Community Leader Interview Paper

Community Leader Interview – Linda Jo
I interviewed Linda Jo from Community of Hope, a non-profit organization, based out of the St. Johns neighborhood in North Portland. I chose to interview Linda Jo because her organization is only a few blocks from my home, and I think it is important to familiarize myself with programs that are being offered in my area. The population that Community of Hope works with is homeless families, specifically single-parent families. The purpose of this paper is to explore what Community of Hope does, Linda Jo’s role and relevant training, and the work she is doing within the community.
Community of Hope opened in February 2014 to temporarily house homeless single-parent families who have been impacted by barriers related to trauma. Community of Hope’s goal is to provide families with a safe environment and parents with the tools to find a job, locate stable housing, and establish healthy parenting skills. Parenting classes are offered and they focus on

Linda Jo received a BSW and a M. Ed. As the director for Community of Hope, Linda is responsible for working on policy, building connections within the local community, ensuring the needs of the organization are being met through grant writing, fundraising, and connecting with local churches in the area for donations. Furthermore, she supervises employees and clients from a servant leadership standpoint and is responsible for asking families to leave when they are not abiding by the program which she notes as being another hard aspect of her position. Linda Jo also mentors and supports clients and tries to incorporate her faith into her practice. Clients that are apart of Community of Hope are also placed on a point system and Linda Jo is responsible for giving and taking away points. She stated that she would rather take the pressure away from her employees and have the client be mad at her