Community Supported Shelters

“Pursuant to the authority granted to the board of directors under article vi of the css bylaws, the board established an executive committee on march 20, 2020 to make decisions as deemed necessary between meetings of the full board. The board delegated to the executive committee the power of the board to authorize expenditures and amendments to budgets, set policies, and authorize programs or activities.”

“Erik de buhr kristin de buhr exec. Dir. Dev. Dir. Married”

“Css has a stewardship council which has the power to elect or remove memers of the board of directors and the council. It does not have the power to make binding or enforceable decisions on matters reserved for the board of directors, including adopting budgets, authorizing expenditures, setting policies, or determining the organization's programs or activities.”

“Form 990 is prepared by an outside accounting firm and then reviewed/revised by the finance committee. It is then sent to each member of the board of directors inviting them to review, discuss and approve prior to filing.”

“The organizations conflict of interest policy covers directors, officers, key management, employees like the executive director and the chief financial officer, founders of the organization and major donors and family members of the above. Insiders are required to disclose annually any interest that could give rise to a conflict of interest. The secretary maintains a list, updated annually, of those persons with potential conflicts of interest. The secretary monitors the list and reports conflicts to the president who then refers them to the board of directors.”

“Available upon written request.”

“Css offers temporary shelter, personal development, and skill building to people experiencing homelessness. Css builds micro-shelters called conestoga huts that provide temporary shelter. Css's safe spot program is a model for legal and sanitary micro-shelter encampments. Each client in the community is paired with an advisor to help find a path to an improved living situation.”

“Volunteers help with the following operational activities: manual labor to build conestoga hut micro-shelters and other temporary shelter construction projects, food distribution to camp communities from local food bank system, food preparation for meals after camp work parties and special events, firewood processing for use in camp communities, on-the-ground camp management is facilitated by client peers (activities such as camp maintenance, management, transportation, food safety are example activities that client peers engage in), organizational governance is performed by a group of volunteer board members.”

“Conestoga hut micro-shelters: a total of 37 new conestoga hut micro- shelters were placed during the year in the eugene/springfield area. In one of the safe spot camps, all tent platforms were replaced with conestoga huts to provide a more stable and secure shelter for all camp residents. Seven of these new huts were built to provide transitional housing to unhoused individuals who graduated from the eugene police department's community outreach response team program (cort). This increase in hut production was enhanced by the redesign of the css construction shop to increase efficiency and staging functionality for additional work crews. A demonstration hut was built on a portable trailer for transporting to multiple outreach events in the local community. It provides an opportunity for attendees to view the hut design up close to promote further hut purchase/placement in the eugene-springfield community.”

“The css client assistance program provides clients with assistance in taking steps to move toward an improved living situation. Some of the types of assistance include help to obtain personal identification documents, phones, mail services, or services like advocacy and referral, conflict resolution, completion of housing applications, or job search assistance. The reboot hygiene/shower station has served on average 60 people a week since mid-april 2020 with a hot lunch, a cleansing shower, as well as donated clothes and toiletries.”