✦ Legal
Confidentiality Policy
Effective date: July 19, 2026
The Welcome PDX serves women rebuilding after domestic violence, incarceration, recovery, loss, and other hard seasons. For many of the people we work with, confidentiality isn’t just a courtesy — it can be a matter of physical safety. This policy describes the heightened protections we apply to your information, in keeping with the confidentiality standards required of programs funded under the federal Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act (FVPSA).
We will never confirm or deny that someone is a participant in our programs to any outside party — including family members, employers, landlords, or law enforcement without valid legal process — without that person’s informed, written, and specific consent.
What counts as protected information
“Personally identifying information” includes anything that could reasonably be used, alone or combined with other available information, to identify you as an individual who has sought or received our services — your name, address, contact information, Social Security number, photograph, or details specific enough (even without a name) that someone who knows you could recognize you from them.
How consent works
If we ever need to share your identifying information outside The Welcome PDX, we will:
- Ask for your written consent before any disclosure, not after;
- Explain exactly who would receive the information, what specifically would be shared, and why;
- Limit the disclosure to only what you agreed to, for only as long as you agreed to;
- Let you say no, or withdraw consent later, without it affecting your access to our programs.
We will never make your participation in our programs, or your access to services, conditional on agreeing to share your information.
Limited exceptions
There are narrow circumstances where we may be required to act without your prior consent:
- Where Oregon law requires us to report suspected abuse or neglect of a child, elder, or dependent adult;
- Where we believe there is an imminent risk of serious harm to you or someone else;
- Where we are compelled by a valid court order — and even then, where safe and legally possible, we will seek to notify you first and pursue every available protection to limit or oppose the disclosure.
Aggregate reporting
Like most nonprofits, we report program outcomes (such as enrollment numbers or completion rates) to our funders and board. These reports use de-identified, aggregate data only — numbers and trends, never names or details that could identify a specific individual, especially in smaller programs where even a description could be identifying.
Staff access
Sensitive information — including care notes and anything you share in confidence with staff or facilitators — is visible only to authorized staff who need it to support you, never to other students or the public. Our platform enforces this access control technically, not just as policy.
A note on how we’re funded
We hold ourselves to these protections as our standard practice for every participant, regardless of which specific grant or funding source supports a given program. If a particular program is directly funded under VAWA, FVPSA, or a similar confidentiality-mandated federal source, additional program-specific requirements may also apply — ask your facilitator or program staff if you’d like the specifics for the program you’re in.
Questions or concerns
If you ever have a concern about how your information has been handled, please tell us — reach us at
Support@thewelcomepdx.org or (971) 213-8101. You can also see our
Privacy Policy for how we handle information more generally.
The Welcome PDX · 310 SW 4th Ave Ste. 914, Portland, OR 97204 · EIN: 41-2731518