LEVER’s work with Bora and Colloqate on the modernization of Portland Public Schools’ Jefferson High School was highlighted recently in The Oregonian. LEVER’s team, led by Principal Chandra Robinson, has been engaged in a robust outreach effort that has included students, staff, and the wider JHS community and neighborhood who have provided invaluable perspectives and input about the importance of this historic high school, both as a building and as a part of the North Portland community.

“There’s been a recognition that the neighborhood has changed, it will continue to change. But the fact is  that the overall form of the original 1909 building and the placement of buildings on the campus is what people understand to be part of the community,” Robinson said. “It was important for community members to be able to save something they had a memory of, and pass that to future generations and imagine people coming back to the neighborhood.”