At SVP Portland, we are more than grantmakers. One reason is because we multiply our impact by engaging our networks, relationships, and influence to help attract additional financial resources for our Community Partners. An example is our role as fiscal coordinator of TASTE for Equity, a gala that celebrates the ongoing equity work in Portland. This year, the proceeds from the event will benefit KairosPDX, Latino Network, NAYA, and Seeding Justice (three of whom are current or former Community Partners). TASTE Co-Founder and Children’s Institute CEO Kali Thorne Ladd, said "I love equity, food, and wine. I believe in community as catalytic to transformation. There is no event like it."

We are proud to announce that our initial Dynamic Team has successfully achieved its goal! After a thorough and thoughtful process, the team unanimously recommended that SVP’s advocacy and influence priorities should be resourcing coalitions/collaboratives (focused on aligned advocacy) and supporting Washington County Preschool for All efforts. So what are the next steps? We will create an Implementation & Evaluation Dynamic Team with the goal of identifying specific activities for each priority along with key milestones and success metrics. Onward with the work!

Doug Adler is a creative entrepreneur with an eclectic background in photography, writing, marketing, advertising sales, and retail sales. He loves gathering with friends to cook, eat, drink, and converse. "Sometimes it is difficult to keep a positive outlook in this chaotic world – with caustic politics, ongoing social issues, and canyon-sized cultural divides. I rant on Twitter, but working as an SVP Partner is more productive and impactful! I am learning how to collaborate using online tools and, most importantly, I am gaining a fresh perspective on equity and privilege."

We are delighted to announce that LB Yockey Jones has joined SVP Portland as our new Finance & Operations Manager! In this role, LB manages our financial systems and operational needs to ensure we have systems, processes, and reporting in place to carry out our mission and support our nonprofit partners. In reflecting on what attracted her to SVP: “SVP’s capacity-building work is an exciting strategy to fundamentally change the outcome of philanthropy to one that is measurable, actionable, and collaborative.”

Darrell LeBlanc started racing cars when he moved to Oregon from California in 2006. When his kids went to college, he wanted to do even more with the racing community so he volunteered at Friends of PIR. This nonprofit helps to ensure that Portland International Raceway (PIR) continues to thrive as a venue for motorsports and other diverse forms of recreation and entertainment. Since he was already deeply involved in the PIR community, both as a racer and volunteer, it was a natural fit for him to do his Encore Fellowship at Friends of PIR when he retired in 2021 after 16 years at Intel.

Breaking news: Encore.org has changed its name to CoGenerate, and has a refreshed mission and vision! Their new vision is “A world where older and younger people create a better future together.” And their new mission statement clarifies their multigenerational approach: “CoGenerate brings older and younger people together to solve problems, bridge divides and co-create the future.”

The SVP community was deeply saddened to hear that Community Partner Threads of Justice Collective (TOJC) founder and Board member Hadiyah Miller passed away on September 11, 2022. SVP Portland Executive Director Lauren Johnson said fondly, “Hadiyah was a remarkable leader, deeply committed to social and racial justice, eradicating oppression, and early childhood development. We were honored to have the opportunity to partner with her in advancing TOJC’s mission.”

We are thrilled to announce that Carolina Castañeda del Río has joined SVP Portland as our new Director of Community Impact! “I am passionate about steering the development of organizations and initiatives that champion diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice,” says Carolina. “As a mental health professional and mother of a young child, I am convinced that early-childhood years are the most critical for any meaningful and sustainable change that we want to see in individuals and societies. I am excited to use my passion and expertise to make a positive contribution to SVP Portland as the Director of Community Impact!”

Hanif Fazal is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at the Center for Equity and Inclusion (CEI), a specialized consulting agency focused on advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts within organizations, education systems, and communities. Since our partnership launched in 2019, SVP Portland has been a resource and capacity building partner for CEI. In turn, CEI provides us training opportunities and consultation that help advance our equity work. "To this day I still feel strongly that CEI’s ongoing success is due in part to the support and partnership we received from SVP. We can’t say enough about how instrumental SVP has been to our business."

SVP Portland played a key role in the incubation, launch, and capacity building of the statewide Child Care Shared Services Alliance (CCSSA). We stepped up as fiscal coordinator and project manager in 2020 in response to the needs of child care providers who serve the most vulnerable and historically marginalized families. Shared Services Alliances allows child care providers to create alliances where programs pool resources and hire centralized staff to streamline operations and increase profitability. This model is having a positive impact on participating programs, and it has expanded to several pilots across the state.

Funding for public schools has diminished over the years, while the importance of public schools increases. That’s where Hillsboro Schools Foundation (HSF) comes in – founded by a small group of passionate volunteers in 2001, the foundation strives to support innovative educational programs that fall outside normal school funding. HSF funds enrichment through grants, as well as after-school clubs and materials for science, technology, engineering, and math. For his Encore Fellowship, Bruce Smith was assigned to ten schools with a goal to increase the number of grant requests. He used his background in teaching and coaching to show teachers how to turn an idea into a grant proposal. “Teachers are entrepreneurs already because they are innovative in their classrooms,” says Bruce, “and I just had to show them how to turn their ideas into initiatives, encourage them to dream big, have courage, and think about sustainability.”

Twelve months ago, we set a goal to raise $750,000 from the SVP Partnership for Latino Network’s La Plaza Esperanza (Hope Plaza), the first true home for the Latino community in metro Portland. Latino Network has been one the longest-term Community Partners for SVP, having shown tremendous growth in their early childhood programs and expansion of their programs, staff and budget. We’re proud to announce that we’ve now exceeded $1 million raised for the campaign, Sonando Juntos (Dreaming Together)!!

"Racial healing and justice in the United States will take all of us working together – white people and people of color. We all have a place in this work. But how we do the work matters. We will not get to a different destination by working in the same way.” At SVP Portland, we are constantly learning and evolving. What have we done this year to disrupt existing inequities of power in philanthropy? Read on for four examples.

Brayam Sanchez works in the commercial real estate field as a business development specialist for Cushman & Wakefield. He graduated from Portland State University in the School of Business with a major in Management and Leadership and a certificate in Real Estate Property Management. "I enjoy the fact that Partners are able to contribute in the areas where they have the most expertise and passion, making each engagement personally rewarding. I am motivated by knowing that I can make an impact for the better."

We are excited to announce that Rose Rezai, our Director of Community Impact for the past 3 and a half years, is the 2022 Sarah Cohen-Doherty Community Impact Award recipient! This award recognizes someone within the SVP Portland community who epitomizes the characteristics that enabled Sarah to have such a positive impact at SVP. Rose exemplifies a genuine care for others, a focus on developing meaningful relationships, a personal commitment to equity, and is a changemaker in the community to ensure that all children thrive. “Sarah loved the SVP community, and embodied all of the best things about it: relationship building, a commitment to supporting young children, and a belief in the power of collective action,” says Rose. “I'm honored to receive this award in her name, and although I am transitioning from SVP into my next chapter, I hope to continue to always demonstrate these qualities.”

Encore Fellow Carol Wise, who spent her entire career in healthcare, was moved to join the Virginia Garcia Clinic and help her community at the beginning of the pandemic. Virginia Garcia provides healthcare services to 52,000 patients a year at five primary-care clinics and pharmacies, six dental clinics, a Women’s Clinic, and five school-based health centers. The project that Carol helped manage was a grant-funded mental health service program that supported people affected by COVID. They provided 1,819 counseling sessions to more than 580 community members to support their wellbeing and mitigate the emotional stress associated with the pandemic, and distributed a thousand COVID hygiene kits to the seasonal migrant and farmworkers in the county.

Heidi Yewman was an engaged philanthropist long before she became an SVP Partner. She has served as board member for a number of organizations, and is also an activist, writer, author, and director/producer of the gun violence documentary Behind The Bullet. "Finding ways to have and show empathy for those I encounter everyday is a big motivator for me and a reason I am a philanthropist. Being a Partner at SVP allows me to combine my skills with those of other talented individuals, be a part of a local organization that's doing important and strategic work, and make a difference in my community."

Sometimes you’re presented with an opportunity that you can’t pass up. One such opportunity means that Darren Davidson will be leaving the staff of SVP Portland this Fall. While we are sad to see him go, we also understand (and celebrate) that he is doing what is best for himself and his family. In Darren’s words, “It has been a privilege to work for an organization – and more profoundly with a group of people – so dedicated to having a positive, lasting impact on their community. It is the audacity of the vision and uniqueness of the model that brought me to SVP, but I stayed for the mission and the people.”

We revised our strategic framework this year so that we are well positioned to meet the moment and embrace future opportunities. “The priorities of our refreshed strategic framework build upon the work we’ve done as engaged philanthropists for the past two decades, what we’ve learned to be most effective, and what today’s moment demands of us,” says Board President Bob Tate. “Explicitly centering our Community Partners and our commitment to equity and social justice in everything we do underpins our vision of a step-change in impact while remaining steadfast in our focus on early childhood education."

SVP Portland is happy to announce that Cristina Melinte has joined our team as the new Encore Fellows Program Coordinator! “I am excited about this role because I love knowledge-sharing and community-building,” says Cristina. “I look forward to having honest and authentic conversations with the Encore Fellows to vet out their passions and help match them with organizations that will ensure a mutually-fulfilling fellowship experience.”