Mark Ganz, Kim Randles, Ted Lundin, Dennis Keenan, Anne Holloway and Mary Clark on the new Catholic Charities site.
Sentinel photo by Jon DeBellis
For Rhonda, 42, Catholic Charities represents another chance.
A client in the Housing Transitions program, designed to get single, homeless women off the streets and into stable housing, she’s now focusing on herself and her future.
“I was spiraling out of control,” said Rhonda, who asked that her last name be omitted. Homeless on the streets for years, she is now back in contact with her children and has a warm, safe place to stay and begin her life again.
“You have to be a vessel of hope,” says Rhonda. “Catholic Charities has given me hope again.”
For 75 years, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Portland has given many people the hope and the resources to change and better their lives.
Now, thanks to a capital drive and the foresight of leadership, most of the organization’s social service programs will have one central location in Southeast Portland to serve as a beacon of hope for those seeking it.
The new three-level, 59,900 square-foot Clark Family Center on Southeast 28th Avenue and Powell Boulevard will be the flagship for Catholic Charities.
The entire campus, the former site of the St. Vincent de Paul of Portland, will feature three apartment complexes for housing (Kateri Park and Howard House are already in use and Esperanza Court is under construction) and the Clark Family Center, which will house and consolidate many of the organization’s scattered social service program locations.
“When I started there were four employees at Catholic Charities,” says Dennis Keenan, executive director. “Now there are close to 300. We went from a budget of $125,000 to $7 million.”
Keenan, who has led Catholic Charities since 1989, says the agency now serves 25,000 people a year.
“We saw all of this happening — the expansion of our programs, the increase in needs; we ended up leasing a lot of space,” says Keenan. “This move will encourage our programs to share resources, and will be more convienient to our clients.”
Faced with the first capital campaign in Catholic Charities history, a tough economy, an increasing number of capital campaigns waiting to be launched, and a project with a $37 million price tag, Keenan knew he needed a jumpstart.
He turned to Kim Randles, former vice president of development for Jesuit High School, who had been mentored in fundraising under Jesuit Father Bill Hayes. When she began in August 2007, $12,000 had been raised. Anne Holloway soon came on board to assist Randles. Momentum began with the commitment of the Clark Family, including Maybelle Clark Macdonald, Mary Clark Frisbee and Mike and Tracey Clark. To date $7.3 million is committed in gifts and pledges. This accomplishment is primarily due to three factors, says Randles: “the generosity of private donors, the commitment of foundations and the positive, assertive approach of the effort.”
“Donors to Catholic Charities have seen how this building will not only dramatically improve the operations of Catholic Charities but will also raise the public awareness of the good works being accomplished in our city. They have stretched more than 1000 percent over their previous giving to Catholic Charities. Without this commitment we could not be as far toward our goal,” said Holloway.
Foundation giving to the campaign is the other significant factor in the campaign’s success. Gifts have been received from many Northwest foundations.
“The appeal of this project has been evident to the foundations we have applied to. Significant foundations such as the Meyer Memorial Trust and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have responded with major gifts. This not only propels us further toward our goal but it also speaks to the credibility of the project and inspires others to give. We are so grateful,” said Randles.
Doug Alles, director of social services for Catholic Charities, says the new campus is not just mortar and brick, but an opportunity.
“We are trying to hold ourselves to the highest standards of service,” said Alles. “This building is just one more element in our strategy to achieve that. It’s a launching point.”
Alles says that the campus is an opportunity for staff to reinvent the work of the organization — to break down the compartmentalization, share resources and “dramatically transform the organization and the effectiveness of the programs for the families Catholic Charities serves.”
The Clark Family Center will house administration offices, Social Services Counseling, the Caritas Housing Program, Pregnancy and Adoption Services, El Programa Hispano, Refugee Resettlement, Immigration and Legal Services, Human Trafficking Victims’ Assistance, an early childhood development center and an office for Loaves and Fishes, which will include a job training center on campus. The job training center will also feature assistance from Mercy Corps Northwest, which offers loan programs and micro-business training.
The new offices are exciting for Margi Dechenne. director of the Housing Transitions program, which helps single homeless women get off the streets and into safe, permanent supportive housing.
“Mostly I’m just excited to have two bathrooms,” said Dechenne with a giggle, saying that her current office on Southeast 11th Avenue is like living in a house with 15 people.
“This is as private as it gets around here,” says Dechenne as she turns her chair to reveal two other people’s desks and a copy machine in the same room as her intake desk for clients.
The new offices will provide a space designed to assure the client’s privacy. The reception area will be bigger, and since their offices will be on a lower level than the rest of the building, it will also provide a more private entrance for clients, as well as a courtyard area for client get-togethers.
“The other thing that will be neat for us will be our ability to work together more,” said Dechenne. “I know kind of what the immigration offices do, but I know very little about what El Programa Hispano does. Who knows the possibilities of all of us sharing resources as a result of this new campus.”
Patti Ramsey, a donor to the current capital campaign, said she was moved to give at Catholic Charities’ annual celebration, where she heard about all the programs and work of the organization.
“I was very excited about the idea of the Clark Family Center — the idea that there would be a center, a brand new place, where the work of Catholic Charities could have as a home base and from there move out to the excellent work that they do in the community. I just wanted to contribute to this effort, because it appeared to me that the center would be a very organized way to reach people, the idea that the services were centralized seemed very efficient.”
Comments like these are encouraging, says Mark Ganz, Catholic Charities board member. Chair of the capital campaign, he is excited by the hope for the future of the organization this project has instilled in people, and the potential for exposure to the work being done.
“I don’t think Catholic Charities is very well understood in this community,” said Ganz. “There’s an overwhelming perception that this is a charity for Catholics. Generally people don’t know much about it — about the multi-dimensional nature of the work Catholic Charities does in the community.”
Ganz says the new campus will be a high-valued product to those most in need.
“Let’s say someone comes to our organization through the human trafficking office,” said Ganz. “Now , if there are any other issues they are dealing with; homelessness, hunger, domestic violence, they’ll just have to walk down the hall.”
Jeff and Sue Adams have adopted two children through Catholic Charities’ Pregnancy and Adoption Services. After unsuccessful tries of having children on their own, they ended up at a information session at the adoption services offices on Southeast 47th Avenue. They now have open adoptions with the mother of their baby boy, Andrew, and family of their little girl, Ainsley.
“The centralization is a great idea,” said Sue. “Not only for the consolidation of services, but the visible presence. People need to know about Catholic Charities and what it does for the community. We have a happy family thanks to them, and the birth mothers of our two children have peace of mind. This organization is performing miracles every day.”
Completed construction of the new campus is set for spring 2010.
For more information on how to donate to the Catholic Charities capital campaign, call Randles at (503) 680-8714.
