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Focus
(The fjortlanú (ßhßeruer
May 5,1999
Page 7
A n d G o in ' < t r o n g
m ent
T o ran also got legislative endorse­
could show up because of any issue... she
contains 55 apartm ents with com m er­
helps meet the needs of the comm unity in
m en t for w h a t th e agency calls “Best
took everybody in. She always cooked
cial space. It is located along N ortheast
other ways. For example, the organization
In terest o f th e C h ild .” T h e a pproach
enough for anyone who stopped by.”
M artin L u th e r K ing Boulevard.
has sponsored a tour of historically black
a n d h a s valuable insight. “ In
eac h o f th o se p o sitio n s, I h a d very
u n iq u e e x p erien ces a n d I w ant to talk
requires th e agency a n d th e courts to
W alker, th e m o th e r of one son, ar­
A s W alker toured h e r co rporation’s
colleges for six vears. “Whenever there Ls
w here m y su p p o rt has b een , a n d why
m a k e a p e r m a n e n t d e c isio n a b o u t
rived in P o rtlan d in 1991, u n d e r a hall
c r e a ti o n s t h r o u g h o u t N o r th a n d
a need in the community, “we find a wav
I was able to be successful,” T oran said.
w here c h ild re n will live w ithin a year
o f c ritic ism a n d sp e c u la tio n a b o u t
N o rth e ast P o rtlan d recently, she eas­
to m ake it happen,” Walker said. “T h at is
of the tim e th ey are taken in to care.
w h e th e r th e N o rth e a st C o m m u n ity
ily re m e m b e re d th e h isto ry b e h in d
our tradem ark”
D evelopm ent F oundation could im ple­
each one. She rem em bers choosing the
T h a t tra d e m a rk has b e e n reco g ­
a b o u t w here m y challenges were a n d
P a rt o f b e in g successful is lea rn in g
To be able to change the im age and
from th e challenges, she said.
T oran was hired to the position in
innerw oikings of th e state agency w ith
m en t th e U.S. D e p artm en t H o u sin g
p a in t for the outside o f th e hom e and
n ize d a n d a p p la u d ed th ro u g h o u t the
May of 1994. Seven m onths later, a m a­
the h e lp o f “ a m agnificant staff” is
a n d U rban D evelopm ent’s N ehem iah
m a k in g s u re e a c h h o m e w as w ell
n a tio n as W alker is called o n to give
H o u sin g O p p o rtu n ity P rogram . T h e
m ade. “I always say we w on’t create
w o rk s h o p s a n d se m in a rs in c itie s
p ro g ram provided a grant to b uild and
anything we w ouldn’t live in,” she said.
w h o se le a d e r s h ip is in te r e s te d in
b e e n p a in f u l, I w o u ld n o t c h a n g e
re n o v ate 250 h om es for low- to - m o d ­
In a d d itio n to choosing the paint,
b r in g in g h o m e o w n e rsh ip to th e ir
th e m ,” she said. “T h o se are reasons
e ra te incom e h om e buyers.
W alker re m e m b e rs how b u ild in g or
inner-city n eig h b o rh o o d s. “ M y in te r­
re novating a hom e in a crim e-ridden
est is ta k in g a very com plex, b u t suc­
p e rs a n d tele v isio n b ro a d c a s t sa id
and
n e ig h b o r h o o d
c e ssfu l s tra te g y a n d s ta r tin g it in
W alker a n d h e r agency could not do
p ro m p te d n e ig h b o rs to re p a ir th e ir
o th e r c o m m u n itie s a ro u n d th e c o u n ­
Never telljaki Walker it can’t be done.
it, W alker said. “T h ey w ent o n a n d on
p r o p e rty o r to h o st n e ig h b o rh o o d
m ad e d u rin g th a t o rd eal was to del­
T h e w ord can’t is a m otivator for her.
a n d on, saying they can’t d o it, they
c le an u p s a n d participate.
try ,” W alker said.
H elping o th er people. H e r m o th e r
egate c o m m u n ica tio n du ties to som e­
J u s t a sk P o rtla n d re sid e n ts a n d
sh o u ld n ’t d o it, d o n ’t d o ,” she said.
o n e else. “I lea rn ed how im p o rta n t it
jo r challenge cam e her way. In 1995, the
state took six children from the hom e
o f D iana L. W hitehead of Beaverton.
W hitehead w ent to the m edia and im ­
m e d ia te ly p e o p le a g a in st th e sta te
T o ran ’s biggest accom plishm ent, she
said. “E ven th e experiences th a t have
to self-reflect a n d to le a rn .”
agency used the case as an exam ple of
the state agency abusing parental rights.
Jaki Walker
T o ran said th e biggest m istake she
Front-page articles in local new spa­
p o w e rb ro k e rs w ho d id n ’t believe a
But in M ay of 1993, a
is not to delegate to anyone w hen there
sm all m in o rity -ru n com m u n ity devel­
hom e that was part of the
is a crisis,” she said. “You have to let
o p m en t agency could tran sfo rm in n er
N ehem iah project was se­
th e p eople h e a r directly from you.”
N o rth a n d N o rth e a st P o rtlan d neigh­
le c te d as o n e o f th e
b o rh o o d s from crim e-plagued, ab an ­
n a tio n ’s b est by B etter
S he c o n sid ere d it a lesson. “ Every
d isa p p o in tm e n t is an o p p o rtu n ity to
d o n e d , neglected places.
H om es
and
U n d er W alker's eight years o f lead­
A f te r th e W h ite h e a d i n c id e n t,
ersh ip , th a t’s exactly w hat happened.
T h at’s us in Better Homes
T o ran c o n n ec te d w ith h e r staff a n d
Now, as W alk er p lan s to resign h e r
a n d G ardens," she said
h e lp e d th em articu late th e n eed s of
position as executive d irec to r o f the
p o in tin g to th e fram ed
ch ild ren to th e L egislature, w hich h a d
N o rth e a st C o m m u n ity D evelopm ent
criticized the agency a n d its leadership
C o rp , to s ta rt h e r ow n co m p a n y to
h e lp o th e r c itie s n a tio n w id e m ak e
d u rin g th e W h ite h e a d scandal.
c o m m u n ity developm ent a success, all
The result?
In 1997, T o ra n c a m p a ig n e d for
m o re fu n d in g from the L egislature.
H e r effort, c o m b in e d w ith the effort
of h e r staff, resulted in the agency rais­
in g its b u d g e t to $454.8 m illion a n d
a d d in g 160 new workers.
o f h e r ow n successes p o in t to fo u r
w ords: “It can be done.”
H e r w o r k is a b o u t h e l p i n g
p e o p le , it is a tra it W alk er in h e r ite d
fro m h e r m o th e r.
“M y m o th e r em braced everything
and everybody,” W alker said. “People
In addiüon to housing, the agency also
w ould be proud.
G a rd e n
m a g a z in e . “ T h a t ’s it.
grow a n d to le a rn ,” she said.
n e g le c te d
cover from the magazine
Since the N ehem iah
p ro je c t, th e N o rth e a st
C o m m u n ity D e v e lo p ­
m e n t C orp, has created
M other ' s D ay
b e a u tif u l h o u s e s a n d
apartm ents in N orth and
N ortheast Portland. T h e
projects include M cCoy
Village, which is a com ­
plex built last year that
Mother to Son
Kennedy School
Mother’s Day Brunch
Sunday, May 9 from 9am to 2pm
$16.75 per person • $8.95 Children 6 to 12
Children under 6 free
Call for reservations (503) 249-3983
B y Langston H ughes
Well, son, I’ll tell you:
Life for m e ain’t been no
A nd tu rn in ’ corners,
A nd som etim es goin’ in the
crystal stair.
It’s had tacks in it,
A n d splinters,
A n d boards torn up,
A n d places with no carpet on
d ark
W here there ain’t been no light.
So, boy, d o n ’t you tu rn back.
Don’t you set dow n on the steps
‘Cause you find it’s kinder hard.
the floor-
Bare.
But all the tim e
I ’se been a-clim bin’ on,
A n d reachin’ lan d in ’s,
D on’t you fall now-
For I ’se still goin’, honey,
I’se still climbin’,
And life for me ain’t been no
crystal stair.
M cM enam ins K ennedy School
5756 NE 33rd • Portland, Oregon
www.mcmenamins.com