Fall/Winter 2006: On Principle

Field Work: Vision + Work + Luck

A kid-friendly coffeehouse finds a home on a former drug site.

This is Kristin Heying's vision come to fruition: three towheaded toddlers run circles around an art deco sofa while a nursing mother chats with a friend, oblivious to the jubilant chaos. A small homemade puppet stage sits at the front of the room. At the back, boxes of frothy cupcakes and urns of orange juice and coffee sit on folding tables. This laid-back gathering of families, not an unusual scene in family-friendly Portland, is actually one of six well-organized events staged to raise awareness of and money for Cafe au Play, a nonprofit coffeehouse and family community center that, through heroic volunteer effort and a dash of serendipity, has become a model for community partnerships.

Inspired by her own sense of isolation as a single mother, Heying hopes that Cafe au Play will be a comfortable place where families can drop in for a healthy snack and then stay to attend a workshop or a puppet show, play with toys, and learn about local services. Most important, she wants Cafe au Play (www.cafeauplay.org) to be a space for parents and caregivers to build the spontaneous social networks so vital to sane childrearing, especially for those without family nearby. "Cafe au Play will allow families of different backgrounds to come together for support," Heying says. "The coffeehouse structure creates a natural atmosphere for people to connect."

In early 2005, Heying formed a nonprofit corporation and, with the help of her father, Charles Heying, a PSU professor of urban studies and planning, assembled a board of committed volunteers, including parents, academics, community leaders, and businesspeople. The board meets monthly, spreads the word about Cafe au Play, builds community partnerships, stages fund-raisers and events, and communicates with a growing e-mail list of interested volunteers and community members. As a result, Cafe au Play is close to finding a home--a home that, as it turns out, tells its own story of the power of civic involvement.

The Drive Thru Wake Up Deli, a run-down, now-vacant mini-mart on the corner of Southeast 57th Avenue and Division Street, once sold junk food to the kids who attended Atkinson Elementary across the street--and was more than once cited for selling minors tobacco. Eventually, the owner was arrested for selling pseudoephedrine to local meth labs, and the property was seized by the U.S. Marshal. Such sites are usually auctioned to the highest bidder, but through a federal program called Operation Goodwill, the community had the option of purchasing the property for its own use.

In late 2004, Paul Leistner, then-president of the local neighborhood association, spearheaded the effort to reclaim the site, forming a steering committee that included members of the Southeast Uplift Neighborhood Program, the Mount Tabor and South Tabor neighborhood associations, the Division/Vision Coalition, the Atkinson PTA, and area residents. After more than a year of red tape, fund-raising, and negotiating with insurance companies and state and local governments, the community gained ownership of the site, which has been transformed into the Atkinson/Tabor Commons through the work of the committee and neighbors. The parking lot is now home to a stand that sells local berries and honey, and ambitious plans are under way to transform the vacant space into a community meeting area, at the center of which will be Cafe au Play.

Heying has been working closely with Atkinson/Tabor Commons to build a partnership and site design that not only will bring Cafe au Play to life, but also will include a multipurpose room for community use. Local architects and landscape designers are donating their services to draw up the plans. A contractor--the father of her daughter's playmate--has agreed to donate his time. The Oregon Tradeswomen will donate their labor and building expertise. More than seventy members of the neighborhood have shown up to clean and paint.

Despite the good news, this is no Cinderella story. Serendipity has played a part in Cafe au Play's success until now, but many challenges lie ahead. More funds are needed to cover the costs of environmental cleanup, site rehabilitation, and equipment purchase. Both Cafe au Play and Atkinson/Tabor Commons face the task of mobilizing a much larger pool of volunteers. But if they continue to gain momentum and build partnerships along the way, they stand a good chance of transforming what was once a blighted neighborhood eyesore into a growing, blooming community asset.

--Asha Dornfest

Published in the Fall/Winter 2006 issue of Oregon Humanities.

© 2006 Oregon Council for the Humanities