By Astrid Furstner | CNA Chair
Greetings Concordia Neighbors! I am honored to have been elected as the 2020 chair for our Concordia Neighborhood Association (CNA). Many of us begin a new year with resolutions or goals that we wish to accomplish. CNA is no different.
At our January board meeting we held a meaningful discussion of various items we would like to see continue and others we wish to begin. With the help of the board members, our committees and our neighbors, I am sure that we can make that happen.
Let me begin by thanking our former chair, Chris Lopez, for his leadership and dedication over the past few years. Chris has faithfully fulfilled his service through his leadership and guidance. CNA successfully put together a few wonderful events last year, such as the spring egg hunt at Fernhill Park, the neighborhood clean up, the neighborhood-wide yard sale, the holiday event at Cerimon House, concerts in the park, and various mixers at local businesses.
In this new year, we hope to continue to provide you with the annual spring egg hunt, the every-other-month mixers, the concerts in the park through our association with Portland Parks & Recreation. And we are also committed to ensuring we have speakers at our general meetings who can help address various community concerns.
We are working on potentially hosting a barbecue event in the summer to provide an opportunity for our neighbors to come together, have fun, meet each other and generally create more community bonds.
We also hope to be more involved with our community businesses and nonprofit organizations. In doing so, our association is hoping to launch the community partner designation. The details are still in the works but, in essence, we hope to foster relationships with organizations that work in partnership with CNA to provide services such as education, advocacy at low or no cost, and that foster an equitable and inclusive relationship with those who reside or work in and/or near Concordia.
We are hoping to have an announcement soon, so that all can provide input.
As you can see, we have set a few goals for ourselves. I would really love to have more participation from our neighbors and hear more voices.
If there is a particular event that you have enjoyed every year, we could use your help! Come to one of our meetings and let us hear from you. What makes our neighborhood great? What ideas do you have?
Concordia is already an awesome place to live, but is there something more we can do to continue to foster relationships with our community? Feel free to email me your ideas at Chair@ConcordiaPDX.org.
Astrid Furstner is a mother, a wife, an immigrant, a local artist and an artisan. She lives with her luthier husband, Brent, and her artist-in-the-making daughter, Luciana. Together, they call Concordia their home.