ALBINA VISION TRUST, INC.
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Mission Statement
The Albina Vision Trust exists to ensure that our most marginalized communities are reflected in Portland’s built environment and that we participate in the wealth generated by our presence as owners of our homes and businesses. We are building an entire zip code from the ground up, one explicitly geared towards housing, nurturing, safeguarding and financially elevating Black Portlanders.
About This Cause
Historically, Albina was home to 80% of Portland’s Black population. During the 1950’s and 1960’s, racist urban renewal policies displaced families and forced them to leave their stable and abundant community. Albina was classified “blighted” and redlined, with properties condemned for cents on the dollar. Government officials carved up the thriving neighborhood, demolishing thousands of homes to build Interstate 5, Veterans Memorial Coliseum and the sprawling 10.5-acre Portland Public Schools (PPS) headquarters facility. Our work is situated in this context, understanding the role that the government historically played in the destruction of community abundance in Lower Albina, and understanding that the way forward must be firmly rooted in the principles of racial, economic and environmental justice. For several years, Albina Vision Trust (AVT) has been envisioning a new kind of community in Portland’s Lower Albina. Formally established in 2017, AVT is now leading America’s largest restorative redevelopment effort, one that centers the re-rooting of marginalized people, families and culture in the economic heart of our city. In 2020, AVT set out to steward the community’s long-felt desire to articulate a new future Albina on their own terms. Collaborating with a cross-disciplinary team of planners, architects, artists, and economists, AVT kicked off the Community Investment Plan, a 3-year planning effort that put community members in the driver’s seat of defining what a redeveloped Lower Albina should look like. The result of this people-first, multi-generational engagement approach is a living document that guides the redevelopment, one that reflects decades of tireless effort by Black Portlanders who have refused to give up on the dream of their once-bustling community rebuilt. We are developers: buyers of land and builders of spaces to nurture and nourish Black Portlanders with love, joy and intention. We are experts in planning and translating engagement, design and communications into public policy, investment, and political buy-in from stakeholders. We work in 4 main areas: Housing & Restorative Redevelopment Our 94-acre project area provides a large-scale opportunity to bring affordable, family-centered housing to the central city. In 2023, we broke ground on our inaugural 94-unit affordable housing development, Albina One. Acquiring the 10.5-acre Portland Public Schools (PPS) site will allow us to develop 1,000 units of housing, commercial space, an education hub, and accessible green spaces. Portland’s N/NE Preference Policy will ensure displaced community members with historic ties to the district have preferential access. Generational Wealth Building Construction of the PPS site alone will produce 3,250 construction jobs and generate $87M in Minority, Women-owned, Emerging Small Business (MWESB) contracting opportunities. Once developed, residents will have access to vocational, investment and homeownership opportunities, ensuring the people who call Lower Albina home will benefit most from its redevelopment. Environmental Sustainability & Access to Natural Spaces Advancing economic and racial justice means centering environmental justice. We are planning a net-neutral PPS redevelopment and exploring how to develop Oregon’s first climate-positive (carbon-negative) district. We are also scoping a waterfront park between the Steel and Broadway Bridges, reconnecting people to the River. Transportation Capping I-5 to reconnect Albina is a critical aspect of repairing generations of damage and restoring the district. AVT is working with Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to build an 8-acre highway cover over I-5, restitching the district and enabling multi-story buildings, green spaces and bike/pedestrian-friendly infrastructure.