In a community-wide volunteer effort, the National Association of Minority Contractors of Oregon has put together a million-dollar plan to remodel the historic Billy Webb Elks Lodge on Tillamook Street in Northeast Portland.
Local business consultant and entrepreneur Faye Burch is helping lead the effort. ...

Several high-profile incidents on TriMet have raised the public's awareness of young people's actions on the public transportation system.
A.K. Rucker is hoping his young people will help raise a different kind of awareness.
Every summer now for 10 years, Rucker takes 20 young persons in a trash-cleanup program called First Step. For two months during the summer, Rucker drives them around Portland in a TriMet bus clearing litter out of bus stops and much of the surrounding routes ...

With only two more agencies set to approve the controversial Columbia River Crossing Project, time is running out for the public to give input on the $4.2 billion project.
The projected increase in traffic along the I-5 corridor will have a much greater impact on Portland's North and Northeast neighborhoods – neighborhoods with a greater percentage of minorities and people of low-income. This is exactly the reason people like Jeri Williams say it's essential for residents near the highway to get involved.
"We got involved in the first place because we have a high asthma rate," says Williams, the former executive director of the Environmental Justice Action Group, who has been involved with I-5 freeway expansion projects for nearly a decade. Along with more cars comes more pollution, and a recently unveiled letter from the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as feedback from the Multnomah County Health Department, spell out the reasons residents should be aware that more vehicle trips on the highway will affect their future health.
Proponents of the expanded bridge say cleaner burning vehicles in the future will cause a decrease in air pollution. Not so, says Multnomah County.
"A recent report by the Health Effects Institute cautions that the alternative fuels and emissions control technology being adopted may themselves contribute to increases in other mobile source air toxics and particulate matter," says a letter from the county health department. ...

Demonte Boss, 17, a drum major with the Seattle All City Band, leads the ensemble during a performance July 12 at the 59th annual Wallingford Seafair Kiddie Parade and Street Fair.  The official Seafair event included hundreds of children representing a variety of schools and organizations and an appearance by the notorious Seafair Pirates.

Photo by Suas Fried

On a recent Tuesday evening, homeowners at risk of foreclosure attended a housing intake at The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now office in Burien. The homeowners were from a variety of ethnic, social and age backgrounds. ...

What can you do to fight racism? Why are people poor?  Why are so many people of color in prison?  
Organizers with the American Friends Service Committee and the Peoples' Institute for Survival and Beyond have answers, and they're holding their annual Freedom School to teach youth about their history and their community power.
The Freedom School is scheduled July 21 through 25 from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Beacon Hill in Seattle.
The goal is to empower young people to learn about racism and organize to undo it. ...

U.S. Army Assistant Secretary Ronald James – the highest-ranking African American – will be keynote speaker and preside over the official ceremonies in Seattle to restore the military honors of dozens of African American soldiers wrongfully convicted in the Fort Lawson murder of an Italian prisoner of war in 1944. ...

Oregon has a long history of racism and discrimination.
While present-day Oregon is known for a self-congratulating liberal image, Portland State University Professor Darrell Milner says truth is often the casualty. "You don't appreciate the origins of racism in Oregon," he said.
A newly released documentary will help uncover those ugly truths.
In 1991, broadcast journalist Jon Tuttle created "Local Color," a film that chronicled the little known history of the people involved in the struggle for civil rights in Oregon. The film, produced by Oregon Public Broadcasting, saw only a handful of showings over the next 17 years ...

What's happening for you in your City this week? Read here a day-by-day diary of free community events to fill your spare time. For a full calendar please click on "Read the complete article" below.

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