Meet our Team! 

FOUNDER + EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Laquida Landford is a community researcher, community health worker, and the lead visionary and Executive Director of AfroVillage PDX. She created AfroVillage PDX as a grassroots movement to build community, reduce social isolation, and support the needs of Black women, people of the African Diaspora, and others impacted by systems of oppression and systemic racism. LaQuida uses her strengths in community organizing, advocacy, and civic engagement, to lead projects that are racial equity focused and community informed.  Her work aims to restore dignity, create access and transform communities through housing justice, food justice, and community healing and economic empowerment.

FINANCE MANAGER & PLACEMAKING SPECIALIST

Kirk has worked in affordable housing, in the reuse sector, and for 10 years for a placemaking nonprofit, City Repair, with a focus on technical advising, volunteer coordination, convening multi-partner initiatives, and administration. Trained in and passionate about fine art and art as social practice, Kirk has worked to create safe space and opportunity for creatives to exhibit or perform their work, including with Latino Art Now! and Not Enough! - a Queer and Trans Art and Music Festival.

PROJECT MANAGER & LEAD DESIGNER

Kyhetica is a designer focused on climate justice, community engagement, and social justice. She is a Certified Passive House Consultant (CPHC) and LEED Green Associate, with experience in urban planning and small design build projects built for houseless and underserved communities. She holds both an undergraduate degree and masters degree in Architecture focused on sustainable planning, building science, and studied how comfortable people feel in built spaces. Her passion is in regenerative communities and co-housing that is resilience, empathetic, and beautiful. In her free time, Kyhetica spends her time volunteering with kids, making art, reading and attending art/community events throughout the city. 

COMMUNICATIONS, OUTREACH, & OPERATIONS OF SPACES

MJ (they/them) is the Communications lead at AfroVillage. With a background in grassroots organizing and years of experience working at Black and Brown–led nonprofits, MJ brings both strategy and lived experience to building community-rooted programs. A professional writer and copywriter, they’ve shared stories that uplift equity and justice, and once ran their own photography business for 12 years, capturing people and telling their stories through images.

As a single parent of two teenagers, MJ centers their work in care, creativity, and resilience. Outside of AfroVillage, they love painting, making playlists, and being by the ocean. They spend as much time as possible within their queer and trans community, drawing joy and strength from those connections.

DIGITAL SYSTEMS & WELLNESS COORDINATOR