Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Partnership brings learning center to New Columbia

Photos and Story by James Hill

by Susan HerefordA public-private partnership is propelling the makeover of Columbia Villa into a new type of community and PCC is playing a role. The 60-year-old, low-income housing site bustles with construction activity with its transformation to New Columbia. It is an ambitious $150 million mixed-income housing and commercial undertaking on 82 acres of land in north Portland. The Housing Authority of Portland (HAP), PCC’s decade-old partner, spearheads the project. With HAP, the college will operate a lifelong learning center at New Columbia. The agency will break ground on construction of the center in April of 2005 and expects full implementation by December of 2006.As part of the redevelopment, the design includes seven blocks in the center of the neighborhood devoted to community services and retail operations. "The main street will be the heart of the new neighborhood," said John Keating, assistant director for Community Services for HAP. In addition to the lifelong learning center PCC will operate, the area will also include a community space, a new park, housing for seniors, a farmers market, public art and potentially a new elementary school and a Boys & Girls Club, all of which is accessible to the broader community. New Columbia got off the ground with a $35 million grant to the Housing Authority from the U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in November of 2001. This allowed the agency to leverage other funds to redevelop the site, which include City of Portland support and tax credit financing through the state. In addition, private contractors bought 230 of the house lots to develop.The local HAP agency broke ground in December of 2003, but the first job was to temporarily re-locate the families who had been living in Columbia Villa, along with PCC’s on-site workforce training center, Goalpost. Project plans call for breaking ground on the new PCC lifelong learning center in April of 2005, with an opening date of March 2006. A $250,000 grant from HUD, presented to the Housing Authority in November, will finance the learning center. However, another $350,000 will be needed to provide all of the planned-for services. "We would never be able to do this without PCC’s efforts. We’ve been involved in a strong partnership for the last 10 years," said Keating. The PCC center will include three to four classrooms, a career center, a computer classroom, and staff for both PCC and the Housing Authority’s Goals Family Self-Sufficiency program. It is 10,400 square feet and will occupy a large part of the lower floor of a three-story building in the central part of the development, with affordable senior housing on the second and third levels. Pamela Murray, director of PCC Workforce Development Programs, said, "We’e really excited about the new learning center and the opportunities it will provide for residents of New Columbia and the surrounding community. The new space will allow us to dramatically increase our services in North Portland, providing much needed employment, training and education in people’ own neighborhoods."Keating echoes her sentiments. By the time the training center opens, Keating said nearly two-thirds of New Columbia will be filled. "hen PCC is up and running, there will be a lot of people waiting at the door, ready to use the space. Not just the computers, but the training, the classes. People will come from all over north and northeast Portland. This is going to be a great new addition," he said. The ambitious vision for a new type of community grew from leadership at the Housing Authority, however, Keating said PCC was at the table from the start. "his was one year in the application and PCC was there from when we first thought it was possible. The college has been loyal and dedicated to making this project work to help provide affordable training for families get better education and better jobs."