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McCoy Park Program

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More than 1,300 children, ages 5-17 live in North Portland's New Columbia community.

Providing a home away from home, University Park Community Center (UPCC) has been successful in engaging many children from New Columbia in positive recreational experiences.

New Columbia was formerly known as Columbia Villa, an 82-acre site developed in 1942 to house World War II ship builders. For many years, Columbia Villa had the distinction of being the largest low-income housing development in Oregon. In 2003, the Housing Authority of Portland, with many partners and federal dollars, began extensive renovations to the site with the goal of bringing economic opportunity, environmental quality, and more livability to new and existing residents of the community renamed, New Columbia.

A challenge came in the spring of 2006 when "mobs" of teens gathered at McCoy Park, which lies at the heart of the New Columbia community. Unwanted behavior and the threat of violent occurences became the focus of concern for the community. Working in conjunction with the Housing Authority of Portland, TriMet, and the Portland Police Bureau, the staff at UPCC was able to design a program to involve the children of New Columbia in positive, constructive activities with increased staffing and more supervision.

For the past two years, we have provided funding for this program, effectively eliminating the unwanted behavior in the park. Funds have been used to extend staffing hours to ensure that programming can begin in the afternoon and evening in the spring when the days are longer and children need longer hours of supervision. Funds also provide staffing hours on the weekends and through the end of August, providing ongoing programming leading up to the start of school.