Mercy Corps Northwest Announces Pivot Away From Client Programs in the Pacific Northwest

Mercy Corps Northwest will begin to wind down client programming, including business education, grants and loans, in the Pacific Northwest to reflect and reimagine how Mercy Corps supports communities – and the most marginalized among them – in the United States. All AmeriCorps and small business programming in Oregon will come to a close by June 2024 and transition to other locally-led organizations. Mercy Corps will continue supporting small businesses in Clark County, Washington and providing grants and technical support to local nonprofits in Clackamas County, Oregon through 2024.

“For over two decades, Mercy Corps Northwest has been privileged to serve communities across the Pacific Northwest – from entrepreneurs to AmeriCorps volunteers to individuals who experienced incarceration,” says CEO Tjada D’Oyen McKenna. “As part of our new 10-year organizational strategy, we are taking time to reflect on our impact and to review our role in providing meaningful support to historically marginalized communities in the United States.”

Mercy Corps Northwest proudly served as home to Oregon Women’s Business Center and microloan lender in partnership with the Small Business Administration (SBA), and an Oregon IDA grant provider. Mercy Corps Northwest hosted one of Oregon’s most impactful prison entrepreneurship programs that reduced participant recidivism rates by 50 percent and built capacity at nonprofits across Oregon and Washington as host of a regional AmeriCorps VISTA program. The impact of our work has accumulated to $16.5 million dollars in grants and loans disbursed to entrepreneurs, more than 130,000 hours of education, and over twelve-thousand clients receiving services from Mercy Corps Northwest since 1998.

Mercy Corps will continue to support communities across the United States through its MicroMentor and Community Investment Trust programs.

For more information please visit, nw.mercycorps.org/mcnw-future