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Portland Observer
Online
‘City of Roses’
Volume XLV
Number 52
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • December 28, 2016
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Photo by C hrista M C i ntyre /t he P ortland o bserver
McCoy Academy Founder and Executive Director Becky Black and Director of Program Development Katie Carpenter stand in front the school’s life-size mural of Martin Lu-
ther King Jr. as they look for support to save the academy which is facing displacement from plans to demolish the King Neighborhood building that houses the academy.
Counting on a Miracle
McCoy Academy
faces closure
C hrista M C i ntyre
t he P ortland o bserver
McCoy Academy, a non-profit private
high school serving underserved students
in Portland for more than a generation is
facing closure. The landmark 110-year-old
house converted into a school on Northeast
Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard where
McCoy is headquartered was recently sold
to make way for condominiums.
by
The construction plans by new owners
of the building have placed the school in
jeopardy, according to school leaders. A
desperate fundraising campaign to help
save the school has been launched. An es-
timated $50,000 will be needed for McCoy
to pay for a lease on a new building and
another $4,278 to pay off the outstanding
debt on its current site.
Named after the late Gladys McCoy, a
former Multnomah County chairperson,
school board member, and the first Af-
rican American elected to public office
in Oregon, McCoy Academy has been a
community fixture since 1988, providing
a safe space where disadvantaged students
are given the opportunity to graduate from
high school or get a GED.
Many of its students face considerable
challenges: Criminal backgrounds, gang
ties, substance and alcohol abuse, anx-
iety, teen pregnancy and homelessness.
They come to McCoy with holes in their
education and unstable family lives. They
often have behavioral issues after facing
problems as children. Many of the students
have been expelled from other schools or
have had a difficult time functioning in
larger schools with multiple class rooms
and teachers. McCoy students get one-on-
one support and someone to listen, to trust
and believe in their potential.
Without a building, the 15 students cur-
rently enrolled in the school will have few
options, and according to McCoy Acade-
my Director and Founder Becky Black,
will face the likely prospect of not finish-
ing their education. There’s an even longer
waiting list of students who would like to
attend the school
C ontinued on P age 14