Portland Habilitation Center Northwest provides education, training, employment and housing for people with disabilities in the states of Oregon and Washington. It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and considered a Qualified Rehabilitation Facility by the Oregon state government. It is headquartered in Portland, Oregon and started in 1951.
PHCNW operates five separate business enterprises: Manufacturing and Light Industrial, Janitorial, Landscaping, Clerical/Administrative and Housing.
History
In 1951, a group of Portland families established Portland Children’s Center, an organization that offered educational opportunities for mentally disabled children who had been denied the opportunity to participate in special education.
In 1974, children with disabilities were integrated into the public school system. The Portland Children's Center was renamed Portland Habilitation Center (PHC) to reflect its new mission–-vocational training and employment for adults with severe disabilities.
In 2008, PHCNW was rebranded as Portland Habilitation Center Northwest to more accurately convey its extent of services throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Recently, the largest single-roof array in the Pacific Northwest was installed on PHCNW's headquarters. It consists of 4,830 panels covering 72,000 square feet (6,700 m2) and has a capacity of 858 kW. The emission reduction benefits and other renewable attributes of the PHCNW project are sold to Bonneville Environmental Foundation and the Energy Trust of Oregon.