Founded over 54 years ago, Parrott Creek Child & Family Services is a non-profit providing an array of programs including peer-support, behavioral health, transitional housing, and intensive residential care to some of Oregon’s most vulnerable and marginalized youth and families.
Parrott Creek’s 80-acre property is located in Clackamas County just outside the Portland Metro region, on the ancestral lands of the Chinook, Kalapuya, and Northern Molalla peoples. The site offers steep hillsides, wetlands, creeks, meadows, and forest – an amazing sampling of the Pacific Northwest landscape.
Parrott Creek adopts several project equity and environmental sustainability goals, including LEED Gold Certification.
Agency led the landscape design for a multi-phase expansion development led by Adre, an equity-centric practice with a focus of providing real estate services and wealth creation strategies for underserved communities, El Dorado, the prime consultant and architectural lead, and Walsh Construction, the construction lead. The collective design vision is rooted deeply in the youths’ lived experiences and trauma-informed design research. Capturing nature’s healing and restorative powers, land stewardship, and environmental resilience are the critical components of the outdoor experience at Parrott Creek.
This work also served as the basis of an interdisciplinary, advanced design studio led by Adre’s Anyeley Hallova and Agency’s Gina Ford at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
In parallel to the development project, Agency also supported Parrott Creek’s trail building effort. The goal is to connect the youth with the site’s wealth of natural resources and to embrace cultural practices with local indigenous partners.
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