A Message from CEO Joe

Our community is traumatized. From explosive gun violence to unprecedented unemployment to navigating in-school learning during an unrelenting pandemic – the students and families we serve are facing unimaginable barriers.  

We are working on all fronts as we help our community rebuild and recover.  

We are making an immediate impact through our street-level, often first-on-the-scene responders who intervene and deescalate to prevent retaliation shootings. We provide transportation and childcare for job interviews and pay trainees to learn critical work skills in secure, living wage industries.  And we are making sure our students and families – so many who have had their lives shattered by violence – are connected to culturally specific mental health support.  

Our team is directing all of its energy to these urgent needs and has made the difficult decision to forego our gala this year. Although historically, our annual gala is one of our most significant sources of financial support for this work, the time investment of a gala is time our community desperately needs right now. Yet, as the need for our services grows exponentially, I am personally asking for your help as we rise to this challenge.

Support POIC + RAHS with a gift. Help us heal our community.

Your financial support will directly impact our ability to:  

• Launch The Kitchen, a culinary academy and workforce training site where participants learn food-based business skills while preparing nutrient-dense school meals for all five of our school campuses, ensuring hunger doesn’t get in the way of learning.  

• Support the Public Safety Village, which gathers a dozen Black-led organizations to address gaps in Portland’s gun violence reduction services such as conflict resolution and grief support.  

• Grow Healing Hurt People, an innovative program that sends trained, trauma-informed providers to work with victims of violence at local hospitals immediately following an incident to prevent retaliation and identify areas for intervention and support. This team is on call 24-7.  

Just last weekend, another sixteen shootings took place in Portland. Since COVID began, not one month has passed where POIC + RAHS did not lose a current or former student or participant to gun violence, suicide, or accident. Our community needs us, and we need you. Thank you for your generosity as we join together to heal our community.  

All my best,  

Joe McFerrin II, President, and CEO