PDNA Board of Directors

Felicia Williams is an independent historian who focuses on the Civil Rights Movement in Oregon. She enjoys living and working in downtown because of the proximity to the Portland City archives, the Oregon Historical Society, the libraries, Powell's City of Books, the Park Blocks farmers markets, food carts, and Tri-Met. She's convinced that downtown Portland is the best place to live and is committed to keeping it that way.

Sharane Antonette moved from Ohio to the Northwest in 2000 and has lived in Portland for ten years. Her educational background is in Cross-cultural/International Studies and Public Administration. She has worked for the Social Security Administration as a Service Representative for the past nine years. For the last two years, she has organized and chaired the the PDNA's Downtown Yard Sale. "I became a member of the Portland Downtown Neighborhood Association in 2008 with the idea of working on neighborhood issues and bringing neighbors together. Portland is the only downtown in the US where I would want to live, because you can still have that neighborhood feeling."

Daniel Friedman taught psychology at Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio, for twenty years. He spent a sabbatical year studying documentary film at the University of Michigan and has made two award-winning films. He served two terms on the Ohio board of the ACLU. Dan embraces the new urbanist ideal of densely-populated, mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented, walkable neighborhoods and this was a factor in his choosing to make the South Park Blocks his home after he retired from Antioch in 2001. He describes himself as a strong supporter of public transportation and affordable housing. Other concerns include: encouraging pocket parks and other small-scale public spaces in the central city; fostering development that includes both historic preservation and architectural innovation; insuring equitable treatment of downtown's homeless and social service populations; and promoting social, economic and generational diversity in the downtown area.

Jon Joiner, has been involved in non-profit organizing and social progressiveness for over two decades. As a founding board member of Watoto Wa Dunia (Children of the World) he has been in the forefront of alleviating a number of crisis-living situations for underprivileged children and adults both nationally and internationally. In this context, he has also been in the vanguard of furthering the sometimes elusive concept of social equality with his active participation in groups such as Oregon Racial Justice Collective, The Caribbean Cultural Association, The Goose Hollow Neighborhood Association, African Americans in Mass-Media (AIMM) and numerous other community action entities including the Oregon Multicultural Education Association. Jon is currently the Coordinator of Portland State University’s Multicultural Center and a sitting member of the university’s Diversity Action Council and other campus-wide subgroups that enhance diversity and community relations. He also currently serves as a board member of the Northwest Association of Student Affairs Professionals.

Oregon author Grace Growing Medicine Eagle Reed is a passionate advocate for social change. She has a MA in Conflict Resolution, BA in Drama Therapy and has been working for over 25 years with addiction problems, especially in at-risk youth. Her creative expression research resulted in two books, her latest 'Needs' that proves the importance of transformative mediation and the need for restorative justice. She is a consultant, mediator, educator, international speaker and brings these talents to the neighborhood table. www.negotiatingshadows.com

Lew moved to Oregon to go to Reed College as an undergrad and has a Masters (M.Ed., high school history, PSU, 2005). Lew coordinates PSU Progressive Student Union, a cross-college and campus-community, activist coalition. Lew was fundraiser for Portland's Interagency Food Bank for two years, where he raised $330,000 in donations. Lew now belongs to the Grant Writers Affinity Group of WVDO, Willamette Valley Development Officers, and is Development Associate for Good Samaritan Ministries in Beaverton. Lew lives in downtown near PSU. As Treasurer of Transit Riders Union, Lew presented 1,400 petition signatures to the TriMet board president against gutting Fareless Square (the unelected TriMet board voted 6-1 to gut it anyway). Lew has organized with Tenant Rights Project, was State Secretary of OSPIRG (from Reed and PSU), and was a VISTA Volunteer in Macon, Georgia, with SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference). At PSU, Lew was founding publisher and editor of PSU Rearguard (Iraq War I) and PSU Agitator (Iraq War II). Lew organized the PSU Rent Strike. Lew coordinated the successful Taco Bell Boycott at PSU (PSU became the 9th U.S. college to remove Taco Bell in support of the now successful boycott for a living wage for Florida farm workers). Lew organizes for the Coke Boycott for labor rights in Colombia. Progressive Student Union has brought three union organizers from Colombia to PSU to speak for the Coke Boycott. Lew supports having the TriMet board elected (not appointed) and opposes the upcoming TriMet fare hike. Lew supports the legislature in Salem passing a statewide ban on plastic bags, and for the legislature to enact rent control legislation. Lew also supports resurrecting Voter-Owned Elections. Contact info: www.trimetriders.org, www.killercoke.org, lewchurch@gmail.com, 503-222-2974.

Dan Zalkow has been a member of the PDNA since 2002 and served on the board from 2002 to 2007, and again since 2010, holding positions including chair, land use committee chair, membership coordinator and secretary. He works at PSU 's transportation director and planner. Dan has a master's degree in Urban and Regional Planning from PSU. He serves on a variety of committees dealing with local and regional transportation and land use issues, including citizen advisory committees for the Portland-to-Milwaukee Light Rail Project and for the Portland Streetcar.