Having met with Public Water Trust organizers Nick Caleb and Jonah Majure on April 9th, the King Neighborhood Association voted to endorse the People’s Water Trust campaign.

The King NA agrees that he stewardship of our water supply is among the critical issues facing local government, and that citizens’ rights to engage in oversight of the care-taking of the water systems in our area provides benefits to users and residents.

Opportunities for vigorous citizen oversight and engagement in the management and stewardship of water supply, sewer systems, and related bio-regional concerns are necessary to promote a democratic public process which allows no single user or consortium of users to dominate control of the water system for their own ends.

In the interests of a healthy water system overseen by a sustained democratic process, we endorse the People’s Water Trust campaign.   The campaign is currently gathering signatures, with hopes to put it on November’s ballot.

Learn more at People’s Water Trust for Portland.

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The People’s Water Trust campaign is not related to 26-156, the Water & Sewer Utility Board measure that is on the May ballot this year. The King NA has no position on 26-156.

Annual Action Plan

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

5:30 pm to 6:30 pm

Portland Housing Bureau

421 SW 6^th Ave, Suite 500

Portland, OR 97204

We want to hear from you!

The City of Portland, the City of Gresham and Multnomah County are finalizing their annual plans to spend federal housing and community economic development money to help low income households access quality housing and to revitalize communities.

Come to the public hearing and:

• Learn about existing needs, opportunities and constraints.
• Review plans, budgets and projects designed to bring long term affordable housing and community economic development to our neighborhoods.
• Tell us whether these plans and projects meet the community identified needs.  Tell us what is missing.

Snacks and beverages will be provided.

The Draft Action Plan will be available online and in all Multnomah County Libraries by Friday, April 18.

NEXT STEPS: Submit the Action Plan application for federal funding.

For Access accommodations, translation services and or childcare call 503.823.5312.

Looking for farm-fresh food in your neighborhood?  The King Farmers Market features 30 vendors bringing locally-grown fruits and vegetables, berries, baked goods, seafood, meat, eggs, cheese, prepared foods and flowers right to the heart of Northeast Portland.

The market is open Sundays, May through November from 10am-2pm, and is located in the parking lot adjacent to King Elementary School and King School Park at NE 7th and Wygant.  The market a family-centric destination for the neighborhood to enjoy breakfast or lunch, listen to live music by local musicians and fill up market baskets with fresh local food.

Each week, we invite families to enjoy the Market Play Zone, which offers new interactive activities for kids of all ages.  Inspired by seasonal food, healthy eating and exercise, activities include seed planting, food-themed art projects, drop-in cooking activities and recess-style games to get kids moving.

If you or someone you know has an Oregon Trail card, come to the market information booth to find out how you can double your food dollars at the market—up to $5 each week!  The market’s Fresh Exchange program helps to get more farm-direct produce into the hands of our low-income neighbors while supporting our region’s small farms and food producers.

Fresh Exchange can be found at the King Farmers Market, among others.

Come to the King Farmers Market to meet the faces behind your food, visit with your community and celebrate the bounty of our region.  For more details, visit www.portlandfarmersmarket.org.

Here’s all the details on the clean-up this weekend – we’d love to have you swing by and drop off your junk! If you have questions, email info@ kingneighborhood.org. Thanks!

The King Neighborhood Association (KNA), World Arts Foundation, Inc. (WAFI), and the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods (NECN) will hold a celebration on Saturday, April 26th to honor the 25th anniversary renaming of Union Avenue to Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard in Portland. The celebration, open to the public, will be held at the Boys and Girls Club at the Blazers location, 5250 NE MLK, from 3 – 4:30 pm. A new United States flag will be raised at the Boys and Girls Club during the event.

KNA, WAFI, and NECN join together to invite the community in celebrating the naming of Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard. Twenty-five years ago, after years of work by citizens who sought to bring Dr. King’s vision of peace, justice, and truth closer to reality in our community, Portland’s City Council voted to change Union Avenue’s name to Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard on April 20, 1989.

The public is invited to join the celebration, hosted by the Boys and Girls Club at the Blazers location. We will honor past, present, and future – those who have led the way in seeking truth and justice, and in particular the community members who worked to honor Dr. King with a street naming; those among us who work for justice and reconciliation today, and the youth in our community who will lead us into the future.

Photo taken in the offices of the Skanner newspaper; credit: Teressa Raiford.

Speakers at the celebration will include Donny Adair (of WAFI); Teressa Raiford; Alan Silver (of King NA); Jules Garza; organizers of the Oregon Black Museum;  and Imani Muhammad.

“Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.” -Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Pictured: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. walks between seven-year-old Eva Gracelemon, left, and 10-year-old Aritha Willis as he escorts black school children to formerly all-white schools in Grenada, Miss., Tuesday morning, Sept. 20, 1966. Violence erupted at the school when the schools were integrated. (AP Photo)