Non-Profits Making A Big Impact in Portland Find New Spaces to Support Their Mission

We all know our City has had a very tough and challenging (self-inflicted?) time over the last half dozen years. It has been difficult on many fronts: the growth and visibility of many using and suffering from addictions and mental health, often occupying the proliferation of tents and decrepit RVs on our streets; a lack of cleanliness with the increase in graffiti and trash; a general feeling and reality of deteriorating safety and security with property and violent crime spiking; an exodus or downsizing of many companies leaving our once vibrant downtown and core neighborhoods looking empty and forlorn, all with a city and County fumbling and struggling to develop and apply a consistent and robust program of expected services to address these issues – even with a tremendous increase in resources.

Read my detailed roundup of Recent Non-Profit Transactions (.pdf)

With this lack of public support many innovative and committed non-profits have successfully stepped into this maelstrom of social problems to increase their impact and services, and I am pleased and appreciative of their confidence in me to help them secure increased and better spaces and facilities to expand their mission.

The Details of These Recent Transactions

City Team Ministries has been in Portland for 40 years providing successful substance abuse treatment, food, shelter, career training and spiritual transformation… all from a small and crumbling building in Portland’s eastside. With their dynamic director, Lance Orton, I was able to assist them in buying a beautiful fully renovated building in Old Town to triple the size of their space and operations.

The Mental Health Addiction Association of Oregon (MHAAO) has consistently grown to become one of the most successful social service providers because of their proven peer-peer approach to addiction and mental health treatment. Their HQ was in an inefficient and less-than-hospitable space in close-in northeast Portland. With their trust, together we were able to secure a beautiful ready-to-go new office space with another revered non-profit, Catholic Charities, at their campus on SE Powell.

For over 55 years, Transition Projects has delivered life-saving and life-changing assistance to some of Portland’s most vulnerable residents. Whether by helping a homeless veteran and her family find housing, sheltering hundreds of people each night with nowhere else to turn, or opening new pathways to employment. Their outreach housing program needed better located and upgrade space so after looking at many so-so options, we were able to secure a beautiful space where they could turn the lights on and get going in Johns Landing.