Oregon Economic Justice Roundtable
AFN’s network of grantmakers—private, public, corporate, and community foundations—invest in policies, programs, changes in practices as well as financial products as tools to confront the roots of inequities and create change. We view the concept of assets broadly to include issues such as health, employment, business ownership, housing, post-secondary education, and public and private debt. In this way, AFN accounts for multiple interrelated dimensions of assets for the household as well as community and intergenerational family wealth.
In Oregon, the Asset Funders Network regional chapter, also known as, the Oregon Economic Justice Roundtable, currently includes Neighborhood Partnerships, Native American Youth and Family Center, Coalition of Communities of Color and the Institute for Community Health as well as funder members co-creating a shared table of funders and advocates and other nonprofit organizations to advance collective, sustained action for racial and economic justice. The Roundtable continues the conversation started during a 2020 conference Racial and Economic Justice from the Ground Up: A Virtual Roundtable for Oregon Leaders.
Are you an Oregon grantmaker interested in joining OEJR? Contact Annette Case annette@assetfunders.org to learn more.
Are you an Oregon community organization interested in OEJR? Contact Ethan Livermore elivermore@neighborhoodpartnerships.org to learn more.
Joining the Oregon Economic Justice Roundtable
We ask funders to support OEJR through their AFN membership and additional grants to OEJR for efforts such as capacity or narrative change. We recognize that most grantmaking organizations are considered dominant institutions. While there are no other requirements to join OEJR, we ask those interested in joining to understand expectations for membership as described in the Equity Guidelines for Dominant Institutions and join the roundtable in the spirit in which it was created. The guidelines outline OEJR operations, equity principles, and actions members can take to advance the work of OEJR.
Regional Focus Areas
- Direct Cash Programs
- Systems Change
- Narrative Change
Upcoming Events
Check back soon for information on upcoming events.
CLICK HERE for more information and resources from our past events.
Chapter Highlights
Equity Amplifier
The Oregon Economic Justice Roundtable was featured in AFN’s Equity Amplifier, a monthly spotlight series highlighting organizations or nonprofits focused on building economic security/asset building in communities of color. LEARN MORE.
Report: Addressing The Racial Wealth Gap
Oregon Economic Justice Roundtable Partners and Coalition of Communities of Color’s Research Justice Institute announce the release of Addressing the Racial Wealth Gap. LEARN MORE.
Oregon Regional Brief: Financial Capability Services in the time of COVID
This brief synthesizes findings from the focus group and Oregon survey data to share what strategies have succeeded, recognize challenges, and build recommendations that best represent the context of financial services in Oregon. LEARN MORE
2023 Legislative Priorities
Oregon Economic Justice Roundtable announces 2023 legislative priorities “to achieve economic and racial justice in Oregon.” Read the full list of priorities here.
Upcoming Events
Steering Committee
Oregon Community Foundation
Oregon Center for Public Policy
Neighborhood Partnerships
Oregon Community Foundation
Coalition of Communities of Color
Urban League of Portland
Native American Youth and Family Center
We also thank these grantmakers for their support of OEJR: JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Neighborhood Partnerships, OnPoint Community Credit Union, and Oregon Consumer Justice.
How We Work
We believe racial justice requires new approaches toward the creation, transfer and redistribution of wealth, power, and intentional wealth generation. Achieving justice requires an end to the unequal treatment under current policies and practices that create wealth disparities and the generational loss of wealth as well as the narratives which perpetuate harm. Our systemic, practice, and narrative solutions will be community centered. The goals we seek to achieve are long term, and the work will evolve over time.
Initially, our efforts will focus on:
- Developing and strengthening trust based relationships between funders and nonprofit organizations working to advance racial and economic justice. The Roundtable strives to be led by majority Black, Indigenous, and other people of color funder and nonprofit members. Taking time to meet regularly, share lived experiences, and candidly discuss priorities and funding and organizational practices will help build trust among members necessary to adopt more inclusive funding practices and shared goals and act in solidarity toward achieving them.
- Shifting narratives of deserved wealth and power by making visible the hidden and unwritten rules that support white privilege and hold people from other communities back. Developing new frameworks and ways of doing business will help change the rules to promote equity. Our narrative change work will center the most impacted communities, lead with race and ethnicity, and call out disparities in systems and practices.
- Acting as a hub for focused work on racial justice and wealth. We recognize multiple community led conversations on racial justice are occurring. Through a shared table we aim to insure community voices lead the work and align with and amplify other efforts such as Reimagine Oregon, Just Oregon for Black Lives, Our Oregon, in order to contribute to the momentum for change.
- Setting policy priorities, an agenda, and ultimately action steps that achieve shared goals toward a liberation economy, where people can thrive and are safe and secure.
