Last Month’s News. This Month’s Plans.

The Sunnyside Neighborhood Association held its annual Board Elections at the June meeting and voted in three new members – Emily McCadden, Chris Waldmann, and Cole White. Congratulations to the newest members to represent and serve the Sunnyside community. 

There will not be a SNA General and Board meeting for the month of July due to organizing officer roles and preparing for the August meeting. 

I close with my complete gratitude for having had the opportunity to serve Sunnyside. My term is now complete and I will be stepping down from my role as the SNA President. There is much that I have learned through the process. I made many connections and got to see the organization develop a strong foundation. I’m excited to see the SNA continue this momentum and be the example within the city of Portland that local government does have a high impact. 

Be well and stay involved. 

Last Month’s News. This Month’s Plans.

The Sunnyside Neighborhood Association met virtually in May to discuss the upcoming Board elections. The elections will be hosted in-person during June’s SNA meeting on Thursday June 9th from 7 to 7:30 p.m. in the SE Uplift parking lot (3534 SE Main St). Please join us and consider running for one of the five open Board seats. No previous experience is required and existing Board Members will help you navigate this role. It’s a great way to get involved in your community and have a voice. As a Board representing the neighborhood, it’s good to have different perspectives, so if you feel that something is missing from Sunnyside I encourage you to nominate yourself and partake in your local civic service. The role is a two year term and meets monthly. There’s no better way to create transformative impact than on a local level. 

The SNA completed the organization’s Community Agreements and will upload the document to the SNA website for folks to view by the end of June.
This document is an outlined code of conduct for our meetings and is meant to encourage respectful, inspiring, and curious behavior towards one another. The Board applied a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility (DEIA) lens when considering key focal points. The Community Agreements is an evolving document, so if you feel something should be added please join us at the July SNA General Meeting to discuss. 

Emily McCadden, the SNACC Co-Chair, shared the results of the needs
assessment report from the Sunnyside Shower Project (Instagram:
@sunnysideshowerproject) which is hosted at the Sunnyside United Methodist Church (3520 SE Yamhill St). The report provides an ongoing assessment that started in December 2021 and that the SNACC Committee has been actively working on. Some highlights include: individuals who use the program have asked for longer shower times than the allowed 30 minutes, more shower availability during the week, hotter water, and some hygiene resources. 

The Sunnyside Shower Program offers showers Tuesday and Thursdays from 1 – 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 2 – 6 p.m. The program is in need of more volunteers for the Saturday shift. If you would like to sign up for a shower shift please email Hannah Wallace ([email protected]). You’ll be partnered with another volunteer so it’s a great way to meet your neighbors while helping out your community. Double win! 

The SNA continues their gratitude for the May newsletter donations. We greatly appreciate your generosity and goodwill. Please keep the support coming so we can continue to publish our local newsletter. The donation link is on the SNA website for folks who would like to contribute to the newsletter’s expenses (sunnysideportland.org/donate-to-our-newsletter). We also have available advertising spots if you have a business or want to spread the word about something. We’re still plugging along to reach our annual production costs of $6,000. You can follow our fundraising thermometer to see where we’re at with donations. 

June’s meeting will be held in-person on Thursday the 9th at SE Uplift. Meeting details and the agenda will be posted on the SNA website (sunnysideportland.org) on Tuesday the 7th.

Last Month’s News. This Month’s Plans.

We hosted our first hybrid SNA General Meeting for the month of April in-person at the Sunnyside United Methodist Church and on Zoom. We had a good in-person turnout and virtual attendance. A big thank you to the folks that showed up and tuned in. The SNA Board gave a high-level introduction to the Association’s operations along with the Officer and Committee Chair reports to keep our local community informed. Then, we quickly dove into the Candidates forum to hold an in-person discussion with the City’s Metro No.6 and Commissioner No.3 positions. The SNA hosted an engaging Q&A debate that covered the concerns of governance, housing, public safety, and community issues. A very lively and collaborative conversation was had by both groups of candidates and our neighborhood is grateful for their participation. We certainly look forward to hosting more public forums that bring information firsthand to the public. 

SNA Board elections will be held at the June meeting on Thursday the 9th at the SE Uplift parking lot (3534 SE Main St). Join us for the elections to learn more about the opportunity. No previous experience is required and existing Board Members will help you navigate this role. It’s a great way to get involved in your community, have a voice, represent your neighbors, and make a meaningful impact. Please join us for the May SNA General Meeting to ask questions and learn more. 

Welcome to our newest committee lead, Jamie Smith, who will be partnering with the SNA to help manage the Land Use & Transportation committee. We’re very excited to have her support. We’re still searching for a Newsletter Communications & Advertising Coordinator. If you’re looking to engage with your community or get involved in a local civic service, we encourage you to learn more about this role. You can reach out to [email protected] for details. 

Many thank yous to our recent newsletter donors. We greatly appreciate your generosity and goodwill. Please keep the support coming so we can continue to publish our local newsletter. The donation link is on the SNA website for folks who would like to contribute to the newsletter’s expenses (https://sunnysideportland.org/donate-to-our-newsletter). We also have available advertising spots if you have a business or want to spread the word about something. We’re still plugging along to reach our annual production costs of $6,000.

May’s meeting will be held virtually on Zoom on Thursday the 12th. Meeting details and the agenda will be posted on the SNA website (https://sunnysideportland.org) on Tuesday the 10th. The General meeting will be from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. with the Board Meeting directly after from 8:30- 9:00 p.m. Please join us.

Last Month’s News. This Month’s Plans.

During March’s Sunnyside Neighborhood Association meeting we welcomed a group of interested neighbors who joined us to hear from guest speakers Erik Dorrset and Bob Thompson from TVA Architects (https://tvaarchitects.com). Erik and Bob walked us through their development project at 4406 SE Belmont St., and followed up with a round of questions. Prior to the presentation our organization had a brainstorming session on developer questions to have on hand for future presentation requests. We based our guidelines on what would best represent the neighborhood and how to apply a DEIA lens when addressing development concerns. These questions will be in the March SNA General meeting minutes online (https://sunnysideportland.org/board/meeting-minutes) if you’d like to learn more about what we discussed. 

Matt Lembo, SNA Board Member, shared pre-planning details for our upcoming Candidates Forum which will be hosted during the SNA’s April General meeting. Details are in a separate article in this newsletter. We’re anticipating a great turnout and look forward to having you join us. The event will be held both in-person and virtually. If you need assistance to join the forum, please reach out to [email protected] for support. 

The SNA will spend time during May’s General meeting to further develop our Community Agreement Statement that we started to outline in February. I encourage folks to participate in helping us create this document. The intent of this statement is to create welcoming guidelines on best practices and establish the organization’s roadmap for a code of conduct during meetings.  

We are still seeking a Land Use & Transportation Chair as well as a Newsletter Communications & Advertising Coordinator. To learn more, please reach out to [email protected]

A big thank you to our recent Sunnyside newsletter donors. We greatly appreciate your generosity and goodwill. We will continue to have a newsletter donation link live on the SNA website for folks who would like to contribute to the newsletter’s expenses. Our goal is to work towards the yearly production costs of $6,000. (https://sunnysideportland.org/donate-to-our-newsletter). We look forward to continuing to bring you up-to-date information and resources. 

The SNA April meeting will be held at the Sunnyside United Methodist Church (3520 SE Yamhill Street) on Thursday the 14th. Meeting details and the agenda will be posted on the SNA website (https://sunnysideportland.org) on Tuesday the 12th. The General meeting will be from 7:00 – 7:30 p.m. with the Candidate Forum to follow directly after from 7:30- 9:00 pm. We look forward to seeing our Sunnyside community.

Last Month’s News. This Month’s Plans.

During February’s Sunnyside Neighborhood Association meeting we discussed advertising updates for the newsletter. Thank you to the folks who have donated. Your support is greatly appreciated. We’ll keep the website donation link live so folks can contribute at any time (sunnysideportland.org/donate-to-our-newsletter).

We hosted Josh Roll from PBOT’s Pedestrian Advisory Committee. He spoke about the revised endorsement letter on reinstating the traffic calming program within neighborhoods. The SNA voted to endorse revisions that did not include installing speed bumps, but instead allows neighborhoods to initiate projects to build community and offer additional tools to meet safety, climate, and livability goals. 

The Board finalized the SNA Public Endorsement Policy and Procedure form that will be on the SNA website. This process outlines how the SNA will consider future endorsements from organizations and the general public. We discussed developing a Community Agreement – a recommendation from the DEIA Committee – which will guide SNA on best practices for communications and interactions between each other. 

The Board is extending the General meeting for an additional half hour – now running from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. This time will allow Committee and Officer reports to be shared during the General meeting. A lot of important information is shared during those reports and we want to ensure transparency and awareness with the entire Sunnyside community. 

The SNA has two roles that are seeking interested individuals – Land Use & Transportation Chair as well as Newsletter Communications & Advertising Coordinator. To learn more about either of these opportunities, please reach out to the [email protected]. 

At the March meeting we will host Erik Dorsett from TVA Architects (tvaarchitects.com) to discuss their development project at 4406 SE Belmont St. Erik will provide an in-depth presentation of TVA Architects’ development plans. We will hold a Q&A session after the presentation. 

Thank you to the new attendees that showed up at February’s SNA meeting.
It was great to have your input and see fresh faces. We look forward to seeing more folks at our upcoming March meeting on Thursday the 10th. Meeting details and the agenda will be posted on the SNA website (
sunnysideportland.org) on Tuesday the 8th. The General meeting is held 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. with the Board meeting to follow directly after from 8:30- 9:00 pm. 

The SNA Board is curious about how we can build a stronger community for local residents, business owners, and members of local worship. We encourage you to participate in local civic service and join us in making Sunnyside and Southeast Portland a thriving community.