This content was published: April 2, 1998. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
Housing Authority, PCC Team Up for Goalpost Opening
Photos and Story by Mark Evertz
PORTLAND – The Housing Authority of Portland and Portland Community College, long-time conduits in the welfare-to-work journey, will assemble Portland-area dignitaries Monday, April 6 at 8932 N. Woolsey Ave., to celebrate the latest victory in the continuous fight for the financial independence of welfare recipients and public housing residents.
What: Goalpost, a welfare-to-work program of the Housing Authority of Portland and sponsored by Portland Community College’s Steps to Success – North program, the Urban League and others, will open the doors on its newly constructed facility.
Who: Speakers include: Gretchen Miller Kafoury, Portland city commissioner; Dr. Mildred Ollee, PCC Cascade/Open Campus Executive Dean; Lawrence Dark, president, Urban League of Portland; Elizabeth Santone, Portland Public Housing director, for the Department of Housing and Urban Development; Judi Pitre, HAP deputy executive director for housing services; and Annie Calhoun, GOALS program participant. Denny West, HAP executive director will emcee the event.
When: Monday, April 6 from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Where: 8932 N. Woolsey Ave., Portland
Why: To offer computer instruction, education and job training classes, vocational rehabilitation, adult and family counseling, credit counseling and other necessary help for public housing and Section 8 residents.
How: The money for the facility was borne out of a grant awarded to the Housing Authority of Portland in 1994. A grant of $1 million from the Department of Housing and Urban Development allowed for the creation of a Family Investment Center (FIC) program.
The FIC, combined with the Housing Authority’s Family Self-Sufficiency Program, became HAP’s GOALS program. The GOALS program was then expanded, thanks to more than $800,000 in additional HUD funds.
The FIC grant required a partnership be formed with 30 community agencies to create a comprehensive program to assist residents in moving to family wage jobs. Another requirement was the renovation or construction of a building to house the program. Both requirements have now been fulfilled.
Construction of the Goalpost facility cost $492,000. It houses 11 offices, a large conference room, a classroom, a kitchen and storage areas.
"Through this one-of-a-kind collaboration, the service providers all have different paths on how clients achieve self-sufficiency," said Judi Pitre, HAP’s deputy executive director for housing services, "but we all have a common vision on how the journey ends."