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http://www.jo(name removed by moderator)
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**JOIN - **Moves homeless individuals and families into permanent housing ftom living on the streets
Founded in 1992 by Rob Justus, JOIN began as educational organization offering experiential “immersions” into the experience of homelessness for youth. As the homeless people that we worked with began to share their wisdom and experiences with us, we shifted our organizational mission to direct housing services.
JOIN exists to support the efforts of homeless individuals and families to transition out of homelessness into permanent housing. Our efforts are directed at individuals sleeping outside or in their car in the Portland Metro area. Our service provision is not dependent on age, gender, ethnicity, sexual identity, specific diagnosis, or identifiable issue.
Values & Principles
•JOIN always has been and always will be organic—living and evolving—because no one has all the answers.
•Organizational simplicity—because responding to the complex issue of homelessness requires flexibility and creativity.
•JOIN’s philosophy is one of inclusion—restoring connections and rebuilding community—because the experience of being without a home is of one of alienation, degradation, and dehumanization.
•Homeless people themselves must be the primary agents of change—because paternalistic approaches are devoid of respect and devalue the strengths of the homeless people upon which long-term stability depends.
•Relationships rather than rules—because in the end, it’s about the people.
2011 At A Glance
JOIN helped 615 individuals transition from the street to a home. This
included 80 families with 167 children under the age of 18.
Of these 615 people, 146 were chronically homeless - meaning
they had a disabling condition, more than one year of homelessness, or
more than four episodes of homelessness in three years.
JOIN placed people into permanent housing for just $16 per day - less
than the average cost of temporary shelter, transitional housing, or less
positive responses to homelessness including hospital stays and jail time.
JOIN helped an additional 142 individuals with eviction prevention support. These were previously stable households who had to
come to JOIN for assistance because of a loss of employment or a cut in
hours.
JOIN remains in communication with 97% of the households we assist -
reporting a 77% housing retention rate.
JOIN’s Retention Team made more than 4,939 “friendly visits” or inhome visits to support households’ long-term housing success. Types of
post-placement support include everything from food-box delivery to
job-fi nding assistance; a cup of coffee to a birthday lunch.
Retention Workers collaborated with partners and volunteers to provide more than 75 community-building events for formerly homeless
households and their families.
JOIN’s Employment Specialist supported individual job searches and coordinated partnerships with Central City Concern’s employment program,
Micro Enterprise Services of Oregon, and other agencies that supported
educational and employment pursuits.
The JOIN House served an average of 80-100 people each day with
critical basic services, community-building events and activities, and
access to important community partner services that spark and support
transitions from the street.
About 1200 people accessed 7200 showers, 1402 laundry vouchers,
40 storage lockers, 2880 pounds of pet food, 600 pounds of coffee, and
countless other important services.
JOIN’s immersion program exposed over 400 youth to the experience of homelessness, inspiring them to be engaged in community
issues and helping them to combat destructive steretypes about homeless
people.
