1rs Frances Schoen-Kswapaper Rooa
U n iv e rs ity o f Crcjon L ib ra ry
tu g c a o , O regon 974 0 3
LU
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Starlight
Cotillion
New star
on horizon
Page 2
Page 7
□lack History
activities
Below
PORTLAND OBSERVER
USPS 959-680-855
February 16. 1983
Volume XIII, Number 19
25C Per Copy
C é-i» PbMuAtni C o . /M l
AFS stays at center
State rejects move
The Northeast C o a litio n of
Neighborhoods board was assured
Tuesday night that the Albina office
of Adult and Fam ily Services will
not be closed, but suspicions linger.
Ben Tally, regional manager for
Adult and Fam ily Services, ex
plained that he had been asked by
the state office to close one o f the
Six offices and that he had proposed
closure of the Albina office.
T ally's decision was based on
geography; the Albina branch is lo
cated between the North Portland
branch on Interstate and the North
Cast branch on Oregon. "Logically,
in my mind at least, A lb in a , be
tween two other branches was the
one to close. There is excellent
transportation and clients would not
be inconvienced at a ll."
T ally's recommendation was
turned down by a Human Resources
Department task force mainly for
two reasons:
a) The Multi-Service Center com
bines several agency offices for
"one stop” service and if Adult and
Family Services were removed the
other agencies would be negatively
b) The Albina district serves ap
proxim ately the same number o f
clients as other offices but a much
smaller geographic area Moving the
branch would be moving away from
rather than toward high concentra
tions ot clients.
Answering questions regarding
com m unit^nvolvem ent. Tally ex
plained thjit the proposal was sub
mitted by him to the state office and
if it had been accepted, he would
have gone to the community for a
response before the final decision
was made by the state.
Members o f the community ex
pressed concern that they knew
nothing about the proposal until
shortly before it went to the state
and had no opportunity to express
an opinion.
Feeling is very strong that the A l
bina office should be retained and
that the integrity of the Albina H u
man Resource Center should be pro
tected.
Tally assured those present that
the decision to retain the Albina o f
fice is final; however, the building
lease ends in 1984 and a decision will
havq to be. sytde then. Keith Pu'.
nam, state director o f A dult and
Family Services, said in a letter to
Representative Ed Leek (D-District
18) that the office will remain open
but the size o f the office is not as
sured.
Tally said the region is budgeted
for 28,000 A D C cases and the re
gion is already 250 over the budget
lim it. Depending on the budget
adopted by the Legislative Session
cost cuts will be necessary and he
cannot now determine how they will
be made.
Linda Sunday, regional director
for Children’s Services Division, ex
plained that her office is beginning
to plan for the 1983-1985 time per
iod and is leaning toward consolida
tion of all its offices, and organizing
along program lines. This would not
directly affect most clients because
staff members interview clients in
their homes. The Albina CSD office
is in the Walnut Park Building on
Union.
Bob Nelson, chairman of the coa
litio n , recommended that the
coalition be alert and organized to
protect the community's access to
necessary proarams
Reading Tree hosts educator
Bill Walton. Lionel Hollins: The old times were pood times
Black History
The Urban League of Portland
will host its Annual Open House on
Friday, Feb. 18. from 3 p.m . to 6
p.m. The three Northeast offices—
YSC, 4815 N .E . 7th; SASC, 4128
N.E. Union; CSA, 5329 N.E. Union
— will be providing refreshments
and cultural exhibits as well as in
formation on the numerous services
provided.
History o f the Senior Center as
well as other Black History informa
tion will be the focus of the Senior
Center.
The public is invited to visit all of
fices, learn about the Urban
League, enjoy the refreshments and
add to their information about the
positive impact black Americans
have had on history.
The National Council o f Negro
Women, Tri-County Section, cur
rently in application for charter, will
celebrate Black History Week at Mt.
Olivet Baptist Church on Feb. 19,
1983, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Speakers will include. Ron Hern-
Jon, co-chairman. Black United
Front; Geneva Jones, PP& L Com
munity Services; Harold Williams,
Labor Relations Manager for the
State of Oregon; Pearl S. Gray, D i
rector o f A ffirm a tiv e Action for
Oregon State University. Mt. Olivet
Baptist Church is located at 116
N.E. Schuyler. The event is free and
open to the public.
The Oregon Association o f C o l
ored W om en’s Clubs will hold its
annual Black History Program on
Sunday, Febryary 20 from 1:30 to
5:00 p.m . at the M a tt Dishman
Community Center, 77 N .E . Knott
Street.
The program theme, "Connect
ing the Past with the Present," will
be presented through four program
sections of music, drama and poetry
reflecting black faith, hope struggle
and national loyalty using the songs
" T h e Negro N atio n al A n th e m ,"
"Swing Low Sweet Chariot," "The
Battle Hymn of the Republic," and
"W e Shall Overcome."
(Photo: Den Long)
Hillcrest closure hit
Grassroot News, N. W. — Repre
sentatives from the Children’s Ser
vices Division met with a storm of
criticism from the community as
they presented their proposal to
phase out three cottages a MacLar-
en School for Boys and close H ill
crest School for Girls.
One resident stated, " M y con
cerns are that N o rth /N o rth e a s t
Portland is becoming a dumping
ground for problem populations of
all types. For example, with Mental
Health we were promised funds to
support the mentally handicapped's
return to the community. This did
not happen. I would like some as
surance that the money is going to
follow.”
Paul Backus, Director of the Yan
Youth Home, sees the proposal as
increasing minority youth in institu
tions rather than decreasing it.
"There will be fewer kids locked up
in close custody but the percentage
o f m inorities will go up because
funds for this project are not target
ed for services to black kids.”
Janice Barnett from "O p tio ns,"
a program that currently keeps
young girls from committment to
the State's training schools, voiced
her concerns: " M y concerns are
for what is available in the commu
nity if we are turning away from
Hillcrest. If you want to keep young
girls out of a training school you
have to have all kinds of services in
the community to meet their needs.
O ur notion o f a foster or group
home is not always appropriate for
the kinds of girls we deal with—girls
who have a long runaway record,
because they were victims of sexual
abuse. Some are sexually active so
they are not appropriate for place
ment in your typical foster home.
They are not the kind of kids that
need to be in a home but they need
to learn how to live independently.
There is no program that meets this
need. Another problem is babysit
ting. Many of these so-called hard-
to-piace girls have children. S till
another problem is with girls who
were involved in prostitution. When
we try to make that transition from
the streets to a legitimate job there
are no jobs available to help them.
These are some of the needs that
have to be met before you close
down a facility. If resources are not
available for young white women in
this state, there are even fewer avail
able for young black women. You
limit yourself to Portland in terms
of placement. And in Portland there
are no facilities to deal with young
black women."
A foster parent stated. " T h e
Northeast community is hard
pressed to truthfully say that CSD is
interested in protecting black chil
dren. CSD administrators have indi
cated to this community that it is
hard to find black families who are
willing to open their homes to black
children as an alternative to institu
tionalization. This is in direct con
flict with the black tradition which
opens our home to anyone in need. I
know CSD contentions are not true.
CSD is unable to maintain a positive
relationship with the black commu
nity."
Freddye Pettet, Executive Direc
tor of the Urban League, says the
community should assess the level
of commitment the Children’s Ser
vices Division has to black youth in
this com m unity. " C S D must be
committed to this community’s de
veloping and operating all programs
implemented for our young people.
We have witnessed a decline in ser
vices that are designed to train and
rehabilitate the community’s youth.
The absence of transitional facilities
for young people leaving these insti
tutions and C S D ’s support for the
lowering o f the remand age to 14
makes ¿ is proposal unworkable.”
C ircuit Judge M . Deiz added,
“ The slate is listening to hard-nosed
human beings. They are insisting
that our kids be remanded to the
adult system and tried as adults. The
reason Oregon has the third highest
commitment rate in the country is
(Please turn to page 3 col. 3/
The Reading free, the nationally
respected ch ildren ’ s reading pro
gram held annually in Irving Park,
will host a reading workshop Satur
day, February 19th, for parents and
interested persons.
"Sing ..S p e ll.. Read” will fea
ture Sue Dickson, teacher and
author.
A teacher in New Jersey and V ir
ginia for 23 years, Ms. Dickson used
her background and interest in
music to develop a system to teach
reading and spelling.
Ms. Dickson's method can be
used by teachers or by parents to
help their children read. It is a total
Language Arts program that corre
lates reading, writing, phonics and
spelling and requires the child’s to
tal participation.
The rate o f learning is approxi
mately three times faster than tradi
tional methods; for example, first
graders learn 1500 words while
those using the sight reading
methods learn 613.
Ms. Dickson is a member o f the
National Reading Reform, the N a
tional Education Association, Delta
Kappa Gam m a honor society for
women educators, the International
Reading Association. She is a recipi
ent of the George Washington Med
al from Freedoms Foundations.
Ms. Dickson presents workshops
in
" S i n g . . . S p e l l . . .R e a d ’ ’
throughout the country. Her
method not only makes reading
easy, but it is fun.
W hile in Portland Ms. Dickson
will address staff and teachers from
the Early C hildhood Education
Centers, Tubm an M iddle School,
and St. Andrews School. She will
hold a public meeting at Sabin
School on Thursday at 6:45 p.m.
The reading tree was established
twelve years ago by Ms. L illia n
Herzog and other community resi
dents who were aware that commu
nity children were not being taught
Governor Victor Atiyah demonstrates oroper
mixing technique while baking a chocolate pecan
pie at the Gourmet Galla. Other celebrity cooks
to read in the public schools. The
program holds six-week sessions
each summer in Irving Park to en
courage children to read and to en
joy reading.
The Reading Tree workshop will
be held February 19th at 8:30 a.m.
at Cascade Center, Portland C om
m unity College, in the C afeteria.
The public is invited. A S3 registra
tion will will assist the Reading Tree
program.
Tha Northeast Coalition of
Neighborhood Asaoclations will
aponaor a workshop on Land
Use and Economic Development
on Saturday. Fab. 28th from 8:00
a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tha workshop,
which Is free, will ba presented
by Sumner Sharp of Cogan b
Associates. To register call 248-
46 7b
were Edith and Stephen Mlnde (director of the
Portland Opera) Geneva Jonee was a judge.
(Photo: Richard J. Brown)