On November 19, we celebrated the opening of Ida Bell Jones Neighborhood Park (T Street and East 35th Street) in the Rose Village neighborhood. The park is named after Ida Bell Jones, a matriarch of Vancouver's African American community who played a pivotal role in building trusted networks of support among Black residents post-World War II.

Born in 1908 outside of Blackwell, Arkansas, she moved to Vancouver at age 34 to follow the economic opportunity created by the newly opened Kaiser Shipyards in 1942.

Her community-building efforts to create trusted networks of support on both sides of the river made it possible for Black families to find work and establish roots in Vancouver, despite the racism and discrimination they faced.

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