We encourage you to explore several of our projects so you can decide where you fit in best. There are seasoned volunteers to help show you the ropes. We currently offer several opportunities to work inside the Portland prison, Columbia River Correctional Institution, near the airport.

Community In-Reach Projects include:

• Monthly Transition Forum. One Saturday per month volunteers – along with men who have completed our leadership training – meet with those from the general prison population who are about to be released.
• Relational Culture Strategies. This meets Wednesday evenings. Volunteers are invited to join us any time. Three times per year we present an intensive leadership training based on MACG’s Leadership Institutes for Public Life. We invite MACG leaders to come in to participate in the training.
• Problem-Solving. This course meets on Tuesday mornings. It is geared toward cognitive restructuring and is taught by a Portland State University professor whose specialty is decision-making psychology. An ex-convict Cultural Advisor and a community volunteer lead the class as well.

For all in-prison work volunteers must have a background check, so please contact us at least one week prior to your visit with your full name, driver’s license number and state, and your date of birth. Please contact Harry Olsen or Scott Brazieal with this information. PHOENIX keeps your personal information confidential.

In-the-Community Projects include:

• Mentor Project. Community volunteers team up with a trained ex-convict Cultural Advisor to serve as mentors for parolees who have graduated from our projects inside the prison. Special training is offered periodically. Participation in PHOENIX projects provides the best exposure to how this works.
• Welcome Home! Celebrations. These are held quarterly (whenever there is a 5th Monday) and celebrate the homecoming of those who have been to prison and other significant milestones of our members.
• Core Team Meetings. These meet the 2nd and 4th Mondays of each month at Julia West House. These are for PHOENIX leaders. The Core Team identifies issues and designs the actions PHOENIX will take to make it easier for those getting out of prison to succeed upon release. The Core Team also serves as our main connection to the work of MACG by bringing issues to them that reflect the concerns of PHOENIX members.
• Problem-Solving-in-the-Field. This meets on the 1st and 3rd Mondays of each month at Julia West House. It is an extension of our in-prison Problem-Solving class.

For the most up-to-date times, dates and locations, please visit our calendar. For your convenience there are links to MapQuest directions.