Disability Benefits Training & Consulting

11/19/2024

Stocking up on some survival supplies for our indigent clients who are still struggling with insecure housing situations.

08/08/2024

We are starting our donation fundraising a bit early this year to boost our resources for our very dedicated staff. They do detailed legal work. As you can imagine, it is very emotional work as we meet clients who are at some of the lowest points in their lives who never expected to need to apply for disability benefits. Compassion and restoring dignity are our core values. Donations can be made at ProgramASSIST.org.

With your support ASSIST has:
* Helped over 1100 clients apply for benefits;
* Brought in $60 million in income to our clients;
* Prevented many sick people from becoming homeless;
* Provided access to many other State disability services.

No donation is too small. With gratitude!
Mellani Calvin, Founder/Director

05/01/2024

Another precious win for our team. Our client desparately needs to replace the old truck she has been living in for years. We were able to get SSA to release a bunch of back pay they were withholding in order for her to obtain reliable transportation. She needs to regularly attend her medical appointments. Bless her strong heart!

12/08/2023

Seasons greetings and holiday blessings. We hope you will consider making a donation in support of stabilizing the lives of the people we serve here at ASSIST who have serious and chronic disabilities. Donations can be made from our web site www.ProgramASSIST.org.

04/19/2023

We so appreciated both Commissioner Sharon Meieran and Multnomah County DHS Director Mohammad Bader coming to the ASSIST office to meet with our staff and to learn more about this big missing piece in social services. Commissioner Meieran calls our work "the front door key to disability services".

03/10/2023

The team got to give public testimony at the Multnomah County Commissioner's board meeting today about our important work on behalf of people with severe disabilities who desperately need income benefits.

02/04/2023

ASSIST has had a very special volunteer for years. This is Ben. He is a retired Administrative Law Judge for the Social Security Administration and the Medicare system. He helps us with the small number of cases of ours that require an appeal to the hearing level. 83% of our cases do not require a hearing to be approved. And we take some complex cases! Ben has had a long career where he saw so many people that could have used our intensive case management and comprehensive advocacy. He says his volunteer work for ASSIST is a way for him "to give back", and has told us many times he thinks our team of non-attorney representatives "does an incredible job!" Thank you Ben. We are very blessed to have you as part of our team.

11/23/2022

These lovely people are a big part of what we are thankful for here at the ASSIST Program. Benefits Specialists Chase Stowell and Bianca Pick, and Program Specialist Maya Calvin keep this place humming!

11/18/2021

For those of you that follow us on Facebook, it is that time of year when we ask our supporters to make a donation. Our website, Program ASSIST, has our donation link. Please know that one of the biggest client expenses we have are for psychiatric diagnostic evaluations that help our clients that suffer from mental and emotional illnesses get the rock solid medical documentation they need to "prove" the severity of their illnesses. Each evaluation costs from $1,000 to $1,200 each. This is not something that OHP generally pays for without a months-long wait. We create a special fund just for these ever-so-important evaluations with our donations and grant funds. It is one of the biggest keys to our success. So thank you in advance for any amount you can give.

07/12/2021

Our work is extremely rewarding! Especially when we work in conjunction with our community partners. Educating others on this particular piece of our very complex social safety net is important to our most vulnerable neighbors' lives.

Our client Gregory has reached a bunch of his goals as he recovers from homelessness and other significant traumatic events in his life. This includes getting a new bike which he loves! With the tremendous support he's received from his counselors at LifeWorksNW and his Benefits Specialist Devi here at ASSIST-DBTC he has a completely new lease on life.

Devi Archer: "Gregory has truly made the "hero's Journey" from the time that Bryan at LifeworksNW first made contact with him until now. Having mental health services, housing stability and income has made such a huge difference in his life. I was ecstatic to hear from Gregory that he is thriving!!!!"

01/17/2021

Here is a story about another one of ASSIST's successes. Not only did we secure Rich's disability benefits for him to help with rent for his new place but we got his rapid rehousing voucher paperwork completed for him in record time. Our Benefits Specialist Devi Archer completely rocked a good portion of his wrap around services in order for he and his kitty to move out of his car.

After finding himself living in his car, one Portland man credits Beaverton homeless resources with helping him transition into stable housing. In February, after being employed for 25 years,Rick Long found himself out of work and in debt. Long was out of work and homeless because of painful neuropa...

01/12/2021

Our team had the pleasure of working with a local film maker again. He just published this mini doc about our work.

Thank you Christian Krantz! You did a fantastic job portraying why we do what we do here at the ASSIST Program. "Going The Extra Mile For People With Disabilities"

More info at programassist.org