M artin L uther K ing J r .
2021 special edition
Page 10
January 13, 2021
Advancing Justice, Equality
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people and apprentice hours on
the project were filled by minori-
ties. Additionally, 80 percent of
the sub-contractors on the site
were either women and or minori-
ty-owned businesses, she said.
At a cost of $10 million, the
19,829 square foot headquarters
was also designed to serve as a re-
source to further support and invest
in communities across the state.
The ground floor, for exam-
ple, houses a “Center for Great
Purposes” to foster greater col-
laboration with the public, a
gathering space for up to 100
people. A “Mission Library’ fea-
tures inspirational quotes from
leaders, including Fred Meyer,
and showcases a collection of
fiction, non-fiction, poetry and
scholarship that touches on as-
pects of diversity, equity and in-
clusion.
The property’s landscape uses
native plant species selected due
to their historical significance as
a primary food, medicine or com-
modity resource for Columbia
River tribes.
photo by M ichael R ubenstein p hotogRaphy
A new headquarters for the Meyer Memorial Trust at 2045 N. Vancouver opened this fall in
the historically Black Albina Community of north and northeast Portland, a testament to the
organization’s mission to create a transformative future for people in Oregon where there is more
economic opportunity for people of color and less hate and injustice.
Rep. Janelle
Bynum on
fight for Racial
Progress
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proving the number of mental health pro-
viders, for loan forgiveness and reducing
the number of hours clinicians have to be
supervised, the opportunity for those incar-
cerated to become counselors and thera-
pists, and addressing, in a very bold way,
the lack of mental health services available
to us,” she said.
Bynum was among several other law-
makers who sent a letter to Gov. Kate
Brown in November that the state’s mental
health system was broken.
“The inequities that communities of
color have faced by the COVID-19 crisis
has only expanded the need to create bet-
ter-supporting structures for them,” she
wrote. “Our communities are struggling
on multiple levels, including economically
and with mental and physical health.”
Bynum grew up in Washington D.C. and
both her parents were teachers. Her family
moved from the area in the 1980s as vio-
lence brought on by the crack cocaine epi-
demic soared, she said.
“That’s why I’m so super sensitive to
the increase in gun violence in Portland, as
well the incarceration of young men,” she
said.
Bynum attended a girls’ boarding school
in Virginia, where she found life-changing
support.
“It was transformational for me, because
as long as you don’t know what you don’t
know, it’s hard to aspire, to know how high
to reach,” she said. “But there I was ex-
posed to be anything I wanted to do, and
any dream you had was supported.”
From there Bynum went to Florida
A&M on a scholarship from Boeing, grad-
uating with a degree in electrical engi-
neering and worked for several years for
General Motors, including a stint in Tai-
wan working on hybrid vehicle technolo-
gy, before getting her Master of Business
Administration degree from the University
of Michigan.
Bynum, 45, has lived in Portland for 20
years.