Portland Parks Foundation
| Summer 2006
PROJECT INCLUSION
REACHING KIDS ON A ROLL
Mount Tabor's Skate, Sports & Study program provided a peak experience for about 30 eager middle schoolers. Photo by Ryan Pederson


In the five short years that the Portland Parks Foundation has been operating, we've taken on a lot of challenges.

From the outset, one of our goals was to see that every kid has access to parks and park programs. We want to make sure that the seeds of healthy lifestyles are planted as widely as possible.

We just never thought our mission would expand to helping kids master the Ollie, the KickFlip and the Pop Shovit.

Action after school

But those were all part of the Skate, Sports & Study Program at Mount Tabor SUN Community School. The program was funded in part through the Portland Parks Foundation's Project Inclusion.

Karen Aker, site manager at the school, said that there had been an after-school program at the Southeast Portland middle school for several years. However, when her school earned a grant from Project Inclusion, Aker found a new way to connect with kids.

"We happened to have a teacher at Mount Tabor who is a skateboard enthusiast," she said. "Ben Wixon grew up on a skateboard. He's an ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher, and he'd worked for various agencies like the YMCA and Boys & Girls Club in the past. When the Foundation grant became available, I decided to bring in the skating element in addition to studying and homework. We've done it for two years now."

In that time, 30 students joined the Mount Tabor Skate Club. The club skated on Wednesdays, sandwiched in between after-school homework help on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The club would pile into a Portland Parks & Recreation van and head over to an indoor skate spot in Northeast Portland.

Once inside, the kids learned boarding basics like the Ollie – the basic jump-with-the-board move – and the Pop Shovit, the Ollie's more sophisticated cousin that includes a board push and body twist.

Connecting with a new community

Project Inclusion grants are aimed at removing financial barriers that might prevent kids from participating in programs such as Skate, Sports & Study. "The ability to scholarship individual fees to students … is an extremely positive contribution to the well being of the students," Aker wrote in a grant report delivered to the Foundation in June.

The program paid off in another way, she added. Because of the skateboarding program, Skate, Sports & Study brought in young faces unfamiliar with the Community Schools. "We're providing opportunities to those who don't normally participate in sports," Aker explained. "And with Ben teaching ESL, we have contact with newcomers that we might not see otherwise."

MAKING A SPLASH IN MONTAVILLA
Karen Spencer speaks to an energetic young audience at Montavilla Community Center.

What's the start of summer without a party? Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) threw one on June 23. The guests of honor were several hundred children from the neighborhoods around the Montavilla Community Center on Northeast 82nd and Glisan.

Blue skies and the end of school are more than enough for getting a party started, but thanks to Nike's long-standing partnership with PP&R and more recent collaboration with the Portland Parks Foundation, there was even more reason to celebrate.

Once again, Nike has stepped forward to make sure that summer in the city is full of fun and adventure for everyone. This year, Nike donated $250,000 to support PP&R's summer playground program and the creation of a new skate park in North Portland. That total includes $75,000 for NikeGO cards, a Project Inclusion program that admits participating children to PP&R after-school and weekend activities throughout the year.

Kids on the move

While there was lots to celebrate, the guests of honor were too busy running between the swings, the swimming pool and the tables full of free popsicles, popcorn, T-Shirts.

That left it to the grown-ups – as always – to have the last word. "Along with providing a beautiful place where neighbors and families can gather, the parks are especially important to our community's youth," said Karen Spencer, senior counsel for Nike Golf and a Portland Parks Foundation Board Member. "In a time when funding for physical activity and recreation in our schools is being reduced or even eliminated, our parks have become one of the few places kids can participate in organized activities, get moving and learn important social skills while having fun. NikeGO is Nike's signature community affairs program to get kids moving."


 

 


To learn more about the Portland Parks Foundation, visit our web site at www.portlandparksfoundation.org, or call us at 503.802.5757.
 
SELLWOOD PARK
SOMETHING OLD,
SOMETHING NEW

Home to one of the city's oldest (and deepest) public pools, Sellwood Park is also one of the first beneficiaries of the Foundation's 10 for 10 Stewardship Campaign.

Launched in April, "10 for 10" aims to find donors who will provide funding over 10 years to cover maintenance and improvements at 10 Portland Parks.

Columbia Sportswear, under the direction of CEO and longtime Portlander Tim Boyle, has taken the lead with a commitment for Sellwood Park. Already, the results are showing:

  • Wrought-iron fences have been repainted and restored.

  • Paved paths through the park have been resurfaced.

  • New picnic tables are in place.

  • Landscape and gardening work has been done throughout the park.

Portland is nationally known for its livability, and the city's beautiful parks are among its greatest assets. We're proud to play a role in keeping the city's jewels clean and polished.
 

 

 

 
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