Our Housing Stability team is launching a Pathways to BIPOC In Home Childcare Entrepreneurs Pilot initiative under the Community Impact Department at United Way of the Columbia-Willamette. Conversations with our Credit Union partners are finally underway. The vision of this important initiative will be shared to help inform this group of potential investors about the disappearing resource of in-home childcare providers in our community, and the importance of preserving this resource for our children and families. The goal is to provide access to financial literacy that will lead to creating opportunities for homeownership, business development, and generational wealth for this underserved population.
Members from our Early Learning Teams are helping to guide us through this process, and we greatly appreciate their expertise! More to come! - Linda King, Director of Housing Stability
The work between Housing Stability and Early Leaning Multnomah continues to grow and connect. Children succeed when there is stability at home, and we are dedicated to supporting families and children to thrive.
For more context on the amazing work being done in Housing Stability: to date, the Eviction Legal Defense Program, which is a partnership between United Way of the Columbia-Willamette, Portland Housing Bureau, PCC’s Clear Clinic, Oregon Law Center, and Metropolitan Public Defender, has helped 250 households with rent assistance through the allocation of $1.5 million in committed funds. Households have been provided crucial financial and legal assistance to stay housed and avoid eviction. UWCW is doing its part, with an aim to do much more, in tackling Portland’s affordable housing and homelessness crises. We are also collaborating with the Coalition of Communities of Color (CCC) and JOIN, a culturally responsive CBO known for their homeless placement and retention work in the community to help shift the negative and detrimental stigma and narrative about homelessness and our homeless neighbors. This collaboration is launching a public education campaign using social media, television, newspaper, and other high-visibility platforms to accurately inform the public about the positive work being done to help address homelessness. Our investment will help change the current narrative and create a long-term strategy to allow for data, staff success, and client testimonies to be seen and heard by the public.