Our Just Future

Affordable housing development and programming Our Just Future develops and operates affordable housing communities for low-income and unhoused families throughout outer east portland and east multnomah county. Our Just Future owns and operates 897 apartments in 19 affordable housing communities. The four main components of Our housing team are:1. Asset management oversees the maintenance, resident policies and property management companies charged with day-to-day oversight of the 897 apartments and four commercial spaces.2. Real estate development staff plan and oversee new real estate investments, including housing development, purchase and rehabilitation projects. Rehabilitation funds are key to maintaining the quality of affordable housing in Our portfolio and community over the long term.3. Resident services coordinators worked on-site at Our 19 affordable housing communities to provide information and referral and eviction prevention services, client assistance funds, and food boxes, as well as support classes, community building and children's activities for the residents. They speak several languages that meet residents' needs.4. Out-of-school academic support & mentoring Our creative learnlinks program team worked with 93 youth in 41 families in grades k-8 to gain the social and emotional skills they will need to succeed in school and set and each their life goals. Students in this program live in affordable housing communities owned by Our Just Future and partner organizations. This year we transitioned Our programming back toward in-person sessions after covid forced us to 100% virtual. We still incorporate some virtual options for those it works well for.

Shelter services on any given night, Our Just Future provided shelter, housing or housing support services to an average of 767 unhoused or formerly unhoused people from 331 households. Our three emergency shelters for families and adults who identify as women/nonbinary/genderqueer depend on in-kind contributions from the community, such as donated clothing, blankets, household goods, and food that the organization distributed to participants at no charge. Volunteers also cook meals for shelter residents, which supplements Our kitchen program and engages Our community in Solutions to local problems that impact everyone.

Community programs for social justice this direct-service team provides housing and economic stability services for families who are unhoused/insecurely housed and/or have low/no incomes. They engage with Our wide variety of shelter, housing and skill building programs, including:1. Housing for people experiencing homelessnessthe organization provided housing placement services for 303 individuals and 138 families who were experiencing homelessness and are now housed. The housing placement services are able to support households for short term, long term, or permanently to ensure that people in the community have a place called home.2. Preventing homelessnessthe organization also prevented homelessness with short-term rent assistance programs so that 296 families (with 407 adults and 366 children) could remain in their housing. It is the organization's goal to support people who are unhoused and housing insecure as they work to maintain stable, healthy housing and avoid the trauma of homelessness.3. Utility assistancethe organization also provided utility bill assistance to 2,412 households, keeping the power on for 5,625 individuals. This program also helps families stay housed, as utility shutoffs often lead to eviction and can free up scarce funds to pay rent.4. Life skills classesthe organization offers families and individuals life-skill classes such as "rent well" to remove barriers to rental housing and other relevant learning opportunities to support shortand long-term wellbeing. During covid we reduced Our offerings and added virtual classes that have become quite popular due to their accessibility. This year we are back up and running a variety of skills classes for the community and are maintaining Our virtual offerings to meet demand in the community. Class offerings include: financial literacy, job applications, communications and conflict resolution, resume writing, goal setting, interviewing and online job search. These skills enable participants to identify their goals and successfully pursue them, with long-term economic stability the main goal. 5. Information & referralthe organization responded with information and referrals to 3,591 people who reached out to us for assistance. For public health reasons Our offices are not yet open for walk-in services, so this part of Our work has decreased.

Career and economic development services - the organization provided employment, job search and training services to 1,017 people during this year. Of those, 60% were either unhoused or at risk of becoming unhoused when they enrolled, and over 65% obtained jobs with an average starting wage of $19.75 per hour. Partnerships with the city of gresham, the city of portland/prosper portland, worksystems, Inc., and Oregon department of Human services/immigrant and refugee community organization ("irco") made these servicespossible.all employment programs at ojf are designed to help folks overcome barriers to employment and create their own paths toward career-track jobs with living wages. Two examples are:1. Living Solutions is for residents of the city of gresham who face the most significant barriers. The vast majority of these participants enter the program with zero income, have very limited employment skills and don't have access to the training needed to secure a job. In this program, those who secured employment started with an average wage of $17.85 per hour and increased their annual earnings from from $9,538 to $31,835 (a 234% increase).2. Community works was designed to help people leave the state's temporary assistance to needy families ("tanf") program by obtaining jobs with wages sufficient to support their families. We collaborate with three partners to provide this program: the immigrant and refugee community organization (irco), self enhancement, Inc. (sei) and the Oregon department of Human services.volunteering across programs - community members are an essential part of Our work and, while the ways they can engage has shifted since covid, their engagement has remained robust, especially providing home-cooked meals for residents in Our shelters and driving to collect and deliver donations. This year, volunteers invested fewer hours than prior years because we are still building back after the covid pause, but still 250 wonderful volunteers gave approximately 1,200 hours to help Our programs meet the needs of participants. We couldn't do what we do without them and firmly believe that volunteers gain as much from participating as program participants do! We look forward to inviting even more volunteers back into Our work this coming year. Building connected communities is an important part of Our vision for more Just Future.