Portland, Oregon — December 18, 2007 — Open Meadow Alternative Schools has received a $5,000 grant from the Safeway Foundation. Grant funds will assist the organization’s Student Voice Project, a visual arts and poetry program for youth in middle and high school.

At a presentation ceremony today at Open Meadow’s campus in North Portland, Dan Floyd, Safeway Foundation Director of Public Affairs was joined by Troy Williams, Store Manager for the NE MLK Blvd. Safeway.  Floyd told the students: “The Safeway Foundation is impressed with Open Meadow’s programs and its students.  On behalf of the employees at Safeway, we are delighted to support the Student Voice Project.  We believe that with quality education and hard work you can achieve anything you want in life.”

Open Meadow’s Student Voice Project provides students in middle and high school with the opportunity to express their voices to the community through art and poetry.  The students work with arts and writing professionals throughout the school year.  The program culminates with a student art show for community members in May, as well as the publication of an anthology of student poetry and a desk-top calendar featuring student art and poetry.

“The Student Voice Project is an important way in which we engage our students,” said Open Meadow Executive Director Andrew Mason.  “With the support of community partners like the Safeway Foundation, we are able to help students gain confidence in expressing themselves, explore their creativity, raise their self esteem and connect with their community.”

Founded in 1971, Open Meadow successfully re-engages youth at risk of disconnecting from school and those who have already dropped out. A nonprofit, Open Meadow annually serves nearly 600 youth ages 10–24 in two high school programs, a middle school, and several programs that transition youth from middle to high school and from high school to college and careers. Open Meadow’s mission is to educate youth in small, relationship-based programs that emphasize personal responsibility, academics, and service to the community.

The Safeway Foundation supports hunger relief, education, special needs, and health and human services in the communities in which Safeway’s employees work and live.  In 2006, the Safeway Foundation contributed more than $26 million to schools in Portland through grants, eScrip and other fundraising activities.


Photo: Dan Floyd, Safeway Foundation Director of Public Affairs, and Troy Williams, Safeway NE MLK Store Manager, present a $5,000 check to students from Open Meadow’s C.R.U.E technology class.