About
The initial business concept for our Fund was written in 2020, born from a desire to do something transformative for Black folks in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.
Mission
We nurture collaboration, autonomy and power in Black Portland, through social and financial investment. Ultimately, we envision rooted, prosperous life for Black folks in this city.
Collaboration
Because working together is essential for transformative change.
Autonomy
Because it’s up to us to set the terms for our future.
Power
Because we are making change—not asking for it.
Community members stand for the Black National Anthem at the fall 2024 Black Unity Breakfast. Photo by Juma Sei.
Historical Context
Why “1803”?
In 1803, a Black man named York was assigned to the Lewis and Clark expedition. He was a frontiersman, trader and healer who worked alongside Sacagawea.
York was also enslaved by William Clark. He was charged with getting the expeditioners to Oregon. But York was denied payment and freedom when he did.
We name our Fund after York’s year of assignment to honor the vision he might have had before moving west: liberation in Oregon. This is the future we’re building for our community. York did not see it come to fruition. We will.
An overlook along the Lewis and Clark Historic Trail. Photo by Juma Sei.
Why Albina?
The story of Black life in Albina is the story of Black life in America.
Though a trickle of Black folks made their home in Portland in the early twentieth century, the Great Migration brought us here en masse. We came for our labor; brought to work on shipyards and railroads during World War II.
But the city wasn’t ready for our arrival. So, we were siloed—redlined into Albina as a temporary fix. We managed through cooperation. In time, our community flourished.
We lived a wealthy life, bound by our identity, culture, and soul. Albina was the kind of place where you knew your neighbors, the teachers at your school and the folks whose businesses kept the community strong. Black folks had everything we needed. Albina was home to 4 of every 5 Black families in Portland.
But starting in the 1950s, our community was intentionally partitioned. Displacement came to life through public policy: urban renewal, imminent domain and industrial rezoning.
In 1959, construction of the Memorial Coliseum bulldozed lower Albina in haste. That destruction was swiftly magnified by the construction of I-5, Legacy Emanuel Hospital and the Fremont Bridge. Further north, displacement was disguised as main street redevelopment on the Mississippi, Killingsworth and Alberta roadways.
These projects stripped over $1 billion in wealth from our community. We have not yet recovered. But, we will.
1931 – An aerial view of Albina, before our community was razed for the Memorial Coliseum, I-5, Legacy Emanuel Hospital and the Fremont Bridge. Portland’s sprawling city grid once extended east of the Willamette River. (Portland City Auditor: Archives & Records Management)
1958 – An aerial view of lower Albina, after our neighborhood was razed to make space for the Memorial Coliseum and other city projects. (Portland City Auditor: Archives & Records Management)
Approach
We base our practice in respect.
We approach our community partners recognizing that we are all essential to progressing this work forward. They bring community capital. We bring financial capital.
Too often, financial capital distances investors from the communities they serve. We are mindful of that pattern and resist it because we are community members ourselves.
Portland is our home too.
1964 – A tender lesson on hair care at the Urban League of Portland's beauty clinic. (Oregon Digital: Unique Cultural Heritage Collections)
A NOTE ON OUR USE OF ARCHIVAL IMAGERY
We pull from archives to remember the permanence of our community. Though we are growing something new with our Fund, we are able to do so because of those who came before us.
If you’re interested in exploring those archives yourself, please visit:
Portland City Auditor: Archives & Records Management
Oregon Digital: Unique Cultural Heritage Collections
1973 – Children gather to hear from Beatrice Morrow Cannady, a trailblazing journalist and civil rights advocate in Portland. (Oregon Encyclopedia)
We invest in and for our people, seeking both social and financial return. Broadly, we see our work as “place-making,” through investment.
WHAT WE DO
