Kaia Sand

Jun 16, 2023

You may have caught sight of the cranes inserting steel framing into a newly constructed elevator shaft in the Street Roots building under construction at Northwest 3rd Street and Burnside Street. Crews are continuing to fortify the shaft, retrofitting the 1926 building for an elevator that will transect four floors, from the basement wellness center to the rooftop classroom and solar panels.

As Street Roots triples its programming space by renovating this building, our team — O’Neill Construction Group, Holst Architecture, Shiels Obletz Johnsen and Cole Reed — is constructing a space welcoming to people with disabilities and traumas.

About 65% of people reported disabling conditions in the 2022 Point in Time Count, which counted people sleeping on the streets, in shelters and in transitional housing in Multnomah County.

That reality is borne out at Street Roots. Many Street Roots vendors navigate in wheelchairs and walkers. Vendors haul bundles of newspapers on their laps in wheelchairs or stacked on the seat of their walkers.

So as Street Roots expands its programming by renovating the historic WAX building on Northwest 3rd Street and Burnside Street, it’s also retrofitting the building for an elevator, and it needs the community's help to see this through.

Street Roots must raise $140,000 to install this elevator. Your help — $14, $140, $1400 — will lift that elevator from the ground, lifting the lives of people in our community. Visit streetroots.org/hope to donate or mail a check to Elevate Lives Campaign/Street Roots 211 NW Davis St., Portland, 97209

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