Mercy Corps Begins Construction of New Global Headquarters

At a ceremony today celebrating the start of construction of its new global headquarters building, Mercy Corps unveiled plans for a museum-quality public space in Old Town Chinatown that CEO Neal Keny-Guyer said will give Portland a “window to the world.”

At a ceremony today celebrating the start
of construction of its new global headquarters building, Mercy Corps unveiled plans for a museum-quality public space in Old Town Chinatown that CEO Neal Keny-Guyer said will give Portland a “window to the world.” Revealing the center’s name for the first time, Keny-Guyer said the “Mercy Corps Action Center” is an exciting new interactive space that will offer multi-media exhibits that highlight solutions to international issues such as global poverty, hunger, and conflict resolution.

The global headquarters and Action Center will open in summer 2009. More info is available at www.mercycorps.org/actioncenterportland.

“We created the Mercy Corps Action Center to give young people educational experiences that will build bridges of understanding, ignite their imaginations and passions to get involved, and give them tools to make a difference,” said Keny-Guyer. “It’s our way of giving back to our community and to share our experiences and lessons learned to foster creative solutions to today’s pressing global problems.”

Exhibits for the Mercy Corps Action Center include Google Earth mapping technology to pinpoint world hot spots and interactive video touch screens, live news feeds of pressing global issues and events, and video dispatches from humanitarian aid workers located in countries across the planet. Special “Take Action” stations share ideas about solutions that work and offer visitors the chance to transform their experience into high-impact deeds.

Also located in the ground floor of the new headquarters building will be Mercy Corps Northwest’s Small Business Development Center that offers assistance to low-income entrepreneurs who want to create or expand a small business.

Based in Portland for 30 years, Mercy Corps is renovating the historic Skidmore Fountain building to become the site of its international headquarters from which up to 200 staff will support the agency’s humanitarian work in more than 35 countries around the world. Calling their global headquarters a new “landmark building” for Portland and a destination spot for Old Town Chinatown, Keny-Guyer stressed that no funds donated to the agency to support humanitarian work abroad will be allocated for construction of the building, rather the agency is tapping into new sources of funds including federal tax credits and grants from foundations, corporations and private donors.

At today’s event, Keny-Guyer announced a Meyer Memorial Trust donation of $1.5 million and he singled out the support of the Portland Development Commission and City of Portland to “help make Mercy Corps’ dream a reality.” Additional lead gifts have been received from William and Karen Early and Robert and Melinda Newell.

Two world-class design and architecture firms are involved in Mercy Corps’ new global headquarters project. Exhibits for the Action Center are designed by a creative team from ESI Design (www.esidesign.com) whose founder is Ed Schlossberg, an internationally recognized talent who pioneered participatory, interactive experiences for visitors of public spaces. Schlossberg’s work includes an east coast Mercy Corps Action Center in New York City’s Battery Park (opens October 2008), as well as the American Family Immigration History Center – Ellis Island and the Children’s Museum of Los Angeles.

In addition, the headquarters building is designed by Portland-based Thomas Hacker Architects, which specializes in the urban design of museums, libraries, and higher education facilities.

Keny-Guyer also announced a partnership with another Portland-based international organization: the Lemelson Foundation, which will own a portion of the new building. The Lemelson Foundation is a philanthropy that works to improve lives through invention in both the U.S. and developing countries. They provided a grant of $650,000 to fund solar power generation that will help the building achieve LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.

Rotating exhibitions in the building’s gallery space will include Design for the Other 90%--developed by the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution with major funding from the Lemelson Foundation. The show highlights technologies for those surviving under the poverty level or recovering from a natural disaster.

Keny-Guyer thanked members of the Portland Family of Funds for their combined investment of federal New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) that are being invested in the Mercy Corps global headquarters. The financing for the building leverages NMTC allocations provided by National Community Fund, National New Markets Fund and US Bank’s CDE. U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation is the NMTC investor.