Tillamook County recently made a contract with X4 Health. The deal amounts to $121,500 to make a “coordinated homeless response” for the county. This plan is in response to House Bill 4123, sponsored by Representative Jason Kropf (D-Bend) in 2022. The bill awarded Tillamook County (among several others) $1 million to develop a five-year strategic plan no later than November 2023 or one year after receiving the grant.

The Commissioners did not specify why they were unable to write this coordinated homeless response with the legally required county partners that they all regularly meet with in various advisory committees.

Specifically, Commissioner Skaar has repeatedly stated that this contract must create a “coordinated system of services” for the homeless and no/low barrier housing. No barrier housing is housing that does not have any stipulations to gain entrance, including drug addiction and untreated mental illness.

This intent to implement no barrier housing in Tillamook County was later confirmed by Tillamook CARE Chair Board of Directors, Dusti Linnell, in a recent article in the local newspaper. The Headlight Hearld announced the resignation of their director, Peter Starkey, who had directly reported prior to his resignation that there would be various types of no barrier housing in Tillamook County. This would include a central shelter or other types of housing, as well as “safe parks” in other areas of the county.

Presumably, the X4 Health contract will be funded by the monies from HB 4123. It means the county is giving up one-tenth of this state funding to “end” homelessness for personnel services to write a plan with advisory committee members, Tillamook CARE, and other previously contracted community partners. This is after Tillamook County already worked on a pilot with a sister non-profit to X4 Health, Community Rockit, in late 2021-early 2022.

The Community Rockit plan developed in meetings not accounted for in the Tillamook Board of Commissioners’ meeting logs or agendas until August 2022 can be found online.

Of special interest to the tax payers of the state of Oregon should be the small group sessions of “community leaders” that participated with Community Rockit through Zoom meetings. Their presumptions of how private property owners (including churches, church camps, RV camps, and “under-utilized properties”) could be used to meet their goal that “no one in Tillamook County need live unsheltered” is demonstrated by their “Assets” list in a graphic on the Community Rockit Tillamook County website.

Commissioner Skaar has stated this list was a “brainstorm” of “possible partners.”

So who is X4 Health and what do they do?

According to its founder/CEO, Christine Betchel, “ X4 itself does a combination of social impact design (solving problems that matter at a societal level) and project management.” This ambiguous description of the work of X4 Health is nearly all that is available online, through their Facebook page, and as defined by those who have worked with X4 Health, Community Rockit, or Christine Betchel. In fact, internet searches turn up very little information about X4 Health, if one can find their website at all. Community Rockit ,also managed/founded by Betchel, is more accessible to the public and it is mostly supported by Morris Singer Foundation and AOC (Association of Oregon Counties).

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X4 Health also has global funders such as the Global Development Network and the Health Initiative, and is especially interested in electronic patient records, COVID-19 issues (vaccines and government protocols), and implementation of public health policies, especially regarding equity.

Why is a globally funded contractor working with Tillamook County to resolve their homeless issue? According to Commissioner Skaar and a letter written by the Tillamook County Commissioners on August 16, 2022 to Christine Betchel, X4 Health was invited to bid on this contract based on their work as Community Rockit.

Community Rockit has also referenced the work of Marlene Putman, Tillamook County Health and Human Services Director.

Furthermore, Community Rockit has worked in two other counties assigned funding in HB 4123: Benton and Umatilla.

Umatilla utilized Communtiy Rockit to aid in plans to address mental health issues. Benton County seems to have started with planning their homeless response through the work of HOPE Community Engagement in spring of 2021. These meetings were made available to the public and can still be watched at their website.

Unfortunately, HOPE’s work with Community Rockit does not appear to be as easily accessible.

Community Rockit’s work in Morrow, Eastern, and Gilliam counties is unrelated to HB4123. While time will tell whether Tillamook County, or other Oregon counties, working with Community Rockit or X4 Health will be conducting their strategy sessions in view of the public or whether this globally funded “non-profit” is acting in good faith with the citizens of Oregon.

However, rural communities should be aware that organizations like X4 Health are looking for opportunities to collect lucrative government contracts to facilitate talks with county leaders and compile their input into simple graphics that may represent vast world view differences to the county residents. Whether X4 Health will wield this influence to enforce globalist policies on rural Oregon communities also remains to be seen.


--April Bailey

Post Date: 2023-03-07 06:57:54

Last Update: 2023-03-08 01:19:21