Senator Merkley Celebrates The Next Door Inc.

Left to right: Senator Jeff Merkley, Lyndsey Matney, Timothy Shampoe, and Janet Hamada

On Saturday, April 27th, Senator Jeff Merkley held his annual Town Hall in Wasco County. At each of his town halls, Senator Merkley presents a flag that was flown at the capital in Washington, D.C. to an organization that he feels has gone above and beyond to serve their community. At this year’s event, Senator Merkley chose to celebrate The Next Door Inc. (TNDI) and its work in the local community by offering a variety of programs and services in the Mid-Columbia region. 

“The Next Door was honored to be chosen as the recipient of Senator Merkley’s flag,” says Janet Hamada, TNDI’s Executive Director. “We were especially thrilled to have US Army veteran, Timothy Shampoe, our School Administrator, receive the flag.”  

Hamada and Shampoe were joined at the Town Hall by Heather Howard, Department Manager of Youth Services at TNDI; Alex Goertler, Youth Care Specialist at TNDI’s Youth Drop-In Center; Anna Gatton, a Teacher at TNDI’s Kelly Avenue School; and Lyndsey Matney, a Kelly Avenue School student. 

Founded in Hood River in 1971, The Next Door started serving children and families in The Dalles in 1984. Currently, TNDI serves 3,500 people in seven counties in the Mid-Columbia region, including Hood River, Wasco, Sherman, Wheeler, and Gilliam counties in Oregon. The Next Door has 35 programs, all designed to achieve its mission of opening doors to new possibilities to strengthen children and families and improve communities. The team members of The Next Door believe that if they work as hard as they can every day to accomplish their mission, they will get closer to TNDI’s vision, which is a supportive community where all children and families are safe, healthy, and valued. 

The two programs present at Saturday’s Town Hall are both housed at TNDI’s office in The Dalles located at 1113 Kelly Avenue. The Youth Drop-In Center teaches youth to feel prepared, courageous, and ready to navigate their own lives and be “captain of their own ship” by overcoming their challenges and feeling empowered to pursue their own opportunities. It started providing a safe space for young people in 2022 and is open weekdays from 4-7 pm in The Dalles, and currently serving over 35 youth. 

The other program, The Next Door’s Kelly Ave School (KAS), provides alternative education for 15 high school students from North Wasco School District 21. KAS opened in 2019 originally to provide short-term stability for students at risk of dropping out of high school. Soon after its opening, however, some students decided to stay and since then, eight students have graduated directly from KAS with their high school diplomas. 

Both programs represent what The Next Door is all about—strengthening its community by increasing youth’s capacity and desire for life-long learning while improving their ability to be resilient as well as growing their level of hope for their future. 

In addition to presenting the flag to TNDI, Senator Merkley updated Town Hall attendees on his work in Washington, D.C., and invited them to ask questions and share suggestions about how to tackle challenges facing Oregon and America.  

Matney also took this time to address the lack of opportunities for youth in the Gorge to engage in healthy activities. Matney asked what Senator Merkley could do to help bring access to healthy activities for youth to the Gorge since healthy outlets go hand in hand with mental health issues for teens. 

While The Next Door continues to collaborate with community partners to respond to the community's needs, the organization extends its thanks to Senator Merkley for also reserving space for young voices to share their concerns and be heard.