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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 30, 2015)
QR code for Portland Observer Online ‘City of Roses’ Happy New Year! Volume XLIV Number 54 www.portlandobserver.com Wednesday • December 30, 2015 Established in 1970 Committed to Cultural Diversity photo by M ark W ashington /t he p ortland o bserver Members of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority and their supporters dedicate a statute in honor of the late Christine Poole-Jones at the June Key Delta Community Center at the intersection of North Ainsworth and Albina Avenue. Paying it Forward o livia o livia t he p ortland o bserver A gorgeous new statue commemorating what a com- munity can do when it works together and dedicated to the local woman of color who helped make the dream a reality marks a new era at the June Key Delta Community Center in north Portland. Designed by local artist Alisa Looney with the gener- ous support of the Portland Development Commission, the statute was dedicated during a special ceremony on Dec. 19 in honor of Christine Poole-Jones, the late mem- ber of the African-American sorority which established the center, and a Portland woman who broke color barri- ers as a librarian in Portland Public Schools while leading an esteemed life of community service before her death by in 2014. Poole-Jones was the first black woman to serve as pres- ident of the Portland School Librarians Association. Her record of community service varied from director-at-large of the Irvington Neighborhood Association to serving as a member of the African American Health Coalition. She was chairman of the board of the Interstate Firehouse Cul- tural Center, member of Portland Parks and Recreation, member of Portland Arts Council, and, most prominently in this case, a dedicated member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, a Portland chapter that promotes academic excel- lence and provides help to those in need. One of her last and most notable community contribu- tions was her tireless work to build the June Key Delta center using sustainable guidelines. She freely gave her Sculpture is tribute to local activism time, money, and talent as a grant writer for project, work- ing along with architects, construction companies, and multiple government agencies to procure recycled mate- rial to be used in the construction. Ten years in the making, the center opened its doors to the public in 2011 and is well on its way to achiev- ing the highest level of the “Living Building Challenge,” a rigorous standard that measures the sustainability and eco-friendliness of new construction. The center also realizes the dream of the late June Key, one of the 10 original Delta Sigma Theta sorority mem- bers to charter the Beta Psi Chapter in Portland back in 1945. At the time, chapter meetings were held in mem- C ontinued on p age 2