Club Meeting: Regional Solutions to Homelessness: Implementation and Advocacy of the Supportive Housing Services Measure

Cole Merkel, deputy director of outreach and engagement at HereTogether Oregon, a local nonprofit that provides services to the homeless. He will give an update on the 2020 Metro bond to provide services for the homeless and support affordable housing in the region.

The Rotary Club of Wilsonville meets weekly Thursdays at noon to carry out its purpose of providing service and fellowship to members and the Wilsonville community. The club is holding hybrid “Virtual In Person” (VIP) meetings. Attend in person (if masked or vaccinated) at Al Kader Shrine Center, or attend virtually over Zoom at http://www.tinyurl.com/Rotary97070. Guests are welcome. For more information, email president@wilsonvillerotary.com.

Before joining the HereTogether team, Cole spent a decade in direct service with people experiencing homelessness in the Portland region, managing strategically expanding the vendor program at Street Roots. He also served as Statewide Organizer for ACLU of Oregon during the 2019 legislative session. The lived experience and relationships he brings to the work proved foundational in building the HereTogether coalition, which reached more than 500 organizations, businesses, elected officials and community leaders during the ballot measure campaign. He has served on boards aimed at creating a more equitable Oregon, including the Oregon Housing Alliance, the CareOregon Community Advisory Board and the Clackamas County Commission’s Task Force on Housing Affordability and Homelessness. He currently serves as a steering committee member for the Oak Lodge Governance Project, which is exploring potential governance options for the 25,000 residents of the unincorporated Clackamas County communities of Oak Grove and Jennings Lodge.