MISSION — The Nixyáawii Neighborhood hosted its first block party on Oct. 8, bringing the community together to share food, enjoy conversation and build connections with their neighbors.
The HomeBuilds Project, a product of Nixyáawii Community Financial Services (NCFS), hosted the event to celebrate the completion of its first houses of the project, which are now for sale.The project supports NCFS’s mission to make homeownership more accessible to Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) members on the Umatilla Indian Reservation.
“This was really a sort of promotion to say, ‘Hey, the houses are available now to purchase,’” NCFS Homeownership Services Manager Pamela Ranslam said. “We really wanted to give the community the opportunity to walk through the houses and see what’s here — to be able to touch and feel and open the cabinets. That’s why we’re here.”
The project was made possible by a grant from Oregon Housing and Community Service (OCHS), giving NCFS the opportunity to provide the opportunity for CTUIR members to buy stick-built homes rather than have one constructed themselves.
The project eliminates the need for buyers to secure construction loans. Instead, NCFS would work with contractors to build homes, reducing the stress on the homebuyers.
“The fact that this neighborhood is getting populated with homes should build some synergy for more to come,” General Council Chairman Lindsey X. Watchman said. “It’s a dream come true to actually see the homes, even just seeing when the first one was just sticks go up, it was pretty cool.”
Watchman said the block party was an opportunity for the community to visually see the dream of owning a home on the reservation come true.
In addition to the opportunity to tour the available homes, NCFS invited food trucks from the Txtáyma Food Truck Park to cater the event and other local vendors to set up their booths.
“We wanted to showcase them and what they offer because we want to support their business,” Ranslam said. “It’s sort of a win-win for everybody, rather than going out and trying to find somebody else to cater it or bringing in somebody from the outside.”
Ranslam said having the first phase of homes finished and up for sale was a relief in some ways, but was paired with the knowledge that the next phase will be following soon.
“We’re going to start trying to build four more this year, and then at least four more next year, I don’t know if we’ll be able to do eight or not,” she said.
Watchman said it will be exciting when the first homeowners finally get to move into the neighborhood.
“To have an opportunity for tribal members to actually move into them, I’ll be excited and happy for whoever ends up being the first, hopefully we’ll celebrate,” he said.
Ranslam said she was thankful for all of the community members who showed up to the party, as well as OHCS for making the process achievable. She expressed happiness about everyone taking the opportunity to come and witness the achievement with NCFS staff and the community.
