Program Summary:
(Completed program) Neighborhood Partnership Fund (NPF) supported the creation of affordable homes, healthy communities, and economic opportunities for low-income Oregonians. It accomplished this through (1) assistance to community development corporations (CDCs); (2) support for resident services; (3) human capital development, training and technical assistance; and (4) policy and advocacy work.
NPF was the lead agency in two public-private funding collaboratives that also involve the City of Portland, the State of Oregon, and the Enterprise Foundation. They were designed to support the work of CDCs and nonprofit affordable housing providers throughout Oregon. The collaboratives invested over $15 million in capacity-building grants to nonprofit community-based developers in Oregon since 1990, as well as providing technical assistance to grantees. Additionally, recognizing that resident services were essential to ensure the success of affordable housing, NPF began the Resident Services Initiative Demonstration Project in 2004. The project included: (1) capacity investments to ten CDCs to build organizational capacity to successfully operate resident service programs; (2) training and technical assistance to help build the skills of Resident Services Coordinators; and (3) independent evaluation to help describe and demonstrate the impact of resident service programs on CDC organizational health and on the lives of people who live in CDC housing.
In the area of training and technical assistance, NPF offered: (1) executive director retreats regionally and nationally for CDC Executives; (2) training on topics requested by grantees, including Succession Planning for Successful Transitions, Inclusivity, Persuasion & Influence, and other topics; (3) appreciative inquiry - working with organizations to explore opportunities for change and organizational growth using this new model; and (4) a training summit to evaluate local training capacity, identify gaps, and increase coordination and collaboration between training organizations.
NPF's Policy Initiative worked to build a strong base of support for affordable housing by: (1) increasing the capacity of housing advocates to make the case for expanded resources for affordable housing development; (2) identifying and supporting housing leaders and emerging leaders through skills training, coaching, and creation of support networks; (3) developing a stronger network of advocates within key regions of the state; (4) creating awareness on the part of key decision-makers and legislators about the need for affordable housing; and (5) inspiring passion for creative solutions to the affordable housing funding crisis on the part of advocates, supporters, and policy makers. The initiative worked toward these goals by developing effective messages and providing media advocacy training, providing training and technical assistance to local and regional housing advocacy networks, and creating a state-wide Housing Alliance.
NPF was also involved in development of a financial self-evaluation tool for CDCs. The self-evaluation tool allowed users to compare their financial performance to that of similar organizations and an industry standard. Evaluation of its own work typically involved internal methods used to examine specific projects. Results from an external evaluation of the resident services work were made available during the first quarter of 2006.
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Address:
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1020 SW Taylor, Suite 680
Portland, OR 97205
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