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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (March 28, 1984)
Portland Observer March 28, 1984 Page 3 METROPOLITAN MBE's challenge Urban League record by Lamta Duke Tyrone H ines, co o rd in a to r for the N o rth /N o rth e a s t P o rtlan d C ooperative Literacy P ro ject, w o rk s w ith a tu to r In exp laining background material to be used In the Individualised Instruction. Volunteer teachers sought Tyrone Hines is the new coor dinator for the N o rth /N o rth e a s t P ortland Cooperative Literacy Project located at the Portland Community College Cascade Cam pus. A waiting list of adults who want to learn how to read faces Hines as he begins the program planning for the new N orth/Northeast Portland Cooperative Literacy Project (N /N E P C L P ). He will be directed by a board consisting o f P C C , B. Dalton Books, Ockley Green Com munity School, Oregon Department of Education, Oregon State Univer sity and Oregon Literacy, Inc. “ Our purpose is to meet the needs o f nonreading adults in the area, which includes the functionally illiterate," Hines explained. "M any have alreay had a certain amount of failure in traditional school settings, so it is important to design learning specifically for their needs." Classes w ill basically use in dividual tutors with the d ifferen t A resident o f Northeast Portland himself, Hines originally came from Schenectady, New York but moved to the Portland area to attend the University of Portland in 1975. He has been a teacher in the Portland Public schools and a part-tim e in structor for PCC. Hines actively serves in a number o f community organizations him self, including board seats on the Open M eadow Learning Center, Eliot Energy House and the North east Community Energy Project. " M y first short range goal will be to find volunteers who have at least a high school education or G E D and provide training sessions for th em ,'* Hines explained. By winter o f 1985, he plans to have 100 new tutors added to the project. Contact Hines at the Cascade Campus or Dorothy Brehm at the PCC Sylvania Campus fo r more details about the tutor workshop. G RASSROOT NEW S. N. IK — A conflict has emerged between the U rban League o f P ortland and some m inority contractors over minority business participation in the Urban Plaza now under con struction. Contractor James Berry, director of the N.E. Business Center, said he was shocked and surprised that the U rban League did not award the contract to a Black general contrac tor. Don Silvey of Silco Construc tion is the general or prime contrac tor for the project. “ When a Black general contrac tor gets a job, then Black people will get jobs. A majority contractor will do business as usual." Berry and four other contractors met with Urban League’s director, Freddye Petett, two weeks ago to express their dissatisfaction with the way the contract was handled. “ The general contract was not bidded out. Silco was just choosen." But Carol J. Lentz, vice-president of Finance and Administration for the League, said that because of time and budget constraints, the job was not advertised. “ It was com petitive but it was just not advertised. We had to have a general contractor prior to submit ting our proposal to obtain the funds to build. " Located on the corner o f N . Williams Avenue and Russell Street, the Urban Plaza will be a one-stop resource center for the community and centralize the Urban League’s branch offices under one roof. The building’s owner, H . Philip Eder, received $800,000 through the Portland Development C om mission's Investor Rehabilitation Loan program and a Federal Housing and Urban Development Section 312 rehabilitation loan. Warren Wong of PDC and Lentz both rebuffed the notion o f low- minority participation. “ Silco Construction went out of their way to -ensure maximum minority and women participation. The C ity ’s guideline is 10 percent. The project has 21 percent and that is substantial on any p ro je c t," Wong said. He also said a careful review of the bidding process will unravel the steps the League and PDC took to ensure M B E and W BE p ar ticipation. Lentz said the League was con sidering Silco Construction and M R H Enterprises, a MBE firm , as the general contractor. “ We felt Silco could do the job quicker and within our budget." She also added that new hires have been Blacks and Hispanics. “ We sent out letters to every minority contractor on the list. We had a pre-bid meeting with MBE's and W B E ’s to explain the process and our budget. I don’t know how much more we could have done.” Lentz said they received many sub bids from M B E ’ s who sur passed their budget level. “ We went back and tried to negotiate a new price.” Wong said many MBE's cancelled one another out by bidding on the same types of jobs. "W e had 10 ap- plying to do the same type of work.” He said minorities were over represented in the labor-intensive field. "Painting, masonry, janitor ial, trucking and landscaping." Wong and Lentz said they expec ted M B E /W B E participation to reach 40 percent when the architect (U nthank Seder Policha) sub contracts and new hires are counted. Berry said he was not aware of the pre-bid meeting and had problems with m inority contractors being bid down. Bruce Broussard, publisher o f American Contractor, a monthly newspaper for W B E ’s and M B E ’s, said he was disappointed with these percentages. " It could have been a phoenix for Oregon. There were enough Blacks to have done (hat whole project. It bothers me (hat we have an organization that champions Black causes talking about quotas. With all (hose Blacks in that area hurting for jobs, you can't help but be disappointed.” Minority apprentiships open Five $1,500 grants for student research apprentice positions at the Oregon Health Sciences University are available this summer for minority students currently enrolled in high school. The grants are for positions with the university’s School of Medicine and School o f D entistry and are funded by the federal Department of Health and Human Services. The student research apprentice positions are intended to provide the students with meaningful experience in various aspects o f health-related research with the expectation that they may decide to pursue a career in related areas. T o apply, students need to send an up-to-date high school transcript and a letter describing their interest in exploring biomedical research as a career. Students applying should have had biology or chemistry related classes in order to benefit from the program. A ll m inority high school students are eligible for this program including graduating seniors. Applications should be mailed by A p ril 15 to D r. J. Peter Bentley, professor of biochemistry. School of Medicine, Oregon Health Scien ces U niversity, 3181 S .W . Satr Jackson Park Road, Portland Oregon 97201. For more information about thi summer m inority high school student research apprentice program at O H S U , contact D r. Bentley at 225-8414 or D r. C .K . Claycomb, profeasor of huxheyiiury. School of Dentistry, at 225-8774 at 225-8774. 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