Ensuring Portland’s unhoused community is recognized, resourced, and respected.
Do Good is transforming the reality of houselessness in Portland through individualized support that meets our participants’ diverse needs. Our person-centered approach connects folks with a spectrum of resources, because unwavering support produces positive outcomes.
Our Mission Statement
Do Good Multnomah journeys side-by-side with Veterans and other underserved communities so that all individuals are seen, supported, and valued while navigating shelter and housing.
Our Vision Statement
Because we believe housing is a human right, we create vibrant and thriving communities where all live with dignity.
DOES DO GOOD ONLY SERVE VETERANS?
Do Good opened its first shelter on Veterans Day, and our early years were exclusively focused on providing shelter, community-building, and housing navigation for Veterans.
Today, Do Good remains Veteran-prioritized and Veteran-preference. But we also recognize that the need in Portland is too great to not do as much good as we can. It is the tradition of Veteran culture to step up and answer the call when asked to serve. Today, in collaboration with community partners and local government agencies, we use the tactics and expertise we gained from serving Veterans to make an impact on both Veteran and civilians alike.
Our Core Values
We understand that service-based relationships extend beyond merely offering housing opportunities. Our approach emphasizes the communal relationships between participants and staff, intentional personal and professional development for both participants and staff, and furthering the work of human rights and social justice by offering sustainable and accessible housing opportunities.
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Empowerment
We support participants in their journey to self-agency by creating safe environments and relationships for growth. Our role is to identify systems of oppression that hinder all of our abilities to thrive and dismantle them as we move towards actualization and flourishing. We ensure that all participants have autonomy to make decisions that they believe will uplift their quality of life - and we work to make it happen!
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Empathy
Do Good knows houselessness is a difficult experience to understand; we commit to hiring those who represent and are deeply experienced with the population we serve in order to provide trauma-informed care and understanding. We are charged with exemplifying graciousness and compassion toward our participants, one another, and to our communities.
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Human-Centered
We honor the basic nature of each individual by recognizing all persons bring their “whole self” to every engagement, including their personal strengths, goals, and vulnerabilities. We engage with participants seeking with an approach specifically tailored to each individual, so that each person’s needs are recognized, valued, and met.
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Dignity
Housing is a human right. Because we understand and recognize the outside forces of systemic oppression, we are able to look beyond the trauma, systems, and circumstances that resulted in the houselessness crisis. This allows us to connect with our participants for who they are rather than as “a number” or a mere combination of their vulnerabilities, and work together to elevate their lives.
Our Origin Story
Our founding executive director, Chris Aiosa, is an Air Force Veteran who launched our first shelter program—13 beds in Downtown Portland—on Veterans Day 2015.
After serving houseless Veterans in the Portland community for many years, Chris felt compelled to start a unique organization that focused on serving Veterans beyond just the basic need of shelter. From the beginning, Do Good was established with a commitment to providing camaraderie and dignity for Veterans as well as supportive services and paths towards permanent housing.
This original vision permeates everything we do at Do Good. Each member of the Do Good Team builds relationships with those we serve and with each other. We’re here for our colleagues and collaborators in the same way that we are all here for our Veterans.
Chris served Do Good as executive director from 2015 to 2022.
Do Good Multnomah believes housing is a human right, and we are passionate about providing relevant, useful, and responsive support to end the injustice of Veteran houselessness.
Learn more about our programs:
LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT
Do Good acknowledges the land that we occupy is unceded Indigenous land.
Our programs rest on traditional village sites of the Multnomah, Kathlamet, Cowlitz, Clackamas, Chinook, Tualatin, Kalapuya, Molalla and many other Tribes who made their homes along the Columbia and Willamette Rivers. We recognize the clear parallels between the harms of houselessness that we see in our daily work and the atrocities forced upon Indigenous peoples—the permanent and forceful removal from not only houses but homelands, and the intentional and systematic exclusion of Native communities.