Oregon Community Foundation

Oregon's housing shortage is holding all of us back.

Too many Oregonians — nurses, restaurant workers, teachers, construction workers and small business owners — are struggling to find homes they can afford near the communities they serve.

Oregon Community Foundation can help. We’re willing to do what it takes to help our neighbors get into a home with a door and a floor and a future.

The Building Hope Fund will help finance the construction of new housing for middle-income Oregonians by providing lower-interest loans to developers ready to build but unable to secure reasonable financing.

We've seeded the Building Hope Fund with $100 million. And we’re inviting investors, donors, foundations and financial institutions to join us. Anyone can be part of the Building Hope Fund. To learn more: https://oregoncf.org/buildinghope

Together, we intend to help build 10,000 homes in Oregon.

We are balancing bold action with the collective wisdom that has guided this institution for more than 50 years. And we believe that if we do this right —right partners, right structure and rock-solid resolve — we will do more than build homes.

We will build a better Oregon.

Think big, Oregon.

And hold hands.

In a former car dealership in Medford's Liberty Park neighborhood, something remarkable is happening.

Teens are rolling and cutting fresh pasta by hand — and in the process, learning to run a business, connect with local farms and feed their community.

The program is called Pastabilities, run by Kids Unlimited of Oregon. It grew out of a simple pandemic activity — making fresh pasta at home — and turned into something much bigger: a farmers market booth that sells out within hours, partnerships with local vineyards, and now plans for a drive-through restaurant operated by students.

Parent Mayra Duran describes what she sees in the students: "The feeling of belonging, the feeling of being seen, and the feeling of being celebrated."

Oregon Community Foundation is proud to have helped incubate this idea — because when young people in Southern Oregon are given real responsibility and real opportunity, they rise.

📣 Funding + Support for Oregon Out-of-School Time Programs

Oregon Community Foundation is launching a three-year Learning Community to help youth programs strengthen quality, evaluation and impact.

Selected programs will receive $25,000–$40,000 per year in general program support while participating in a collaborative program quality improvement process.

We’re looking for programs that:

• Serve adolescents, especially middle school youth
• Support youth from low-income families, youth of color or youth from rural communities
• Focus on social-emotional learning
• Want to build stronger evaluation and learning practices

💻 Join our informational webinar
📅 Thursday, April 2
⏰ 11 a.m.

Check the comments for a registration link and share this post to spread the word to organizations serving Oregon youth.

Photo: Centro Cultural de Washington County