Our Commitment to 1+
We believe design is a powerful, yet underutilized tool for achieving social impact. Our involvement with 1+, a program that asks firms to dedicate at least one percent of their working hours to pro bono service, upholds our commitment to social sustainability. We hope to benefit our neighborhoods by instilling concepts and artifacts that are practical, culturally and age appropriate, and that facilitate a sense of community.
Our desire to increase the beneficial impacts of our nonprofit partners is the driving force of our pro bono work. Donating our services to nonprofits allows them to utilize their resources where they are most needed and also provides us a deeper understanding of issues in our communities. Here are a few examples of how the 1+ program has had an impact at Holst and in our community:
Woodshed Shelter
Partnering with Human Solutions, Holst recently transformed the former site of the Black Cauldron, a vegan strip club, into a family shelter. An undertaking that was completed in just 10 weeks on a shoestring budget, the space now offers shelter to 134 men, women and children. With homelessness increasingly extending further to the outer edges of the city, the newly adapted space now serves a greater purpose for this East Portland community and has become a vital asset to families experiencing homelessness.
New Avenues Job Training Center
Working with New Avenues for Youth, an organization that engages, stabilizes, and educates homeless youth in the Portland community, Holst provided pro-bono services to expand the Rotary Center for Career Training.The space reignites the potential within those served. Previously inhibited to find work by high dropout rates, these individuals now have a space to receive job training, and employment placement programs that ensure more promising futures. 100 homeless youth in Portland now have the space to gain skills and resources to find employment and build long term self sufficiency.
Portland Institute of Contemporary Art | TBA Festival
Art promotes emotional expression and cultural exposure, integral for a community’s appreciation of diversity. We believe access to the arts should not be limited by one’s socioeconomic standing, which is why we support the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art in its community involvement through its Time Based Art Festival. PICA's Time-Based Art Festival (TBA) is an expression of contemporary performance and visual art that serves as a forum for new ideas and experience.
PICA Headquarters
We are currently working with PICA to transform a space that is engaging for its users and showcases innovative strategies--it will serve as the backdrop for PICA’s endeavors as their headquarters. “Hancock is about relationships, it is about expansive and flexible programming,” said Kristan Kennedy, PICA’s visual arts curator. PICA’s new space will serve many of their programming needs but will not be a fixed proposition, as artists will direct much of the form of the space.
Our dedication to the enrichment of lives of those underserved, our services rendered in the public interest has influenced all of our work to be more human centered. Working to discover new ways of responding to people’s needs has allowed for the development of innovative and financially sustainable solutions for those of our local communities needing it most.
