PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A Portland nonprofit that helps members of the homeless community find a purpose could see major reductions due to a shrinking Multnomah County budget.
Organizers with the Ground Score Association said one-third of their funding comes from Multnomah County.
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The non-profit recruits people living on the street to become workers who help clean up trash in public spaces, with 80% of employees later finding housing. With the county funding potentially drying up, Ground Score now faces losing 12-14 workers. Those workers may face homelessness again should their jobs be cut, advocates say.
“This is one of the most successful programs currently going on in Multnomah County. We’re crushing it,” Nic Boehm, the co-director of Ground Score, told KOIN 6 News.
The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners is in the final stretch of formalizing its $4 billion budget. Amid a $77 million budget deficit, county-funded programs are facing potential cuts or reductions. On Wednesday, the board heard public testimony from people impacted by the possible cuts.
Of all the programs that might be on the chopping block, Boehm said he just really wants “us to please not be one of them.”
Becky Lang has worked with Ground Score for more than four years after once living on the streets herself. She said it’s one of the few employment services that truly meets people where they are.
“Once we can help ourselves, we can help others,” Lang said during her public testimony at the county meeting. “People do want to work is the thing, the problem is that a lot of these people are people that don’t fit into the traditional 9-to-5 status quo.”
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The cleanup program runs 36 routes weekly. Lang said the job gave her a chance when no one else would and she hopes it can stay for the long haul.
“It is one of the few things that offers homeless people a way out of the struggle,” Lang said.
Following any amendments implemented into the Multnomah County budget, its formal adoption is set to take place on June 12.
