See No Stranger
See No Stranger is a housing-transition and case-management initiative that Multnomah County's Department of County Human Services (DCHS) launched in fall 2023 for asylum seekers and refugees leaving Oregon's ODHS-run Welcome Center in Portland. It was funded by a $9.75 million appropriation from Oregon's 2023 end-of-session Senate Bill 5506 (the 'Humanitarian Transition Project') and delivered through three contracted community-based organizations: Afghan Support Network, Oregon/Southwest Washington African Community Development Center, and Portland Refugee Support Group. Official Oregon state reporting confirms that 'basic income enrollment' was part of the wraparound case management all roughly 300 referred households received by January 2024, but public government documents do not name UpTogether or specify cash amounts. Seed data attributes the cash-transfer component and its household-size-tiered payments specifically to UpTogether; this could not be independently corroborated and should be treated as unconfirmed.
Refugees, Asylum Seekers, Immigrants, Housing Transition, Household-Size-Scaled Payments, Multnomah County, Oregon Senate Bill 5506, Welcome Center
Headquarters
- Organization Name
- UpTogether
- City
- Oakland
- State / Province
- California
- Country
- United States
Contact
- Website
- https://www.uptogether.org/
- help@uptogether.org
- Social media links
Status & Funding
- Organization status
- Active
- Program status
- Inactive
- Application status
- Timed
- Number of recipients
- 300
- Funding type
- Government
Benefits
- Currency Type
- Fiat
- Currency
- USD
- Total Amount
- 4,500 USD
- Avg. Per Month
- 900 USD
- Payment frequency
- Monthly
- How long the program lasts
- 5 months
- Distribution Type
- Check, Digital/Virtual payment card, Direct deposit to bank account, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay
- Benefit details
Per seed data, cash investments were scaled by household size: $1,500/month for 1-2 person households, $3,000/month for 3-4 person households, and $4,500/month for households of 5 or more. Reported distribution methods (check, virtual payment card, direct deposit, Apple/Samsung/Google Pay) are consistent with UpTogether's standard cash-disbursement platform used across its other funds. Independent Oregon state reporting (SB 5506 report) confirms 'Basic Income enrollment' was part of case management provided to all referred households by January 2024 but does not disclose exact dollar tiers or the disbursing organization. Recipients also received 15-40 hours of case management per household covering housing placement, legal referral, employment and education assistance.
Eligibility
Overview
- Eligibility details
Eligibility was limited to asylum seekers and refugees who had resided at ODHS's Portland Welcome Center (closed to new entrants September 30, 2023) or who were later added to ODHS's Humanitarian Registry waitlist between December 2023 and January 2024. Participants generally lacked eligibility for other public benefit programs such as federal refugee resettlement assistance, and as asylum seekers were largely unable to work while their cases were pending. Households were referred by ODHS to one of three contracted community-based organizations - Afghan Support Network, Oregon/SW Washington African Community Development Center, or Portland Refugee Support Group - for enrollment and case management.
Family
- Household size (minimum)
- 1
Housing
- Housing status
- Displaced
Financial
- Currently receiving government benefits
- Disqualifying
- Employment status
- Unemployed
Citizenship
- Citizenship / immigration status
- Refugee, Asylum Seeker
Geography
- US states covered
- Oregon
- Countries covered
- United States
- Cities covered
- Portland
- Counties covered
- Multnomah
- Residency of Target Geography
- Yes
Application Process
- How to apply
No public/open application existed. Households were internally referred: Phase I (fall 2023) referred current Welcome Center residents directly to the three contracted CBOs; Phase II (Dec 2023-Jan 2024) referred households from ODHS's Humanitarian Registry waitlist to the same CBOs for enrollment.
- Selection process
ODHS identified eligible households from the Welcome Center caseload (Phase I) and later from the Humanitarian Registry waitlist (Phase II, referrals on Dec 15, 2023 and Jan 2, 2024), verified they were not eligible for other public programs such as refugee resettlement, obtained signed releases of information, and referred them to Multnomah County's contracted CBOs for intake and enrollment.
