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Happy Spring! Along with the turning of the seasons being right around the corner, our March Convening is right around the corner too – this Thursday the 21st, from 9 to 11 am to be exact!

For this convening we will be hearing from our Narrative Cohort about their early findings and learnings around building new Economic and Racial Justice narratives in Oregon! This is just the beginning of us sharing out how we want to change the landscape of how we talk about wealth, the stories we tell, and how to build an Oregon where everyone can live beyond the the myth of scarcity and have enough to actualize their dreams and live abundant lives.

We’ll hear a brief overview of the hard work that our cohort has done over the past few years, make connections to direct cash with our new narrative strategies, hear from a panel of our partners who have been a part of this process, and think about the different roles that we can play moving forward in our effort for justice and the narratives we need to get there.

It will be a wonderful time together this Thursday morning so don’t miss out!

Register on our website today!

So far this session, we have yet to see legislative leaders take meaningful action to reduce the racial homeownership gap.

Our partners at the Oregon Housing Alliance and the Oregon IDA Initiative are advocating for that to change, and are inviting us to join them and do the same.

Here is how YOU can take action!

Email legislative leaders calling for:

• $10 million for individual development accounts (IDAs), and
• $15 million to build affordable homes for lower-income households

Advocates have worked for TWO YEARS to make this a priority in the Legislature’s racial disparities task force. We cannot wait any longer. We can make a difference for Housing, Economic, and Racial Justice in the 2024 Legislative Session.

Follow the instructions provided HERE by the Oregon Housing Alliance to make your voice heard and to help ensure that all Oregonians have a safe, secure, and happy place to call home.

In the 2023 Oregon Legislative Session, we passed the Oregon Kids’ Credit, taking a step toward ensuring that Oregonians are able to live beyond the basics of safety and security and into the freedom to actualize dreams and the power of communities to control their own financial and economic destiny. There’s still a lot to do to make sure that families benefit from this legislation.

Our friends at the Oregon Center for Public Policy hosted a webinar on the Oregon Kids’ Credit to answer questions and share more about how you can help us get the word out about this important new tax benefit for low-income Oregon families. If you were unable to join or just want to revisit the content, a recording of the webinar is now available. Check it out!

Here are some other ways to stay connected to this effort, info courtesy of OCPP:

We still need your help getting the word out about the Oregon Kids’ Credit! The Department of Revenue has created flyers and social media content in nearly 20 languages available here. Please share them widely!

We also have created social media content with QR codes to take people to our landing page. There, people can learn more about who qualifies for the credit, and link directly to Dept. of Revenue resources to find free tax preparation help in their community. 

Of course, if you have any questions or ideas of how to help spread the word, please feel free to reach out to Tyler Mac Innis at tmacinnis@ocpp.org!

Over the past year, we have been working to solidify the Oregon Economic Justice Roundtable as a space that centers the voices and lived experiences of Oregon’s communities of color and the organizations that serve them.

With more dominant institutions that have expressed interest in joining our efforts for Economic and Racial Justice, we saw the need to co-create a document that sets clear expectations of partnering with these groups to ensure that the voices of impacted Oregonians are at the center of our work. The product is the following: the OEJR’s Equity Guidelines.

In our document we define what a dominant institution is to us, we clearly outline what we ask of these institutions in our space, we ask them to agree and support our guiding principles that have been the core of our group from the beginning, and state the work that is required to be in relationship with the Roundtable and its members.

With these guidelines, we can better come together and work together toward Economic and Racial Justice in Oregon.

Join us!

For more information on our equity guidelines or how to get involved with the Roundtable, please contact Ethan Livermore at 503-841- 7555, elivermore@neighborhoodpartnerships.org

This year, the Oregon Legislature has a chance to make crucial investments to make Oregon a better state for everyone. At the Oregon Economic Justice Roundtable, we are committed to supporting organizing and advocacy work to ensure we take the steps necessary to achieve Economic and Racial Justice in Oregon.

Here are our 2023 Legislative Priorities for Economic and Racial Justice:

• Invest in Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). IDAs are matched savings accounts that improve the financial future of Oregonians with lower incomes. The program has proven to be a life-changing experience for savers to expand their economic outlook, secure their financial stability, and open doors to homeownership, higher education, enterprise, and other opportunities. The Legislature should support a $35 million investment for IDAs in Oregon.

• Opportunity to Serve Act. Oregon legislators work more session days and serve in a smaller body with fewer lawmakers than their counterparts in other state legislatures yet, they are paid less —legislators in Oregon currently earn a meager $32,839 each year. This makes the opportunity to serve in the Oregon legislature inaccessible to many people, including future lawmakers of color. The Legislature should pass the Opportunity to Serve Act to increase legislator pay to match Oregon’s annual mean occupational employment wage estimate. 

• Oregon Kids’ Credit. Families across our state continue to struggle to make ends meet, and are forced to choose between a roof over their heads or food for their children. At the end of 2022, Congress failed to pass a permanent expansion of the Child Tax Credit. The Legislature should create its own version of an Oregon Kids Credit, creating a $1,200 refundable tax credit available to every Oregon family that meets specific income requirements. 

• People’s Housing Assistance Fund. Rents across Oregon are rising faster than wages, and rental assistance is not widely available for all who need it. Today, only one out of every four Oregonians receives help to pay rent from programs such as the Housing Choice Voucher Program. The Legislature should create a People’s Housing Assistance Fund to allocate $500 million to provide meaningful financial support to rent-burdened Oregonians with incomes at or below 30% AMI to boost their discretionary incomes to meet their needs.

The OEJR has also voted to endorse two additional proposals:

• Tax preparation assistance. The Legislature should invest additional funding to help Oregonians to access valuable refundable state and local tax credits to boost their incomes.

• Mortgage interest deduction. The Legislature should reform the mortgage interest deduction to disallow a deduction on interest paid towards a mortgage securing a non-primary residence. Savings recaptured by disallowing this deduction should go towards homelessness services, asset-building programs, and first-time homebuyer programs.

For more information on our priorities for this session, please contact Ethan Livermore at 503-841- 7555, elivermore@neighborhoodpartnerships.org

Presented by Philanthropy NW, Asset Funders Network, and the Oregon Economic Justice Roundtable. This conversation is the first in a series about what it takes to set the conditions toward bold and liberatory economic justice. Join experts from the Northwest and nationally to explore two recently released reports which provide new frameworks to address racial wealth inequities.

For more information, use this link here