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Greetings! I am contacting you in your role as a Golden West Historic Display Advisory Committee member. You received a letter from Central City Concern about this project in fall 2008, and we are now moving forward and would like to invite you to participate in the first Advisory Committee meeting in April.

• Attend two meetings to review the proposed content of the historic display;
• Help make the display ‘unveiling’ event a success;
• Help publicize the exhibit to schools, history groups, community groups, etc.

Background: As you know, the Golden West building is one of the oldest remaining landmarks of African American history in Portland.  Central City Concern purchased and renovated the building in 1989, and recently took full ownership.  For the past 19 years, the Golden West has served countless homeless and mentally ill people. In 2007 CCC undertook a number of renovations to the building. We earmarked $4000 to restore the historic display that faces Everett Street sidewalks. When the City of Portland Visions in Action grant program became known, CCC contacted Old Town History Project Director Dr. Jackie Peterson who helped us put together an application.  CCC was awarded $9250 from the City and $1000 from the Oregon Council on the Humanities. The combined funds, plus in-kind labor contributions primarily by CCC, will allow us to restore and improve the exhibit panels and to also add two new display windows on the Broadway side of the building and a sound component. The major goal is to convey the vibrancy of the African American neighborhood around the Golden West in the early part of the 20th century.

Let me know if you have any questions and we look forward to the first Advisory Committee meeting.

Thanks, EV, CCC

Golden West History Project Advisory Committee

Name	Role in the project	Project-relevant background
Billy Anfield	Advisory Committee	CCC Employment Access Center Employment Mentor; his relatives lived in the neighborhood of the Golden West
EV Armitage	Advisory Committee & administrative project manager for the project	CCC Executive Coordinator
Will Bennett	Advisory Committee	Community practitioner.  His ‘Golden West Project’ is one of the ‘partners and friends’ of the City of Portland Vision-Into-Action VIA program which awarded us a grant.
Ed Blackburn	Advisory Committee & project director	Executive Director of CCC
Dick Bogle	Advisory Committee	His grandfather ran the barber shop at the Golden West in its heyday.  The barber’s daughter-in-law, Katherine Bogle, was the prime author of the original historic display.
Kathy Galbraith	Advisory Committee & project historical consultant	Director of the Bosco Milligan foundation for architectural preservation;  knowledgeable about African American history in Portland
Michael Chappie Grice	Advisory Committee	Helped create the original historic display at the Golden West in 1990.
Bill Hart	Advisory Committee	Principal with Carlton Hart Architects which did renovation work on the Golden West recently
Darrell Millner, PhD	Advisory Committee	Professor of history at PSU with specialty in African American history
Jackie Peterson Phd	Advisory Committee & project historian and curator	Historian specializing in America’s social and multiethnic history.  Curator for multiple exhibits.  Founder of the Old Town History Project
Bing Sheldon	Advisory Committee & SERA is donating design services	Principal with SERA Architects and board member of the Old Town History Project

Golden West History Project Advisory Committee