By Brian Hoop
Board member highlight
Dorene Kristin was elected to the Linnton Neighborhood Association board this past July. At the age of 23, she is likely the youngest board member to have served our community.
She grew up in the neighborhood in a multi-generational household, in the house her father, Tim Kristin, grew up in on Linnton hill. Dorene is of Peruvian and Japanese ethnicity. Her grandfather, on her mom’s side, still lives with
the family.
“I am proud of my multi-ethnic background,” says Dorene. It provides me with a different lens as to how I view the world.”
Dorene was named after her grandmother, who passed away 2 months before she was born. Though she never met her grandparents on her dad’s side, she sees traces of their legacy in Linnton history. Her grandmother’s family recipes show up in a community cookbook and they were active parishioners at St. Birgitta’s
Catholic Church.
Her roots are strong with the Linnton Community Center, where she attended preschool. She began volunteering at LCC when she was in middle school and has been a bi-lingual Spanish teacher at LCC since 2018. She helped with the application for LCC to become a voter-approved Preschool for All pilot site, providing free early childhood education for more families in Multnomah County.
“I am passionate about LCC,” says Dorene. “Where there are youth, there is life. I see LCC as a means to engage youth in our neighborhood.”
Dorene has a plan. She is integrating her experiences at LCC with her educational and career goals.
She is currently a Liberal Arts Major at Portland State University and intends to pursue the Bi-Lingual Teacher Pathway program to get her teacher’s license in Spanish immersion.
“All these parts of my life shape who I am,” says Dorene. “This is why I am passionate about being bi-lingual. As I grow older, I appreciate being able to speak both languages.”
When asked what inspired her to get involved with the neighborhood association, she remembered a 2nd grade project at Skyline School in which she interviewed the former owner of the Linnton Feed and Seed. This exposed her to the story of Ma Olsen’s Garden and the history of the Highway 30 widening, leveling half the business district.
In a Lincoln High School science class, she realized how much the city ignores the Linnton community when she learned about our exposure to earthquakes and the risks of being next to the gas tank farms.
“My favorite song is The View Between Villages – Extended by Noah Kahan. St. John’s Bridge is my “view between” and Linnton is my village,” says Dorene.
“It reflects on growing up in a small community, and trying to fly out the nest, but always finding yourself back home. It makes me wonder why the city would put my community last, when it is so crucial to who I am.”