THE
By Jacki Ward Kehrwald, Communications Manager
With Contributions from
Kirsten Collins, Managing Director
R h e n M o l l y M i l e s , M S W, P a t h w a y s M a n a g e r
Erica Rubinstein, Education Director
Ten years ago, circus artist and therapist Jenn Cohen set out on an ambitious
mission: to transform the lives of youth experiencing homelessness through
the exceptional power of the circus arts. What started as a passion project
quickly evolved into a vibrant circus program, and then again grew into a
fully-staffed nonprofit in our own space, offering outreach classes, intensive
training companies for youth and adults, and professional performances. We
have grown from serving four intensive students to over a thousand youth and
adults of all ages and abilities. The milestone of our ten-year anniversary has
provided valuable opportunity to reflect, take stock, and check in with our
goals.
While the inherent struggles of a nonprofit are still very present to us, we are
inspired by the landmark of our first decade, buoyed by a sense of growth and
stability, and we are taking advantage of this phase to ask ourselves: what have
we learned in the past ten years and where do we want to go from here?
REFRESHING OUR VISION
We began by reexamining our mission statement. In light of a shifting social,
political and economic landscape, our mission statement seemed outdated —
Portland has changed, the field of youth development has changed, and the
organization itself has changed. We believe that a committed nonprofit must
take a responsive approach to serving their communities and be willing to
evolve as the needs of their community evolves.
In the end, we aspired to make the mission statement specific, accessible
to external audiences by removing jargon, and realistic so it can truly act as
a guiding light and not a vague dream. Of course, the simplicity we craved
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