This summer, Community Vision hosted a Community Volunteer Day for Tena, one of the awesome people in our Supported Living Program, and we couldn't be more excited about the success of the day.

Tena lives in a lovely condo, which was in need of some basic improvements, including a new back patio, a cleaned-up fence, some weeding, trimming, mowing, and more. 

Our incredible partner, DreamBuilder Custom Homes, was up for the task and joined us for a day of fun, hard work, and lots of laughs.

Our employment team connected with Owen this May. He immediately expressed an interest in sports: soccer, baseball, football, and of course, basketball. He wanted to work at an active place and we found a great fit for him at Beaverton Hoop at the YMCA. He is so excited to have his first job, where he currently works one day a week. Each shift he is provided a list with a variety of tasks that need to be done including sweeping the courts, sanitizing tables and mirrors, and washing and drying the towels.

He is a reliable and hard worker and once he is shown a task is very persistent in wanting to do it correctly himself. “I admire that a lot about him,” says Brandon Jones, Employment Connections Manager at Community Vision, “at the end of the day, no task is too big for him.” Owen’s Job Coach, Hallie, worked with him to break each task down into a series of tasks, which he can understand and complete at his own pace. "Owen has a great personality, he's super sweet and really fun to work with," says Hallie. And, if Owen completes all his tasks early, he gets to shoot some hoops before he leaves, a major work perk!

“Owen is passionate about his job. It seems to provide him fulfillment with things outside of his house. He really looks forward to coming to work every week,” says Brandon.

James Rosato, Member Engagement Associate at The Hoop shared, "I really like working with Owen, he's always on time and does everything asked of him. Owen has a really positive attitude and has been a great addition to our team.”

We are thrilled to have found such a great fit for Owen and Beaverton Hoop. We look forward to seeing Owen thrive, grow, and add value to the team!

The AT Lab has been working closely with a little boy, Corbett, and his family, private therapists, and school-based early intervention. Our Director and Assistant Director, Carrie and Noelle, are helping Corbett, his family, and his school team learn to use a new method to communicate.

Corbett is now able to use Auditory Scanning to say what he is thinking. Here he is learning to use a switch under his chin that his mom is holding!

Around the time our team began working with Denise this April, she and her partner were living in their car. They were on several waitlists for affordable housing, but many of these lists can take months or years for units to become available. After several attempts, this past month our team was lucky enough to find two spots with immediate openings and we quickly encouraged Denise to apply. Denise and her partner didn’t have any funds to pay for the application fee, but amazingly the property was having a special where the application fee was waved.

Denise and Julius immediately took public transportation out to the apartment that afternoon, applied to the unit, and the manager expedited the screening process and they were approved within a couple of hours! She worked over the weekend so that she could get them the keys that Saturday, and they spent their first night in their new apartment. We were also lucky enough to snag a last-minute canceled appointment at Community Warehouse, a local non-profit that offers free and subsidized furniture to people in need, so that Monday we got furniture and household goods to furnish their new place.

In a matter of three days, Denise and Julius went from sleeping in their car with no real home prospects in sight, to living in their new apartment! Best of all, Denise and Julius have been receiving services from JOIN for years, and their case manager was able to enroll them in the Move-In Multnomah program, which will pay for their rent for an entire year, and covered their security deposit and Community Warehouse fee.