Community Leader
Nominated
Saving Mr. Banks
Our Opinionated
Judge Darleen
Ortega reviews
Disney blockbuster
Mayor turns to Tom Kelly
to fill vacancy on PDC
See Local News, page 3
See Metro, page
o
Volume XLIII
‘City o/Roses’
Number 2
US
trscruer44
years
. . .
w w w .portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • January 8, 2014
East County
Uplift
. *
Established in 1970
e n m n i n n i t v service
Committed to Cultural Diversity •^community
photo by D onovan M. S mith TT he P ortland O bserver
Melissa Froman, vice president of development for
the Boys and Girls Club of Portland, looks over the
site of a future Boys and Girls Club to serve youth in
Gresham, a former Drake’s 7 Dees garden center in
the Rockwood neighborhood..
Needed youth programs coming to Gresham
D onovan M . S mith
T he P ortland O bserver
The Rockwood neighborhood in Gresham will soon
become home to two of the most prolific youth-service
programs in the country.
Both the Boys and Girls Club and Friends of the
Children have partnered together to bring their respec­
by
tive organizations to sites within just blocks of each to
serve an east Multnomah County population that has
grown more challenged by economics and race.
The new Rockwood Boys and Girls Club will be
stationed on 165th and Stark, which is in close proximity
to East 162nd Avenue MAX Station. The club will be
taking over the location of a former Drake’s 7 Dees
garden center, providing 30,000 square feet of youth
facilities including a full gymnasium on a 1.7 acre site.
Friends of the Children will take over the former
Police Activities League community center on North­
east 172nd Avenue and Glisan Street. The non-profit
continued
on page 2