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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 13, 2021)
M artin L uther K ing J r . 2021 special edition January 13, 2021 Page 3 INSIDE L O C A L N E W S M ETRO page 12 photo by M ichael R ubenstein p hotogRaphy Michelle J. DePass begins her third year as president and chief executive officer for the Meyer Memorial Trust, one of the largest private funders of community advancement initiatives in the state. “MLK was a beacon of life for me,” she told the Portland Observer, describing the impact the late civil rights leader has on her life and as a community advocate for change. Advancing Justice, Equality The Week in Review C LASSIFIED /B IDS page 16 pages 10 USPS 959 680 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211 PO QR code P ubLisher : Mark Washington, Sr. a sst . P ubLisher : Shawntell Washington e ditor : Michael Leighton Office Mngr/Clasfds: Lucinda Baldwin C reative d ireCtor : Paul Neufeldt Administrator Coordinator: Quayuana Washington Distribution Manager: Mark Washington Jr. CALL 503-288-0033 • FAX 503-288-0015• news@portlandobserver.com ads@portlandobserver.com• subscription@portlandobserver.com Postmaster: Send address changes to Portland Observer, PO Box 3137, Portland, OR 97208 Subscribe ! 503-288-0033 Attn: Subscriptions, PO Box 3137, Portland OR 97208 $45.00 for 3 months • $80.00 for 6 mo. • $125.00 for 1 year Fill Out & Send To: (please include check with this subscription form) Name: Telephone: Address: or email subscriptions@portlandobserver.com M ichael l eighton p oRtland o bseRveR e ditoR “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” The words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., penned from his 1963 Letter from a Birmingham Jail has been an lifelong inspiration to Michelle J. DePass, an esteemed Black executive overseeing the Meyer Memorial Trust, one of the largest private funders of commu- nity advancement initiatives in the state. DePass helped the Trust put down permanent roots in the his- torically Black Albina communi- ty of north and northeast Portland this fall, by opening a new head- quarters to advance a Board mis- sion to create a transformative fu- ture for people of color in Oregon, one where there is more economic opportunity and less hate and in- justice. DePass will begin her third year as president and chief exec- utive officer for the organization in April. “MLK was a beacon of life for me,” she told the Portland Observer, describing her life as a community advocate for change and the impact the late civil rights leader had on her. DePass previ- ously has served as civil rights by Established 1970 The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be re- turned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope. All created design display ads become the sole property of the newspaper and cannot be used in other publications or personal usage without the written consent of the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition of such ad. © 2008 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PER- MISSION IS PROHIBITED. The Portland Observer--Oregon’s Oldest Multicultural Publication--is a member of the National Newspaper Association--Founded in 1885, and The National Advertising Represen- tative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc, New York, NY, and The West Coast Black Pub- lishers Association Meyer Memorial Trust leader on MLK, new headquarters lawyer, environmental justice ad- vocate, community organizer and former assistant administrator for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under former President Obama. As a young Black woman, she was inspired by Dr. King’s advo- cacy for the economic empow- erment of Black Americans and other people who struggle to sur- vive and prosper. Now advancing equality is work she and her staff of 40 employees conduct through the Meyer Memorial Trust. “We cannot be free until we have opportunity,” she said, echo- ing the words of the late civil right s leader and reflecting on his legacy as Portland and the nation approach the Martin Luther King Jr. National Holiday on Jan. 18. The Meyer Memorial Trust is now firmly allied with powerful allies in private and governmen- tal affairs who acknowledge that injustice in Oregon is founded on historical anti-Black and anti-In- digenous bigotry. This summer, for example, the Trust embarked on a new “Justice Oregon” plan to advance racial justice and equity in Oregon by allocating$1.3 million to local Black-led and Black-serving or- ganizations, part of a five year, $25 million commitment to fight injustice by making strategic in- vestments in the lives of Black Oregonians. The funding initiative came in the wake of two months of nation- wide demonstrations in response to the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a white Minneapolis police office knelt on his neck for nearly 8 minutes. The Meyer Memorial Trust was established in 1982 from the es- tate of Fred G. Meyer, the founder of the one-stop Fred Meyer stores of Portland lore. Over the course of its history, the Trust has award- ed over $800 million to more than 3,470 community organizations. The new Meyer Memorial headquarters, located at 2045 N. Vancouver Ave., is both a testa- ment to advancing economic and environmental justice and the sto- ry of the late Fred Meyer himself, who founded his grocery empire as a German immigrant and lived and worked in the same Albina neighborhood while leaving a leg- acy of promoting the community. The new building was devel- oped and constructed under rigor- ous goals for minority and wom- en-owned business participation, DePass said, and used the latest efficiencies for energy use and building materials, like next-gen- eration wood products made in Oregon. The headquarters is in line to receive LEED Platinum certification, the highest rating possible for environmental inno- vations, she said. DePass is proud of the diverse workforce that benefitted from the project. She said about half of the construction workforce budget went to women and mi- nority-owned subcontractors, while 30 percent of the journey c ontinued on p age 10
