Page 4
August 4, 2021
Black-led Vision for
Russell-Williams
C ontinued froM P age 2
As part of the overall redevel-
opment plan, Legacy Health, the
current owner of the site, is pre-
pared to grant the property to the
Project Working Group or an en-
tity the group designates, officials
said.
The Williams and Russell proj-
ect is a collaborative effort that
also involves the city’s econom-
ic development agency, Prosper
Portland, the Portland Housing
Bureau, Legacy Health and the
City of Portland.
The project property is located
in an area of north and northeast
Portland that the Portland Devel-
opment Commission (now Pros-
per Portland) and the city con-
demned in the early 1970s under
urban renewal for an expansion
of Legacy Emanuel Hospital; ac-
tion that displaced 171 families,
74 percent of which were African
American.
For the past four years, the
Project Working Group has de-
fined and led a community-cen-
tered visioning and development
process.
“Though the land may be unoc-
cupied at this moment, we know
that it is not a blank slate. It carries
a strong history and a connection
to the past,” said Kymberly Horn-
er, executive director of Portland
Community Reinvestment Initia-
tives, Inc.(PCRI). “We think about
community leaders who gathered
in these very blocks in the past and
we honor their legacies by imagin-
ing an abundant Black community
thriving here long into the future.”
Colas Construction President
Andrew Colas said his company
was proud to participate in a con-
struction development model that
emphasizes community with in-
tentional project values and equi-
table opportunities for individuals
and businesses of the Black com-
munity while placing a greater
emphasis on improving the lives
of people over profit.
LEVER Architecture princi-
pal Chandra Robinson said the
vision for Russell and Williams
to include the Black community
“was paramount to countering a
legacy of undervaluing one of
our most treasured resources:
our people.”
“Portland is my hometown and
it’s an honor to help create a place
where future generations of Black
Portlanders will thrive,” she said.