Mission Statement:
De Paul works in partnership with individuals, families and communities seeking to create freedom from drug and alcohol addiction.

De Paul Treatment Centers is marking its 27th year of providing chemical dependency treatment services to some of Oregon’s most severely affected low-income adults and youth. Over 20,000 people have been served by the agency since its incorporation as a independent non-profit in 1978.

Established by the Portland Society of St. Vincent de Paul to provide housing to late-stage alcoholics on Portland’s “skid row”, De Paul began with two employees and a grant of $20,000. The program was located in the 1907 Franklin Hotel at 1320 SW Washington St., Portland, which is the present location of De Paul’s adult treatment center and administration.

De Paul’s second director, Steve Newton, changed the agency’s focus from providing food and housing to treating the disease of alcoholism beginning in 1977. A recovering alcoholic who was expelled form Notre Dame’s Moreau Seminary, Newton’s vision was to treat the homeless and the poor with the same methods that had proven effective with people who have health insurance and the ability to pay for treatment. The National Council on Alcoholism stated at the time that De Paul was the only agency in the country providing treatment to indigent, late-stage alcoholics. The organization was separately incorporated in 1978.

The De Paul Youth Residential Treatment Center opened in 1985, one of five regional centers in Oregon funded by state government. Today the Youth Center continues to serve low-income youth from throughout northwestern Oregon with residential and outpatient programs and the De Paul Alternative School.

De Paul is accredited by the National Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities. It opened outpatient offices in Hillsboro in 2000 and recently began a DUII program.