We award grants to organizations that support both youth and adults to be ready for life in a myriad of ways.
The featured programs below are a small sample of our philanthropic investments serving Oregonians. Check our annual reports and online press releases for complete lists of funded organizations.
Molalla High School Community 101 class and PGE donors
Focus: Education, Healthy Families
Community 101 is a statewide student leadership program that leverages philanthropy and volunteerism to teach hands-on lessons in civic engagement. Since the PGE Foundation created Community 101 in 1997, more than 10,000 students have awarded over $2.2 million to nonprofits and schools in Oregon. In the 2010-2011 school year, 2,000 middle and high school students at 70 Oregon schools awarded $355,000 to nonprofits in their communities.
In 2011, the PGE Foundation and The Oregon Community Foundation entered into a second three-year Memorandum of Understanding to expand Community 101 to approximately 100 schools by the 2013-2014 school year. Learn more at OCF.
Each year we invite PGE employees who contribute to the Community 101 program through PGE’s Employee Giving Campaign to visit Community 101 classrooms. Patti Lama, PGE employee and long-time donor to the Community 101 program visited both Forest Grove and Molalla high schools for their awards presentations.
“I had a wonderful experience at the Forest Grove and Molalla high school Community 101 awards presentations. The students and their teachers were so gracious and thanked me personally for my support and the support of the PGE Foundation! I’ve always thought this was an ideal program since its inception, and after my experiences, I look forward to continuing my support of this excellent learning tool for the upcoming generation of ‘giving’ people in our communities.”
—Patti Lama, PGE employee and Community 101 donor
Students at East Orient Elementary School in Gresham.
Focus: Education, Arts & Culture
The Right Brain Initiative (Regional Arts & Culture Council) strives to provide quality arts learning experiences for every K-8 student in the tri-county Portland metropolitan area. By providing a systemic approach for strengthening the arts as part of core curriculum, The Right Brain Initiative is improving student academic performance and providing teachers with new instructional tools and approaches to learning.
The program began in the spring of 2008 and has served nearly 11,000 students in 23 Portland metro schools in four school districts. Students are expressing, exploring, imagining, creating and using the full measure of their minds through the Right Brain Initiative. The PGE Foundation was the first private funder of this unique community partnership of school districts, teachers, artists and arts organizations. In 2011, the PGE Foundation awarded $15,000 to the Right Brain Initiative, our fourth consecutive grant to the program.
PGE Foundation board member, Dave Robertson, at ground breaking ceremony.
Focus: Healthy Families
Columbia River Community Health Services, in Boardman, is the only health clinic in northern Morrow County. CRCHS provides full bilingual services for preventive and acute primary care, urgent care, family planning, women’s health, well-child examinations, discounted sports physicals for school children, mental health counseling and substance abuse treatment to residents of northern Morrow County.
CRCHS has seen its number of clients and visits grow substantially each year, creating the need for more staff and space. In 2011, the PGE Foundation awarded CRCHS $50,000 to help build a new 13,480 square-foot-clinic to serve northern Morrow County.
A mural illustrates the benefits of bicycling at the Community Cycling Center.
Focus: Healthy Families
The Community Cycling Center is one of the oldest bicycle nonprofits in the United States. The organization was founded in 1994 in Northeast Portland as a safe haven for local kids to go after school to learn mechanical skills using donated bicycles with the support of adult mentors. Before long, the CCC was offering free earn-a-bike programs for kids and adults, refurbishing bikes and selling them in the bike shop, leading neighborhood rides, and hosting bike rodeos with the support of hundreds of dedicated volunteers.
CCC believes the bicycle is a tool for empowerment and a vehicle for change. Today, CCC is dedicated to closing gaps in health and transportation equity through their programs and advocacy work. Their community programs help address health issues such as obesity, diabetes, and other chronic diseases resulting from a sedentary lifestyle, and are especially designed to reach low-income communities of color. In addition, bicycles are a lower cost transportation option, allowing people who ride to save money. CCC is the only organization in Portland where participants can earn bicycles and learn in-depth safety education.
PGE Foundation awarded $5,000 to CCC to support expansion of bicycle production for community programs within CCC’s bike shop. Within its existing 1,500 square feet shop space, 1,025 bicycles are produced for community programs each year. By expanding production space, CCC will double the amount of bicycles produced.