Page 10 The Skanner Portland & Seattle November 17, 2021
News
Urban League
really near and dear to
us,” Pagenstecher said.
“Fifty percent of our staff
is bilingual and bicultur-
al.”
Hacienda Community
Credit Union, established
by the Hacienda Commu-
nity Development Cor-
poration, merged with
Point West in 2005.
“Hacienda struggled,”
Pagenstecher said. “It’s
hard to start a credit
union. When you have
lots of lending needs but
not necessarily a lot of
assets, you can get up-
side down pretty quickly.
“They were doing
non-citizen lending, and
that was something Point
West picked up and ran
with.
Post-recession,
past 2010, was when we
started to see an uptick
in our (Individual Tax
Identification Number)
lending programs. We
rolled that back out to the
cont’d from pg 3
wider community again,
and it’s one of the largest
parts of our portfolios.”
He added, “That’s our
thing, being able to break
down this barrier so you
can safely, securely ac-
cess financial services
in the U.S. Regardless of
citizenship status, you
can build credit, build
wealth. Our work with
the Urban League is just
an extension of that.”
Point West estimates
that 40% of its members
are people of color, and
that 5% of its member-
ship is Black.
The idea of forming
the collaboration, Pagen-
stecher said, was partly
due to the pandemic’s
general
interruption
of business and liveli-
hoods. Originally, Meyer
Memorial Trust had ap-
proached the Northwest
Credit Union Foundation
about launching a securi-
ty deposit loan program.
“The whole idea was to
provide low-cost loans
to people who needed to
make a move from one
rental to another one
quickly,” he said. “It can
be thousands of dollars.
That was 2018, and I’ll be
honest, we really strug-
gled to find the right
partners. When you’ve
been evicted, the last
thing on your mind is,
‘I’m going to a financial
institution.’”
The foundation found
a potential match with
the Urban League.
“Then the pandemic
hit,” Pagenstecher said.
“Understandably,
the
Urban League went into
their own dead-on focus,
what can we do, how fast
can we do it? To Meyer’s
credit, they said, ‘Look,
we want you to be able
to employ these dollars
in the most meaningful
way.’ We actually took
that money and rolled
it into an emergency
loan program. For the
better part of a year we
hadn’t been able to fig-
ure out what to do with
it, and within 30 days all
the money was spent in
loans for people.
“Then when the George
Floyd situation happened,
it was really a conversa-
tion between the CEOs
saying, ‘We have an obli-
gation to do more, and be-
cause we’re credit unions,
we have to work within
the confines of what we
Pastors
Americans and other
marginalized members
of the community “to
achieve equality in ed-
ucation,
employment,
health, economic securi-
ty and quality of life.”
For more information,
visit ulpdx.org.
The Skanner reached
out to the Urban League’s
new financial empower-
ment analyst Rachel Hall,
but had not heard back
from her by press time.
cont’d from pg 12
“It sets us back be-
cause it takes us away
from conversations
that were already
going on,” said Latta-
ny-Reed, who pastors
Harper’s Chapel Unit-
ed Methodist Church.
“It’s taken our atten-
tion away from educa-
tion and economic jus-
tice and stimulating
the economy for the
common good.”
With the trial wind-
ing down, Brunswick is
preparing for a possible
verdict.
“If it comes back not
guilty, I would leave
Affordable
efficient security
just for you!
Install / Maintenance
For Alarm Systems
Monitoring Service
Residential & Commercial
Install Surveillance System (CCTV)
New Construction Prewire for Alarm
Service, Whole House Audio, CCTV
13343 SE Stark St., #100
Portland, OR 97233
503.288.7716
AlarmTracksPdx.com
do: financial services.’ Be-
cause of that relationship
we’d started with the Ur-
ban League, it was kind of
a no-brainer. I really ap-
preciate that they gave us
the time of day and kept
talking to us.”
Urban League’s direc-
tor of housing programs,
Denetta
Antoinette
Monk, said the collab-
orative was in keeping
with her organization’s
mission to help African
town for at least three
days. Not guilty would
open the flood gates,”
said Perry, the local civil
rights leader.
None of the businesses
near the courthouse, ac-
customed to taping up or
boarding windows when
hurricanes
threaten,
have taken precautions.
Danielle Brazell and
other business owners
worried last year when
a protest outside the of-
fice of a local prosecutor
who initially chose not to
charge the men attracted
national attention.
“I felt better after that,”
said Brazell, who owns
the Rose & Vine gift
shop. “I think they will
be found guilty. They de-
serve it for what they did.
But if they aren’t, I think
people will understand
it isn’t the community’s
fault.”
Before testimony in
the trial started, outgo-
ing Brunswick Mayor
Cornell Harvey, who is
Black, and Glynn Coun-
ty Commission Chair-
man Wayne Neal, who is
white, spoke in a video
with a number of other
people in the community
urging unity and togeth-
erness.
“I’m praying that this
doesn’t become a racial
divide,” Harvey said
Tuesday. “We have a
chance to show the world
that we know how to
keep the peace in a peace-
ful town.”
SUB-BIDS REQUESTED
Nestucca High School CTE-
34660 Parkway Dr.
Cloverdale, OR 97112
(Metal Building Package #1)
Project Bid Due Date:
December 1, 2021 @ 3:00 PM, PST
Note: Bids will be accepted by U.S. mail, via elec-
tronically (e-mail), or hand delivered to the address
below. Please note that bids received after the
above stated day/time will not be allowed. There
will be no site visit and the deadline for questions
is 11/19/2021.
O’Brien & Company
Attn: Lloyd Black
208 NW 21st Avenue, Suite #201
Portland, Oregon 97209
971-865-2933
E-Mail Contact: lloyd@obrien-co.com
Plans and Specifications: May be examined at
the Portland & Cannon Beach Office and at the
following plan centers-DJC, Salem Contractor’s Ex-
change, CPC, and Eugene Builder’s Exchange
Brief Description of Project: O’Brien & Compa-
ny has been selected as the CMGC Contractor on
behalf of the Nestucca School district for the High
School CTE project in Cloverdale, Oregon. The
PEMB will be approximately 13,132 SF and include
insulated metal wall panels, standing seam metal
roof with thermal insulation Simple Saver R-28 &
R-8 ls insulation, flashings, gutters and building
erection. There will be an Alternate 1-for insulated
metal roof panels instead of metal roof/ Simple Sav-
er insulation. This will be a public works prevailing
wage project-BOLI 7/2021 & 10/2021 (amended)
rates apply for Tillamook CO. Construction is tenta-
tively scheduled to start the summer of 2022.
O’Brien & Company LLC is an equal opportunity
employer. O’Brien & Company is actively seeking
bids from, Minority, Women, Emerging Small Busi-
nesses (M/W/ESB), Disadvantaged Business En-
terprises, and Qualified Rehabilitation Facilities to
perform work and supply materials for this project..
11-17-2021