Hood River City Councilors Anna Cavaleri, Ben Mitchell, Board President Gladys Rivera, Mayor Paul Blackburn, Doug Stepina, Grant Polson, and Amanda Goeke.
Hood River City Councilors Anna Cavaleri, Ben Mitchell, Board President Gladys Rivera, Mayor Paul Blackburn, Doug Stepina, Grant Polson, and Amanda Goeke.
HOOD RIVER — City council allocated funds to help individuals and families impacted by federal immigration enforcement, as proposed by Council President Gladys Rivera, during the July 13 meeting.
A total of $40,000 will be evenly split between The Next Door, Inc., for ongoing youth and adult mental health supports, and to Gorge Mutual Aid, under the umbrella of Gorge Ecumenical Ministries, for daily needs like groceries and travel expenses.
“It’s not a lot, but here’s what we can do to help an extremely marginalized, vulnerable population in our community,” Rivera said.
Councilors debated the amount, beneficiaries, and whether the move would set a precedent. The city will most likely be operating in a deficit this fiscal year, with money coming from its general fund.
“I think this is a really important issue, but … we can’t just pull money out of nowhere, so do we have this $40,000?” asked Councilor Anna Cavaleri, pointing to the almost $40,000 recently paid to The Next Door to facilitate four listening sessions and a town hall for the city on the topic of immigration.
“This is a crisis in our community that affects many of our community members and I think it’s our job to step up in this moment and figure out,” said Councilor Doug Stepina. “I don’t want to say we can’t afford it in the current structure that we have. We should work in the next budget cycle to understand how we can get better funding for things like the general fund.”
Councilors Amanda Goeke and Ben Mitchell pointed to listening sessions held earlier this year as a reason to provide funds.
“If we spent $40,000 to get here, then I think $40,000 to actually help the people that we are trying to help is fair,” Goeke said. “Spending $40,000 to hear what the needs are and then giving less than that doesn’t feel in alignment for me.”
Mitchell additionally brought up the city council’s silence in the 1940s when Japanese residents were the target of federal policy. “We have the opportunity to do something this time. Yeah, it’s not going to fix everything. Yeah, it’s not a lot. But I would hate to have gone through all of that and listen to these people and [just pat ourselves on the back].”
Councilor Grant Polson questioned whether the language and reasoning behind the fund allocation would open the door for victims of other crimes, but council ultimately decided that giving money to a specific portion of the population would not set a precedent, their December 2025 emergency declaration, in response to ICE impacts on the community, providing the guardrails. They also expressed trust in Rivera’s judgement in picking The Next Door and Gorge Mutual Aid as beneficiaries.
As for the actual donation of funds, City Administrator Abigail Elder said it’s simple — “You identify who, the amount, and what services you want those funds to provide” — and that she would request both agencies to report back to council on how the money was spent.
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