Nancy Hales: Meet the Deltas
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Nancy Hales Photo Credit by Alan Wierner
Look a little closer. I recently learned that this building is a model for state-of-the-art "green" architecture and sustainability.
I also learned that it’s where locals go to take classes on recycling and organic gardening; share life skills with local teens, and even study green building design.
This was not always so.
Ms. June Key Delta
The June Key Delta Community Center should probably have been on my radar long before the summer of 2012. That’s when Charlie and I attended a candidate forum there. It was there that I met the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority sisters, the amazing “Deltas,” who built and now run the Center.
The late Ms. June Key was a Delta and is the center’s namesake. She was the visionary who purchased the site almost two decades ago.
What she bought was a derelict gas station, a blight on the neighborhood. What she saw was an anchor institution for community gathering and learning.
The transformation of this forgotten corner in the mostly African-American community of Northeast Portland demonstrates principled choices at every step and the practical determination of some women who’ve seen an obstacle or two.
The Checklist
Hire local contractors? Check. 65 percent women- and minority-owned businesses built the place.
Use recycled materials? Check. It’s built with box cars, roofed in solar powers, and floored with material from chopped-up sneakers.
Organic gardening on site? Check.
Engage community volunteers? Yes, indeed.
Quintessential Portland? Unquestionably.
But the building isn’t the heart of the matter.
Meet the Deltas
Meet Jean Loomis, Aletha Chavis, Lesley Unthank, and my departed friend and colleague Chris Pool Jones (Chris passed away this spring).
They’re accomplished educators, librarians, executives, and professionals from all walks of life, many of whom are now retired. You can usually find at least a couple of Deltas in the big kitchen, cooking up some love for the next gathering.
With characteristic modesty Chris once joked that the Deltas were like their building.
“We’re also recycled. We’re just like the materials used in our center.”
I admit that Chris, the center, and the Deltas got under my skin. I began volunteering there, weeding in the community garden out back, and scheming with Chris on how to fund raise. We knocked on a few doors, including local foundations.
I learned that the Portland Development Commission (PDC) held the balance of their mortgage - their last hurdle towards economic sustainability.
More than once I suggested to Chris, “Let’s just go to PDC and get them to forgive the debt.”
But Chris would have none of it. “Look,” she said, her bronze eyes turning to steel. “We women pay our bills. No handouts, period.”
This, I believe, is what really makes the center extraordinary. With Chris’s passing comes renewed energy to meet this last hurdle.
I’m helping the Deltas put the finishing touches on their dream because they’ve already helped me, and Portland, to a generous plateful of hands-on transformation.
Please join the First Lady from 2–4 p.m. at the center, 5940 N. Albina Ave., on Sunday, Sept. 21, for a warm “Delta” welcome and informal garden party.
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