Oct. 07, 2009

PORTLAND, Ore.— The PGE Foundation continued to give top priority to basic needs — food, shelter and healthcare — while continuing its longstanding support of arts and education programs as it closed out its funding cycle for 2009. The PGE Foundation — Portland General Electric’s (NYSE:POR) corporate foundation — awarded 52 grants totaling $332,000 to nonprofits across the state in the second and third quarters.  That brings its 2009 granting to more than $850,000. 

 “These tough times have created significant funding challenges for nonprofits,” said Gwyneth Gamble Booth, chair of PGE Foundation. “Many have had to reduce staffing and budgets. The foundation has struggled with an increase in funding requests, and we’ve tried to respond appropriately by focusing in on basic needs and education. We also believe it is just as important to continue supporting arts and culture organizations, especially those that provide educational opportunities and serve vulnerable populations.”

The Foundation made 26 grants totaling $116,000 to support the physical and emotional health of Oregon families and individuals; 12 grants totaling $113,000 to enhance education across the state; and 14 grants totaling $103,000 for arts and culture programs.

The 26 Healthy Families’ grants address domestic violence, homelessness, hunger, needs of seniors and the disabled, physical and mental healthcare, at-risk youth, foster children, job training, and drug and alcohol abuse: 

• Adelante Mujeres (Forest Grove): $5,000 for English Language Development, GED preparation, personal growth and civic engagement for Latina women and their families.
• Boys & Girls Aid Society: $5,000 for housing services for homeless and runaway youth at the Safe Place Shelter in Washington County.
• Community Action Resource Entreprises, Inc. (Tillamook): $2,500 for emergency assistance, homeless services, support for first-time parents, assisted living facilities and community development projects.
• Casa de Belen (Roseburg): $5,000 to provide basic financial instruction on personal finances to transitional housing shelter residents. 
• CASA- ColumbiaGorge (Hood River): $5,000 to recruit, train, and support volunteer advocates for abused and neglected children.
• CASA of LaneCounty: $5,000 to provide recruitment, training and support for 30 new volunteer advocates to serve up to 75 abused and neglected children.
• Children First for Oregon: $5,000 to provide leadership development, youth training, member recruitment, outreach and staffing for the Oregon Foster Youth Connection program.
• Children's Center of Clackamas County: $10,000 to provide urgent medical exams to 300 children who are victims of physical or sexual abuse and/or neglect in Clackamas County.
• Children's Nursing Specialties: $2,500 to train nurses to teach families the skills needed to become primary caregivers to their medically fragile child.
• Community Cycling Center: $2,500 to provide in-depth, hands-on bicycle safety education to low-income children through Bike Club.
• Community Partners for Affordable Housing (Tigard): $3,500 to provide extra-curricular school year programs, summer activities, and nutritious food for about 100 low-income youth.
• Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon: $2,500 to provide a wide range of support services for low-income clients of the HIV Day Center.  
• FolkTime, Inc.: $10,000 for activity programs serving mentally ill, low-income, underinsured clients.
• Forward Stride (Beaverton): $2,500 for equine-assisted activities and therapies for mental and physical disabilities.
• Give Them Wings, Inc. (Hood River): $5,000 to develop the education and vocational training for young adults formerly in foster care or homeless.
• Helping Hands Gleaners (Albany): $500 for supplemental food supply for low-income, disabled and elderly.
• Hillsboro Senior Center: $1,000 for lunch assistance program serving low-income elderly.
• HIV Alliance(Eugene): $2,500 to prevent the spread of HIV by providing free and accessible counseling, testing, referral services and partner counseling in Lane County.
• Medical Teams International: $5,000 to provide dental care to approximately 5,000 low-income people through seven clinics in Marion and Clackamas counties.
• Metropolitan Family Service: $5,000 to provide older adults and people with disabilities rides to medical appointments, meal centers, and grocery stores or farmers’ markets.
• OregonPartnership: $5,000 to teach drug, alcohol and suicide prevention education to 400 elementary students in the greater Portland area, using extensively trained parent volunteers.
• Senior Citizens Council of ClackamasCounty: $3,500 for advocacy services to provide 400 seniors and vulnerable adults with the tools necessary to be self-sufficient.
• Silverton Area Seniors, Inc.: $10,000 to construct a new Silverton Senior Center to serve the nutritional, medical and social needs of area seniors. 
• Virginia Garcia Memorial Foundation: $5,000 for parenting program, Padres con Iniciativa, to reduce child abuse and neglect by strengthening 250 at-risk families through parent education. 
• Volunteers in Medicine Clinic (Eugene): $2,500 to provide low-income, uninsured individuals and families access to comprehensive health services at no charge.
• Volunteers of America-Oregon: $5,000 to establish an on-site parent support and mentoring group at Family Relief Nursery for vulnerable parents.

The 12 education grants totaling $113,000, support mentoring, special school programs, early childhood education, literacy, community service, and environmental science: 

• African Women’s Coalition: $5,000 for customized in-home English Language and Life Skills classes for African immigrant and refugee women.
• Big Brothers Big Sisters Northwest: $5,000 to expand School-Based Mentoring Program for at-risk youth in first through eighth graders attending Title I schools.
• Children’s Institute: $5,000 to support cost-effective public and private investments in proven early childhood programs.
• Community Transitional School: $5,000 to provide transportation to and from school for homeless K-8 children.
• Mercy Corps: $40,000 for construction of the Action Center on Southwest Naito Parkway in Old Town, providing global educational opportunities for Portland area students and visitors.
• Neighborhood House, Inc.: $5,000 to improve the quality of child care through the provision of support and resources to family childcare providers.
• Oregon Children’s Foundation: $20,000 to purchase 8,500 books for children participating in SMART reading programs to take home, keep, and read with their families.
• Oregon Museum of Science and Industry: $15,000 for interactive demonstrations exploring relationships between earth science, renewable energy, and environmental sustainability, featuring Science on a Sphere.
• Pangaea Project: $2,500 to expand leadership program for at-risk high school youth to ten Portland area schools in 2010.
• Saint Andrew Nativity School: $3,000 for on-going support and counseling at this middle school for low-income youth as the students go on to high school and college.
• Washington County Historical Society: $2,500 to support free monthly Family Days at the museum.
• Willamette University – WillametteAcademy: $5,000 for parent classes in basic computer skills, banking, and finance management to help them support their child in Willamette Academy.

The 14 grants for Arts and Culture totaling $103,000 include:

• Blue Monkey Theater Company: $2,500 to support production of “The Tempest” by young artists for youth audiences.
• BodyVox: $20,000 to renovate the new BodyVox Dance Center in Northwest Portland.
• Ethos Music Center: $5,000 for music instruction to primarily low-income and at-risk K-12 children in Portland metro area, Fossil, Condon, Irrigon, and Monument.
• Fishtrap, Inc. (Enterprise): $5,000 for the Eastern Oregon Writers residency program placing professional writers in K-12 schools in Wheeler, Gilliam, Harney, Klamath and Wallowa counties.
• Literary Arts, Inc.: $5,000 to support Writers in the Schools in one Portland high school during 2009/2010.
• Museum of Contemporary Craft: $10,000 to provide support for exhibitions and public programs.
• Oregon Historical Society: $15,000 to expand “Oregon My Oregon” exhibit for a fresh perspective on contemporary Oregon history through interactive exhibits.
• PHAME Academy: $2,000 to develop skills and self-esteem for developmentally disabled adults through education and participation in the fine and performing arts.
• Portland Baroque Orchestra: $5,000 for 13 pre-concert talks before performances from October 2009 to May 2010, and to support the Holiday Family Performance Dec. 21, 2009.
• Portland Children's Museum: $5,000 to provide developmentally-appropriate arts and learning programs to low-income and disabled children in the greater Portland area.
• Regional Arts & Culture Council: $20,000 to support professional development workshops for teachers and artists participating in the second year of The Right Brain Initiative.
• Sisters Folk Festival: $2,500 to teach youth the cultural and historical significance of American Roots music through the Americana Project in Sisters schools.
• WoodburnArtCenter: $3,500 to increase outreach to 144 students per month with additional classroom instruction, non-English speaking interpretive services, and class supplies. 
• Young Audiences of Oregon, Inc.: $2,500 for operating support to help bring artists to 223 schools.