The Oregon Opportunity Network was founded in July 2008 as the result of the merger of Oregon’s two community development associations, the Association of Oregon Community Development Organizations (AOCDO) and the Community Development Network (CDN).  The purpose of the merger was to increase the level of support for member organizations and create a unified voice for non-profit housing and community development organizations.

AOCDO, founded in 1992, served nonprofit housing and community development organizations throughout the state, with a membership of over 30 Voting Members and 70 Affiliates.  CDN, founded in 1995, served  nonprofit housing and community development organizations in Portland and Multnomah County, with a membership of 19 Voting Members and 40 Affiliates. After a decade plus of each trade association focusing on their respective service areas, leadership for AOCDO and CDN began to discuss the potential for combining the two. Both organizations had overlapping membership, mission and support programs. Careful thought was given to balancing the different service needs that exist for our members in Portland and our members from smaller cities, suburbs and rural communities throughout Oregon.  Ultimately, the benefits of common purpose, combined expertise and a unified voice made the merger an obvious choice.

Merging into Oregon ON improves our influence and better utilizes scarce resources by replacing duplicative administrative functions. This enables a stronger organizational focus on policy advocacy and industry best practices.  The new and more powerful merged organization includes some of the following benefits:

• A stronger industry with member community development organizations operating at peak performance, more units of affordable housing produced, better management of housing portfolios and greater impact on Oregon’s disadvantaged residents and communities.
• A united voting, board and affiliate member structure with better communication and better consensus in program and policy making decisions.
• Elimination of duplication, increased efficiency, and additional time for staff to provide deeper levels of support for organizational policy development, industry support best practices, and networking.
• A bridge between urban and rural communities that focuses on common solutions which are far greater than perceived differences.