On Wed May 15th our Member Education Team presented a forum about our local homeless challenges. Marc Jolin, Executive Director of A Home For Everyone/Joint Offices of Homeless Services, and Brandi Tuck from Portland Homeless Family Solutions shared causes and solutions; grantmakers from Oregon Community Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, and Northwest Health Foundation shared their perspectives about how foundations can make a difference on this issue; and all participants had opportunities to think about their own feelings related to homelessness and how each of us can make a difference with regards to this issue. Here are some exemplary resources to help understand how we got to the current crisis nationally and what we can and are doing about it.

Implicit bias is a real thing, and we are working to combat it. Are you wondering if we’re out of our lane here? Well, we don’t think so. Bias can impact who we invite to join ninety-nine girlfriends, who we encourage to lead, and which organizations we deem worthy of a grant–to name a few examples. There are other ways bias rears its ugly head, but these are a few that exemplify the importance of awareness, education, and practice around this subject.

Are you a north? Or a south? What’s your leadership/listening style? What’s the role of philanthropy in addressing the challenges of our region? What’s it like to be a young immigrant in Portland?