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Local Portland Links

• Street Roots is Portland’s newspaper “for those who cannot afford free speech.”  Their mission is to advocate for the homeless; passionately strive for justice, equality and freedom; to raise awareness and build community; and to create unique career and income opportunities to help homeless people help themselves.


• The Rose City Resource is a publication of Street Roots and is the most comprehensive, updated list of services for people experiencing homelessness and poverty in Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties. The booklet is published quarterly with updated information and seasonal events. The Rose City Resource is available in English and in Spanish and has been expanded to the tri-county area.


• 211info provides individuals and families with 24-hour centralized access to quality and friendly information about health and human services resources, including emergency shelter, housing, and much more.  It covers Clackamas, Clark, Multnomah and Washington counties in the Portland area.  Use their online directory or call 2-1-1 or 1.800.723.3638.


• Portland Jobs with Justice (JwJ) is a local campaign for workers’ rights affiliated with national Jobs with Justice.  Working through coalitions of labor, community, religious and constituency organizations, Jobs with Justice is fighting for workers’ rights and economic justice.


• JOIN supports the efforts of homeless individuals and families to transition out of homelessness into permanent housing in Portland Oregon.


• Coalition for a Livable Future is a network of 60 non-profit and community-based organizations working together to create a more equitable and sustainable Portland metropolitan region.


• Affordable Housing NOW! (AHN) is a growing movement of individuals and organizations acting to address the Portland metropolitan region’s affordable housing shortage and the devastating impact it has on our families and communities. Their purpose is secure new, ongoing sources of funding for affordable housing for the region that will result in safe and stable homes for low-income families, families of color, and people with disabilities and low-income individuals.


• Dignity Village is an example of what people experiencing homelessness can do for themselves, together with the support of their community.  Portland’s controversial tent city is still going strong; visit their website and find out why, or visit the tent city at 9401 NE Sunderland.


• Golden West Building: An Exhibit of Portland’s African American History The Golden West Building, 707 NW Everett at Broadway, has a permanent exterior exhibit telling the social and ethnic story of the vibrant African American community in Portland in the early 1900s and the successes and challenges of its residents. Check out the online version, and check out the exhibit in person next time you stop by Sisters!

• The Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP) is an innovative organization determined to make ending homelessness a national priority.  WRAP strives to influence the shaping of public policies that address the systemic causes of poverty and hold the federal government accountable to the needs of homeless and poor people in our communities.  Sisters joined WRAP’s efforts in 2006 and is very excited to partner with them.


• Community Alliance of Tenants (CAT) is Oregon’s only statewide, grassroots, tenant-controlled, tenant-rights organization.  CAT educates, organizes and develops the leadership of low-income tenants to directly challenge unjust housing policies and practices.  CAT’s mission is to educate and empower tenants to demand affordable, stable and safe rental homes. Are you an Oregon renter who has a question about your rights?  Call the Renters’ Rights Hotline at 503-288-0130.


• Oregon Opportunity Network is a statewide association of over 40 nonprofit affordable housing and community development organizations. Their mission is to support and strengthen our members through advocacy, communications, peer learning, and best practices development.


• The Women’s Economic Agenda Project (WEAP) is committed to attaining economic human rights for all people. In a land of abundance, there is no reason anyone’s basic human needs should not be met. WEAP is diligently working to organize the poor, low-income workers, and unemployed into a movement to achieve a vision of a world without poverty and despair, a world that Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed of in his Poor People’s Campaign of 1968.


• The Oregon Center for Public Policy (OCPP) does in-depth research and analysis on budget, tax, and economic issues. Their goal is to improve decision making and generate more opportunities for all Oregonians.  Check out their excellent 2006 report, Who’s Getting Ahead? Opportunity in a Growing Economy, the first comprehensive look at the difficult economic conditions facing workers in this period of strong economic growth.


• Oregon Food Bank (OFB) is a community-based non-profit organization dedicated to fighting hunger and its root causes. They serve a network of eighteen regional food banks across Oregon and 280 local agencies in Multnomah, Clackamas, and Washington Counties as well as Clark County, Washington.
  OFB works in active coalition with other hunger-relief agencies and anti-poverty organizations to identify and address the root causes of hunger through public education and advocacy. Great website for research and statistics about hunger and homelessness.


• Oregon Hunger Relief Task Force was created by the Oregon Legislature in 1989 to act as a resource within government and as a statewide advocate for Oregonians who are hungry or at risk of hunger.  They document the extent of hunger, help coordinate and publicize existing services and advocate for programs and policies to eliminate hunger.
  The Task Force is comprised of members from the Oregon Legislature, state government, nonprofit and religious organizations, and the client community.

• The Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, or PPEHRC, is committed to unite the poor across color lines as the leadership base for a broad movement to abolish poverty. We work to accomplish this through advancing economic human rights as named in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, such as the rights to food, housing, health, education, communication and a living wage job. Sisters Of The Road sits on the National Coordinating Council, the Finance and Executive Committee of this national organization.


• The Urban Institute is a nonpartisian economic and social policy research organization whose goals are to analyze policies, evaluate programs, and inform community development to improve social, civic, and economic well-being. They work in all 50 states and abroad in over 28 countries, and share their research findings with policymakers, program administrators, business, academics, and the public online and through reports and scholarly books.


• The Joint Center for Housing Studies is Harvard University’s center for information and research on housing in the United States. The Joint Center analyzes the dynamic relationships between housing markets and economic, demographic, and social trends, providing leaders in government, business, and the non-profit sector with the knowledge needed to develop effective policies and strategies.


• Share Our Strength (SOS) works to end hunger and poverty in the United States and abroad by mobilizing industries and individuals and creating community wealth to promote lasting social change.  Share Our Strength’s major fundraising program, Taste of the Nation is a Sisters fundraising supporter.


• National Coalition for the Homeless’ mission is to end homelessness. They focus their work in the following 4 areas: housing justice, economic justice, health care justice, and civil rights through grassroots organizing, public education, policy advocacy, technical assistance, and partnerships.  Great resource for national statistics on homelessness.


• National Center on Family Homelessness is the leading not-for-profit in the United states working towards long-term solutions which help homeless families.


• National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty’s mission is to alleviate, ameliorate and end homelessness by serving as the legal arm of the nationwide movement to end homelessness. The Law Center pursues three main strategies: impact litigation, policy advocacy, and public education.


• American Bar Association Commission on Homelessness and Poverty is an excellent resource for research publications and information on homeless legal issues.