Portland Children's Levy Newsletter April 2015

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PCL Sponsorship Opportunities

PCL is resuming its Event Sponsorship program for nonprofit organizations looking for help to underwrite event costs. The Levy will award 10 $500 sponsorships for events related to its funding areas from July 2015 through June 2016.

Also, we have a limited number of sponsorships available for events occurring in May or June 2015.

Details can be found on PCL website here.

Pass it On

The YWCA of Greater Portland is sponsoring a free community event "Celebrating African American Youth" scheduled at 6:15 p.m. Monday, April 13th with Sybrina Fulton (Trayvon Martin's mother) at the Marantha Church, 4222 Ne 12th St.

Bradley Angle is hosting its annual GlamHer fundraiser at The Nines hotel on Thursday, May 7th. The event features wine and food, photo ops with drag queens from Darcelle's, a runway fashion show and lively auction -- all to benefit Bradley Angle's services for survivors of domestic violence and their children. You can reserve your tickets here.

The Institute for Youth Success (formerly Oregon Mentors) recently launched a new training series, Youth Work Methods. These fun, interactive, evidence-based workshops build the skills of people who work directly with youth in out-of-school-time programs. The trainings cover a wide variety of information and are designed to help nonprofits have exceptional programs. "Reframing Conflict" is about changing our view of conflict from something that hurts to an opportunity for growth and support: April 21st, 9:30 a.m. -- noon at Education NW, downtown. Cost is $60 per person. Register here.

Scholarships available for kindergarten readiness program at Friendly House this summer. New, engaging themes each week, lots of outside play and focus on the social and academic skills needed to start kindergarten. The preschool summer program for 5-year-olds entering kindergarten in fall 2015 is Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to noon, June 22 - July 31.  Children who qualify for scholarships must attend all six weeks of the program.  For more information and for registration and scholarship forms, go here. Friendly House is located at 1737 NW 26th Ave. Inquiries? Contact ilombardozzi@friendlyhouseinc.org.

Ethos 2015 Gala is Thursday April 9th. For tickets or more information go here.

Supporters of Portland OIC and Rosemary Anderson High School have created a GoFundMe homepage, with all proceeds going toward raising money to help put on a 2015 school prom. Tentative date is May 29th at Montgomery Park. A lack of financial resources caused the school to cancel last year's prom and school staff hope to rally the community to make a difference this year. The site to donate is here, or for more info email BBrandts@portlandoic.org 

Meals 4 Kids, a PCL-funded program through Meals on Wheels People that delivers meals to children and their caregivers throughout Portland, is looking for volunteer drivers. Interested? Contact lynette.vicens@mealsonwheelspeople.org

In the News:

Friends of the Children has been selected for a feasibility study that could lead to a new and innovative source of public/private funding called Pay for Success.

Friends of the Children will receive federally funded technical assistance throughout 2015 and will be studied in partnership with Oregon Health & Sciences University and Marion & Multnomah counties.

The study on Friends will focus on government savings related to improving academic performance and reducing justice and child welfare system involvement for high-risk youth. 

Pay for Success is an innovative funding model that enables government to draw in greater resources to tackle social problems by tapping private investments for the upfront costs of the program. If the program is successful in delivering services that measurably improve vulnerable lives, then government repays those who made the original investment. If the program does not achieve its target results, government does not repay the investor. This ensures that taxpayer dollars are being spent only on programs that actually work.

More information can be found here.

PCL Child Abuse Prevention/Intervention Programs Making a Difference: Janus Youth Programs/Insights   

April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, for more information go here.

Malia came to Janus/Insights SEEDS program when she was 21 with a baby boy and no home of her own. Malia cried during the first visit as she talked about her own history of homelessness as a child and how much she wanted things to be different for her child. The father of the baby was incarcerated but Malia wanted so much for her son to know him that she made frequent trips to Salem to visit him.

Malia was a highly stressed single mom who was juggling a lot and working to stabilize housing. She knew firsthand what it was like for a child to bounce from place to place and showed dogged determination to change those family patterns and provide a safe and stable home for her child. She was currently working as a caregiver while also taking online classes and doing her homework on computers at the local library with the goal of becoming a surgical technician. 

Although this family had so much going on and a tremendous amount of stress in their daily lives, the home visitor was pleased that Malia and baby were very bonded and she was always aware of and anticipating her son's development.

Mom was doing everything possible to keep baby's schedule during a time of extreme instability and her goals were centered on working and housing. Eventually, she was accepted into the Neighborhood House transitional housing program and was going to begin a full-time job in a bank earning a good wage.

In December Malia and Thomas were the fortunate recipients of a generous holiday adoption. Malia received a laptop to support her continued education goals. Kitchen utensils, pots and pans and supplies for their new home were plentiful. Picture frames to make the apartment "homey" were provided and are currently hanging on their wall. Malia feels very appreciative of all the support and proud of all she has accomplished, as new goals for Thomas to attend Head Start were set.

PCL Allocation Committee meeting news

For those who missed Tuesday's Allocation Committee, a recap can be found on the PCL website here or the meeting can be viewed online at this link

There will be additional AC meetings in April/May to determine how to best allocate $8 million in additional funding over the next two years. The meeting dates have yet to be scheduled but will be posted on the PCL website and sent to the database. Questions? Email marygay.broderick@portlandoregon.gov

In other news, two reports are now available: an audit of PCL completed by the City of Portland Auditor's Office here and the PCL 2013-14 annual services and outcomes data report here.

"Like" us on our new FB page


The Portland Children's Levy has a new, more dynamic FB page. Click on the link above to "like" it and please pass along to your colleagues, clients and board members as well.

 Check out the PCL 2012-13 Progress Report

Take a look at the PCL 2012-13 Progress Report celebrating 10 years of serving Portland's children! Click here to view the PDF online. Also, hard copies will be available at all  Allocation Committee meetings or by contacting

marygay.broderick@portlandoregon.gov   

Online PCL Org Directory

We have published an online directory of PCL organizations, including program descriptions and contact info, that we hope is useful to your staff and their clients. It's on the home page of our website in the "Spotlight" section at www.portlandchildrenslevy.org  

 

Contact PCL Staff for the Following Areas

*Director, After School & Hunger grants: 
lisa.pellegrino@portlandoregon.gov
  
*Assistant Director and Early Childhood & Mentoring grants:
meg.mcelroy@portlandoregon.gov
  
*Child Abuse Prevention/Intervention & Foster Care Grants Manager:
lisa.hansell@portlandoregon.gov
  
*Communications Director:
marygay.broderick@portlandoregon.gov
  
*Fiscal Specialist:
john.kelly@portlandoregon.gov
  

Who We Are

The Portland Children's Levy was created by city voters in 2002 and overwhelmingly renewed by the electorate in Fall 2008 and Spring 2013. Funding for the new five-year Levy began July 1, 2014 and includes hunger relief as a new focus area.

 
The Levy is supported through a property tax paid by City of Portland homeowners that generates $12 million toward investments in proven programs serving 10,000 Portland children and their families in areas of Early Childhood, After School, Mentoring, Child Abuse Prevention/Intervention, Foster Care and Hunger Relief.
 
The Levy is annually audited and administrative costs do not exceed 5 percent. 
Questions? Contact: Call Mary Gay Broderick at 503-823-2947 or e-mailmarygay.broderick@portlandoregon.gov
See our website at www.portlandchildrenslevy.org