Rose Bialk/The Mossy Log
On Sept. 6, the Portland community celebrated the grand opening of Albina One, the first housing development the nonprofit organization Albina Vision Trust (AVT) introduced to the city. Lewis & Clark students, faculty and staff were invited to the grand opening, marking the formal introduction of the college’s partnership with AVT. In the past two years, President Robin Holmes-Sullivan and a group of faculty have been meeting with AVT to brainstorm how the college and nonprofit can form a partnership that will bridge the redevelopment efforts in Albina with LC’s resources as an academic institution.
According to its website, AVT seeks to “buy back land, rebuild community, and reroot Black legacies and Black futures in the heart of Portland’s central city.” The Lower Albina Neighborhood is located in Northeast Portland, and is known for its historic connections to the Black community in Portland.
Despite the thriving community that Black Portlanders had made in Lower Albina, the majority of buildings and houses were in sub-standard condition, according to the city. In the 1970s, the city decided to embark on a collection of projects that pushed Black residents out of the community. Among these “urban renewal projects” was the building of Interstate 5, Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Legacy Emanuel Medical Center’s campus and the Portland Public Schools headquarters, in which the city demolished thousands of homes. Increased housing prices and gentrification have continued since. According to the Portland State University Population Research Center, in 2021, two in 10 Black Portlanders live in the Albina district — a dramatic reduction compared to nine in 10 from the 1970 Census data.
Sarah Warren, a sociology professor and the executive director of community partnerships at LC has been leading the collaboration with AVT alongside several other faculty from various departments. Warren explained in an interview with The Mossy Log how the formal partnership between LC and AVT first began.
Holmes-Sullivan saw Executive Director Winta Yohannes speaking at an event, which piqued her interest in involving LC with AVT. This sparked the creation of a formal partnership. In April of this year, the college announced the partnership officially on their website and newsletter. The announcement specified two objectives of the partnership.
“First, AVT and L&C plan to create a world-class education and economic empowerment hub, a permanent physical space in the redeveloped Lower Albina district. Second, the partners aim to integrate education and economic opportunity as core values of the built, social, and cultural fabric of Lower Albina through large-scale programming and place-making initiatives,” the webpage read.
LC hopes to extend the academic resources and opportunities from the Palatine Hill campus into the Albina neighborhood, using the physical location as a place to host legal clinics, counseling services, workshops and classes for Albina residents. This location will also enable students to engage in research, internships and hands-on experience with the Portland community.
This fall, Warren will be hosting a series of reading groups, film screenings and workshops called the Albina Colloquium to spark students’ involvement and gather ideas on how they would like to participate with the AVT partnership. As early as this spring, students may be able to take classes and work on projects or modules that work with the Albina community. Events and activities will be announced in The Bark as well as the LC events webpage, and soon a webpage dedicated to LC’s partnership with AVT.
LC students and faculty have already seen successful engagement with Albina across disciplines. The Environmental Studies Department has based class projects in the Albina neighborhood and hopes to continue this relationship. Watzek Library has invited Albina Music Trust, a nonprofit committed to preserving and celebrating the past and present music scene in Albina, to their annual lecture series this year. Kathy Fitzgibbons, music professor and director of choral activities at LC has been exploring ways to utilize performance and musical collaboration between the Palatine campus and Albina community.
“It feels like by building these deeper connections to Portland and by really getting involved in the Portland community in a really reciprocal, respectful, collaborative way will make higher education relevant, and will also make it visible to residents in Albina and residents in Portland more broadly, and also make it hopefully attractive to students who really want to be engaged in some positive work in the world,” Warren said.
Community members from the Albina neighborhood and LC campus expressed excitement and hope for the coming future of the partnership at the grand opening of Albina One.
“Even though people had really short notice, a lot of people from Lewis & Clark showed up. I saw so many students there. I saw lots of faculty members, lots of staff members, and the people that I’ve heard from, from Albina Vision Trust were so impressed with the turnout from Lewis & Clark and the way that Lewis & Clark students and staff and faculty really showed up and really showed a commitment to be part of this project together,” Warren said.
Students can expect more information this coming semester on how they can be involved in the AVT partnership. To learn more about Albina and Black Portland history, visit the AVT and the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project for resources.
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