To honor the legacy of a beloved staff member and one of SVP Portland's brightest shooting stars, we have created the Sarah Cohen-Doherty Award. The inaugural annual award will be presented on July 21 at our 20th Anniversary Summer Social. The award recognizes a person within the SVP Portland network (inclusive of staff, Investor Partners, Encore Fellows, and Community Partners) who epitomizes the wonderful characteristics that enabled Sarah to have such a positive impact at SVP. Read More
Social Capital: Underutilized Partner Resource
June 5, 2021
Recently, the Portfolio Management Team (PMT) considered how we can work to maximize opportunities to leverage our social capital in a way that is equitable in opportunity and can benefit all of our Community Partners. While we often focus our attention on contributions of Partner money and time, the Partnership has valuable yet underutilized social capital and influence that can have an equally profound impact when leveraged in support of our Community Partners. Read More
We Welcome Kaye Gardner-O’Kearny
June 3, 2021
Kaye joined the SVP Portland team as an Encore Fellow. Her fellowship is focused on helping us ensure we have a sustainable approach to providing Partners and Fellows the support they need as they collaborate across our broad range of Community Partners. Kaye will begin by taking a look at our current onboarding and training model, as well as historic approaches. Her goal is to help us make improvements to our approach for onboarding Partners to community impact work and supporting them throughout their volunteer projects. Read More
Child Care Shared Services Alliance Finds a New Home
May 24, 2021
We’re excited to report that the Child Care Shared Services Alliance (CCSSA) is preparing to recruit its first cohort of child care providers this summer, with Neighborhood House as its newly-selected backbone organization. Following completion of the incubation phase, SVP will remain involved, serving as an advisor to the project in the pilot phase, alongside the Co-Design team and contracted facilitators. Read More
The Case For Universal Pre-K Just Got Stronger
May 21, 2021
”The most eye-popping effects the researchers find are on high school graduation and college enrollment rates. The kids who got accepted into preschool ended up having a high-school graduation rate of 70% — six percentage points higher than the kids who were denied preschool, who saw a graduation rate of only 64%. And 54% of the preschoolers ended up going to college after they graduated — eight percentage points higher than their counterparts who didn't go to preschool.“ Read More
16 Over 61: Meet Gerald Cohen
May 18, 2021
SVP Partner Gerald (Jerry) Cohen was just honored as one of 16 Over 61, a collaboration between the Forward Jewish news and the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan’s Wechsler Center for Modern Aging, who states that "With these honors, we've aimed to spotlight the creativity, leadership and initiative of adults who exemplify our collective values." Jerry doesn't let age define or stop him, he shared, "The point is to embrace and celebrate age wherever one is on the chronological scale. We have been granted a gift of longevity, and we must use that gift." Read More
Partners Training Partners
May 4, 2021
"At SVP, Investor Partners work hand-in-hand with nonprofit leaders to build the organizational capacity of our Community Partners. SVP staff members asked us to take this to the next level. This next level is about becoming a "thought partner" rather than being the expert. To achieve this goal we took a “Partners training Partners” approach, building the capacity in our Lead Partners so they could be more powerful at helping nonprofit leaders -- a virtuous loop." Read More