Since 2006, BPI’s mission has been to educate and mobilize the parents and caregivers of African, African American and African American Multi-cultural children to ensure they achieve success.

 

The impact of systemic racism on the Black/African American community includes extreme disparities in health, education, housing, employment, and more. Serial forced Displacement, structural violence and exclusion from economic opportunities for advancement have left many Black/African American families in Oregon in a position where they are unable to support the health and well-being of their children.

 

We believe that the children and families we serve are inherently capable, brilliant and beautiful though social service systems have historically neglected to center on their strengths, wisdom, promise and expertise.  At BPI, we inspired by our love for our families, and the communities we serve. The key to our success is how  effective we are in deepening our relationships with them. 

 

BPI is a culture-specific, community-centered organization that co-designs and collaborates with our families to ensure that we create innovative, culturally-relevant and sustainable interventions and opportunities to help them thrive.  We use a culturally-responsive continuous improvement approach to monitor our progress and to ensure that we are delivering the services and support that the community has identified.

 

Our work is led and informed by Dr. Joy DeGruy’s evidence-based and culturally specific Relationship Approach 3M model, community-centered design protocols and continuous improvement processes. The use of these tools and methods ensures BPI can deliver high-quality culturally-specific services and sustain positive outcomes for community.

 

We understand that the cultural axiology (value-system) of African and African Americans is essentially the same; the highest value is in the cultivation and sustaining of relationships. This should not be confused with rapport. Many organizations serving Black/African American communities are able to build effective rapport, yet they are unable to sustain engagement or participation because they fail to establish a meaningful relationship.

 

Today, BPI is the only culturally-specific, community-based, non-profit organization in Oregon focused solely on supporting Black/African American families with children 0-10 in the State of Oregon. The majority of our families are from low to moderate-income communities and have complex issues that we address with expertise, compassion and love.

 

Through our unique and culturally specific approaches, we focus on optimal health, cultural identity development, parent education, and ensuring parents and caregivers have the necessary resources to help their children succeed.

 

An African-Centered worldview is not “I think, therefore I am,” but rather, “I am, because we are.” We use this community-centered worldview to inform our initiatives and programs.

 

BPI’s Executive Director, Ms. Bahia Overton, shares, “We are passionately compassionate with regard to our community. Our strength and resilience will help us persevere through any hardship. We have always used faith and joy to sustain us, and we will continue to use joy, creativity, and innovation because we have had to make a way out of no way, forever. BPI is here to help shoulder the weight of these challenges and to be a source of strength and healing.”