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Neighborhood Stories

Neighborhood Stories evolves from a community event and art exhibition Neighborhood Associations Rock in the summer of 2019. Curator and Elisabeth Jones Art Center director, John Teply, reached out to a community of local artists and put together the exhibit to showcase deeper stories into the positive change, diverse collaborations, community-driven action, and livability Portland's neighborhood associations bring to our city. With the permission of Neighborhood Associations Rock, we will continue to showcase several of these inspiring Neighborhood Stories and the artwork that accompanies them.

Kateri Park

Joanne Kollman's Looking Ahead with Hamdisa and Jenni
Joanne Kollman’s “Looking Ahead with Hamdisa and Jenni” is part of the “Neighborhood Associations Rock” exhibit at the Elisabeth Jones Art Center. Click to purchase a print or the original painting

In the Creston-Kenilworth neighborhood, there is an affordable housing complex run by Catholic Charities that provides housing for low-income American families, as well as refugees and immigrants from all over the world. In an effort to connect with the community there, the Creston-Kenilworth Neighborhood Association (CKNA) held some meetings in their common space and provided interpretation for a handful of different languages.

In the fall of 2017, one week before a CKNA meeting at Kateri Park, an altercation between three people began down the street and ended in Kateri Park’s parking lot. Bullets were flying through apartment walls, and one even lodged into the mattress of one of the residents while she slept on it. One of the individuals in the altercation was shot and killed in the parking lot.

In response, the CKNA swept their entire agenda off the table and dedicated the entire next meeting to discuss safety issues. They arranged for a panel of officials to speak and answer questions from the community that was composed of the housing director of Catholic Charities, Crime Prevention Coordinators, the resident services coordinator for the apartment complex, and the neighborhood officer from the Portland Police Bureau. Interpretation was provided in four different languages.

The meeting was well attended and provided residents with an outlet for a wide variety of safety concerns, not all of which was related to the shooting. As a result, neighbors began self-organizing and have formed an apartment watch through the city’s Neighborhood Watch program, and began discussing solutions to some long-standing problems within the community.

— Source:
Rachel Davies, Chair,
Creston-Kenilworth Neighborhood Association
Further context from 2010 in the Catholic Sentinel and in the Oregonian.

Filed Under: Neighborhood Stories

Kenton Women’s Village

Kenton Women's Village POD - Portland
Sarah Peroutka’s “Kenton Women’s Village,” pastel on paper, is part of the “Neighborhood Associations Rock” art exhibit.

The Kenton Women’s Village, first known as the POD Village, was originally a limited duration pilot project providing up to 14 houseless female-identified people their own micro-housing sleeping pod designed by local architecture firms on a transitional basis in a village-style community with oversight and ongoing support from a contracted non-profit, Catholic Charities.

Catholic Charities would only move forward with the project if it was clear that the residents of the neighborhood were behind it.

On March 8th of 2017 the Kenton Neighborhood Association held a neighborhood-wide vote and the village was overwhelmingly approved by the neighborhood for one year. Kenton Women’s Village officially opened that June.

In June of 2018, the KNA held a 2nd vote with near unanimous approval to grant the Village up to another year of operation. In the late summer of 2018, plans were revealed to move the Village to a nearby location and establish it as a permanent project with better infrastructure and increased capacity.

A fully operational kitchen and shower facilities, installed in customized shipping containers, have been added to the site, with water delivery and garbage service being provided. A community garden has been planted so that residents and neighbors can collaborate and interact as the women make the village their home.

The residents of the Kenton Women’s Village are drawn largely from the Kenton and North Portland areas. The residents receive access to services including case management, employment assistance, access to legal and financial services, mental and physical health care, and support creating and implementing a personalized plan to transition to permanent housing by the time they leave the Village.

The Village was created through partnerships with local government, nonprofit, and educational institutions: Catholic Charities of Oregon, City of Portland, the Joint Office of Homeless Services, the Village Coalition, Prosper Portland, Almar Contracting, Portland State University School of Architecture’s Center for Public Interest Design, Kenton Neighborhood Association, Catlin Gabel InvenTeam, and dozens of other community businesses, organizations, and individuals.

— Sources:
Kenton Neighborhood Association,
Catholic Charities of Oregon

Filed Under: Neighborhood Stories

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Neighborhood Stories

Joanne Kollman's Looking Ahead with Hamdisa and Jenni

Kateri Park

In the Creston-Kenilworth neighborhood, there is an affordable housing complex run by Catholic Charities that provides housing for low-income American families, as well as refugees and immigrants from all over the world. In an effort to connect with the community there, the Creston-Kenilworth Neighborhood Association (CKNA) held some meetings in their common space and provided […]

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