June Key Delta Community Center builds green bridge

Enlarge Image

Chris Poole-Jones, project manager for the Portland Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority's June Key Delta Community Center project, enjoys the results of years and years of hard work.

Editor's note: The Portland Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta was a finalist in the Sustainable Business Oregon Innovation Awards for advocacy. Read about other award winners here.

You won’t find many finger sandwiches at meetings of the Portland Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, but there are plenty of helping hands.

And they know how to make lemonade. It took almost 20 years, but the tenacious sorority sisters took a brownfield site in north Portland by the scruff and turned it into the bustling June Key Delta Community Center, a beacon of grassroots sustainability and outreach.

The community center is on the cusp of becoming the first commercial structure to meet the ultra-stringent Living Building Challenge specs issued by the Cascadia Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council in 2006. The sustainability standards exceed requirements of LEED Platinum.

“(The center) is an example of how the triple bottom line of sustainable development — equity, economic empowerment and environmental stewardship — can be attained,” said Chris Poole-Jones, the project’s director and a sorority member.

The group, mostly African-American educators with advanced degrees, engineered the complex remodeling project with the help of public and private partners.

The project began when the sorority, growing and unable to find a permanent meeting location, began shopping for property. Twelve members kicked in $100 each to get the ball rolling.

In 1992, sorority member June Key, since deceased, bought a graffiti-stained, shuttered gas station, telling her sisters they could pay her back when the money became available.

Game on.

“We had a lot of potential lenders say, ‘You’re too small of an organization. You’re not going to be able to get this done.’ Well, they don’t know us,” said Poole-Jones.

View all SBO award winners | See photos from the event

Like Poole-Jones, many of the sorority sisters are retired, but not retiring, from the looks of the community center, which hosts a wide range of events, including a recent waffle breakfast that drew 200 attendees, ice cream socials and Saturday night dance parties. Mindful of how they were bounced around, they also welcome local organizations that need a place to meet.

“The intention was to build a bridge between the disadvantaged and the green community,” said Mark Nye, architect for the project.

The community center stands in stark contrast to the building’s former life as an architecturally unremarkable gas station that sat atop red-flagged, fuel-contaminated soil.

Eco-friendly materials, a community garden, net-zero geothermal energy produced on site, on-site water treatment and a bioswale are but a few of the sustainability features at the $1.3 million center, the crowning jewel at the now gentrified crossroads of North Ainsworth and North Alberta streets.

One hundred organizations and individuals contributed money to the project, including the sorority’s 55 members.

“Instead of taking a cruise, we would open up our checkbook and write a check,” Poole-Jones said.

At least 26 contractors worked on the project. Fifty-four percent of construction dollars went to minority, women-owned and emerging small business companies.

To meet Living Building Challenge criteria, the center needs a solar array a remaining cost of $108. Checks gladly accepted, said Poole-Jones.

@SustainableBzOR | info@sustainablebusiness.com