May 17, 2017
Page 5
CAREERS EDUCATION
Library Branch Manager Honored
Patricia Welch, the recently re-
tired North Portland Library Branch
Manager, is being honored for her
17 years of advocacy for literacy
education, community involvement,
leadership and attention to diversity.
Welch will receive a Celebrate
Literacy Award from the Portland
Reading Council, a local chapter of
the International Literacy Associa-
tion, during an awards ceremony on
Thursday, May 18 at 6:30 p.m. at the
Monarch Hotel in Clackamas.
Welch moved to Portland from
Detroit in 1996 and transformed the
North Portland Library during her
tenure by raising community en-
gagement, exhibiting local artists,
partnering with PassinArt to host a
Juneteenth celebration, kick-starting
the annual African American Read-
In and launching the library’s Black
Resource Center.
Two years ago, Welch was award-
ed the 2015 Fleming Award for her
commitment to social justice. To
attend the upcoming ceremony or
learn more, visit portlandreading-
council.org.
Patricia Welch, recently retired North Portland Library branch manager, is honored for her years of work advocating for literacy edu-
cation and social justice.
Segregation in
Portland Explored
The community is invited to
discover how segregation was
justified in Portland from the pe-
riod around World War II through
the end of the 20th century from
Dr. Karen Gibson, an associate
professor and scholar at Portland
Block leaders
from the Albina
Neighborhood
Improvement
Project in March
1964. Photo
courtesy of City of
Portland Archives.
State University
Gibson will explore how pub-
lic officials, the real estate indus-
try and citizens justified de facto
segregation in Portland and how
it shaped the Albina district of in-
ner north and northeast Portland
during a free community conver-
sation, “Portland’s Black Belt:
Motives and Means in Albina Real
Estate, 1940-1990.”
Sponsored by the Oregon His-
torical Society, the discussion
will take place at McMenamin’s
Kennedy School Monday, May 22
from 7-9 p.m.
Gibson is a regular contribu-
tor to many publications and was
a recent visiting scholar at UC
Berkeley’s Institute of Urban and
Regional Development.