^H out
Mowing forward
A
n o pen letter
TO THE COMMUNITY:
On behalf of the boards of directors for
Phoenix Rising Foundation and Network
Behavioral HealthCare Inc., we want to thank
the community for its patience and support
throughout our recent efforts to ensure the con­
tinuation of Phoenix Rising. We are pleased to
announce the success of those efforts.
From its inception at the Portland Town
Council three decades ago, Phoenix Rising has
served as a means by which our community
could focus its resources and address its unmet
needs. Each of its initiatives in politics and
health issues have taken root to be carried on by
other, specialized groups that could more effec­
tively focus on the changing needs of our com­
munity. Each time this has happened, Phoenix
Rising has lived up to its name, retrenching and
evolving to channel community efforts to new
concerns. It is time to do that again.
For the past decade, Phoenix Rising has
developed to serve the mental health needs of
those in the lesbian, gay, bi and trans communi­
ties. Over the past year, it has become clear that
other, more specialized providers are now posi­
tioned and motivated to better serve the needs
of our community in todays challenging man­
aged care environment
Happily, GBLT mental health services are
now an acknowledged and growing specialty
area by a number of mainstream mental health
providers. After thoroughly exploring other
options, and extensive negotiation, the board of
Phoenix Rising has determined this aspect of its
mission can now best be served by forming an
alliance and transferring primary responsibility
for therapy services to Network Behavioral
HealthCare Inc., the area’s most progressive and
successful nonprofit mental health organization.
Network accepted Phoenix Rising’s sugges­
tions for updating its own internal policies to (1)
clearly renounce any form of conversion thera­
py by any of its therapist and direct service
providers, (2) strengthen its nondiscrimination
policies in hiring and benefits, and (3) enhance
specialty services to transgendered persons.
As it has before, Phoenix Rising will now
redirect its efforts to a new, underserved area of
community concern: youth services. Over the
past few years, the most dynamic, growing part
of Phoenix Rising’s mission has been its effort to
open and maintain a Sexual Minority Youth
Recreation Center. This center and services to
sexual minority youth, under the energetic lead­
ership of Venae Rodriguez, will now be the pri­
mary focus of Phoenix Rising’s mission. Phoenix
Rising will now work to attract our community’s
attention and support to this project. At the
same time, Phoenix Rising will continue to
serve as a resource and referral source for our
senior community.
Again, on behalf of both boards, we thank
the community for its continued concern and
support during this transition. We will continue
to work hard to justify it and restore your confi­
dence in Phoenix Rising.
R oy C ole
Board President
Phoenix Rising Foundation
L eslie F ord
Chief Executive Officer
Network Behavioral HealthCare Inc.
Portland
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