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This past year saw many firsts for our young organization, including the creation of our very first strategic plan, the launch of legal services, and the publication of our debut consumer comic book (which is as cool as it sounds). We also continued to powerfully advocate for consumers, seeing the successful passage of multiple laws that will improve the lives of Oregonians.
We are focused on putting people at the center of our work to expand and safeguard consumer rights in Oregon. Find out how our vision, mission, and values shape our efforts, and watch a brief video that explains our collective actions beginnings stemming from a landmark class action case.
OCJ's inaugural strategic plan was collaboratively developed and built to reflect our organization's vision, mission, values, and guiding principles while providing a roadmap to deliver on our commitment to consumers.
OCJ's Associate Director Lisa Watson shares our outcomes and approach to implementing our 2024-26 Strategic Plan.
The well-being and resilience of our team are essential as we navigate challenging, long-term, and necessary work. As OCJ matures and evolves, we continue to live out our commitment to keeping people at the center of our efforts, our policies, and our organizational culture.
Throughout the year, OCJ's HR team, consisting of administrative, finance, and leadership team members as well as values-aligned external consultants, has been diligent in advancing work that supports the resiliency and effectiveness of the organization. Their goal? To better support our staff, so that everyone feels valued and resourced, has clear guidance to excel in their roles, and is energized to advance OCJ's mission. Beyond thoughtful and progressive policies and protocols, this group recognizes employee achievements, fosters connections within our hybrid team environment, and strengthens our organizational culture.
The wisdom and community-focused leadership of OCJ's Board of Directors has and continues to steward our work for Oregon consumers. Late in the fall of 2023, founding board treasurer and accomplished consumer attorney Justin Baxter stepped away from his board role; however, he is still connected to OCJ as he provides insight and leadership to our delivery of legal services. In June 2024, the OCJ Board welcomed new members Professor Angela Addae, PhD, JD, and Professor Dick Slottee, JD, adding valuable knowledge and insights.
We're deeply proud of our intentional approach to developing and strengthening our internal processes and policies. When our staff can best show up for themselves and their families, we're all better equipped to advance our mission for Oregon consumers.
By strategically working across policy and advocacy, community engagement, and the law, OCJ is growing a formidable force to address consumer injustices statewide.
In the final days of 2023, OCJ's legal work directly representing clients officially launched (months ahead of schedule) with our first consumer case filing! Our legal team had been hard at work before this exciting moment and in the months that have followed. Check out the following links to learn more about our legal efforts to advance consumer justice in Oregon.
Explore the work of OCJ's legal team, which includes stories of Oregon consumers who realized justice with their support and our legal advocacy across both the courts and regulatory agencies.
In the fall, we began a six-month endeavor to advocate for consumers, successfully petitioning to intervene on the PacifiCorp (Pacific Power's parent company) docket with Oregon's Public Utility Commission. This docket sought to limit Oregonians' rights in order to reduce future lawsuit awards.
To expand access to justice for more Oregonians facing consumer injustices, our team is supporting and growing the consumer legal community through referrals, technical assistance, co-counseling, and skill-building opportunities.
By focusing on putting people first, OCJ is helping more Oregonians connect with the legal help they need, amplifying their stories, and holding corporations to account. There’s a lot of work to do. Let’s make it happen together.
In Spring 2024, we hosted more than 70 attorneys, judges, law students, legal professionals, and advocates for our first day-long Continuing Legal Education (CLE) event and community-building reception. In addition to educational events, over the past year, OCJ provided 75 scholarships to consumer attorneys to support their participation at national skill-building conferences.
The past year saw several key public policy wins that expanded and strengthened consumer rights in Oregon, particularly regarding debt collection practices. Our policy internship program, which gives law students hands-on experience in consumer justice, celebrated its first year of impact. Through our inaugural policy cohort and coalition work, we’ve deepened how we collaborate with community partners to advance pro-consumer policies and community-led strategies to create a more just and equitable marketplace.
OCJ is proud to have contributed our energy and advocacy to crucial public policy victories, including the Family Financial Protection Act (SB 1595), the Right to Repair Act (SB 1596), legislation advancing healthcare affordability (HB 4113), and HB 4056 which paves the way for a uniform process for handling surpluses resulting from property tax foreclosure sales.
OCJ's policy internship program provides primarily law students with meaningful, paid, and hands-on experience in consumer justice policy and advocacy. Opportunities include researching policy and crafting testimony, which has even led to the development of a consumer educational brief.
OCJ wrapped up our inaugural policy cohort in the Fall of 2023, strengthening relationships and learning valuable takeaways for how we engage in collaborative work on behalf of consumers. Early in 2024, we brought together a focused cohort to develop solutions to address issues in the automotive space. We also convened the Consumer Alliance of Oregon to champion pro-consumer policies collectively.
OCJ's Policy Director, Chris Coughlin, reflects on the impact of our policy internship program after its first year.
In the past year, we have been working on creating resources to provide Oregon residents with the information they need to understand and exercise their consumer rights. Through face-to-face interactions and survey research, we are deepening our understanding of the challenges Oregonians are facing so we can be responsive to creating programs and tools that best meet their needs in creative and engaging ways. Explore the links below to learn more.
In early summer 2024, OCJ published our inaugural Consumer Confidence Comic, "Purchasing a Used Car," a resource that doubles as a coloring book. We collaborated with a consumer attorney and a local illustrator to share knowledge and build confidence among consumers navigating the used car buying process.
Over the past year, OCJ has built on our initial consumer research by conducting a statewide survey twice a year in partnership with the Oregon Values and Beliefs Center. Between our fall and spring surveys, we collected 5,592 responses from Oregon residents, offering valuable insights on various relevant and emerging consumer issues. This information helps us better understand consumers' experiences and to guide our policy work and program development.
Over the past year, OCJ had the opportunity to engage directly with community members at various outreach events across the state. Many of these events focused on providing resources for older adults to protect themselves against evolving scams and schemes. Beyond introducing OCJ to new audiences, we also shared materials from our growing consumer knowledge library.
OCJ's Communications Director, Michelle Luedtke, discusses our first comic book for consumers about purchasing a used car.
We are excited to share that almost 90% of last year's budget was used for impact programming to directly support Oregon consumers. Our initiatives this year have also received additional investment through Cy Pres designations, demonstrating the confidence of plaintiff attorneys in OCJ's ability to advance our mission for consumer justice in the state.
Percentage of OCJ's budget in service of impact programming.
Our commitment to meaningful, lasting change for Oregon consumers goes beyond managing our funds responsibly. We align every financial decision with our core values and strategic objectives, demonstrate tangible results, and hold ourselves accountable to the communities, funders, and partners we work alongside.
In the fall of 2023, we conducted an awareness campaign in English and Spanish to ensure that Oregonians who had been overcharged by Safeway on buy-one-get-one (BOGO) meat sales, cashed their $200 class action settlement checks. From billboards and TV to radio and social media, we reached out to claimants statewide to help them trust in the validity of these payments and get back the money they deserve.
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