KEEP PORTLAND CONNECTED
Our Purpose
What if we treated connection not just as shelter, but as essential infrastructure?
Imagine trying to rebuild your life, but you can’t be reached. No address. No reliable way to receive a letter. No way to charge the one device that connects you to the world. For many people experiencing homelessness, this isn’t a rare inconvenience; it’s a daily barrier that quietly shuts doors.
In the United States, homelessness is not just about lacking shelter; it’s about losing access to the invisible systems that make modern life function. Mail is one of those systems. Without a stable address people miss job offers, benefit approvals, medical information, even court notices. One missed letter can mean losing a place on a housing waitlist or missing a critical deadline that sets someone back months or years. The system assumes stability, but stability is exactly what’s missing.
At the same time, something as simple as a charged phone has become essential to survival. Research shows that many people experiencing homelessness do have cell phones, often because they are lifelines to services, emergency help, and employment opportunities. But access to power is inconsistent. Without reliable places to charge phones go dead, and with them go connections to caseworkers, job callbacks, healthcare providers, and family. Basic communication becomes fragile.
These are not abstract problems. They are structural gaps; small on the surface but massive in impact. A mailing address and a charged phone don’t solve homelessness. But without them, it becomes exponentially harder to escape it.