FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Coalition hires community organizer to lead anti-displacement effort
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 1, 2020
CONTACT:
Andrea Pastor, Sr Economic Planner
City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability
andrea.pastor@portlandoregon.gov
503-823-7845
Michelle Yemaya Benton
Coalition Organizer
Anti-displacement Coalition
myemaya@imagineblack.org
503-764-9019 ext. 5
Coalition hires community organizer to lead anti-displacement effort
Yemaya Benton will lead coalition effort to address gentrification and displacement of Portland’s most vulnerable populations.
Portland, ORE. — A growing coalition working to prevent and counteract gentrification and displacement in Portland has hired its first full-time organizer with money allocated by the Portland City Council.
Michelle “Yemaya” Benton (she/her) will lead the work of an anti-displacement coalition of Black, Indigenous and people of color community groups that will be at the center of decision-making and leadership around housing access and affordability.
The roots of this coalition go back to the Anti-Displacement PDX campaign, which united more than 30 community-based organizations. Together to successfully advocate for a platform of anti-displacement and affordable housing policies that were adopted as part of Portland’s Comprehensive Plan.
On April 1, 2020, the Portland City Council voted unanimously to award a $180,000 grant to the Portland African-American Leadership Forum (PAALF) as fiscal sponsor of the coalition. In addition to supporting the hiring of Benton as the coalition organizer, the grant funds will be distributed to other community organizing groups that will join the coalition, enabling them to broaden and coordinate their outreach, education and advocacy efforts. The coalition will work to center frontline communities and their priorities with the City’s new Anti-displacement Task Force, which is charged with guiding implementation of the Comprehensive Plan’s anti-displacement policies.
Ms. Benton has a background in peer support, focusing on mental health and rehabilitation work with women of color. She is the current secretary of Black Community of Portland, a grassroots nonprofit organization, and an entrepreneur who supports pop-up markets in Portland.
“We’re excited to announce the hiring of Yemaya Benton as our first coalition organizer,” said Joy Alise Davis, executive director of PAALF. “Yemaya has a combination of lived and professional experience that will be invaluable in bringing together the people and organizations most affected by gentrification and displacement – and their multigenerational effects. With Yemaya’s leadership, PAALF and our coalition partners are ready to take the next steps in advancing a community-led anti-displacement agenda. We’re building on the groundwork laid by decades of struggle by Black, Indigenous and people of color-led organizations here in Portland.”
Council support
Mayor Wheeler supported these efforts, stating, “Now, more than ever, the City will need to partner with community groups to help those who have been displaced or who are at risk of being displaced from Portland. This grant award will help connect residents and business to services, support the city and its partners to develop effective anti-displacement policies, and identify new, equitable means to pay for these critical programs. I am proud to be able to partner with PAALF and other trusted community groups to help the city avoid, mitigate, and remedy displacement.”
Said Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, “This grant is an important way to ensure we hear directly from those most vulnerable to and affected by displacement. Centering frontline communities in the City’s anti-displacement policies was critical before the COVID-19 crisis, and even more so now as our Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color deal with the disproportionate burden and risk they face in this time. I look forward to seeing the fruits of this partnership for our communities.”
Commissioner Chloe Eudaly added, “We must confront the City’s role in aiding and abetting development-driven displacement as we work to remedy historical injustices. This grant will help put power in the hands of Black, Indigenous, and POC-led organizations to guide our anti-displacement work, which must be integral to every major project we undertake — not an afterthought. It is essential that the communities most impacted by our past failures lead this effort.”
“The Anti-displacement Coalition championed the anti-displacement policy language we have in our 2035 Comprehensive Plan, and I am pleased that the same partners will be leading community-based efforts to implement these important policies,” said Commissioner Amanda Fritz.
For more information about the Anti-Displacement Action Plan, please visit the project website.