Albina child care program to lose fundina
Another
Albina based
based program
program is
is
Another Albina
stated fo
fo r r extinction.
ext net on The
a ih
in .
stated
The A
lbina
Ministerial Alliance Family Day and
Night Care Program has been ad
vised by the 4-C (Community Coor
dinated Child Care) that its contract
with that agency w ill be terminated
on June 30,1979.
The A M A Family Day and Night
Care Program was established in No
vember o f 1970. The program, fund
ed through Model Cities and other
federal and private funds, provided
care for 430 children with a budget
o f a quarter million dollars and a
staff o f fifteen. W ith the withdrawal
o f most o f the federal funds end
....
i;
J
.
state policy and procedural changes,
the program now has a budget of
$80,000 to provide supportive ser
vices to 400 day care homes.
The A M A sta ff provides in fo r
mation and referral to parents need
ing child care, provides assistance,
training and educational information
to providers o f family day care, and
administer U.S. Department o f Agri
culture food service payments to day
care providers. The cost o f child
ren’ s care is paid directly by Child
ren’s Services. Family day care pro
vider’s care for children — mainly
in fa n
ts to three
Vears
in the
three years
years — - — in in
the
im in a fa
m n s ts io to tnree
the
providers’ homes.
A M A is one o f eight day care pro
grams which, together with an In
formation and Referral Center, were
funded by Model Cities. 4-C was the
contracting agency. 4-C, operated by
a com m unity board, served as a
“ broker” o f child care services in
Multnomah, Washington, Clacka
mas and C olum bia counties —
establishing, coordinating and fund
ing day care programs. Later, a
change o f state policy took the fund
ing function from 4-C and left it as a
coordinating, planning and training
h i
body.
body.
As money diminished 4-C took a
greater percentage to its e lf and
broadened its own functions to the
point that for the coming year it
plans to no longer sub-contract with
any community-based agency but
perform those (unctions now done
by A M A and others with its own
staff.
The proposed 4-C budget w ill be
$25,131 in state general fund money
and $292,930 in federal Title X X
money for the four counties. The
s ta ff w ill include a d ire cto r,
executive secretary, bookkeeper/
W
_____
tra in e r, adm inistrative assistant,
child development coordinator and
seven trainees. The trainees will be
assigned: two for Multnomah County,
two for Washington County, two for
Clackamas C ounty and one fo r
C olum bia C ounty. M ultnom ah
County has 3,905 fam ily day care
and 2,432 child care center children.
The totals for the four counties are
5,545 in family day care and 3,542
in centers.
A M A Family Day and Night Care
serves the area from St. Johns to
202nd Avenue, from Burnside to the
Columbia River.
The 4-C Board, which was once
representative o f the metropolitan
area, offering Black people an op
portunity to participate in Day Care
Planning and Operation, now has
one Black member, Charles Ford.
The 4-C staff, which has been the
target o f civil rights complaints and
is cu rre n tly under federal in
vestigation o f civil rights matters,
employs one Black person.
With the destruction o f A M A the
network o f community based child
care program s — operated by
parent/com m unity boards — w ill
have been eliminated.
PORTLAND OBSERVER
Volume 9 No. 9
Thursday, March 9,1979109
Crime prevention poster fosters racism
by J eana Wooley
AUDREY PARSONS
Parsons heads outreach unit
Labor Commissioner Mary Wendy
Roberts announced that Audrey Par
sons, Field Representative for the
Bureau o f Labor, has been named
C oordinator o f Apprenticeship &
Î raining Outreach, a program de
signed to attract women and minori
ties to Apprenticeship. Ms. Parsons
will coordinate the $80,000 federally
funded program aimed at increasing
female and minority participation in
apprenticeship.
Ms. Parsons has been with the
Apprenticeship and Training D ivi
sion o f the Bureau o f Labor since
July 1978. Previously she worked for
the Employment Service for eleven
years.
Her experience in outreach and
employer contact was furthered in
her position with the Clackamas
County W IN program for five years.
The Bureau o f Labor Outreach
Program is reflective o f Com
missioner Robert’ s commitment to
promote female and minority partici
pation in the trades, bringing their
participation to levels equivalent
with their percentages in Oregon’s
overall workforce. January 1, 1979
figures show statewide women ap
prentices at 2.6 percent, while
.
«
-
I
g
minority participation is at 6.1 per
cent.
The Program’ s goals will be imple
mented in a variety o f ways: through
workshops, individual and group
employer contact, wom en’ s and
m i n o r i t i e s ’ o r g a n iz a t io n s ,
educational institutions, television,
and public forums.
I f you ask Americans to list what
they are most concerned about,
crime invariably is mentioned as a
major problem. The Oregon League
o f Women Voters recently conducted
a survey and found that the most
serious concern o f Portlanders was
crime. Portland has seen a great in
crease in crime during the past ten
years. Many residents do not feel
that P ortland is a safe c ity any
longer, although it has experienced a
distinct reduction in crime over the
past two years.
The Law Enforcement Assistance
Administration (LE A A ) and other
federal agencies have spent millions
o f dollars over the last fifteen years
trying to help m ajor cities reduce
their crime rates. As local law enfor
cement agencies have learned from
experience that more police and bet
ter equipment do not curtail rising
crime rates, they have changed their
crime fighting tactics to community
involvement and crime prevention.«
P ortland’ s first crime program
was set up with a LE A A grant in
1973 and housed m the Mayor’ s of
fice. It concentrated its e ffo rts
prim arily on preventing residential
burglary. In mid 1974 the Portland
Police Bureau established a com-
merical crime prevention unit to
assist business people. The functions
o f these two operations were con
solidated under the Portland Police
Bureau in 1977.
The scope o f the crime prevention
program has expanded since its in
ception. Today, the services
provided to the public include not
only block meetings but security sur
veys, property engraving, rape
prevention education, and a variety
o f other activities aimed at expan
ding citizen involvement in crime
prevention efforts.
Crim e prevention e ffo rts have
always been viewed w ith either
suspicion or indifference by many in
the Black community. Locally, the
crime prevention program has had
little success generating interest in its
services and activities in the Black
community. This is not because there
aren’ t concerned citizens in these
neighborhoods who are interested in
seeing crime reduced; they want to
feel safe in their neighborhoods like
anybody else. There are good
reasons why Black people are less
like ly to get involved in crime
prevention efforts, and they have to
do with the system.
The problem with these kinds o f
programs is that they are administer
ed by the local law enforcement
agencies who have set themselves up
as adversaries to the Black communi
ty through their unequal and
discrim inatory adm inistration o f
justice. Law enforcement agencies,
with the help o f the media, have con
tinued to reinforce a crime mythol
ogy that characterizes Black people
as murderers, robbers and thieves.
The message that continues to be
conveyed to the larger society is that
Black people are the perpetuators o f
crimes and that whites are the
vicitims of these crimes.
Someone who does not know bet
ter can conclude that Black people
aren’ t victimized by crime, or if they
are, that it is not important.
The track record o f the police
agencies focusing on the reduction o f
Black on Black crime is poor. The
delivery o f justice in instances o f
white on Black crime is frequently
nonexistent.
The Portland Police Bureau Crime
Prevention Unit recently lent creden
ce to many Black people’ s notion
that crime prevention is directed
(Please turn to page 3 col. 4)
Right To Walk
The Streets
Without Fear
Harrassment And Intimidation
Are Crimes
help your neighbor if you see a crime
report it to the police immediately!
travel in pairs a t night
9et to know your neighbors
stay alert to your surroundings and use com m on
sense in avoiding threatening situations
You don’t have to be afraid . . .people who live and work
m pour neighborhood are pour best defense against crimes
_
A
WW
__ S***W Network
ftw lU n d P o lk , Crim e Prevention Unit
/< S \
Proposed legislation regulates Oregon nuclear shipments
The Trojan Decommissioning A
AJ-
l
liance is actively supporting House
Bill 2571, introduced by Representa
tive George Starr, which w ould
require transporters o f “ hazardous
radioactive material” to obtain a
perm it from the P ublic U tilitie s
Commission for shipment.
The bill would also require that
shippers provide bonding to insure
that the costs of an accident would
be paid, including personal injury,
property damange and clean up
costs.
Sandy Pitler o f TDC explained
that this bill is not an attempt to ban
the shipment o f nuclear materials in
Oregon but
but is
is a
a pu
Dublic
safetv
Oregon
b lic safety
measure to protect the public against
accidents. I f passed Oregon will be
the first state to include in the law
regulations that upgrade the re
sponse teams.
Prior ot issuance o f a shipping
perm it the PUC w ould have to
determine that local health agencies
arc prepared to handle an accident
effectively, that the route chosen is
the safest possible, and that ship
ment can be accomplished without
danger to any person, property or
wildlife.
Currently there are no regulations
regarding shipment o f radioactive
a
m a to r ia l
’T ’ U a v a n«-~
__
material. There are approximately
1500 shipments per year through
Oregon. The proximaty o f Hanford
means that when that fa c ility ’ s
capacity for waste storage is expan
ded, the shipments w ill be greatly in
creased. Besides the nuclear waste
produced in this country, the US has
agreed to absorb the waste from
nuclear reactors sold abroad.
Nuclear shipment accidents are
frequent. In 1978 there were 328
reported shipping accidents in the
US, with 118 releasing radioactive
material. The US Department o f
Transportation estimates that only
30 per cent o f the accidents are
reported.
A study by C ritic a l Mass, o f
Washington, found 1.2 mishaps per
week in 1974 had increased to 1.9
mishaps per week in 1978. Several
cities
including
New
Y o rk,
Washington, D. C., Cleveland and
New Haven have banned large
nuclear
shipments
in
their
jurisdicition.
Lack o f regulations and respon
s ib ly causes confusion at the scene
o f an accident. In 1977, a train
carrying four 4,000 gallon containers
o f radioactive uranium hexafluoride
derailed near Rockingham, N.C. The
local fire department, me
the nignway
Highway
Patrol, and finally the Arm y ap
proached the scene and withdrew
because o f the hazard to personnel.
In the meantime fires were buring
uncontrolled, caustic and flammable
chemicals were spilled. Seven hours
later the radiological response team
from Oak Ridge arrived and deter
mined that no radioactive material
had been released. Although at least
,7 federal, state and local agencies
responded to the emergency, no one
agency had a u th o rity and much
delay and confusion resulted.
Confusion about responsibility
means
years
o f o litigation
means
years
f litigation < over costs.
Y ^ ? ervs-Kaiser Aluminum attacks affirmative action programs
(PNS) — Their names may not be
very lamiliar at this point, but chances
are that James Cramer and Brian
Weber will become as much a part o f
the nation’s vocabulary in the future
as Allan Bakke was during the past
year. These two white men have filed
charges o f "reverse discrimination'*
that could have an even greater
national impact than last year’ s
highly touted racial melodrama in
volving the space engineer who want
ed to become a doctor.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s Bakke
decision last spring prim arily a f
fected university admissions pro
cedures. The suits brought by
( ramer and Weber challenge volun
tary affirm a tive action programs
that give preferential treatment to
m
n r if ie « and
a n d women ¡n
m in
inorities
in em
ployment. And since the issue here
involves jobs, a Supreme C ourt
decision could affect thousands o f
programs and millions o f jobs.
Cramer and Weber, who were
seeking positions at opposite ends o f
the social and economic spectrum,
asked the courts to determine how
much special consideration should be
given to women and minorities when
there is no established proof o f past
discrimination.
Weber, a 31-year-old laboratory
technician at a Kaiser Aluminum &
Chemical Company plant in
Gramercy, Louisiana, applied for a
training program that would lead to
a skilled craft job. But the company,
finding that there were only five
Blacks among 273 skilled workers,
had signed an agreement with the
United Steelworkers Union to admit
one Black for every white selected
for the program until Black represen
tation reflected the Black population
of the area around the plant. When
Weber was turned down he sued the
company and the union.
Cramer, a 32-year-old sociologist,
taught at Virginia Commonwealth
University for a year and twice ap
plied for permanent positions in his
departm ent. When women were
hired for both spots, Cramer sued,
contending that he was not con
sidered because he was a male and
that the women hired were ’ less
qualified.*’
The U.S. Supreme Court has not
yet agreed to accept either case, but
the same po litica l and economic
pressures that forced it to confront
the issue raised by Bakke are at work
on behalf o f Weber and Cramer. In
ordering Bakke adm itted to the
medical school o f the University o f
( alitornia at Davis, the Court ruled
that race could be a factor in univer
sity admissions but that rigid racial
quotas were unfair. However, the
narrowness o f the ruling and the
multiplicity o f opinions among the
Justices left many issues unresolved.
Weber’s case would force the court
to address the issue o f voluntary af
firm a tive action in employment
while Cramer would extend the
debate in to the area o f sex
discrimination.
Opponents o f affirmative action
have had little success in challenging
programs instituted after past
discrimination was documented. A f
ter Bakke, officials at the Equal Em
ployment Opportunity Commission
I
(EEO C )
fe lt
that
voluntary
programs, often reached through
o u t-o f-c o u rt settlements, were
still safe. But last year’s 5th C ir
cuit C ourt o f Appeals ruling on
behalf o f Weber threatens these
voluntary agreements. “ There can be
no basis fo r preferring m inority
workers i f there has been no
discrim inatory act that displaced
them from their ‘rightful place’ in
the employment scheme,” the Fifth
Circuit said in a 2-1 decision.
Companies say the decision leaves
them in an unacceptable bind: I f they
don’t adopt voluntary affirm ative
action programs they can be sued by
minority workers; i f they do admit
past d iscrim in a tio n , m in o rity
workers can sue them for back pay
and damages.
EEOC chairperson Eleanor
Holmes N orton says the govern
ment’ s entire anti-discrim ination
effort would be damaged i f com
panies decided to wait until they were
sued.
"The basic social policy behind
law enforcement is to have a much
greater number o f companies than
we can sue believe they must volun
tarily keep us from suing them by
adopting voluntary affirm ative ac
tio n ,” says Norton. “ No law en
forcement agency could sue
everybody in violation.”
In its appeal to the U.S. Supreme
Court, the Steelworkers Union says
the Fifth Circuit’s decision is already
having an impact on opportunities
fo r m inorities. “ One m ajor cor
poration has already advised the
union that in light o f the decision it
(Please turn to Page 2 Column 4)