Page 2...The Portland Observer...February 12, 1992
New Employment Program Targets Food
Stamp Recipients
The Oregon Employment Division,
in cooperation with the Division of
Adult and Family Services, is offering
an enhanced program designed to help
individuals who are dependent on food
stamps find jobs. The program is being
rolled out on the heels of new figures
from the U.S. Department of Agricul­
ture indicating that record numbers of
Americans, nearly one in ten, are de­
pendent upon government assistance to
put food on the table.
Following a successful pilot proj­
ect with the Woodburn branch office of
Adult and Family Services, the Oregon
Food Stamp Employment Transition
Program (OFSET) is being offered in
all of Marion County to food stamp
recipients who are unemployed. Em­
ployment Division staff will be work­
ing with food stamp recipients at branch
offices of Adult and Family Services to
assess job-readiness, identify special
needs, provide job counseling, and place
clients with employers.
“ The long term goal of this pro­
gram is to help people break the cycle
of dependence on public assistance,”
said program coordinator Belinda
Teague. “ We are combining the re­
sources of the Employment Division,
Adult and Family Services and other
community resources to redirect food
stamp recipients toward self-sufficiency.
We believe this program is the door­
way to a permanent solution for these
people, not just a temporary fix.”
The program provides a number of
resources to help clients maximize their
job searches, including employment
action plans, workshops, job coaching,
continual case management, and funds
for immediate needs such as transpor­
tation, child care, and clothing.
Oregon Adult and Family Services
provides funding for the program and
works in concert with the Employment
Division to simplify forms, eliminate
duplication, and track clients through
the system. During the Woodburn pilot
project these processes were refined and
streamlined, and now program organiz­
ers hope OFSET can be expanded from
Marion County to the rest of Oregon.
“ In a community that is predomi­
nantly rural and agriculturally based,
we placed clients in a variety of labor
markets, including construction, food
services, manufacturing, telemarketing,
and m aintenance,” said Rosetta
Wangerin, manager of the Woodburn
Adult and Family Services office. “ Out
of 395 referrals, we placed 194 clients
with employers. These are strong indi­
cators that the program can work state­
wide.”
Sickle Cell Anemia May
Show Up in Your Back Yard!
Who said “ What you don’t know
can’t hurt you?” Approximately 350
or more babies die each year on a
national level due to undiagnosed sickle
cell disease. Early diagnosis can actu­
ally save the lives of babies bom with
sickle cell anemia. How? It’s a proven
fact that babies placed on prophylactic
penicillin each day survive pneumo­
coccus pneumonia 99% of the time as
opposed to those babies with sickle cell
disease who are undiagnosed and are
not treated in time.
Did you know that one out of every
ten Afro-Americans carry the gene,
called the trait for this deadly disease?
Do you know whether or not you inher­
ited the sickle cell trait? You could be
at risk for having a baby with sickle cell
disease and not even know it. If you
don’t know whether you carry the trait
or have a mild form of sickle cell dis­
ease and would like to find out, you
may do so by contacting Marcia Tay­
lor, Executive Director of the Portland
Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation, lo­
cated at 3833 N.E. Killingsworth. She
or a member of her staff will be very
happy to assist you with an appoint­
ment to learn more about sickle cell
and whether or not you have sickle cell
trait or disease.
Regardless of age or origin, all
persons are encouraged to be tested for
a cost of $3.00 or free to those who
qualify for a test where the blood sample
is drawn from the arm and a special test
is run called hemoglobin electrophoresis.
This same test in your doctor’s office
could cost as much as $35-45.
Sickle cell does not discriminate,
is not contagious and does not just go
away. Although most cases of sickle
cell anemia occur among Blacks and
Hispanics of Caribbean ancestry, some
Caucasians are affected as well. Some
of you may recall the 89-90 sickle cell
poster children. One was Caucasian
with Greek heritage and the other was
Black. Various groups affected are
Arabian, Greek, Maltese, Sicilian,
Sardinian, Turkish and persons of south­
ern Asian ancestry.
Included in sickle cell disease are
Sickle Hemoglobin C disease, Sickle
Thalassemia disease and Sickle Hemo­
globin D disease.
Symptoms include: tiredness, jaun­
diced eyes, leg or ankle ulcers, short­
ness of breath, abdominal pain or pain
in various parts of the body, tempera­
tures and anemia. These symptoms vary
from time to time in the same person or
in different individuals. For further
information, testing or counseling, you
may call 249-1366.
April 4, 1992, will mark the 8th
Annual Gospel Benefit where a presen­
tation will be made to expand the knowl­
edge o f sickle cell anemia for the gen­
eral public. This benefit will be held in
the New Hope Baptist Church, located
at 3725 N. Gantcnbein Avenue, com­
mencing at 6:00 p.m. There is no charge,
but a free will offering will be taken up.
The agency is looking forward to turn­
ing this exciting event into a cable
telethon headed by a celebrity.
Letter To The Editor
A Dying Breed or Animal Rights
To the Editor
Black men have been (mainly
youth 18-25 years) dying at an alarm­
ing rate during the recent past history.
At first glance it would seem that the
individuals involved would be con­
cerned about their safety and well being
rather than continuing to be self-de­
structive towards one another. It ap­
pears, secondly, that the family struc­
ture is such that proper parental con­
trol and guidance is non-existent for
these young Afro-American males in
terms of positive role models (i.e. fa­
thers). Third, the community at large
has failed in the sense of not confront­
ing their young Afro-American males
who display inappropriate behaviors,
attitudes, or words in the presence of
adults, parents and loved ones.
The relationship between “ A
Dying Breed” or “ Animals Rights”
becomes apparent in terms of Afro-
American youth vs. endangered spe­
cies, such as the spotted owl, salmon
and the gray whale. That’s to say,
many people will attend rallies, join
protests and spike trees to save a forest
or animals, but will not help a young
Afro-American in his psychosocial
development by:
• 1) providing a safe community;
• 2) spending time as an adult role
model (i.e., scout master) with Afro-
American males;
• 3) insuring that each youngster
has an education; and
• 4) provide the “ rights” for the
Afro-American males (and attention/
support) as you would for the above
WI je ^ n rilan it (©hseriier
torementioned “ animals.”
What a sad state of affairs and
reflection of one’s priorities, not to
mention the cost to one’s wallet, for
higher insurance payments, medical,
police and fire protection service, for
your property and covering medical
costs for the indigent youths who seek
emergency care.
The “ real” question becomes is
human life 1) worth less than animal
life? 2) can you “ afford” not to be
involved? or 3) in the form of Afro-
American youths a self-hating activity
(by design)?
Whose rights come first - the ani­
mals’ or the youth’s?
Steven Smith
Portland
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Nike Minority Commitment Update
In August, 1990, NIKE made public
its commitment to cultural diversity
and set out the company’s affirmative
action goals in a document entitled,
“ The NIKE Commitment.” At that
time, our domestic workforce was 14.4%
minority. As of December 31, 1991,
the number of minority employees
working at NIKE is over 18%, and we
have either accomplished or made sig­
nificant progress toward most of the
goals we set for ourselves one year ago.
Outlined below is a summary of some
of the steps we have taken to involve
minorities in all aspects of our busi­
ness.
Administration:
- NIKE has appointed John Th­
ompson, head basketball coach at
Georgetown University, to its Board of
Directors.
- NIKE has appointed Michael
Jordan of the NBA Chicago Bulls to its
Advisory Board. The Advisory Board
reports directly to the Chairman of the
Board.
- NIKE’s external Minority Advi­
sory Board consults with senior man­
agement on corporate and community
issues, and includes a senior Affirma­
tive Action officer for the state of Ore­
gon, the CEO o f the Portland Urban
League, two minority business con­
sultants and the director of the Interna­
tional Refugee Center, which services
Oregon’s Indochinese population.
Employment:
- NIKE is a leading minority em ­
ployer in its home state of Oregon and
has an aggressive affirmative action
program which has increased the num­
ber of minorities in the company’s total
workforce of 4500 to 18.8% as of
December 31,1991, compared to 11%
in January 1989. Over ten percent of
NIKE’s minority employees are Afri­
can-American.
- NIKE has an internal Minority
Advisory Board comprised of minor­
ity, disabled and female employees who
review the company’s recruitment and
training programs and make recom­
mendations to management on how to
improve them.
- NIKE uses more minority con­
tractors in the production of its adver­
tising than most U.S. companies, in­
cluding black-owned agencies like Spike
Lee’s 40 Acres and A Mule, which,
under contract with NIKE, creates,
produces and directs parts of the com­
pany’s television ad campaigns. NIKE’s
Design department also contracts with
minority designers and print shops.
- NIKE holds accounts in two
minority-owned banks: The American
State Bank in Portland and Tri-State
Bank in Memphis. Both banks arc owned
by African Americans.
- NIKE received a citation from
the American Bar Association in 1991
in honor of its participation in the ABA’s
Minority Counsel Demonstration Pro­
gram. During the past year, NIKE re­
tained ten minority law firms around
the country to handle various corporate
legal matters.
- NIKE is the first corporate member
of the Association of Black Sporting
Goods Professionals, a group dedicated
to furthering the interests of minorities
in the sports goods industry. A NIKE
employee sits on the Board of Directors
of ABSGP.
- It is NIKE’s policy to make good
faith efforts to involve certified minor­
ity and women-owned businesses in
the selection and bid process whenever
the company requires the services of
independent contractors or makes pur­
chases from outside vendors. NIKE’s
Minority Business Development pro­
gram actively seeks to identify minor­
ity businesses which provide required
services and link them up to appropri­
ate departments within the company.
Philanthropic Activity:
- Approximately 75% of NIKE’s
philanthropic dollars are directed at
minority organizations and concerns.
These funds reach Hispanics, Native
Americans and Asians as well as Afri­
can-Americans. NIKE’s corporate giv­
ing program, the “ Just Do It Fund,”
focuses on providing unique educa­
tional opportunities for inner city kids.
- NIKE has provided a grant of $5
million to the Children’s Television
Workshop (producers of Sesame Street)
to underwrite a new multi-media liter­
acy program directed primarily at low-
income, minority children. Other pro­
grams funded by NIKE’s Just Do It
Fund include “ Just Do It/Stay In School”
teachers grants o f $1 million for inno­
vative dropout prevention programs in
urban schools, and major sponsorship
of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America,
which has 1200 clubs nationwide, 132
of which are located in urban housing
projects.
- NIKE has spent $5 million on
prime-time advertising for its “ Stay In
School” campaign featuring minority
role models like David Robinson, Bo
Jackson, Michael Jordan and Spike Lee.
NIKE has also created a national bill­
board campaign featuring David Robin­
son urging kids to stay in school which
appeared in cities around this country.
- NIKE is a major sponsor of the
national United Negro College Fund
“ Parade of Stars” telethon and offers
minority scholarships and internships
for UNCF students. NIKE also contrib­
utes scholarship funds to a variety of
other minority organizations, includ­
ing the National Hispanic Scholarship
Fund, the Mexican American Legal
Defense and Education Fund, the Ur­
ban League of Portland and the I Have
A Dream Foundation of Oregon.
- N1KE has donated nearly 100,000
pair of shoes to homeless shelters over
the past two years and is a major sup­
porter of the Comic Relief Comedy
Marathon, which raises millions of
dollars annually to aid the homeless.
NIKE also donates products to a wide
variety of social service agencies, both
locally and nationally.
- NIKE is one of the largest corpo­
rations in the nation to include The
Black United Fund in its annual Em­
ployee Giving Campaign, and the only
Oregon company which matches con­
tributions made by employees to Black
United Fund on a dollar for dollar basis.
NIKE also matches gifts made by em­
ployees to other non-profit minority
organizations through its Just Do It
Matching Gifts Program.
Committee Helps Pinpoint Needs of Community
Security Pacific Bank in Oregon
and Southwest Washington has found a
way to get a bigger bang for its commu­
nity reinvestment buck.
The bank has created a special
Community Advisory Committee de­
signed to review the bank’s community
reinvestment efforts, and to make sug­
gestions for improving, widening or
focusing those efforts to achieve maxi­
mum results.
Community reinvestment is the term
given to actions a bank takes in order to
make sure that credit needs are being
met for all residents in a com m unily-
especially the needs of low-to-moder-
ate income individuals and minorities.
These efforts may include offering low-
interest mortgage loans for low-income
families, developing loan programs to
encourage development of minority-
owned and operated businesses, and
developing products like low-cost check­
ing, which provide all residents with
easy and economical access to bank
products and services.
The 14-person committee is chaired
by a member of the bank’s Board of
Directors, and consists of five of the
bank’s top senior managers-including
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Richard M artens-and eight representa­
tives from community service agen­
cies. The committee’s recommendations
are sent directly to the bank’s Board of
Directors.
“ Security Pacific is the only bank
in Oregon, that I’m aware of, which has
formed an advisory committee to evalu­
ate community reinvestment efforts ...
Certainly, its the only committee with
direct access to the company’s board of
directors,” said Security Pacific Bank’s
Community Reinvestment Officer, Ed
DeWald.
“ Wc felt that, since the board
members are responsible for overseeing
the bank’s community reinvestment
activities, they needed first-hand, im­
partial knowledge of how well our poli­
cies and practice are working, “ De-
Wald said. “ The results, so far, have
been very positive. Ours is one of the
best-informed boards in the state, and
the committee’s input has already re­
sulted in concrete improvements to our
community reinvestment plans.”
For instance, committee member
Charlie Harris, executive director of
Community and Shelter Assistance
(CASA) of Oregon, an agency which
tries to develop farmworker housing,
suggested expansion of the bank’s
SmartStarl home loan program, which
offered low-interest loans to people in
North and Northeast Portland.
“ SmartStart is an excellent pro­
gram, but I thought it should be imple­
mented statewide, and not just limited
to the City of Portland,’ ’ Harris said. As
a result of his recommendations and
input, the bank expanded its SmartStart
program statewide at the beginning of
this year.
“ At other institutions, agencies such
as mine deal primarily with one com­
munity reinvestment officer, and you
can only help your dealings with that
particular person are fruitful. Through
this committee at Security Pacific, we
can be sure we’ve at last been heard,
because the senior executives from the
bank are right there on the committee
and you have direct access to the board
of directors.
Committee Chair, SPBO board
member Betty Roberts cites its worth:
“ This on-going input is vitally impor­
tant for us to evaluate progress and set
policy.”
“ W e’ve brought lots of things to
the table which have been very well
received,” agreed Sam Brooks, execu­
tive director of The Oregon Associa­
tion of Minority Entrepreneurs. “ I think
all financial institutions should follow
Security Pacific’s example and form a
community advisory committee. Un­
less they do something to keep in touch
with their constituents, they’re in dan­
ger of not providing the types of service
people really need and can benefit from.”
“ It’s been a rewarding learning
experience for all concerned,” said
Security Pacific Chairman and CEO
Richard Martens. “ W e’re now hearing
directly from men and women who are
out there in the community working
with low-income and minority residents.
They’re telling us which programs are
succeeding, which need work, and which
areas we’re missing. It’s encouraging
to learn that, for the most part, our
efforts have been right on target.”
“ And it’s rewarding to hear about
families w ho-for the first times in their
lives-have an opportunity to own their
own homes. That’s what community
reinvestment is all about,” Martens said.
Other community members serv­
ing on the committee include Grace
Gallegos, president of Impact Business
Consultants, Inc.; Sally McCracken,
Board member of Central City Con­
cern; Steve Rudman, resource develop­
ment manager for the City of Portland’s
Bureau of Community Development;
Jakie Walker, Executive director of the
Northeast Community Development
Corporation; Edwin K. Englestad of
the 13th Regional Corporation, a Na­
tive American Tribal holding company;
and Helen Barney of the Housing Au­
thority of Portland.
John Jacob to Address Urban League of
Portland’s Equal Opportunity Dinner
John E. Jacob, president and CEO
of the National Urban League, will be
the guest speaker at the Urban League
of Portland’s 1992 Equal Opportunity
Day Dinner February 13th at the Port­
land Hilton. A reception begins at 6:15
p.m., with dinner at 7:15 p.m.
As leader of one of America’s oldest
and largest civil rights organizations,
Jacob is an often quoted commentator
on national issues affecting minorities,
particularly African Americans. In his
annual “ State of Black America”
address last month, Jacob challenged
this year’s presidential candidates to
adopt his “ Marshall Plan for Amer­
ica” to invigorate U.S. cities and in­
crease America’s competitiveness.
In Portland he will be guest speaker
at the Urban League of Portland’s major
annual fundraiser. The evening will
include the presentation of the Equal
Opportunity Award to several local
citizens who have made contributions
to the goal of equal opportunity for all.
This year the award will be presented
to: Multnomah County Chair Gladys
McCoy; Ecumenical Ministries of
Oregon Executive Director, the Revei-
end Rodney Page; and Portland Public
Schools Superintendent Matthew
Prophet, Ph.D.
Tickets for the dinner arc $ 125 per
person, or $ 1,250 for a table of ten. For
more information, contact the Urban
Leaeuc of Portland at 280-2600.
Portland Observer encourages our readers to write
letters to the editor in response to any articles
we publish.