Dougy Center is thrilled to announce the future opening of Malcolm’s House in Beaverton, our second permanent location and the first on the Portland Metro area’s westside. After working diligently behind the scenes to secure foundational funding, our community responded with remarkable generosity, raising $13 million so far for the new westside location, as well as improvements at the headquarters in SE Portland.
Named Malcolm’s House in honor of a transformational lead gift from the Estate of Dr. Malcolm Marquis, the new Dougy Center home is situated in a family-centered neighborhood and is similar in size to our SE Portland headquarters. Renovations have just begun on the existing 14,000-square-foot building, which will include grief-informed program spaces built around Dougy Center’s signature music, art, and “big energy” rooms that are designed to help children safely express and process grief.
The building will also feature indoor and outdoor play areas, a 1,500-square-foot community/training room to serve as Dougy Center’s national hub for grief-informed training and community gatherings, a recording studio for the Grief Out Loud podcast, and ample parking with easy access to Hwy 26, Hwy 217, and nearby public transit. The new Dougy Center home will be ready to serve children and families in early 2027.
“We’ve never served more people or had a longer waitlist,” said Dougy Center Executive Director Brennan C. Wood. “The westside of Portland is one of Oregon’s most diverse and fastest-growing regions, and the families who live there and need our services have told us clearly: the need is real, the transit barriers to the eastside are increasing, and the time is now.”
Today, 213 children and adults are on the waiting list to access Dougy Center’s no cost, peer-based grief support groups, with waits of up to a year. Malcolm’s House, when complete, is projected to double the number of children and families served through in-person programming at all Dougy Center locations—to 5,000 annually—within five years of opening, without doubling staff or budget. It will also double the number of grief support groups available to families in that same time period. As the number of children and families Dougy Center is able to serve increases, the internal cost per participant will reduce significantly with this expansion project.
Childhood bereavement is a critical public health issue. Nationally, 1 in 11 children will experience the death of a parent or sibling before they turn 18, and in some parts of Washington County, that number is as high as 1 in 8. The 2026 Childhood Bereavement Estimation Model (CBEM) estimates that 1 in 12 children in Oregon will experience the death of a parent or sibling by age 18. That number more than doubles by age 25. These children face heightened risks of Substance Use Disorder, disrupted social and emotional development and even earlier mortality rates.
“Beaverton has been asking for a Dougy Center presence for years, and Malcolm’s House is exactly the kind of resource our families deserve,” said Beaverton Mayor Lacey Beaty. “Grief doesn’t wait, and neither should the children and families in our community who need support. We’re proud to welcome a true Dougy Center home to the westside.”
The new Dougy Center home will reduce transportation barriers for westside families and offer culturally responsive and language-accessible grief support. The location also provides an opportunity to expand an already strong partnership with the Beaverton School District, whose headquarters are less than a mile from the new location. Malcolm’s House will also serve as a national training hub, strengthening Dougy Center’s ability to train thousands of service providers annually in grief-informed practices and enhancing the impact far beyond the Portland Metro area.
