This month we walk and run in the SW Hope 5K, start planning our gardens, deliver food to families, and help child care providers improve and expand their businesses.

The SW Hope 5k Run/Walk and Bunny Chase is this weekend! Run or walk quickly to the website and sign up today for this great community event.

So often, families who need one of our services will often need help in other of our program areas.

Recently we helped some Head Start families get signed up for free food box deliveries as well.

Thanks to a grant from the Portland Children's Levy, we can offer food box delivery to families with children for free.

To help families get signed up, Head Start and the Free Food Market, hosted a free food box delivery event at Stephens Creek Crossing recently.

Two of our Head Start child care centers are located in low-income housing complexes: Stephens Creek Crossing in Hillsdale and The Ramona in the Pearl District. Families with children who live in those two housing complexes automatically qualify for regularly scheduled FREE food delivery twice monthly.

Staff across Neighborhood House worked together to promote the event, talk to families about the services available, provide computers to assist with sign up and food orders. Many SCC families successfully signed up for food delivery, with more expected at The Ramona during the next event.

These are the kind of cross-program partnerships we're looking forward to doing more often once our future home on Barbur opens later this year.

With Spring upon us, gardeners everywhere are happy to be back digging and planting.

Whether you're a newbie or a seasoned gardener, consider joining the Scattered Garden program to grow your own produce.

The idea is simple. Grow food at your home or community garden and bring any extra to Neighborhood House to share with people who need food help. We'll even get you started with FREE plant starts!

Subscribe to the Scattered Garden newsletter to get updates on plant start give-away dates, gardening tips and beautiful pictures of vegetables.

Bringing gardening into the classroom in the Head Start program helps connect children to the natural world.

Thanks to a grant from the National Head Start Association and Scott’s Miracle-Gro Foundation, Head Start will expand and enrich outdoor learning spaces. Plans include:

We were one of just five programs that also received the Equity Award, highlighting our commitment to building inclusive, hands-on learning experiences.

We look forward to sharing updates as the garden grows and takes root in our community.

Join us on Saturday, April 26 for a fun and creative seed planting event.

We'll have seeds of all kinds, compostable pots and lots of dirt. Anyone can decorate their pot, plant some seeds and take home a start to their home garden.

There will be tons of other Earth Day activities throughout Multnomah Village - join the fun!

The Oregon Child Care Alliance (OCCA) Accelerated Business Course is a powerful opportunity for early childhood educators looking to strengthen their business skills and run more efficient, sustainable programs.

Held multiple times throughout the year, this course provides in-depth training on topics like financial planning, operations, organization, and long-term business growth—specifically tailored to child care providers.

Educators leave with more than just new knowledge—they gain confidence, clarity, and a strong foundation to build from.

“This course has shown me a clear vision of what I want my business to look like, how I want to operate, and how efficient it can be.”

This training doesn’t just benefit the educators—it strengthens the entire community by helping providers offer more stable, high-quality care.

This season marks the final offering of the OCCA Business Course under the current grant, which wraps up in June.

If you know someone who could benefit from a child care business course, please let them know about the OCCA program!

(from L): Wyden staffer Grace Stratton, Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici, Neighborhood House Executive Director Chris Chiacchierini, Food Security Program Manager Jim Cooper, Representative Dacia Grayber join forces to make the groundbreaking official!

We celebrated a joyous ground-breaking celebration for our future home on Barbur Boulevard on Friday, April 4.  

Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici, Representative Dacia Grayber and Grace Stratton from Senator Ron Wyden's office joined Executive Director Chris Chiacchierini to reflect on the significance of this resource for our community. They spoke to a packed house in the room that will become part of the new Free Food Market.  Afterward, attendees donned hard hats and safety vests to take a brief tour of the space.

Afterward, attendees donned hard hats and safety vests to take a brief tour of the space.

The basement crawl space was exposed enough to see the earthquake reinforcement measures.

You can see the newly-poured base slab for the elevator shaft. Walls have been opened up so you can actually tell the shape of rooms, like the shopping area of the Free Food Market and activity rooms in the Senior Center. And who could have expected to be this excited about the concrete base of an elevator shaft - it's all very, very exciting!

The plan is to move in to our future home around the end of this year. Stay tuned!

Program Manager Jim Cooper talked about what drastically expanded space will help the Food Security program.

The groundbreaking ceremony was held in what will be the storage area for the Food Security program

Join Neighborhood House for a happy hour connecting with supporters like you who share a vision of lasting change for neighbors.

Reserve your seats today for this special event. You'll hear inspirational stories from our programs and discussion about the important public issues we face, and a special appeal paddle raise.

Thursday, May 15, 5-7:30pm at The Sentinel in downtown Portland.

Ready to buy your ticket? Click below!

If you know someone who should know about the work Neighborhood House is doing in your community, please forward this newsletter to them. We love sharing stories about the work we do!