Page 2...The Portland Observer...Noven,ber 27,1991 p e r s p e c tiv e s UNMC, UNO Announce New Program to Attract Multicultural Students into Health Professions The University of Nebraska Medi cal Center and the University of Ne braska at Omaha announced plans to day for a new program designed to attract multicultural students into the health professions. The program is called the Multic ultural Vantage Program (MVP) for Health Professions. The program’s two main objective, according to William Berndt, Ph D., interim UNMC chan cellor, will be to address the needs of underserved Nebraska communities and to generate greater diversity in the health professions. ‘‘There is a low number ol multic ultural students going into the health professions,” said Dr. Berndt. “ There ire no simple solutions, but we think this program will be an important first step in addressing this difficult prob lem .” Of UNMC’s 2,296 students in 1991 - 92, only 89, or 3.6 percent, were mi norities. “ This is certainly nothing to brag about,” said Dr. Berndt, “ but it is also fairly typical of what is being seen throughout the country. * ‘The demand of qualified multic ultural students is tremendous. These students can go to school just about anywhere they want. Unfortunately, this often means the best Nebraska minor ity students are leaving our state. Hope fully, this program will keep more of these outstanding students in Ne braska.” MVP will be extended to UNO multicultural students interested in pursuing a career in medicine, den tistry, pharmacy, nursing or in a allied health profession. Multicultural groups that could qualify for the program in clude African Americans, Native Americans and Hispanics of Mexican or Puerto Rican Mainland heritage. Upon entering UNO, students sc- lec ted for the program will obtain early acceptance into participating UNMC colleges or programs, contingent upon completion of studies at UNO. Exact details for participating UNMC colleges or programs are still being developed. The exact number of students chosen for MVP will vary by college. However, it is expected that from one to five students may be se lected yearly for each college or pro gram. Students will be be encouraged to apply for scholarships, loans or grants they may qualify for at UNO, includ ing existing programs for multicultu ral students. UNMC is reviewing fund ing options for the future. Dr Berndt said UNMC should be able to draw students from minority scholarships programs already in place through UNO. The first students se lected for the program will be admitted to UNO in fall 1992. “ Our recruitment program for ru ral students -- the Rural Health Oppor tunities Program - has been tremen dously successful,” said Dr. Berndt, “ and we have high expectations for this program aimed at multicultural students. The two programs parallel each other in many ways.” “ We’re thrilled to be working with UNMC on this pioneering project,” said Del Weber, Ed.D., UNO chancel lor. “ It will provide multicultural stu dents with some exciting career op tions. It has the potential to really make a difference.” UNMC and UNO representatives will interview prospective students and make the final selections. Students in terested in applying fo the program need to do so by March 1, 1992. For an application or more infor mation on MVP people outside the Omaha area should call UMNC’s toll- free number, (800) 626-8431, and ask for either Lopez or Ms. Rutt. Vehicle Auction to Be Held In Vancouver trucks, Blazers, Broncos, a Wagoneer, and a state truck. Interested bidders are encouraged to inspect the vehicles before bidding. Inspection will be Saturday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, December 7, 9, 10, and 11, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; also, prior to the sale on December 12, 1991, from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.. Bidders must register with GSA at the sale site and receive a Bidder Reg istration Number. The auction will begin promptly at 10:00 am, Thursday, De cember 12, 1991, at the Vancouver The General Services Administra tion extends an invitation to the public to attend a U.S. Government vehicle auction. The vehicles are located at the GSA Fleet Management Center, 9226 NE Highway 99 (Hazel Dell area), in Vancouver, Washington. There are approximately 100 ve hicles to be sold. Sale includes 1983 thru 1988 sedans, coupes, station wag ons and vans; plus suburbans (many are 4WD). We have a large variety of trucks and 4WD vehicles which include pick ups, crewcabs, maintenance service body GSA Fleet Management Center. Payment is due by December 13, 1991. Payment regulations require that payment must be in the form of cash ier’s check, traveler’s check, money order. Government check, or cash. Per sonal or Business checks may be ac cepted only when accompanied by a letter of credit from the purchaser’s bank. For your convenience, GSA now accepts VISA and MASTERCARD. Further information may be obtained by telephoning the Vancouver GSA Fleet Management Center at (206) 699-1019. Homeowners With Property Taxes New Computer Service Helps value per square foot of improvements, assessed values for this year and last with percent change, and taxes this year and last with percent change. The information can be used to decide on a property tax appeal, to make better investment decisions or just to do better financial planning, according to the Micro Mailing s own For the first time, homeowners can quickly and easily acquire the county tax assessor’s computer records on their own homes and similar ones in the county. A Portland computer software company, Micro Mailing, has produced a Property Tax Evaluation Kit listing for each property the square footage, year build, year of last sale, assessed ers. The deadline for appealing prop erty taxes is December 31. The service is available in Multnomah, Clackamas and Washing ton counties. Property Tax Evaluation Kits are available ofr $25 each from Micro Mailing, PO Box 19727, Port land, OR 97280. Phone is 246-7338. J ~ g by Professor M cK inle y B u rt ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ The David Dukes In The Education Establishment Having reassured you last week that we were right the first time about the dismal prospect of success for ei ther the president’s education strategy, “ American 2000” or the “ Oregon Educational Act for the 21st Century” -- the first a plan of incredible naivete, and the second “ reflecting a near-ab sence of research, costing or input from the public (teachers)” -w e can now be equally certain that our tribe of Baseline Essay Detractors” will fail in their crusade to suppress the documented truths of black history and abilities. I am reminded of the wise words of an accounting client of mine in the Los Angeles area. During a time of utmost confusion, brought on by an audit of a string of businesses he wished to buy, this Russian immigrant exclaimed, “ forget those dammed cooked books, my lad-get down to the bank and look for the G ELT" (thats yiddish for “ money” ). Right on “ Mr. Alexan der” ; I was able to do just that when the New York Times published two more of the racist diatribes being fer vently advanced nationally by a group of frightened and insecure educational charlatans. We have seen here in this column a comprehensive expose” of the likes of Diane Ravitch and Arthur Schlessin- ger Jr. but,now, two new voices join the strident outery for a suppression of truth. In the Sunday New York Times for No vember 14, ALBERT SHANKER, President, American Federation of Teachers, can hardly contain himself in his piece, “ Making A multicultural curriculum” as he, too zeroes in on the one weak link in a chain of competent scholars and documentation; a fact ac knowledged by those of us who worked on i l the Shanker ■ O U I v Baseline D u d v l l r t v Essays. i Mr. 'n . has found the culpn’t who said the V-__ ____-,^...1x1 “ rirAilizU IllZ'VxZ ond almost surpassed that of the city ’ s bank unlucky days, had precognition and ing and real estate interests which cre understood Quantum physics”. He also ated the ghetto itself. The earlier and said “ the Egyptians left an artifact in a equally infamous Tammany Hall politi tomb which appeared to be a model of cal machine provided a model. aglider, possibly used in human flight. While the presses of the teachers’ In the case of Mr. Shanker, it does union and the media produced reams of not take much of a search to find the self-serving propaganda citing a com “ GELT” that inspired his damn-by- mitment to remedy the tradgedy of the faint-praise attack upon a mostly accu black schools (along with pictures of rate and long overdue project to ad dozens of cute black youngsters)~the dress the omissions of minority contri Teacher Machine not only locked-in butions to histroy. It was in 1970 the permanent tenures that afforded the during my nationwide presentations of upscale suburban life styles but financed major black inventors to urban schools, the post graduate studies and career up universities and community organiza grades that permitted the spin offs into tions. In New York I was engaged by key administrative positions, politics, black educational activists and parent judgeships and commercial enterprise, organizations for appearances at ele . MONEY .HONEY! mentary and high schools in the Ocean It is no wonder, then, that today we Hill/Bedford Stuyvesant area-the prin find many of the same racists rushing to cipal baliwick and fiefdom of Albert the media (with openaccess), scream Shanker, even back then, president of ing their new-found concerns that young the American Federation of Teachers. sters might be misled by accurate and At the time there was a W AR going documented efforts to apprise them of on between permanently entrenched who they were, who they are and who white teachers, principals and adminis they can be. The politics of money and trators on the one hand (whose resi dominance are at work here, just as dences and commitments lay in surely as with the minions of David outside,upscale areas)—and thousand Duke. The determined efforts of the of marching, picketing African Ameri Baseline Essay detractors to denigrate can parents and community leaders who minority history has more to do with the for years had been watching the daily MAINTENANCE OF QUOTAS and degeneration of teacher attitude, stu ethnic controls than with a sudden and dent learning and motivation and physi belated concern with a long-neglected cal plant. As reported in the national integrity of curriculum. media, there were daily fights, arrests, My correspondents in New York pupil strikes and injunctions filed. How and other cities fax me copies of these could this be going on in New York diatribes-and ask have I noticed cer City, a supposedly liberal bastion of tain connections from common univer progressive education and fairplay? sity bases and lecture networks where Simple! for 75 years these teach the rather obvious interaction of certain ers with the aid of their cohorts and individuals over a long period of time relatives on the school board, at city suggests classic relationships on a par hall and in academia had CON with the genealogies in the Book of TROLLED A MONEY-MAKING/ Genesis? O fcoursel have. Many of us GELT-PRODUCING MACHINE that r_and riithlp.ccnp.ss Portland Observer encourages our readers to write letters to the editor in response to any articles we publish. Congress Proposes Capping Credit Card Interest Rates • As many as one out of every two bank credit cardholders could lose their card if legislation capping interest rates goes through. Up to 60 million consumers could be affected by the proposal to limit to 14% the amount banks can charge on unpaid balances, according to the Ore gon Bankers Association. The result would be a credit contraction tht could push the country into a deeper reces sion. Tens of billions of dollars in credit currently available would be withdrawn. “ If this is Congress’ idea of a Christmas gift to the American public, __ ____ ” they’ve badly misread the situation,” Frank E. Brawner, Executive Vice President, Oregon Bankers Association said in response to the Senate action. “ The public reaction won’t be ho, ho, ho. People who question the interest rates on cards overlook the fact that the product’s extraordinary convenience and reliability depend on a highly sophisti cated and costly telecommunications network. Cards also impose a high degree of risk on banks, which will be forced to tighten their credit standards to linit their losses. Fraud, delinquencies and ^lorilanb ©bscrtier U bankrupticies n n lz rn n tin io c orn ll iin ffn 1 fic a n tT are a all up significantly. United Airlines History has shown that price con trols, including interest rate caps, just don’t work, no matter how appealing they may seem on the surface,” Brawner noted. “ In states with interest rate caps, people seeking credit cards are often forced to go out of state in order to qualify. Those particularly affected are low-and moderate-income cusumers and those with short or no credit histo ries. They’ll only be calling this pro consumer legislation until it’s enacted. After that, watch out.” Wbje Ç orilanb (©bscruer Are • The • Proud • Sponsors • Of Reinvestments The Gift Is In The Giving Loaves and Fishes had a Pre Holiday banquet on Sunday November 24, 1991 at the North/ Northeast location 5325 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. There were a host of neighborhood donations; Casons Meats, Clarence Walker Flow ers, David Hanzlik & Assc, Days Inns at the Airport, Franklin Ready Ribs, Steens Kitchen, Western Meats and Roses’ Equipment. It was a great time for Senior citizens to come together. The Urban League and 1st Interstate Bank were also great in helping with the project. The mission of Loaves & Fishes is to enrich the lives of seniors and assist them in m aintain ing independence by making nutritious food, social contacts and other resources eas ily accessible. We accomplish this through an or ganization which is community based, em pha sizes volunteer involvement and is financially S ubscribe (USPS 959-680) OREGON’S OLDEST AFRICAN AMERICAN PUBLICATION Established in 1970 $nrtlanb ©bsertier Publisher Contributing Writers McKinley Burt Bill Barber Sharon Camarda Mattie Ann Callier-Spears Alfred Henderson Production Staff Operations Manager Dean Babb Sharon Camarda Gary Ann Garnett Jennifer Johnson Joyce Washington Accounting Manager Gary Ann Garnett ' he P ortland O bserver CAN BE SENT DIRECTLY TO YOUR HOME ONLY Public Relations P lease Sales 4 Promotions Tony Washington POSTMASTER: Send A ddress Changes to : P ortland O bserver, P.O. Box fill out , ENCLOSE CHECK OR The PORTLAND OBSERVER is published weekly by Exie Publishing Company, Inc. 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Portland, Oregon 97211 503-288-0033 • Fax 288-0015 Deadline for all submitted materials: Articles: Monday, 5:00 pm -Ads: Tuesday, noon $25.00 PER YEAR. Chuck Washington MONEY ORDER, and M ail to : sound. Loaves & Fishes Center, Inc., a private non profit organization, has provided hot nutritious meals and supportive services to elderly people in the Portland Metropolitan Area since 1970. We serve over4,000m eals perday to seniors and disabled adults, over one-million meals every S ubscriptions T he P ortland O bserver PO Box 313 7 P ortland , O regon 97208 3137, Portland, OR 97208 Second class postage paid at Portland Oregon. The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Manuscripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope. All created design display ads become the sole property of the newspaper and can not be used in other publications or personal usage, without the written consent of the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition of such ad. © 1991 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT Name ________________ Address_______________________ ■ city, State | zip-code a PERMISSION IS PROHIBITED. Subscriptions $25 00 per year. The Portland Observer-Oregoris Oldest African-American Publication-is a member of the National Newspaper Association-Founded in 1885, and The National Advertising Representative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc.. New York, NY. J T hank Y ou F or R eading T he P ortland O bserver } f Community year! In addition to the nutrition portion of the program, Loaves & Fishes has access to a wide array of supportive services. These include trans portation, shopping assistance, health screening, and referral to other service organizations. In the case of the Mcals-on-Whccls program, the vol unteer who delivers the meal is often the senior s only contact with the outside world. Loaves & Fishes’ average meal participant is 77 years of age, female, lives alone on an income of less than $547/month and suffers a physical impairment which restricts daily living. Loaves & Fishes will serve more than one m illion meals to 15,000 seniors this year in Multnomah, Washington and Clackamas coun ties. 675,400 meals will be delivered via Meals- on-Wheels to homebound elderly and 404,0(X) will be serves at 27 neighborhood Centers, where seniors congregate for vital nutrition, support services and companionship. 8,100 volunteers will give 316,000 hours of services this year to Loaves & Fishes. Loaves & Fishes relies heavily on its volun teers to serve the needs o f our senior citizens. Volunteers perform at every level of the orgarii- zation-as cooks, hostesses, food servers, activity coordinators, expert speakers, committee and board members, fundraisers and as Meals-on- W hecls drivers. We have many volunteer options for businesses, schools, churches, civic groups and neighborhood associations. Our program also relies on the financial sup port of the community. Many businesses donate extra inventory, direct funds fundraising support to Loaves & Fishes. We are appreciative of all gifts. Even a poster in local window helps Loaves & Fishes in our efforts to provide service to Seniors WE ARE PART OF YOUR COMMUNITY. LETS STAY IN TOUCH. ( "Reinvestments in the Community" is a weekly column appearing in API publications through out the USA _____________ — ---------------------------------------- ■■ t