Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

PCC class awards $5,000 to local non-profit as part of learning

Photos and story by James Hill

This summer, the Portland Community College Students4Giving class awarded a $5,000 grant to Friendly House Inc. Friendly House was chosen as a finalist in the education of homeless children category. The money will be used to purchase iPads and laptops for their Project Return program. Project Return provides after-school programming, safety-net-services and a wide range of educational and recreational opportunities for Chapman Elementary School students whose families are experiencing homelessness.

Students4Giving was created six years ago through a Campus Compact and Fidelity® Charitable Gift Fund initiative. Portland Community College was one of only five academic institutions in the nation, and the only community college, selected to create a donor advised fund to offer grants to non-profit organizations within their communities. Students4Giving participants learn about the non-profit world from a regular course curriculum and identify specific community needs for that term’s project. The class then identifies several nonprofits in the Portland Metro area that serve these community needs and invites these nonprofits to submit a grant application. The students evaluate the grant applications using criteria learned in class, conduct site visits to the non-profit organizations and finally select the grant recipients after extensive research and discussion.

Friendly House is a non-profit neighborhood center located in Northwest Portland, founded in 1930. Its programs and services are provided at no charge or on a sliding fee scale to ensure access to all members of the community. Friendly House provides a continuum of services in three program areas: Children’s Programs, Community Recreation and Education, and Social Services.