History

Bradley Angle:
Then & Now

Bradley Angle was incorporated in Portland Oregon in 1975 as one of the first emergency shelters for women in the country, and the first one on the West Coast. Our name honors two women who lost their lives to life on the street - Sharon Bradley and Pam Angle. Bradley Angle was a grassroots organization founded by women who themselves needed safety and support. At the time, the organization's founders were deeply concerned about violence against women and began the organization’s work by offering sanctuary to women “escaping violent situations”. This included formerly incarcerated women, prostitutes, and lesbians who experienced violence on the street, as well as battered women. Like many shelters at that time, it was peer-led and informally structured using a collectivist model. The founders quickly became connected ideologically and in practice to the budding battered women’s movement.

The predecessor to Bradley Angle House was Prescott House, intended for women coming out of prison and a largely unstructured environment that operated from 1971-1973. Some of the women involved in Prescott House became the founders of Bradley Angle, including Bonnie Tinker. This group of young women who started Bradley Angle mostly identified as lesbians, had no funds, and had limited connections to the philanthropic community. They received help and fiscal sponsorship from the American Friends Service Committee. Bradley Angle’s first shelter facility was in a house in NE Portland. At the time of Del Martin’s pioneer publication, Battered Wives in 1976, Bradley Angle was one of only eight shelters listed in the book. 

As awareness about domestic violence grew, so did the need for more shelters and more coordination. The mission of Bradley Angle eventually became focused on responding to battered women. This solidified Bradley Angle’s role in the growing network of domestic violence shelters, and in the formation of statewide and national coalitions. Being one of the first shelters in the country put Bradley Angle in the position of being perceived as an authority in the field. The early workers of Bradley angle were involved in forming both the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Oregon Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.

Because of the work of NCADV, in collaboration with other advocacy groups and individual activities, we now have federal legislation that provides for more legal protections for victims of domestic violence and funding for services. 

With help from local activists, including Kay Sohl who had visited some of the earliest shelters on the East Coast, Bradley Angle gained access to public and private funding. In 1977, Bradley Angle was able to move shelter operations to a new facility, which it had purchased with the help of individual donors. Early funding came from CETA in 1976 and the agency made good use of these public dollars for some time. In 1978, the agency also started to receive funding from the United Way. There was now paid staff working at the shelter, as well as VISTA workers. Seed money from the Northwest Area Foundation in 1979 helped start the agency’s transitional housing program - one of the first in the country for survivors of domestic violence. 

Bradley Angle grew its programs and services into the 1980’s and expanded its support base. Funding from the Portland Development Commission in 1981 made major shelter renovations possible. The Marriage License Tax and changes in Abuse Prevention Act made way for more financial support and the agency began expanding staff in 1983. In 1984, an Outreach Coordinator was added to oversee community outreach and education. A Direct Service Coordinator was added in 1985. Around this time, the growing Board of Directors began stepping up to its own fundraising efforts, with an Annual Mothers Day Plant Sale, direct mail campaigns, and a major donor drive. Between 1987 and 1989, the Board restructured the staff several times to respond to changing programmatic and infrastructure needs. 

Bradley Angle was founded by individuals who identified as lesbians and had a strong and committed history in serving groups who identify as sexual minorities in their community. In 1987, support group offerings were expanded to include one specifically for battered women who identified as lesbians, bisexual, and/or transgender. Today, the organization provides advocacy, case management, and support groups to all members of the LGBTQIA+ community who are at risk of experiencing domestic violence. 

By the time the organization celebrated its 15th anniversary in 1990, the shelter was wheelchair accessible and included bilingual advocacy. Community services included support groups. A new teen dating violence prevention curriculum was developed in 1993 that garnered national recognition. In 1995, Bradley Angle purchased and rehabilitated a building to house the Andrea Lee Transitional Shelter, named after a Portland woman murdered by her abusive boyfriend in 1975. The mid-90’s through 2005, Bradley Angle offered a similar continuum of services for survivors of domestic violence and their children, including: 24 hour crisis line, emergency shelter, youth services, transition housing, community outreach and education, and culturally specific programs for individuals who identified as Latina and within the community of individuals who identified as a sexual minority. In addition to our own culturally specific programs, during this period Bradley Angle offered support and technical assistance to culturally specific agencies interested in developing their own domestic violence services, including Russian Oregon Social Services, el Programa Hispano, Programa De Mujeres, Asian Family Center, and South Asian Women’s Empowerment Resource Alliance.

In 2006, the Board voted to sell the Emergency Shelter building and move Emergency Services to the Andrea Lee building, which up until then was the home of transition housing services. Transition housing participants were relocated to their own apartments. Renovations to the shelter were possible because of capital grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Meyer Memorial Trust, Portland Development Commission, and Deacon Foundation; and gifts from generous individuals. 

In 2007, with a three-year grant from the United Way of Columbia-Willamette, the Healing Roots Center was opened as a drop in center and referral hub for African and African American survivors. In addition to advocacy and support groups, the Center offered art and writing workshops. 

In 2009, Bradley Angle was one of the first domestic violence agencies in Oregon to introduce economic empowerment programs. Making Cent$ classes teach on topics associated with financial empowerment and financial tools such as IDA’s (Individual Development Accounts) help participants to save toward future goals. Also in 2009, the Emergency Shelter was renamed the Bonnie Tinker House, in honor of the organization’s founder who died that year in a tragic bicycle accident.

In the four plus decades since first opening its doors, Bradley Angle has remained true to the original mission of providing safe sanctuary and support to those fleeing violence. We have evolved into a multi-facetted organization providing a broad continuum of essential services to survivors of domestic violence and their children, including residential and community based options. We have grown from a small, grassroots program to an established, well-respected organization that offers survivors important opportunities to get out of crisis, gain access to community resources, acquire tools for self sufficiency, and rebuild their lives after the trauma of abuse. Our programs work to increase the safety of families and decrease the odds of the cycle of violence repeating by empowering adults to overcome financial, educational, employment, and health-related barriers; and supporting kids to not only plan for their own safety, but to also recognize and respond to the signs of unhealthy relationships in their future. 

In 2012, we renamed the Healing Roots Center to the Bradley Angle Resource Center, in acknowledgment that the facility houses all of our community based programs. Bradley Angle has a strong history of service provision and has consistently aimed to better serve the complex and changing needs of survivors. Bradley Angle was able to serve a total of 600 survivors in 2012. 

Bradley Angle was the first domestic violence service provider in Oregon offering programs that meet the specific needs of LGBTQIA+ survivors, and was the first provider to offer culturally specific drop-in services for African immigrant and African American survivors. Bradley Angle was the first domestic violence agency to develop economic empowerment programs that teach financial empowerment and help survivors become self-sufficient, and is the only Oregon domestic violence agency able to provide access to micro-loans, matched savings accounts, and Individual Development Accounts for education and business development activities. We have piloted a project to serve survivors who live with HIV, a first in Oregon and one of the few in the nation. We continue to play a leading role in bringing more of these types of resources to survivors across Portland. 

At the time of reprinting this historical section (Winter 2024), Bradley Angle has most recently served 630 participants and provided an all encompassing total of 38,977 nights of safe and stable shelter. Between 2019-2024, we invested heavily in our culturally specific services bringing their funding bases up from our least funded programs to our most funded programs [Healing Roots & Marsha’s Folx]. Additionally, between the pandemic years and today we have funneled substantial government contracts and community grants into much needed maintenance of our Bonnie Tinker Emergency Shelter.

Organizational Milestones

1975 

• Bradley Angle House opened as the first shelter of its kind on the West Coast.

1976 

• Bradley angle House was licensed by the City of Portland as a residential care facility and appeared as one of the few available shelters in Del Martin’s groundbreaking books, Battered Wives.

1977 

• Participated in forming the Oregon Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence. Received first funding from United Way.

1979 

• Transition house opened to expand housing options for survivors.

1983 

• Outreach program launched to provide education to the community.

1984-1985 

• Major renovation of Shelter.

1985 

• Crisis Line launched to provide 24-hour access to information and support.

1987 

• Support group for individuals who identified as battered lesbians started. 

1988 

• Transitional service program established for women needing more assistance after leaving Shelter.

1991 

• Shelter became wheelchair accessible.

1993 

• Latina services program formed to offer services to Spanish speaking survivors.

1995 

• Andrea Lee opened its doors - an 18 bed transitional shelter.

1996 

• Initiated a support group for African American survivors.

1997 

• Initiated a support group for Native American survivors.

1998 

• Began our Summer Youth Program.

1998 

• Horizons Program launched to offer case management and housing assistance.

1999 

• Programs for individuals who identified as sexual minorities expanded.

2000 

• Bradley angle House became the fiscal sponsor to the African American Providers Network, a new organization dedicated to preventing domestic violence in the African American community.

2006 

• Sold emergency shelter building and moved Shelter into the building that had housed Andrea Lee Transitional Housing Program. Andrea Lee then began using individual apartments.

2007 

• Healing Roots Center opened as a drop-in program for African immigrant and African American survivors with a three year funding commitment from the United Way of Columbia-Willamette.

2009 

• Economic Empowerment program first introduced with Making Cents class.

2009 

• Emergency Shelter was renamed the Bonnie Tinker House.

2012 

• Healing Roots Center is renamed the Bradley Angle Resource Center.

2016 

• Scattered-site shelter, Tami Best Shelter Program was launched.

2019 

• Bradley Angle almost closed prior to the pandemic and many efforts were launched to stabilize the organization and rebuild it to its former glory.

2020 

• Kinship was launched as an expansion effort of our Healing Roots Program to rebuild staff levels and emphasize experiential offerings for survivors and their children. Healing Roots went from our least funded program in 2019 to our most funded program in late 2020. 

2020 

• The pandemic sent our team home from their normal office’s on March 20, 2020 and a new way of work was developed to assist DV survivors during this period. More survivors were served during the pandemic years between 2020-2023 than in prior years thanks to the deliberate and exhaustive efforts of our staff. 

2023 

• As our team recovered from the isolating nature of the pandemic, Bradley Angle made a strong effort to revive community fundraisers. In 2023, Bradley Angle partnered with a multitude of local businesses to raise funds, collect much-needed donation items, and remind Multnomah County of our work and mission. 

2024 

• The Bonnie Tinker Emergency Shelter is officially given to Bradley Angle, having met our second and final grant obligation through OCHS to run our Shelter services for 30 years. The terms of the original financial agreement as a loaned asset will be entirely forgiven at the close of this year.

2025 

• Bradley Angle becomes 50 years strong.

The National Scene 

1970’s 

• The formal domestic violence safety net largely emerged in the 1970’s with the rise of the feminist movement.

• Many of the first programs were small, grassroots, women-run organizations.

1978 

• The National Coalition Against Domestic violence formed in 1978.

1984 

• Federal recognition of domestic violence as an important issue was first recognized with the enactment of the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act [FVPSA], which provided the first federal funding for domestic violence.

1987 

• The first Domestic Violence Awareness Month was observed in 1987.

1994 

• The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was passed, the first legislation to establish domestic violence and sexual assault as federal crimes and to dedicated federal resources to coordinate community responses to domestic violence.

1996 

• The National Domestic Violence Hotline was established. In 2006 there were approximately 2000 domestic violence programs across the US serving more than 65,000 survivors and their families each year.

The View From Oregon 

1972 

• Portland Women’s Crisis line established as first hotline in Oregon.

1977 

• Oregon passed the Family Abuse Protection Act [FAPA] creating the process for obtaining restraining orders.

1978 

• The Oregon Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence formed in 1978

1981 

• The Oregon Legislature passed the Marriage License Fee (Tax) Law.

1993 

• Oregon’s Stalking Law was passed.

1994 

• Multnomah county created the Domestic Violence Coordination Office.

• Senator Wyden was a co-sponsor of VAWA and was instrumental in its passage in 1994.

1996

• Governor Kitzhaber created the Governor’s Council on Domestic Violence.

2001

• The Oregon Doemstic & Sexual Violence Services Fund was passed.

2006

• Oregon established Batterer Intervention Standards in OAR.