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Portage Community Center

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About the Portage Community Center

                                                                                                                                                     Kalamazoo Gazette   October 12, 1975

 

Thanks to the creative vision of two young men in their teens, Scott Allen and Scott Mahoney, the PortageCommunity Center began offering services to Portage community residents in April of 1976.  The "two Scott's" original vision was to establish an organization to serve teens, however, from the first day of operation the focus included the whole family, targeting those most vulnerable and at risk.  Over thirty years later, this continues to be our focus.  In November 2007, we moved to a new facility at

325 E. Centre Avenue.
The three main program areas at the Center continue to be:  1) Youth Development Programming; 2) Emergency Assistance/Basic Needs; and 3) Support/Hosted Services.  Our partners, the Family Health Center (medical and dental) and Head Start, offer services out of our facility and we are an official site as a shelter location for the American Red Cross. The organization is funded through the City of Portage General Fund and Community Development Block Grant,
United Way, and through fundraising events and activities.

 

In our expanded facility we are better able to reach out a helping hand offering both assistance and encouragement to those in our community facing economic and other life challenges.  As you can see from our program pages, we partner with many other community organizations that include the PortagePublic Schools, the Portage Police Department, the YMCA of Portage and the Portage District Library.
 
Our legal name is the Portage Community Outreach Center, Inc.  We do business as the Portage Community Center. 
 

Staff

 

Keshia Dickason        Volunteer Manager

  keshia@portagecommunitycenter.net

 

Liz Gunnett                Administrative & Financial

  liz@portagecommunitycenter.net

 

Sarah McQuitty              Emergency Assistance

   sarahm@portagecommunitycenter.net

 

John Kerry                Youth Development

  john@portagecommunitycenter.net

 

Rachael Kohler         Youth Development

  rachael@portagecommunitycenter.net

 

Synthia Hardy Kushner               Development Director

  synthia@portagecommunitycenter.net

 

Aric Riedemann         Youth Development

  aric@portagecommunitycenter.net

 

Diane Schrock           Executive Director

  diane@portagecommunitycenter.net

 

Cheryl Tucker            Custodian

James Vallar              Custodian

 

Board of Directors   (pictured below)
 
Lori Knapp                       President
                                         President Elect
Chris Schinker                  Treasurer
Roy Dangel                       Secretary
Mike Ortega                     Past President
Anthony Bradley
Susan Dennis
Shirley Johnson
Sharon King
Paul Matyas
Denise McCarthy
Derek Quinn
Tom Noverr
Art Roberts
Craig Ross
Holly Schuck
Julie Vickery
Paul Welch
Left to right - back row: Mike Ortega, Holly Schuck, Denise McCarthy, Craig Ross, Roy Dangel, Tom Fox (former member), Paul Welch, Anthony Bradley, Derek Quinn.  Left to right - front row: Art Roberts, Chris Schinker, Shirley Johnson, Lori Knapp, Synthia Hardy Kusher, Sharon King, Diane Schrock (Director).