Welcome New OVE Advocates

We are happy to welcome the very first cohort of volunteer advocates to OVE!

This past month a brave group of long-term and new volunteers went through an intensive advocate training to learn all about low-income housing opportunities and other resources in Lane County.

Advocates will use their new knowledge to work together with villagers to make connections to resources in the community. In return, villagers will share their personal experiences with advocates and help advocates understand daily life at Opportunity Village.

The advocate program is a short-term, voluntary mentorship program with a focus on resources and transition planning. After completing training, each advocate is matched with a villager who has requested to join the program. Advocates and villagers meet several times a month to spend time together and discuss villagers' goals.

Villagers Victor and Mary were matched with Adele, a new advocate, as one of the first matches. Victor and Mary received a Section 8 housing voucher a week before meeting with Adele for the first time. During their first meeting, Victor, Mary and Adele worked together to create a timeline for collecting documents and applying for rentals.

We are looking forward to all the good work that villagers and advocates will be doing together.