Committed to Cultural Diversity
www. port landobserver. com
August 15. 2007
'D iv e rs ity in the
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SECTION
t
Portland Welcomes New Professionals
Say Hey NW!
builds community
connections
by N icole R onal H ooper
T he P ortland O bserver
Relocating to w o rk can be a hard expe
rience for many. The u nfam iliar territory o f
a new city and m aking new friends is all
part o f the experience.
But fo r people m oving from big metro
politan city like A tlanta, Chicago or New
Y o rk, com ing to Portland, could provejust
as strange. But lu c k ily there’ s a w elcome
wagon sort o f event called Say Hey N W !
fo r professionals w ho have recently relo
cated to Portland.
As local employers sought to recruit
people from around the country to fill
d iffic u lt jobs, the investment fo r em ploy
ees to connect was evident, not o n ly in
their careers but also in their com m unity.
“ There were a num ber o f people in the
com m unity and new professionals o f color
relocating to Oregon that had a hard tim e
getting connected,” said V ic k i Nakashima,
a key player in the get-togethers fo r the
past five years.
“ For people here w ho are not used to
seeing such diverse groups together, I
w ould guess a lot o f people w ould think
i t ’ s very diverse. I t ’ s all about percep
tio n ,” said Nakashima, who leads the ses
sions as executive director o f Partners in
D iversity.
Say Hey N W ! started as a small event
but has turned into a quarterly a ffa ir that
can attract up to 300 people, w ith more
than h a lf being professionals o f color.
Partners in D ive rsity isn’ t the only o r
ganization w ith a m ulti-cu ltu ra l netw ork
ing event but its focus is on keeping the
talent in Oregon.
Nakashima says Say Hey is often a sigh
o f re lie f fo r newcomers.
photo by N icole
R onai , H ooplr /T he P ortland O bserx er
Vicki Nakashima helps new residents, especially people o f color, make community connections through her organ,zation Say Hey NW!
"W hen people attend Say Hey they can
say ‘ Ahh, I d id n ’ t know this existed,” ' she
said. “ In orderto keep professionals o f color
in Portland, it ’ s good to meet people o f
co lo r." Before her w ork w ith Partners in
Diversity, Nakashima worked as a recruiter
for the State o f Oregon. It was part o f her jo b
to conduct searches to fill positions with in
color from other regions, but she also found
that a lot o f these newcomers were unhappy
upon moving here. Often they would move
back to their hometown.
“ The fe e lin g was that maybe we
Oregon State government. She found that
it was necessary to recruit professionals o f
w e re n 't d o ing a good jo b to ensure that
people get connected w ith th e ir co m
m u n ity ," said N akashim a, "T here is a
"yf on page H4
continued
TriMet General
Manager Fred
Hansen is a daily
commuter on the
agency's fleet o f
buses and light rail
trains. Hansen joined
TriMet in 1998,
shortly before the
development and
future expansion of
MAX on North
Interstate Avenue.
Fred Hansen Tracks
Changes at TriMet
Talks of expansion now and later
S arah B i . oi nt
T’ ih P or i land O bserver
by
T riM e t General Manager Fred Hansen
jo in e d the transportation agency in 1998
at a challenging time when the com m unity
was poised to vote on a south-north light
rail line from M ilw a u kie to north Portland.
The bond measure failed region-wide,
but drew approval in north Portland neigh
borhoods adjacent to the proposed line.
Six years later the Yellow Line is a success
ful north Portland lin k to the region's
M A X system.
Plans for M il waukic prevail as well, with
construction underway along 1-205 to
Teresa Boyle, Portland Office o f Transportation project manager and Coral Egnew, TriMet community affairs
representative work well together on the Portland Mall MAX Light Rail Project. Boyle oversees the project and ensures
it complies with city regulations, while Egnew keeps businesses and residents up-tadate on construction progress.
Clackamas and another lin k to M ilw a u kie
to be implemented as phase tw o o f the
current South C o rrid o r Project.
As i f that weren’ t enough, the heart o f
dow ntown Portland sits gutted to make
wav fo r a new transit m all, and those on
both sides o f the C olum bia may soon take
light rail across state lines in an effort to
solve congestion and increase mass tran
sit use on the 1-5 bridge.
A lso in the distant future, think 2015,
the W illam ette R iver w ill get a new bridge,
the first since Fremont graced the waters
in 1973. This connection w ill bring light rail
access to the South W aterfront and w ill be
nestled somew here between the Marquam
and Ross Isla n d b rid g e s , south to
Milwaukie.
Hansen talked w ith the Portland Ob-
continued
on page H5
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