RAHS presents Romeo & Juliette

RAHS Presents – Romeo & Juliette
Thursday May 31st @7 pm
Where forart thou?
You are invited to the Northwest Children’s Theater to see RAHS perform Romeo & Juliet.  This is part of our fantastic After School Program as sponsored by a grant from the Portland Children’s Levy, and the generous donation of time and artistic guidance from NWCT.

Last year’s school play was Midsummer Night’s Dream, and it was an AMAZING night for our students and our school – see the photos here of our 2011 thespians.
Please put this event on your list and come be part of the audience that night.
Northwest Children’s Theater, NW 18th and NW Everett.

Email bbrandts@portlandoic.org, for more information.

New internships donated at our Work Connections Breakfast

Joe Mcferrin (L) President of Portland OIC with Marc A. Alexander, Director of the Technology Learning Group at Intel Capital.

POIC generated employment or funding to employ 27 new summer internships for our students this summer – great forward progress towards our goal of 45 new positions. This new summer job growth will supplement the 120 current positions managed by POIC and generated through partnerships with Worksystems Inc. and existing business partners.

The breakfast provided us a forum to meet new prospective business mentors for our trainees, to thank our current advocates – specifically Mayor Sam Adams and the Gifford Pinchot Forest internship program, and to introduce potential new employers to our Work Opportunity Training division and our at-risk teen work trainees.

Teens who need a chance at work experience.

Teens who had previously dropped out of school, or been homeless, or neglected, or simply unsupported, undirected and underestimated.
Teens who have demonstrated the resilience and determination to complete their high school education – and now need help with career exploration.

POIC work trainees have a broad range of talents and interests – and deserve the chance to pursue a career using them.
Minimum wage jobs pumping gas should not be a mandate of being born into poverty.

Click on our video above to meet Daniel – our budding Engineering student, Juliette – a gifted early childhood education trainee, LaKeisha – a case study in resilience working for the federal government after a childhood defined by homelessness, and Keonte – our teen trouble-make who got back on track and is now a talented chef and entrepreneur.

President / CEO Mr. Joe McFerrin appealed to the business owners in the room to seek solutions for how to connect our at-risk kids to the “hidden” job market, when over 80% of today’s jobs are not advertised.

The Skanner published a comprehensive article covering the event which can be seen at http://www.theskanner.com/article/Students-a-Standing-Ovation-at-POIC-Work-Opportunities-Breakfast-2012-04-05

If you could not attend, or would like to reach out to help POIC with a work connection ranging from job shadows, to work site visits, to summer internships, please call Mr Cord Bueker at 503.797.7215.

To donate wages for a summer internship experience please click on the donate button here.
Thanks to our 2012 Work Connections sponsors and supporters:

Bureau of Land Management
Ernst & Young
Gifford Pinchot National Forest
Homenurse.com
Key Laser Institute
Mayor Sam Adams
Melvin Mark Companies
Metanoiah
Nike
Oregonlive.com
Pacific Benefit Planners
PCC Structurals
Portland Community College – Cascade Campus
Premier Mortgage Resources Providence Health & Services
The Barbers
US Bank
US Forest Service
Washington Trust
Worksystems Inc.
Cary Jackson
Cathi Howell
Heather Killough
Eric Lemelson
Ross & Sheila Lienhart
John Stilwell
Tiffani Stark
Cliff Torng & Annette Cragg
John and Marcia Stillwell

2012 Prom “Mardi Gras of Gratitude”

Prom Season is here and RAHS is launching our third Prom which will be held on Friday May 18th at Montgomery Park in NW Portland.  

Just a few years ago this was an unthinkable dream.  Thanks to incredible donors and supporters, the original support and advocacy of Steve Duin at the Oregonian, and an outpouring of community spirit determined that our students who come from very difficult family situations – should nevertheless be able to celebrate their successes in attending and completing High School – this event is able to carry on.

Prom will be held again at Montgomery Park, thanks to another phenomenal donation from the Naito family, and we are working on raising money and securing donations for clothes, music and transport.  The beautiful Prom dresses donated over the past two years will be dusted off, and altered by our team of dressmakers who volunteer their time on weekends prior to event.  

Also stepping up again to support us are the Beaverton High School Band, Leilani Crowston who is making all of the hand-made corsages (again), Kathy Davis – all of the boutonnieres, and Food in Bloom who is providing their truly wonderful catering.

This year our Student Council “Prom Committee” has agreed that the theme be “Mardi Gras of Gratitude.”

Every student who attends the Prom will have to submit a letter of “thanks” to an adult who has made a difference in his or her life.  All of these letters will then be put on display on Prom Night as a reminder to everyone that it takes a lot of kind, generous and supportive people – people like you – to help us get to where we want to be in our lives.  We can’t do it alone.

Thanks also to the incredible team at Studio 3 Photography, who have been with us from the start with a photo booth which generates terrific energy at the event, and stunning memories of the best night ever – for all of our students.  Check out this selection from 2011.

Any donations you may want to give, or pass on for this event would be most welcome.  Please call Mr. Bob Brandts if there is anything you can give or suggest to make this a fantastic night for the students of Rosemary Anderson High School @ 503.797.7214 w.,  413. 687.7373 .cell., or at bbrandts@portlandoic.org

April 5th – Work Connections Breakfast

Our annual POIC Work Connections Breakfast is being held Thursday April 5th, from 7.45 to 9 a.m. at the Multnomah Athletic Club.

Students will speak about the impact POIC work programs have had in setting their lives on a positive stable track, local businesses can meet our staff and connect with our work training schedules, and POIC will honor our past partner businesses, employers and advocates.

This is the real testament of a strong Portland community, when local business owners can step forward and create a connection to work for at-risk youth who do not have the support to find internships and career programs on their own.  

Our outstanding past business partners include Providence Healthcare, PCC Structurals, Bridgetown Coffee, the National Forestry Service, the Bureau of Land Management, Everett Street Auto, Mississippi Pizza, and the OHSU – amongst many others.

Please join us on April 5th, and sponsor a table or buy individual tickets by calling Julia Mitchell at 503.797.7216, email at jmitchell@portlandoic.org, or booking your seats online here using Paypal

If you would rather pay by check, please send a check made payable to Friends of Portland OIC, to 717 N. Killingsworth Court, Portland, OR 97217.

Energy Table Sponsor $1000 Table of 8 and sponsorship mentions in all materials
Power Table Sponsor $750 Table of 8
Individual Tickets $50	Ticket Quantity 1 Ticket $50.00 USD 2 Ticket $100.00 USD 3 Ticket $150.00 USD 4 Ticket $200.00 USD
I cannot attend, but would like to donate

Thanks to our event sponsors - 

Thanks to our phenomenal advocates and donors

Thanks to our friends and advocates who shared a wonderful evening and a common cause with us at the Nines Hotel on November 3rd. We heard from our at-risk students whose futures have been bought into focus by our Natural Resources Careers program.

We are thrilled to announce that we have raised our goal amount of $120,000, and will be able to offer this program to all of our enrolled students in the 2012-13 academic year.

Our special thanks goes out to our Honorary Chair of the evening, Mr. Eric Lemelson, whose spoke passionately about how his pursuits as an outdoorsman gave him a specific empathy towards the disconnection at-risk students experience with nature.

Congratulations to the recipients of our Special Advocate Awards – Mr Nick Ehlen and Ms Ashely Campion.

For those supporters who could not share the evening with us – Rosemary Anderson High School has developed an innovative program of science classroom to natural resource job skills.

Please take a moment to view the video above, launched at the Gala.

As mentioned in the video – it is a stated federal goal to attract more Natural Resource and Land Management Agency job applications from at-risk minority youth.

The jobs are there for our students – we just need community donor help in providing them the outdoor experiences and science qualifications to graduate high school and apply.

If you do want to support our work in this program, please consider a donation of as little as $20 to help achieve our program goal. And please forward this to any friends or colleagues who want to help less fortunate kids right here in North Portland – today.

Together we can help these students become connected self-sufficient members of our community – and to Rewrite their Life Stories.

Rosemary Anderson HS Gala Fundraising Dinner – November 3rd

Save the date for our annual fundraising Gala, to be held at the Nines Hotel on the evening of Thursday November 3rd.  Honorary Gala Chairman, Mr. Eric Lemelson will present our innovative Natural Resources Program which integrates our academic Science classroom program with work training and internships at Portland land use bureaus, and forest-based businesses.

Please join us to support the growth and success of at-risk students, and to help them to rewrite their life stories.

Sponsorships are available for tables of 8 guests from $2,500, to $5,000 or $10,000.  

Individual tickets are $250 per person.  

Email jmitchell@portlandoic.org for further details, enroll in a sponsorship via PayPal below, or call 503.797.7216 to reserve a table.

Rosemary Anderson HS Gala Dinner – November 3

Save the date for our annual fundraising Gala, to be held at the Nines Hotel on the evening of Thursday November 3rd.  Honorary Gala Chairman, Mr. Eric Lemelson will present our innovative Natural Resources Program which integrates our academic Science classroom program with work training and internships at Portland land use bureaus, and forest-based businesses.

Please join us to support the growth and success of at-risk students, and to help them to rewrite their life stories.

Sponsorships are available for tables of 8 guests from $2,500, to $5,000 or $10,000.  

Individual tickets are $250 per person.  

Email jmitchell@portlandoic.org for further details, or call 503.797.7216 to reserve a table.

POIC solutions to gang violence Jobs + Mentors

Steve Duin from the The Oregonian was fast to head in our direction last week, when he heard that three teens shot in a senseless drive-by shooting were our students.
There was no specific reason they were targets, other than a context of life in poverty in North Portland.
The article speaks to the need for jobs and mentors for our teens and students, and thanks to Mr Duin, our phones ran hot for a few days with readers volunteering to join us as volunteer mentors.
In response Joe McFerrin President/CEO of Portland OIC commented that “it is this kind of sense of community that will make a significant difference in the lives of our kids.”  Thanks to Steve Duin for helping to break down our isolation in North Portland, and encouraging citizens to get involved and mentor our students.

Click here to read the full article - Oregonian – Stepping up to slow gang violence.

POIC students work for the environment through service

Portland OIC students have partnered with ODOT and  Friends of the Trees on a two-year project to plant over 6,000 trees on the I-205 Multi-Use path.  An example of how our teens are giving back to the community through being involved in service by working on large-scale environmental projects, this also illustrates the features of the Natural Resources Program at Rosemary Anderson High School.  This program integrates outdoor and environmental work training with the science curriculum our students study in the classroom.  The I-205 planting is  due for completion by 2012, and has provided our students leadership and management experience – providing them training to supervise community volunteer planters, and networking opportunities in engaging with the wide range of volunteers.

Click here to see the article - Oregonian – Merkley learns about massive Interstate tree-planting program

POIC Advocate – jobs and school remove appeal of gangs

POIC’s long-time work training advocate Val Polk went on record with KATU2 this week, explaining how he walked away from a gang lifestyle as a young man, and is now a mentor and role-model to teens at Portland OIC and Rosemary Anderson High School.

With the uptake in gang-related violence in and around Portland this summer, the media and local government are looking for solutions, and for community-wide support in reducing the incidence of gang activity.  Portland OIC is on the front-line of the impact of gang-violence, as it serves students living in poverty, from North East, and South East Portland.