The Evolve Experience BPD Partners with the Red Door Project

#BeavertonPolice

The Beaverton Police Department is partnering with Portland-based non-profit, the Red Door Project. The team at the Red Door Project is providing four separate sessions of their “Evolve Experience” for members of the department. Funding for this program came from a Reser Family Foundation Grant awarded to the Red Door Project.

The Evolve Experience is a unique arts-based workshop designed for criminal justice professionals and community stakeholders that combines dramatic storytelling and audience engagement. The Evolve Experience is built first on theatre — dramatically-crafted stories based on the lived experiences of African Americans, police officers struggling to make sense of a system that may not be serving either the public or the officers themselves, and other individuals who live at the intersection of race and criminal justice.

The theatrical portion of the program is accompanied by a curriculum designed to encourage participants to self-reflect and listen to others who may have different viewpoints and experiences. This increases capacity for the nuanced thinking required to successfully navigate change and conflict, and to collectively address critical social issues.

“The first session already took place and the feedback from staff who attended, including myself, was overwhelmingly positive,” said Chief Groshong. “The opportunity to reflect on these important and highly relevant issues in the environment provided by the Red Door Project was phenomenal and we look forward to future sessions and working together.”