By Dina Sage | Concordia News Managing Editor

The Concordia Neighborhood Association board is a group of 13 volunteers who all live in, work in or own property in Concordia. They are dedicated to helping the community and meet once a month to discuss neighborhood issues and plan events.

How did you come to get involved with the CNA board?

I’ve been on the board for at least two years and I’ve been in Portland for 3 ½ years, in Concordia the whole time. In 2023 my daughter and her husband moved to Portland and so my husband and I moved here to be with them.

Early on, I joined the Concordia Walkers and I met Michelle Fitzgerald. She introduced me to lots of other people and encouraged me to get involved.

What positions have you held / committees have you served on?

I worked first on the social committee and the Commons committee was forming, so I joined the Commons committee as a member. When Megan retired, I became the board rep. I initially ran for the AL6 position because at that time, I lived with my daughter, my son-inlaw and my two grandchildren.

Where do you live?

I moved to 25th and Killingsworth so now I’m SW2 and I love my home now. There are some things in it from my mother and my grandmother that I cherish. Also, my home is convenient and low maintenance (it’s a condo.)

How was your move to Portland?

Initially, moving to Portland was devastating.

All my family is in St. Louis. I’m the second of nine children, six of which were from my mother and father, and three of which were stepchildren. When my mother died, my father remarried a woman who already had three children. At one point, there were 28 total with all of our children, so I left my entire family and all my friends.

Before we moved, my husband and I had built a log home in the Ozarks on ten acres in the woods. We raised chickens, rabbits, and bees. We literally sold and gave away everything we owned. I cried before I moved, I cried after I moved.

How do you feel now?

Now I don’t want to leave Concordia! In my older years here, I have learned some important lessons: when I had to sell my possessions and start over, I learned that I didn’t really need all those things. I’ve also learned that you’re born into family but then there’s family that you make. I’ve made some wonderful friends here.

I have never lived anywhere where the people were as friendly as they are here. My lives intersect with my neighbors all the time. They’ll stop and talk to you and you can always fi nd something in common.

What is your favorite thing about Concordia?

Aside from the people, I like being close to everything and being able to walk. I have a walking buddy and I like doing a circuit around Concordia. I like to say hi to people and dogs. We walk from 25th and Jerrett, through Alberta Park, up to 18th, up to Liberty, then turn towards the U of O, walk through campus, then down to 30th and take 30th up through the Commons and back to Killingsworth.

What are your favorite hobbies / past times?

Aside from walking, I love birdwatching and reading. I also enjoy the creative process and making things with my hands. I majored in fashion design at Washington University in St. Louis and I sewed professionally. We had a custom drapery business.

I realized recently that I haven’t created anything since I moved here, so I started embroidering phrases in cursive on sweatshirts. I made one that says, “Educate girls and change the world.” I think education for girls is extremely important because there are places where girls are still not educated and we take that for granted.

Next I’m thinking about making a denim quilted jacket.

By Caprice Lawless | Contributing Writer

I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but eventually I hung up the bucket and its accompanying list of things to do, places to go and goals to achieve. For a while, as my career closed, I was focused furiously on the stuff; selling and giving away a lifetime of books I had already read, sporting equipment I could no longer use, and finally a house that was way too big for my needs.

One day, I stood in my driveway and wept as a moving van took away the piano I had owned my whole life; arthritis rendering me incapable of playing it. It was equally tough to sell my backpack, camp stove, mountain bike, road bike, ice skates and skis. But it had to be done. Another day, I stood with a stack of familiar cardboard boxes near the county’s massive recycling bins, dropping the daily journals I had kept for years into them as I tore up their pages. I thought I would reread them but the thought of doing so had lost all appeal. Similarly, I shredded years of paperwork I no longer needed. I noticed that each of those u n n a me d , u n s h a r e d r it u a l s imparted a sense of buoyancy along with the loss, though. I could feel something new opening with every ending. What would fill my mind, what would occupy my time, when familiar responsibilities no longer pressed on me? Even more unsettling (and a little exciting) was to wonder what would occupy me once familiar surroundings disappeared in my rear-view mirror as I drove to a new life in a new state.

Once I got into Portland, though, and was busy with new endeavors, those nagging feelings of doubt lifted. Nowadays I keep only a thimble list of small delights I hope to find in a day or a week. And so, alas, that trek on the legendary Camino de Santiago through Spain, France, and Portugal is out of the question, now. I won’t be tracing, one winter in my own skates, even a few spots on the Netherlands’ Eleven Cities Tour. Unlikely now are several days hiking the British Cotswolds, or even a day hiking the Great Smoky Mountains along the Appalachian Trail. A few months of grieving over such losses was requisite.

Happily, since then though, I have chosen to release broken dreams and to embrace the present. I had to trade fulfilling far-away adventures for an appreciation of the nearby, even the ordinary. It’s easy to enjoy extraordinary beauty wrapped in ordinary chores here in Portland. A drive to the laundromat, for example, offers a shower of pink and white petals from flowering fruit trees. The lilting birdsong of neighborhood wrens and sparrows here can often sound transcendent. Light flickering through trees across the path as I stroll to “run” errands is captivating, especially because I am never in a hurry to complete said errands. A day’s drive to the coast, to Mt. Hood, to wine country, or to the many natural wonders here offers a bounty of experience.

The only trouble with a thimble list is how its size requires frequent filling. Fortunately, that is easy to do in a setting like Portland, in a neighborhood like Concordia.

I wonder if the poet Blake and I share the same viewpoint:

“To see a World in a grain
of sand
And a Heaven in a wild
flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of
your hand
And Eternity in an hour”
-William Blake, The Auguries of Innocence, 1803

The Concordia Neighborhood Association board is a group of 13 volunteers who all live in, work in or own property in Concordia. They are dedicated to helping the community and meet once a month to discuss neighborhood issues and plan events.

I caught up with John on a Saturday morning, while he was helping clean up from the Teacher Appreciation Breakfast.

How did you come to get involved with the CNA board?

I moved here from the gorge and bought my Concordia house in 2009. I’ve always been active in the communities I’ve lived in. In the gorge, I was on the Chamber of Commerce, the City Council, and the Business Association. I was involved with planning social events like music festivals, car shows and chili cook-off s.

My first exposure to CNA was a concert in the park in 2017. I went to one of their meetings and someone nominated me and next thing you know, I was on the board. I didn’t even know what was happening to me!

Over the years, what positions have you held / committees have you served on?

One of the first things I did was run an alley clean-up in the neighborhood. I’ve helped run the Egg Hunt and concerts in the park. I’ve also been the CNews liaison for a while. And last year, I was the vice chair.

Where do you live?

I live on 29th right off of Ainsworth, between Fernhill and Alberta Park.

How has the neighborhood changed since you moved here?

The biggest thing has been the switch from Concordia to U of O. When Concordia University closed in 2020, there was a big question John with his English cream retriever, Zoe. as to what would happen with that space but the change has been really good. We couldn’t have had a better outcome.

What is your favorite thing about Concordia?

My favorite thing is that it’s walkable and easy to get to all the coffee shops and bars, but what makes Concordia different from other Portland neighborhoods is its alleys. There are 13 miles of alleys in Concordia.

I really love walking in the alleys. They’re not crowded so there’s plenty of room to walk side by side with other people or with your dog. It’s fun to see peoples’ backyards – it’s sort of a diff erent side of the neighborhood. I’ve even been invited into peoples’ homes before!

What are your favorite hobbies / past times?

I play bass in an Americana band and we like to jam it out. We practice once a month and then do a gig once a month.

I also have a treat library for neighboring dogs at my house. I restock it once a week. Based on the attrition, I estimate that 18 dogs a day frequent the treat library. People also put dog treats in the library for my dog. One year I went from January to August without having to buy any dog treats. One time, someone left me some ravioli with a Thank You note!

By Caprice Lawless | Contributing Writer

Maybe you are recently retired, new to Portland, and don’t know anyone your age. (That was my situation two years ago, when I moved here from Colorado.) Maybe you are a senior, suddenly widowed, and feeling lonesome. Maybe you realize, for various reasons, you need an easy, instant way to meet neighboring peers, to join them for a morning coffee, to play an afternoon game of Scrabble, to drop in on an afternoon Happy Hour, or, one night, to take in a show or a concert. Perhaps you aren’t quite ready yet to hire a home healthcare worker on a regular basis but do anticipate needing just a bit more help around the house than you ever did before, plus rides to medical appointments.

If so, consider joining one of the neighborhood-based “Villages” in Portland. Concordia’s local Village is Northeast Village PDX, part of the Northeast Community Center. An adjacent Village (where Concordia News readers may have retired relatives or friends) is the North Star Village. These hyperlocal, northeast Portland groups are part of the gigantic network of Villages Northwest comprising thousands of Portlanders. All are part of a nationwide system of neighborhood-based Villages that help seniors remain independent, and to stay in their homes as they grow older.

With Villagers, you have instant friends. Every Sunday you receive an email roster of events organized by other Villagers in your neighborhood. Program diversity includes groups such as the “Women at the Well” gathering offered by Northeast Village PDX. “It’s an example of our program variety that provides solo agers and others who are seeking community ways to connect,” explained Teri McKenzie, Northeast Village PDX manager.

“One of the nice things about the Villages is how each one decides how big it wants to be,” said Liz Kennedy, Nor t h Star Village member. Membership fees vary among the Villages. For further information, visit the Village website for Concordia residents at nevillagepdx.org .

Caprice Lawless has written extensively on higher education, homesharing, technology, construction, and engineering. She moved to Oregon from Colorado in 2023, shortly after retiring from teaching college English and Journalism.I

By Matt Roberts | CNA Board Chair

Dear Neighbors and Board Members,

As someone who might be considered an “outsider,” I want to begin by sincerely thanking the board for the confidence you’ve placed in me by selecting me as Chair for the coming year. I use that term lightly, as while I don’t live in the neighborhood, I have been part of it since the summer of 2022, when the University of Oregon purchased the former Concordia University campus and established UO Portland as its newest campus.

In my professional role, I serve as the Associate Vice President of Community Relations for the University of Oregon. My work focuses on neighborhood relations, partnerships with city, county, and public agencies across the state, and managing a portfolio of university sponsorships. At its core, my role is about building trust, listening, and finding ways institutions and communities can work better together.

The university is genuinely happy to be part of this neighborhood. We want our campus to be seen as a resource, a welcoming space, and most importantly, a good neighbor. This past year, we enjoyed hosting the Woodlawn Farmers Market, Neighbors Night Out, and the Winter Celebration, and we hope to continue opening our campus for events that bring people together and strengthen community connections.

Over the coming months, you’ll also see some physical changes on campus. We are removing outdated buildings and preparing the northeast corner of campus for a new home for the Ballmer and Prevention Science Institutes. This will be our first mass timber building, designed to complement surrounding structures and help frame the university’s central quad. As this work progresses, we remain committed to communicating and listening as our campus evolves alongside the neighborhood.

Since arriving, one of the most frequent questions we’ve received has been about the recreation fi elds and how organizations can reserve them. With a small staff and limited expertise in athletic facility management, we knew early on that partnering with an experienced organization would best serve the community. After an extensive procurement process, we’re pleased to share that Central Catholic High School has been selected to manage the fields on our behalf. They plan to invest in new turf and facility enhancements, use the space for their baseball, softball, soccer, and lacrosse teams, and develop a process to make the fi elds available to community groups and Portland Public Schools. We see this as an opportunity to strengthen access while improving a valued neighborhood asset.

As I step into the Chair role, I’m excited to work alongside the board to continue the good work already underway. Looking ahead, one of our shared goals is to engage more neighbors in what we do. Our association thrives when people participate. If you’re interested in getting involved, we’d love your help with events and activities that neighbors enjoy. Please consider reaching out to our social committee leaders if you have a few hours to contribute.

Finally, I want to extend sincere thanks to our past chair, John Fitzgerald. John very graciously—and somewhat reluctantly— extended his service an extra year. His commitment and leadership have meant a great deal to this board and to the neighborhood, and we are all grateful for his dedication.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out with questions, ideas, or suggestions about how our board and association can better serve the neighborhood. I look forward to working together in the year ahead.

Warm regards,

Matt Roberts
Chair, Concordia Neighborhood Association

Matt has been with UO since 1997. He represents the university interests with public agencies, school districts, community colleges and the Eugene, Springfi eld and Portland Chambers of Commerce. Before that, he did telemarketing research, and marketing and development for the Oregon Festival of Music.