Club Meeting: Child and Family Needs After COVID-19

Simon Fulford, executive director of Parrott Creek Child & Family Services, will discuss some of the hidden impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on vulnerable children and families, what this means for how our communities recover and what the nonprofit community are doing in response. He will also share Parrott Creek’s 52-year history that began as a small “ranch” program in Oregon City founded through a citizen-approved bond levy to help at-risk youth avoid incarceration. It has since grown and evolved into a robust organization providing an array of services from early interventions and community support to outpatient treatment and intensive residential programs. Parrott Creek’s vision is to become a regional center of excellence able to meet the future needs of children and youth.

The Rotary Club of Wilsonville meets weekly Thursdays at noon to carry out its purpose of providing service and fellowship to members and the Wilsonville community. The club is holding hybrid “Virtual In Person” (VIP) meetings. Attend in person (if masked or vaccinated) at Al Kader Shrine Center, or attend virtually over Zoom at http://www.tinyurl.com/Rotary97070. Guests are welcome. For more information, email president@wilsonvillerotary.com.

Simon is a nonprofit leader who has worked in the United States, United Kingdom, France and South Africa. Living in New York from 1992–2004, Simon co-founded Art Start, an arts-education organization serving socially-excluded youth.  Art Start was honored with a President’s Service Award in 1997. During that time, Simon also worked as a photographer and advocate in the American disabled community, with his work exhibited at the US Capital and collected by the French National Library. Returning to England in 2005, Simon project managed the launch of the National Disability Arts Collection & Archive and joined The Prince’s Trust where he was a regional director. In 2010 Simon became Chief Executive of Khulisa UK until 2016 when he moved to Portland, Oregon as the Executive Director of Diagrama Foundation USA, a chapter of Foundacion Diagrama. Simon spent a year as a senior program and policy analyst for the Oregon Youth Authority, the before returning to his nonprofit roots as Executive Director of Parrott Creek Child & Family Services in 2018. Simon is also the President of the Restorative Justice Coalition of Oregon and Vice President of the Oregon Alliance: Safe Kids, Healthy Families, Strong Communities.