment at this time.
Meyer remains committed to higher education through a strong emphasis on supporting students successfully transitioning from high school, or equivalent, to postsecondary college or career training. Building or capital campaigns and strategies to address college completion will not be supported by this portfolio at this time.
Join us
The education opportunity gap in Oregon has persisted for too long. We are committed to removing barriers through partnership with communities and organizations committed to building meaningful public education for all students. We invite you to take a deeper look at our funding goals and strategies and consider joining us in this important work. You can find the full funding opportunity here. The deadline to submit an Inquiry Application is 5 p.m., Friday, April 19.
We’ve organized a set of Applicant Resources to make the process easier. You’ll find additional information, tools and advice on topics ranging from diversity, equity and inclusion to Meyer’s definition of collaborations.
General information sessions will be held across the state as well as portfolio-specific conference calls if you’re not able to make a session. If you can’t attend either, please contact us at questions [at] mmt.org (questions[at]mmt[dot]org) or 503-228-5512.
On Feb. 28, Meyer Memorial Trust will release a new Request for Proposals (RFP) through the Affordable Housing Initiative. We’re looking to support community-driven public policy advocacy and community organizing aimed at policy and system changes that will expand the availability of affordable housing to low-income Oregonians.
For the past three years, through AHI, Meyer has supported advocacy work through focused efforts. With this new funding opportunity, Meyer anticipates awarding up to $600,000 through two funding tracks:
The Advocacy Mobilizers track will award smaller grants for organizing efforts in the early stages of mobilizing support.
The Campaign Leader track will award grants to support more focused and/or fully developed campaigns that have an articulated strategy for changing a specific system or policy.
Each track is described in more detail in the RFP. Proposals for both tracks are due by 5:00 p.m., Wednesday, April 5, 2017.
This RFP supports the Affordable Housing Initiative goal of promoting advocacy, policy and systems change to increase the availability of affordable housing.
We invite you to two upcoming information sessions about the RFP.
The first session is Thursday, March 2, from 10:30 a.m. to noon, and the second is Monday, March 6, from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Please see the RFP for more details.
Please direct any questions to Michael Parkhurst via email at michael [at] mmt.org (michael[at]mmt[dot]org) or by phone at 503-228-5512.
Matthew Desmond's book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City has made him a celebrity of sorts among affordable housing wonks and anti-poverty activists. Writing in an engaging, approachable way about the struggles of low-income folks in Milwaukee, Wisc., Desmond shows how easy it is for vulnerable renters to get trapped in a downward spiral of housing instability, desperation and misfortune.
Even advocates immersed in housing and poverty issues will come away from Desmond's book with deeper insight and inspiration, and Meyer is pleased to support his visit to Oregon as part of Everybody Reads by:
Helping the Library Foundation to purchase additional copies of the book and with outreach to local groups, including high school classrooms;
Purchasing tickets to Desmond's Literary Arts lecture for recent Meyer grantees active in housing advocacy; and
Supporting an additional event for local policy makers to meet with Desmond, led by Community Alliance of Tenants, Welcome Home Coalition, Oregon Center for Public Policy and Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.
If you haven't read Evicted, check it out! Jenny Lee of Neighborhood Partnerships shared an excellent review of the book last year. Tickets to the March 9 event in Portland are still available.
Foundations have long devoted resources to address society's problems, but the fact is, of course, that despite our best efforts, those problems persist.
Every day our nonprofit partners doing on-the-ground work across the state change individual lives and transform communities. But they will tell you that they are fighting an uphill battle.
The answer is to change the system. But the human and financial resources that can be harnessed from the philanthropic sector is dwarfed by the potential in the public sector, especially on the state and federal levels. As if it needs to be said, policy makes a huge difference in all our lives.
We believe that these times provide an imperative for all funders to effectively use allowable advocacy strategies that push right up against that line. There is so much we can do.
We can use our voice
We speak out against specific policy issues we think are counter to our mission and in support of policies that are important to our mission. We have a role to play in educating our community about these issues through speeches, op-eds and articles (on this blog and elsewhere), email newsletters, social media and beyond.
Our staff and trustees speak about issues whenever possible. As examples: Trustee Charles Wilhoite used the occasion of being awarded the Portland Business Alliance’s William S. Naito Outstanding Service Award this year to talk about his experience on Meyer’s learning tour of communities in the Mid-Columbia region and about the plight of Native Americans to whom the federal government has not made good on promised housing. Former trustee George Puentes and trustee Toya Fick see the power in and advocate for an equitable public education system. Meyer trustee Judge Darleen Ortega often speaks truth to equity, racism and other barriers to access to justice.
In the summer of 2016, we co-wrote an op-ed in Street Roots with the Northwest Health Foundation and the Collins Foundation in support of protections for undocumented immigrants in our state.
Meyer has also created an internal Advocacy Committee that allows us to be nimble in responding to the rapidly changing world around us by issuing clear statements and making grant awards. Recently, Meyer joined with more than 170 philanthropic organizations across the country in signing the Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees’ joint statement on immigration policy.
In using our voices, our goal is not simply to speak loudly, but to better amplify the voices of those in our community when their voices are muted by inequitable systems.
We can sponsor research
We believe that good ideas backed by facts will take root and grow. If we want to influence the conversation around particular issues in our four portfolios, we can sponsor research that provides solid evidence about how education gets more equitable, how we create more housing opportunities, how we make our environment healthier, and how we build and bolster communities.
The Pew Charitable Trust has been the master of this methodology. Their strong work on the effects of redistricting, for example, has helped change the way people think about the topic. And the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has done important and influential work on health care.
Our work is focused in Oregon. Although we are seen as a progressive state that can be a policy laboratory for the country, we have a long way to go to level the playing field for all our residents.
Meyer funds research that can inform policies that align with our mission.
Last year, Meyer awarded a $250,000 grant to a partnership between Portland State University’s Institute for Sustainable Solutions, Neighbors for Clean Air and Lewis & Clark Law School’s Northwest Environmental Defense Center. The partnership, BREATHE Oregon, will provide clear scientific data, legal analysis and community outreach so residents and policymakers have the information they need to make decisions that improve air quality in Portland and throughout Oregon. Awards to the Coalition for a Livable Future supported the research and publication of the Regional Equity Atlas, a mapping tool designed to ensure that regional growth and development decisions are more equitably distributed across the region. And Meyer’s funding to the Women’s Foundation of Oregon supported research and community listening sessions around the state that resulted in the Count Her In report on the state of women and girls in Oregon.
As part of our Affordable Housing Initiative, Meyer convened a group of experts to define problems and potential solutions around cost efficiencies in affordable housing design, finance and construction in Oregon. The findings of the study culminated in a 2015 report that has been shared with state and local policymakers and used in the funding of five pilot programs to put the research to practical work.
Our Affordable Housing Initiative also gave a housing advocacy award to the Oregon Center for Public Policy to support research and analyze options to reform the state mortgage deduction, which will help inform the Legislature on tax reform.
These are just a few examples of how we are supporting research that informs policy.
We can use our convening power
It is vital for nonprofit organizations to find common ground and a common voice as they advocate for systems change. We can put on public events (with the media invited, of course) that can act as community education. We can set up programming such as conferences and convenings that pull together disparate stakeholders to discuss particular issues.
We can both do the convening ourselves and provide funds to facilitate these meetings. Meyer has funded State Voices to provide leadership and advocacy training for Oregon Voice’s 29 member groups.
We can help with technical assistance grants for important public and media relations or to hire government affairs consultants. For example, we have awarded grants to OPAL and Beyond Toxics to work with state government to build relationships across several rural Oregon communities to identify their environmental justice priorities.
As we unify our efforts, we create a powerful network that yields an even greater impact.
We can collaborate
Just as we want nonprofits to work together to common purpose, Meyer and other foundations must do the same. We have a louder voice together.
With the Chalkboard Project, we joined forces with the Collins Foundation, the Ford Family Foundation, the James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, the Oregon Community Foundation, and the Wendt Family Foundation working toward elevating student achievement and eradicating achievement inequities. Although Oregon has a long way to go in these respects, the alliance has been a strong nonpartisan voice behind research and programs to improve the quality of teacher and school leaders, in part, because we have all moved forward together.
Along with Oregon Community Foundation and several other funders, we helped launch and fund the Oral Health Funders Collaborative, which addresses the serious and widespread impact of lack of access to oral health care among low-income children. We also joined an innovative, multi-funder cross-section collaboration with the Northwest Health Foundation, the OCF, Kaiser, and Care Oregon to explore the intersection of health and education and how best to address systemic barriers to improved school-age outcomes.
We can award grants
As a private foundation, Meyer is not allowed to lobby for or against specific legislation, ballot matters or candidates, nor can we earmark grants for the purposes of lobbying, but we can support nonprofits that lobby. We can make two types of grants to those organizations: general support and specific project grants. Done correctly, these grants are one of our most powerful mechanisms for advocacy.
We recently awarded a $40,000 grant to organizers for the Portland Harbor Community Coalition, a diverse alliance of community groups concerned about the social and environmental justice issues related to the federal effort to decontaminate the Portland Harbor Superfund Site in the Willamette River. We support their efforts to lobby for a strong, fair plan that entitles those most harmed by the river’s polluted history to an equally outsized benefit from the cleanup.
Over the past year alone, we have provided significant grant dollars to support the capacity and operations of advocacy organizations across all Meyer’s portfolios: Basic Rights, Partnership for Safety and Justice, Stand for Children, the Welcome Home Coalition, the Oregon Housing Alliance, and Children's Institute, to name just a few. Our Housing Opportunities portfolio’s Affordable Housing Initiative is currently calling for proposals specifically for housing advocacy work. Click here for more details.
We can also use funds to send a more direct message. In early February, we issued rapid response grants to the Oregon ACLU, Unite Oregon and other prominent organizations advocating on behalf of immigrants and refugees in this country. The timing was significant, and our message was clear.
We can support the demand for legal services, as many organizations and individuals come under legal challenges from the government. By providing operating support, nonprofits can offer legal research and services, just as ACLU lawyers stand ready to help provide a check on runaway executive and legislative powers. This month, we are awarding $50,000 to the Metropolitan Public Defender Services to protect the legal rights of immigrants and $15,000 to Crag Law Center to provide legal services to help maintain environmental protections.
We can do direct advocacy
We can also — within legal limits and our internal capacity constraints — take more direct action where we determine it will advance our mission and program portfolio priorities. For example, this month, I and staff of Meyer’s Affordable Housing Initiative were invited by the Legislature to come to Salem to testify in front of a committee about the need to prioritize the preservation and expansion of affordable housing.
In the past we have met with individual legislators to talk about those goals and to give them perspective on the work of Meyer grantees Network for Oregon Affordable Housing and the Oregon Housing Alliance to advance these goals. We presented research about the presence, need for and importance of affordable housing in their individual districts. By showing up, we gave our allies’ voices a powerful boost.
We must embrace risk and strive to break down barriers
Of course, Meyer is and must remain nonpartisan. When we take on an advocacy role about a policy, program or issue, we strive to unite parties and include varying perspectives and interests. Ideally, these issues or policies would demonstrate strong public support or offer a “mission critical” opportunity for Meyer to assume a leadership role.
When we act on behalf of a particular issue that might be controversial, we are guided only by our core mission and values. We know that some might have different perspectives about what we collectively have to say about a topic, and we look forward to engaging folks in the conversation. The challenges Oregon faces require bold action, and so we must act together to amplify our impact on behalf of all Oregonians. We encourage other foundations and individual donors to join by effectively channelling more contributions and their voices into the vital work of advocacy.
After nearly a year of planning and engagement, we are excited to announce the launch of Meyer’s newest portfolio, Equitable Education.
In early 2016, Meyer staff began engaging stakeholders across Oregon, including educators, education advocates, parents, community partners and former and current grantees. Much of what we heard came as no surprise: Oregonians are deeply passionate about education and the future of our state. However, despite the high value placed on education, Oregon’s public education system faces significant challenges that we believe present us with new opportunities for innovation, partnership and community participation.
A vision for Equitable Education in Oregon
Our vision for Equitable Education is that all students have an opportunity to access meaningful public education. We believe Equitable Education offers Oregon students an opportunity to realize their goals of increased academic achievement by removing the disparities at all levels of the education continuum: Students enter school ready to succeed, are reading at benchmark by third grade, are on track for graduation when they enter high school and graduate high school with a plan for postsecondary and career success.
In service to this vision, the Equitable Education portfolio will focus on three key goals.
Build a unified movement to advance equitable education
Create systems- and policy-level impact
Improve student achievement and college and career readiness
Building a unified movement to advance Equitable Education
The underpinnings of any success is the collective mobilization of committed and unified individuals toward a common cause. Quality public education in Oregon is our promise to current and future generations. Improving student achievement, postsecondary completion and career readiness must occur throughout the state, not just in resourced pockets or single communities. Oregon faces deeply entrenched and complex education issues and requires thoughtful, community-based collaborative approaches to ensure all students have access to an excellent education.
Under this goal, Meyer will support a broad-based movement for equitable education that mobilizes the power and potential of students, families, communities and organizations toward unified action, meaningful change and education opportunity for all.
Creating systems- and policy-level impact
Public education institutions, policies and leaders are not meeting the educational needs of all students in Oregon and do not reflect the diversity of needs or the rich array of cultures and traditions that communities bring to support families and children. To create the system change needed at all institutional levels, Meyer will partner with communities and organizations to build the capacity to affect change by supporting initiatives that demonstrate potential for positive policy- and systems-level impact in Oregon’s public education system.
Improving Student Achievement and College and Career Readiness
Meyer seeks to keep student needs at the center of the Equitable Education portfolio’s focus, partnering with communities, organizations and institutions that build, expand and innovate to support student success. This goal also supports cross-sector collaborations between businesses, industry and employers and education and community-based organizations to prepare students for meaningful careers.
Meyer will invest in and support strategies and partnerships that improve Oregon student achievement at key benchmarks by prioritizing initiatives that eliminate disparities and close gaps in education opportunities and outcomes.
Our priorities
In a flourishing Oregon, Equitable Education means that each student — regardless of race, ethnicity, family income, geography, disability or language — has the opportunity to succeed in school.
Investments in the Equitable Education portfolio will reflect a mix of rural and urban grantees that offer, through an equity lens, a vision and approach to analyzing current disparities and directly addressing how to eliminate those disparities so that all students in Oregon have the opportunity to obtain a meaningful public education.
Investments will be targeted toward priority populations, including:
Underserved communities of color
English Language Learners (ELL)
First-generation postsecondary students
People living in poverty
People with disabilities
In rural communities, the Equitable Education portfolio seeks to support projects designed to improve outcomes for priority student populations experiencing disparities in education opportunity and achievement.
In addition to targeting communities experiencing educational disparities, the Equitable Education portfolio will work to engage these communities, and the organizations and institutions that serve them, in convening, collaborating, decision-making and other portfolio-related activities.
Join us
The education opportunity gap in Oregon has persisted for too long. As the Equitable Education portfolio maintains Meyer’s 34-year tradition of aligning philanthropic investment with the capacity of local communities to address important issues, we are committed to removing barriers through partnership with communities and organizations committed to building meaningful public education for all students. We invite you to take a deeper look at our funding goals and strategies and consider joining us in this important work.
All Meyer staff and trustees were invited to participate in Meyer’s 2016 Columbia Gorge Region Learning Tour. The invitation described the tour as an opportunity for us to collectively question and understand what a “flourishing and equitable Oregon” means for the Columbia River Gorge region.
These tours have taken place on a roughly biennial schedule, with a visit in 2012 to Umatilla County and in 2014 to Coos and Curry counties. Each provided an opportunity to get a flavor of a community's unique history and culture and to understand better how both have shaped and defined the region. As a Momentum Fellow, my personal interest in participating this past year was also to understand Meyer’s role in supporting gorge communities in their efforts to ensure a place where all citizens can thrive.
Life is about perspective. I see the world through a lens that is different from how a majority of folks would describe it. My eyeglasses are watermarked: One lens is institutional racism; the other lens is oppression.
Going on this tour reinforced my beliefs and broadened my perspective. I was so touched by what I heard and saw that I felt a need to share how I came to appreciate even more the work done by Meyer. Every stop offered me a glimpse into why Meyer’s mission around equity is crucial to the vision of a “flourishing and equitable Oregon.”
Although I focus primarily on what I learned about farmworker and Native American tribal housing issues, the other stories I heard were equally impactful.
Looking Anew
Looking through the viewfinder of my Nikon, I captured the majestic beauty of the Columbia River Gorge. I also saw something disturbing and complex in each image. Beyond the windsurfing, wineries and tourist attractions lives the gorge’s checkered past. If you dare look closely, you can see it.
I saw it, and heard it too, from those whose history tells a story not often heard. I listened to stories of Native American tribes, Japanese settlers, and the Mexican bracero program.
I listened to Randy Kiyokawa, owner of Kiyokawa Orchards and of Japanese descent, and to Paul Lumley, tribal member of the Yakama Nation and past executive director for the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fishing Commission (CRITFC). Their stories, and what I saw, made me look anew on the institutional racism and oppression that many of the people who call the gorge home have faced, how it has impacted their life in the past and today, and where we're headed.
Day One: Kiyokawa Orchards and the Challenges of Farming in the Gorge
On the first day, Randy Kiyokawa greeted us, and as we moved through his store I could see that Kiyokawa Orchards had done well over the years and contributed to the local economy. Randy shared his family’s story about how his father and mother were sent to Japanese internment camps during World War II, depicting a clear portrayal of the institutional racism experienced by Japanese Americans. Next, he invited us to pick apples off the trees. But my mind wasn’t on apples. I was thinking about the plight of farmworkers walking past our group, and I wondered if anything about housing would come up. I didn’t have to wait long.
Today, conversations on housing issues are ubiquitous and unavoidable. The challenge for farmers like Randy is figuring out how to provide affordable housing for their workers (predominantly Mexican migrants) that won’t break the farmer’s bank, nor leave workers paying exorbitant rent that breaks their banks. As Randy can attest, lack of affordable housing is one of the region's biggest barriers to retaining employees. This is exacerbated by rapid growth and land use laws that protect farm and forest lands, while creating myriad challenges for those who want to develop housing in the region. Many Hood River orchards build housing on their farms and offer it free to their workers, but building it is prohibitively costly. Still, a farmer who can’t afford to build housing might not be in business for long. The alternative for farmworkers is to find housing in Hood River or a surrounding city, which comes with its own set of challenges.
Housing in Hood River is EXPENSIVE! The median home price in Hood River is around $400,000, compared with the statewide median of $319,000. For those who aren’t interested in homeownership, finding a home or apartment to rent is also problematic. Lack of affordable housing in the gorge has escalated to a wicked problem that requires a collective approach toward a solution. Randy is looking forward to community leaders collaborating with each other and with funders like Meyer to address and seek solutions.
Day Two: Skamania County and Tribal Housing
The next day, we crossed the Columbia River into Skamania County. As a child I spent significant time on Native American reservations in Montana, Wyoming and Canada. Thus, I was eager to visit the tribal fishing villages mentioned on the tour agenda. Looking through the big bus windows, I saw Underwood. Instead of a tribal village with permanent homes and community structures, it looked liked a haphazard, dilapidated trailer park. Debris littered the site, including weathered indoor furniture and a menagerie of fishing nets, boats, rusty tire rims and boat trailers. The image contradicted everything I had experienced as a child.
Paul, a Yakama Nation tribal member who was our tour guide, explained that CRITFC’s mission was “to ensure a unified voice in the overall management of the fishery resources and, as managers, to protect reserved treaty rights through the exercise of the inherent sovereign powers of the tribes.” The fishing villages fell under their purview.
As we pulled off the road at the base of the Bonneville Dam, I stared into the distance, thinking about what I had just heard and saw. I thought about how oppression and privilege played out in this scenario. Paul informed us that the entire town of North Bonneville (with a white resident population of nearly 500 people) was completely relocated through congressional intervention so that Bonneville Dam could be expanded in the late 1970’s. On the other hand, I could see that the Native American residents, a fraction of the white residents, were left to their own devices to recreate and cobble together a community. I looked eastward at the spectacular view of the dam, pausing to absorb its awesomeness. The irony wasn’t lost. Minutes away from the engineering masterpiece that has generated incredible wealth for the region is an encampment, land given to tribes as a replacement for the homes and villages wiped out in order to build the dam. This land embodies a history of oppression and is a reminder of an irredeemable loss for many tribal members of the Yakama Nation, Warm Springs, Nez Perce and Umatilla tribes.
Paul addressed this matter from a place of honesty and personal insight and with a keen perspective of the past and present, particularly around treaty rights and housing. He said families living on the sites didn’t live in homes and are not allowed to build permanent housing on the sites. In addition, sites had no access to city services such as garbage or electricity, creating myriad problems for these families. The last stop was what he described as CRITFC's biggest challenge: Lone Pine. What initially disturbed me about Lone Pine was the street signs at the intersection of Bret Clodfelter Way and Indian Road. It was the use of a pejorative term in naming a street leading to the Native American encampment that was unsettling. It gave me perspective on how institutional racism can be subtle, and in this case cloaked as a street sign. Then I saw Lone Pine.
Lone Pine, is one of the sites that have been approved for families to live on and have no electricity or running water, except to the public restroom. Paul shared that the restroom facility had four shower and four toilet stalls without doors. Because there is no other source of running water on the site, residents also wash their dishes and laundry in the unsanitary restroom, which raises CRITFC’s concern around public health issues. “This is a health hazard for the residents” states Paul as we stop directly in front of the restroom. There’s also no permanent housing. The entire experience left me bewildered and sad and thinking about how oppression played into this scenario. I left wondering about tribal members living in each of the 31 fishing villages and their housing crisis. Today, only 15 permanent homes have been built as part of the Army Corps of Engineers’ effort to make good on their promise to replace the homes and infrastructure. A recent concerted effort of tribes, CRITFC, Congress and the Army Corps is looking to address the still ever present tribal housing needs.
Day Three: Talking About the Future
On the last day, a panel of local housing providers shared their insights on the housing issues gorge communities face. Each panel member expressed the difficulty of providing affordable housing. Joel Madsen, executive director of both Columbia Cascade Housing Corporation and Mid-Columbia Housing Authority, and Paul Blackburn, mayor of Hood River, discussed the challenge community leaders have in sustaining a commitment to the long vision. For over a decade, Hood River city councilors and county commissioners have been stalwarts in working to make affordable housing a reality. Starting with a strategy and fighting battles beyond what they envisioned and longer than they wished, they have stayed on task.
A United Effort
What I learned shook me to my core, and I’m thankful it did! I want to acknowledge that many of the people, organizations and communities we visited are thriving and doing unbelievable work. I saw tremendous strength and resilience in people I met and was inspired by the many working together to present a united effort in tackling problems each faced. I think I speak for Meyer when I say we continue to see value in the work each of you are doing.
Ever wonder why Oregon has so many accelerators, incubators, tech challenges and venture conferences? Or, do you just wonder what all those things are? Yeah, so did we, since we invest in many of these things.
So, to try and figure out what seemed to be unhindered, organic growth of seemingly unconnected business activities, Meyer brought together a diverse set of dedicated economic development professionals from around Oregon to attempt to put our ideas down on paper. The big idea: to actually visualize it.
Working with a communications consultant, we worked to create a simple yet dynamic map of how capital is allocated in the state. The final report is our attempt to illustrate how this work is connected, and to better understand how access to capital plays out in our region. Now investors can understand how each investment fits together into the bigger picture of what we are doing to invest in our people and our ideas. The long-term goal of this work is for all capital providers to be more informed when making investments in Oregon.
