As you may already know, Oregon Food Bank’s Metro & Washington County Services (MWCS) Team, which serves Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties, has recently undergone some changes. With new team members and responsibilities around food safety and compliance, we wanted to take a moment to share some important updates with you about who your contacts will be and how we will work together around our shared mission of ending hunger and its root causes. Please take a moment to read this message carefully, as it contains information that will impact how your agency communicates with the MWCS Team. 

In order to increase support to our partners and expand capacity for compliance monitoring responsibilities, the MWCS Team has welcomed an additional Food Assistance Network Strategist (FANS) to the team - Juan Soto! FANS are often also called Strategists. As a reminder, the Strategists serve as the first point of contact for each partner agency, working closely with partners across the Metro area to support them and ensure they have the resources necessary to excel and best serve their communities. Following a department restructure earlier this year, the MWCS team will also be responsible for performing your biannual compliance visits, along with drop-in visits and distribution assistance. Need help or have questions about how to improve service? Reach out to your Strategist!

With the fourth Strategist joining the team, we recognized an opportunity to change the way we manage relationships across this Network. Previously, a Strategist was assigned to either Multnomah, Washington, or Clackamas county, and was responsible for all partner agencies in that county. This wasn’t always the most balanced approach! Starting October 1, each Strategist will support a small, equally-sized network of partner agencies balanced across all three counties. This means that for some agencies, your Strategist and main point of contact will be changing. Click here to see who your Strategist is!

We believe that this new approach will help us maximize our support to Partner Agencies and also increase our ability to work alongside you as capacity-builders, focused on cultivating a strong, resilient food assistance network that meaningfully addresses both immediate food access needs and advancing systems change to end hunger for good. 

We know this update is likely prompting questions! Your assigned Strategist will be reaching out to you by the week of October 7th. In the meantime, please review the Frequently Asked Questions to learn more. 

Frequently Asked Questions:

Who is my Strategist? - Click here to view who your main point of contact will be moving forward, and be on the lookout for communication from your Strategist by October 7th.

What if I can’t reach my Strategist? - You can always reach the entire MWCS team at mwcs@oregonfoodbank.org. While we ask that you reach out to your assigned Strategist first, due to unexpected illness, travel, appointments, and compressed schedules, sometimes you might not be able to reach them. Don’t worry! Each Strategist is well versed in how to assist you, and there are regular meetings to discuss the goings on across the network so they can help when yours is out of the office.

How soon will this change take effect? - We will be implementing this change on October 1st. Your new Strategist will be reaching out to introduce themselves, and you’ll likely be hearing more from them in the coming months.