Poverty, violence, food insecurity, dismal academic achievement,childhood obesity, and homelessness are just a few of the daunting challenges kids in underserved communities face throughout our country. These challenges are real and growing in the Portland-metropolitan area today, with no community in more dire need than east Multnomah County’s neighborhood of Rockwood.
Along with our Board of Directors and Pacesetters,we firmly believe BGCP uniquely provides programs and services that address these challenges by creating positive pathways to great futures for the youth we serve. With established careers in Portland as business and civic leaders, we recognize that healthy and supported children play a critical part in the future overall health of a community. It is imperative that all of us take an active role in helping children reach their full potential. We feel strongly that the scope of services provided to children and their families by Boys & Girls Clubs are unparalleled.
Rockwood is positioned at the meeting point of the City of Gresham’s westernmost boundary and Portland’s northeastern border. The Community of Rockwood has become one of Multnomah County’s most diverse communities celebrating rich cultural and ethnically diverse populations.
However, with the largest concentration of youth under the age of 18 within the metro region, Rockwood has led the State for lowest academic performance, largest concentration of registered child welfare cases, and arguably the highest incidences of crime in our region’s history. One in three Rockwood youth live below the poverty level, and 94% of students in the Reynolds School District serving Rockwood qualified for free or reduced lunch in 2013.
As a result of the unexpected closure in early 2013 of the Police Activities League (PAL) Center, the only youth service program of its kind in Rockwood, and the subsequent loss of youth programming in a community with great disparity, BGCP immediately stepped in. The organization raised the needed funds to secure two years of operational funding to support the transition of the PAL youth to school-based sites in a partnership with the Reynolds School District.
After identifying the significant void in youth services and the tremendous need for facility-based programs that offer educational, recreational, and social development, the City of Gresham identified a new Boys & Girls Club as a catalyst for positive change in Rockwood.
Our thanks to the following champions who have invested in our efforts to build great futures for the youth in Rockwood.
Ann & Bill Swindells Charitable Trust
The State of Oregon
The Collins Foundation
Larry & Jeanette Epping Family Foundation
Joseph E. Weston Public Foundation
Wyss Foundation
Legacy Health Systems
Portland General Electric
The Standard Employees
Comcast
Dussin Family Trust
Erik Krieger, Campaign Co-Chair; Partner, Riverlake Partners
Mike Reese, Campaign Co-Chair; Retired Chief of Police, City of Portland
Ashley Campion, Helen K. & Arthur E. Johnson Foundation
Betty Dominguez, BGCP Board member, East County Program Director, Home Forward
John Herman, BGCP Pacesetter Chair; Strategic Partner, Veber Partners
Judge Keith Meisenheimer, BGCP Board member; Retired, Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge
Ken O’Neil, BGCP Board member; Retired
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Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland Metro2017-10-02 21:42:512017-10-03 21:53:27Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland Metro opens its newest Club in the Rockwood Community
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Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland Metro2017-09-29 21:54:232017-10-03 22:00:33Timbers, Operation Pitch Invasion unveil new futsal courts at Boys & Girls Club’s Rockwood campus
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Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland Metro2017-06-05 19:08:272017-08-28 22:25:23Maybelle Clark Macdonald provides $100,000 matching grant challenge in support of the Rockwood ClubPlease join us. Be a catalyst for change for Rockwood today.