January 1, 2020
Page 2
2019 Year in Review
A look back at some of our top stories
A New Seat
of Power
Jan. 9 – Longtime political
activist Jo Ann Hardesty takes
office as Portland’s newest city
commissioner, a historic benchmark
in terms of seating the first African
American woman on the City Council
and tilting the governing panel to a
woman-majority for the first time in
history.
NAACP Generations
Jan. 30 – Vancouver NAACP volunteer
and community artist Claudia
Carter curates historical exhibit in
celebration of the local civil rights
group and Black History Month called
‘NAACP Generations: Yesterday, Today
and Tomorrow in collaboration with
the Clark County Historical Society.
Keeping the Focus on Health
Feb. 13 – Miracles Club Program Director Maleka Taylor (right) and
Wellness Within Reach Administrative Coordinator Makda Berhane
oversee programs focused on improving health outcomes in the
African American community, managing health initiatives previously
run by the African American Health Coalition, which dissolved.
Mitigating Displacement
Feb. 20 – Community leaders break ground on a new 70-unit
affordable housing complex at Northeast Martin Luther King and
Rosa Parks Way. The project by Portland Community Reinvestment,
Inc. (PCRI) is rooted in the African American community, the
nonprofit’s second major effort to create housing for people who
have been displaced.
A Reversal of Fortunes
March 6 – Nicole Kennedy
brings diversity to the new legal
cannabis industry as co-founder
of the Green Hop marijuana
dispensary in northeast Portland.
The hip-hop themed shop
operates with support from the
city’s cannabis tax specifically
meant to bolster cannabis
entrepreneurs from communities
of color that were disproportionately and negatively affected by the
criminalization of marijuana in the past.
c ontinued on P age 6