Writing Samples

Sample 1: City of Portland Supportive Workforce Grant

Through our collaboration with WorkSystems and DPI, we have gained invaluable insights into running this program effectively. Now, we are fully prepared to take on the responsibility of managing and continuing this initiative internally. Building on our successful partnership, we will replicate this proven model, expanding our services with confidence based on our past achievements. We are excited to take charge of administering the program we piloted together, with the key enhancement being that we will now handle payroll and pay interns directly.

Our staff has already been actively mentoring and supervising interns, providing essential training in de-escalation techniques, nonviolent communication, Narcan administration, mental health first aid, food handling, and offering weekly case management.

To ensure success as we move forward, we need to secure funding for supervision hours, additional case management, and increased accounting costs associated with adding new staff. We will also establish a streamlined accounting system and assist interns in setting up reloadable debit cards, as many do not have traditional bank accounts. Your support will enable us to empower these individuals as they embark on their journey to achievement.

Background: PDX Saints Love provides access to basic necessities, connections to housing and wraparound support through a combination of public outreach and service hours at their day center in East Portland. Their goal is to work with their community to ensure no one is left behind focusing on inclusion and belonging. PDX Saints Love successfully piloted an innovative workforce training system specifically designed to meet the needs of individuals experiencing homelessness. This program has already addressed critical barriers, offering low-barrier roles, effective skill-building training, flexible hours, and immediate payment options that cater to the urgent financial needs of participants. The training is tailored to individuals with limited work experience, gaps in employment, or inconsistent availability, ensuring they can engage meaningfully in the workforce and support themselves. The goal of this workforce grant was to transform this successful pilot into a sustainable yearly program.

Target Audience: Portland City Council

 Challenge: To secure funding, it was imperative to demonstrate that PDX Saints Love was fully prepared to manage and scale the workforce training program independently. With a strong demand from community members eager to join the program, PDX Saints Love needed sufficient, reliable funding in place to offer these internships.

 Strategy: To build credibility and trust with the City Council, I emphasized the powerful partnerships that helped make the pilot program a success. I also showcased the proven track record of PDX Saints Love’s staff in effectively mentoring and supervising interns, ensuring high-quality support. I clearly outlined the specific financial needs and resources required to expand the program and ensure its sustainability.

Result: The City Council recognized the program's potential and approved full funding for the expanded workforce training initiative, setting the stage for ongoing success and long-term impact.

Sample 2: United Way of the Columbia-Willamette Civic Engagement & Advocacy Grant

HereTogether's mission is to foster collaborative solutions to the pressing challenge of homelessness. Our core strength is our ability to bring diverse voices together. We convened a multi-constituency, tri-county coalition of homeless service providers, business leaders, people who have experienced homelessness, elected officials, people of faith, and more, united by the shared vision of a Portland region where everyone has a safe place to call home. The HereTogether Coalition helped develop and pass the region-wide Supportive Housing Services (SHS) measure with a strong commitment toward centering justice and equity, as BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities are disproportionately and significantly impacted by homelessness.

Today, HereTogether serves as an independent watchdog, a bridge between sectors and jurisdictions, and a wide-reaching communicator that utilizes the full power of our 250+ member coalition to advocate for the timely and effective investment of the SHS measure. Our organization sits at a unique intersection where government, businesses, service providers and the broader public connect, facilitating dialogue and cooperation between groups that might not otherwise meet. 

HereTogether provides critical services that are outside of our coalition partners’ internal capacity, including tracking SHS implementation at the county level, spotting barriers to successful implementation, reporting findings, and providing a coalition-endorsed roadmap to overcome hurdles.

We work alongside our partners, offering policy analysis insights and communications resources that help share their vital work with the broader public. By fostering a community of learning and skill-sharing, we amplify our combined efforts to increase public understanding of the economic factors driving homelessness. Together, we advance narratives that build community support for housing solutions, creating a foundation for positive policy change that benefits all members of our community.

Background: HereTogether was founded in 2019 to fill a critical gap in the Portland metro region’s approach to addressing homelessness. They convened a diverse coalition to advocate for a robust ballot measure to address both the immediate needs and systemic changes necessary to stabilize housing for thousands of people living on our streets, and to prevent homelessness for thousands more.

Target Audience: A diverse panel of community organizers that work to build awareness around the consequences of systemic racism and identify solutions that can scale to meet the greatest need and result in lasting impact.

Challenge: Advocacy work can be hard to convey, as it often happens behind the scenes and may seem abstract. To demonstrate the importance of HereTogether's efforts, I emphasized the unique role the organization plays beyond the scope of individual nonprofit organizations within the coalition. These nonprofits rely heavily on the successful implementation of the SHS measure, as it constitutes a significant portion of their funding. However, many of these organizations are focused on service delivery and lack the capacity to attend key stakeholder meetings, write reports on the SHS contract process, or provide actionable feedback to government agencies. HereTogether steps in to fill this critical gap, benefiting not only the SHS funding recipients but also the broader community who relies on access to these services. Furthermore, I highlighted that HereTogether’s work is driven by its coalition, which includes diverse community representatives, including businesses, often perceived as being at odds with investments in homelessness solutions.

Result: Secured two years of funding to support coalition building and advocacy for supportive housing.

Sample 3: Oregon Community Foundation’s Community Grant Program

Inspired by our founder, Genny Nelson, Sisters of the Road invites our unhoused neighbors to advocate for their own affordable housing needs. Genny once said, “Form the beginning of Sisters I would always say to anybody who would listen, that we’re not going to end homelessness until the people who have that experience are at the table to shape policy and solutions.” Unfortunately, we are not seeing enough of that in programming or policy. A formal education and political activism are no substitute for lived experience.

We have received consistent feedback from our unhoused community that housing services do not work for them. Lack of follow through, high barriers, rent burden and isolation are some reasons people become houseless again. Most disheartening, people feel convinced they are destined to remain houseless because available programs do not serve their specific needs.

There are too few studies that include firsthand accounts of those who have experienced homelessness. We aim to break the barriers of academia by including people with lived experience at every phase of this project in a meaningful way. In practice, this looks like providing training in survey work, data collection and analysis. We will go through an internal review board process to ensure our work meets ethical standards and can be published in reputable journals. We have a Memorandum of Understanding with PSU to guarantee that the people in our community get to choose how we use the data.

Background: Sisters of the Road seeks to create inclusive opportunities to uplift the dignity and autonomy of people experiencing homelessness by building authentic relationships and alleviating isolation through engagement and advocacy.

Target Audience: The Oregon Community Foundation (OCF) Community Grant is reviewed by regional program officers, trained staff, and volunteers across eight regions of community.

Challenge: It was crucial to convey the importance of including people with lived experience in the survey project work. People living unsheltered are often labeled under harmful narratives that describe them having a lack of agency, knowledge or understanding of their own condition. Sisters’ goal was to shed light on the value people with direct experience provide in finding solutions and the benefit of working in collaboration.

Strategy: I used an inspirational quote from Genny Nelson, the founder of Sisters and a beloved social worker well-known in Portland for her work at Sisters of the Road. The quote drives home the importance of solutions coming from the community, which is a central value OCF shares. I used simple and direct language that anyone can relate to and understand, regardless of how informed they are on the housing crisis in Portland.

Result: Sisters of the Road received $20,000 for phase III of the survey project.