Members of the Oregon Multifamily Energy Program (OR-MEP) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Coalition have helped shape and inform exciting updates alongside the program team since the Coalition’s founding in 2021. By leaning into each members’ expertise and background, the Coalition’s efforts help make OR-MEP more accessible to those with the greatest need for the program’s support. Current and former members include affordable housing property managers and developers, representatives of community-based organizations (CBOs), healthcare workers, rural residents, and people who represent the racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity of the state.

Here are some of the highlights resulting from Coalition activities over the past few years: 

Data driven outreach efforts

  • Identified priority geographical areas for outreach in 2024 and 2025, including rural communities, the coastal region, and eastern Oregon, resulting in a greater number of applications and enrolled projects from these areas.

  • Defined priority geographical areas for future outreach in 2026 by identifying where a significant portion of affordable housing properties are located (based on Oregon Housing and Community Services data) and which areas have large portions of high–priority demographic groups (based on census tract data).

Low-Cost Apartments reframing

  • Helped define and adopt the term Low-Cost Apartments instead of Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing to make it easier for property owners to recognize eligibility and engage with the program.

  • Efforts have resulted in more applicants self-reporting their properties as Low-Cost Apartments, with six Low-Cost Apartment properties receiving program funding in 2025.

Updated messaging and new marketing materials

  • Helped develop new resident collateral, including posters and magnets encouraging further energy-saving actions, and shared ideas on how to distribute them to OR-MEP participants through a simple online order form.

  • Reviewed and provided feedback on the messaging used in collateral and the new energy efficiency tips webpage to improve readability by using plain language that helps residents better understand how to save energy at home.

  • Identified the need for a new educational marketing piece highlighting the health benefits of energy-efficient property upgrades and helped review content for use at the Oregon Rural Health Conference.

Happy couple two people man and woman standing at home or agency holding brochure reading content and offer happy smile boyfriend and girlfriend or husband and wife making plans choosing offer

Open Enrollment process improvements

  • Provided feedback on the way application questions are posed to improve clarity.

  • Shared ideas on how to help make sure selected project results match the original intent of scoring criteria, such as validating through a number of data points.

  • Open Enrollment process improvements resulted in the following project enrollments since 2024:

    • 45 rural projects 
    • 45 projects in communities with a very high energy burden 
    • 29 projects serving residents navigating very low incomes 

     

Community-based organization (CBO) engagement

  • Developed a working definition of CBOs for the program to use in outreach efforts.

  • Played a critical role in helping the program develop objective and fair application questions to determine whether an applicant qualifies as a culturally specific organization or a culturally responsive organization, as some areas may not have organizations that reflect the communities that applicants hope to serve.

  • Contributed to an updated strategy and new tactics for engaging with CBOs to facilitate OR-MEP Open Enrollment applications for their projects.

  • Provided input that helps ensure the program applies consistent standards when evaluating applications and prioritizes organizations that effectively meet the unique needs of the communities they serve.

The Coalition’s work has strengthened OR-MEP’s overall program operations, and the Coalition is well positioned to build on this progress in 2026. It is through close collaboration with the Coalition that the program team can set forth positive changes that make OR-MEP more accessible.

For more information about the Coalition, read the DEI Coalition Framework resource on the OR-MEP website.