Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 14, 2018)
Brown, Hardesty Victorious Soul of Albina Concert to celebrate Portland’s soul music history ‘City of Roses’ Volume XLVII • Number 45 See Metro, page 9 Progressive candidates and causes do well See Local News, page 3 www.portlandobserver.com Wednesday • November 14, 2018 D anny p eterson /t he p ortlanD o bserver Housing advocates and construction company officials from Portland’s African American community made the opening of the Beatrice Morrow apartments possible and Thursday they gathered for the official grand opening. Pictured (from left) are Aneshka Colas-Dickson, Colas Construction founder Hermann Colas, Portland Community Reinvestment Initiative, Inc. (PCRI) Executive Director Maxine Fitzpatrick, and Colas Construction President and Chief Executive Officer Andrew Colas. photos by Established in 1970 Committed to Cultural Diversity The Beatrice Morrow’s affordable apartments at Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Cook Street are the first to open under the city’s new right-to-return policy for displaced African American residents. First Preference Housing Beatrice Morrow first to open under new policy by D anny p eterson t he p ortlanD o bserver Affordable housing advocates are cele- brating the opening of The Beatrice Mor- row apartments, an African American- led housing complex that is the first to open under a preference policy for displaced residents. The building, which opened with a rib- bon-cutting ceremony on Thursday at 3368 N.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. is part of Portland Community Reinvestment Initia- tives, Inc.’s (PCRI’s) Pathway 1000 initia- tive, a 10-year plan to construct 1,000 new affordable homes and rentals. The Beatrice Morrow, encompassing 80 affordable housing apartments prioritized for historic residents of north and northeast Portland, is named after Beatrice Morrow Cannady, a renowned Portland civil rights advocate from the early 20th Century who was editor of the Advocate, the state’s larg- est African-American newspaper at the time, and one of the founders of the Port- land NAACP. “I feel really good, mostly for the com- munity. You know, being able to provide a place that people can return to communi- ties they’ve lived in for generations,” said PCRI Executive Director Maxine Fitzpat- rick. Dr. Bishop Steven Holt, who chairs a community oversight committee on hous- ing policies and anti-displacement efforts, joined in celebrating the Beatrice Morrow opening. Holt recounted his own past struggling to find housing and make rent in northeast Portland when he was a young married man. He spoke to the importance that hous- C ontinueD on p age 5
