Sisters Voice
Winter 2025

From our Executive Director

Dear Sisters Community,

As I write this letter, I am approaching the end of my second month at Sisters of the Road. I feel incredibly honored to be here, as well as a sense of pride in being a part of an organization that has had such a long legacy of impact on our community, including the successful advocacy in Washington D.C. for the ability to use federal food assistance on hot meals; the establishment of a barter café that created a community grounded in human dignity and purpose; and the continual survey work that elevates the voices of people experiencing homelessness and establishes them as experts of their own experience.

Our team is following in the footsteps of the incredible, fierce, and compassionate advocates who came before us like Genny Nelson, Sandy Gooch, Monica Beemer, and so many more. These humans built the foundation for Sisters over the past 46 years - a foundation that current staff and community members have the opportunity to build from. I am incredibly energized and hopeful about building what comes next.

I wouldn’t be doing this work if I didn’t hold the relentless and unwavering belief that ending homelessness is possible. People living on the streets isn’t something we should ever consider normal or okay. People deserve to be housed. And being unhoused is not an individual failure. The existence of homelessness is a policy choice perpetuated by our continued underinvestment in deeply affordable housing and the supportive services that help people stay in their homes.

There is still a need for Sisters in Portland. Portland today is not the Portland from 1979. So much has changed. Old Town has changed. But the need for advocating for solutions to homelessness and poverty remains unchanged.

Everyone wants to know, with the café closed, what is Sisters doing next? Sisters is committed to creating spaces where everyone is welcome, where people can build connections and community, and where a sense of belonging and purpose is fostered. Our neighbors have said over and over: the café was never about the food, it was about feeling a sense of purpose. It was about how we treated each other. It was about creating community.

Later in this newsletter, you’ll read more from our Systemic Change team about their plans for continued organizing, advocacy,  and community-driven research. One thing we know for sure - Sisters’ work will be in response to community needs. We heard in the Finding Home survey that unhoused folks would choose to be housed if they could afford it. The barrier is a lack of deeply affordable housing and the supportive services needed to stay housed. Sisters will continue to advocate for policies that affirm the humanity of people living outside, create real solutions to our city’s housing crisis, and oppose policies that criminalize homelessness and poverty.

We will organize and advocate for the redistribution of resources to create more deeply affordable housing, keep people from being evicted, and provide wraparound services to help folks transition from shelters and the street to permanent housing.

As we make plans for what comes next, we will remain grounded in Sisters’ philosophies: gentle personalism, anti-oppression, non-violence, systemic change, and dignity. We will also remain deeply connected to our community. No one organization can do it all - but together we can do great things.

Over the past two months, I’ve been honored to listen to people’s stories about Sisters. And I’ve learned that SO MANY people have a story about Sisters! A long-time Sisters volunteer and supporter shared that when they are faced with a difficult situation, they ask themselves, what would Genny Nelson do? An Old Town community gathering space has been modeled after the Sisters of the Road Café. Neighbors have told stories about how they had been turned away from so many places, but when they showed up for a meal at Sisters, they felt welcomed and that they mattered. When people have had nowhere else to go, they knew they could go to Sisters and be surrounded by dignity, respect, love and belonging.

I would love to hear your stories about Sisters. Please reach out any time. My email is nicki@sistersoftheroad.org.

Thank you for being part of Sisters’ story!

In solidarity,

Nicki