Architect’s rendering of the new Personalist Center. Click here to see a larger-scale version.

The new PC has gloriously high ceilings with tons of light; its whimsical architecture is highlighted with bright colors

Devin at the door of the new PC meeting space

Lauren at the new PC mail counter

Lauren displays the new hygiene ‘store’ where customers can use their barter credit or cash to buy affordable hygiene items; the ‘store’ is staffed by a new customer barter position

Richard peruses the new PC info shelves

Catharine tries out the new PC phone, which makes it easier for our customers to make quick calls

Peter Maurin 1877-1949.  Co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement who coined the term “personalist.”

What is the Personalist Center?

The exciting Personalist Center project is central to our mission, philosophy, and the daily work we do.  It comes directly from one of our Systemic Change Program Goals: to eliminate all charity-based systems and replace them with participatory ones.

The Center opened in July 2007 in the space adjacent to the cafe, with a new indoor waiting area, a revamped mail and hygiene center, an open-access telephone for customer use, and an expanded barter program.  It represents the first expansion of the café since 1986, when Sisters converted an adjacent store front into seating for 29.

By moving our direct services (mail, phone and hygiene supplies), which are currently administered by café staff, they are placed more directly in the hands of our customers and barter workers.

Where is the Personalist Center?

It occupies 137 NW Sixth Ave., the space directly adjacent and to the right of the cafe.

How does this redesign accomplish our goals?

• It physically brings the work of crossroads and the café together into one venue.  A meeting room has been integrated along with office space for our crossroads and Civic Action Group members.


• It brings our line into the café off the street, out of the cold in the winter and the sun in the summer. Our customers have too long been at the mercy of the weather while they wait for space at one of our tables. We’ve made room for the line inside by removing the wall between our offices and the café and adding a new doorway on Davis Street.


• It brings our direct services out of the cafe.  These services, like U.S. mail, hygiene kits, phones and message boards were previously available in the cafe only between 10am to 1pm; now they are available in the PC until the cafe closes at 3pm.


• It expands our barter program by involving our customers in supporting those services, thereby allowing us to expand the hours they are available and make them more customer-driven.


• It takes time to integrate all of this, but we are meeting regularly with crossroads members, customers and staff to work on this transition.  It is quite a project, and we are still looking for in-kind and monetary donations to finish certain pieces of it.  If you would like to help, or call her at (503) 222-5694, ext. 23.  Thank-you!

Who built it?

When it came time to hire a designer and contractor for this project, Sisters knew that we needed folks who not only value this commitment to community, but who can translate it into the vibrant space we aim to create.  Design and planning firm communitecture became the obvious first choice for designing this unique space.  In all of communitecture’s work, community and the sense of place are the highest priorities.  Founder Mark Lakeman says that “communitecture uses design as a vehicle for building human relationships, the spaces we design are created to bring people together.” The design team’s commitment to homeless and low income communities further highlights the great fit they are with Sisters Of The Road; their designs have been put into the service of Dignity Village since its inception in 2000.

We also had those considerations in mind when we hired SJM Construction to build the Center.  It’s another natural fit with Sisters and our values.  Owner Stuart Marsh, together with John Shaffer and Michael D’Angelo, are committed to both green building and helping out in the community.  With ties to both the City Repair Project and the Rebuilding Center, SJM’s creative use of reclaimed materials have been part of the Personalist Center construction.  These guys see value in places that others might not.  Doors, windows, and cabinets from remodeled homes have been turned into beautiful and functional furniture in the new PC.

We’d like to acknowledge the donations of time, energy, and reduced rates by communitecture, SJM construction, Kelso Electric, historic re-building specialist Ron Powell, and also from Howard Thurston who engineered the project.  Thank you all!
For pictures of construction, click here!

Personalist Center Visioning Group

Join us the second Wednesday of every month at 1:30pm in the Personalist Center (137 NW Sixth Ave.) to give your input on how to make the Personalist Center a place to share power and build community.  Come once or come every meeting.  For more information, contact Lauren at (503) 222-5694 ext. 25 or

Where does the term “Personalist” come from?

The term “Gentle Personalist” was coined by Catholic Worker Movement co-founder Peter Maurin, to refer to a community-minded, other-focused sensibility.  He wrote:

“A personalist is a go giver, not a go-getter.

“He tries to give what he has and does not try to get what the other fellow has.

“He tries to be good to the other fellow.

“He is altro-centered.

“He has a social doctrine of the common good through words and deeds.

“He speaks through deeds as well as words for he knows that deeds speak louder than words.

“Through words and deeds he brings into existence the common unity, the common unity of a community.”

To learn more about Peter Maurin, check out this link to the Catholic Worker.