News Articles

The Portland Mercury
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Full Story Available Online

In District 45, Cyreena Boston is a self-styled fighter with a clear agenda for her first term in the house.

The Skanner
Wednesday, April 30, 2008

"A community advocate practically from birth, Cyreena Boston has the brains, energy and passion to help all Oregonians thrive. Wise beyond her years, she may well become the youngest legislator in Salem."

The Oregonian
Thursday, April 17, 2008

"Cyreena Boston, 27, has an inspirational personal quality and an impressive resume that includes teaching and mentoring children and organizing Democrats in the field. Ask her what she thinks has been wrong with Salem in recent years and she offers a refreshing answer: Too many people don't have enough manners or reverence for the legislative process."

THE MID-COUNTY MEMO

KELLY COPELAND

March 2008

Cyreena Boston is really good at listening, and she’s using it to her advantage.  

Since she announced her plans to run for Oregon House District 45 back in August, Boston, 27, from Parkrose, has made it her responsibility to listen to those living in her district who don’t have a voice — and then to do something about it.

And she’s doing it one by one. As a way to get to the heart of what residents really care about, Boston goes door-to-door six days a week to ask those in her district what matters to them. She listens, whether it is a 32-year-old mother who can’t afford prescriptions for her children or a 98-year-old woman who has lived in her house for more than four decades. No matter the person or the problem, Boston is listening.

Young, minority voices represent change

Printed in the Portland Observer
January 23, 2007

Portland is lucky to see even one emerging black voice in many election cycles. But this May will bring at least three young African-Americans to contend for three seats opening in state and local politics.

The candidates share a progressive passion for social advancement and equal access, and a firsthand understanding of what it's like to be disenfranchised.

"To give a voice to the voiceless is one of those things that to me, is just common sense," says Harold C. Williams Two, who filed last week for a seat on the Portland City Council, to be decided in the May 20 primary. "If we don't do it, who will?"

In another Portland City Commissioner race, John Branam, 33, sees a political role for his bi-ethnicity and points to his professional experience as development director for Portland Public Schools.

"That's useful when you're talking about providing leadership for a diverse community," he says.

Cyreena Boston finds herself in the state's political arena as she seeks election to Oregon House District 45 in outer northeast Portland and Parkrose. She too doesn't shy away from forefronting her cultural background when relevant to advancing a cause.

Printed in the Portland Tribune
November 23, 2007

Cyreena Boston says the bus stops in Oregon House District 45 - which includes Northeast and east Portland neighborhoods - tell her everything she needs to know.

Whether the kids are in school. Whether they're fighting. Whether the men and women are struggling, selling their bodies, selling drugs.

She says she has an eye for this: spotting other people's troubles. During a recent bus-stop visit at Northeast 82nd Avenue and Sandy Boulevard, Boston said she saw two prostitutes, two drug deals, two fistfights.

"I was like, wow, this is my district. Does anyone else see what's going on?" she said.

She calls it that already: "My district."

Posted by The Oregonian September 28, 2007

Shortly after the Oregon Legislature adjourned in July, state Sen. Avel Gordly, a Portland native with 16 years of experience as a lawmaker, announced she would retire when her term expires at the end of 2008. Her decision to not seek re-election raises the possibility that African Americans in Portland will be left with a single legislator -- Sen. Margaret Carter -- to represent their interests in Salem.

Gordly's impending departure raises other questions:

Who will lead and speak for Portland's black community? No black person serves on the Portland City Council or Multnomah County Board of Commissioners. Sonja Henning, a relative newcomer, is the only black person on the Portland School Board.

Is Portland's black community losing political power and visibility? Does it matter in a city where 7 percent of residents are African American? Where will
the future leadership come from? What are the obstacles to greater political participation?

Things weren't always this way. Beginning in the early 1970s, Portland saw a small but steady stream of African Americans win election to local and state offices, including judgeships. Later, the top appointed jobs at the Portland School District and Portland Police Bureau were filled by black men.

We asked a cross-section of 12 politically involved citizens -- black and otherwise -- to respond to these questions. Many asserted that a new generation
of homegrown leaders is already in place.

Posted by The Oregonian
September 13, 2007 10:14AM

As expected, former Democratic Party of Oregon staffer Cyreena Boston filed Thursday to run for Rep. Jackie Dingfelder's seat in Northeast Portland.

Boston, 27, describes herself as a Parkrose native who "kicked off her political career" at age 10 knocking on doors for the Portland Organizing Project, a group aimed at improving neighborhood services. She graduated from Spelman College and lists as supporters Schools Superintendent Susan Castillo, Labor Commissioner Dan Gardner and state Sens. Avel Gordly and Margaret Carter.

Dingfelder is running for the Senate seat being vacated by Gordly, a Portland independent.

Today is the first day candidates can register with the state Elections Division to run for office next year. Stay tuned for more announcements of who's running for what.

-Janie Har

By Raymond Rendleman/The Portland Observer
Cyreena Boston files to 'get things done'

Inner-city activist Cyreena Boston wants to redirect Salem lawmakers' focus on quality-of-life issues concerning the part of Portland best known for its proximity to the airport.

Boston, 27, has identified as a grassroots activist since she joined St. Andrews' Portland Organizing Project at the age of 10, but only recently has she considered a seat in the Capitol the best means of affecting change.

Monday she formally announced her run for Oregon House District 45, a position that could make her the youngest and only African-American member of the Oregon House of Representatives.

Acknowledging how easy it has been for lawmakers to ignore her district, squeezed between the airport and Interstate 84, she hopes to highlight how this semi-urban area is starting to experience the same problems that had been previously associated with the areas between north and northeast Portland.

Cyreena Boston, 27, announces run for Oregon state rep
By Helen Silvis of The Skanner

If 27-year-old Cyreena Boston wins the Democratic nomination for Oregon House District 45, she will be on a fast track to entering the Oregon House as its youngest member and probably the only African American state representative.

Boston already has secured support from some big name players in Oregon politics, who say she has a solid track record of advocacy, a mature grasp of community and state issues and the ability to get the work done.

State Sen. Margaret Carter said Boston deserves the nomination to this safe Democratic seat.

“She went to work for the Democratic Party and paid her dues at the bottom level and worked in the community and everything else, so I believe that she will serve our community very well,” Carter said. “She’s a very deserving young woman who will be able to make a difference in our state through legislative leadership.”