(PORTLAND, Ore.) Hello Portlanders! It's Friday, June 2 - Here's your daily round up of all the news happening in the City of Roses.
Portland is working with the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform as part of a new “Portland Ceasefire” plan, the city’s latest effort to reduce gun violence. The plan was revealed at a press conference on Thursday. Its goal is to reduce gun violence through expanded outreach programs and individual interventions.
At the press conference, Mayor Ted Wheeler outlined a new organizational structure for Portland’s Office of Violence Prevention, Community Safety Division, Portland Police Bureau, city leaders and community groups.
“Portland Ceasefire” is designed to identify people who are at the highest risk of being victims or perpetrators of gun violence, connect with them and offer services, intervention and support. The plan uses the “Cure Violence” model and funding for community organizations and street level outreach programs.
2. Multnomah County opening applications for housing voucher program on Monday
Multnomah County is once again accepting applications for its Housing Choice Voucher waitlist for the first time in seven years. The Home Forward program will be open for five days starting Monday at 9 a.m. and closing on Friday at 11:59 p.m.
“We are nearing the end of the previous lists that we opened in 2016. We’re at the last couple-hundred names on that list. We won’t pull and work through those here in the next month or so. And so it prepared us for this opportunity to open a new waitlist,” a spokesperson for Home Forward said, per KOIN.
The Home Forward program is funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
3. Nonprofits work together to improve food accessibility in NE Portland
Two local nonprofits are working together to provide more high quality food to low-income families and refugees in a northeast Portland neighborhood. Outgrowing Hunger buys land in the Portland metro area for community gardens, allowing low-income community members and farmers to grow produce on the land. It also utilizes farmland in rural parts of the state.
Rockwood Community Development focuses on revitalizing northeast Portland and will be helping Outgrowing Hunger apply for federal grants.
“By working together, we’re able to leverage resources that support the community through the right channels,” Outgrowing Hunger Executive Director Adam Kohl said.
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