Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson and Mayor Ted Wheeler have now announced that Kaiser Permanente executive Dan Field will serve as the next Director of the Joint Office of Homeless Services.

The announcement, made at a press conference in the Multnomah County Boardroom on April 5th, follows a national search that supposedly had 48 candidates.

“This search was conducted collaboratively with Joint Office staff and leadership at the County and City,” Vega Pederson said. “I am proud to say that our search has yielded in Dan Field, a leader to meet this moment, one who understands the complexities and has the commitment to coalition- and relationship-building that is needed to help bring added urgency and accountability to the Joint Office's work and investments.”

“We take this hire very, very seriously and we are very happy that Dan Field has been willing to step forward to help lead our collective efforts,” Wheeler said.

Dan Field spoke at a press conference announcing his hire on April 5, 2023.

He spent nearly two decades with Kaiser Permanente, Field also served as a staffer for former Gov. John Kitzhaber when Kitzhaber was president of the Oregon Senate, and as chief of staff for former Portland Mayor Vera Katz when she was speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives.

Field played a role in founding HealthShare of Oregon.

In 2020, he sponsored projects aimed at reversing systemic racial injustices, including the creation of the Kaiser Center for Black Health and Wellness, scheduled to open later in 2023.

In 2021, he helped launch a mass vaccination clinic at the Oregon Convention Center that administered more than 550,000 COVID-19 vaccinations.

“Dan's years of work at the confluence of health care and housing have shown the promise in this approach, as has his ability to work across our region to connect the dots to address difficult challenges with unique sources of funding and partnership,” said Chair Jessica Vega Pederson.

The press conference convened speakers including Vega Pederson, Wheeler and Field, along with Joint Office Interim Director Joshua Bates; Angela Martin, Co-Director of HereTogether Oregon; Marcus Mundy, executive director of the Coalition of Communities of Color; Ed Blackburn, former executive director of Central City Concern; and Jessica Getman, board chair of the Portland Business Alliance.

Field said he steps into the role with “humility about the challenge ahead of us,” and said he will center people experiencing homelessness and housing insecurity in his work.

“To anyone in the community who is homeless or housing insecure, whether you're sleeping on a couch, living out of your car or lying in a doorway, we see you and we will keep you at the center of everything we do,” Field said. “That is my pledge here today. Please hold me to it. We want a community that is just and equitable and where everybody is safely housed. My pledge to you is we will work hard to honor that trust and to strengthen our community in the process.”

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

The Multnomah County Board of Commissioners must approve Field’s appointment. Pending that approval, Field is expected to take over the Joint Office of Homeless Services, and its $255 million budget and 95 employees, on April 28.

Formed in 2016, the Joint Office is a partnership between Multnomah County and the City of Portland. They contract with community-based organizations and work with other governmental entities to provide equity-based services including housing assistance, shelter, healthcare and services navigation, employment assistance, and street outreach.

Joshua Bates, Deputy Director of the Joint Office, has served since November 2022. He will remain at the Joint Office as Deputy Director to work with Field.

“It was clear that he brought partnership- and coalition-building to this work,” Bates said. “I'm certain that through his position, he will build bridges in ways that have not been built before to serve folks experiencing homelessness. I am excited to be a part of that bridge-building and to support the next phase of the Joint Office alongside Dan Field."

The County began recruiting for a permanent director in fall 2022, leveraging the reach of community and advocacy organizations

. Recruitment was centered in the County’s focus on equity and leading with race, using the County’s Gladys McCoy hiring standards and focusing on diversity and inclusion in designing hiring panels, interview questions and selection criteria.

“It was important not only to end this search with a successful candidate able to help the Joint Office build strategically for the long-term, but to engage in an inclusive process that increased our connection to and involvement with key community partners,” said Chair Vega Pederson. “I feel confident in where we landed and the process we took to get here.”

The search drew 48 local and national candidates, 51% of whom identified as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color). Seven candidates advanced to interviews with County leaders. Three finalists were then interviewed in February by a nine-person panel made up of County leaders, Joint Office staff, representatives from the City, local providers, and community members with lived expertise.

The top two candidates submitted short videos that were reviewed by more than 30 stakeholders from across Multnomah County, including members of the business community, elected leaders, and the representatives from the housing and homelessness continuum of care. Chair Vega Pederson and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, who was involved throughout the process and in final decision-making, then interviewed each of the top two candidates together in a small group setting.

“I look forward to working with Dan in his new position as the director of the Joint Office of Homeless Services. Throughout the interview process, I was incredibly impressed by Dan's commitment,” Wheeler said.

“He has the experience, he has the drive, he has the connections,” Wheeler said.

Field has been the executive director of Community Benefit, Government Relations and External Affairs at Kaiser Permanente.

“I am looking forward to returning to public service. I love our community — Multnomah County, the City of Portland, and the beautiful cities that make up our region — and see so much potential in the Joint Office and in our community to reach local solutions. This is my opportunity to focus on good policy that features connections across the broad spectrum of stakeholders whose ideas and investments are needed to build the strongest and most responsive housing safety net we can,” Field said.


--Ben Fisher

Post Date: 2023-04-07 12:00:33

Last Update: 2023-04-07 12:44:06