Allison Larinan

Project Portfolio Description

    Based in Eugene, Oregon, Cornerstone Community Housing (CCH) is devoted to creating opportunities for Oregonians with limited incomes to have access to quality, affordable housing and year-round support services aimed towards personal growth and economic independence. Last year Cornerstone spent nearly 80 thousand dollars on waste management bills at the properties that they own. In an effort to decrease these liability costs, CCH partnered with Lane County, Homes for Good, and BRING Recycling to test which intervention methods are most effective for encouraging recycling habits among low-income residential communities in Lane County. My contribution to this project was to design and implement a plan for educational outreach at six of the CCH sites using the budget and materials available through the grant. Perhaps most importantly, this project served as an opportunity to connect with residents amidst the strained amount of opportunities during the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020-21. Many residents were offered new support  in positive habit development in addition to receiving free high-quality resources for living an intentional and independent lifestyle. Due to the unlikely chance that this project would be replicated with the same partnerships and grants that CCH worked with, I would recommend that service providers implement the interventions applied in this project loosely, and adjust as needed for each targeted population. Whenever providing services, it is crucial to adapt to the needs of the clients in order to be successful; this became clear when serving six different sites that exhibit six different combinations of needs, personalities, and demographics.