Oregon for Everyone Manager

The Oregon for Everyone Manager will join 1000 Friends to lead the launch of Oregon for Everyone, a new program to support local pro-housing movements across the state. Oregon for Everyone addresses major barriers to realizing housing and community stability for all Oregonians, ranging from policy barriers to funding and financing shortfalls to misinformation or misunderstanding.

Oregon for Everyone builds on over 8 years of intentional coalition-building (Portland For Everyone, Anti-displacement PDX Coalition) community organizing, communications testing, policy research (Residential Infill Project, Better Housing by Design), advocacy on legislation (House Bill 2001, 2019 1 legislative session), and agency rulemaking to reshape communities to be more vibrant and inclusive through land use decisions. The efforts have resulted in durable, groundbreaking wins: tangible incentives for affordable housing developers, over $300,000 in anti-displacement policies and investments; upzoning along frequent transit corridors and walkable mixed-use areas; developer investments in neighborhood-scale walking, bicycling, and rolling infrastructure; and more.

The Oregon for Everyone Manager will rebuild and nurture a diverse coalition of individuals, community organizations, and local businesses under a united vision and set of policy improvements, funding and financing solutions, and public engagement actions. The Manager will help the coalition advocate for improvements that benefit existing residents by enabling them to remain in their neighborhoods while also making room for and welcoming new residents. The Oregon for Everyone Manager will lead our work with community members and advocates to ensure that the voices of everyday Oregonians are a part of the zoning, financing, permitting, and planning decisions about where and how housing gets built for people of all income levels and housing needs in every neighborhood. This position will provide local housing organizations and activists with the technical information and communications training to support their advocacy efforts with local elected officials, communities, and civic leaders when there is housing legislation under consideration in their area or at the state level.

Oregon for Everyone also focuses on creating a positive daily experience for residents; we are not satisfied with housing production by itself. We combine other policy and funding solutions to build communities with diverse, affordable housing options in proximity to schools, stores, transit, jobs, and amenities. We also recognize the growing population of seniors, many living on fixed incomes, whose needs are not being met with the growing lack of housing options to age in place. Meeting the needs of this sector is vital to the quality of community life.

The Oregon for Everyone Organizer will be a member of the 1000 Friends Program Team and does not currently supervise other staff but may do so should a position open that is appropriate to supervise. This position is also able to supervise interns and volunteers.

Responsibilities & Scope

Policy Advocacy and Community Engagement

• Educate local housing and community organizations on land use and related tools and processes to produce more diverse and affordable housing in their community.
• Inform and empower community advocates across the state to monitor and participate in local efforts to effectively implement precedent-setting state legislation we have led in passing.
• Build power for local initiatives for housing abundance.
• Collaborate with local and state-level housing and community organizations to evaluate how existing housing tools can be improved and bring those forward.
• Facilitate cross-learning opportunities among advocates, developers, planners, and civic leaders from different communities.
• Help to research and advocate for policy changes that expand beyond middle housing and respond directly to the lack of affordable housing at the local level, such as by expanding social housing in Oregon, promoting new forms of home ownership, and expediting the conversion of commercial lands, buildings, and parking lots to housing.
• Lead ongoing and focused grassroots training of, communications with, and empowerment of 2 Oregonians and community organizations across the state to build political power.

Communication & Collaboration

• Develop relationships with community partners, governmental agencies, and local advocates working on local pro-housing movements across Oregon.
• Present on program goals and actions to public audiences, the media, and internal audiences (board, staff, affiliates, members, etc).
• Work with communications staff to ensure materials about the Oregon for Everyone Program are relevant and achieve desired outcomes (one-pagers, website, action alerts, blog posts, etc.)
• Collaborate with development staff on-site visits and reports to funders on the impact and outcomes of the Oregon for Everyone program.

Administration

• Coordinate administrative aspects of the position with organizational management and record-keeping structures, including the use of our database, Salesforce.
• Attend staff meetings and be part of the communications and fundraising teams on projects related to your program area.
• Participate in annual planning, budgeting, and strategic planning.
• Other duties as needed.

Measures for Success

• Number of Oregonians engaged in pro-housing advocacy within their local communities
• Number of pro-housing organizations working in coalition to support a pro-housing legislative agenda at the state level
• Number of policy wins and investments made to address the housing crisis across Oregon
• Decreasing the number of Oregonians cost-burdened by housing costs (defined as spending more than 30% of a household’s income on rent/mortgage payments)

Minimum Qualifications

• Authentic commitment to the mission and goals of 1000 Friends of Oregon
• Proven professional experience and personal enjoyment in communicating a mission, building coalitions, and organizing diverse constituencies to achieve a specific outcome
• Professional proficiency and personal enjoyment working in multi-generational, multicultural environments with competency
• Strong understanding of housing barriers both in terms of general drivers of change to housing markets, but also common systemic barriers faced by people of color, people with disabilities, people who identify as LGBTQ2SIA+, people formerly incarcerated or with criminal records, people with no or low credit scores, and people earning less than the area median income.
• Strong analytical and research skills
• Strong oral and written communication skills
• Self-directed, self-motivated, organized, and attentive to detail
• Strong ability to quickly develop relationships, trust, and community
• Self-starter mentality to identify and execute needed actions to achieve key outcomes
• Access/willingness to travel around Oregon to better understand the barriers and solutions to real housing solutions.

Preferred Knowledge, Skills, and Experience

• Speak a language other than English ($2,000 additional salary increase if able and willing to connect with Oregonians who speak the language as part of this position)
• Experience managing staff, interns, and volunteers
• Knowledge of Oregon’s land use planning program

HOW TO APPLY

To apply, submit a resume, 3 professional references, and a cover letter (1-page, single-sided) describing how your experience and skills match the needs of the organization. Provide these materials as a single PDF document and email them to jobs@friends.org with “Oregon for Everyone Manager" in the subject line. Applications will start being reviewed the week of March 10, 2025. Interviews for competitive candidates will be scheduled for mid-late March 2025. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

We are most interested in finding the best candidate for the job, who may be someone who doesn't meet every qualification listed. Do not sell yourself short. If you are interested in applying, we encourage you to think broadly about your background and qualifications for the role.