June-August 2011
Recently some of the youth at the Portland Promise Center have begun working on a perma-sculpture art project. The project is being facilitated through a collaborative partnership between Center For Neighborhoods' PAINT program, the Portland Promise Center's youth group, the Louisville Visual Art Associatio's Open Doors Program, and a representative of Grasshoppers Food Distribution Service and Brambleberry Farm.

Approximatley 15 youth will be working to beautify the Portland Avenue corridor between 15th and 22nd streets. The youth will be designing and installing their own "permaculture" environment. The perma-sculptures will feature edible plants growing in small raised beds, native plants in container gardens doubling as living sculptures, worm composting bins, and bird houses completing each habitat.

The project is being supported by grants from the Norton and Cralle Foundations and will run from Jun through August. For more information contact Hallie Jones at 589-0343. Artworks and gardens will be installed by August 2nd.

May 2011
The children and youth of the Portland Promise Center have sucessfully broken the World Record for the largest ball of tape!! At over 2000 lbs our tape ball really is the world's biggest.

But our tape ball is more than just a world record it's a Peace Ball. It stands to promote a message of peace into the streets of Portland and hopefully the rest of the Louisville community. Since its inception the Peace Ball really has done that.

Visit our facebook page, YouTube, or website to see how the PeaceBall has been spreading it's message across this city. Also click here to view the record on the Guinness World Record official site.

November 2010
Johnny and Brenda are two life long residents of the Portland neighborhood. They both have dedicated numerous volunteer hours to the Portland Promise Center and the Portland community. Through the combined efforts of the Portland Promise Center, IFMA, Messer Construction, White House Painting and YouthBuild Louisville, Johnny and Brenda have been able to get some much needed repair work done on their home.

The Portland Promise Center is doing a big makeover at this home, putting in new windows, new gutters, painting the exterior and working on the inside, which includes putting in new floors. You can click here to see the story featured on Wave 3. Or here to see it on WHAS11.

November 2010
What are you thankful for? This time of year really makes us all ponder this question. This year Joni Watkins, our Director of Operations, was featured in an article entitled "We Are Thankful For..." in Louisville's Today's Women magazine. In the article Joni is featured along with three other women who, as the articles sub-title says, are changing the world (or at least Louisville) for the better.

"Temperance is love giving itself entirely to that which is loved." This quote by St. Augustine starts off the article. Joni really does give herself entirely to the Portland Promise Center and the Portland community. She has been on staff at the Center since 1999 and has taken on many different roles since her time starting here.

Click the picture below and turn to page 17 to read the article.

December 2009
Mayor Jerry Abramson came down to Boone Square Park yesterday to unveil the new plaque placed there that recognizes the park as being "adopted" by the Promise Center, through the city's Adopt-A-Park program. The program encourages local companies, non-profits and neighborhood groups to adopt-a-park and get involved with the preserving and enhancing of it.

As a new adoption partner we will be participating in and organizing routine projects like trash pick-up and graffiti removal. We will also be helping with special projects like mulching, planting, bench construction and painting.