From Outside In to the dog daycare business

Spot Magazine
Written by Ruth Rowland

Homeless youth to develop job skills caring for dogs, owners
"Is today the 10th?" asked a young woman filling out paperwork in the lobby of Outside In. Actually, it was the 14th, as the staff member at the desk informed her softly. The exchange illustrated a challenge faced by the Portland homeless-youth advocacy agency: how to help street kids, whose lives aren't centered around the calendar or alarm clock, transition to the structure required by a job?

An answer came one day to Outside In executive director Kathy Oliver: open a dog daycare business.

The vision will become reality September 22nd, as the doors open at Virginia Woof, a daycare facility owned by Outside In and staffed by homeless youth from the agency's job-training program.

The grand opening party, September 16th even features a celebrity guest appearance by Milo van Sant, Australian shepherd companion to local filmmaker Gus. The human van Sant is a longtime Outside In supporter and helped raise funds for the project.

In recent years, many agencies serving homeless youth and adults have entered the private sector to ease their clients into the everyday work environment. Portland agency New Avenues for Youth, for example, operates a Ben & Jerry's scoop shop in downtown Portland. But so far as Oliver knows, Outside In will be the first social-service agency to venture beyond food service and thrift stores into dog daycare.

A perfect fit

Once the idea came up, staffers knew it was a winner.

"Dog daycare is a great industry and makes a lot of sense in that it will build on the passion and affinity youth have for dogs," Oliver said. "So many of the homeless youth themselves have dogs. If you walk around downtown, it's pretty obvious."

Outside In even took the special bond into consideration three years ago when designing its new facility. In addition to the "people lobby," the headquarters has a courtyard with a "dog lobby" of crates where dogs can wait safely while their owners access services. Staffers also get to bring well-behaved pets to work, and Oliver's 13-year-old border collie, Zaida, supervises the comings and goings of the upstairs hallway.

The project found support from numerous community businesses and also a few strokes of luck, according to Oliver. "I had lunch with someone and told him this idea. I told him I just needed a place and some money, and he offered me a place." The benefactor, who wanted to remain anonymous, provided a seven-year no-cost lease for the building.

Money appeared thereafter in the form of a $100,000 start-up and remodeling grant from the Meyer Memorial Trust and donations from numerous community members.

Outside In staffers are excited about the site, an early-20th-century building at NW 15th & Burnside with a history as an auto dealership and sign company. It's close to agency headquarters, visible, and offers good street parking. After renovations, the center features a lobby/reception area with coffee bar, separate playrooms for big and small dogs, and time-out/crating areas in addition to staff offices.

Once in operation, the daycare center is expected to break even or even turn a small profit for the nonprofit agency. Plans call for it to employ between four and six youths at 20 hours per week for two to three months each, or about 25 kids total per year.

Learning the ropes

While Outside In already offers job training and placement assistance, having Virginia Woof will allow more flexibility supporting clients who struggle while shifting from street life to life on a schedule.

"It's culture shock moving from life on the streets to employment in a business," Oliver said. She recalled one youth who'd shown up at his new job three days out of five. "He said, 'That's the best I've ever done-what's the problem?'"

To work at the center, youths will go through a regular job-application process and must first be clients in the agency's employment resource center. This includes a screening, assessment, and initial job-skills course. Feedback from client members on the project's advisory board suggest the lure of working with dogs will motivate clients to get through the process.

They'll work with two regular paid staff who are experienced with both dogs and youth. Workers will learn about dog handling from a consulting veterinarian and will have opportunities to get certified in pet CPR and receive additional animal-related job training. Nearly 10 local businesses have pledged to hire Virginia Woof graduates.

Project developer Ian Galloway, only slightly older than some clients, has helped Oliver flesh out the workings of Virginia Woof. He had his eyes opened to the rigors of dog-daycare work during a stint at the Noah's Arf daycare in Northwest Portland. Noah's owner Kris Price has advised Outside in on the project, telling them, as Oliver described it, "what not to do."

"It was very vigorous, very physical work," Galloway observed, asked to sum up his experience.

It left him with high hopes for the rewards clients will receive from taking on the challenging daycare environment, compared with many entry-level jobs.

"Dog daycare imparts broader skills. You have to be great with customer skills. You have to work with a team. You have to be there on time-six a.m.," he said.

For Oliver, the center's opening offered a special perk when it came time to design the new center's logo, a smiling, learned black-and-white dog on a green background. "As director, I got to use my dog as a model-a Border Collie reading a book."

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