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Elevate Oregon tells Parkrose board its mentoring, 'grow-your-own' teacher work is expanding with ODHS support
Summary
Elevate Oregon representatives briefed the Parkrose School Board on program growth, a new chief of staff hire and partnerships that helped expand services to neighboring districts; the group cited a $571,000 ODHS grant and described free summer programming and mentor-to-teacher pathways.
Elevate Oregon representatives described program expansion, recent staffing additions and partnerships that the nonprofit says are building mentor-to-teacher pathways for students of color in Parkrose.
At the board’s working session, Elevate speaker Lawrence credited collaboration with the district for the organization’s growth and introduced new chief of staff Keisha Roper. “I’m so excited to be at BetterLift,” Roper said, summarizing her background in alternative education, juvenile probation work and youth employment programs.
Lawrence told the board Elevate has moved beyond single-site programming, noting expansion into neighboring districts such as David Douglas, Reynolds and Vancouver. He said the organization leveraged an ODHS grant that contributed “571,000” last year and returned another similar amount this year to support expansion into more schools.
The presenters emphasized the free summer basketball camp that draws about 100 children, peer-to-peer mentorship inside the program and a focus on measurable outcomes including attendance, behavior incidents and graduation rates. Lawrence said Elevate’s model seeks to place mentors into district roles, naming specific local staff it has helped advance into school positions.
Board members and student representatives praised the program. A student representative told the board she signed up in ninth grade and credited mentors with ongoing academic and college guidance. Board members asked about staffing numbers and hires; Lawrence said high-school staffing is about 40 people and middle-school staffing is smaller, with two new hires expected to start shortly.
The presentation closed with an encouragement to continue the partnership: Elevate asked the board to highlight the nonprofit’s work in future agendas and agreed to return for updates.
The board took no formal action on the presentation itself; it moved on to levy communications and routine business following the update.
