VISIT WEBSITE: pybpdx.org
DATE OF GRANT: March 2016, March 2018
AMOUNT OF GRANT: $10,000 & $50,000
FOCUS AREA: Civic / Community Redevelopment
Funding for School Building Renovation and Program Support
The mission of Portland YouthBuilders is to support young people who are committed to changing their lives to become self-sufficient, contributing members of the workforce and their community.
In the Southeast Expansion Project, PYB will redevelop and improve our school building, creating more usable space and improving interior functionality to serve the 200 low income young people accessing YouthBuild programs each year. Plans include creating a large community room, designing more private meeting spaces for student counseling, improving overall efficiencies, and making upgrades to our roof and plumbing systems. The effort will create a campus environment where students and staff benefit from a more cohesive program. We will also increase access to academic and technology programs for outer southeast and East County youth by relocating our Technology (Tech) Training Program to long-term leased space at S.E. 78th and Foster Road, within one mile of our current school campus in the Lents community.
The project is a high priority because it offers significant, long-term benefits to the East Portland community and to the sustainability of PYB programs by:
● Bringing the Tech Program to leased site near PYB’s school will increase access for East Portland youth who cannot readily reach our inner southeast location;
● Redeveloping and improving the school building will create more usable teaching, individual counseling, and meeting spaces. We also plan to make improvements to the PYB-owned house that serves as administrative offices, adjacent to the school, which will result in improved use of space in the school;
● Co-locating the Tech Program in the same building as SE Works’ One Stop Career Center will increase PYB student access to the range of services offered by this long-established community organization which facilitates connections between employers and job seekers;
● A long-term lease agreement will reduce the uncertainties inherent in leased space, and will actually result in cash savings that can be directed to programs and services.
