News · Organisation
Why we are opening a seventh site in East Portland
The waitlist is 611 kids and it is geographically concentrated. Here is the plan, the money, and the risk.
We are planning a seventh site in East Portland, roughly between 122nd and 162nd, for a 2027 opening. It is the most consequential decision the board has made since the ratio rule, and it is not final: we need a lease, a funding commitment, and a site coordinator before we commit.
Why there
The waitlist is not evenly distributed. Forty-one percent of the kids waiting live east of 122nd, where we have no site and where the van takes 35 minutes each way. Those families are not choosing another program; they are going home. A site is the only honest fix.
The money
| Item | Annual cost |
|---|---|
| Site coordinator + 4 program staff | $412,000 |
| Materials and curriculum | $96,000 |
| Snack (delivered) | $71,000 |
| Facilities (2,800–3,500 sq ft) | $128,000 |
| Transportation (one van + passes) | $64,000 |
| Administration share | $38,000 |
| Total | $809,000 |
We have $300,000 committed over three years from two foundations and a $150,000 pledge from a corporate partner. The remaining $359,000 a year is the ask, and it is the reason this is a 2027 plan and not a 2026 plan.
The risk
The risk is that we open a site we cannot sustain and have to close it, which we did once before in 2021. The board has set three conditions: a three-year funding commitment covering 70% of operating cost, a lease with an early-exit clause, and a site coordinator hired before the lease is signed. If any of those fail, we do not open.
We closed a site in 2021 and did it by email. I am not doing that again. If we open in East Portland, it is because we can keep it open.
There is a chair with your kid's name on it.
Free after-school for grades 4–8, six sites, no tuition, no test.