Featured CAP Collab Spotlight: CARES Northwest

This quarter, we are celebrating our prevention team partners at CARES Northwest! CARES Northwest recently brought together partners and community members for a Trauma Responsive Training (TRT) cohort, equipping their network with trauma-informed practices they can carry into their own work. PCAO will be sharing more information about the 2026 TRT cohorts in future digests, be sure to keep an eye out! If you have any interest in learning more about the TRT training or cohorts, please reach out to natalie@preventchildabuseoregon.org for more information!

Celebrating the CARES Northwest Cohort

To celebrate the completion of the CARESNW cohort, we met up at Brave Neighbor Coffee House and Social in NE Portland for good coffee and even better Squaritos (imagine a breakfast burrito, pressed panini-style). As you can see in the photo behind us, Brave Neighbor is so much more than a coffee shop. It's a space designed around a real truth of family life: laundry never stops.

They offer on-site laundry in a warm, welcoming space where families can do laundry together while also offering a variety of options for families to engage together, such as anime playing on a projector, pinball machines, board games, coloring, and other activities to help pass the time.  Brave Neighbor meets that everyday need while also making room for connection, turning a chore into time spent together. 

Managing a family is already complex, and it was so inspiring to see a space that supports families' essential needs while making them feel genuinely welcome to stay, play, and connect. Do you have any spaces in your community that are similar to Brave Neighbor Coffee House and Social?!

Reflections From CARES Northwest

Curious to hear more directly from CARES Northwest about the training and the partnerships behind it?! Read CARES NW reflections from this quarter’s learning below:

CARES NW Prevent With Me 1, 2, 3 Submission

This quarter's Prevent With Me 1, 2, 3 levers—Shifting Mindsets and Setting Formal Goals—are central to the mission of CARES Northwest's Training for Youth-Serving Organizations (YSO) Program.

For many organizations, child abuse prevention efforts focus primarily on protection and response. While those remain critical, we invite youth-serving organizations to broaden the conversation and consider how organizational culture itself can prevent harm before it occurs. What values, policies, leadership practices, and everyday interactions help create environments where children are safe, supported, and able to thrive?

Our goal is to make prevention training more accessible to youth-serving organizations and to support them in building prevention into the fabric of their work. By shifting from a compliance-focused approach to a culture-focused approach, organizations can set meaningful goals that promote safety, accountability, and well-being for both youth and staff.

Participants consistently share how the training expands their understanding of prevention, and increases their confidence to respond to concerning situations:

"Especially working in the wide world of youth sports, the sexual abuse trainings that are commonplace and mandatory in my field are great but don't go into much depth about boundaries and how to recognize and address questionable behavior from other adults. This training filled a void in my existing education about child sexual abuse."

— Programs Assistant, The Street Trust

"[This training] helps youth-serving organizations go beyond just meeting mandatory reporting requirements, and instead helps them think through ways to prevent child abuse and sexual exploitation from occurring."

— Staff Development Manager, Lutheran Community Services Northwest

Learn More About the Program

Read more about this program here: Training for Youth-Serving Organizations — CARES Northwest or contact the Prevention Team at CNW Claire (ckille@lhs.org) and Lindsay (lspauldi@lhs.org) if there is interest in partnering in some way to make a training like this more accessible across the state.

Download the flyer and share with your networks about CARES Northwest’s Training for Youth Serving Organizations!

PCAO sends a big thank you to CARES NW team for their share out this quarter and consistent involvement in collaborative prevention! We love partnering with you!