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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (March 1, 2017)
MARCH 1, 2017 Portland and Seattle Volume XXXIX No. 22 25 CENTS News ...............................3,9,10 A & E .....................................6-7 Opinion ...................................2 Dr. Jasmine ......................9 Calendars ........................... 4-5 Bids/Classifieds ....................11 CHALLENGING PEOPLE TO SHAPE A BETTER FUTURE NOW JOHN LEWIS SPEAKS From left to right, Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury, Central City Concern staff members John Karp-Evans, Elissa Black and Freda Ceaser, and Commissioner Loretta Smith at the announcement of ‘Flip the Script.’ Program attempts to reduce recidivism by working directly with parolees By Melanie Sevcenko Of The Skanner News W hen Freda Ceaser was re- leased from prison in 2004, she was determined never to return. “While I was there, I saw people come and go, and sometimes two or three times,” Ceaser told The Skanner. “See- ing that helped me realize — you can ei- ther learn from this, or you can be that person that keeps coming back.” Originally from Portland, Ceaser came from a modest family of pastors. She graduated from high school and left home at 18. After losing her apartment, See FLIP on page 3 PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED ‘Flip the Script’ Congressman John Lewis answers questions from the audience after he and his co-creators, Andrew Aydin and artist Nate Powell talked about their graphic novel trilogy “March” at the Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall in Benaroya Hall Feb. 22. “March,” the third installment of which was awarded the 2016 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, tells the story of the Civil Rights Movement as Lewis experienced it. Small Business Lender Rebrands as Ascent Formerly known as Albina Opportunities Corporation, the organization makes loans to businesses that can’t access traditional credit By Christen McCurdy Of The Skanner News AP PHOTO/ARIANA CUBILLOS F Jineth Frias poses for a photo in a T-shirt featuring her slain son, Bassil da Costa, at an anti- government protest marking the third anniversary of his killing by security forces during weeks of unrest in Caracas, Venezuela. In the three years since his death, her family’s predicament, like that of Venezuela, has only worsened. Her refrigerator is almost always empty and she’s lost 22 pounds, in what Venezuelans call the “Maduro Diet.” Venezuelan Food Shortage page 10 Oscars Mishap and Wrap-up page 7 ive years ago, after 15 years driving a truck for Waste Manage- ment, Tyrone Bailey decided to strike out on his own. Bailey had had a side job as a truck driver for a construction company. When his boss there re- tired, Bailey started his own business, Bailey’s Construction, providing hauling and excavating for construction sites. Recently he received a $50,000 loan to upgrade to a larger, better-outfitted truck, making him eligible for a wider variety of jobs. The loan — and other ser- vices, including technical consulting and support — came from Ascent Fund- ing, which just recently changed its name from Al- bina Opportunities Corpo- ration. “They’ve been pretty awesome for me,” Bailey told The Skanner. “I’m kind of new with this entrepre- neurship stuff. It’s year number five. Because of them I’ve been able to keep going.” Albina Opportuni- ties Corporation, a Port- land-based nonprofit pro- vider of business loans and advisory services, an- nounced its name change in mid-February. The organization was founded in 2008 and has extended more than $6 mil- lion in loans and lines of credit in its existence, fo- cusing on minority-owned and women-owned busi- nesses located in low-in- come neighborhoods. The organization only offers loans or credit to orga- nizations that have been turned down for conven- tional bank credit. “I’m proud to be a part of it, that they will help a little guy like me,” Bailey said. “If I go to the bank or some- thing like that, it’s so much red tape that I don’t have qualification (for credit). One way or the other some- thing is missing.” He said in addition to the See ASCENT on page 3 Kevin Washington Named CFO of Impact NW Washington brings to Impact NW more than 20 years of financial experience By Melanie Sevcenko Of The Skanner News T he educational and social ser- vices provider Impact NW recently named Kevin Wash- ington its new chief financial officer. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Washington earned a master’s de- gree in accounting from Walsh Col- lege, an MBA from Temple Universi- ty, and a bachelor’s in business from Morehouse College. He brings to Impact NW more than 20 years of experience as a cost ana- lyst, financial analyst and accountant from diverse industries that include entertainment, healthcare, construc- tion and alternative energy. After two years in Tokyo, Wash- ington had been living and working in Honolulu when he learned about a position at Impact NW. While his Kevin Washington professional background is largely in multi-national for-profit compa- See WASHINGTON on page 3