Union Gospel Mission opens new home to help women, children 'thrive'
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – Since 1927, Portland non-profit Union Gospel Mission has helped community members facing hunger, homeless and addiction. After breaking ground on a new facility in 2022, the organization is opening a new space to help women and children in Washington County.
The new space, Angela's House -- located at 18555 Northwest Rock Creek Boulevard in Portland -- is opening in early October, according to Union Gospel Mission, noting the new space will allow them to triple their capacity.
Angela’s House will offer addiction recovery and transitional housing for women and children facing homelessness, hunger, addiction and abuse.
“Basically, any woman in the community who finds herself in an unsafe, unstable situation, we want them to have a safe place to go. We don’t want any woman to have to wait to get out of an unsafe situation," said UGM Communications Director Courtney Dodds at Saturday's ribbon cutting ceremony for the new building.
“We previously were renting a pretty run down, smaller building. We are very grateful to have the opportunity to build this. It is very intentionally designed, trauma-informed care. So, there’s lots of light and open spaces," Dodds said.
The 53,000-square foot building will feature over 50 resident rooms, which can serve up to 80 women, children and teens in the building. There, women facing homelessness, addiction or abuse can find help.
“This program provides long term holistic recovery and healing for women. It provides their housing, all their meals, their clothing, all the basic essentials. We also have mental health counselors on site that we provide," Dodds explained, noting the program also offers educational help, stating, "That could be GED completion, prep for college, any sort of educational goals that they have.”
Angela's House will also offer a children's activity center which provide childcare so women can focus on their recovery, Dodds added.
“We have recovery managers who help the women meet their individual recovery goals. But if a woman comes and does our entire recovery program, that’s about 12 months, and then we also provide what we call after care. So, after a woman completes her recovery program, we provide an additional couple years’ support," Dodds explained. "That could be housing that’s more affordable, it could be community, it could be help getting a job. We really want to walk with them long term so that by the time they’re done, they’re ready to thrive, go back into the community, housing, sobriety, job, reunification with family. We really want their whole life to be restored.”
“A lot of our residents come in through a referral from family, friends, sometimes from the corrections system, sometimes other nonprofit providers. But if you or someone you know needs a safe place for single women or women and children to come, you can give us a call and there is a little bit of intake process and interview," Dodds said.
With Angela's House, UGM says they plan to offer more than 2,000 women and children "a chance at new life," over the next 10 years.
“Unfortunately, Oregon still leads the nation in unsheltered families, families experiencing homelessness," Dodds said. "There still is a big need, especially for women and kids, who are extra vulnerable. We just really want to make sure that anybody who needs a place to go has a place to go and that’s our goal here."