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This meeting is different. The council has just one more day to prepare to host a cohort of visiting PanAfrican students at Africa House, and they have some decisions to make. For starters, what should they order for lunch? Pizza in the American tradition? Or sambusa for familiarity? Which icebreaker should they play — a name game or something more active?

On her first day as a volunteer, she was asked her to find housing for a client. We filled out [a housing] application. She was hired pretty much on the spot. She hopes to advocate for fair policies to help uplift minority communities. And as for those two questions regarding visiting PanAfrican students: The Youth Council decided on sambusa for lunch. And they decided to play both musical chairs and a name game for icebreakers.

Chris Bailey wraps up his As the micro-enterprise developer for Hacienda CDC, Bailey often spends his days at the Latino market hall, where he oversees an incubator kitchen and 19 retail spaces representing different Latin American regions. From Oaxacan to Haitian to Puerto Rican, the Latin-inspired fare available at the nine carts out front is only one of the features of the Mercado.

The perimeter of the building also contains a juice shop, meat counter, beer bar and bustling commissary kitchen. As we walk the property, Bailey introduces me to Omar, who just opened the cold-pressed juice bar Xocotl. During the six-session boot camp Bailey coordinates, participants learn product development, business licensing and insurance, cash-flow, marketing, sales channels and more — in Spanish. Customized consulting meetings with Bailey and his team help prepare graduates for business ownership and operation, often at an accelerated rate. According to Bailey, some of the biggest challenges for immigrants who want to open businesses include language barriers, technology, and access to financial capital.

As a kid, Bailey would nap in the side office of the Thai restaurant kitchen his mother and aunt ran in Oahu for 30 years. Eventually, Portland drew him back; here, he started two packaged goods business of his own. The other is Bloom Caramel, a dairy-free, handcrafted caramel made with vanilla, pure coconut milk and organic spices, which he is working to export to Canada, Japan and beyond. Bottom Line for Portland: Families arrive at the center for an Arab-speakers focus group about current neighborhood priorities. Three Black elementary-school kids pull up on their bikes.

But for the past seven years, she has been ingrained in the community, listening to and empowering its members to help create the safer, more just neighborhood they want. According to Glass, more than 1, zero-toyear-olds live in the district. More than 25 languages are spoken, and high school students living in the district attend five different schools: Glass moved to Portland 14 years ago, but her first real experience in Rosewood came through Americorps in , when Glass worked with two police sergeants who were attempting asset-based community development.

During those early conversations, the sense of despair some people had was really hard for Glass to hear. She oversees seven full-time and four part-time staff members. Glass is measured, unhurried, thoughtful. Her long-term vision for Rosewood Initiative includes land ownership, early-childhood services, and increased hopefulness among Rosewood-dwellers. For others, a relationship status. Kovacs focuses on buoying chronically under-represented voices in housing conversations — renters, young people, people of color, recent immigrants, and adults living with disabilities.

With the meter of someone who has presented to more than 60 groups in the last two years and trained over individuals to provide public testimony about housing, Kovacs swiftly but thoroughly summarizes the issues: Cities across the United States are adding jobs faster than they are adding housing. Rental prices are rising, and families are unable to find housing they can afford —pricing them out of entire regions of the country. This is why she took this job. Along with coordinating the schedules and needs of 43 coalition members, Kovacs launched and manages the PFE website, facilitates the city-wide conversations on Twitter, sends testimony alerts over social and email, and plans events.

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Thanks to a grant from Pround Ground, Kovacs a single-earner, 31 year-old nonprofit employee recently purchased her own Portland home: Kovacs operates with urgency — her speech quick, eyes laser-focused, Tweets answered late and night and early in the morning, work bleeding into personal life. Decisions made today about zoning, she says, resonate generations deep. There are few other people I have ever met who have taken what is a life-changing diagnosis and used it to focus his life work.

Then a college senior in Ohio, he was balancing his final semester toward his theater degree and a time-consuming on-campus job as production stage manager for Violet , The Musical. On hearing the life-altering news, TerMeer decided to hand off the stage manager role to his assistant, wished the cast good luck and stepped away.

Much like the production stage manager he once was, TerMeer, 34, leads a staff of 75 and represents his organization to the greater Portland metro community. Fears of discrimination and judgment are leading reasons our LGBTQ population receives a lack of culturally-affirming treatment from primary care providers. TerMeer is polished but warm, fashion-forward but professional. His noticeably calm energy suggests he would be as effective counseling someone recently diagnosed as HIV-positive as he is in the boardroom. In , CAP served more than 2, clients.

They use every tool they have to fight for the dignity of their participants and demand competence from the institutions that are meant to serve them. Hoos works at the veteran service branch of Transition Projects on East Burnside Street, where their desk is a hub for paperwork, calls to landlords and meetings with clients. Hoos meets at least four veterans a day and aims to find housing for five clients each month, often succeeding. When those challenges arise, Hoos actively advocates for the veterans in their fold.

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When Hoos left for college in Cincinnati, they helped found a new relief shelter for their new urban community. This exposed Hoos to an entirely new world unlike the conservative one of rural Indiana and began their career in social work. The tangible objects, says Hoos, give participants something besides bleak circumstances to focus on.

Hoos also incorporates deep breathing and meditation, even when vets seem initially reluctant. Housing is a key ingredient in their success, and Hoos, with a fierce energy for justice and a commitment to human rights, is one of their most capable, caring advocates. Hoos places 60 veterans into housing each year, while managing a rolling caseload of 40 clients at any one time.

The walls of that box? And, of course, a glass ceiling. Five years later, from her modest, somewhat cramped shared nonprofit office in downtown Portland, the year-old founder and CEO of ChickTech pulls out a different type of box: She props it open and points to the contents:. Never heard of a LilyPad Arduino? All girls enrolled in ChickTech workshops receive this box and learn to code.

Levenhagen-Seeley started ChickTech in Portland in to increase the number of women and girls pursuing technology-based careers and retain them by building a support network. The participants, who are 57 percent nonwhite, enter the program through nominations by their high school teachers. One hundred girls will participate this year in Portland, and 2, will participate nationwide. The energy at the start of these high school workshops is nervous but excited. Levenhagen-Seeley is straightforward and frank, sugar-coating nothing about the realities of technology careers for women, while glancing occasionally at email notifications on her Apple watch.

A Wisconsin native who grew up on a dairy farm, she became a teen mom at 17 and obtained a computer engineering degree at So, with real conviction, she decided to help reduce the chances other girls and women would be discouraged from entering the tech workforce. ChickTech now includes a nationwide network of participants, instructors and volunteers, and a national conference called ACT-W Advancing the Careers of Technical Women. Every year, Levenhagen-Seeley exposes or more girls in 24 cities to tech opportunities, instilling confidence and skills so they can enter tech careers and contribute to a supportive community of female leaders.

This prize is generously sponsored by Beneficial State Bank. He is an exemplary leader and has unbelievable clarity regarding their responsibility to provide a safe environment for young addicts to get clean and sober. Vezina is executive director of the 4th Dimension Recovery Center. His organization helps young people overcome drug and alcohol addiction through social communities and peer mentoring services. When the space is not a dance hall, step group meetings fill the calendar. I worked with the most diverse people on the planet and had to unpack a lot of stuff.

I never thought I was privileged. I thought I had it so bad. I learned a lot. Since then, Vezina has taken 4D from just a concept to a sustainable, functioning nonprofit with two and a half paid staffers and seven certified peer mentors. As with most small, new nonprofits, the executive director has broad responsibilities. Besides serving as the public face of the organization, development director, bookkeeper and web master, he is also the driver of the legendary 4D passenger van.

Bumping louder seems a theme for Vezina, whose bright blue eyes and fast-paced speech pulse with energy, despite his lean-back-in-the-chair body language. His expansion plans for 4D include programming focused on black youth. He also serves on the board of directors for Oregon Recovers, which will lobby for funding and recovery justice at the state level. For now, Vezina is a beacon for those he serves, a positive reminder that long-term sobriety is possible. Vezina oversees the operation of 4D Recover Center, helping young people each month get and stay in recovery by providing a safe space, peer mentors and sober programming.

She is a uniquely talented educator, able to engage teens from all walks of life. She connects authentically and in a way that inspires trust and willingness. The room in which Janice Martellucci teaches mindfulness studies at Lincoln High School feels more like a yoga studio than a classroom. Students take off their backpacks and shoes before entering.

They leave their cellphones in a basket at the front of the softly lit room. Some wear jeans, and others, sweatpants. But they all sit on the sage green yoga mats that encircle the space. Martellucci, 27, is a teacher for the Portland nonprofit Peace in Schools. Founded in , the organization created the first for-credit mindfulness classes to be taught in public high schools in the United States. The program aims to be district-wide in Portland Public Schools within the next few years.

Martellucci discovered mindfulness six years ago, during what she says was a particularly difficult time for her. A friend recommended she try mindfulness meditation, so Martellucci started attending classes, going on retreats, and beginning an at-home practice. In no time, she was hooked. Now, Martellucci is teaching those skills in Portland. Her students learn different kinds of mindfulness meditation and are invited to explore their emotions and attitudes in a safe space. Janice Martellucci teaches free mindfulness classes to more than 1, teenagers in Portland through the nonprofit Peace in Schools.

Mindfulness has been shown to increase emotional and mental well-being, even alleviating depression and mood disorders. She has already made such a huge impact in the programs that she has worked for and the youth she has connected with, but she will continue to do that same mission-driven work over the course of her career. On any given day, the homeless to year-olds she works with could be watching Netflix under her desk, nodding off from heroin while propped up against her wall, getting help finding services or asking for outfit advice. Outside In, located in downtown Portland, has been providing social services and health care for homeless youth and other marginalized people since Pettet works as a peer mentor supervisor, drug and alcohol specialist and administrative coordinator.

She works with more than youth a year, helping them access services and find stability. With her neon pink hair, knuckle tattoos, sarcastic sense of humor and open-minded approach, Pettet, 32, stands out from a lot of care providers whose more formal methods can be alienating.

Jamie, who is gender non-binary, found the welcoming nature of Outside In a positive change of pace after constantly being judged by adults. She was home-schooled in a small town in Indiana and never felt as if she could fit in, even with other home-schooled kids. Then, after moving to Portland at 17, she had trouble getting satisfaction from her jobs, including stints at bakeries and porn shops.

She could identify with their struggles with isolation, poverty, trauma and mental illness. Outside In provides services to more than 11, homeless and otherwise marginalized people every year. This prize is generously sponsored by Willamette Week. North by Northeast is the only medical clinic in Oregon focused on African-American health, serving African-American adults every year.

Many of the clients have in the past felt underserved by traditional health care providers. Tate, 30, knew from a young age that she wanted to work in the health care sector. Tate transitioned to the nonprofit sector, working at the Native American Rehabilitation Association of the Northwest for five years. In the process, she came to realize how much she loves being able to serve her community through nonprofit work. She came across North by Northeast by chance. One day in , when she had taken her two sons to get haircuts at Champions Barbershop on Northeast Martin Luther King Boulevard, doctors from North by Northeast were there, offering free blood pressure checks.

Tate was inspired by their mission and hands-on approach. This prize is generously sponsored by Davis Wright Tremaine. The vendors Merkel coordinates buy copies of Street Roots for a quarter apiece, and then sell them for a dollar. They get to keep the profits they earn, which helps put them on the path to self-sufficiency. They are on their feet eight to 10 hours a day, seven days a week. Merkel joined Street Roots as an AmeriCorps volunteer five years ago and never left. Cole manages people experiencing homelessness and poverty, and coordinates 90 community vending partners to sell 9, newspapers every week.

This prize is generously sponsored by Morel Ink. She attends conferences and webinars, seeks out mentorship, and creates long-term connections in the Portland educational landscape. Neither of her parents attended college, and she grew up in a small Illinois town without a lot of money. Though a high-achieving student, she never considered looking for a college that challenged her or matched her interests.

Applying to college is hard enough. First-generation and low-income college students face additional challenges, both when applying and attending. At College Possible, Block, 27, trains and supervises seven AmeriCorps volunteers who are currently coaching high school students in the Portland area. While Block values her college experience, she would have liked to have had the kind of support College Possib le provides. It also helps participants navigate the costs of attending college, keeping debt manageable. College Possible gets results. College Possible is guiding 1, low-income students in the Portland area through the college application process and supporting them throughout their higher education.

As a program coordinator for the organization, Casey Block leads the team currently coaching low-income students at six Portland-area high schools. This prize is generously sponsored by Grady Britton. Her remarkable emotional intelligence allows her to intervene in crises with the right degree of warmth and firmness to get girls back on track. But she was hired, and after being trained to mentor elementary school girls, Aguilar realized she was indeed meant to serve as a role model for young Latinas.

Now, one community college degree, three promotions and six years later, Aguilar serves as the Chicas Youth Development program coordinator. Adelante Mujeres served Latina students during the school year. All 19 of the seniors from last year are currently enrolled in college. Of the elementary and middle school girls, exit surveys show improved self-image, deeper confidence and better grades than Latina counterparts not in the program. Aguilar, 28, has had her hands in nearly all of this.

In six years with the program, she has led nearly a dozen after-school groups. She stuck with one of these groups from third through ninth grade. Aguilar repeats one particular session with nearly every group she has mentored: The low-income girls Adelante Mujeres serves have working parents, several of them with field labor jobs, according to Aguilar.

When they leave school, these girls return home to assist with cooking and cleaning; only then can they attempt their homework. They begin to appreciate the hard work. Aguilar is no stranger to the topic of hard work. In addition to mentoring, she takes high schoolers and their parents on college visits, for which she coordinates the transportation and on-campus experience.

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Often times they are afraid to let their daughters go to college. Aguilar aims to show parents and girls what helpful services the school can provide. That is what I want them to know. Her next goal includes finishing a second degree in human development. She galvanizes the community, turning passive supporters into activists working on our behalf.

From a downtown corner office flooded with natural light, Burrell fights battles involving art in our schools. Burrell and her team serve more than 60 schools in seven metro-area districts with limited arts education resources by training teachers to weave arts into core curricula. We help [teachers] meet the objectives that stress them out. Burrell, a year-old Portland native, carries herself with a grace indicative of years of modern dance training. Burrell organizes more than volunteers, who in completed 10, hours of advocacy and fundraising.

She meets policy makers to show the measurable success Right Brain programs have on students, teachers and test scores. They need to see, or feel, or move the information physically, in order to understand concepts. In mid-September, she got married and threw a DIY wedding block party in her street to celebrate.

He is particularly skilled at reaching a difficult-to-reach population. Pinned to the top left corner is a collage of clippings from Seventeen magazine. The collage was a gift from a client. De Paul serves youth struggling from addiction to drugs and alcohol by working with them in treatment programs ranging from outpatient care to residential or detoxification services.

Graduation from the program requires positive social behavior, effective and honest communication, and progress based on the level of care. But when a client fails to meet these benchmarks and must leave De Paul, Gadbois is often involved in that conversation. Fermenting orange juice in the dorm, lying about possessing a weapon, or failure to pass urine analyses is likely to result in discharge from the program.

Gadbois, 30, has worked in the nonprofit community for 11 years. He acutely understands the path to recovery. His past includes a list of foster care nightmares, sporadic stints in treatment programs and lack of belief in his own strengths. He fell into addiction at age 14 and was forced by his adoptive family in and out of group homes, leaving him unable to imagine a life of interpersonal connection. Prior to his current duties, Gadbois spent more time in sessions with clients. Friday mornings at The staff assigns clients as mentors to incoming clients, debates visitation-day approval strategies, and suggests ideas to get kids to respect the recreation-time rules.

And this is just 10 minutes out of one day. Orange means off-site, yellow is a client meeting. Staff meetings are pink, and supervisions are aqua. I take that very seriously. Of nearly kids Gadbois has individually counseled at De Paul, at least 70 percent have successfully graduated from the program. If a diner has a meltdown or a volunteer fails to show up as scheduled, April rolls with the punches.

I think with a ladle you can get two salads done. Daily, Woods preps nearly hot meals for delivery to homebound seniors, then cooks another lunches for dining room visitors. These vegetables will be done in about 15 minutes. She directs volunteers who wash dishes and plate food, working with both regulars and first-time helpers, depending on the day.

Some days, only one volunteer can make it. How does the kitchen operate on those days? Moving to Meals on Wheels allowed her love for cooking to flourish, while filling her desire for more regular hours. When she leaves her kitchen, Woods just keeps cooking. She and her partner have five children between the ages of three and Then, dining room prep begins.

Country music usually streams from the radio. Some of her regular volunteers also speak Mandarin. As service is about to begin, a short, round-faced man with wispy white hair walks up to the counter pointing to the back of the kitchen, then his wrist. He shakes his head no, and gestures like he has a mug in his hand.

She effortlessly slides a heavy a tub of rice into the warmer and laughs. And she probably will. Wednesday is food box day. Clients show up as early as 7 am to receive pantry items delivered to the center by the Oregon Food Bank. Most of the patrons stay for lunch. On box days, Woods typically serves more than Wednesday afternoons she also leads a teen cooking class through the community center.

She is a passionate advocate for unheard voices and unheard stories.

I t was the tattoo of an ink pen that got her the job, A. She supervises interns and volunteers, manages in-house events, and meets with instructors. Most afternoons are spent elsewhere, often conducting writing workshops at the Columbia River Correctional Institution. I try to give them tools for how to do that. The nonprofit sector is broad in its scope and not everyone is doing work that saves lives. Instead, she spends large parts of the workday standing in her doorway.

As the syringe exchange program coordinator at Outside In, she encounters more than clients daily, and sees them one-on-one whenever they need her. I have no criteria. Wheelock has a lot to talk about. The syringe exchange program, which promotes health among people who inject drugs, exists in part to offer HIV testing and a safe, clean spot for needle exchange, but also provides Naloxone trainings on demand. Now, clients at Outside In can become trained to administer Naloxen by Wheelock and her staff.

And I want people to have a chance. According to Wheelock, there is an overdose-related death every 19 minutes. But since the Naloxone law was passed last year, and Outside In began training Portlanders in its use, heroin deaths have dropped by nearly 29 percent. I find that brilliant and beautiful. She remembers her first training for a nonprofit job in New York. And I love that. Haven coordinates the exchange of more than , needles annually and has conducted Naloxone trainings in the past 18 months.

More than of those clients have reported an overdose reversal. He is the best ambassador for these kids and they really need someone to be that for them. A s an eighth-grader, Jared Hoffman began playing soccer with Latino teenagers in his hometown on the Oregon coast. The familial way they got together for pickup games on weekends and their high level of play made Hoffman love the sport even more.

So he quit all other sports for soccer. His skills improved and his parents began driving him to Salem to play in clubs. Two or three kids from less cushioned backgrounds might earn a scholarship to join a team, according to Hoffman, but most others were left out. Hoffman makes one thing clear: We want to project that. The energy and vibrant culture he finds in neighborhoods where AC Portland runs programs motivate Hoffman.

His prize was generously sponsored by Adidas.

Composition of Forces

But Tyrone does more than just that: He helps clients break down barriers that stand in their way of housing. He advocates, cajoles, follows up, networks, and works his butt off so that people can change their lives and move out from under bridges and off the streets. Rucker, 32, steps through the door. Immediately, a woman in a black jacket and headscarf meets him midstride.

Having been in similar circumstances, he understands the urgency homeless individuals often feel. TransActive, located in Southeast Portland, seeks to improve the lives of transgender and gender noncomforming youth and their families through counseling, community outreach and legal advocacy. In addition to emotional support, Kit Crosland, 26, hopes to provide trans youth with something tangible.

Men who no longer need their binders, a device used to flatten breasts, donate them to TransActive. Crosland then ships those binders to youth who are in need throughout the U. To date, the program has sent more than chest binders and has a waiting list of more than 1, We call them the "band of brothers," Crosland says. Gladys Ruiz, 33, grew up in New York City public housing in the s. In , Ruiz moved to Portland where she now serves as the Audubon Society of Portland's eastside conservation education coordinator.

But for the first 21 years of her life she was afraid of birds. When she was 19, she worked as a coastal steward for a nature conservancy, helping count endangered bird species. Two years later, she joined AmeriCorps, where she began work with an ornithologist. Her job was to band chicks and trap the adults. The adults were aggressive, often pecking at her. But she bonded with the chicks.

She firmly believes that our community needs citizens who are dedicated to the common good. She takes the responsibility seriously. At a young age, Kristin "Minka" Wallace lost her father to suicide and subsequently became a mom at She wants to make Portland a better place to live for her daughter. As the development associate for the Library Foundation, Wallace runs the summer reading program, which encourages kids to read outside the classroom.

No one is turned away. And many leave with the tools they need to build a better future for themselves. In addition to lending books on how to make a terrarium or knit, the library hosts classes to help hone job interview skills. Her prize was generously sponsored by Intel. Fifteen Oregonians died from domestic violence this year, according to the Portland Women's Crisis Line. PWCL hosts a hour phone line for survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Over the phone, survivors find immediate intervention, safety planning and connections to resources. She first volunteered at Rose Haven, a shelter for women and children, where she says many women told her their houselessness was a result of their abuse.

She wanted to find a place to work on the root of the problem. In addition to answering the crisis line and responding to the hospital, Weitzel, 28, provides one-one-one support to survivors experiencing houselessness. T ransition Projects Inc. In , following a recommendation from his oldest brother, Aiosa enlisted in the Air Force. Following his tour, Aiosa attended Temple University in Philadelphia, where he would discover Philabundance, a nonprofit food bank.

Its Fresh for All program, which takes excess fresh produce from grocery stores and distributes it to low-income communities, introduced Aiosa to working with those experiencing poverty. In the locker rooms! Each year he works with nearly 50 students at risk of failing.

I just needed one adult to help me get through those barriers. L upita Mendez was born in Washington, D. She is a woman, a Latina, a lesbian and the daughter of an undocumented worker. It was August when Bradley Angle, a Portland domestic violence shelter, interviewed Mendez for a smaller position. With constant outreach into the communities they serve, Mendez and Bradley Angle feel there are always ways to innovate. This is why year-old Rob Klavins first moved here, he explains. Since joining the team in , Klavins has worked on several issues, including roadless-area protection, wolf and wildlife recovery, and public-lands policy.

He organizes educational outdoor programs in which he takes hikers to wolf country so they can see where the animals are and talk to those who have learned to live with them. Yet, every year, Oregon faces anti-wolf legislation in the State Legislature. The nonprofit field chose me, long ago. To be frank, I was skeptical.

I vividly recall standing in the wings of the Aladdin, totally awestruck by the power and heart when the PHAME choir hit the stage that night. I work best in a collaborative environment, and believe that our collective creativity is more powerful than that of any single individual. Both the structure and intention of the nonprofit model resonate with this belief.

Why he chose to work in the nonprofit arena: I grew up witnessing the positive effects that nonprofit organizations can have on individuals, families and communities. I understand on a personal level that nonprofit organizations can provide opportunities that break negative cultural cycles and create positive support systems that are transformative for both individuals and communities.

Nothing makes more sense to me than investing in the lives of our young people. What motivated him to do this: I was motivated to found, and work for, My Voice Music after I witnessed the unique and powerful role music can have in connecting with youth who are not being reached in typical settings. Why she chose to work in the nonprofit arena: I chose to work in the nonprofit field, specializing in youth services, so I could contribute to breaking generational cycles of inequities in order to make real differences within communities.

In my childhood, I was the recipient of services provided by nonprofit organizations specializing in foster care and education. The impact they made on my life, and the ripple effect this has had on my family, have created a passion within me to make the same commitment toward making a difference for others. I feel compelled to provide a road map to other youth who have experienced similar childhood challenges. I believe in the mission to take strengths-based approaches to help youth in challenging situations to overcome their barriers and become resilient. Hall, 33, grew up in a family of alcoholics, and spent her early adult life addicted to methamphetamines.

By the time she entered a residential treatment center at age 25, she was facing the prospect of prison time and her eldest daughter had been placed in temporary foster care. These days, Hall works as a parent mentor for Morrison Child and Family Services, helping people in situations similar to the one she escaped.

On a typical day, Hall will take her clients to step meetings, or just out for coffee. Three days a week, she goes to the county courthouse to help parents through preliminary hearings. She fills out paperwork. She helps them heal. Seventy-five percent of the mothers Hall mentors get sober and have their children returned.

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Only half the parents who go through the process unassisted are successful. One of them is now a parent mentor herself. Hall is humble in the face of her success as a mentor. Seven years ago I was on my way to prison. The bimonthly street paper, which covers issues relating to poverty, gives the homeless vendors who sell it a chance to make some money 75 cents a paper and interact with a wide range of people. Bayer, 35, started volunteering for the nonprofit newspaper soon after it started in He has since become director, overseeing fundraising and advocacy efforts as well as the 70 volunteers who contribute articles and photos, and the nearly vendors who sell the finished product.

Though he shies away from saying if he was ever homeless himself, Bayer grew up poor. Raised by a single mother in the gritty industrial town of Alton, Ill. Though affected by the recession, the paper is growing. Bayer hopes to eventually publish weekly. Though he works hard on the big picture, Bayer tries to stay in contact with the people the paper serves.

He sleeps on the streets with the vendors at least once a year and interacts with them as much as he can. The Washington native, who plays the oboe and English horn, dreamed up Vibe while attending Portland State University. The arts and music program at Harrison Park offers seven classes for students, including comic-book illustration and guitar instruction. Students are provided top-notch instruments which they can check out and supplies Streib either receives in donation from other nonprofits or buys herself.

In the coming years, Streib hopes to begin programs at other schools while increasing course offerings. Streib also envisions an artist-in-residence program for artists and musicians who teach classes to have space in a future permanent home for Vibe. More programs mean more money, and Streib works tirelessly applying for grants and organizing benefits. At a recent gala, a Texas man bought the entire collection for his home and asked that the artists sign the back of their work. Gaby Mendez is so persuasive, she can talk a fourth-grader into attending summer school voluntarily.

She helps parents find employment or housing when they need it, and connects them to other social services. In an example of just the sort of activism the Skidmore Prize is designed to recognize, Mendez started a monthly Latino Parents Meeting in But for your child to be successful, we do need some parent involvement. At the meeting, Mendez has brought in experts to teach home math exercises and other teaching skills, a financial adviser and representatives from the County Library and Hacienda CDC. Mendez says she enjoys her work, but, like everyone in social work now, she struggles to make the most of tight assets.

The Pixie Project, which Sacks, 26, has directed ever since, is part animal adoption center, part pet supply store. Her adoption center does not take owner surrenders or strays but instead functions as a support system for existing shelters that struggle with overpopulation.

Sacks wants to get the message out to future pet owners: Sacks often compares the Pixie Project to more traditional shelters hidden on the outskirts of cities across the country. She admits the scenes in them are often gruesome: As for Pixie Project, Sacks is hoping a crafty combination of friendly faces and a chance to play with the dogs in their open shelter or to sit in a room surrounded by cats will entice people to adopt. Brandi Tuck found her passion for working with homeless families while at school in Florida.

After moving to Portland, she began volunteering at Goose Hollow Family Shelter, an emergency facility where parents and children can find meals, beds and advocates who will work to find them permanent homes, while also working at the Oregon Hunger Relief Task Force on anti-hunger policy. Two years into volunteering, Tuck was hired as the executive director of Goose Hollow. Three to four nights a week I try to stay at the shelter and have dinner with the families.

And then there is the business side of things. While its capacity to help has grown, Tuck says the need for the service has grown as well: The average length of a stay the year before that was 17 days, which I think just shows the signs of the economy. The hope is it will take some of the pressure off families as they work toward obtaining affordable housing. It represents a large step for Tuck toward reaching her ultimate goal: Fowzia Abdulle knows all about trauma. The center, which opened in , seeks to provide emergency shelter and affordable, long-term housing to African and African-American women in need.

She is often the first person a survivor of domestic abuse sees on arrival at Healing Roots. And Abdulle has the added challenge of empowering women who were raised in cultures that discourage the slightest discussion of abuse. Her experience gives women in her care reason to trust her. Even if a bed is available, however, the cultural divide often makes it impossible for women to feel comfortable in the shelter. She already has one in computer information systems. And she is learning more Arabic. Build Brand Awareness and Establish Authority in Your Field — A book can establish your company as a leader in your industry and expand awareness for your brand, all while reaching new markets and creating media opportunities.

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We are committed to publishing and promoting high-quality books for corporations, small businesses and nonprofit organizations. Call or E-mail us today to learn why professionals publish with Authority Publishing: Custom Book Publishing Services Overview As a leader in custom publishing for nonfiction books, Authority Publishing offers a suite of innovative publishing services for corporations, small businesses and non-profit organizations. Potential Methods for Leveraging Your Corporate Book Send copies to reporters, editors and producers Distribute related press releases to capture media interest Submit excerpts for publication in magazines and newspapers Host book launch parties Conduct book signing events Get attention from bloggers Promote through social media networks Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn Produce video book trailers Provide your sales force with copies to distribute Give copies away at trade shows Promote and distribute books at live events Send books to prospects via mail Entice sign-ups for your newsletters, webinars and events by giving away copies of the ebook version How to Develop an Interesting Book Concept There are many ways to develop a compelling book that will capture the attention of your target audience and accomplish your goals.

Here are some options to consider: Reveal details about your company history Share compelling customer case studies Tackle an important issue in your industry Provide methods for using your products and services effectively Hold a contest to collect story submissions and generate media exposure from the start! Feature the story of a company executive or multiple executives Create a workbook for use with your products or services Sponsor a charity by developing a book that they can use for promotion or as a profit center Compile articles, essays, personal stories, case studies, materials from strategic partners or any other content that can be assembled into a great anthology-style book Internal Book Projects Authority Publishing can also assist you in producing books for employees.

Explain company mission and culture Compile orientation materials Detail your sales processes Create an operations manual Compile worksheets Develop a workbook to support company processes Services Provided by Authority Publishing From book idea inception to production and distribution, the team at Authority Publishing produces high quality book projects that can help you attract media coverage, gain interest with prospects and clients, establish credibility in your field, build brand awareness and much more.

Book Idea Development — We can help you create and analyze your book concept to define goals and outcomes and get the maximum return on investment ROI. Ghostwriting — Our team of professional writers can write all or part of your book.