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New Year, New Villages
In 2021 Central Oregon Vet Villages became the first-of-a-kind shelter in the region; in 2022 even more will open
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By Jack Harvel
Courtesy Central Oregon Villages
Central Oregon Villages submitted two proposed models for a managed campsite to the City of Bend, and is the only organization to do so by the end of the City’s request for proposal period ending Dec. 9. The region saw its first village-style shelter open on Nov. 11, 2021, when Central Oregon Veteran’s Village welcomed five veterans to their shelters with plans to expand to as many as 15 residents.
The City’s proposed camps are planned for one of three locations the City identified in 2021. The first is a property off Ninth Street near Bend High School, the second on Juniper Ridge and the third is an Oregon Department of Transportation Property off Murphy Road and Third Street.
One proposed camp would specifically seek older women to shelter in one of their 10 units, with ambitions to expand to 20 units that could house women and children escaping abuse. The other is a more general six-unit micro-village.
People living in the villages will be expected to help maintain the entire facility and, if applicable, address issues that may keep them from finding permanent housing like addiction treatment, mental health issues and professional development. The villages will accept people who use drugs, but they’re expected to stop while living there.
“The model we’re using is low-barrier entry, high barrier to remain,” said Jim Porter, former Bend Police Chief and president
Central Oregon Villages created site plans for the three proposed sites from the City during its request for proposal period.
of Central Oregon Villages. “We need to house these people first, before you expect them to get clean. You just can’t get clean and sober living underneath the bridge.”
All three sites received some level of pushback during city council meetings, with neighbors concerned over potential increases in crime, accumulation of trash and proximity to schools. Porter said he’s understanding of these complaints,
Credit to St. Vincent de Paul of Bend but that people are already camping across Bend and that a managed camps would look different than the makeshift ones on Hunnel Road and Second Street.
“I would not want Hunnel Road near my house either, and I would be fighting and protesting against it, also. But that’s not what we’re proposing,” Porter said. “I know this for a fact from working with the houseless and from being on the police side; there are people camping in every neighborhood in Bend, and they are uncontrolled camps.”
Some community members have also complained about the length of time it takes to get a camp running.
Central Oregon Villages got a shipment of shelters in October and Porter said they can be set up in as little as two days once site-prep is completed. The organization could be offering shelters as soon as February, pending conversations with the Bend City Council on Jan. 19, but Porter said what’s most important is making sure the process works and is sustainable.
“People are saying, why isn’t this moving quicker? Well, for good governance and good lasting policy that will be there year after year, it takes time. If you rush into it, you’re going to make mistakes, and you’re going to waste tax dollars,” Porter said.
St. Vincent de Paul’s village
St Vincent de Paul of Bend is working on a similar mission establishing a 10-person village financed mostly through donations from locals, as well as a Housing and Urban Development grant. The 501(c)3 has provided services for those in need since setting up in 1981, but hope to welcome people into their village by May. Its program is like Central Oregon Villages, with individually tailored plans for residents.
“Everyone’s going to have a different pathway from homelessness into permanent housing. But we’re hoping to help people move through that process,” said Gary Hewitt, director of St. Vincent de Paul of Bend.
People can stay up to two years, paying nothing the first six months, $100 a month the next six months and $200 a month during their second year. The money won’t be pocketed, though, and St. Vincent will hold it, match the funds, and return it to residents once they leave.
“At the end of two years, they’ll have $6,000 towards a new place. So they might not stay two years, maybe within a year we can find them some other housing,” Hewitt said.
Hewitt said the village can help people, but that collaboration with other service providers is necessary to effectively tackle houselessness.
“It’s not about any one place like us, but it’s about us and Bethlehem Inn and Shepherd’s House and Central Oregon Villages. It’s about everybody,” Hewitt said. “I think the most important part, it’s about the community. Otherwise, we’re just a bunch of people that live by each other. But it takes all of us to solve this problem.”
THE OMICRON WAVE
Oregon reported its highest COVID case numbers of the pandemic, though hospitalizations and deaths lag behind the Delta surge
By Jack Harvel
The Oregon Health Authority reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Oregon over the past week as the more contagious but less severe Omicron variant spreads across the U.S. On Jan. 10, OHA said over 18,000 people either tested or were presumed positive over the previous three days.
About 700 Oregonians were in a hospital with the illness at the time this article went to print, which is still lower than the nearly 1,200 in early September at the peak of the Delta variant. Omicron is outcompeting the Delta variant in the state and now makes up at least 64% of cases statewide.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown deployed the Oregon National Guard on Monday to assist hospitals and avoid an overloaded health care system. In August of last year Brown deployed 1,500 National Guard members to assist hospitals. They began pulling troops out of hospitals in October amid waning caseloads, and by mid-November only a small number of guardsmen and women remained.
“With more than 500 current hospitalizations and daily record-breaking numbers of COVID-19 cases, we are at another critical point in this pandemic—and the Oregon National Guard is stepping up again to assist,” said Brown. “While Guard members work to support our frontline health care workers, I am asking all Oregonians to continue to do your part to help. Get vaccinated, get boosted, wear your masks, and stay home when you are sick.”
Seven percent of Oregon’s 647 ICU beds were available at of press time, as are 7% of its 295 non-ICU beds, according to an OHA press release on Monday. Oregon’s region 7, which includes Deschutes, Crook, Grant, Harney, Jefferson, Klamath, Lake and Wheeler counties, was among the second most staffed region of the state with 14% of ICU beds and 20% of non-ICU beds available.
Several school districts in Oregon, mostly in the Portland metro area, opted to remote learning as more and more staff and students called in absent due to an infection, with some districts reporting over 20% of students and staff called out. In a letter to families on Jan. 7, Bend-La Pine Schools announced new policies in the district, though it reaffirmed its commitment to in-person learning.
“To be clear, our goal is to keep our students learning in-person, every day, as we know that this is the best place for them academically, socially, mentally and emotionally,” BLPS Superintendent Steven Cook said in a statement to parents. “We believe we have proven that, with mitigation strategies in place like masking, and distancing, our schools are among the safest places for our students. However, we cannot continue to provide on-site instruction in a safe environment if we do not have sufficient staffing.”
The superintendent urged parents to have a contingency plan in case remote learning becomes necessary. The school district will move classrooms or entire schools into remote learning if it isn’t able to adequately staff them. Any transition to remote learning would last at least five days, but all Bend schools were open for in-person learning when this story went to print.
The district is also modifying its spectator policy by lowering capacity at extracurricular events to four attendees per participant. Each athlete, cheerleader, coach or member of the dance team participating at the event will be able to invite four spectators, with the exception of novice wrestling, middle school wrestling and swimming, which will only allow one spectator per participant. No spectators will be allowed at larger events with more than two teams.
OHA and the Oregon Department of Education recommended schools pause all extracurricular activities in a memo
released on Jan. 3, or ensure there are safety protocols to minimize any viral spread.
Redmond School District reported a total of 77 student cases and 34 staff cases when this article went to print, but also haven’t had to switch any classes or schools to remote learning.
About 75% of Oregonians have completed their vaccination series, 81% have received at least one dose and 36% have gotten a booster shot by Jan.10. President Joe Biden announced a plan that insurers are required to cover the cost of at-home tests earlier thisweek.
“This is all part of our overall strategy to ramp-up access to easy-to-use, at-home tests at no cost,” said Housing and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra in a press release. “Since we took office, we have more than tripled the number of sites where people can get COVID-19 tests for free, and we’re also purchasing half a billion at-home, rapid tests to send for free to Americans who need them.”
In Deschutes County testing sites are available Monday through Friday from 7am-5pm at Bend’s Central Oregon Community College Campus, Thursdays through Monday from Noon to 7pm at COCC’s Redmond campus and daily from 8am-5pm at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend.
Courtesy OHA
Noticias en Español
Dando en Grande al Centro de Oregon
Por Nicole Vulcan Traducido por/Translated by Jéssica Sánchez-Millar
El dispensario de alimentos Giving Plate tiene un sueño de crear una tienda comunitaria de alimentos gratuitos en el distrito productor de Bend—y después de una exitosa carrera como la como la organización sin fines de lucro con mayores recaudaciones en la campaña Central Oregon Gives, dicha organización está más cerca de cumplir ese objetivo. Giving Plate salió como el mayor acreedor entre las 80 organizaciones sin fines de lucro durante la campaña de siete semanas de duración de Central Oregon Gives, organizada aquí en Source Weekly. Giving Plate obtuvo $15,000 extra, ofrecidos por un donante anónimo, para ganar el primer lugar.
Giving Plate está en medio de una campaña capital de $3.5 millones para recaudar fondos para su nueva locación. En conjunto, obtuvo $259,708 en donaciones por medio de Central Oregon Gives.
“Estamos enfocados en crear un espacio que genere comunidad y dignidad para nuestros visitantes,” dijo Renae Staley, directora ejecutiva. “Estamos en realidad en el umbral de algo especial y estos $15,000 y todas las donaciones hacen una gran diferencia.” Giving Plate proporciona alimentos a unas 2,700 personas al mes.
La campaña Central Oregon Gives, un esfuerzo anual para reforzar los recursos y ofrecer a las organizaciones sin fines de lucro un vehículo en línea para las campañas de donación a fin de año—así como brindarle a los donadores grandes beneficios—ayudó a las organizaciones sin fines de lucro recaudar más de $660,000 fondos totales. Junto con el ganador que recibe el mayor número de recaudaciones, el cual ganó ese premio de $15,000, las organizaciones sin fines de lucro también pueden competir por otros premios, incluso un premio de $2,000 para la organización sin fines de lucro con el mayor número de donaciones de $20 o menos.
Este año, el premio fue para Desert Sky Montesory, que planea usar los fondos para apoyar con los esfuerzos de mudar la escuela REALMS a las instalaciones anteriores sobre la calle O.B. Riley. “Central Oregon Gives nos cambió la jugada por completo,” dijo Julia Sutter, directora ejecutiva de Desert Sky Montessory. “No es solo la parte promocional producida por la campana, pero también reduce mucho la parte administrativa de nuestra parte. Estoy muy agradecida por ello.”
Los primeros ganadores de Central Oregon Gives en cada una de las categorías de las organizaciones sin fines de lucro—las cuales incluyen el Bienestar Animal, Arte y Cultura, Educación, Familia y Niños y Salud y Ambiente— también ganaron $2,000 más. Esos ganadores incluyeron a Street Dog Hero (Animal Welfare), World Muse (Arts & Culture), Education, Family & Environment (Saving Grace) y Kôr Community Land Trust (Health & Environment).
En total 1,689 personas donaron a la campaña Central Oregon Gives, con un total de 2,075 donaciones. De esos, 718 donaron menos de $25. Cualquier persona que donó $25 o más, fue elegible para recibir un regalo de agradecimiento semanal de comercios locales incluidos Avid Cider, Backporch Coffee Roasters, Barre3, Boneyard Beer, Fjällräven, High Desert Museum, Humm Kombucha, Old Mill District, Roam, SCP Redmond Hotel y The Suttle Lodge.
Aaron Switzer, editor de el Source, quien también fundó Central Oregon Gives como una extensión del trabajo comunitario de del Source, está emocionado por ver que el programa continuá teniendo mucho éxito y más que nada por ver que las organizaciones sin fines de lucro locales puede llevar a cabo de mejor manera su misión gracias al apoyo de la comunidad.
“Cada año ponemos nuestra energía detrás de este proyecto ya que hemos visto el valor tangible del enlace digital entre la comunidad con un corazón abierto y las organizaciones sin fines de lucro, llevando a cabo así un trabajo esencial para nuestras comunidades,” dijo Switzwer. “De verdad que ya estamos haciendo planes para el 2022”
SOAR TO NEW HEIGHTS IN 2022!
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