National Safe Place Week, which serves to raise awareness about the Safe Place Program (a national program which brings together youth service agencies, businesses, volunteers and other community partners to help youth in crisis) is March 16th through 22nd this year. In Lane County, Looking Glass Station 7 is the Safe Place program provider. Looking Glass partners with several area businesses and agencies including LTD, all Dari Mart locations, fire stations and more. There are three fundraising events during this week at restaurants to help raise funds for this program.

In January of 2025, after months of renovations, hiring, training and preparations, Looking Glass opened it’s 2nd Regional Crisis Center (RCC) location. The Looking Glass RCC provides residential, subacute mental health treatment services for youth of all genders, ages 11 to 18. Looking Glass now offers RCC West (River Road) and RCC East (MLK Blvd).

After several years of start and stop fundraising, Looking Glass staff members and supporters gathered to celebrate the recent opening of a newly renovated building in Cottage Grove. The previous program facility was located just down the street from the new location but was roughly 4 times smaller. The larger space will allow for broader services and offerings to youth aged 11-21 in rural Lane County including laundry, showers, a large beautiful kitchen and space for on-site therapy.

When Looking Glass Housing program managers place youth in apartments around town (providing rent as well as ongoing case management), often times the youth does not have much to help setup their new dwelling. Basic items like pots and pans or dish towels or a bath mat help make a house a home. And this December SELCO helped ensure that at least the next 20 youth that are housed will have a nice kit of items to get them started.

Members from local SELCO Credit Union branches shopped for and then organized and dropped off 20 amazing “move-out kits” for these transitional living youth to utilize. Looking Glass staff members were thrilled with the donation.

The 6th annual “Socktoberfest” sock donation drive for homeless youth was again a resounding success bringing in thousands of pairs of (mostly new) socks. The New Roads outreach team hands out socks on a daily basis to unhoused youth they encounter. Socks go fast at New Roads and this annual sock drive aims to sustain us year-round (but we usually run out by summer time).

Thank you to all of our amazing donation location partners and to the generous community who donated so many wonderful socks!

Each quarter, the members of the Looking Glass Cultural Awareness and Equity Committee (CAEC) review nominations of staff members who have gone above and beyond their job requirements to promote cultural awareness and equity on the job. The randomly selected winner from this group was Cassandra Keene (New Roads).

Students from a Community Projects class at Looking Glass’ Riverfront School & Career Center created a fundraiser to support the needs of pets of unhoused youth who access services at Looking Glass homeless youth programs. The students raised almost $300 including donations of in-kind pet supplies. Wags! Dog Emporium matched every dollar raised and donated additional items for a total value of almost $900 in pet supplies gathered and donated to Looking Glass homeless youth programs for their pets.

The 14th Annual Looking Glass Healthy Kids, Healthy Futures breakfast fundraiser event, held Tuesday, October 15th at Venue 252 in Eugene, focused on Education programs with a panel of Looking Glass teachers from the agency’s alternative schools. In addition, Looking Glass recognized and honored this year’s Community Partner of the Year - Jennifer Montgomery, the Secondary Special Education Consultant for the 4J School District.

"We are thrilled to once again find our agency name listed within the Top 100 Nonprofits in Oregon," said Looking Glass CEO Chad Westphal. "It is a testament to our incredible and diverse team of staff. They have worked to create and sustain a supportive team culture that is always prepared to respond to the needs of our most vulnerable community members. I am thankful for and proud of all of them."

Also check out a new VIDEO from our happy employees!

After constructing a first tiny house for SquareOne in the summer/fall of 2023, the students enrolled in the Skilled Trades program at Looking Glass Riverfront School & Career Center were eager to work on a 2nd project. SquareOne was thrilled with the quality craftsmanship done on the first project and have expressed interest in a longer term partnership. The students did not disappoint with their 2nd effort, completing their next tiny house project in early September of 2024.

Following the success of our new “Braugust” bra donation drive, piggybacking off the now well established annual “Socktoberfest” sock donation drive, Looking Glass is hoping for similar success with “Shoetember” to hopefully procure gently used or new shoe donations for our homeless youth programs during the month of September.

“For unhoused youth in Lane County shoes are one of the most important safety items they can own, especially going into the rainy fall and winter months,” explained Homeless Youth Services Director Morgan Boozer.

After 5 incredibly successful years of experience with an October-long sock donation drive promotion (Socktoberfest), Looking Glass is hoping to yield similar results with a focused Bra and female-identified undergarment donation drive during the month of August - or “Braugust.” While gently used bra’s will certainly be accepted, the hope is new items will be purchased via an Amazon wish list or dropped off at the Looking Glass admin office (1790 West 11th Ave, 2nd floor, Eugene) before August 31st. Only new underwear will be accepted. And socks are always needed as well (not just in October).

Looking Glass employees from various programs participated in a new video showcasing “Why We Love To Work Here!” The video, which will be used to help with hiring efforts, illustrates the passion and dedication that staff members bring to their respective programs.

The Looking Glass Counseling Program continues to evolve and adapt to meet the needs of our clients. We continue to hire more therapists and although we are not quite fully staffed still, we have made great progress in recent months and are doing our best to meet the growing need for therapy in our community, for clients of all ages. Here is a new video about the counseling program, highlighting the various ways our program meets our clients where they are, providing trauma-informed care from a diverse group of caring professionals.

Each quarter, the members of the Looking Glass Cultural Awareness and Equity Committee (CAEC) review nominations of staff members who have gone above and beyond their job requirements to promote cultural awareness and equity on the job. Nominations come mostly from staff peers. For Summer 2024, Alexandra Davis-Reyes was selected as the winner of this recognition and a $100 gift card.

About a dozen students and a roomful of family and friends gathered to celebrate the 2024 Riverfront School & Career Center graduation at the Unitarian Universalist Church next to Riverfront on Thursday, June 13th. This year’s keynote speaker was Eve Gray, Director of Lane County Health and Human Services.

In December of 2023, Looking Glass Center Point School applied for and received funding from the 2023 EWEB Electric Mobility Community Grant to purchase an electric vehicle and charging station. Staff did a ton of research on cars and charging stations and, in the end, purchased a 2023 Kia Niro EV and Emporia charging station. Staff members mostly utilize the vehicle to run errands for school needs, including picking up food and other items for the students. The time and cost savings for Looking Glass has been extremely helpful.

The Trafficking Prevention Specialist and Survivor Advocate plays a crucial role in providing trafficked youth with a safe space and assistance with extricating themselves from a dangerous situation. For the safety of the employee in this unique role, we are not identifying her by name. For the importance of the education of this community, we are sharing some of her experiences.

Trafficking of youth comes in many forms, but most often comes down to a vulnerable young person trading favors or services in exchange for housing, food, or other basis needs. Or, in some cases these services are traded for drugs or alcohol, which, in turn help these victims endure the assault or abuse at the hands of those holding power over them.

At this year’s All Staff Meeting, 8 Looking Glass staff members and one community partner received the Looking Glass Distinguished Service award. This annual gathering, at Venue 252 in Eugene, included lunch and a special guest speaker - Ayisha Elliot Anti-Racism Coach & Equity Strategist, Black Girl From Eugene.

Looking Glass New Roads Kitchen Remodel is underway and we need YOUR help with temporary outdoor kitchen services. Beginning in May the New Roads day program for homeless youth services will begin construction on the current kitchen to enable cooking of full meals. To-date, the New Roads staff have been without adequate ventilation and equipment to provide a full kitchen and thus meals have been quite challenging to provide 3 times per day to homeless youth.

Thanks to a $25,000 grant from the Trillium Community Benefit Initiative, the main Counseling office for Looking Glass therapy services now offers a resource pantry for active therapy clients and families. The pantry includes basic food items (perishable and non-perishable), hygiene items, clothing and some toys. Since opening the pantry in February, more than 200 families of counseling clients have utilized the pantry.

“Clients having access to basic needs (food, clothing, toiletries) not only supports those clients, families, and the community with their needs getting met, but allows them to have a greater sense of safety in their everyday lives,” said Jaime Ellsworth, Looking Glass Intensive Outpatient Support Services (IOSS) Clinical Supervisor.

The annual Spring auction gala fundraiser for Looking Glass raised a record amount of revenue through corporate sponsorships, auction bids and paddle raises. By the end of the night, which celebrated Dynamic Duos with a theme that included 29 individually decorated table centerpieces, crucial funds had been raised for Looking Glass programs. At this year’s event there were two guests given surprise honors - first Looking Glass outgoing CEO, Craig Opperman, was informed that the Community Leadership award given annually is now named after him. Then Dan LaCoste, longtime Looking Glass board member (and chair for 6 years until this year), was given the Craig Opperman Community Leadership Award.

Timber Products Company donated $3,000 and toured the shop of the Looking Glass Riverfront School & Career Center’s Skilled Trades Program on April 2nd. Three members of Timber Products local staff came to visit the shop and talk with the program manager, Michael Romano, and a few of the current students.

Each quarter, the members of the Looking Glass Cultural Awareness and Equity Committee (CAEC) review nominations of staff members who have gone above and beyond their job requirements to promote cultural awareness and equity on the job. This quarter’s randomly selected winner: Andrea Fadich (she/they)-Education and Behavioral Specialist at Center Point School!

The students at Looking Glass Center Point School had a special visitor this week when Dr. Lois Youngen, one of roughly only 600 women to ever play professional baseball, stopped by to share her experiences. Youngen played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1951 until it folded in 1954 as a member of the Fort Wayne Daisies and South Bend Blue Sox teams during her four-year career. She primarily played catcher.

Longtime Looking Glass Board Member George Russell was honored as the recipient of the First Citizen award at the 2024 Eugene Chamber of Commerce Celebration of Business. Looking Glass staff and other board members we on hand to congratulate George on this great honor.

Each quarter, the members of the Looking Glass Cultural Awareness and Equity Committee (CAEC) review nominations of staff members who have gone above and beyond their job requirements to promote cultural awareness and equity on the job. Nominations come mostly from staff peers. The winner, selected from the 4th quarterly meeting in 2023, is Sarai Barrera from the counseling program.

This year’s Giving Tree program proved to be very fruitful for the youth and programs at Looking Glass! Staff were so thankful to the generosity of the community. Each program was able to spoil the youth we serve and provide a very happy holiday party and fulfill both the needs and wishes of each youth who requested gifts (more than 400 youth this year!).

Students enrolled in the Looking Glass Riverfront School Skilled Trades Program recently completed construction of a Tiny House on behalf of SquareOne Villages.  The house is now part of SquareOne’s Opportunity Village. SquareOne provided the materials through donations and grants and students in Riverfront’s Skilled Trades Program constructed the house in just a little over four months. Multiple local media outlets gathered for an unveiling of the tiny house on November 15th.

At the annual board meeting for Looking Glass Community Services, held this year at The Graduate Hotel on Wednesday, November 1st, CEO and President Craig Opperman presented the Looking Glass Community Leadership Award to Oregon Department of Human Services Director, Fariborz Pakseresht. This year’s annual board meeting included an update on the state of the agency, by Opperman, and was hosted by board member, Mary Reilly.

National Safe Place Week, which serves to raise awareness about the Safe Place Program (a national program which brings together youth service agencies, businesses, volunteers and other community partners to help youth in crisis) is March 16th through 22nd this year. In Lane County, Looking Glass Station 7 is the Safe Place program provider. Looking Glass partners with several area businesses and agencies including LTD, all Dari Mart locations, fire stations and more. There are three fundraising events during this week at restaurants to help raise funds for this program.

In January of 2025, after months of renovations, hiring, training and preparations, Looking Glass opened it’s 2nd Regional Crisis Center (RCC) location. The Looking Glass RCC provides residential, subacute mental health treatment services for youth of all genders, ages 11 to 18. Looking Glass now offers RCC West (River Road) and RCC East (MLK Blvd).

After several years of start and stop fundraising, Looking Glass staff members and supporters gathered to celebrate the recent opening of a newly renovated building in Cottage Grove. The previous program facility was located just down the street from the new location but was roughly 4 times smaller. The larger space will allow for broader services and offerings to youth aged 11-21 in rural Lane County including laundry, showers, a large beautiful kitchen and space for on-site therapy.

After constructing a first tiny house for SquareOne in the summer/fall of 2023, the students enrolled in the Skilled Trades program at Looking Glass Riverfront School & Career Center were eager to work on a 2nd project. SquareOne was thrilled with the quality craftsmanship done on the first project and have expressed interest in a longer term partnership. The students did not disappoint with their 2nd effort, completing their next tiny house project in early September of 2024.

The Looking Glass Counseling Program continues to evolve and adapt to meet the needs of our clients. We continue to hire more therapists and although we are not quite fully staffed still, we have made great progress in recent months and are doing our best to meet the growing need for therapy in our community, for clients of all ages. Here is a new video about the counseling program, highlighting the various ways our program meets our clients where they are, providing trauma-informed care from a diverse group of caring professionals.

The Trafficking Prevention Specialist and Survivor Advocate plays a crucial role in providing trafficked youth with a safe space and assistance with extricating themselves from a dangerous situation. For the safety of the employee in this unique role, we are not identifying her by name. For the importance of the education of this community, we are sharing some of her experiences.

Trafficking of youth comes in many forms, but most often comes down to a vulnerable young person trading favors or services in exchange for housing, food, or other basis needs. Or, in some cases these services are traded for drugs or alcohol, which, in turn help these victims endure the assault or abuse at the hands of those holding power over them.

Students enrolled in the Looking Glass Riverfront School Skilled Trades Program recently completed construction of a Tiny House on behalf of SquareOne Villages.  The house is now part of SquareOne’s Opportunity Village. SquareOne provided the materials through donations and grants and students in Riverfront’s Skilled Trades Program constructed the house in just a little over four months. Multiple local media outlets gathered for an unveiling of the tiny house on November 15th.

Looking Glass Community Services has opened a new, low-barrier homeless youth shelter called the PEER Shelter (PEER stands for Persevere, Enlighten, Empower, Renew). The 24-hour accessible low-barrier shelter is for youth ages 16 – 24 years old who are unhoused or otherwise in crisis. The shelter provides youth at risk of being victimized on the streets, a safe, supervised living environment, medical care, basic needs, case management, and substance abuse and mental health treatment access to assist them in moving towards stabilization.

Finding affordable, safe, quality housing is a challenge for a lot of people in Eugene and broader Lane County, but especially so for youth with limited rental history and sometimes criminal history. So it is particularly special to Looking Glass when a local community member agrees to long-term rental partnerships. Austin Folnagy is the most recent example of a willing and supportive landlord who enthusiastically embraces the opportunity to rent an entire complex to Looking Glass youth.

“It’s a way to give back, for sure,” Folnagy explained. “It’s a business, for sure, but by working with Looking Glass in this way, it’s a way to do good in our community too.”

Riverfront School & Career Center’s Skilled Trades Program has begun working on building an entire tiny home that will eventually be placed on a site owned and operated by Square One Villages, another Eugene nonprofit that Looking Glass is collaborating with.

The tiny home construction is a summer project for students/workers enrolled in the program who will receive paid work experience while they learn valuable skills.

National Safe Place Week, which serves to raise awareness about the Safe Place Program (a national program which brings together youth service agencies, businesses, volunteers and other community partners to help youth in crisis) is March 16th through 22nd this year. In Lane County, Looking Glass Station 7 is the Safe Place program provider. Looking Glass partners with several area businesses and agencies including LTD, all Dari Mart locations, fire stations and more. There are three fundraising events during this week at restaurants to help raise funds for this program.

After several years of start and stop fundraising, Looking Glass staff members and supporters gathered to celebrate the recent opening of a newly renovated building in Cottage Grove. The previous program facility was located just down the street from the new location but was roughly 4 times smaller. The larger space will allow for broader services and offerings to youth aged 11-21 in rural Lane County including laundry, showers, a large beautiful kitchen and space for on-site therapy.

The 6th annual “Socktoberfest” sock donation drive for homeless youth was again a resounding success bringing in thousands of pairs of (mostly new) socks. The New Roads outreach team hands out socks on a daily basis to unhoused youth they encounter. Socks go fast at New Roads and this annual sock drive aims to sustain us year-round (but we usually run out by summer time).

Thank you to all of our amazing donation location partners and to the generous community who donated so many wonderful socks!

Following the success of our new “Braugust” bra donation drive, piggybacking off the now well established annual “Socktoberfest” sock donation drive, Looking Glass is hoping for similar success with “Shoetember” to hopefully procure gently used or new shoe donations for our homeless youth programs during the month of September.

“For unhoused youth in Lane County shoes are one of the most important safety items they can own, especially going into the rainy fall and winter months,” explained Homeless Youth Services Director Morgan Boozer.

After 5 incredibly successful years of experience with an October-long sock donation drive promotion (Socktoberfest), Looking Glass is hoping to yield similar results with a focused Bra and female-identified undergarment donation drive during the month of August - or “Braugust.” While gently used bra’s will certainly be accepted, the hope is new items will be purchased via an Amazon wish list or dropped off at the Looking Glass admin office (1790 West 11th Ave, 2nd floor, Eugene) before August 31st. Only new underwear will be accepted. And socks are always needed as well (not just in October).

Looking Glass New Roads Kitchen Remodel is underway and we need YOUR help with temporary outdoor kitchen services. Beginning in May the New Roads day program for homeless youth services will begin construction on the current kitchen to enable cooking of full meals. To-date, the New Roads staff have been without adequate ventilation and equipment to provide a full kitchen and thus meals have been quite challenging to provide 3 times per day to homeless youth.

Thanks to a $25,000 grant from the Trillium Community Benefit Initiative, the main Counseling office for Looking Glass therapy services now offers a resource pantry for active therapy clients and families. The pantry includes basic food items (perishable and non-perishable), hygiene items, clothing and some toys. Since opening the pantry in February, more than 200 families of counseling clients have utilized the pantry.

“Clients having access to basic needs (food, clothing, toiletries) not only supports those clients, families, and the community with their needs getting met, but allows them to have a greater sense of safety in their everyday lives,” said Jaime Ellsworth, Looking Glass Intensive Outpatient Support Services (IOSS) Clinical Supervisor.

New Roads homeless youth drop-in center (off 7th and Blair Blvd) has a clothing closet for youth clients ages 16 to 21. At this time, the shelves containing clothing for male-identifying youth are quite bare. Looking Glass is seeking donations of clothing in a variety of sizes including pants, shirts, shorts, socks as well as shoes of various sizes.

The 4th annual Socktoberfest sock donation drive resulted in thousands of pairs of donated socks for New Roads homeless youth program. The October-long donation drive included donation locations at all Lane County area Bi-Marts, local Windermere offices, Macy’s at Valley River Center, Heritage Bank NW, all PeaceHealth hospital locations locally and also a special drive done by the UO Softball team.

Looking Glass has provided housing assistance for youth since 1970 through various programs including providing rental assistance funds for security deposits, renters insurance and, in some cases, covering monthly rent for up to 2 years. We recently sat down with a current housing client, Jordan, and his case manager Jack and other Looking Glass staff to hear how these programs work and the impact they can have. (VIDEO)

National Safe Place Week, which serves to raise awareness about the Safe Place Program (a national program which brings together youth service agencies, businesses, volunteers and other community partners to help youth in crisis) is March 16th through 22nd this year. In Lane County, Looking Glass Station 7 is the Safe Place program provider. Looking Glass partners with several area businesses and agencies including LTD, all Dari Mart locations, fire stations and more. There are three fundraising events during this week at restaurants to help raise funds for this program.

After several years of start and stop fundraising, Looking Glass staff members and supporters gathered to celebrate the recent opening of a newly renovated building in Cottage Grove. The previous program facility was located just down the street from the new location but was roughly 4 times smaller. The larger space will allow for broader services and offerings to youth aged 11-21 in rural Lane County including laundry, showers, a large beautiful kitchen and space for on-site therapy.

When Looking Glass Housing program managers place youth in apartments around town (providing rent as well as ongoing case management), often times the youth does not have much to help setup their new dwelling. Basic items like pots and pans or dish towels or a bath mat help make a house a home. And this December SELCO helped ensure that at least the next 20 youth that are housed will have a nice kit of items to get them started.

Members from local SELCO Credit Union branches shopped for and then organized and dropped off 20 amazing “move-out kits” for these transitional living youth to utilize. Looking Glass staff members were thrilled with the donation.

The 6th annual “Socktoberfest” sock donation drive for homeless youth was again a resounding success bringing in thousands of pairs of (mostly new) socks. The New Roads outreach team hands out socks on a daily basis to unhoused youth they encounter. Socks go fast at New Roads and this annual sock drive aims to sustain us year-round (but we usually run out by summer time).

Thank you to all of our amazing donation location partners and to the generous community who donated so many wonderful socks!

Students from a Community Projects class at Looking Glass’ Riverfront School & Career Center created a fundraiser to support the needs of pets of unhoused youth who access services at Looking Glass homeless youth programs. The students raised almost $300 including donations of in-kind pet supplies. Wags! Dog Emporium matched every dollar raised and donated additional items for a total value of almost $900 in pet supplies gathered and donated to Looking Glass homeless youth programs for their pets.

The 14th Annual Looking Glass Healthy Kids, Healthy Futures breakfast fundraiser event, held Tuesday, October 15th at Venue 252 in Eugene, focused on Education programs with a panel of Looking Glass teachers from the agency’s alternative schools. In addition, Looking Glass recognized and honored this year’s Community Partner of the Year - Jennifer Montgomery, the Secondary Special Education Consultant for the 4J School District.

In December of 2023, Looking Glass Center Point School applied for and received funding from the 2023 EWEB Electric Mobility Community Grant to purchase an electric vehicle and charging station. Staff did a ton of research on cars and charging stations and, in the end, purchased a 2023 Kia Niro EV and Emporia charging station. Staff members mostly utilize the vehicle to run errands for school needs, including picking up food and other items for the students. The time and cost savings for Looking Glass has been extremely helpful.

Looking Glass New Roads Kitchen Remodel is underway and we need YOUR help with temporary outdoor kitchen services. Beginning in May the New Roads day program for homeless youth services will begin construction on the current kitchen to enable cooking of full meals. To-date, the New Roads staff have been without adequate ventilation and equipment to provide a full kitchen and thus meals have been quite challenging to provide 3 times per day to homeless youth.

Thanks to a $25,000 grant from the Trillium Community Benefit Initiative, the main Counseling office for Looking Glass therapy services now offers a resource pantry for active therapy clients and families. The pantry includes basic food items (perishable and non-perishable), hygiene items, clothing and some toys. Since opening the pantry in February, more than 200 families of counseling clients have utilized the pantry.

“Clients having access to basic needs (food, clothing, toiletries) not only supports those clients, families, and the community with their needs getting met, but allows them to have a greater sense of safety in their everyday lives,” said Jaime Ellsworth, Looking Glass Intensive Outpatient Support Services (IOSS) Clinical Supervisor.

The annual Spring auction gala fundraiser for Looking Glass raised a record amount of revenue through corporate sponsorships, auction bids and paddle raises. By the end of the night, which celebrated Dynamic Duos with a theme that included 29 individually decorated table centerpieces, crucial funds had been raised for Looking Glass programs. At this year’s event there were two guests given surprise honors - first Looking Glass outgoing CEO, Craig Opperman, was informed that the Community Leadership award given annually is now named after him. Then Dan LaCoste, longtime Looking Glass board member (and chair for 6 years until this year), was given the Craig Opperman Community Leadership Award.

After constructing a first tiny house for SquareOne in the summer/fall of 2023, the students enrolled in the Skilled Trades program at Looking Glass Riverfront School & Career Center were eager to work on a 2nd project. SquareOne was thrilled with the quality craftsmanship done on the first project and have expressed interest in a longer term partnership. The students did not disappoint with their 2nd effort, completing their next tiny house project in early September of 2024.

The Looking Glass Counseling Program continues to evolve and adapt to meet the needs of our clients. We continue to hire more therapists and although we are not quite fully staffed still, we have made great progress in recent months and are doing our best to meet the growing need for therapy in our community, for clients of all ages. Here is a new video about the counseling program, highlighting the various ways our program meets our clients where they are, providing trauma-informed care from a diverse group of caring professionals.

About a dozen students and a roomful of family and friends gathered to celebrate the 2024 Riverfront School & Career Center graduation at the Unitarian Universalist Church next to Riverfront on Thursday, June 13th. This year’s keynote speaker was Eve Gray, Director of Lane County Health and Human Services.

The 2023 Riverfront High School graduation was held Thursday, June 15th at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Eugene (next door to Riverfront). Graduates shared their experiences and a UO pep band helped the attendees rock out and celebrate! This year’s keynote speaker was Rick Hamilton, recently elected to the Eugene 4J school board.

The 2022 Riverfront High School graduation ceremony was held in-person on June 16th at the Unitarian Universalist Church next door to Riverfront for the first time in 2 years. Senator James Manning was the keynote speaker at the event. “Where you are now is part of a transition in life,” Senator Manning said to the graduates. “Never let anyone tell you that you cannot achieve a higher level. I believe in you!”

Looking Glass has provided housing assistance for youth since 1970 through various programs including providing rental assistance funds for security deposits, renters insurance and, in some cases, covering monthly rent for up to 2 years. We recently sat down with a current housing client, Jordan, and his case manager Jack and other Looking Glass staff to hear how these programs work and the impact they can have. (VIDEO)

The Youth Action Committee (YAC) is a group of homeless youth ages 16-21, who access services from New Roads, Station 7, or New Roads School. The group consists of 6 youth and are hoping to expand to 8-12 youth in the future. They meet once a month at New Roads School and are served dinner as part of the meeting.

One of the goals of the group is to provide feedback in how we serve homeless youth in our Homeless Youth Services at Looking Glass. They will provide input on how the program is running, what changes they would want, and what ideas they have for the community.

The annual Looking Forward, Giving Back auction gala fundraiser was held virtually this year, due to the pandemic, of course, but was a huge success despite the fact that we could not gather physically with supporters. On Saturday, April 10th, Looking Glass fundraising staff members turned the large conference room at administrative offices into a production studio and interacted with over 100 supporters via Zoom and an online auction platform that made for some very competitive and last minute bidding. In the end, donors helped to raise more than $130,000 for Looking Glass youth & family programs (and post-event cleanup was much easier).

See videos shared at the event in this post!

Learn about Haley, Abigail, and Sheane’s experience working on the Lane-Metro Youth Corps summer crew, operated by LG’s Riverfront School and Career Center

An intimate celebration to honor the 2020 Graduates of Center Point School.

"We are thrilled to once again find our agency name listed within the Top 100 Nonprofits in Oregon," said Looking Glass CEO Chad Westphal. "It is a testament to our incredible and diverse team of staff. They have worked to create and sustain a supportive team culture that is always prepared to respond to the needs of our most vulnerable community members. I am thankful for and proud of all of them."

Also check out a new VIDEO from our happy employees!

The students at Looking Glass Center Point School had a special visitor this week when Dr. Lois Youngen, one of roughly only 600 women to ever play professional baseball, stopped by to share her experiences. Youngen played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1951 until it folded in 1954 as a member of the Fort Wayne Daisies and South Bend Blue Sox teams during her four-year career. She primarily played catcher.

Students enrolled in the Looking Glass Riverfront School Skilled Trades Program recently completed construction of a Tiny House on behalf of SquareOne Villages.  The house is now part of SquareOne’s Opportunity Village. SquareOne provided the materials through donations and grants and students in Riverfront’s Skilled Trades Program constructed the house in just a little over four months. Multiple local media outlets gathered for an unveiling of the tiny house on November 15th.

Looking Glass was a sponsor of the NAACP Freedom Fund Gala on May 5th.  Our Cultural Awareness and Equity Committee filled most of the seats at our table.  Excellent music, food and networking with community leaders was enjoyed in celebration of diversity, inclusion and work toward equity in our community.

Looking Glass President & CEO Craig Opperman presented the 2021 Community Leadership Award to Representative Nancy Nathanson at a recent Looking Glass board meeting for her stellar and steadfast support for our community’s youth and families in need. Nathanson has pushed for increased financial support for Looking Glass and other social service organizations including helping Looking Glass to receive new funds to help make needed capitol improvements to Looking Glass homeless youth programs.

This past May and June, Girl Scout Troop #24761 hosted a donation drive to collect toiletry items for Homeless Youth.

Their leader, Amy Mahady reached out to Looking Glass to learn more about the services offered so that the girls’ could learn more about how homelessness impacts youth in our community.

Looking Glass Development Coordinator, Amanda Zacharda, joined on a Zoom call during one of their meetings and was able to educate the Troop about all of the services provided at Looking Glass, especially the Homeless Youth Services.

The girls were able to come up with over 30 bags of toiletry items to donate, along with $350+ donations from multiple businesses in our community.

The Youth Action Committee (YAC) is a group of homeless youth ages 16-21, who access services from New Roads, Station 7, or New Roads School. The group consists of 6 youth and are hoping to expand to 8-12 youth in the future. They meet once a month at New Roads School and are served dinner as part of the meeting.

One of the goals of the group is to provide feedback in how we serve homeless youth in our Homeless Youth Services at Looking Glass. They will provide input on how the program is running, what changes they would want, and what ideas they have for the community.

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week & Thank A Youth Worker Day… we’d like to celebrate our staff and say thanks for your hard work!

The Development Director, Tyler Mack & his assistant delivered Starbucks Coffee & Lochmead Ice Cream appreciation treats to Looking Glass programs as a way to say thanks to our staff and teachers on Thank A Youth Worker Day & Teacher Appreciation Week.

Looking Glass staff and teachers make a difference in youth and families lives throughout Lane County. Thank you for all that you do!

Thank you to Starbucks at Valley River Center & Dari Mart for the coffee & ice cream and helping us show our appreciation to our staff this week.

The Youth Development Division (YDD) awarded Looking Glass with a grant that provides funding for Reengagement programs within our Riverfront School and our Adjudicated Youth Services (AYS) School. Reengagement programs are focused on providing young individuals with support and access to education, with the goal of completing high school and finding a career path or post-secondary education.

In September 2020, it was announced that Looking Glass had received recognition from Oregon Business as a top nonprofit to work for in the state of Oregon. Organizations that finish in the top 100 are included and the criteria for making the list is entirely from existing employees providing feedback via online surveys. “Looking Glass Community Services is honored and proud to have been included among the top 100 best nonprofits list,” said Looking Glass President & CEO Craig Opperman.

Each quarter, the members of the Looking Glass Cultural Awareness and Equity Committee (CAEC) review nominations of staff members who have gone above and beyond their job requirements to promote cultural awareness and equity on the job. The randomly selected winner from this group was Cassandra Keene (New Roads).

"We are thrilled to once again find our agency name listed within the Top 100 Nonprofits in Oregon," said Looking Glass CEO Chad Westphal. "It is a testament to our incredible and diverse team of staff. They have worked to create and sustain a supportive team culture that is always prepared to respond to the needs of our most vulnerable community members. I am thankful for and proud of all of them."

Also check out a new VIDEO from our happy employees!

Looking Glass employees from various programs participated in a new video showcasing “Why We Love To Work Here!” The video, which will be used to help with hiring efforts, illustrates the passion and dedication that staff members bring to their respective programs.

Each quarter, the members of the Looking Glass Cultural Awareness and Equity Committee (CAEC) review nominations of staff members who have gone above and beyond their job requirements to promote cultural awareness and equity on the job. Nominations come mostly from staff peers. For Summer 2024, Alexandra Davis-Reyes was selected as the winner of this recognition and a $100 gift card.

At this year’s All Staff Meeting, 8 Looking Glass staff members and one community partner received the Looking Glass Distinguished Service award. This annual gathering, at Venue 252 in Eugene, included lunch and a special guest speaker - Ayisha Elliot Anti-Racism Coach & Equity Strategist, Black Girl From Eugene.

Each quarter, the members of the Looking Glass Cultural Awareness and Equity Committee (CAEC) review nominations of staff members who have gone above and beyond their job requirements to promote cultural awareness and equity on the job. This quarter’s randomly selected winner: Andrea Fadich (she/they)-Education and Behavioral Specialist at Center Point School!

Continuing a tradition started pre-Covid, staff members from several Looking Glass programs gathered at Tugman park on a hot July day for a BBQ and way-too-competitive kickball tournament. In the end, the team from the Homeless Youth Services program was the victor and took the roaming trophy.

After 3 years without being able to hold an in-person gathering, Looking Glass staff members came together for the “All Staff Lunch” at Venue 252 in Eugene on June 7th and handed out awards to several staff members and three Oregon Department of Health & Human Services workers. The Distinguished Services Awards were handed out to twelve staff and three community members after internal nominations were solicited. Looking Glass staff members also took this opportunity to provide a Distinguished Service Award to the agency CEO & President, Craig Opperman, who was quite surprised and moved by the honor.

The Regional Crisis Center, Looking Glass’ residential mental health treatment program for youth of all genders between ages 12 and 18, celebrated a milestone in February recognizing it’s 4-year anniversary since opening. Now the program is in the process of expanding and trying to hire more staff!

“I can't believe it's been so long since we had our first intake,” said Caitlin Peoples, RCC Clinical Director. “It's amazing that we're celebrating four years! In that time, we've served over 150 youth.”