One day in the summer of 2009, Portland area commuters suddenly found themselves confronted with 40 billboards sporting Portland State University Athletics' new slogan, “Our Town, Your Team”.  It was a short, powerful message punctuated by a huge photo of a Viking star athlete, most from the metropolitan area.

The brain child of Marketing Director Kenny Dow, the slogan embodied a concept much deeper than its surface appearance, something few in Portland know about.  That concept, combined with other athletic department efforts, resulted in PSU athletic team members contributing substantially more than 1,000 hours in volunteer time for a variety of schools and non-profit organizations last year, most involving young people.

Among activities this year were:

August- Portland Public Schools BBQ at Cesar Chavez grade school (softball and track teams); free football youth camps (football team), hoops disabilities basketball camp (men's and women's basketball) Football Coaching Clinic (football coaching staff).

September-Race for the Cure (softball), ALS Charity Walk (all athletes), UCP Walk and Roll, a mini basketball clinic with women's basketball.

October-Fall youth camp (women's and men's basketball, tennis, women's softball, track, golf), Hillsboro Club Soccer Clinic, (women's soccer team), Hillsboro School District Student of the Month class visits (football, softball, soccer).

November-Hillsboro School District Student of the Month class visits (football, softball, soccer); KGW Canned Food Drive (Men's basketball, golf, cheer).

December-Albina Head Start Class Holiday Party (softball, golf, women's basketball).

And that doesn't count the outreach programs started by Athletic Academic Advisor Rashad Floyd (Big Brothers, Big Sisters and Friends of Children) as part of his GPS program, aimed at making athletes' lives multi-dimensional and preparing them for life after college.  Floyd also conducts cooking classes for athletes and has been doubling recipes for food donations to homeless shelters.

They all dovetail to create what Athletic Director Torre Chisholm thinks may be one of only a few department-wide athletic player volunteer programs in college athletics.

“There probably are others, but most that I've seen have revolved around one or two sports or events,” Chisholm said.

The community involvement aspect of Our Town, Your Team was a natural for PSU athletics.  For some years, the university has emphasized its connection to the Portland metropolitan area through such programs as the senior Capstone Projects (a community-based project which must be completed by all graduating seniors) and community-wide image promotions such as “Oregon Is Our Classroom.”

“The city is a big part of what draws our athletes and it's our responsibility to help make the city a great place to live.  Also, PSU is involved in community outreach as a university and I felt the athletic department had a responsibility to do its part,” said Chisholm.

When Dow created the slogan, he was still new to the PSU staff and didn't know how it would fit this already established university-wide effort. But, community outreach was part of his original concept.

His first couple of weeks at PSU, he “realized how disconnected PSU athletics was from the city.  There were all these Beavers and Ducks running around, but little awareness of some great athletic teams here.”

So, he wanted to create an atmosphere where “PSU would take ownership of the city and the city would take ownership of PSU.”

His slogan and attendant billboard exposure were popular in the community and on campus.  So, Chisholm and Associate Athletic Director Zack Wallace decided to ramp up the community involvement portion.

“Torre decided he wanted to expand it to help with our philosophy of involving staff, coaches and athletes in the community.  He wanted to encourage all our athletes to spend time with other non-profits, schools, youth programs, sort of taking Our Town on the road,” recalled Wallace.

To facilitate that growth and to complement some of the efforts already underway (Floyd's program and some individual team involvement), Chisholm approached former PSU softball player Jenna Wilson about taking a position as Outreach Coordinator.

Wilson, with a degree in social science and a masters in education in progress, had been introduced to the concept of “giving back to the community” during a softball team building exercise involving the inner-city Albina Head Start Program.

The softball team threw a Christmas Party and provided gifts from a wish list for youngsters in the program.  She was hooked.  “The feedback from the kids was so heart-warming that we've done it four years in a row now.”

Besides providing warm fuzzies for the involved players “it was a good, life broadening experience for us.  Most of us came from relatively affluent backgrounds and we really had little awareness about the conditions some of these kids were growing up in.”

Other athletes report similar heart-warming experiences, said Wilson.

“Most athletes really love it.  Sometimes it's like pulling teeth (because of busy schedules) to get some of them to go, but then they call back and say 'thanks, if there's anything else we can do, let us know',” she said.

Examples are senior softball pitcher Nicole Latham and football quarterback Tygue Howland.

Latham had been involved in a couple of projects with some of her softball teammates.  In one, they went to an elementary school and talked about behavior and academics.  She thought their presentation went well and students asked them a lot of questions.

“Doing this makes me happy.  We have a lot of fun going and talking to the kids.  In terms of schedules, it's a stretch sometimes, but it's worth it,” she said with satisfaction.

Howland was initially involved in one of Floyd's programs, helping to create a partnership between Big Brothers and Big Sisters and Friends of Children.  Between 20 and 30 PSU athletes hosted youths from those programs and put together a role model program.

"We'd work with them on their homework, then go to an activity... play dodge ball or show them around the campus.  We also gave them game tickets.  It was fun for our athletes and for the children,” said Howland.

He also participated in the Hillsboro Student of the Month grade school visits.

They chose Hillsboro because the Viking football soccer teams were playing at Hillsboro Stadium. “Since they were hosting us in their community, we thought this would be a chance to give back,” he said.

Players talked about the importance of academics and explained the athletic and student sides of their lives.  “We tried to send them a message about the importance of academics.  It was easy to send that message and to have fun.  The kids really seemed to like the sessions.  They weren't the least shy about asking questions or speaking out.”

And, giving back has its reward, said Howland.  “It's great to bring a smile to the kids' faces…and that brings a smile to my face,” Howland said.   

As part of the Our Town, Your Team outreach effort, each PSU athletic team took a pledge to adopt a class or charity or to provide a free youth or coaching clinic during the 2010-2011 academic year.

Following their successful fall, Wilson and Floyd have created a list of upcoming opportunities (Wilson said she gets a lot of her ideas from cold calling likely non-profit organizations), including more visits to top performing classrooms in the Hillsboro School District; working with the River Road Head Start program; appearances at Juvenile Diabetes fund raising assemblies; helping with an anti-bullying campaign and participating in the Playworks Guest Coach program, Read Across America, Valentine card making at Kerr Administration Center, GPS Role Model Program and GPS cooking classes.

“It's about citizenship and giving back to the community, the general relationship between the athletes and the city,” said Dow. And, to further stress PSU's community connection, this academic year's teams have sported a rose logo on their uniforms.

Howland, a graduated senior bound for a graduate program at the University of Washington, had a final note:   “Most importantly, it gives our athletes a chance to enjoy giving back.  Hopefully, they'll go into the working world with this foundation and continue giving back.”

In the meantime, PSU's Our Town, Your Team outreach activities are helping bring the Portland State message to the Portland community and having a positive effect on both recipients and athletes.