Martin Luther King Jr.
Page 30
2018 special edition
O PINION
January 10, 2018
Opinion articles do not necessarily represent the views of the
Portland Observer. We welcome reader essays, photos and
story ideas. Submit to news@portlandobserver.com.
Dreams of Owning a Home in My Neighborhood
Pathway 1000
presents a path
forward
by Sommer Martin
The thought of attending a work
event on a Saturday morning was
making my foot swell. Thoughts of
staying home with a hot cup of tea,
self-help book, blanket and home-
cooked meal were out the window,
as my company, Portland Commu-
nity Reinvestment Initiatives, Inc.
(PCRI), was hosting its second
Pathway 1000 Homeownership
Education Forum at the Portland
Metropolitan Workforce Training
Center, a few miles away from my
mother’s house, with whom I live
with, begrudgingly.
Let’s face it, I am in my early
30’s, I work full-time, and the only
affordable place for me to reside in
Portland is a shared living space
with ye ole Mother Hen. It is as live-
ly as it sounds.
It was incredibly grey that Sat-
urday morning. The drive over
was slow with the melodic sounds
of rain. The movement from wind-
shield wipers made me even sleep-
ier. More hateful, I arrived at the
location a few minutes early, to see
a small number of cars scattered like
confetti around the parking lot.
After parking, I noticed a woman
walking briskly to the event space
trying to escape rain and wind, all
the while trying to keep her outfit
dry and her hairstyle intact. I gig-
gled to myself. ‘I feel you, sis.’ My
umbrella went up, and I jogged to
the front door.
Inside were a few people sit-
ting, standing and milling about,
snacking on delectables from our
continental Panera Bread breakfast.
I made a beeline towards the food
and found a cozy spot next to Jack-
ie Butts, Homeownership Program
Manager for the Portland Housing
Center, one of our featured guest
photo by Suzanne Veaudry/PCRI
Sommer Martin considers the possibilities of home ownership
during a Pathway 1000 Home Ownership Education Forum by
Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives, Inc. (PCRI)
speakers. After a brief conversation
catching each other up on our lives,
I began to see more people from the
community tickle in. But my coffee
had not yet taken effect and I was
set on everybody within a five mile
radius knowing I was only there for
work, and that I would prefer to be
in my bed.
Maxine Fitzpatrick, PCRI’s ex-
ecutive director, walked in and there
was a visible sigh of relief from
Yvette Davis, the organization’s
Homeownership Program Coor-
dinator. The show could not start
without Maxine.
Introduced to a room full of ea-
ger ears, Fitzpatrick spoke about her
initial 5-year commitment to PCRI
and Portland, and how she ended up
staying another 20 years. She spoke
of PCRI’s homeownership initia-
tive, Pathway 1000, which will in-
volve building 1,000 units of afford-
able housing. The new construction
sites are in north and northeast Port-
land and include townhomes, space
for commercial businesses, and The
Beatrice Morrow and King Park
apartments.
With comedic timing laced with
facts about generational poverty in
the black community, Portland spe-
cifically, Fitzpatrick described how
Pathway 1000 would combat gener-
ational poverty through job training,
improving educational pursuits, and
homeownership.
“The city reneged on its urban
renewal plan, but you have a right
to return to your neighborhood,” she
explained.
I thought, “What is keeping me
from owning a home in my old
neighborhood?”
My family owned the four bed-
room two bath home I grew up in. I
knew nothing about what it took to
keep our house up and running, how
it helped our family financially, or the
home buying process. I just remember
how it felt. It felt good to come home
from school, and know our house
was ours. It felt good not “living on
top” of other people in an apartment
complex. It felt good investing in our
neighbors and vice versa. It even felt
good witnessing the pride my mother
took in her garden.
We ended up selling the house.
The reasoning behind doing so was
that there was too much space and
not enough people to inhabit it af-
ter my brothers and I moved out.
We didn’t think far enough into the
future of how this sale would affect
all of us. Our beautiful home now
belongs to a white family, and each
of us either rent rooms or reside in
apartment complexes.
Just thinking about not having
our family home anymore was so
upsetting. I could feel the anger be-
gin to radiate from my kneecaps as
the words from Hosea 4:6 crept into
my mind, “My people perish from
the lack of knowledge.”
A concise yet informative You-
Tube video from John Hope Bry-
ant of Operation Hope, followed.
Bryant was speaking with Roland
Martin, host of NewsOne, about
the rules of economic liberation and
how we, as black people, “didn’t get
the memo,” about building up our
credit scores.
“We are living in economic slav-
ery right now,” Bryant said.
Wow. What a sobering statement.
As an undergraduate student from
Oregon, I remember arriving for col-
lege in Tennessee, and the first thing
I did was apply for a credit card. I
did not read any of the small print,
compare credit cards or anything. I
just started swiping. And you get a
meal! And you get a meal! And you
get a meal! My friends and I would
go shopping, and I would apply
for credit cards in the store. Swipe,
swipe, swipe! In my mind, this was
free money. Free money with no re-
sponsibility was my mindset for the
next few years. Those decisions I
Never Give Up Fighting for What You Believe In
Let courage,
faith and hope
guide you
by Marian Wright Edelman
This is a time to stand
and fight for the futures
of our children and the
soul of our nation with all
our might! I am strength-
ened every morning by
reading these words over
my kitchen sink — based on a poem
first published in 1905 and anony-
mously adapted over the years. Its
bottom line: Never, ever give up
fighting for what you believe in.
If you think you are beaten, you
are; If you think that you dare not,
you don’t; If you’d like to win, but
you think you can’t. It’s almost a
cinch that you won’t.
If you think you’ll lose, you’ve lost;
For out in the world you’ll
find success begins with a
fellow’s will. It’s all in the
state of mind.
Full many a race is lost;
Ere even a step is run,
And many a coward falls;
Ere even his work’s begun.
Think high and your deeds will
grow; Think low and you’ll fall
behind. Think that you can and
made then, are the reasons why I am
where I am financially now. I have
to clean up what I’ve messed up.
After the video, Wyman Win-
ston of WHEDA took the podium.
“Make a conscious decision not to
be a tenant,” he said. I began to sit
up a bit straighter. “It’s cheaper to
own a home than to rent. Home-
ownership will keep more money in
your pocket. You have to begin with
your sense of who you are. What are
you doing?”
Hmmm. .what am I doing? Sit-
ting on my mother’s couch, under a
blanket, drinking tea, reading self-
help books and eating homemade
food. These things sound like fun,
but I could be doing all these things
in my own home.
Jackie Butts’ presentation on the
partnership between PCRI and the
Portland Housing Center interrupt-
ed by daydreaming. The center pro-
vides Getting Your House in Order
classes, culturally-specific financial
education for African-American
and Hispanic people, in addition to
homeownership counseling.
Butts took us through a Five C’s
of Credit exercise. She encouraged
us to look at our finances, our bud-
get, and get homeownership coun-
seling because, “with homeowner-
ship counseling, you are 30 percent
less likely to go into foreclosure.”
In the end, I thought the forum
was a success. It forced me to look at
my finances and homeownership dif-
ferently. It helped me imagine what
I want to see change in Portland. I
want to see black and brown people
walking their dogs, in their neigh-
borhoods, riding their bikes, going
to their stores, buying from their
businesses, and taking their children
to their neighborhood schools. I feel
empowered to be an active member
of an economic movement in my city
where I get to see people who look
like me, thriving.
Sommer Martin is media coordi-
nator for Portland Community Re-
investment Initiatives, Inc. (PCRI)
many child dreams and hopes that
violence, homelessness, hunger,
poverty, and drugs turn to dust. Be
you will. It’s all in the state of
many years of labor. Be Thou my
Thou my and their dreamkeeper
mind.
strength, energy, and persever-
and grant them hope and help in
If you think you’re outclassed, you
ance.
our times.
are; You have to think high to rise. O God, Thou knowest that my
Thank You, God, for hearing my cries
You have to be sure of yourself,
internal nerve and voice quaver
as You heard Hagar’s long ago.
Before you can win a prize.
unconfidently amidst all those who
You do not need to know pre-
Life’s battles don’t always go to the
speak with unjust certainty. Be
cisely what is happening or exactly
stronger or faster man, But sooner Thou my confidence and clarity
where it is all going. What you need
or later the man who wins, is the
and anchor.
is to recognize the challenges and
fellow who thinks he can.
O God, Thou knowest how scat-
opportunities offered by the pres-
I also share a prayer of surrender: tered are my thoughts and activ-
ent moment and embrace them with
O God, Thou knowest that I cannot
ities that tire me out and drain
courage, faith, and hope.
read, understand, or retain all I
my energy. Be Thou my focus and
Let’s keep building the nation
think I need to know.
order my words and steps to meet and world all our children need and
Remember for me and understand
our children’s needs.
deserve.
for me what I do need to know.
O God, Thou knowest my dreams
Marian Wright Edelman is Presi-
O God, Thou knowest I am bone
and hopes for the children of
dent of the Children’s Defense Fund.
weary and worn down after
America and of the world and the