A different Kind of Capital

We believe in thinking about the concept of wealth holistically.

Financial capital is central to living a fulfilled and stable life. But wealth is about so much more than a dollar bill.

Here at the Albina Vision Trust, we anchor our definition of wealth to the broad array of tiny moments and experiences that fill a person’s life with joy.

Wealth is walking into grandmama’s house to the smell of freshly baked sweet potato pie. Wealth is the checkout clerk at the grocery store greeting you by your first name. Wealth is a community-based educator pulling a Black child aside and reminding them that they are loved, cared for and believed in.

Building Opportunity

As community-led developers, we understand that wealth is also material.

Lower Albina experienced more than a billion dollars in stolen wealth. Today, the average Black family struggles to afford a 2-bedroom apartment in Portland. These realities are linked.

AVT’s first, 94-unit, family-oriented affordable housing development was designed by Chandra Robinson, one of two licensed Black female architects in all of Oregon. It was built by Colas Construction, a multi-generational Black-owned business anchored in Albina. Berrien Concrete, which laid the concrete for the project, is a multi-generational Black-owned business anchored in Albina. City of Roses Waste Management & Recycling, which handled all of the waste throughout the construction project, is a multi-generational Black-owned business anchored in Albina.

We are focused on elevating small, locally owned businesses in everything that we build here in our project area.

As builders of an entirely new zip code, our most fundamental responsibility is to make sure that our most marginalized neighbors, family members and friends are surrounded by the built and communal infrastructure necessary to live healthy, thriving, and joyous lives. That's what wealth means to us.