PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — On Saturday, the public was introduced to the Avalon Village Community in southeast Portland.
The new shelter was brought together by the organization We Shine.
Their mission is to provide safe and accessible transitional shelters for Portland’s unhoused.
We Shine says this project has been in the works for two years.
What makes this community separate from others is for those that stay there make a lot of decisions and give input on how the village is run.
“We have a kind of agreement they all sign when they move in, and they make certain commitments to us, because they can stay here up to two years, but we ask them to set some personal goals and work on them, and meet weekly with staff to talk about how they’re doing and how we can help. And we ask them to do some volunteer work in the village every week, three hours a week of volunteer work. And we ask them to attend all the weekly village council meetings and be part of the governance of the community,” said Janet McManus, the executive director of the We Shine Initiative.
This is the second village community put together by We Shine.
