“Being my own boss gives me the time to serve on neighborhood committees,” says Woodlawn’s Anjala Ehelebe, financial advisory with Primerica. Ehelebe has been active in the Woodlawn Neighborhood Association as secretary and most recently as the group’s historian. In 2008 she even published a book on Woodlawn’s journey from a streetcar depot to the friendly neighborhood we know today. 

“Woodlawn is effortlessly diverse, beautifully located and has a real tradition of neighborhood involvement,” says Ehelebe. “And we have a small commercial area on the verge of blossoming into something wonderful.” 

While serving as a caregiver to her husband, mother and mother-in-law, Ehelebe saw firsthand the difficulties disabled people face in housing. She worked on the state’s Rehab Advisory Committee and campaigned to make the New Columbia development accessible to all residents. She has served on the board of the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods, and today works with them on a contractual basis. She is also member of the Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs.            

“Anjala has steadfastly worked in the Woodlawn Neighborhood Association with a couple of generations,” says board member Shirley Minor. “She is absolutely wonderful and thoughtful at all times. What a pleasure it is to be in the same room with her. The minute I see her face she brings me joy.”

Currently Ehelebe is helping shape the master plan for the Woodlawn Triangle. “We like to have some control over the neighborhood’s destiny,”she says.