Economic Security

Background

"Basic Needs" was identified as one of the eight critical issues facing Washington County through the 2000 VisionWest community visioning process.  Since that time, VAN has brought together numerous community partners to address this issue.  In October 2005 VAN convened a summit for business leaders to share concrete strategies that support lower-wage workers.  In September 2006, VAN convened another summit, “Economic Livability For All”, which gave businesses tools and resources to support employees facing challenges with child care, transportation, health care, housing and energy costs.

Employer Resource Guide

In 2006, in partnership with Community Action, VAN created an Employer Resource Guide that provides a list of public resources on a variety of needs from housing to transportation to educational opportunities.  Updated annually, the 2009 version of the Employer Resource Guide also includes ways employers can engage their employees in giving back to their communities.  The 2009 Employer Resource Guide is available by clicking the link below:

2009 Employer Resource Guide  (PDF)

2009 Guía de Recursos (pdf) 

Economic Security Agenda

Now, two years later, VAN is looking to continue developing a community agenda to address basic needs and economic security issues in Washington County more effectively.  The VAN’s economic security focus includes the following elements:
  •   Stable, living-wage employment
  •   Stable, affordable housing
  •   Affordable healthcare, childcare and other major expenses
  •   Available and accessible safety net services

In order to create a community-wide “Economic Security Agenda” that provides leadership and vision to address poverty issues in Washington County, VAN is convening a Steering Committee of key stakeholders from all sectors (government, nonprofit, business, education, and faith) to participate in a structured planning process.  The “Economic Security Agenda” will include both short-term and long-term strategies and solutions.  The Agenda will build upon other planning processes across the county and region and include existing information collected by these various efforts.  The planning process won't duplicate efforts, but instead identify gaps in existing plans and develop concrete, obtainable strategies to address them. 

The Economic Security Agenda Steering Committee includes:

Rod Branyan, Director, Washington County Health and Human Services
Rachel Bristol, Executive Director, Oregon Food Bank
Janice Burger, Administrator, Providence St. Vincent Medical Center
Eric Canon & Russ Dondero, Interfaith Committee on Homelessness 
Deanne Dewey, Chair, Inter-religious Action Network
Sia Lindstrom, Senior Deputy County Administrator, Washington County
Jerralynn Ness, Executive Director, Community Action
Janet Rash, Community Affairs Manager, Intel
Jackie Sandquist, Director of Workforce Development, Portland Community College
Jonathan Schlueter, Executive Director, Westside Economic Alliance
Diana Stotz, Senior Program Coordinator, Commission on Children & Families
Val Valfre, Director, Washington County Housing Services

The Economic Security Agenda includes recommendations for ways the Vision Action Network can add value to efforts to improve economic security for all Washington County residents.  The recommendations listed below were created after many issues/needs were identified and discussed.  These recommendations build upon existing efforts and the Steering Committee purposefully aligned recommendations with external opportunities in the community.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

•    Convene workgroup of key leaders around workforce development (education, skills development and support services) to address how systems can work together to better support and reach underserved populations

•  Provide convening role around 211 to support public awareness & usage, organizational participation and sustainability in Washington County

•  Convene organizations who are receiving federal stimulus dollars to support coordination of efforts

•  Coordinate new and emerging knowledge sharing among providers (front line workers)

•  Support public education campaign about opportunities to get involved

•  Support nonprofit capacity for influx of volunteers

  

The VAN board prioritized the first two recommendations and as a result the following two Focus processes have been created and are being facilitated by VAN:

1. A Workforce Development Workgroup, including basic needs providers, workforce system providers and employers is working towards collectively aligning themselves to better take advantage of resources, partnerships and future opportunities to support individuals and families living in poverty in Washington County obtain living wage jobs.

2. A Washington County 211info Outreach Planning Committee is developing a county-wide plan for increasing awareness and usage of 211info as a critical resource to help families get connected to needed services.