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Board of Commissioners

To ensure accountability to the interests of our communities, Home Forward is governed by a nine-member citizen commission.

Volunteer Commissioners establish Home Forward policy, approve the annual budget, and hire the Executive Director. Four Commissioners represent the City of Portland, two represent the City of Gresham, two represent Multnomah County, and one, who participates in one of Home Forward’s housing programs, represents our residents and program participants. Commissioners are recommended from the area they serve, appointed by the Mayor of Portland, and approved by the Portland City Council. They serve four-year, renewable terms. There are currently three vacancies.

Damien Hall
Board Chair
Matthew Gebhardt
Vice Chair
Jenny Kim
Board Treasurer
TomiRene Hettman
Commissioner
Rakeem Washington
Commissioner
Dina DiNucci
Commissioner

meeting information

Attendance: Home Forward’s board meetings are open to the public — all are welcome.

Frequency: Once every month.

Date and Time: The third Tuesday of the month at 5:30 PM, via Zoom, until we announce our return to in-person meetings.

Location: Meetings are virtual with the link available in the agenda.

Meeting Materials: The agenda and documents related to the meeting are posted on this page the week before the meeting.

Work Session: The board also meets for a work session at 5:30 p.m. the Wednesday two weeks before a board meeting. Work sessions are held at Home Forward’s main offices, 135 SW Ash St., Portland, OR 97204 unless otherwise announced.

You may send comments via letter or e-mail to:

          Home Forward Board of Commissioners c/o Home Forward

          135 SW Ash Street Portland, Oregon 97204

          E-mail: board@homeforward.org

Or you may participate in the “Public Comment” portion of monthly board meetings. Please read the guidelines for public comment.

AGENDA AND MATERIALS FOR MONTHLY BOARD MEETING

October – Work Session Packet

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Damien Hall Board Chair

Damien Hall | Chair

Quality, stable housing is the foundation that allows people to break the cycle of generational poverty.  I’m excited to help guide our community’s largest provider of affordable housing in its work to provide people with that opportunity.

Damien Hall brings legal expertise in land use, urban planning, and real estate development, as well as extensive civic involvement to the Board of Commissioners. He is an attorney at Ball Janik LLP, where he has helped both property owners and governments navigate land use requirements and work collaboratively to establish common objectives. He is a member of the Portland Development Commission’s Central City Budget Advisory Committee and serves on the board of non-profit Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives, Inc. Previously, he chaired PDC’s Urban Renewal Advisory Committee for the Oregon Convention Center area and participated in the development agency’s Advisory Committee for Economic Development in N/NE Portland. He received his degree at law from Lewis and Clark College and has a Bachelor’s Degree in public policy, planning, and management from the University of Southern California.

Matthew Gebhardt Vice Chair

Matthew Gebhardt | Vice Chair

I strongly believe that safe, stable, and affordable housing is vital for health and well-being. I am excited to help Home Forward sustain their current portfolio while continuing to develop new housing for people experiencing poverty across our community.

Matthew Gebhart is an Assistant Professor at Portland State University. He has spent the last fifteen+ years studying housing authorities, and recently worked with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on the Choice Neighborhood Initiative. Matthew holds one of the City of Portland’s seats on the Home Forward Board of Commissioners. He received his MA in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and earned a PhD in Urban Planning from Columbia University.

Jenny Kim Board Treasurer

Jenny Kim | Treasurer

I look forward to a time when everyone in our community has a safe, stable and affordable place to call home. Serving on this board is an amazing opportunity to listen to the people we serve and to work with my colleagues to equitably deliver the housing, programs, and services they need.

Jenny Kim holds one of the two Multnomah County seats on the Board of Commissioners and brings more than 20 years of board experience from organizations like the National Korean American Coalition, Portland Montessori School, and American Cancer Society. She graduated from the University of California with a degree in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. Jenny has a proven track record of helping organizations grow and meet new challenges and she has been a dedicated leader in our community for many years.

TomiRene Hettman Commissioner

TomiRene Hettman
| Commissioner

I joined the Home Forward board as my way to show my appreciation for housing, which has helped to save my life. I am deeply committed to Home Forward’s mission and I want to do all that I can to help the agency fulfill this mission. I feel that, because of my own personal experiences and my long commitment to helping to build support in and around my own community, I am able to give a voice to the disenfranchised.

TomiRene Hettman holds one of the five City of Portland seats on the Board of Commissioners as Home Forward’s Resident Commissioner. Hettman has been a resident at Hollywood East Apartments since 2009. She brings her personal experiences and history of recurring homelessness to this position. She has served on Home Forward’s Resident Advisory Committee and has an impressive list of volunteer experiences, not only within her Home Forward community, but including the Hollywood Farmer’s Market, Lean on Me Program, Humane Society, and as a housing advocate serving on congressional roundtables.

Rakeem Washington | Commissioner

Rakeem Washington is an instructor with Portland State University teaching a dual-credit course entitled “Race, Class, Gender, and Social Justice” and is also the Director of Access and Re-Entry at Portland Community College.  His connections to Portland are deep, and it is rare that when he is out in the community, he does not run into a former student.  He greets all of his former students with hugs or handshakes… and sometimes both. 

Prior to the beginning of his professional career, he spent hours as a volunteer, mentor, and coach with various community based organizations. Rakeem continued his passion for working with children and families after graduating from Lewis and Clark Law School in 2008 when he began work as a staff attorney for the Juvenile Rights Project, a public defense law firm representing children and parents in child welfare, school discipline, and juvenile delinquency cases.  After witnessing, firsthand, the racial disparities that exist at the intersection of the foster care, educational, and criminal justice systems, Rakeem shifted focus towards equity work.  He has continued those efforts in various forms while working with Portland Public Schools, the Oregon Judicial Department, and the Portland Observer Newspaper.  Some of his current work includes advocating for increased educational opportunities for students incarcerated through the Oregon Youth Authority.  In 2015, he partnered with a friend from law school to start Engage To Change, a consulting business specializing in anti-racism/anti-oppression trainings and organizational development.  Recognizing that healthy communities make healthy individuals, Rakeem continues to work towards empowering the voices and increasing the visibility of underserved and disenfranchised individuals and populations.

Dina DiNucci Commissioner

Dina DiNucci
| Commissioner

With housing affordability and accessibility as pressing concerns in the communities within Multnomah County, I am eager to help with the discussion and decision making in finding solutions and opportunities culminating in securely housing those within our community. I believe that everyone of all backgrounds deserves access to housing and healthcare. I intend to use my voice to help others in need.

DiNucci is currently a Gresham City Councilor and Health Care Investigator for Multnomah County.  She will hold one of the two City of Gresham seats on the Home Forward Board of Commissioners.  She brings a broad range of public and social services experience from organizations like Multnomah County, the City of Gresham, Human Solutions, and the Wallace Medical Concern. She has been a small business owner and community advocate, and will bring her knowledge of project management, community organizing and collaborative leadership in her role as a Home Forward Commissioner.

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Attention residents

As some of you may have heard, on August 20th 2023 the Portland Water Bureau’s regular testing of water quality detected small amounts of the bacteria Cryptosporidium. Since learning of this, Home Forward staff has been in contact with the Portland Water Bureau.

We have been assured that healthy individuals can and should continue using water as normal.

If you are immunocompromised or are taking an immunosuppressive drug, you can kill any potential cryptosporidium bacteria by boiling your water for 1 minute before consuming.

  • If you are boiling the water to drink, let the water cool.
  • Iodine and Chlorine do not kill this bacteria, and to treat for potential bacteria you should boil the water.
  • If you have questions please reach out to your property manager or resident services coordinator.

Please visit the Center for Disease Control website to get additional information.