Our Initiatives

You might have noticed - MFS has a lot of programs in the community! But what are the common threads through the work we do? We’ve broken it down into three key initiatives:

EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT & YOUTH SUCCESS

Our goal is to support early childhood development and empower youth, enabling every child to have a strong start in life and become healthy, educated, productive, and engaged members of our community.

  • Community Schools - Full-service neighborhood centers weave school and community partners together to make sure students and families have what they need to be successful -- in school and in life.

  • MFS AARP Foundation Experience Corps - An intergenerational volunteer tutoring program that engages adults 50 and older to work 1:1 with students to help them reach critical literacy benchmarks by the third grade.

  • Ready, Set, Go! - A culturally responsive early childhood education and parent engagement program. RSG provides parents with limited resources access to high quality learning environments led by expert staff.

“MFS Community Schools helped me get on track to graduate a whole year early, by fulfilling some of my core credits!”

-Alana, Former MFS Community Schools Student

COMMUNITY-BASED HEALTH & WELLNESS

We strive to foster effective community-based health and wellness practices for all ages, empowering individuals to take an active role in their well-being and reducing healthcare costs for society.

  • Hunger Relief - Operates school-based food pantries, cooking kits, and cooking workshops in partnership with Oregon Food Bank, Urban Gleaners, and others, all bringing fresh produce and healthy food to our community and helping kids and families learn healthy and affordable new recipes.

  • Project Linkage - Staff and Volunteers are linked with older adults and people with disabilities who need transportation services to remain independent in their homes.

  • Zooming Seniors - Zooming Seniors offers a virtual community of support and engagement for older adults and people with disabilities to increase social connections, gain technology skills and confidence in using the internet and email, and share life experiences.

“I am getting goosebumps just thinking about this - what you do there is medicine.”

-Jan, Project Linkage Client

ECONOMIC WELL-BEING

Advancing individual and family economic well-being, so that people in our community can live with dignity, security and purpose.

  • Economic Empowerment - By offering one-on-one consultations and workshops, we help families develop knowledge around budgeting, saving, debt management and credit information.

  • Portland Electric Ways to Work- Provides working parents with financial education and below market rate loans to purchase, repair or refinance a car for work, childcare, and school related transportation.

  • CASH Oregon - Through the IRS VITA program, MFS CASH Oregon provides low income families and individuals from every community and background in Oregon with the tools and resources to begin building solid financial futures.

“Metropolitan Family Service paid for my training to be a medical interpreter.”

-Dora, Economic Empowerment Client