November 20, 2019
The
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INSIDE L O C A L N E W S
Week in Review
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photo From W ikipedia C ommons
Albina Head Start has negotiated the successful purchase of the Woodlawn Methodist Church at
Northeast 15th and Dekum thanks to supporters who provided free legal services and the church
which offered to sell the property at a discount so that the nonprofit education and community
building organization can continue to house its Tina Clegg Albina Early Head Start and Head Start
Center at the site along with other services.
Saved for Albina Head Start
Arts &
ENTERTAINMENT
M ETRO
O PINION
C LASSIFIED /B IDS
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F OOD
Nonprofit buys
property with
community help
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by b everly C orbell
t he p ortland o bserver
The presence of Albina Head
Start in Portland’s diverse Wood-
lawn neighborhood will continue
thanks to the successful purchase
of the Woodlawn Methodist
Church at Northeast 15th and De-
kum, providing a permanent home
for the organization to serve low
income residents from the African
American community and other
disadvantaged populations.
Thanks to footwork by the non-
profit’s pro bono law firm and sup-
port by church leaders to sell the
property at a discount to maintain
its community use, Albina Head
Start becomes the new owner of
the site and its long-running Tina
Clegg Head Start and Early Head
Start Center can remain operating
and grounded to its roots.
Ronnie Herndon, director of Al-
bina Head Start, said the building
also houses administrative offices
for Head Start community pro-
grams, coordinating and providing
other services for many additional
families. The work includes child
growth and development services
and education to strengthen and
enhance the abilities of children
and their families to successfully
function in life.
Five Albina Head Start centers
in Portland currently serve close
to 400 children from birth to age
five and their families.
The Albina Head Start in Wood-
lawn was notified of a pending
sale early this year from the own-
er, the Oregon-Idaho Conference
of the United Methodist Church.
Until 2016, the building was also
the home of the Woodlawn Unit-
ed Methodist Church, and also
currently houses the Deliverance
Center of Generation X.
In an earlier letter to the com-
munity, church spokesman Greg
Nelson said the conference de-
cided to not start another Method-
ist church in the location to take
Woodlawn United’s place and to
sell the property. Nelson wrote
that the conference was “especial-
ly mindful of the decline of com-
munities of color” and would give
preference to nonprofit groups,
but at the same time, the sale had
to safeguard “the donations and
assets of the church.”
Supporters of community use
were worried the church proper-
ty would be lost to commercial
re-development. And finding a
suitable replacement building was
a daunting task considering the
difficulty of locating affordable
space in Portland’s competitive
commercial real estate market
that would not be too far away for
those in need of services. Many
low-income people have trouble
finding transportation which cre-
ates significant barriers to vital
services.
That worry was increased in
mid-May when real estate agents
started actively advertising the
building on the open market,
even though a May 1 letter from
the church conference spokesman
stated that it would prefer to sell
to a nonprofit. Herndon said the
move raised alarm bells since
both Albina Head Start and the
nonprofit Deliverance Center had
made their own purchase inquiries
and were waiting for answers.
C ontinued on p age 5
College Promotes Diversity Officer
Citing the respect she has
earned from her peers, students
and the community, Clark College
has promoted Rashida Willard to
the position of Vice President of
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Willard is “a strong and effec-
tive leader,” Clark College Interim
President Sandra Fowler-Hill said
Thursday on making the appoint-
ment. “She’s leading the effort to
create a culturally competent cam-
Rashida Willard
pus to help students succeed.”
Willard joined Clark College
in Vancouver four years ago as
Operations Manager of Admin-
istrative Services. She has taught
as an adjunct professor, has served
as Director of Operations and
Risk Manager, and for the past 17
months has served as Interim As-
sociate Vice President of Diversi-
ty, Equity and Inclusion.
“I am deeply invested in this
C ontinued on p age 10