March 25, 2022

Many CSS volunteers work behind the scenes to help keep this community-based nonprofit moving forward. Serving as a CSS board member is one way to help bring constructive oversight and vision to the organization.

Devin Jenkins has served two years on the CSS board and is currently the board president. He brings a broad understanding of what is needed to maintain strong, community-based opportunities for people facing challenges that come with living without a place to call home.

The CSS board supports the three-person administrative directors team to help guide the organization towards its short- and long-term goals.

“I have a real passion for a community-based model helping people, and CSS does this in a pretty amazing way,” Devin says. “This organization is a model for building collaboration and using resources in a cost-effective way.

“We’re not heavy with administrative expenses. That allows us to stretch our funding to make the most of everything that comes to CSS. Most funding comes from our donor base, and lately the City has stepped up to support the recent expansion of Huts and Safe Spots in 2021.

Devin graduated from Nazareth College in Rochester, NY, in 2001 with a degree in biology, but felt drawn to the Northwest to work with kids, especially in outdoor settings.

He first moved to Oregon in 2001 to become program coordinator with Northwest Youth Corp. He’s also worked as an outdoor youth coordinator in Bend and in a variety of jobs with Looking Glass Community Services in Eugene.

So, how did it happen that someone with a science background became interested in helping kids and adults lead more stable lives?

“It was actually my Dad who’s been my inspiration for doing this work,” Devin says.

Devin’s Dad worked as a policeman and managed security with the housing authority in Syracuse. He was passionate about helping those struggling with poverty and housing insecurity, and sometimes took Devin to housing projects where he worked, which opened Devin’s eyes to the many challenges people face when life struggles become overwhelming.

“What I learned more than anything in those visits was empathy and compassion for people,” he says.