S moke S ignals
SEPTEMBER 15, 2017
9
Community Fund exceeds 2,500 grants
September check
presentation approaches
$75 million mark
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
Spirit Mountain Community
Fund’s first quarterly check pre-
sentation since celebrating its 20th
anniversary on July 29 propelled
the fund past the 2,500 mark in the
number of grants awarded since its
inception in 1997.
The 37 grants – 21 large and 16
small – awarded on Wednesday,
Sept. 13, in the Governance Center
Atrium pushed the philanthropic
arm of the Confederated Tribes of
Grand Ronde to 2,530 grants given.
In addition, the 37 grants totaled
$733,404, pushing the amount do-
nated by the Tribe to nonprofit or-
ganizations in 11 northwest Oregon
counties to $74.7 million.
The Community Fund receives 6
percent of Spirit Mountain Casino’s
proceeds and awards grants to non-
profit organizations on a quarterly
schedule, as well as to the nine fed-
erally recognized Tribes in Oregon
on an annual basis. The Commu-
nity Fund invests in organizations
that enhance, among other things,
education, health care, public safe-
ty and natural resources.
“You guys are just amazing grant-
ees that do wonderful work in Ore-
gon,” Spirit Mountain Community
Fund Director Mychal Cherry said.
Cherry said that the Community
Fund fulfills the Tribe’s Native
tradition of potlatch, or sharing of
good fortune.
“Your steadfast work in Oregon
communities fulfills and supports
our mission, and on behalf of the
Spirit Mountain Community Fund
staff, Board of Trustees and Tribal
Council, I want to say hayu masi.”
Cherry also introduced her staff:
Program Coordinator Angela Sears,
Grants Coordinator Julia Willis
and Administrative Assistant Jesse
Knight.
Tribal Lands Manager Jan Look-
ing Wolf Reibach opened the event
with a prayer in Chinuk Wawa and
a welcome song on drum.
Community Fund Board of Trust-
ees Chairman Sho Dozono recog-
nized dignitaries, such as Tribal
Council members Denise Harvey
and Jack Giffen Jr., who also are
on the Board of Trustees, and Val
Hoyle, a former Eugene-area state
legislator who serves on the Board
of Trustees.
Grantees watched two informa-
tional videos on Tribal history and
the recent 20th anniversary cele-
bration held in Portland.
Nkenge Harmon Johnson, presi-
dent and chief executive officer of
the Urban League of Portland, ex-
plained how the Community Fund’s
$20,000 donation to its Urban Tech
Jobs Program will help job seekers
in the Portland area.
Johnson said the program is de-
signed to put people back to work
at companies like Intel by teaching
them the 21st century tech skills
required to be competitive in the
job market.
“This is not just so they can get
Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Nkenge Harmon Johnson, right, president and chief executive officer of the Urban League of Portland, talks about the
organization’s Urban Tech Jobs Program during Spirit Mountain Community Fund’s Summer Grant Presentation held
in the Governance Center Atrium on Wednesday, Sept. 13. With her, from left, is Andrea Gall, Urban Tech Jobs Program
team leader; Annie LaVerdure-Weller, executive director and co-founder of the Leadership Lab; and Cinna’Mon
Williams, Urban Tech Jobs Program career and life coach.
Cherry said that the Community Fund
fulfills the Tribe’s Native tradition of
potlatch, or sharing of good fortune.
a job, but start a new career,”
Johnson said. “They can create
opportunities for themselves and
their families.”
Johnson said that despite Ore-
gon’s currently low unemployment
rate, joblessness among the state’s
African-American population re-
mains in double digits. The jobs
program will serve approximately
100 people over a four-year period,
she added.
As Cherry read the names of
grant recipients, Dozono and Hoyle
handed out the checks and each
grantee received a gift bag from the
Community Fund.
Other organizations receiving
grants were:
Large grants
• Social Good Fund of Multnomah
County, $40,000, for the Portland
Harbor Community Benefit Project;
• Womenspace Inc. of Lane County,
$32,000, for preventing intimate
partner violence through commu-
nity outreach and education;
• Doernbecher Children’s Hospital
Foundation of Portland, $35,000,
for its “Healing the Whole Fami-
ly” guest house;
• Camp Fire Columbia of Mult-
nomah County, $40,000, for its
middle school program “Academic
Success for At-Risk Youth”;
• Juliette’s House of McMinnville,
$40,000, for its “Prevention Arc”
effort;
• Lutheran Community Services
Northwest of Yamhill County,
$38,400, for the West Valley
Family Support Center;
• Parenting Now! of Lane County,
$20,000, for its “Making Parent-
ing a Pleasure” programs;
• Pathfinders of Oregon of Mult-
nomah County, $37,544, for its
Mentoring Inside Out effort;
• SquareOne Villages of Lane
County, $20,000, for Emerald
Village Eugene, an affordable
tiny house community;
• Children’s Healing Art Project Inc.
of Multnomah County, $10,000,
for its CHAP Outside-the-Hospi-
tal Program capability expansion;
• Portland Homeless Family Solu-
tions, $15,000, for its homeless
support project;
• Reading Results of Multnomah
County, $40,000, to ensure stu-
dents are on a path to success;
• Salem Free Clinics, $37,000, to
provide culturally competent care
to uninsured patients with diabe-
tes in Marion and Polk counties;
• Shriners Hospitals for Children
in Portland, $33,200, for family
quarters support;
• Liberty House of Salem, $36,000,
to provide health care for abused
children, specifically a pediatric
sexual assault nurse practitioner;
• Volunteers of America Inc. of
Multnomah County, $40,000, to
fund a healthy teens project;
• Rose Community Development of
Multnomah County, $40,000, to
fund its Lents Youth Initiative.
• Stand for Children Leadership
Center of Multnomah County,
$20,000, for expanding access to
college-prep courses and prevent
students from dropping out;
• Tucker-Maxon Oral School of
Multnomah County, $40,000,
to provide financial aid for deaf
students from impoverished and
underserved communities;
• College Possible of Multnomah
County, $16,000, to fund inten-
sive summer transition program-
ming for low-income graduating
high school seniors.
Small grants
• Beyond Toxics of Lane County,
$6,000, for its “Justice for Land
and Worker” project;
• PTA Oregon Congress of Cor-
vallis, $6,000, for Head Start
outreach;
• Guardian Partners of Multnomah
County, $6,000, to help prevent
children from entering the foster
care system;
• Children’s Advocacy Center of
Lincoln County, $6,000, to fund
National Children’s Alliance ac-
creditation;
• Family of Friends Mentoring of
Multnomah County, $6,000, for
mentoring of youth in Gresh-
am;
• Relief Nursery Inc. of Lane Coun-
ty, $6,000, for its American In-
dian/Alaska Native outreach
project;
• Stone Soup Corvallis Inc., $5,000,
to fund its effort;
• William Temple House of Mult-
nomah County, $5,000, to fund
mental health counseling;
• Mid-Valley Literacy Center of
Marion County, $2,800, to sup-
port technology for organizational
growth;
• Luckiamute Watershed Council
of Polk County, $4,460, for its
“Love Your Watershed” commu-
nity training project;
• Philomath Community Services,
$5,000, for purchase of a box
truck;
• Playwrite of Multnomah County,
$5,000, to help bring youth “at the
edge” into the theater communi-
ty;
• CASA of Lane County, $5,000,
for its “A Voice for Every Child”
effort;
• Kukatonon of Multnomah Coun-
ty, $5,000, for its 2017-18 perfor-
mance season;
• Portland Center Stage, $5,000, to
fund the spring 2018 production
of Cherokee actress DeLanna
Studi’s “And So We Walked.”
• Sustainable Northwest of Tilla-
mook County, $5,000, to fund its
North Coast Community Forest
Initiative.