MIKE Program

Mission

MIKE’s mission is to educate and mentor underserved students to lead healthy lives personally, in their school community, and beyond.

How does MIKE achieve its mission? MIKE is building lifelong opportunities for underserved youth by guiding them toward healthy lifestyles, equipping them and their mentors with leadership skills, and engaging health professionals in career mentoring.

Bottom Line for Portland

MIKE operates in the innovation mode—developing new and impactful ways to improve the lives of youth with health education and healthcare career exploration. MIKE engages near-age mentors to serve as role models and guides for their younger peers. MIKE mentors gain valuable experience working with vulnerable youth as they pursue their academic goals in healthcare and other fields.

MIKE specifically serves in the communities most affected by health disparities. This means we are typically working with communities of color and lower-income communities. Your donation will support MIKE’s programming in middle and high schools in the Portland metro area.

Quote

“I would like you to know that I always had fun listening and working with the MIKE mentors. I think being with people in medical school and seeing how hard you guys work, but how you still seem to be enjoying medical school made me confident enough to decide that I wanted to go too.” 9th grade student, spring 2023

"For more than 12 years, MIKE has showcased its flexibility in expanding curriculum to cover relevant health issues that are impactful and meaningful to our students. They reinforce the health content by engaging mentors who provide our students with direct contact with individuals who represent a broad range of healthcare professions and experiences. That’s why I believe that MIKE has contributed to some of the most important curriculum I’ve delivered at De La Salle North Catholic High School". - David Mickola, Health & PE Teacher

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

We emphasize diversity, inclusion and equity in everything we do. This starts with our staff, various boards, and volunteer mentors and can be most seen in the actual content of the program. MIKE ensures that a variety of cultural perspectives are considered when developing curriculum, making organizational decisions, recruiting mentors and guest speakers who represent the backgrounds of the students we serve, and in how the program content is delivered to students. 

Incentives

Our business partner, Mercer Advisors, is matching all donations, with a minimum donation of $25. All donations of $25 or more will be matched dollar for dollar, up to $3,000. 

Partner(s)

Mercer Advisors - Welcome to a different a different kind of wealth management in Portland. “We think about money like you've never thought about it before”.