NECN Awards $33,469 in Grants for Community-driven Projects

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From NECN:

Mobile vendors supplying food deserts with healthy, affordable meals, spring break programs pairing sixth-grade girls with high-school mentors and a food and culture festival highlighting senior hunger are just three of sixteen innovative projects funded by the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods’ Small Grant Program in 2012.
With a goal of building livable, equitable and sustainable neighborhoods and communities for all, the Office of Neighborhood Involvement allocated funds to NECN for two funding categories: Neighborhood Small Grants as well as for Graffiti Abatement Projects. The Coalition received fourty-four proposals, with requests totaling $123,921.
With the support of Commissioner Amanda Fritz, NECN incorporated economic development as a funding priority this year. Both Oregon Outreach’s certified nursing assistant job training program and Port City’s creation of a micro-enterprise, training adults with developmental disabilities to remove graffiti on businesses on N Williams Avenue fit into this category.

The following projects are excellent examples of how people in inner north and northeast Portland are working together to improve the quality of our neighborhoods by building community, increasing volunteer capacity and forging new organizational partnerships (listed alphabetically):

Neighborhood Small Grants

Access to Healthy Food through Community-based Mobile Vending
Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives, Inc. (PCRI) Granted $1,488
PCRI and Fork In The Road propose to provide low-income individuals with access to affordable, healthy food by bringing mobile vending into areas of concentrated need.

After-School Chess Programs at King, Woodlawn, Vernon and Faubion
Chess for Success Granted $1,500
Now in its 20th year, this project funds after-school chess clubs at Faubion, King, Vernon and Woodlawn schools.
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N/NE Economic Development Panel Discussion

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Join the NECN Community Economic Development Council for:
A Framework for Community Economic Development in N/NE Portland

Learn how current state, regional and city policies shape neighborhood-level community economic development. Panelists will address how governmental policies and programs set the stage for local work and translate into community benefits.

Join us on Wednesday, February 1st at St. Andrew Catholic Church, 806 NE Alberta, Portland. Doors open at 6:30pm for networking and refreshments, program from 7:00pm – 9:00pm.

Panel Speakers include:
• Karen Wilde Goddin, Managing Director of the Business, Innovation and Trade Division, Oregon Business Development Department
• Charles A. Wilhoite, Commissioner, Portland Development Commission and Managing Director, Willamette Management Associates.
• John R. Williams, Deputy Director – Planning and Development, Metro
• Rey España, Director of Community Development, Native American Youth and Family Center
This event is part of an ongoing series. Please join us for this and future events as we explore economic development. For additional information please see the attached flyer, visit necoalition.org or call 503.823.4575.

Click here for the flyer:ExploringEconomicDevelwSpeak

Occupy Portland Health Fair: This Sat., Jan 28th, in King N’hood

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Portland Occupy Health Fair

January 28th, 2012

11am until 4pm

4867 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Portland Occupy Health has organized an Occupy Health Fair to empower the community to reclaim their health. This unique event is meant to create dialog between Healthcare Organizations and Communities, provide information on alternatives to the current profit-driven insurance model of care, and educate on broad-spectrum health.

This is a grass roots organization of citizens and professionals dedicated to empowering communities to take control, and positively transform their health and the healthcare system. We are bringing awareness to the community about solutions to the current broken model of healthcare and educate them on solutions available to them currently.

Many uninsured and underinsured do not know that there are alternatives to a costly trip to the ER or waiting until you are seriously ill to seek help. Moreover, there is a need to educate the community on ways to stay well and keep not only their body healthy but the surrounding community.

For a list of presenters and providers will be attending, please see https://sites.google.com/site/portlandoccupyhealth/events-schedule

 

Neighbors, PTA Pitch In on MLK Day of Service

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The community turned out on Monday, January 16th on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service to make a dent in the weeds and trash at King School Park. English ivy had taken over the south side of the parking lot at the King Neighborhood Facility and was hiding all manner of things thereunder. A robust group of neighbors, King School PTA members, and invasive species foes dug, hacked snipped and pulled all day. The result is that the strip of land is now nearly completely cleared and several truck loads were hauled away.

Thanks to a grant from NECN and the East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District, the area will be re-landscaped with native plants that are not invasive and that will thrive in the location while providing an easily maintained habitat. There are tentative plans to finish the clearing on President’s Day, February 20th.

Special thanks go to all the volunteers, Portland Farmers Market, Whole Foods, Starbucks, and Metro.