NAO is excited to spotlight nonprofit members, share their success stories and exciting news, and raise awareness of their cause and the impact these amazing nonprofits make in our communities. 

Our spotlight this month is the Northeast Oregon Network (NEON) in La Grande. They have been members of NAO since 2016, and we were excited to catch up with Executive Director Liberty Avila. 

NEON’s mission is to support individuals, communities, and systems in collectively promoting equity, health, and well–being at home and beyond. NEON is a health and well-being-focused nonprofit that provides health insurance enrollment and community health worker services, supports community projects through fiscal sponsorship, and trans community health workers and other front–line professionals statewide through our training program.  

NEON was launched as a gap-filling organization, working to build bridges among some of the health and social service providers that deliver foundational services in our community. Because of this, NEON’s smaller goals are always changing, but the big goals are to increase health equity and well–being in the communities served. NEON always wants to be ready to meet the evolving needs of Oregon’s communities. 

During our chat, Liberty shared some proud moments and recent accomplishments for the organization which included: 

  • The expansion of Medicaid enrollment services to Umatilla and Malheur counties, supported by a recent federal grant awarded to NEON. This increase in staffing and capacity will help NEON prepare for the upcoming federal changes coming to Medicaid. 
  • The Community Health Worker (CHW) training program has expanded over the past few years and has been a huge success! Community Health Workers (CHWs) are trusted advocates who work across diverse settings to break down barriers to care, address systemic inequities, and support the health and well-being of our most vulnerable communities. NEON is also supporting other organizations in providing this important training in their communities, increasing access to this important training and career path. 

Liberty expressed, “One thing I love about NEON is that a lot of our work includes us figuring out how to provide a service and then increasing our impact by supporting partners in the work – we aren’t just all about NEON doing everything. We always want to find ways we can support other organizations in our work as well as community members.” 

In awe of NEON’s success and impact, Liberty (rightfully so) spoke highly of her staff and their dedication to the mission. She was proud to report that NEON has grown from 8 to 20 staff members over the past 5 years. She believes that her focus on paying fair wages and providing flexibility and staff support has boosted morale and helped make NEON so successful. She is so proud of the team at NEON and is so grateful to be leading a group of mission-driven individuals dedicated to the mission and community. 

When asked about NEON’s current needs, Liberty said, “Currently, NEON (and many other organizations) are struggling to manage uncertainty at all levels of the community. We are always looking for resources to support our services as well as the services at our sponsored and partner organizations.” 

Liberty also highlighted the ongoing challenges of the complexity of nonprofit work on the finance and data collection side. She emphasized the importance of NAO and all members coming together to be a voice for the nonprofit sector. “Anything we can do to speak up together about the needs of the nonprofit sector and the significant administrative burdens we face is always helpful.” 

We’d like to thank Liberty for taking the time to connect and speak with us and sharing the amazing work NEON is doing for our eastern Oregon communities.  

To learn more about NEON and support their work, visit their website at https://www.neonoregon.org/!