Farmworker Housing Development Corporation
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Farmworker Housing Development Corporation
Background
Verbatim from the Farmworker Housing Development Corporation website:[1]
- FHDC is a community-based non-profit organization dedicated to serving mid-Willamette Valley families. FHDC was established in 1990 when Oregon Legal Services, Salud Medical Center, PCUN (Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers United), Farmworker Ministries, and a number of individuals joined forces to establish a single agency for the development of affordable housing for low-income farmworkers. While we still have a strong presence in the farmworking community, our services and housing has expanded into workforce housing to meet the needs of our changing communities and the crisis of meeting the needs across the board to build enough stable, safe and affordable housing in Oregon.
- In 1992 Farmworker Housing Development Corporation started the development of our first housing project, Nuevo Amanecer, Phase I, amid fierce opposition from some community leaders who preferred to see farmworkers segregated in remote labor camps. Governor Barbara Roberts was instrumental in overcoming this opposition and making this project happen and has continued to support FHDC’s efforts. We opened the doors of Nuevo Amanecer to 50 families in 1994.
- 25 years later, with the addition of our latest development Colonia Jardines in Silverton, we now provide housing to nearly 1,300 individuals in six cities (Woodburn, Salem, Stayton, Silverton, Sublimity and Independence, Oregon). We are currently in the process of building Colonia Unidad in Woodburn, a workforce housing project, to support a changing community to increase career mobility and opportunities for advancement for farmworkers and other low-income individuals and families.
Board
Board of Directors from the Farmworker Housing Development Corporation website as of February 21, 2023:[2]
- Wendy Veliz, President, Local Government Affairs Manager at Portland General Electric Company
- Reyna Lopez, Vice President
- Paloma Dale, Secretary, Attorney at Legal Aid Services of Oregon
- Larry Kleinman, Treasurer, co-founder of PCUN
- Amanda Saul, Member, Assistant Director of Development at Home Forward
- Elias Villegas, Member, Dean of Chemeketa, The Woodburn Center
- Mark J. Wilk, Member, Attorney with the Oregon Law Center
- Anette Campista, Member, Market Director and Senior Vice President of Banner Bank
- Nargess Shadbeh, Founding Member, founding member of FHDC; Attorney working on farmworker issues at the Oregon Law Center.
- Monica Avila, Member, Housing Voucher Program Supervisor at Marion County Housing Authority
- Jenifer Wagley, Member, Executive Director of Our Children Oregon
- Miguel Arellano, Member, Office of Institutional Diversity at Oregon State University, Board President for DevNW, and sits on the joint task force to address racial disparities in homeownership in Oregon.
Gretchen Kafoury Award
Verbatim from the Farmworker Housing Development Corporation website:[3]
"PCUN, FHDC’s Reyna Lopez Recognized with Gretchen Kafoury Award by Housing Oregon"
- "Every year, Housing Oregon selects leaders across the housing and community development sector who have worked tirelessly to build up their communities. This year, FHDC’s Board Secretary, Reyna Lopez, was recognized as the fearless activist she is and for the role she played in advocating for and implementing the Oregon Worker Relief Fund. She was this year’s recipient of the Greth Kafoury award. As an elected official who always stood up for what is right, Gretchen Kafoury had a profound and lasting impact on our state and its people.
- The Oregon Worker Relief Fund (OWRF) is a historic initiative supported by stakeholders at all levels to invest in immigrant Oregonians who were excluded from federal relief funds during the COVID-19 pandemic. FHDC served as a fiscal administrator for the OWRF, distributing tens of millions of dollars in resources to more than 37,000 individuals who do not qualify for State or Federal relief funds and social services.
- Leading the way was none other than FHDC’s Board Secretary and PCUN’s Executive Director, Reyna Lopez. With a fierce vision for the redistribution of wealth, protection for all workers, and that “Si Se Puede” outlook, the OWRF created a safety net for immigrant essential workers who experienced exacerbated inequities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- The success of the OWRF resulted in the fostering of deep coalition partnerships, utilizing community-led design serves as a stepping stone for policy advocacy and community organizing that can be replicated across domains and jurisdictions to transform systems to be more equitable, inclusive, and effective.
CPD Action & Center for Popular Democracy
Farmworker Housing Development Corporation is on the CPD Action Board of Directors as of February 21, 2023. CPD Action is the sister organization of the Center for Popular Democracy.[4]