ABOUT
Welcome to Find the Flowers Within Community!
Here in Portland there is a lack of resources being distributed towards a marginalized community. In order to meet that need, I have created a movement called Find the Flowers Within Community. Find the Flowers Within Community (FFWC) is a community effort that dedicates resources and time to children in the BIPOC and underserved communities of the Portland Metro area. The community consists of a large group of independent contractors and professional business owners who are local artists, tradespeople, medical professionals, legal advisors, and many more, all whose business models prioritize wanting to invest their time in the marginalized and discriminated against youth in Portland, Oregon.
FFWC is led by Taylor Stevenson, who founded Find the Flowers Within LLC, where she sources from the community in running her business as an interior and exterior designer. Her profits from Find the Flowers Within, LLC along with money she secures from investors and grants fund a variety of classes for underserved children in the area. The classes will be conducted by community members she has reached out to over the past three years walking her new journey in Portland, Oregon. These community members are experts in their fields and have agreed to teach their trades pro bono to children in the underserved community (i.e. pottery, business, yoga, construction, hands-on, etc.).
EVERYONE IN THE COMMUNITY IS CONNECTED TO THE CLASSROOM IN SOME WAY, BY INSTRUCTING CLASSES OR HELPING BUILD SAFE AND SUPPORTED CLASSROOMS
KEY PLAYERS
Some amazing key players have joined in partnership with Taylor to help guide this work forward in a unique way.
Kent Ford of the Black Panther Party has joined the community as not only FFWC’s painter but also a huge supporter in educating the community on the history of racism in Oregon and finding students to bring into the classroom.
Leslie Gregory of the non profit RIGHT2HEALTH has been written about for the amazing work both her and her mother have done in bringing mobile medical units to underserved communities, and will be guiding Taylor though this process.
East Creek Joe has created an amazing space for potters to go out and fire their pottery in an anagram kiln. He teaches many other types of firings, and Taylor’s goal is to to have him come into town and show some firing techniques to students. In the future she hopes to take camp style trips out to his operation so students and community members can learn traditional anagram firings.
Danielle Depalo has committed her time to make sure we can offer all inclusive classes with her 10 years of experience working as a teacher with differently abled children