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Chris Poole-Jones is quick to point out that while she had a hand in the grand opening of the June Key Delta Community Center, she was by no means the sole driving force behind the project.

Twenty years after efforts were initiated to create the community center, it now stands as a model of sustainability, environmental and social responsibility, coordination and cooperation of a diverse collection of contractors and the small group of people determined to see the project through to fruition.

Poole-Jones and fellow alumni of the local chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, who are mostly retired educators, are emphatic in their desire to maintain the commitment to community service that is part of their sorority pledge. The June Key Delta Community Center takes it a step beyond, however, with the goal of becoming the nation鈥檚 first living building as certified by the Cascadia Region Green Building Council.

The stringent requirements for the Living Building Challenge as set in 2006 include net-zero energy and water use, renewable resources and environmentally responsible materials in construction, and sustainable use for at least one year.

Mark Nye, the project architect, was patient, innovative and conscientious through transformation of an old and abandoned gas station into the community center, according to Poole-Jones.

鈥淲e worked closely with Mark, sometimes maybe more than he expected, but he embraced it from the start as much as we did,鈥� she said.

Fellow sorority members, neighbors and unexpected contributors also brought more than just dollars to the project.

鈥淲e needed more usable area, so we incorporated cargo containers, Poole-Jones said.聽鈥淎ll the glass here (a dozen huge picture-window panes) was rescued from a university construction project and destined for landfill.聽We asked Mark to fit it into the design and he did.鈥�

Even the kitchen sink was recovered from another location.

Located across the street from Peninsula Park in North Portland, the center dovetails with the recovery of the once-blighted neighborhood surrounding it.聽Poole-Jones says the renovation of the homes surrounding the park seemed to bloom at the same rate as the center.

鈥淲e actually benefited,鈥� she said.聽鈥淚 call it the gentrification advantage.聽As the neighborhood improved, potential donors could easily see the merit of our proposal.鈥�

The center and the surrounding neighborhood have more in common than just improved appearances, however. In the case of both, beauty is more than skin deep. The June Key website describes the new center as a 鈥済reen building project 鈥� that will provide a community center that sustains the needs of the multicultural neighborhood it serves, encouraging sound and healthy social, education, artistic, economic and environmental awareness.鈥�