Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 12, 2016)
QR code for Portland Observer Online ‘City of Roses’ Volume XLV Number 41 Registration Deadline Natural Foods Building Permit Just a few days left to make sure you can vote Plans approved for low scale development See story, page 2 See Local News, page 3 www.portlandobserver.com Wednesday • October 12, 2016 Established in 1970 Committed to Cultural Diversity Photo by C ervante P oPe /t he P ortland o bserver Dr. Jill Ginsberg oversees the remodeling of a commercial space at 714 N.E. Alberta St. into new medical offices and the future home of her North by Northeast Communi- ty Health Center, a free and low cost clinic to serve the under-respected and underserved. New roots for legacy clinic Move to Alberta keeps focus on underserved C ervante P oPe t he P ortland o bserver North by Northeast Community Health Center (NxNE) has been a lifeline for minority and disadvantaged popula- tions since its inception by a Kaiser Per- manente doctor and African American pastor over a decade ago. On Oct. 17 the free and low-cost clinic will have a new home that thankfully will still be located in the heart of the community it serves. “We knew we were going to have to by move and we had been planning it for awhile,” says Dr. Jill Ginsberg, the medi- cal director and co-founder of NxNE. “It was a great opportunity to think about what we want this new space to be, how much space we need, what we can afford and where it should be.” The new location will open at 714 N.E. Alberta St., just a few blocks from the clinic’s current location at 3030 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., a site be- ing redeveloped by Cascadia Behavior- al Healthcare to accommodate new af- fordable housing and upgrade its mental health services with a new ground floor clinic. Faced with the impending move, NxNE turned to the community to help decide where their next location should be. “There was a very clear agreement that people wanted us to stay in the neighbor- hood,” says Ginsberg. “A lot of people see this neighborhood as home, even if they’ve had to leave. They come back maybe for church or to see their friends or go to the barbershop and it was really important to people that their health clinic was in their home neighborhood.” Ginsberg stressed her displeasure with the displacement she’s seen happen to minority and low income residents in inner north and northeast Portland and didn’t want her clinic to be another one. She has grown close to the predominate- ly African American clientele the clinic has served since she founded it with the late Pastor Mary Overstreet-Smith in Au- gust 2006. The clinic’s history of serving up- rooted citizens runs deep, as its begin- nings were somewhat a response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 when Pastor Overstreet-Smith helped relocate 30 storm-displaced families from the New Orleans area to the Pacific Northwest. “I felt very overwhelmed and I had no idea what to do to help with all of that,” says Ginsberg. “When I saw what she was doing I was inspired by it, and I thought maybe she could use some help.” Ginsberg rallied her neighbors to help collect items like diapers and food for the families, but Pastor Overstreet Smith C ontinued on P age 4