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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (March 1, 1979)
POIC wins CETA contracts, one more year The Portland City Council accept ed a proposal by Commissioner Charles Jordan to contract for at least $1.4 m illion worth o f CETA services with POIC over the next year. The ••hold-harm less” argument w ill insure that POIC re tains its current funding level for one year, while it reorganizes and prepares to compete with other or ganizations for contracts for the fo l lowing year. The Council also voted to accept the CETA reorganization proposal by the Human Resources Bureau. The reorganization w ill result in a single CETA department, with the City responsible for all aspects o f the program. Individual components — recruitm ent, pre-vocational, jo b training — w ill be contracted to other agencies but City employees w ill provide counseling, supportive services, job development and job placement. The reorganization is designed to provide continuous services, coordi nated by a case manager, from the point o f intake to job placement. POIC had feared losing its con tracts — which make up 90% o f its funding — through the reorganiza tion. Although POIC could have bid along with other organizations, there was no assurance that they would re ceive any CETA contracts. POIC spokesmen state that they have not received full explanation o f the reor ganization or how they will fit in the new system. Eldon Jolly, national OIC execu tive director, advised the Council that OIC is concerned because o f the lack o f information, the absence o f a written plan, and the failure to in volve com m unity groups in developing the plan. “ If the process had been carried out according to federal regulations, the community might be behind your plan." Ed Leek, speaking for the North east Coalition o f Neighborhood Or ganizations, asked the Council to delay the decision u n til neigh- Ozie Johnson, Jr., an employee o f POIC said the CETA program has kgone from serving the poor to creaming,*' because everyone is concerned about statistics. “ I f you want to serve poor people, you have to forget about statistics." Commissioner Jordan said he does not like the idea o f reorganization, but since he has nothing better to of- borhood groups could be provided enough information for citizens to make a recommendation. James Walker, POIC board mem ber, questioned the decision leaving POIC out o f the system without in forming POIC o f any failure to meet the goals o f past contracts. fer, he will support it. He is concern ed about whether the “ hard-core” unemployed will receive services they need. He recommended that POIC be given contracts totalling $ 1.4 to $1.5 million, their current funding level, and that they reorganize in order to fu lfill whatever role the City asked. Mayor Neil Goldschmidt offered $1.2 in contracts for recruitment and pre-vocational tra in in g . A n ad ditional $600,000 could be awarded for specific on-the-job training pro grams. Jordan also asked if there were any deficiencies in the POIC program, whether there were any statistics to show that the program is not suc cessful!. He said he had been told by Goldschmidt’ s staff that since the C ity has contracted to train em ployees for “ first source contracts" — Wacker and others — they were afraid that POIC could not deliver and so they wanted the city to take over to insure the contracts were met. Rumors have been rampant that POIC was not meeting its goals, that there are deficiencies in the financial records, that an audit has found dis- crepencies in use o f funds. Joe Gonzales, director o f man power for the City, said the reorgani- (Please turn to Page 4 Column 3) PORTLAND OBSERVER Volume 9 No. 8 Thursday. March 1,1979W McNamara says Coalition seeking retribution D acnnn/ji n n t to < *• K ex ■* n a» e F v t/ tha Responding charges by the Community Coalition for School In tegration that the School Board’ s re sponse to Coalition recommenda tions were inadequate, Board Chair man Frank McNamara accused the Coalition of seeking “ retribution.” “ I have cosistently felt that it is helpful and there is some element o f energizing that comes from the con sistent prodding o f the C oalition and. I have to say, the consistent cri ticism o f most o f what the Board is doing. . . “ It troubles me that there is such a negative sense o f the actual programs and activities o f the District. “ It troubles me that the Coalition finds it most useful to present its challenges in the context o f calling what the Board has done segrega tionist policies.” McNamara explained his rejection o f the Coalition’s recommendation that desegregation be achieved through school pairing. He accepts the Superintendent’s assessment that pairing is impossible because it would require that one Black school be matched with two or three white schools, would require movement o f too many students, and would leave one-third o f the Black students out o f their community for the full eight years. Jamas H. Williams has baan named parsonnel representative for United Airlines in its Seattle regional office. Williams was a personnel supervisor fo r the C row n Zellerbach C orporation in Camas, Washington, for the past nine years. In his new position, he will handle United employee relations services in Seattle. Portland. Salem. Eugene and Pendleton. Williams is a graduate of Alcorn A 9 M University end received a masters degree in education from Lewis end Clerk College In Portland. He was a defensive halfback with the Cincinnati Bengals pro fessional football club during the season of 1S County gives ratios The M ultnom ah County Com Women make up 47 per cent o f the mission held its informal seesion at County employees, but are concen the King Neighborhood Facility this trated in professionals, protective week and one o f the topics o f services and office/clerical. discussion was affirmative action. The classification of o f Robert Hilsman, county personnel ficials/m anagers has only one officer, reported that a high turnover minority and eleven women, out o f a rate is a problem and that women are total o f 93. still underemployed in non-clerical Protective Services is also under positions. represented among Asians, Indians Hilsmann reported that county and women. employment o f minorities is at 8.5 O f the 455 employees hired in per cent, comfortably over the 4.7 1978, 55 or 12 per cent were percent o f minorities in the labor minorities. None o f these were em market. He did admit that the per ployed as official/managers and six centage o f minorities living in M ult were professionals. nomah C ounty w ould bea con Turn over is a serious problem, siderably higher than in the labor with a high percentage o f women and w m arket (S M A ) which includes minorities leaving the County. Last Washington and Clackamas Coun year the County hired 55 minorities ties. but lost 49. Last year 254 women Blacks make up 3.2 per cent of were hired, but 208 left. The percen county employees, or 128 out o f tage o f minorities and women ter 2,433. There is only one Black o f minating is much higher than that o f ficial/manager, 31 professionals, 6 white males. Hilsmann does not technicians, 22 in protective services, know why minorities and women are 20 para professionals, 21 o f leaving in such great numbers, but a fice/ clerical, no skilled craftsmen, 27 study is being done. He estimated In service maintenance. that this turn over costs the County Blacks are under represented in of- $300,000 a year in recruiting, hiring ficers/managers and skilled crafts, and training new employees. and over represented in service and Hilsmann said minority recruiting maintenance. is successful, with about 10 per cent The County employs 24 Hispanics. o f the applicants being minorities. Spanish Speaking people are under The County is considering a program represented in officials/managers, that would attempt to direct ap professionals, office /cle rica l, and plicants who are not hired to other service/maintenance. There are no positions for which they might be Hispanic officials/managers. eligible. Approximately 11,500 ap The County employs 13 Indians. plicants are not hired. There are no Indians employed as o f Chairman Don Clark said he is not ficials/managers. satisfied, especially with the em Forty-one Asians are employed. ployment ratio o f Hispanics, Indians They are concentrated in profession and women, but that he is proud that als and para-professionals. There are the C ounty exceeds federal no Asian officials/managers. requirements in most categoreis. . The Coalition recommendations also call fo r establishing middle schools in Albina and McNamara does not think it wold be justifiable to change schools that have recently been renovated for early childhood education centers. “ I have been impressed that the way your statements have been made seem to me to be focused on a man datory cross-busing plan. They seem to have a rigid requirement for white students to be bused as a primary goal.” Stating that he sees the Coalition’s primary goal to be cross-busing, he said, that rather than discrimina tion/integration as primary and the end goal, it appears that the Coalition wants “ compulsive busing almost as re trib u tio n .” ‘ ‘ This troubles me and had some influence on my view and recommendation on student transfer.” In clarifying his statement, Mc Namara said that to the Coalition, “ equity appeals to be equal numbers bused or do unto others what you do unto Blacks.” The Coalition report was in re sponse to proposals adopted by the School Board on January 15th and 22nd. The School Board had address ed some o f the findings and recom mendations o f the Coalition. . . In referring to its own report, the Coalition spokesman, Ms. Mary Ed wards told the Board “ that the in equity o f the School District’ s poli cies and programs have caused the follow ing: scattering, inefficient adm inistration, inequitable disci pline, denial of equal choice, indif ferent handling o f minority cultures in the curriculum, ineffective train ing and preparation o f teachers, and d iscrim inatory placement of minority teachers . . . “ The Board has not acknowledged the underlying inequity in its educa tional philosophy, that the white community shall not be required to carry its share o f the burden for de segregation.” The Board’ s responses were vague, unspecific, and, “ In most cases, the Board has not even stated its resolution in words which indicate willingness to assume the leadership required.” (For specifics see the Observer, 2/18/79.) The response o f the Coalition to the School Board’ s January 22nd resolution on student transfer was that “ these resolutions are vague and ambiguous, perhaps purposely so. Further, they give no hint at time frames fo r even these band-aid measures, they are but talking about the Board’ s intent not to see sub stantive re lie f on the present inequity. “ In its recommendation on Student Transfer, the C o a litio n established the need for a program that involves an equitable two-way transfer program that keeps neigh borhood classmates together: The Board and Administration have cho sen to plan only some reduction in the scattering and isolation o f Black students. " I f you are going to use the school bus as a to o l f o r achieving in tegration, it must be used equitably." Board member W ally Priestley said he was sadly disappointed by the Board’ s reaction to the Coalition report. He said the minimum the Board should have done was to have the Superintendent draw up a set o f proposals to implement the Coali tio n ’ s recommendations so the Board could proceed w ith the debate. Instead, the Board failed to deal w ith the recommendations. Priestley asked i f the Board could reconsider. Board member Jonathan Newman replied that the decisions had been made and the Board’ s resolutions w ill be implemented. “ Priestley doesn’t agree. The Coalition doesn’t agree. But these are the ground (Please turn to page 2 col. 1) Vern Chatman: Seeking opportunity by Michael Grice In this modern society there arc many jobs that need doing. One o f the more important jobs is keeping our youth interested in their own development. Not only does this job need doing, it must be done with sin cerity, knowledge, and the kind o f commitment that today’s young peo ple will respond to. Vern Chatman has been quietly and successfully doing this for the past ten years. Chatman is the D irector o f Education for the Urban League o f P ortland and th orough ly under stands the schooling process as well as the ins and outs o f Portland and surrounding school districts. The primary objective, says Chatman, “ is to encourage and provide oppor tunities and information for students to achieve their goals.” He begins making his rounds early in the Fall; visiting grade schools and high schools in the Portland area and ad vising students o f the services and re sources available through the Urban League. “ We can’t make students* choices for them, but we want to en courage them very early that sound choices w ill have to be made and there are resources available to help them,’ says Chatman. The response has been gratifying over the years. Vern Chatman intimates to stu dents that as they get older the choices they make become more cri tical and thus they need fo llo w through. By way o f follow through, he also has a base o f operation on the campus o f University o f Portland. Thus, Vern Chatman serves as an ad junct to the counseling facilities in elementary, secondary and higher education. “ Probably the most serious problem fo r m in o rity children in education today,” offers Chatman, “ is the lack o f adequate counseling. The need for direction and sound decisions among m inority students is at the critical level.” Thus, he emphasizes having the proper inform ation before making choices in school. The range o f ser vices that he alone provides goes from personal counseling to career counseling even to the precision re quired for filling out college finan cial aid forms. And probably, the key to his success and the element that Vern Chatman supplies is re laxed atmosphere in which minority children feel enough at home to ask the necessary questions that w ill ad- (Please turn to Page 6 Column 3) VERNON CHATMAN Race not the issue School Board politics: Time to grow up by Herb Cawthorne I t ’ s about time the Black com munity o f Portland grew up, espe cially when it comes to local politics. For a long time now this community has been the patsy o f politicians looking to further their own aims while ignoring the legitimate goals and dreams o f Black people. I t ’ s about time we put an end to it. It’s time to grow up. The struggle with the desegrega tion issue provides a case in point. For eighteen months members o f the Black community studied. We co operated with well-meaning white ci tizens, trying hard to hammer out a meaningful solution to the desegre gation problems. When we presented our report to the Board o f Educa tion, they virtually ignored the basic inequities identified. They gave us a shallow response; they said our solu tion would not work; but they offer none to take its place. A ll this time, what did the Black member o f the Board o f Education do and say? The answer in a nut shell, "N othing.” Evie Crowell did not stand up for the issues raised in the Coalition's report. In fact, she hindered our progress because she did not challenge the basic assump tions o f the Board of Education, and she presented no idea, asked no pertinent questions, offered no significant resolutions, and was w ill ing to stand by while the Board o f Education made mockery o f an ex cellent community-oriented process. Analysis For this reason, 1 w ill support Steve Buel, who is running against Ms. Crowell for the School Board. Although many have not said it pub lica lly, a large number o f Black people are also going to vote for Mr. Buel. It is not a question o f race. It is a question o f who will best stand up for the cause o f improving the edu cation o f Black children in this city. Mr. Buel has spoken clearly. He is the only candidate who came before the Board to speak boldly on the C o a litio n ’ s reports. He has come forward in favor o f an equitable so lution to the problems o f integration. One thing seems sure: If he w ill come forward now and commit himself to the aims o f the Coalition, knowing it may cost him needed votes in what may be a tight election, then he will stand firm ly for our cause once elect ed. The logic for supporting him is very strong. It is clear that Ms. Crowell w ill not represent those o f us who feel desegregation should not be carried out in a manner that tramples the dignity o f Black people. It is clear that most white politicians w ill not help us — there is no political ad vantage in doing so. Therefore, when a politician, whether white or Black, comes forward to help our cause, we should respond with aid and assis tance. I f we do not organize to help can didates willing to help us, then we have no right to complain when the Board refuses to hear our concerns. I f we are too complacent to work for individuals, there is no way to make Black politicians accountable. We w ill be ignored. “ There is a p o litically impotent com m unity,” they w ill say. Why should a politician risk his fortune on us? Nine chances out of ten, we w ill vote for the Black indi vidual — even if they have hurt our cause. The chances are good, if past history here in Portland is an indi cation, that we w ill not mobilize our community so that our votes are placed squarely behind the causes we hold dear. I f politicia n s, Black or w hite, knew that we would come together as one mind and support those who support us, then we would get better results on the matters o f concern to our children and their future. Race is not an issue. The record is the issue, along with a deep concern that this Portland community seize the opportunity to solve the desegre gation problems out o f court To reach an equitable, fair, and educa tionally sound solution to the well- documented problems in the present system, we need people who w ill ac knowledge the aspiratiom o f the (Please turn to Page 3 Column I) I
