Habitat for Humanity - Oregon

Training and technical assistance: on april 26-28 of 2023, the organization hosted the western region conference, with the theme: unlocking the future: building with courage and compassion. This was our first in-person conference as a four-state partnership. Record attendance of 443 included participants from 118 organizations across 18 states and the district of columbia. Workshops and networking group sessions scored on average 4.5 out of 5 points overall. In addition to this in-person conference, the organization hosted numerous webinars over the course of the past year. We provided direct support to Oregon affiliates during times of key transition. Quarterly networking groups convened participants from a four-state area do discuss timely topics in each of six staff focus areas: executive directors, restore managers, family services, resource development, construction technology and volunteer coordination. Government relations and advocacy: the organization leads advocacy efforts at the state level and carefully tracks legislative issues that affect the mission and operations of the 24 affiliates we serve. Seeking to expand our community impact, we meet face-to-face with elected officials and state employees in ongoing conversations about affordable homeownership needs and opportunities. Our Habitat at the capitol advocacy day resumed in-person this year, with 43 participants from 14 affiliates participating in 48 legislative meetings. Four homeowners joined this event to share personal stories. Disaster risk reduction and response: the organization promotes awareness of the potential impact of disasters in affiliate service areas, promotes risk reduction, assists affiliates with developing a continuity of operations plan and participates in statewide recovery planning. This body of work is a combination of information sharing and training with local affiliates. The organization most frequently supports Oregon affiliates with immediate and long-term wildfire recovery by engaging key contacts from the state, as well as regional and national practitioners in wildfire recovery. Pursuing housing justice and culturally responsive actions: throughout the past year, the organizations board and staff co-led efforts to steadily advance the priorities outlined in our dei (diversity, equity and inclusion) roadmap. The board set aside one hour of every board meeting, inviting the full staff team to collaborate in this work. The Habitat equity academy for leaders (heal) culminated in a capstone event at the Oregon gardens in october of 2022, followed by a qualitative evaluation we conducted with participants. The homeowner advisory council grew to nine active members who engaged in support throughout the year, including advocating for federal and state policy priorities. We published our equity statement. The organization staff team participated in half-day heal retreats 1-2 times per quarter. The western region conference, with the theme of unlocking the future: building with courage fundraising support: during the year ending june 30, 2023, Habitat for Humanity of Oregon secured significant funding resources to support local Habitat for Humanity affiliates and first-time Habitat homebuyers across the state. This includes down payment assistance grants from Oregon housing and community services, hud healthy homes repair program grants, economic equity investment program funds, and administration of outreach for individual development accounts. In addition, the organization facilitated direct funding awards to local Habitat affiliates through numerous programs administered by Oregon housing and community services: local innovation fast track (lift) for homeownership, the homeownership development incubator program (hdip), home ownership assistance program (hoap) training and dei consultation grants, homeownership support services, language access and targeted outreach grants, and the market cost offset fund.