The Center for Equity and Inclusion, a Portland consulting group, is planning to move into a new office in a 107-year-old building now being renovated.

The $1.5 million remodel, designed by CIDA, is being led by general contractor Joseph Hughes Construction. Work is under way at 1801 N.E. Alberta St.

The move is a big step for CEI, and a homecoming for one of its two co-founders. Frewine Kiros, who is Black, grew up nearby on Skidmore Street and watched the Alberta Arts District transform into a trendy and increasingly expensive neighborhood.

“I remember growing up in Alberta, where it was both a place where Black businesses and residents thrived, but also a neighborhood that was overlooked by the city,” she said. “The issues that were happening in that neighborhood were often ignored.”

As signs of gentrification appeared, the historically Black neighborhood became whiter and less welcoming, Kiros said.

“It took many years,” she said. “As the city began to invest in it, as the city began to serve that community, as that street became a priority – it seemed as though at the same time, Black families and people were being pushed out and were replaced by white families and businesses. All of the sudden, you walked down Alberta as a Black person and you felt uncomfortable.”

CEI started in Kiros’ basement before moving to an office on South Macadam Avenue. However, it closed as employees began working from home during the coronavirus pandemic.

Kiros and CEI co-founder Hanif Fazal jumped at the chance to buy a building on Alberta Street.

“When the building on Alberta came up for sale, for us it felt like one of those things that was just really meant to be,” Kiros said.

Kiros and Fazal, via a limited liability company, purchased the Alberta Street property from Joseph A. Benjamin, for $1 million in December 2019, Multnomah County records show.

“This was an opportunity to ensure that the building stays in people of color’s hands,” Fazal said.

CEI uses a long-term training model to help organizations such as Cambia Health Solutions, Meyer Memorial Trust and the Portland Trail Blazers boost diversity in their organizations. That’s somewhat unusual – many diversity workshops are structured as a few days or a week at most.

“Our process is a year long, and sometimes multiple years,” Kiros said. “For us, we believed that true transformation couldn’t happen in three days or a month.”

CEI seeks to embed equity processes in a client organization, so it’s not merely one person’s job.

Kiros and Fazal started the consulting company after working with youth in Portland Public Schools. Kiros said she began to question whether it was her goal to help academically struggling youths – often people of color – navigate ninth grade, or to change the institutions to eliminate barriers to success.

Kiros herself is a product of Portland Public Schools. She attended Lincoln and Grant high schools, and then Portland State University.

CEI hopes to move into the newly refurbished building in May or shortly thereafter, Kiros said. The organization has about 15 employees.

The building, constructed in 1914, previously held Solae’s Lounge, along with three residential apartments on the second floor. CIDA’s design will transform most of the ground floor into a large, flexible space for trainings, and the second floor into offices. An elevator is being added on the east elevation.

Joseph Hughes Construction is also conducting a seismic upgrade, with steel now bracing the more-than-century-old brick.

Later on, Fazal said, another building of three to four stories could be constructed on the side lot.

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