Dignity Village is a city-recognized encampment of an estimated 60 homeless people in Portland, Oregon, United States.
In the days before Christmas of 2000, a group of homeless people in Portland succeeded in establishing a tent city which garnered a great deal of both opposition and support, and quickly evolved from a group of self-described "outsiders" who practiced civil disobedience, to a self-regulating, city-recognized "campground" as defined by Portland city code.
Now featuring dedicated land near Portland International Airport, elected community officials and crude but functional cooking, social, electric, and sanitary facilities, Dignity Village got its start as a collection of tents and campers "squatting" illegally on unused public land near Downtown Portland.
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Famous quotes containing the words dignity and/or village:
“He who was Goodness, Gentleness,
And Dignity is free,
Translates to public Love
Old private charity.”
—Gwendolyn Brooks (b. 1917)
“While yet it is cold January, and snow and ice are thick and solid, the prudent landlord comes from the village to get ice to cool his summer drink; impressively, even pathetically, wise, to foresee the heat and thirst of July now in January,—wearing a thick coat and mittens! when so many things are not provided for. It may be that he lays up no treasures in this world which will cool his summer drink in the next.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)