Portland observer., October 03, 2018, Page Page 4, Image 4

Page 4
Minority & Small Business Week
October 3, 2018
East County Business Focus
Jarvez Hall grows prospects in culturally diverse region
b everly C orbell
t he p ortlanD o bserver
East Multnomah County is
one of the most culturally di-
verse areas in the state, and
also one of the poorest.
According to a recent report
by WorkSource Portland Met-
ro, full-time workers living in
East Multnomah County earn
68 percent less than those to
the west of 82nd Avenue and
have the highest concentration
of poverty in the entire state.
Child poverty in East Portland
and Gresham is 26 percent,
while the rate is only 4 percent
for neighborhoods on the west
side of the Willamette River.
That reality has been the im-
petus behind push by the non-
profit East Metro Economic
Alliance (EMEA) to transform
the east county area by coordi-
nating economic development
with East Portland as well as
the four cities that comprise
the eastern end of the county –
photo by D anny p eterson /t he p ortlanD o bserver
Gresham, Wood Village, Fair-
Jarvez Hall, executive director of the nonprofit East Metro Economic Alliance, works to fight poverty and grow businesses op-
view and Troutdale.
portunities
in culturally diverse east Multnomah County, including the cities of Gresham, Troutdale, Wood Village and Fairview.
Jarvez Hall, executive direc-
by
tor of the alliance, said there
are already dramatic job and
business developments that
promise progress, including
the Port of Portland’s Gresham
Vista Business Park, as well
as Rockwood Rising, a large
mixed-use development by the
city of Gresham at a former
Fred Meyer site. He said area
governments, nonprofits and
business entities have worked
to advance the area economi-
cally.
“A lot of people don’t think
that we make stuff, but ac-
tually in the east metro area,
manufacturing is the single
largest industry,” he said. “We
have some large manufactur-
ers there, like Microchip, and
we have a lot of fab and pre-
fab manufacturing. The Subaru
plant, a distribution center for
parts, just came on line and De
Beers (Group) is actually going
to manufacture (synthetic) dia-
monds out in Gresham. They
just had a groundbreaking at
the Vista Park.”
But coordinating future ef-
forts between the many eco-
nomic development entities in
the region can have an even
greater effect, says Hall, and
could potentially have even
more impact.
To that end, in the fall of
2017, Hall approached Dr.
Sheila Martin of Portland State
University’s Institute of Port-
land Metropolitan Studies, and
Steven Ames, principle at NXT
Consulting Group, to research,
design and lead efforts with
East County business and com-
munity leaders to look in-depth
at the future of the area’s eco-
nomic prospects.
The end result — which is
really a beginning — was the
first East Metro Economic
Prosperity Forum held in May
where an 18-page report was
presented on the research by
Martin and Ames, which was
conducted with the help of
graduate students.
The report “spoke to the
needs of the area,” Hall said,
and included demographics,
housing, entrepreneurship and
industry, work force education,
transportation and land use.
According to the report, the
four cities in East County are
expected to grow by 19,000
new residents with an addition-
al 28,000 new jobs by 2040.
The forum is an effort to de-
C ontinueD on p age 10