The Urban League's Project Haven

Project Haven is a program set up through The Urban League PDX, it is one of Portland’s oldest civil rights organizations for Black Communities. They work on a variety of projects and initiatives, such as, “stable housing; by workforce development; community health; education and well-being; for youths, adults, and seniors”. Project Haven is meant to help long-term housing solutions for black and/or African Americans suffering from chronic homelessness. One of the hardest parts of housing, once it is obtained is being able to get the basic necessities. If one has been suffering from chronic homelessness, they will most likely have none of the necessities needed. Things that many people take for granted, like a shower curtain, bedding, dishes, a can opener, etc. The money raised from this fundraiser will go directly towards buying items like these. I will provide updates as we go and show our progress for this fundraiser. I have set a goal of $250.00 however, that does not mean that we have to stop there. Houselessness is at a crisis in Portland at this time and the more we can do to get people into long-term housing the better. So, if we beat $250.00, all the better! If you are unable to donate that is perfectly okay! Just share it instead. The more people that are aware of The Urban League and Project Haven the better the results!

I would also like to spread the full history of Oregon as well, so sharing this will also share a brief but likely unknown history of Portland. The history provides a lot of context for this fundraiser and the efforts of Project Haven. I would like to tell you a summary of Oregon’s history. I also encourage you to read more about it on your own. There will be a list of sources and history articles below if you wish to continue doing your own reading. There will also be some links to other BIPOC social programs as well. First, I would like to share some statistics about Portland now, and the surrendering metro area.

I would like to talk about the disproportionalities among black and African American identifying Portlanders. Disproportionalities occur when the percentage of a demographic is not equal or comparable to a percentage of a characteristic of a demographic group. For example, Portland has a black or African American identifying population of about 6.6%. That means if a characteristic was to be proportionate, then about 6.6% of a group with a particular characteristic would be black or African American. However, this rarely occurs in Portland or the Tri-City Area. Below are charts of data points collected from the past few years by the US Census Bureau. They covers the issues of poverty and education levels, housing type (renter vs. owner), income (average and median), and SNAP Assistance. There is also a table from the 2019 Point in Time Count of Homeless Populations in Multnomah County.

As seen above, the percent of houseless individuals that identify as black or African American is 16.1%, twice that of the group demographic of 7.2%. BIPOC communities also have disproportionate numbers, 29.5% identify as BIPOC, however 38.1% of the houseless community identify as BIPOC. Both the counts including whites show that houselessness individuals identify as white less than their general percentage in the community.

The Table above as some shocking and saddening information. The percentage of black or African American in the community measured at 6.6%. However, 29.6% of the people at or below of the poverty level identify as black or African American. Those that identify as two or more races have a proportionate rate of poverty. With 10.7% of the community identifying as two or more races with a very similar number of, 10.8% of people at or below the poverty level identify as two or more races. As we can see persons who identify as white alone, only make up 9.8% of the population at or below the poverty level, yet they make up 68% of the community.

I encourage you to look over the rest of the information on this chart and on the chart below. I could go on and on about this data and what it means for us as a city and as a society. However, I have to stop writing at some point, and let you see it all for yourself.

Now for a bit of the history, Oregon became a state in 1859, however, its Constitution was adopted in 1857. That constitution actually banned black people from moving to Oregon. It would give white men hundreds of acres though if they moved to Oregon. Slavery had been forbidden in Oregon by the provisional government in 1844. Another law however, demanded all blacks leave the state territory or be whipped every six months until they left. Did things get better after the civil war? The Reconstruction Amendments, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, were ratified by the Federal Government and slavery was outlawed. This did not really do anything in Oregon. The 13th Amendment banned slavery, but that was already banned in Oregon. Sounds nice until you realize that there had to be a law to prevent people from being enslaved. Oregon decided to rescind the 14th Amendment in 1868. The 14th Amendment, The Equal Protection Clause, which is also one of the most important amendments ever. Was not ratified by Oregon until 1973, about 49 years ago. The 15th Amendment, that allowed black people to vote. Was that ratified? Yes, but not until 1959, it only took about a century for Oregon to ratify that one, 63 years ago. Also, one of Oregon’s governors in the 1920s, Walter M. Pierce, openly supported the Ku Klux Klan. He was not the only politician in Oregon’s history to openly support the KKK either. Black Americans did not feel welcome in Oregon, so they stayed away from Oregon and in a way, they still do.

World War II brought many jobs and a lot of migration particularly to Portland, but also Oregon as a whole. The black population increased from a few thousand to over 20,000 in the 1940s. Now, from the 2020 Census, there are about 90,000 black and/or African American people living Oregon, about 2% of the state’s population. In the Portland Metro Area (Tri-city), about 5.5% of the population identify as black or African American, with Portland itself at 6.6%. Portland always had more black or African American people than the rest of the state. In the 1940s, a large number lived in Vanport. Vanport got washed away in a flood in 1948, which the city told them not to worry about. However, the city managed to warn a lot of other people, they just avoided telling the black residents of Vanport.

The Albina, Elliot, Alameda, King, and Irvington neighborhoods, around inner northeast Portland, were the most popular for black Portlanders. Those neighborhoods also happened to be some of the few places in Portland where black residents could even buy a house or rent one. Although, over time they were displaced from their homes and neighborhoods by various reasons. Building highways such as I-5, Interstate Avenue (Highway 99W), and I-84 displaced a multitude of homes. The construction of the Emmanuel Hospital Expansion (1970s), the Veterans Memorial Coliseum (1960s), and the Moda Center (1993) displaced more residents, a majority of them all black households and businesses. Now what is left of those neighborhoods are some of the most expensive and sought-after neighborhoods in Portland, gentrification at its worst.

Basic Necessities List:

Home Cleaning Kits:

• Laundry Soap

• Bathroom Cleaning Supplies

• Scrubbing Sponges

• Dish Soap

• Counter/window cleaner

• Hand Soap

• Paper Towels

• Toilet Brush

• Broom or dust Sweeper

Kitchen Kits:

• Plates, mugs, bowls, glasses

• Kitchen towels & Potholders

• Silverware

• Cutlery

• Saucepan and frying pan with lids

• Can opener

• Measure spoons and cups

• Serving/cooking spoons

• Trash bin

Bedding Kits:

• Bath Towels, including hand towels and wash cloths

• Pillows

• Blankets or quilts

• Laundry Basket

• Shower Curtain and rings

• Reusable Bags

Citations

1. Goughnour, C. (2019, March 19). Portland, Oregon: Displacement by Design " NCRC. NCRC. https://ncrc.org/gentrification-portlandor/

2. Semuels, A. (2021, May 6). The racist history of Portland, The Whitest City in America. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/racist-history-portland/492035/

3.The early history of Portland's racist housing strategies: Part One. Habitat Portland Region. (2021, August 12). https://habitatportlandregion.org/the-early-history-of-portlands-racist-housing-strategies-part-one/

4. Point in time dashboard. A Home for Everyone. Section 5.1, Demographics (2019, January 23). https://ahomeforeveryone.net/point-in-time-dashboard

5. How ODOT destroyed Albina: The untold story. City Observatory. (2021, April 30). https://cityobservatory.org/how-odot-destroyed-albina-the-untold-story/

6. Gies, M. (2021, September 20). Emanuel apologizes. Eliot Neighborhood. https://eliotneighborhood.org/2017/09/06/emanuel-apologizes/

7. Alex Zielinski, M., Jones, E., & Zielinski, A. (n.d.). New report details impact of Black Portlanders displaced by Emanuel Hospital expansion. Portland Mercury. https://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2022/01/31/38162347/new-report-details-impact-of-black-portlanders-displaced-by-emanuel-hospital-expansion

8. 2020 Tri-City Census Data Tables. Explore census data. (n.d.).

https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=Portland+oregon&g=1600000US4105350%2C4131250%2C4134100&tid=ACSST1Y2019.S1701

Other projects in Portland for BIPOC communities:

Taking Ownership PDX: Taking Ownership PDX, LLC., a small-but-mighty community collective of contractors, realtors, neighbors, and businesses brought together by Portland musician, activist Randal Wyatt. Together we renovate and revive Black-owned homes that have requested our help, with an emphasis on enabling Black homeowners to age in place, generate wealth and simultaneously deter predatory investors and realtors to deflect the gentrification process.

Community Alliance of Tenants: Formed in 1996, the Community Alliance of Tenants (CAT) is Oregon’s only statewide, grassroots, tenant-controlled, tenant-rights organization. CAT educates, organizes and develops the leadership of low-income tenants. Community Alliance of Tenants is made up of two entities including Community Alliance of Tenants 501(c)3 and the CAT Action Fund 501(c)4.