Important Update for East Side of Portland Residents
Thank you for your interest in our program! We deeply value your commitment to creating a thriving and sustainable habitat. However, due to current budgetary limitations, we are not currently accepting new enrollments for residents in the east side of Portland (east of the Willamette River), in Multnomah County.
Note: Our partnership projects in the east side of Portland, specifically with Verde and People of Color Outdoors (POCO), funded through East Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District, will continue as usual. Additionally, we will still offer certification visits, renewals, and certification benefits to existing program participants on the east side of Portland!
We understand this news may be disappointing, and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Our team is working diligently to address these challenges and reopen enrollments for the east side of Portland, in Multnomah County, as soon as possible. Your enthusiasm and support mean the world to us, and we’re excited to welcome you into the program when the time comes.
Thank you for your understanding and patience!
Why aren’t you accepting new enrollments?
Since Backyard Habitat’s inception, generous support from cities, public agencies, and organizations have helped fund the program, allowing us to make enrollment affordable to the public. Our funding is geographically restricted and the limited funds available for the east side of Portland don’t cover our costs for the area, at this time, and we’ve had to make the tough decision to temporarily pause new enrollments for east side of Portland residents. It’s one of our top priorities to continue working to identify funding sources to meet this demand and to help ensure sustainable programming throughout Portland.
When will enrollments reopen?
Pending new funding sources being secured, we hope to be able to accept new enrollments for east side of Portland residents in 2025. Although we can’t promise an exact date, those on our waitlist will be informed as soon as we are able to move forward with your enrollment.
How will I know when enrollments are open again?
By joining our waitlist, you will be informed, via email, as soon as we are able to move forward with your enrollment. We’ll also post updates on our website and social media channels, so be sure to follow us there.
I’ve already submitted an application. What happens now?
If you enrolled before October 1st, rest assured that you’re on our list, and a Habitat Technician will reach out to you to schedule your site visit in the coming months.
If you submitted the enrollment form after October 1st, you’re on our waitlist and we’ll contact you as soon as we can move forward with your enrollment.
What can I do in the meantime?
– Sign up for our waitlist, through our enrollment page! Getting on our waitlist not only ensures that you’ll be the first to know when enrollments reopen, but also helps us demonstrate the public interest in our program to potential funders and enables us to keep you in the loop on advocacy opportunities for increased funding. In the meantime, you can explore the resource library to get started with habitat-friendly practices on your own.
– We are working on setting up an advocacy strategy for increasing our funding support on the east side and will be sharing out those opportunities through our e-news list, social media and etc. so stay tuned!
– If you feel inclined and able to donate to the program, you can do so here!
Why is this pause in new enrollments only affecting the east side of Portland and not the west side of Portland?
We have a grant through the West Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District that is funding our work on the west side of Portland. While we do receive funding from East Multnomah Soil & Water Conservation District as well, our grants with them only fund our partnership project work with Verde and People of Color Outdoors, not our general site visit work, at this time.
Over the years we have received varied degrees of support from the City of Portland, though they were integral to the launch of the program back in 2009. Currently, we still receive some funding from the city but it is not enough to meet the current public interest and increased demand in the program within the east side of Portland.
We are very aware of how this decision overlaps with historically disadvantaged and under-resourced communities and is one reason why we have delayed making this decision as long as we have. Our team is working diligently to address these funding challenges and reopen enrollments for the east side of Portland, as soon as possible.
Will other areas of your service area be affected?
Currently, we have secure and stable funding throughout the rest of our service area in Multnomah, Washington, Clackamas, and Clark County. Thanks to our 20+ contracts and grants with cities, public agencies, and organizations throughout our region, we are not anticipating future program pauses, in other areas, at this time.