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PO R TL
ERVER
Volume XX, Number 42
"The Eyes and Ears o f The Community"
25<P
October 31,1990
First Interstate Bank Announces Community
Lending Center and Home Ownership Program
First Interstate Bank has announced
plans to open a Community Lending
Center at its W alnut Park branch on
Martin Luther King Blvd. In addition to
offering the Bank’s standard loan pro
grams, this lending center will focus on
lending to first time home buyers in
inner-city neighborhoods.
Robert Ames, president o f First Inter
state Bank, announced the creation of
the lending center and, at the same time,
unveiled a new bank program designed
to help low-and moderate-income people
buy homes.
“ First Interstate has an ongoing
commitment to assist home buyers in all
areas o f the state and across the eco
nomic spectrum” Ames said. “ The Com
munity Lending Center and the new
mortgage program are sound, progres
sive efforts to continue to m eet that
co m m itm en t”
The idea for the Com m unity Lend
ing Center grew out o f jo in t efforts
commenced last April by Janice W ilson,
senior vice president o f the bank’s Metro
W h a t ever ha ppened
to m in o r ity business
Part 3
PAGE 5
T o p ic fo r H is /H e rs
O ld e r M e n and
Y o un ger W om en,
O ld e r W om en and
Y o un ger M e n
PAGE 6
East Region, and Dick An
derson, senior vice presi
dent o f Residential Loan
Services, to develop ways
to increase the bank’s lend
ing in inner-city neighbor
hoods.
According to W ilson,
“ One o f the goals o f the
Community Lending Cen
ter will be to meet the needs
o f as many neighborhood
home buyers as possible. ’ ’
The Community Lend
ing Center will open in
December with a staff of
three including manager
Ralph Nickerson. N icker
son comes to First Inter
state Bank with fifteen years
experience in real estate
lending in the Portland area.
In addition to provid
ing information and counseling to indi
viduals looking to buy homes, the new
lending center will offer homeowner-
ship seminars at times and locations
convenient to the neighborhood residents.
The seminars will be held in cooperation
with community organizations, and will
Grace Collins Receives
’’Champion For Children”
Award
Evelyn Collins, long-time op
erator of the Grace Collins Day Care
Center on N.E. Russell S t in Northeast
Portland, was honored recently as the
1990 recipient o f the “ Champion for
C hildren” award.
The award is given annually by
the Edgefield C hildren’s Center, Inc. o f
Troutdale, Oregon, and is presented to
an individual whose accom plishm enst
have benefilted children and/or high
lighted the needs o f children and fam i
lies in the community.
Ms. Collins, one o f five nomi-
3,000,000 and no
accidents
PAGE 7
O bserver
E n d o w m e n ts o f B a llo t
M easures and
C andidates
PAGE 8
Grace Collins
nees, was nom inated by Edgefield board
member Tom Steam s and was presented
the award at a special dinner/dance at
the M arriott Hotel on October 25.
The G race Collins Center,
named after Ms. C ollins’ mother, has
operated for over 35 years, serving more
than 10,000 children, mostly low-in-
come.
Ms. Collins in known in North
east as the “ foster godm other’ ’ o f many
former recipients o f daycare at the Collins
Center and in conversations with some,
they state that they can think o f “ no in
dividual more deserving” .
address topics such as:
• how to budget the
money needed for closing
a home purchase;
*how to be prepared
for the increased cash
requirem ents o f the total
housing expense;
*how to ev alu ate
home financing program s
that are available; and
•how to anticipate and
prepare for home m ainte
nance.
The concept o f F irst
Interstate’s center is sim i
lar to one o f the proposals
in a report recently issued
by Gretchen Kafoury, Port
land city com m issioner-
elect.
The new lending p ro
gram will com m ence w ith
the December opening o f the center.
Major features of this program designed
for purchasers who will occupy the hom e
include:
•First Interstate Bank will donate
funds to a non-profit organization to pro
vide a grant o f 1% to be applied toward
down payment on both conventional and
FHA loan requests.
•A flexible housing expense to gross
income ratio.
•Recurring monthly obligations can
be used for credit verification.
•M inimum down paym ent
•No extra fees for lower loan amounts.
•M ortgage Credit Certificate pro
gram availability.
The program is sim ilar to a plan
announced earlier by U.S. Bank. “ As
one o f the state’s real estate lenders, we
are eager to offer viable programs that
will increase the availability o f residen
tial loans,” said Dick Anderson. “ In
combination with program s offered by
other banks, this will serve to strengthen
the inner-city and community as a whole.
W e know one program will not fit every
one. We will continue to look for lending
programs that we can tailor to fit the in
dividual needs o f home buyers.”
Building a New Urban League
In 1987, the Urban League o f Port
land received monies toward a capital
fund project to remodel and renovate the
Mentzer Building which was across from
the L eague’s present headquarters on
North W illiam sand Russell. The League
received $150,000 from the Collins
Foundation, S5.000 each from KATU
Channel 2 and Vanexco, a subsidiary of
Alcoa Aluminum. Because of the vari
ous financial problem s that the League
became entangled after that time, the
Mentzer Building and other properties
were sold. One o f the priorities o f the
present League President, Dr. Darryl
Tukufu, was to clear up some loose ends.
This meant going to these past funders
and paying back monies that were held
in reserve.
The League was granted permission
by Vanexco and KATU to use their
donate funds for capital improvements
or add to the general fund respectively.
The League recently approached and
returned $150,000 to the Collins Foun
dation with a proposal in hand seeking
$ 120,000 for capital funds to include the
renovations for the relocation and ex
pansion of the League’s Whitney M.
Young Learning Center, miscellaneous
renovation at the Urban Plaza, the pur
chase o f telecom m unication equipment,
computers, and a van to be used for all
League program s and a challenge grant
of $30,000 toward the establishm ent o f a
program stabilization fund. This grant
must be matched by an additional $30,000
grant and will provide money for the
development and start up of programs at
the League with a requirem ent that the
program be able to pay the money back
to the stabilization fund within one fiscal
year. The stabilization fund will provide
an expanded base for the development of
program s at the League.
Roberts Centers Campaign Around Social Programs
BY ANGELIQUE SANDERS
A d o p tio n is K id S tu ff
PAGE 11
INDEX
News
Religion
Locker Room
Business
Opinion
Election
Classifieds
Bids/Sub Bids
2
3
4
5
6
8
12
13
Don't forget to
vote on Tuesday
November 6.
G overnor candidate Barbara
Roberts, in an attempt to bring up living
standards for lower-income Oregonians,
is focusing her campaign on social pro
grams.
Her first priority, should she
take office as Governor, is to re-vamp
financing o f education, as the burden of
education in Oregon falls to property
taxes, causing disproportionately high
state taxes and an inability to expand or
improve education with limited reve
nue. Her proposal is to lift the burden of
education from homeowners, and enact
a 5% sales tax (which would not be
included in necessities such as food,
housing, utilities, and medical expenses).
Roberts expects that, while the sales tax
would barely affect lower-income citi
zens monetarily, it would give them “ a
better chance for prosperity through
quality education.”
“ Ballot five [the property lax
measure] would be the worst decision
we could make for Oregon,” Roberts
said in an interview Saturday. “ It af
fects programs o f police protection, low
income families, and human services..any
time we cut back, social programs pay
first!”
Roberts also has proposed a
seven-point battle plan against crime
and drugs, including:
•more prison cells
•longer, tougher mandatory sentences
•mandatory inmate work programs
•prison drug treatment
i ntensive supervision of parolees
•registration o f sex offenders
•community policing and crime preven
tion
P a rt
of the focus for
c o m m u n ity
“ c le a n -u p ”
using
this
s e v e n - p o in t
plan is the
problem that,
currently, 61%
o f O regon’s
inmates end up
back in jail. At
a cost of $2,000
per year for in
tense supervi-
sio n -n o t just
parole, but to ensure that ex-inmates arc
adhcrcing to drug reform programs, at
tending work, and “ succeeding” out
side o f p riso n -it is a much cheaper plan
than paying the tens o f thousands it costs
to return crim e-com m itters to jail for a
year or more.
In a statement Issued by Roberts’
campaign, she slated that “ Oregonians
should not accept a tragic loss of their
personal safety and security. We abso
lutely cannot tolerate that some of our
kids will inevitably get involved in gangs
and drugs-throw ing their lives down a
rat h o le -a n d destroying grieving fami
lies in the process...Frohnmayer has a
record he can’t defend. H e’s been O re
g o n ’s Attorney General for a decade...a
CANDIDATES FOR
GOVERNOR: Secre
tary of State Barbara
Roberts (Democrat) and
Attorney General Dave
Frohnmayer (Republi
can) face off in Novem
ber sixth's election. The
Observer did not have
the opportunity to inter
view Mr. Frohnmayer.
decade during which w e’ve suffered the
greatest epidemic o f crime in our state’s
history." And in fact, in those ten years,
crim e has taken staggering leaps: Linn
County reflects a 36% rise; Josephine
County, 35%; and Lincoln County, 40%.
Drug offenses have climbed 275% in
Marion County, and 405% in Multnomah
County. O regon’s sex crimes have
jumped 24%, and 13% for rape.
Health care is another issue
Roberts is faced with, and she proposes
a comprehensive program for O regoni
ans, that will:
help small businesses afford quality health
care for employees
■reduce health care costs by cutting ad
ministrative overhead and reducing du
plication of
e x p e n siv e
m e d ic a l
te c h n o lo
gies
• im p r o v e
m e d ic a l
care in ru
ral commu
nities
• c o m b in e
employees’
health in-
su ra n c e
with work
ers’ com
pensation
•create a comprehensive plan for O re
gon communities
■facilitate senior citizens’ coverage
■keep the Office of Health Policy under
her strict jurisdictions.
As it stands, nearly one in six
O regonians has no health care coverage
at all. Roberts seeks to change that.
As for affordable housing,
families making 50-80% of the median
income arc having trouble finding af
fordable places to live. Roberts wants to
establish “ vitality zones” , in which
poorer neighborhoods would be lifted
(through special tax credits to develop
ers who invest in rehabilitating those
areas) thus also em ploying residents of
those neighborhoods. She expects to
pull $80 m illion from the legislature’s
general fund and form a new Oregon
Housing Trust Fund to finance housing
projects and assist em ergency shelters.
To build up Portland’s North/
Northeast communities, Barbara Roberts
wants to build up com m unity service
programs, and steer youth away from
drugs, ‘ ‘because, let’s face it,’ ’ she said,
“ poverty is linked to crim e. Prevention
at youth is the key. W e should give
youth a sense of belonging, without
belonging to a gang...the black com m u
nity’s support to such program s is the
key.” When asked if there’s anything
she’d like citizens o f N ortheast Portland
to know about her, she said, “ I think the
unique thing I have [as a governmental
candidate] is I’ve been there; I ’ve been
poor. When you’re there, you feel cor
nered, like there’s no w ay out...w e need
a governor who respects diversity, who
works against racial hatred. I think my
record is very clear.”
Roberts is endorsed by Port
land’s Rainbow Coalition, the Oregon
Black Political Convention, and O re
gon’s Black Leadership Conference.
»