Broadway Books

Broadway Books LogoA series of posts about places where you can buy, borrow or donate books in and around our amazing neighborhood.

In 1992 two friends decided that Northeast Portland needed a neighborhood bookstore and, after working in the book business for many years, decided to go out on their own to open their own store.  Turning an old furniture store into a bookstore, buying what seemed like a million books for their bookshelves, hiring a few good people, the beginning of an almost quarter century business had begun.  There have been a couple changes in ownership but the spirit of the store  and the dedication to the customers and neighborhood remains the same. As their website states, “Our friends became our customers and our customers became our friends.”

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Children’s Book Bank

books
Photo courtesy http://www.childrensbookbank.org/

A series of posts about places where you can buy, borrow or donate books in and around our amazing neighborhood. 

The Children’s Book Bank is a local nonprofit that engages the community in collecting, sorting, and distributing new and gently used books to children who might not otherwise have books in their homes. Children living in poverty often enter school lacking the foundational vocabulary needed to learn to read and early literacy skills are directly linked to a student’s success in school and beyond. That’s why The Children’s Book Bank collects and distributes books to children in need ranging from birth through eighth grade. We distribute books through Head Start programs, public schools, and more.

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Neighborhood Company Rallies Businesses to Back Refugees

A Portland effort to rally businesses in support of refugees started in the Eliot neighborhood. We Hire Refugees was launched by Indow on N. Interstate Avenue in partnership with the nonprofit Immigrant Refugee Community Organization. The initiative is designed to rally businesses of all sizes to declare that refugees make our communities and businesses stronger. More than 45 businesses have signed including New Seasons, Ziba Design, Zapproved, Neil Kelly and IdeaLegal.

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Legacy Plans Major Expansion

New building proposed at Legacy
Artist’s rendition of the new Legacy Emanuel building to house the Oregon Burn Center and surgical suites

Legacy Health has announced a replacement and expansion project on the Legacy Emanuel Medical Center campus that would add new surgical suites and a new space for the Legacy Oregon Burn Center. Plans are to build a new four-level facility with parking for 100 cars on the N. Kerby Street lot, adjacent to the hospital and current operating rooms. This is the first major expansion on the Legacy Emanuel campus since the opening of Randall Children’s Hospital in 2012.

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Oregon’s “Progressive” Past and Present

In Honor of MLK Jr.:  It’s Time to be Blunt about Oregon’s “Progressive” Past and Present.

On Sunday, January 15th, at an MLK Jr. Celebration titled “Advancing the Dream,” Portland’s new Mayor, Ted Wheeler, listed milestones of Oregon’s dark, racist past. Wheeler noted, “The 1857 Oregon Constitution explicitly excluded black people from living in Oregon. There were 20,000 KKK members in Portland in 1920. During WWII, Portland wanted black workers, but didn’t want black neighbors. Vanport was created outside of the city limits for a reason. 18,000 people were displaced by the Vanport floods, 25 percent of whom were black.”

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Where to Get Financial Assistance for Childcare?

woman and baby
Photo courtesy of pixabay.com

There is so much more to raising a child today than just loving them unconditionally and teaching them the right values. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 64.2 percent of women with children under 6 years old were either working or looking for jobs in 2015. If both parents are working, you may have to think about leaving your kid in a childcare facility.

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