In 2024, Bridget Caffee announced that, after 19 years, she was stepping down from her role as founding executive director of HomePlate Youth Services, the nonprofit supporting homeless youth in Washington County. It was a sizable shakeup for an organization that had systematically seen the number of young people it served increase while also seeing a decrease in funding for its work. 

At the time, Dorian Russell was serving on the board of HomePlate and was gearing up to lead the search for Caffee’s successor. But, as they remember, a nagging idea kept returning during rare moments of down time. “Finally, I went to the remainder of the board,” Russell says, “and I said, ‘I’m really sorry, but I’m going to recuse myself from this because I would really like to apply. This community needs a leader, and I think that could be me.’” 

For the past two years, Russell has been that leader, helping steer HomePlate through an especially challenging time in its 20-year history with rents rising exponentially around the state and the second Trump administration slashing the social safety net. That reality has only strengthened the resolve of Russell and their team as they continue to provide much-needed services and support to houseless kids between the ages of 12 and 24. 

The nonprofit currently runs two drop-in centers in Hillsboro and Beaverton that provide everything from hot meals, showers, clothing, and hygiene supplies to help with getting an ID and searching for a job. As well, HomePlate has an outreach team that engages with houseless youth at schools, skateparks, or any safe place in the community, offering basic resources like snacks and water or help with getting a bus pass or referrals for health services. 

Russell understands what’s at stake here better than almost anyone. The 30-year-old grew up in Washington County, the first of four kids raised by young parents who were housing insecure. Russell estimates that, by the time they graduated in 2013, they had attended around 15 different public schools in Washington County as their family was forced to relocate frequently. And as a mixed-race, neurodivergent kid who suffered serious trauma as she grew up, Russell had a tougher time than most. 

They made it through with the help of some mentors, and accessing the services of HomePlate. “I didn't think I was going to be alive to see age 30, let alone do all of the things that I'm capable of doing now,” Russell says. “And it's really a lot of what HomePlate practices that got me here. Our motto is ‘Meet Youth Where They Are,’ and people did that for me every step of the way to get me here.”

Before reaching this point, Russell found themself on the other side of the country, going to school in Washington, D.C., studying environmental science and working in the field to explore the impact of habitat loss and land use changes on our ecosystem. They were drawn back to their home region at the behest of a mentor to join the Northwest Regional Education Service District board, advocating on behalf of children in Hillsboro. 

Even with that crucial experience in their past and as they look to the future—which includes a run for a seat on the Hillsboro City Council—Russell sees their current efforts with HomePlate as being the most defining work of their life. 

“I still pinch myself,” they say. “It’s an honor to steward this organization for its next chapter. It’s so full circle because I had a community of compassionate adults while my brain was still developing, when I needed a support system, when the government systems around me either weren’t accessible or weren’t functioning for what I needed. That really turned things around.” 

Photo by JP Bogan
Profile by Robert Ham