On Thursday evening, March 12th, supporters and guests of Volunteers of America Oregon gathered near the Convention Center to celebrate the family safety, substance use treatment, behavioral health, and post-criminal justice system support organization’s 130 years in the state. After hearing from VOA Oregon’s current President and CEO, Maree Wacker, and Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read about the benefits of a planned 5.67-acre campus at 8815 NE Glisan Street, attendees were asked to donate towards the facility’s construction and support the group’s other active programs.
Volunteers of America Oregon purchased the Montavilla-based property in 2021, which had previously served as a church. The organization’s President and CEO at the time, Kay Toran, was instrumental in selecting the NE Glisan and 90th Avenue property as a new campus and treatment center. Her quarter-century of leadership concluded when she retired in early 2025, with few updates on campus development plans during the nonprofit’s leadership transition. The new location should allow the organization to co-locate some of its programs in an East Portland site, creating new community resources and one-stop service delivery alongside centralized administrative functions.
In February 2024,area residents reviewed renderings of the proposed facility and learned about the phased buildout plans. Designers with Opsis Architecture arranged the proposed campus with external functions in buildings adjacent to NE Glisan Street and internal services in the site’s northwest half. The proposed VOA Oregon buildings will stand two stories tall along the site’s southern edge, rising to three levels as the land slopes downhill, maintaining a consistent scale along the frontage. Crews will reconstruct the existing parking lot, adding more trees and landscaping between the 92 stalls. Another cluster of lots along the property’s northern edge will provide an additional 54 on-site parking spaces. The early redevelopment will raze the 1950s-era church building and add frontage improvements along NE Glisan Street with significant work on NE 90th Avenue. Road Crews will reconstruct sections of NE 90th, adding sidewalks, street trees, and curbside parking spaces to the street’s western edge.
During the 2024 community outreach, Toran noted that the construction schedule is dependent on fundraising efforts. Since that time, VOA Oregon began using two buildings at Jessup University’s Multnomah Campus for its residential treatment for women with children. This partnership leverages surplus dormitory space at the faith-based higher education campus located at 8435 NE Glisan Street, just west of the future VOA Oregon site. Jessup University placed its 20-acre Multnomah campus on the market in 2025 and is still seeking a buyer for the entire property. Depending on which group purchases the university site and its redevelopment timeline, VOA Oregon staff may have a limited timeframe to relocate to the new property. Making this fundraising effort essential to maintaining long-term operations in the area.
A successful fundraising effort should advance the timeline for work at the VOA Oregon’s NE Glisan Street Health and Family Services Campus. Maree Wacker explained to the Thursday night audience what they intended to create at their site and why people should support their efforts. “Located in Northeast Portland, our campus will become a regional hub for healing, recovery, health, and hope. It will include 100 residential treatment beds for individuals facing severe substance use disorder, co-occurring mental health conditions, and pregnant women with children. Integrated intensive outpatient services that help individuals coming from residential care and back into the community, serving over 15,000 people each year.” She went on to explain that their trained staff will offer recovery housing with outpatient services, including peer support from people who have lived experience redirecting their lives from addiction. The campus will include space for essential health care, along with support, to create mental and physical stability so program participants can succeed in finding housing, employment, and long-term success. The organization provides specific support for families, and the planned campus includes facilities for childcare, helping people stay connected to their parental role as they seek behavioral health services.
Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read followed up with a declaration that the proposed campus was “the kind of solution Oregon deserves. It’s a model that is integrated. It’s evidence-based. It’s place-based. And that vision becomes even more transformative when we recognize the power of placing services designed to care for people and families through some of the most difficult moments in their lives, all in one place.” Read continued to highlight the nonprofit’s campus design’s efficiency and effectiveness. “It’s not about convenience, it’s about connections, reducing duplication, simplifying access, and strengthening accountability. Above all, it is centering dignity and equity, ensuring that the people we’re serving are meeting a system that is designed around them.”
In both speakers’ descriptions of the planned site development, they highlighted the value of having a single location that serves the range of needs of people interested in improving their lives. “Imagine those 100 new residential treatment beds alongside outpatient services, alongside recovery housing, alongside family support. It’s not a collection of disconnected programs, but a true continuum of care, one that welcomes people at the turnstiles of crisis and walks with them through stabilization and healing and through long-term recovery,” exclaimed Read. “This campus is not merely a collection of buildings. In this case, it is a coordinated system. It’s not coordinating programs, but coordinating people, organized and designed around people.”
“We are building a future where services are integrated, where isolation is replaced with connection, and where people now needing recovery encounter support instead of obstacles,” said Wacker. “This campus is more than buildings. It declares loudly and clearly, you belong here. No matter your past, hope lives here. A place that restores your dignity and gives you a chance to leave behind who you’ve been and finally become that person you always knew you could be.”
The VOA Oregon’s Health and Family Services Campus at 8815 NE Glisan Street is likely years away from opening. The nonprofit will continue seeking financial support for the multi-phase buildout. As of yet, there are no active demolition or construction permit applications listed for the property. However, remarks at this week’s fundraising event show the group is intent on continuing the work started under Kay Toran’s leadership and setting up roots in the Montavilla Neighborhood.
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Disclosure: The author of this article received a complimentary meal at the Community Changemakers: From Past to Possibility event on March 12, 2026.
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