The local newspapers have presented little or skewed information about the acquisition of The A Company of Girls Space on 10 Mayo Street. Although I sought response from PROP, who has yet to contact me in response to voicemails I have left, and Roxanne Quimby, who was out of town and unable to respond to emails, I will tell the story from an interview with Director Odelle Bowman and observations I have made. The story involves fiscal sponsors mergers and a small number of business transactions, but the people who are affected include all of Portland. In short, the girls afterschool theatre program A Company of Girls will be without a home in June 2007.

Over the past several months, there have been exciting new potentials for collaborative and cooperative community buildings and housing in Portland. A new Building Collaborative is forming and the Adams School Re-Use Committee meetings have continued with new opportunities for community involvement in this process to re-envision the Adams School.  Over the past year, several different organizations have lost their spaces for a variety of reasons (see PFNews Nov/Dec 06 & A Company of Girls pg 1), while other spaces are in peril of shutting down.  There have been many discussions around combining resources and energy together in a more accessible and collaborative building.  The  People's Free Space recently was offered to stay in the front part of our current location and we will hopefully stay there for now, but we are excited about working on this new direction with a cooperative, collaborative building.