Outside In (organization)
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The exterior of the organization in 2006
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| Formation | 1968 |
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| Location |
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Executive Director[1]
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Kathy Oliver[1] |
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Budget (2014)
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$9 million |
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Staff
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140[1] |
| Slogan | The Point of Return[2] |
Outside In is a nonprofit organization in Portland, Oregon, United States that provides social and medical services to homeless youth and other marginalized people (including the LGBTQ community)[3] so that they can improve their health and move towards self-sufficiency.[2] Founded in the late 1960s to serve youth, since then the organization has continued to revise its services to meet the changing needs of its clients.[4][5] Today the organization's services include free medical care, housing, education, counseling, and job training.[1]
Contents
History
Outside In was founded in June 1968 by Dr. Charles Spray, Arnold Goldberg, and Mary Lu Zurcher as one of the first free community health clinics in the U.S. and one of the earliest on the West Coast, along with the Haight Ashbury Free Clinics and the Los Angeles Free Clinic.[4][6][7] The organization was founded to serve Portland's "alienated youth", some of whom had substance abuse problems and most of whom had mental health issues.[5] It initially rented its Downtown Portland space from the First Unitarian Church of Portland.[5] Spray helped found the organization after learning that the Unitarian church's youth coffeehouse space, Charix, was in danger of being shut down by the city and a group that had successfully shut down the Crystal Ballroom music venue because of its association with the 1960s drug culture.[7]
Some of the group's early work involved staffing a 24-hour crisis hotline that was later spun off to form the Metro Crisis Intervention Service.[6]
Services
Outside In is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) and a licensed mental health agency.[4] In 2013–2014, the organization served 966 youth with mental health care, drug and alcohol treatment, employment, education, job training, and housing.[8] Outside In's medical clinic was the medical home for 5,384 people in 2014.[8] The same year, the group's syringe exchange served 4,322 people.[8] The syringe exchange, implemented in 1989, was the first one to be developed and the third to go into operation in the country.[9]
Medical services
In addition to the FQHC, Outside In's medical clinic operates two medical outreach vans and a school-based health center at Milwaukie High School.[10]
Naloxone training
In 2013, Outside In worked with the Multnomah County Health Department to pass SB 384, a bill in the Oregon State Legislature that increased community access to naloxone, a drug that reverses opiate overdose.[11][12] On the afternoon of June 6, 2013,[12] the day Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber signed the bill into law, Outside In staff began training its staff and syringe exchange clients in naloxone use and distributing the medication.[11] In seven months it was reported by trainees that 239 overdoses had been prevented by administration of naloxone.[11] In 2013–2014, Outside In had provided 767 naloxone trainings and 329 overdose reversals were reported.[8]
Job training programs
Outside In operates a nonprofit dog daycare center, Virginia Woof, that provides job training for youth.[13] The daycare, which opened in 2005, receives funding from the Meyer Memorial Trust and has gained recognition from the United States Department of Labor for the innovative program as the only pet daycare in the nation that is both not-for-profit and serving as a job training program.[14][15][16]
"Bespoke" is bicycle-powered smoothie cart set up in Portland's O'Bryant Square park that gives homeless youth on-the-job training.[17]
Supporters
Portland filmmaker Gus Van Sant is a longtime supporter of the organization, and he employed Outside In clients as extras in 1991's My Own Private Idaho.[1] The U.S. premiere showing of his 2003 film Elephant at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall was a benefit for Outside In, and Van Sant donates the proceeds from all of his Portland premieres to the nonprofit.[1][18] Elliott Smith's family donated a portion of the proceeds from his posthumous 2007 album New Moon to Outside In.[19]
Awards
Outside In is considered one of Oregon's 100 best nonprofits to work for by Oregon Business magazine.[8] Multnomah County named Outside In one of its 2014 Public Health Heroes for its naloxone program.[11]
See also
References
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Further reading
External links
- Outside In (official website)
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