Boise Neighborhood Association records, 1910-2004

The Boise Neighborhood Association, initially sometimes called the Boise Neighborhood Improvement Association, had formed by late 1972. It represents the Boise neighborhood in North Portland, Oregon, which includes parts of N. Mississippi Avenue and is bordered by the Overlook, Humboldt, King, and Eliot neighborhoods.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the association was involved in the Mississippi Avenue Target Area project, which sought to revitalize the area. Around that time, it was also involved in a dispute with Housing Our Families, a community development corporation that had two rental properties in the neighborhood. The association opposed development of a third rental building by Housing Our Families, alleging that the existing properties had been a source of crime and drug activity. Housing Our Families eventually canceled the planned development in Boise and instead built a housing unit in an adjacent neighborhood. These actions, along with the association's proposed land use policies, spurred concerns that gentrification might displace Black residents who had historically made up a large part of the neighborhood's population.

Sources: Collection materials; caption in Oregon Journal, December 23, 1972, page 2; Willamette Week cover story by Chris Lydgate, "The Battle of Boise," March 17, 1999; television documentary review, "Gentrification vs. Revitalization," by Barry Johnson, Oregonian, August 23, 2002, page E1; "No room for displacing folks in Mississippi Avenue revival," by Wade Nkrumah, Oregonian, December 27, 2002, page E2; map of Boise neighborhood on Boise Neighborhood Association website (accessed January 2025), https://bnapdx.com/boise-neighborhood-boundary