From the Eugene Register-Guard, September 30, 2011

Gov. John Kitzhaber’s affirmation Wednesday of state plans to build a psychiatric facility in Junction City was pitch perfect, both in its recognition of the need for the new hospital and in its commitment to expanded community-­based health care.

Governor John Kitzhaber by Henk Pander

The governor is right about that, even though some advocacy groups have questioned the need for the Junction City hospital. They argue that a new 620-bed facility in Salem will replace the capacity that will be lost when the current Oregon State Hospital is closed. They say the state should invest in community-based mental health services instead of building the Junction City facility. That, they say, would enable the state to keep patients in a setting that’s cheaper for taxpayers, that provides a less institutional environment and that keeps patients closer to families.

Hospital critics are on target about the importance of community-based mental health care, but they’re wrong in arguing that the Salem hospital will provide Oregon with sufficient capacity. As the governor noted, Oregon will lose space for 150 psychiatric patients in 2015 when two of Oregon’s smaller psychiatric hospitals, Oregon State Hospital in Portland and Blue Mountain in Pendleton, are closed. That’s when the 174-bed Junction City facility is supposed to come on line, providing the state with a modest net gain of 24 psychiatric beds to the state system.

Those beds play a crucial role in the state’s system, serving people with severe mental illness who require acute care. If insufficient hospital space is available, people with severe mental illness are pushed into community-­based residential centers, leaving less space for patients who need 24-hour treatment but can be cared for in non-institutional settings.

As previously noted in this space, that’s what’s happening now. Because the state lacks sufficient hospital space, facilities and programs that provide less-intensive mental health treatment are forced to deal with people whose illness is more severe than is appropriate for those services. Meanwhile, those who need secure psychiatric beds often must wait for months before there is an opening.

Yet Kitzhaber also was right to recognize the need for Oregon to transition to a mental health care system that is focused on community-based preventive care for most patients — and that could see the Junction City facility eventually transition into a prison that specializes in treating mentally ill inmates.

The move away from “big-box” psychiatric facilities to community-based care is also one for which the federal government has advocated, in particular the Obama administration. But that transition will take time. It’s one thing to talk about locating a network of 16-bed community mental health care facilities throughout Oregon; finding actual sites and cooperative communities is another matter.

Finding the money to expand community-based care also will be a daunting challenge at a time when the state faces major budget shortfalls. Oregon and other states already have learned the painful lesson of what happens when states find money by cannibalizing their hospitals.

An effective state mental health system provides a continuum of services ranging from hospitalization to community-based care. The governor has made clear that he recognizes the need for that continuum, and he should, along with the Legislature, stay the course on a new state hospital in Junction City.

From the East Oregonian & OPB.org, September 28, 2011

A grand jury Tuesday cleared Pendleton Police Officer Erik Palmer in the shooting of Mark McMillan.

Umatilla County District Attorney Dan Primus, who presented the case, said a Pendleton grand jury jury found Palmer justified in the use of deadly force.

Primus also said the case is still under investigation, and McMillan could face charges.

Palmer, 33, a 5-year city policeman, encountered McMillan the evening of Monday, Sept. 19, in a pickup on the 500 block of Southeast Byers Avenue. As Palmer approached the pickup, McMillan, 49, reportedly suicidal, pointed a handgun at him.

Palmer faced McMillan alone and shot him multiple times. Paramedics took the wounded McMillan to St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton, which then transferred him via air ambulance to Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. Hospital spokeswoman Caryn Ruch on Wednesday said McMillan is in fair condition.

The grand jury heard from Palmer, Oregon State Police detective Jeremy Gunter and state police forensic scientist Christine Ogilvie.

Primus said the shooting clearly affected the officer.

“I saw it in Erik’s face — it is a difficult situation,” Primus said.

Primus declined comment on evidence the jurors heard, citing the on-going investigation. He also declined comment on what, if any, charges McMillan could face.

Pendleton Police Chief Stuart Roberts this morning said the finding was a relief to the department and to Palmer, who remains on paid leave.

“He’s ready to come back to work, he wants to come back to work,” Roberts said. “I anticipate he will be back to work in the next week or two.”

Before Palmer can return, he must be emotionally and psychologically fit, Roberts said. The department performs its own administrative review to ensure Palmer acted in accordance with established polices and procedures.

“We’ve gone through the criminal part; we’ve gone through the psychological part; we’re very close on the administrative part,” the chief said.

Roberts said Palmer didn’t expect to have to pull his firearm as he approached McMillan in the pickup, but McMillan, his head and hands outside the truck, pointed a laser-sighted handgun at the officer.

Palmer ran for cover, Roberts said, and fired on the move.

According to Roberts:

Palmer’s first or second round probably stuck the pickup and then hit McMillan in the face, injuring him and forcing him back into the vehicle. Palmer continued to fire, with another round busting through the rear window and hitting McMillan in the shoulder.

McMillan slumped out of view, but Palmer didn’t know if McMillan was even hit.

Other officers arrived, crouched and yelled for McMillan to show his hands.

Carefully they approached the pickup, until an officer peeked inside to see McMillan. They yanked him from the cab and gave aid until an ambulance arrived.

Roberts said Oregon State Police is handling the criminal investigation, so he didn’t know how may times McMillan was struck by gunfire. Police training dictates an officer fires until a threat is neutralized, the chief said.

The is the second time Palmer has shot a man in the line of duty, and the second time a grand jury determined his actions were justified.

Palmer fatally shot Deveron Schreiner, 38, of La Grande on June 26, 2008, at The Face & Body Place, 221 S. Main St.

Schreiner, armed with a stolen semi-automatic handgun threatened to kill himself or someone else, according to investigators. He pointed a Glock handgun at his head and then at police.

Palmer fired one round from a rifle, which struck Schreiner in the neck and killed him.

Most officers in their careers never even draw their weapons, Roberts said. Palmer has, twice.

When he returns to work, Palmer will not be on patrol duty immediately; instead, the department will ease him back into regular duty, Roberts said.

He said the ultimate call to return to street duty rests with Palmer.

From the Portland Mercury, September 29, 2011

Some 12 hours after hostage negotiators persuaded a mentally ill, gun-waving 50-year-old man to peacefully emerge from his Goose Hollow apartment, Portland police officials this afternoon were triumphantly taking credit for averting a “huge tragedy” that could have ended, easily, with the death of the man they arrested, or maybe—in a worst-case horror story—with the man shooting as many as dozens of other citizens.

John Griffin's seized guns

And what brought about that mostly happy ending? Among many reasons, one stands out: Restraint.

In what even top police officials would call a dramatic shift in their thinking, officers decided not to leap immediately into a confrontation with the man, identified as John Loxley Griffin—acknowledging in a way they usually don’t that sometimes officers’ very presence in a situation can lead it to spiral fatally out of control.

In fact, in the two previous incidents with Griffin, both of which also involved guns, officers “walked away” because it wasn’t clear Griffin had committed a crime, and also because Griffin had calmed down. Instead, officers worked with mental health professionals, Veterans Affairs, relatives, and the district attorney’s office to obtain a civil commitment hold for Griffin. That plan went awry after Griffin last night finally did, police say, commit a crime: pointing a gun outside his Southwest Yamhill window and actually threatening to shoot someone.

“This is a big change under the leadership of Chief [Mike] Reese,” said Day, until recently the bureau’s top training officer. “[Mentally ill subjects] may not be receptive [to officers' offers of help]. At what point do we force help, and what might be the consequences?”

Unfortunately, that message might be lost amid news coverage that has—so far—seemed to focus intensely on the huge cache of weapons turned up in Griffin’s apartment: body armor, 12 rifles, handguns, 2,000 rounds of ammunition, etc.

But for a police bureau that’s facing federal scrutiny of how it uses force against the mentally ill, especially after a particularly bloody run of police shootings starting in January 2010 through the early months of 2011, it’s a shift worth noting.

Day said sergeants all across the bureau are being trained on the finer points of “walking away,” with training for all officers planned over the course of the next year. In Griffin’s case, when asked why officers didn’t try to take him into custody before last night’s standoff, Day hammered again the notion that heavy-handed action can sometimes backfire.

“That is a very difficult balance,” he said, invoking the term “risk vs. reward.” “Any action we take is…going to be an overt action, which is going to provoke a reaction from the citizen.”

Earlier Wednesday, a crisis team police officer, teamed with a Cascadia worker, had devoted much of his shift to learning as much as he could about Griffin’s temperament and history. He concocted a plan, with the help of Griffin’s girlfriend and apartment manager, to lure Griffin out of his apartment and into the the hands of undercover officers who would have placed him in a civil commitment hold and into the VA system for treatment.

That didn’t work. Griffin was reportedly too suspicious—a case of not being wrong that someone was out to get him. Later he waved the gun, and then it was a crime that officials said they could no longer ignore.

Tactical officers from Washington County—Portland’s tactical team was out of town for its annual one-week training retreat, officials say—even adopted restraint as their mantra during the standoff. Instead of announcing themselves to Griffin immediately, and risking violence, officers cleared out the surrounding apartments and cordoned off nearby streets without Griffin realizing.

“From what we know, it was exactly as it should be,” says Jason Renaud of the Mental Health Association of Portland, long an advocate for improving how cops interact with the mentally ill. “We want them to come in with a plan, talk to family, talk to clinicians, talk to a landlord. This is a person whose thinking may be very impaired. They may appear malevolent, but they they may actually just be in crisis.”

But police officials also recognized that of the hundreds of calls they receive each day involving someone who is mentally ill or in crisis, they rarely have the luxury of investing the kind of time and energy the spent on Griffin’s case. Griffin also wasn’t as manic as some who wind up in confrontations with police. He was actually sleeping when negotiators rang him up to coax him outside.

And as Renaud notes, plans can go out the window when someone in a standoff continues to act erratically.

“The gun comes out again and points out the window,” he says, “and all this negotiation comes out of the away, and they go back to being cops.

From the Oregonian, September 28, 2011

A paranoid and delusional man who had 14 guns and 2,000 rounds of ammunition in his Southwest Portland apartment peacefully surrendered to law enforcement early Thursday after a six-hour stand off with police.

John Losley Griffin

Portland police said the peaceful resolution followed elaborate planning and collaboration between police, Griffin’s family, and mental health professionals.

“We have a mental health crisis in our community,” said Bob Day, commander of the bureau’s Central Precinct. “It’s a sign of our times and what we are dealing with. The role of law enforcement is changing. Social disorder issues now fall to police, and we are the first responders.”

Dealing with the mentally ill has been a challenge for the bureau and a source of controversy. The federal Justice Department has launched an investigation to see whether Portland police have used excessive force, particularly against people with mental illness, following a spike in police shootings the past 20 months.

Police were first called to Griffin’s apartment complex at 1631 S.W. Yamhill St. late last week.

Rod Hoover, 36, said he called 9-1-1 Sept. 21 after Griffin knocked on his door. When Hoover answered, he saw Griffin wearing “full body armor,” with a shotgun in one hand and rifle in the other. Griffin then asked Hoover “if we knew we were under siege.”

By the time police arrived, Griffin had returned to his unit and refused repeated requests to come out. Since no crime had been committed, Day said, police could take no action.

On Tuesday, police were once more called to the complex. This time Griffin, wearing a gas mask and bullet-proof vest, was yelling and screaming out his window. Again, he refused to come out of his unit.

Day, meanwhile, instructed Sgt. Jeff Niiya to research Griffin’s background so officers would know who they were dealing with.

Niiya tracked down Griffin’s mother and girlfriend, and learned he’d been having problems. His girlfriend told police she moved out because Griffin was loading and unloading his weapons. She did know how many weapons he owned.

Neighbors said Griffin appeared to go downhill in recent weeks, and seemed to be having delusions. Before that, Hoover said, Griffin was “normally a gruff old guy.”

Niiya talked to Officer Herb Miller, a member of the bureau’s Mobile Crisis Unit that deals with the mentally ill. Miller works closely with Cindy Hackett, a mental health clinician with Portland’s Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare.

Officials laid out the case for a judge Wednesday and were given a mental health hold to place on Griffin. That meant officers could take him into custody and send him to Cascadia, where Hackett had reserved a space for him.

Officers, meantime, kept an eye on Griffin’s third-floor apartment, which has windows facing the street.

Undercover officers stationed in the Chapman Court Apartments had the manager call Griffin and ask him to come to the office. They were hoping to get him out of his unit so he could be taken into custody.

Griffin refused and hung up. Miller then scouted the complex so officers would know the layout should they be faced with forcing Griffin from his apartment.

Police continued to monitor the situation, planning to bring Griffin’s girlfriend to the apartment complex Thursday and have her call Griffin to lure him out of the unit.

But then Griffin forced police to act when he leaned out of a window around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, pointed a rifle at a neighbor in the apartment courtyard and threatened to hurt people.

Miller hustled to the scene where he shared information with officers. At that point, commanders decided to call out a tactical team. Portland’s team is in training, so the Washington County team was called in and complex residents were evacuated.

Day said all the background work done earlier in the week helped negotiators deal with Griffin. He said officers knew it would be hard to gain his trust.

Griffin repeatedly hung up on the negotiator, but then he abruptly agreed to come out.

“I’m thankful it worked out the way it did,” Day said. “Given that he was delusional and agitated I thought it would end up in a confrontation. This is the way it should work all the time. But given our resources and time, we can’t do this every time someone is in crisis. What we don’t want to do as police is force the issue.”

From the Eugene Register-Guard, September 27, 2011

Kitzhaber says the Junction City project has a key role in the move to community-based mental health care

Junction City, Oregon

“I would not be in support of building this institution if it wasn’t part of a larger mosaic of how we provide care to those with mental illness in this state,” the governor told a packed house at First Baptist Church.

Kitzhaber said a Junction City facility makes sense because the state will need more secure psychiatric beds when its two smaller hospitals in Portland and Pendleton close in coming years.

“Those facilities are falling apart, and they’re inadequate,” he said. “It’s more cost-effective to build a new facility” than to renovate those hospitals.

Kitzhaber said he wants Ore­gon to transition to a mental health care system that’s focused on community-based, preventive care for most patients — a model that would be cheaper for taxpayers and less restrictive for patients. At that point, the Junction City facility could transition into a prison that specializes in treating mentally ill inmates, the governor said.

“The whole (health care) system is currently set up to reward acute care,” he said. “What we’re trying to do is fundamentally change that system.”

Kitzhaber, local legislators Rep. Val Hoyle and Sen. Chris Edwards, Lane County Commissioner Jay Bozievich and hospital project administrator Linda Hammond took questions from a crowd, whose concerns ranged from the number of nursing jobs the hospital eventually might bring to whether the state can afford the new hospital, as well as public safety questions raised by several prospective neighbors of the facility.

Some spoke in support of the project, including Katharine Schneider, who works in the psychiatric unit of the Sacred Heart Medical Center, University District.

“To our minds, it is unfathomable that we wouldn’t create those beds,” she said. “We had a patient wait for a (secure psychiatric) bed for 90 days. … Until we have more community options, this is just a critical project.”

Several construction industry representatives said the project would bring “desperately needed jobs,” and asked for safeguards to ensure that the jobs stay in Oregon.

Others were critical of the proposed hospital.

“The focus shouldn’t be on jobs; it should be on the appropriate treatment of the mentally ill,” said Gary Crum, a Junction City retiree. “I would feel more comfortable about this project if there was any patient advocacy group that was supporting this.”

Jim Hargreaves, a former Lane County Circuit Court judge who spent a year studying the Oregon State Hospital, asked the governor how he would go about finding sites for 16-bed community mental health care facilities throughout Oregon.

“It’s great to talk about community-­based care, but nobody wants it in their backyard,” he said.

Kitzhaber acknowledged the challenge that siting would pose. He said the state might have to create a board that would have the power to choose sites over the protest of communities.

“It’s one of those things where you can’t have it both ways,” he said. “I don’t see a way around that.”

The Legislature will have to approve an additional $28.5 million in construction bonds in February to keep the Junction City hospital project moving forward and on schedule to open in 2015.

Kitzhaber spent the earlier part of his day in Eugene, where he spoke at a convention for the Oregon AFL-CIO federation of labor unions, and toured Bulk Handling Systems, a local manufacturing business that builds machines that extract recycl­able materials from garbage; it has increased its work force significantly over the past 18 months.

If interested, please submit resume, cover letter & salary requirements to Kjamison @ chooseempowerment.com. Position closes Oct 15th. 40 hour/week position.

EMPOWERMENT INITIATIVES is an Oregon nonprofit corporation dedicated to being a catalyst in providing individuals who experience mental health issues opportunities for choice and development of personal goals, using the four principals of self-determination: freedom, authority, responsibility, and support. Empowerment Initiatives is a mental health survivor-lead and managed organization.

General Summary of Duties: The Program Coordinator works under the supervision of the Executive Director and is responsible for planning, organizing, managing, and evaluating the Peer Mentor Programs. The coordinator plans and monitors program performance against program goals and objectives, to ensure program results through the supervision of program staff members and the Administrative Coordinator. The Program Coordinator may also provide direct service to some brokerage participants and provide shift coverage at the Peer Mentor Program sites.

The Program Coordinator serves as a principal liaison and agency representative to outside agencies.

Principal Duties:

1. Researches, develops, recommends and implements plans to meet the overall Program goals, including the development of program budgets.
2. Recommends and implements program policies and procedures.
3. Identifies and recommends solutions to program resource needs and requirements.
4. Develops systems and procedures for monitoring the progress of individual customer plans, and program commitments to funding agencies.
5. Develops plans and recommendations for sustainability of the Peer Mentor Programs, identifying funding sources and expansion partners.
6. As the supervisor of Program staff: orients, trains, supports, and evaluates staff; develops a supportive working environment in the program which encourages and fosters continual learning among employees.
7. Establishes and maintains effective working relationships with stakeholders, including representatives of local counties, state agencies, and community resource agencies.
8. Works with community organizations to develop services needed by customers that don’t currently exist or don’t currently accommodate the specific needs identified.
9. Maintains records and required documentation to meet reporting requirements of funding agencies and stakeholders.
10. Prepares reports and provides statistical information as required by supervisor.
11. Participates in staff meetings and training programs.
12. Prepares program reports to the board of directors at board meetings. Facilitates communication between staff and board members.
13. Receives, investigates, and responds to complaints about the services provided or the operations of the Programs. Keeps the Board informed of risk management issues.
14. May carry out the duties required of a peer mentor as needed.

Qualifications:

Training and Experience:
* Bachelor’s degree in related mental health field, psychology, social work.
* A minimum of 5 years experience, including one year of management experience in related service area required. A combination of education and work experience may be substituted for the Bachelor’s degree.
* Understand and be committed to whole life planning as a means of recovery from mental health issues.
* Knowledge of: Peer delivered services; principals and practices of program planning, budgeting, management and personnel supervision.

Ability to:
* Communicate effectively orally and in writing.
* Maintain sensitive and confidential information.
* Establish and maintain effective working relationships with staff, customers, vendors and board members.
* Remain calm in stressful situations.
* Analyze difficult program administrative and operational issues
* Apply sound, creative problem solving techniques to resolve program issues and problems.
* Provide effective supervision and support to subordinate staff.
* Prepare clear and concise reports.
* Coordinate program activities with multiple stakeholders and facilitate agreement and consensus.
* Exercise independent judgment and initiative within established guidelines.
* Exercise tact and diplomacy in dealing with difficult and sensitive people, issues and situations.

Licenses, Certifications and Special Requirements:
* Possession a valid driver’s license and a good driving record, if applicable.
* Criminal history must meet or exceed company standards at time of hire and be maintained at this level throughout employment

Physical and Mental Demands:
* Must be able to balance the demands of providing support to individual customers with the administrative, program planning, supervision, and documentation requirements of managing the Peer Mentor Programs. Light to moderate lifting (up to 5lbs) bending and stooping.

From the Eugene Register-Guard, September 28, 2011

Governor John Kitzhaber

Gov. John Kitzhaber today will attend a town hall meeting in Junction City that will delve into the current status of the proposed psychiatric state hospital here, which could bring hundreds of government jobs to Lane County if it is ever built.

Joining Kitzhaber will be state Sen. Chris Edwards and state Rep. Val Hoyle, Eugene Democrats whose districts include Junction City; Lane County Commissioner Jay Bozievich; and high-­ranking state officials from the Oregon Health Authority and Department of Corrections. Tim Raphael, a Kitzhaber spokesman, said the governor “looks forward to meeting with his constituents in that part of the state.”

Hoyle, a vocal supporter of the project in the Oregon Legislature, said she was “very excited” that the governor had accepted an invitation to attend the meeting.

“People have been able to get little pieces of information about the status of the project, but having the governor — Ore­gon’s chief executive — discuss how (the Junction City hospital) fits in with his vision of overall health care transformation for the state will be very reassuring to residents,” she said.

The hospital project has been in a state of continual flux since its inception in 2007, when lawmakers approved a $458 million plan to build two new psychiatric facilities — a 620-bed facility in Salem and a 360-bed facility in Junction City — to replace the old Salem state mental hospital.

The new Salem hospital largely is completed, but the Junction City project has been stalled, in part because of the state’s financial crisis.

While the hospital would be a boon for Lane County’s economy, bringing hundreds of well-paying jobs, the project has met plenty of resistance, both on financial and mental health treatment grounds.

Earlier this year, the size of the proposed Junction City facility was cut to 174 beds, based on revised projections of the state’s need for psychiatric beds in the coming decades, and funding to move beyond preliminary construction work was postponed because of stretched state finances.

The 2011 Legislature approved $5 million for indirect construction costs — mostly for planning and infrastructure — to be spent in Junction City by early next year. That allocation keeps the project moving forward and could allow the hospital to open on schedule in 2015, according to project administrators.

Legislators also floated the idea this summer of transitioning the hospital eventually to become a state corrections facility for inmates with mental health and addiction problems. The proposed transition would allow many individuals with mental illness, those who are not dangerous to themselves or others, to be treated in community settings around the state rather than in a big psychiatric hospital.

That’s a model of care for mental illness that the federal government and patient advocacy groups have been pressuring Ore­gon and other states to move toward.

Hoyle said today’s town hall meeting would allow officials “to explain the current plan (for the hospital) and to address some concerns that Junction City residents might have moving forward.”

Raphael, Kitzhaber’s spokesman, said the governor “wants to be in listening mode” and get local feedback about the project.

Junction City Councilor Randy Nelson said he expects the meeting to be well attended as local interest remains high.

“When you’re talking about 500 to 600 jobs, people will be interested,” he said.

Nelson added that getting Kitzhaber’s “stamp of approval” will help give confidence to the community that the hospital will be built eventually.

“It has been long time since (people in Junction City) first heard about this project, … and they’re confused about where it is headed now,” he said. “It does feel like the plans change on a day-to-day basis.”

Kitzhaber also may hear from some advocates for psychiatric patients who balk at the idea of the state building a new psychiatric hospital, even one that may serve a different purpose eventually.

[David] Bob Oaks, director of MindFreedom International, a Eugene-based organization, said that politicians continue to paint individuals with mental illness as dangerous and refuse to include representatives of that community in discussions about how the care they should receive.

For all the official proclamations about a future using community-based care, if legislators move ahead with a large new psychiatric hospital, that will send its own message, he said.

“We hear a lot of great buzzwords, like ‘community care’ and ‘empowerment,’ but the proof is in the pudding,” he said. “A facility like that is something that belongs in the industrial age and the 1800s.”

Town Hall Meeting on state hospital for Junction City

When: Today, 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Where: First Baptist Church, 28957 W. 18th Ave., Junction City

Michael Kaplan, Executive Director of Cascade AIDS Project

It was announced [September 27, 2011] the Portland Housing Bureau received $1.365 million in new funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to fund a variety of housing services, including short-term rent assistance, employment services, and permanent housing for people living with HIV and experiencing homelessness. Per a press release, this new funding will provide homes for up to 60 more people living with HIV/AIDS per year and connect them to employment opportunities.

More than 600 people living with HIV/AIDS are experiencing homelessness, or on the brink of becoming homeless, in the Portland metropolitan area. While the economic recession has severely impacted the local community in recent years, the effects of unemployment are more pronounced among people living with HIV/AIDS. Seventy percent of people living with HIV/AIDS have incomes below the federal poverty level. Lack of employment and benefits income presents a major barrier to securing housing.

While a total of 46 projects were considered for funds from HUD, Portland is one of only eight communities throughout the country receiving the money. In particular, the grant money will assist Cascade AIDS Project’s housing and employment programs greatly.

Specifically, the new, local funding will support Springboard to Stability, Self-Sufficiency and Health (S4H), a collaborative initiative combining the work of Cascade AIDS Project in providing rent assistance, case management and employment services, with the employment and training services offered at WorkSource Portland Metro funded by Worksystems, Inc.

“Here in Portland, we are fortunate to work collaboratively with community and agency partners, increasing housing and services for people who need it most,” says Housing Commissioner Nick Fish. “It’s a big win for our community when we bring new dollars to help our most vulnerable neighbors, and also leverage existing partnerships and resources.” Fish acknowledged the outstanding work of the team at the Portland Housing Bureau who worked with partners to secure this grant, and thanked HUD for their continued support of Portland’s work.

The new grant will strengthen Cascade AIDS Project’s (CAP) housing and employment programs and help fulfill CAP’s mission of caring for and empowering people affected and infected by HIV/AIDS. With the new funds, CAP’s housing program – already the largest provider of housing for people living with HIV/AIDS in Oregon and southwest Washington – will develop housing plans and find homes for up to 60 more people a year.

“We are thrilled for this opportunity to expand our partnership with the City of Portland and Work Systems,” says Michael Kaplan, executive director, Cascade AIDS Project. “This funding will not only substantially reduce the waitlist of individuals living with HIV in need of stable housing, but with the funding for the integrated employment program, it offers many the opportunity for self-sufficiency.”

The new grant also ensures three additional years of operation for Working Choices, a program offering a full menu of workshops, one-on-one assistance, and networking groups for HIV-positive job seekers.

“Worksystems is delighted to be part of this innovative partnership that aligns and unites housing, employment and social service agencies to serve people living with HIV/AIDS,” says Andrew McGough, Executive Director, Worksystems Inc. “Funds from this grant will support a liaison to provide ongoing technical assistance to help Cascade AIDS Project staff connect their program participants with training and employment services available at WorkSource Portland Metro.”

“Portland’s ability to leverage funding dollars is made possible by the strength of local collaborations,” says Commissioner Fish. The City partners with Home Forward [Housing Authority of Portland], Multnomah County Departments of Health and Human Services, the Oregon Health Authority, Coalition of Community Health Clinics, Outside In and Central City Concern, among others.”