What's New

PRESS RELEASE: February 1, 2008

Rotary Club of Portland Awards $1 Million to Bradley-Angle House to create a Rotary Center for Community Empowerment

In honor of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Rotary Club of Portland, members have selected Bradley-Angle House to receive $1,000,000 as the first step toward creating a Rotary Center for Community Empowerment—a community resource center that will bring together concerned citizens from all backgrounds to work on reducing domestic violence in the greater Portland area.

The gift of one million dollars committed by Rotary Club of Portland provides the foundation for a project that could exceed $3 million before its doors are opened in May 2010. Bradley-Angle House will seek additional donations from private foundations and individuals to purchase a property, remodel it, and fund basic center operations for three years. As the oldest domestic violence organization on the West coast, Bradley-Angle House was founded in Portland in 1975, by women who needed services and support, neither of which was available anywhere at that time. By joining together these brave survivors blazed a new path toward hope for themselves and all those who have followed.

In its 33 years, Bradley-Angle House has been a national and a regional leader in a movement to create confidentially located safe houses to shelter survivors and provide peer support until they can gain the confidence, skills, and resources needed to live safely on their own. Now Bradley-Angle House will partner with local businesses to build a center that is open and accessible to the public, where conversation, strategizing, and community input can be channeled toward initiatives that will make domestic violence less and less socially acceptable. “The only possibility we have to end domestic violence is to involve the entire community in changing the conditions and perceptions that perpetuate the violence. Until men are as committed as women to reducing domestic and sexual violence, our efforts will continue to be an uphill struggle,” said Karla McFarland, Executive Director at Bradley-Angle House. “We welcome Rotary’s vision in selecting this project from the dozens of worthy submissions. Domestic violence intersects with so many other issues facing our city right now—homelessness, drug addiction, poverty, violence in general, racism, and inequities of class, gender, and sexual orientation.”

Rotary has actively worked to make a difference on the issue of domestic violence in Portland for more than 14 years. Club members regularly volunteer personal time and business resources to assist shelters with all kinds of projects.  This past fall the club partnered with Bradley-Angle House and Raphael House of Portland to create a billboard visibility campaign to bring attention to the 21,000 children who witness domestic violence every year in Multnomah County alone. With a brilliantly executed photo donated by Philip Burnett Photography, this billboard campaign is supported by Clear Channel and directs viewers to Rotary’s website, www.rotarypdx.org, where many resources are listed.

Rotary President Dick Clark summed up the club’s excitement for this Centennial Project. “Rotary is deeply committed to partnering with Bradley-Angle House to create a center that will be a legacy of caring for the most vulnerable among us—those who are not safe in their own homes because of the violence that lives there with them. It is our vision that the Rotary Center for Community Empowerment will actively engage our community to move us all away from intimate partner violence toward hope.”

The Rotary Center for Community Empowerment will be a survivor-centered facility located in an easily accessible area on public transportation, with the Interstate Corridor of North Portland as the first choice location. A property has not yet been identified, but a search committee is working to explore all options for a space expandable up to 15,000 square feet. The Center is minimally projected to house Bradley-Angle’s non-residential services (including youth services), administrative offices, volunteer services, a library and resource center, an affordable licensed childcare center, community meeting rooms, performance and exhibit space, and a healing garden. Depending on the size of the building, other programs could be based there as well.

To get involved in making this Center a reality, contact Bradley-Angle House at 503-238-1672 or Rotary Club of Portland at 503-228-1542. Together we will bring about change that will save lives and empower our community.

 

Think About It! Campaign                                                          December2007 to February 2008

The Rotary Club of Portland is investing in a billboard awareness campaign to call attention to how many children are affected by domestic violence. This idea grew out of the Allies for Hope press conference Bradley-Angle House held last February at Mama Mia Trattoria. Representatives of Rotary Club of Portland attended and spoke at the press conference expressing interest in a visibility campaign that could raise awareness about domestic violence in the business community and increase support for local domestic violence agencies.

To make the impact as great as possible, Bradley-Angle House has teamed with Raphael House in Rotary’s Think About It! campaign utilizing Philip Burnett’s stunning photo of a child observing two adults fighting (featured in our newsletter last fall). Mr. Burnett has offered the photo at no cost for this project and has additionally donated his time as designer for the billboard.  The message gives rotarypdx.org as a web address for information about resources available to survivors and about how individuals can help by volunteering time and donating funds. Clear Channel, owner of the billboard sites, is also waiving some of the fees, which helps Rotary to pay for up to 20 weeks of local visibility for both Raphael House and Bradley-Angle House.

Click here to go to Rotary Club of Portland

Click here to go to Philip Burnett Photography

 

New Emergency Shelter Meets Needs of Survivors                                                     August 2007

We did it! After much planning, organizing and hard work by countless individuals over the past two years, our Emergency Shelter remodel project is now complete.  We could not have done it without all the community support.  We held a ribbon cutting open house event on August 8th to celebrate.  It was great to see many familiar faces from the past and present including about 80 participants, staff and volunteers, board members, contractors, donors, and sister agency supporters. 

 

Our newly remodeled shelter opened on Sunday, August 12, 2007, filling up quickly!  Emergency Shelter Women’s Advocate, Carmela Sevilla, has received overwhelming positive feedback from new participants entering the program.  With new private bedroom space for each participant, one woman commented, “I feel safe here being able to come back to shelter and go to my room and lock my door.  It gives me the space I need to get away from all the stress from the day.” Another participant said, “…it just feels so comfortable at the shelter, and feels like a family and my kids feel at home here.” As a Women’s Advocate, Carmela has seen the impact on a daily basis and says, “I love having a private office space for case management meeting with women without interruptions.  I can really focus on working with the women to better meet their needs.” 

With deepest gratitude, we acknowledge the many hours of in-kind support and the many gifts of cash from individuals, businesses,

and foundations whose generosity made the Emergency Shelter remodel project possible:

     

Meyer Memorial Trust                                    Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation SD Deacon Rotary Club of Portland Spirit Mountain Community Fund CHS Fund of The Oregon Community Foundation Deacon Charitable Foundation DM Hoggatt Painting Cotton Cloud Futons Soderstrom Architects Louis & Virginia Clemente Foundation Portland Development Commission Roggenkamp Erickson & Associates Hamilton Construction Company Friends & Family In Memory of Jennifer Anne Lynch Andrews Architects Contract Flooring Consultants Mike Patterson Plumbing, Inc. S&S Drywall Cosco Fire Protection, Inc.

Rosendin Electric Portable Welding Randy Whitworth Mandy Butler & Jennifer Mountain, architects Columbia Paving and Excavation Barry Bray Construction D&D Door Inc. Heiberg Garbage and Recycling Keller Supply Johnson Air Products Zero Waste Alliance Kompan! Milwaukie Lumber Mt. Scott Fuel Presbytery of the Cascades American Heating, Inc. Ena J. Morgan, Landscape Design Doug Nelson & Shila Fisher Fund    of The Oregon Community Foundation PBS Environmental Symantec Employees