Community Partner Spotlight: CAIRO

Over the past six years, the Center for African Immigrants & Refugees Organization (CAIRO) has expanded their preschool programs tremendously. When SVP initially invested in CAIRO in 2018, they were serving 20 children in one school. Today, they have grown to serve 118 children in five schools across the Portland metro area. 

SVP Portland has brought business acumen, experience, and entrepreneurship skills to provide key support as CAIRO has expanded. The partnership has been focused on building financial systems, HR, IT, operations, and more. As Carolina Castañeda del Río, SVP’s Director of Community Impact, shared at a recent happy hour, “There has been growth of over 1000% on both revenue and profit, and a 142% increase in number of children served. CAIRO has a vision to double these numbers in the next few years.” 

This growth has enabled more staff to be hired, as well. In those early stages, CAIRO had ten staff members. Today, that number has risen to 108 across their two chapters, Oregon and Minnesota. This in turn has allowed them to support more children in being kindergarten ready.

At a recent happy hour, Abdisalan Muse, CAIRO’s Deputy Director, explained that both the time and money invested has reduced the risks of expanding the preschool program, particularly because the early childhood industry is generally under-valued. For Abdisalan, knowing that CAIRO has been able to reduce that risk and therefore open up the space to serve more children, is where the power of this partnership lies. 

"SVP came to our rescue, put the resources together for us, and built a strategy plan with us. We’re truly grateful. I don’t know where we’d be without SVP!” – Abdisalan Muse