Page 4
Minority Business Edition
October 5, 2022
Assisting Community
Native Owned Constuction
Members Acquire Property Elevates Community
Eddie Lincoln is the owner of Centu-
ry 21 North Homes Realty. He has been
in practice for 15 years and serves new
home buyers home buyers, down siz-
ers, relocators, and commercial buyers.
He works with a host of administrative
staff members, principal broker and also
a team of Real Estate Brokers to consult
with on Real Estate deals. Century 21
North Homes Realty is a Full-Service
Real Estate firm. He services all the State
of Oregon and Washington and also pro-
vides information on Wealth Wave Finan-
cial Services (How Money Works Educa-
tion Resources).
Mr. Lincoln noted “Real Estate is an
investment and if you can afford to buy
property do not hesitate. There are many
tax advantages to owning property and
allowing it to grow tax deferred.” The
office is located at 2715 SE 8th Street
Suite #171 Portland, Or 97202. While the
office hours are flexible the office hours
are primarily between the hours 9:00am –
5:00pm. More information can be found
by calling 503-789-0861 or visiting Ed-
dieLincoln.com.
Construction
business operates
with dignity, honor,
respect, and integrity
Leon Araiza
Eddie Lincoln Owner of Century 21
North Homes Realty
MICHAEL HARPER
Agent
Providing Insurance
and Financial Services
9713 S.W. Capitol, Portland, OR
503-221-3050 • Fax 503-227-8757
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b y m olly W ashington
Leon Araiza is an active member of
the urban Native community and is the
owner of Advanced Tribal LLC, a gener-
al contracting company that specializes in
concrete, concrete reinforcement, rough
carpentry, seismic upgrades, finish carpen-
try, tenant improvements, civil work, and
specialty projects. Coming with 33 years
of experience in the industry, Advanced
Tribal was started in 2015.
Leon’s experience is a testament to the
ways in which we can reject internalizing
messages of inferiority and instead, use
those experiences to fuel our resilience.
Beginning his career with the Job Corps
and from there heading into the Carpen-
ter’s Union, Leon describes the treatment
as “daily hate crimes.” Leon realized very
quickly that he was there to gain knowl-
edge, not to make friends.“Reflecting back
on it, it’s not surprising that I was able to
do that in the gracious manner that I did.
Representing our ancestors, I come from
a long line of survivors,” Leon reflects.
“Our people not only survived but strived
in the face of adversity and oftentimes
death.” Eventually, Leon got enough ex-
perience that he was able to change others’
perception of what he was supposed to be.
“I wasn’t just a Brown guy to, you know,
shovel this, or pack that, or move that,” he
said.“I ended up starting to push work and
run crews and then run projects.”
Leon always knew the type of culture
that he would elevate on his own jobsites-
that of belonging and self-love. “This job
is not who we are, it’s what we do. It’s
who we are that we bring to what we do.”
It is that belief that has been the founda-
tion for Advanced Tribal’s majority Native
workforce, with nine out of ten members
of the team from the Native community. As
Leon sees it, “that’s really something that
draws us all together—our own individual
experience with that culture out there that
historically has treated us that way.” In an
act of resistance, Advanced Tribal provides
something different. “As a construction
company… we’re into building people.
And giving people an opportunity to thrive
in a career and be able to take care of their
families and learn a trade,” he explains.
“We’re some of the most skilled people in
the workforce. We have that critical think-
ing… That’s how our ancestors really did
survive the wilderness, the unknown world
that came at them, by being able to look
at the change and by figuring out, ok, this
is how we’re going to deal with this. And
that’s what we do with our workforce on
our projects.”
“The important thing to me is that when
we go to be successful at something in a
certain playing field, to not give up who we
are,” Leon advises. “Because at some point
in time there’s an exchange, that in becom-
ing something we have to leave something
behind. It’s really important not to leave
behind who we are and who we represent
as Indigenous people.”