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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 28, 1978)
Prison Ministries:Service to God and man PORTLAND OBSERVER Volum « 8 No. 62 Thursday, December 28,1978 10c per copy Vets’ training program rehabs abandoned houses Three houses that were once a blight in their neighborhoods have been “ recycled” and are ready for new occupants. One o f these houses, at 78 N.E. Ivy, was shown to the public in con ju n c tio n with the graduation ceremony for eight trainees from the Vets of Oregon Improver Project. The Vets o f Oregon Im prover Project is funded by the Multnomah- Washington CETA Consortium and the Portland Development Commis sion, with additional sponsorship from the District Council of Carpen ters and the Associated General Con tractors. The graduates were: Tim Biggler, Shirley Browning, W illiam Burnett, Robert Dowling, Frenchie Olson, Steve Twamblcy and Samuel Hill. The project consists o f two groups o f ten trainees each in two six month consecutive cycles. Training is con ducted by two journeymen carpen ters union trainers and consists o f approximately six months intensive classroom, shop and on-the-job tra ining. The fu lly equipped classroom and shop are located at 426 N.E. Ivy on two PDC owned homes that have been condemned, unoccupied, and o ff the tax rolls for years. Participants have received training in virtually all aspects o f carpentry including: carpentry math and ter- minology, drafting and blue print reading, form building, framing, ro o fin g , plum bing and w iring, alum inum and vin yl siding in stallation, sheet rock, and interior finish w ork. In a d dition , two trainees have been assisted with GED preparation in the evenings. Upon completion o f training, the veterans can continue as Home Im provers, a new occupational title created by the carpenters union in response to the fact that journeyman carpenters had priced themselves out of the rehabilitation market for low and middle income families. They may also use their training time as credit towards apprenticeship, beginning an apprenticeship pro gram in one o f the many building trades. The carpenters union has been in strum ental in assisting w ith curriculum development, providing top quality training, and assisting trainees into apprenticeships. Four o f the in itia l ten are in appren ticeships currently. Seven o f the current group have applied to and been tested by the apprenticeship board but results won’ t be known until January. Time spent in the training program is recognized and accredited by car penters union as time and points towards apprenticeship. Other minor house repairs have Soldiers aid recruiters Two young Portland men are in town to tell interested individuals about their experiences in the U.S. Army. Both men have been assigned as “ recruiter aide” for thirty days. A lthough not doing actual recruiting, they w ill provide “ straight talk” for area residents who are considering Army careers. Samuel D. Stewart, Jr., 18, is the son o f M r. and Mrs. Samuel D. Stewart. A 1978 graduate o f John Adams High School, he enlisted in the A rm y and completed basic training at Fort Gordon, Georgia. He was then trained as a Wire In stallation Specialist and is now assigned to the 21st Replacement in Germany. Bennie E. Blanton, 18, the son of Mrs. Shelly Blanton, is a 1978 graduate o f Grant High School. He completed his basic training in Sep tember at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. After basic, he was trained as a Food Service Specialist and is now assigned to the W ist A ir Mobile D ivision at Fort Campbell, Ken tucky. Both men will be available to talk w ith interested young men and women at local schools and in the recruiting station at 3637 N.E. Sandy Boulevard. been done fo r the elderly and disabled as a community service in the neighborhood. About 65% o f the materials removed from the first house in preparing it for remodeling were re-used in the building process. One o f the goals o f the program is to provide training to unemployed or unemployable persons. O f the nineteen enrollees, all were unem ployed when selected fo r the program. Five were collecting unem ployment compensation: three were receiving AFDC. Fourteen had high school diplomas. Three had GEDs. Two earned GEDs while in the program. Thirteen enrollees were white, five Black and one Japanese. The rehabilitation o f these houses is part o f a “ Recycled’ ’ House Program which was developed by PDC to deal with the problem of vacant and abandoned structures. The program is funded by a $600,000 Innovative Grant from HUD. Sales price o f the two Ivy Street houses will be $32,000. (They were purchased by PDC for $8,025 each, rehabilitated for $21,500. Inclusion o f closing costs determined the $32,000 sale price). A 5% down pay ment will be required and purchasers must be low to moderate income fa milies who meet PDC guidelines. Two local banks are participating with PDC in financing o f the mort gages, combining their market rate funds with Federal 312 funds at a 3% interest rate to make possible a below market rate interest on the m ort gages. A public drawing o f the names o f qualified buyers w ill be held in early January to determine future owner ship. Individuals interested in pur chase should contact PDC im mediately. Sale o f the houses w ill return the city its investment allowing rehabilitation o f additional structures. Over the next fifteen months twenty other vacant or abandoned struc tures in Northeast Portland and forty city-wide will be purchased by PDC, repaired and then sold to families who qualify under program income guidelines. Jeff graduate joins Globetrotters Ron Cole has achieved the goal that many young boys all over the world dream about — playing with the Harlem Globetrotters. Cole, a Jefferson graduate is a rookie guard with the Globetrotters. Cole, the son o f M r. and Mrs. Samuel Cole, Jr., was a member o f the 1972 Jefferson basketball team òr ftf Ron Cole Jefferson High School, 1972 which won the State Championship from Benson. He had attended Humboldt, Ockley Green and Wilson before transferring to Jefferson. After graduating from Jefferson, Cole attended Mesa Junior College in San Diego, then went to the University of San Diego, where he majored in behavioral sciences. During the 1976-1977 season at San Diego, Cole made his mark with over twenty points in seven games. The 6’4” guard spent the summer working as a program coordinator with Maurice Lucas’ youth program. In his senior year. Cole was draft ed by the San Diego Clippers. One o f the last to be cut from the team, he was advised to get some experience in the WBA and try for the NBA again. In the meantime he had been noticed by a Globetrotter scout and was one o f thirty men to try out for the Globetrotters — and one o f four men selected. Dubbed “ Sugar” Cole, he started the season with the Globetrotters in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The 1979 team will include most of the U.S. east o f Denver and w ill include a trip to Africa. Although the Globetrotters have played in N orth and East Africa, this will be the first trip to the western part o f the continent — Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Gabon. The trip will include visits with heads of State, state dinners, ceremonies and parades, and a visit to Juffure, the village o f Kunte Kinte o f “ Roots.” The G lobetrotters were firs t organized on the “ Savoy Big Five” in Chicago in 1926. Disbanded within two months because o f lack o f funds, the 23-year-old coach, Abe Saperstein, called the team together again in New York, playing their first game on January 7, 1929. Fifty-two years later, the team has appeared in 92 countries, is on television, in movie shorts, and holds all the known records — scoring records, attendance records, season records, game records, games played, games won, etc. Cole plans to stay with the Globe trotters. His future plans include a business o f his own, international marketing and, perhaps, running for Mayor o f Portland. The Christmas season is a time when thoughts tu rn to assisting fellow human beings. The Salvation Army pots are filled — the people contribute food to the poor and gifts to the children. Carolers visit the hospitals. Soon the joyous music and the happy chatter fade away. The tables are empty again, the hospital corridors are quiet. One couple that cheer and love and lend kindness the year around is Reverend and Mrs. John Parker, who spend hours every week o f the year visiting men and women in the prisons and jails, counseling their families, finding work and homes for those who serve their time. 11, is in the sixth grade at Maranatha Christian School; Malcolm, 7, is a second grader at Eliot; and Angela is in Head Start at Beech School. A fte r graduating from Warner P acific, Parker went in to the m inistry fu ll tim e, firs t as an assistant at Maranatha Evangelistic Center, doing prison work and visiting the sick. In 1974 he became interim pastor for eighteen months. After Reverend John Garlington was hired to pastor Maranatha in 1976, he decided to devote all o f his time to prison work. Prison Ministries, Inc., a non-profit corporations, was in corporated in 1975. Reverend Parker had planned to Christian Church, D ufer; Center ville, Washington, Christian Church; First Presbyterian, Portland; Church o f Christ Apostolic, Oregon City and Zion Lutheran, Oregon City. Although there are a few pro grams around the co u n try that are similar to Prison Ministries, as far as the Parkers know they are the only Blacks involved in this way. Black chaplains are rare in prisons, as are Black a dm inistrators and superintendents. The Parkers do not minister only to Blacks, “ We see people o f all races and all rel.gions. We don’ t lim it our contacts to people o f any particular denomination like many I Reverend and Mrs. John Parker visit at Rocky Butte. Reverend Parker explains his mission as, “ It is my answer to a divine call. I believe God has called me to this ministry. The ministry doesn’t have to be just preaching from a pulpit each Sunday; it should be where the person feels most com fortable and I feel more comfortable working in the prisons.” Parker was raised in Missouri and came to Oregon in 1958, after leaving the service. He worked for the General Services Administration from 1959 until 1965, then went to the U.S. Geological Survey, where he worked until 1973. While employed he attended Warner Pacific College, graduating in 1973 with a bachelor of science degree. In the meantime he had married his wife Viviane. Mrs. Parker had come to Oregon in 1944 with her parents, who were involved in war work. She graduated from Jefferson High School in 1958. A musician, she qualified as a music teacher through the Sherwood School and until recently gave piano lessons. The couple have eight children: Brent, 19, is in the A ir Force; Gregory, 17, is a Senior at Benson High School; Karen, 16, is a Junior at Jefferson High School; Charman, 15, is a Sophomore at Jackson High School; Jeffrey, 13, is in the eighth grade at Pope John X X III; Janette, do prison work since he was eight or nine years old and met a man who visited the prisons. In 1964 he started going to the City Jail with another minister, and continued weekly visits until the jail closed in 1970. In 1968, a friend asked him to see her son in the Oregon Correctional Institute. He began visiting that prison once a month. The chaplain recommended him to the chaplain at Oregon State Penitentiary and he began visiting there. His ministry soon spread to the Washington State Prisons at Walla Walla and Shelton, McNeil Island, and Nebraska State Prison. Reverend Parker holds services, teaches Bible classes, counsels prisoners and their families. He also provides a friend or an interested person to many prisoners who have no families and no visitors. Mrs. Parker, who is an integral part o f Prison Ministries, provides music for the services, helps coor dinate activities and helps with the office work. Prison Ministries, Inc. is depen dent on contributions o f churches, business and individuals. Some of the churches that make regular con tributions are: Maranatha; St. An drews C om m unity Church; First Church o f God, Vancouver; Oak view Church o f God, Scio; Dufer (Photo: Bob Bach, Oregon Journal) ministers do. We see Protestants, Catholics, Muslims and occasionally a Jew, as well as many who have no church.” The “ Turning Point,” a small of fice at 3946 North Mississippi, serves as an opportunity to reach people in the street who are headed fo r trouble. Turning P oint is also a place to meet and counsel graduates o f the prisons. Prison Ministries at tempts to aid the adjustment back in to the com m unity by o ffe rin g emergency food and housing, bus fare, help in finding work, etc. Reverend Parker explained the satisfaction he receives from dedicating his life to others. “ I go w ith the belief that no person is hopeless, no matter what they have done or how many times they have been in prison. Many o f the people in prison are creative people — artists, poets — but somehow they have gone the wrong direction. Maybe something I say w ill get them to th in kin g , get them to decide to change their lives. "They learn to trust me, to believe me. Some o f them have never had anyone they could turn to — and maybe I can be that person. “ I believe I have been called by God to this ministry and I know that 1 can be used by H im .” City identifies home rehab loan recipients As 29 Hv Ron Cole Harlem Globetrotters, 1978 The Portland Development Com mission released a study o f this week, called “ A Look at the Recipients” , designed to provide a picture of the recipients o f Housing and Com munity Development loans and to determine whether they are reaching the population they were designed to reach. The study shows some variation between Black and white recipients and between recipients in different geographic areas. Between July of 1975 and Decem ber o f 1977, PDC processed 1,713 loans to Portland residents found financially eligible fo r subsidized home rehabilitation programs. In cluded in the study are recipients o f four types of loans. - HCD-3 Loan: Locally funded, $20,000 maximum, 3 per cent in terest, 20 years to pay. Income limit for family o f four is $16,900. Public Interest Loan (P IL ): Federally funded, maximum o f $15,000, interest rate currently 7.25 per cent, maximum 15 years to pay. Income lim it for family o f four is $25,350. Some variation is seen in the loans advanced in different areas o f the city. Over half o f the loans were D PL (no interest, deferred payment). They made up 56 per cent o f the sample, but in St. Johns - Deferred Payment Loan (DPL): federally funded, maximum o f $4,000, no interest and payable when the property is sold or transferred. Income lim it for a family o f four is $8,450. - Section 312: federally funded, maximum o f $20,000, 3 per cent in terest, maximum o f 20 years to pay. Income lim it for family o f four is $16,900. Representatives o f the U.S. Forest Service will be at the offices o f the Northwest M in o rity Contractors Association from 9:00 a.m. to noon on January 5th to interview young people who are interested in part- time and summer work with the Forest Service. These positions can lead to full-time career employment. Representing the U.S. Forest Ser vice are Bobby Campbell, EEO they accounted for 60 per cent o f the loans. In Southwest they were only 20 per cent and in northeast they were >1 per cent. 312 loans were 30 per caent o f the sample, and made up 39 per cent o f the loans in Northeast. They were 60 per cent o f the loans in Southwest and Northwest. HCD-3 loans made up ten per cent of the sample, but were 20 per cent of the loans made in Southwest and 17 per cent in Southeast. They were only 7 per cent o f the loans in N o rtheast (Please turn to page 2 col. 1) Program seeks employees recruiter, and Skip Bracken, foreman with the youth program. The N M C A Youth Employmenl Program also has openings in hospital and insurance companies. The Youth Employment Program provides counseling, training and employment for young people to age 22. Persons interested in the program should stop by the office at 10 N.E. Graham.
