non-profit partners.
All of our non-profit partners are ones that I personally contribute to and/or volunteer with. Not only that, but they are all run by amazing people that come with the highest possible praise. I am a huge fan of organizations that DO GOOD WELL and not just have a positive mission statement. I personally vouch for each of these organizations and their leaders in that they are innovative, responsible and will have real and lasting impacts. Most importantly, all of these non-profits involve programs focused on impacting children who live in our community. If there is a non-profit not on the list that you think would be a great match please reach out!
In the end it is my hope that this is just the beginning of a relationship you may have with one of the below organizations.
Faithful Friends MentorinG Program
Faithful Friends is a community based mentoring program that matches children and mentors in a unique and intentional mentoring relationship of at least one year. To encourage preventative measures, they start matching children when they are between the ages of 6 and 9. They recruit caring and responsible mentors - singles, couples, and whole families- from local Christian church partners. They invest in underserved children in the Portland metro area of Multnomah County, Washington Count and Clackamas County.
They are currently overseeing 65 current active relationships with at-risk children in the community. Of these children, 76% are separated from at least one biological parent, 21% have previous experience in foster care, 34% have an incarcerated parent, 21% are from immigrant or refugee families and 37% have experienced current or previous homelessness. Each mentor, child, and child’s family makes a one year commitment to the program. Although around 80% of our mentors and families continue on mentoring after their first year commitment. They are committed to matching the best matches possible and believe relationships have the insurmountable power to make generational change in our community.
Harper’s playground
Our quest to design and build playgrounds that work for everybody began in 2009 after our five-year-old daughter Harper tried to approach a play structure in her walker at the park a few blocks from our home—and got stuck in woodchips.
Frustrated she was unable to climb, slide or simply play in virtually all playgrounds, we set forth to design and build a better model and fund it ourselves.
In 2010, we created Harper’s Playground, a non-profit organization dedicated to building better, all-inclusive playgrounds around the world.
Our first project? Uniting our community to help redesign and rebuild that very same playground in our neighborhood.
Free Guitars for kids
It is our belief that every child should be able to experience both the tangible benefits and the joy of owning a musical instrument, regardless of his or her ability to purchase one. Portland Pilot Project Details - In conjunction with the PIL of Portland Public Schools, Free Guitars for Kids, is offering a summer pilot program for 160 kids at two schools this summer for 4 days a week for 6 weeks. We plan to offer an introductory course for how to play the guitar that focuses on social emotional learning. We want the students to understand the value in learning to play an instrument and the connection it brings: to the larger community, towards healthy mental wellness, and a discipline/skill that when nurtured can provide an avenue towards learning life lessons.
The pilot program will become a model for FG4K to use across the country beginning in the fall of 2022.
Safe families for children
When crisis strikes -- perhaps an illness, loss of a job, eviction, substance abuse, or so much more – some families in our community don’t have a supportive network to turn to. Sadly, as the parents struggle to cope with the crisis, their children are especially at risk.
Safe Families for Children is a movement of compassion – compassion for both the parents and their kids. We are prepared to step alongside and help so the parents can focus on the overwhelming issues they are grappling with.
union gospel Mission - Life Change
Union Gospel Mission’s LifeChange for Women and Their Children is a safe, healing home where women and their children who are escaping homelessness addiction, and abuse can heal together. While in LifeChange, women receive more than 30 hours a week of direct service including case management, education, work therapy, and mental health counseling. Mental health counseling, along with other areas of the LifeChange program, is designed to help women and children experience life transformation. Children also receive support and services including counseling, academic help, and life skills training. By allowing women to enter LifeChange along with their children we can help the family heal together and restore their relationships. 78% of women who complete at least one phase of LifeChange are in safe, stable housing, sober, employed and part of a supportive community.
Transitional Youth
Transitional Youth serves at-risk and homeless youth in the Portland/Vancouver Metro areas. Our mission is to reach youth where they are at, whether aging out of foster care, caught in the throws of homelessness, gang activity, trafficking and/or hopelessness… and then offer them opportunities to cultivate a healthy future. Within our four unique, housing programs, outreach services and social enterprise, Transitional Youth provides a safe place for youth to begin again.
The Estuary Center
The Estuary Center is a nonprofit, skill-building organization serving teens and adults with autism. Focused on teaching life skills across multiple settings - from classrooms to doctor’s offices, retail stores to community centers - our pilot program was launched in October 2022. Studies show that 75% of adults living with autism are unemployed or underemployed. By teaching with an individualized evidence-based curriculum, our mission is to ensure that our students won’t become another statistic but rather, valued members of their communities. We focus on building partnerships with local businesses and community members to provide education about autism and help foster a culture of acceptance towards neurodiversity. With broader education, our impact can extend into the greater area reaching into people’s homes where systemic change happens. Ultimately, we believe that every person deserves to belong, to live in community, to live with passion, and to grow in a supportive environment!
SHE FLIES - SPORTORegon
SHE FLIES is an initiative under the Sport Oregon Foundation umbrella working to support, engage, and celebrate girls and women in sport across Oregon. At the Sport Oregon Foundation, we believe sport is for all — all body types, all races, all ages, all income levels. The SHE FLIES initiative has three key pillars; keeping girls in the game, empowering women in coaching, and promoting fitness for life.
Through SHE FLIES, we want to foster safe spaces where all girls and women feel like they can take flight into the many positive benefits of sports participation. We also want to feed communities of encouragement and support to get active or stay active, and grow spaces to connect with like-minded peers to build an even more inclusive and impactful sports community across Oregon.
SHE FLIES fulfills its’ initiative through three key areas; Impact - our annual SHE FLIES Community Grant program which has given over $142,000 since its inception in 2022, Storytelling - SHE FLIES Stories Content Series because we believe girls can’t be what they can’t see, and Network – creating and uplifting a mission-related community through free events, programs, and partnerships.