Visit to two of our portfolio partners in Oregon

Kachuwa Board Directors, Alicia Robb, Lizette Peña, and Yichen Feng were in Oregon last month to visit two of our portfolio partners: Shortstack Housing and Ecotrust Forest Management (EFM). 

Shortstack Housing and Kachuwa collaborated on two affordable housing developments in Portland with 35 apartment units in each location.  When Jessy Ledesma and Anna Mackay were first launching Shortstack Housing, like many women entrepreneurs, they struggled to raise the funding they needed. Kachuwa provided the remainder of their funding and became majority investor for each of the two ~$14M developments. The projects are affordable for low-to-middle income tenants and optimized for urban infill. They use panelized mass timber construction for a lower cost construction option.  Kachuwa Directors attended the ribbon cutting celebration of the second project, the Shortstack Belmont location, on July 21, 2026.  Kachuwa Directors are pictured here with Shortstack Housing co-founders, Jessy and Anna. After the ribbon cutting, the Kachuwa members traveled to the visit first project, the Shortstack Mississippi location, which is now in its second year of operation in Portland.

Lizette Peña, Anna Mackay, Jessy Ledesma, Alicia Robb, and Yichen Feng at the Shortstack Belmont ribbon cutting.

Alicia, Yichen, and Lizette in front of the Shortstack Mississippi property.

Ecotrust Forest Management (EFM) is a certified B-Corp, women-led firm that acquires forestland properties in the Pacific Northwest and transitions them to climate-smart management. They seek to create value by combining sustainable timber production with revenues from carbon sequestration, conservation, recreation, and biodiversity. EFM forests are audited annually for compliance with the stewardship principles and certification requirements of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Since 2005, EFM has acquired 25+ forestland properties totaling 230,000+ acres via their four funds (NOTE:  Kachuwa is an investor in all four funds with a total of ~$1.7M invested).  On the EFM tour, Kachuwa Directors were able to visit one of their oldest acquisitions -- Giribaldi, a nearly 5,000-acre forest in Tillamook County, which is connected to two of the most important watersheds in Oregon for salmon populations.  The second day the group visited their newest acquisition -- Nehalem, a 30,000-acre rain forest which is located near the Oregon coast. 

Bettina Von Hagen, the CEO of EFM explains how they are restoring the forests and watersheds.

Lizette, Yichen, and Alicia at the Giribaldi property.