OCJ awards nearly $2M in grants to community organizations advancing consumer justice issues

Jul 7, 2022

Blue overlay over a photograph of a bridge. Writing says "OCJ Issues Nearly $2M in Grants to Community-Based Organizations"

Oregon Consumer Justice announces nearly $2 million in Policy, Community, and Consumer Grants funding for fifteen organizations to support and deepen their work in addressing consumer justice issues.  

OCJ is taking a community-led approach toward realizing consumer justice in Oregon. We know that community-based organizations and coalitions across Oregon have long been working to improve consumer justice issues for the individuals, families, and communities they serve. We also know it will take multi-year campaigns to enact transformational change on issues impacting consumers–from debt collection to predatory business practices to imposter scams. OCJ Policy, Community, and Consumer Grants lessen funding barriers and help strengthen the capacity of organizations to meaningfully improve Oregon’s consumer landscape. 

 

 “With this funding we will be able to hire Oregon Health Equity Alliance’s (OHEA’s) first full-time, dedicated policy staff to provide organizational and communications support. This means we can craft and advocate for a health equity legislative agenda rooted in the community wisdom of OHEA’s partner organizations and their communities,” shared Ujuonu Nwizu and Esther Kim, OHEA Co-Directors. 

2021-2022 Policy, Community, and Consumer Grant Recipients

 

Grantees represent a geographically diverse group of organizations, with an overwhelming majority of them led by BIPOC leaders and staff. OCJ will distribute funding this summer; grantees have until the end of the 2024 legislative session to spend the award. 

For grant award amounts and activities descriptions, see table below. 

  • APANO Communities United Fund
  • Bienestar
  • Centro Cultural
  • Coalition of Communities of Color
  • Latino Community Association
  • Latino Network
  • NAYA
  • Oregon Health Equity Alliance
  • Pro-Choice Oregon and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon
  • Reimagine Oregon Project / Urban League of Portland
  • Rogue Action Center
  • Suma
  • Unite Oregon
  • Willamette Valley Law Project dba PCUN Foundation

OCJ will engage this grantee cohort in a learning circle in addition to supporting their onboarding, training staff focusing on policy and advocacy work, and assisting with creating a collaborative space to encourage exploration of policy solutions for legislative action. 

“We are excited to work with our partners to co-create and explore how to engage in legislative work while truly centering racial equity and community voice”, said Chris Coughlin, OCJ Policy Director.

Since our inception in 2019, OCJ has distributed over $6.5 million in consumer protection, advocacy, and legal grants to community-led organizations supporting Oregonians, including emergency response funding for Oregonians facing eviction and impacted by COVID and the wildfires.

Organization
Amount
Grant Activities
APANO Communities United Fund $100,000 Expand capacity as a backbone organization to support childcare and mental health coalitions, supporting about 20 organizations across the state. Host listening and training sessions to empower community members to take action at the legislative level. 
Bienestar $100,000 Support a Community Advocate position to partner with Bienestar’s Promotores and housing counseling team to engage in state-level policy work focusing on consumer justice issues, starting with housing. Bienestar is a member of the Stop the Debt Trap Alliance. 
Centro Cultural $200,000 Support policy staff and the Latino Policy Council. 
Coalition of Communities of Color $150,000 General operating support to advance a range of projects: housing, affordable drug prices, utilities, water justice, and other issues elevated by community. Build on the research of Addressing the Racial Wealth Gap to work with the Oregon Economic Justice Roundtable to advance policy initiatives. 
Latino Community Association $100,000 Launch a new advocacy program with dedicated staff. 
Latino Network $100,000 Support the addition of an advocacy staff member dedicated to Latino Network’s frontline employees and program participants in their policy-building strategy and provide training and opportunities to engage with policy advocacy on issues that impact them as consumers.  
Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA) $200,000 Support additional staff positions to support the grassroots and grass tops community advocacy approach NAYA has been working towards. Funding will ensure programs coordinate with each other while bringing the community into the advocacy and power-building process.  
Oregon Health Equity Alliance $200,000 Hire dedicated staff to advance membership advocacy efforts,to engage in policy and advocacy work with a racial justice health equity lens, and support communication updates to OHEA staff, membership, and the greater public.  
Pro-Choice Oregon and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon $100,000 Support added capacity for the implementation campaign around the Reproductive Health Equity Act. Oregon passes important legislation, but advocacy groups often can’t engage in the rulemaking and implementation steps due to capacity constraints. Lessons learned through this project will be shared to help support other implementation efforts. 
Reimagine Oregon Project / Urban League of Portland $100,000 Support storytelling, outreach, and community engagement efforts for Reimagine Oregon’s first project report. The report will be an assessment of steps taken, an advocacy tool to inform the organization’s next steps, and a means to elevate the public policy concerns that are important to the Black community statewide.
Rogue Action Center $200,000 Support dedicated funding for policy-focused staff positions providing some predictability and supporting the retention and stability of these key positions that lead the work to build community power for policy change.
Suma $150,000 Funds will support personnel, contractor, programming, equipment, occupancy and indirect expenses for the local launch and scale of suma platform Version 1.0. This web-based, multi-sided platform plans to overcome the cost, privacy, banking and enrollment barriers that prevent frontline community members from using their technology to access critical goods and services. 
Unite Oregon $100,000 Build capacity in state-level policy and advocacy in climate justice and racial justice, particularly around energy efficiency, electrification, and solar power—key environmental justice strategies and solutions that many in low-income immigrant, refugee, and BIPOC communities have difficulty accessing due to cost and lack of accessibility. 
Willamette Valley Law Project dba PCUN Foundation $150,000 Support for a multi-year, multi-prong Just Enforcement Campaign to ensure Oregon can enforce the laws the community fought hard to achieve. The goal is a culture shift in Oregon – one of compliance from the bad actors harming our communities and empowerment for those who have been victims of repeat violations of their rights.
TOTAL $1,950,000

 

Sign Up For Our Newsletter