Markham Program

A climbing wall visits Markham (click to magnify)

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For the past three summers, children from Somalia, Sudan, and Afghanistan gathered each weekday at southwest Portland's Markham Elementary School to take part in activities provided by the City of Portland's Bureau of Parks & Recreation (PP&R) staff, and funded by Portland Parks Foundation. Each year the program has grown in numbers and in substance. With approximately 75% of the youth participating in the Markham program being of the Muslim faith, efforts were needed to bridge cultural and language gaps that existed between parks staff and the community being served. With our support, PP&R employees received cross-cultural training to foster understanding.

To further meet the needs of the community during the program's second year, we provided funding to hire two junior counselors from the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization (IRCO) to work as summer staff. Our goal was to build trust, deepen communication, and serve the individuals participating in the summer program. These changes contributed to a 50% increase in participation in 2008.

After three years of funding, the Summer Playground Program at Markham Elementary has tripled in participation and has provided a safe place for children to grow and play in a neighborhood where resources are scarce.