As supportive allies in our community, we are deeply saddened and outraged by the horrific murder of George Floyd, and feel powerless to reconcile the ongoing protests and violent response by law enforcement. Many Partners have expressed feeling hopeless, and are perhaps anxious to lend their support in the moment. Here's how you can help.

We are proud to welcome three new Partners to the SVP Portland Board of Directors! The Board provides leadership for SVP’s mission to mobilize the time, money, and influence of our Partnership for investment in our community.

Our capacity building work continues throughout the COVID-19 crisis, and with renewed importance and urgency. Director of Community Impact, Rose Rezai, shares how SVP Partners are focusing efforts on what is already working well, and also sharpening our tools to be of greater service to the emerging community needs.

We are living in unprecedented times. The twin crises of COVID-19 and an economic recession will have short- and long-term ramifications for our community. Fortunately, SVP Portland was able to quickly form a team of Partners to help nonprofits navigate the complicated landscape of economic relief, including securing Paycheck Protection Program funding. Noel Johnson, Lead Partner, shares about the team’s work.

Ron Eiseman has been a highly engaged Partner of SVP Portland since 2014. He served as co-Lead Partner* for Children’s Book Bank (CBB) from 2014-2018, bringing his finance and real estate acumen to help the organization both deepen and expand its impact in a sustainable way. His investment in CBB’s success grew when he joined their Board of Directors in 2014. 

We are proud to support Phase II of the Preschool for All initiative by investing an additional $5,000, along with the expertise and influence of our Partnership. SVP Partners are engaging in coalition building, finance strategy, early childhood program development, real estate, and campaign support. 

The most significant partnerships are those where we are able to have a consistent presence and grow together. Nowhere is this better displayed than in our collaboration with Latino Network. Join us for happy hour on January 29th to learn more about our partnership with Latino Network and their plans for scaling Juntos moving forward!

Research shows that Somali immigrants children have some of the highest disparities in academic success. Most prominently, Somali children are impacted by the stark cultural differences in the approach to formal education. Enter CAIRO’s Preschool Promise program.

As 2019 comes to a close, I am incredibly grateful, proud, and optimistic. In this quarterly update to the SVP Portland Partnership I share why, and invite you to do the same. Thank you for the many ways you give to SVP Portland. Our collective investment to ensure all children have access to quality early learning really matters for the future of Portland.

Social Venture Partners Portland (SVP) continually seeks to understand how our investments create tangible change for families and communities who need them. One most recent example is IRCO (Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization), which continues to grow its early childhood impact, in part due to a multi-year grant combined with SVP Partner expertise, most recently through a new investment of our human capital. 

SVP Portland was founded similarly to many of our Community Partners—as a concept focused on making our community a better place for children and families. For nearly 20 years, we have practiced venture philanthropy: leveraging the money, skills, and influence of SVP Partners in local nonprofits and collaborations. Read on to hear directly from one of our founders about the beginning of SVP Portland. 

This is the type of program that probably wouldn’t have happened without the work of a committed SVP Portland volunteer team able to bring organizations together to create a win-win-win program. Now more Albina Head Start families will be financially secure, which should mean that young children have a more stable family life.  

A Partner since 2014, Oscar Mayer is passionate about SVP Portland’s venture philanthropy model and our current focus on expanding access to early learning experiences. In this feature, Oscar discusses the role SVP’s Portfolio Management Team plays in overseeing our partnerships with Community Partners to ensure they are well-positioned to grow their early childhood programs.

The SVP Portland Board of Directors held our annual planning retreat in August to identify intermediate success metrics indicating we are making strong progress toward our goal, as well as priority roles for the next year that position us to maximize our impact. Read on to hear from Board Chair, Kerry McClenahan.

On September 20th, over 600 people came out to support Latino Network at their annual Noche Bella event. One of the stories featured was the Juntos Aprendemos program, which prepares children and their families for success in kindergarten.SVP Portland's Lead Partner, Holly Levow, has played a crucial role in creating a successful partnership with Latino Network and was honored at the event.

It’s October and we are proud to welcome in the last quarter of the year by recognizing Megan Loeb as our Partner of the Month! At the end of 2018, Megan stepped into the role of Lead Partner for IRCO. Since then, she has been collaborating with the SVP Partner team and IRCO leadership to meet the preschool needs of their community. 

As we grow in our journey to advance racial equity, we are constantly reviewing our original commitments and looking for ways to deepen our work around equity. In this process, we have refined our goals toward advancing racial equity and are excited to share with you what we are already doing, and what is to come!