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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1992)
«À April 1,1992... I ne Portland Ubserver...Page 7 Family Nursery Opens Doors for At-Risk Families Opening ceremony and press con ference for Volunteers of America Fam ily Nursery, Portland’s first program created as an early intervention for at- risk families and an abuse and neglect prevention project. Speakers at the opening ceremony will be VOA Board Chairman, Tom K e lly ; fo rm e r G o v e rn o r N eil G oldsch m id t; M ultnom ah C ounty C hildren’s Services Division Regional Director, Kay Toran; and parents from the successful Eugene Relief Nursery Program. DATE: April 7 ,1 9 9 2 Time: 10:30 a.m. The Family Nursery is located ad jacent to the VOA Day Care Center at S.E. Eighth Street between Ash and Pine. The Family Nursery is a free pro gram created as an early intervention program for at-risk families which aims to prevent abuse and neglect. The Fam ily Nursery emphasizes parenting skills that strengthen families by offering the opportunity to learn how to better iden tify and work through problems before they become unmanageable. Develop- mentally appropriate, respite childcare and pre-school opportunities will also be available to infants, toddlers and preschoolers. The program goal is to keep fami lie s to g e th e r and to sto p the intcrgenerational cycle of abuse and neglect. To accomplish this goal the program takesa holistic approach, pro viding a positive and nurturing atm o sphere for parents and their children. The children arc given a sense of love and order as part of the preschool programs, while parents learn new pa renting skills designed to improve their relationship with their children and prevent child abuse and neglect. The Family Nursery will also provide out reach and education to the community about the nature of abuse and neglect in families. The Family Nursery receives sup port from the U.S. D epartment of Health and Human Services Crisis Nursery Program, the Oregon State Children's Services Division, the Vol unteers of America Endowment Fund, the Collins Foundation, the U.S. W est Foundation, the VISTA Program, O r egon Children’s Foundations and vol unteers. Portland Housing Center Offers Classes The Portland Housing Center is pleased to announce the offering of a four-class course entitled “The How- Tos of Home Ownership,” on Tuesday nights, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m ., in the cafeteria ofBinnsm ead Middle School, 2225 S.E. 87th. In addition, a W ednesday evening series will be offered in the month of May at W hitaker Middle School The course is designed to help people wanting to buy their first house. The four classes will address the topics of: 1) m anaging family finances so you can buy and maintain a house; 2) how to go about buying a house; 3) tips on picking the right house; and 4) how to take care of that new house. Classes are open on a first-come first-serve basis and are free of charge. Preregistration forms and class infor mation flyers are available by calling the Portland Housing Center at 282- 7744. Enrollment is limited to 50 people per class. Preregistration is required through the Housing Center due to the popularity of the classes. The Portland Housing Center works with low and moderate income house holds to assist them in purchasing a home. The Housing Center classes are required for qualified participants seek ing down payment grants of up to 1 % of the total purchase price. Qualified par ticipants must also meet income guide lines and be buying a house at $49,000 or less. Small Employers Health Insurance Plan Completed M ost of O regon’s small employers will have guaranteed access to a group health insurance plan by the end of the year. The state’s Small Em ployer Carrier Advisory Committee (SECAC) has com pleted design of the basic benefit plan. Department o f Insurance and Finance Director Gary W eeks expects to grant final approval within a week. A pproxi mately 300,000 Oregonians work for affected employers. The insurance plan was required by the 1991 Legislature to help end a seri ous problem for small em ployers-a lack o f access to group medical insurance. The package completed by the com m it tee may be purchased by any company em ploying three to 25 eligible em ploy ees from any health insurance earner serving that market. The basic plan ben efits are “substantially sim ilar” to the priority list of benefits created lo r O regon’s proposed Medicaid reform. Preventative care received priority. The law also reforms the marketing o f any group health insurance plan sold in the “three to 25” market. No indi vidual may be excluded due to a new health problem , coverage of a pre-exist ing condition can only be restricted for six months, pregnancy cannot be con sidered a pre-existing condition, and the law controls premium rates. W eeks said, “I ’m very pleased that the barriers to small employers purchas ing this badly needed benefit are finally falling.” He thanked SECAC members “for completing the extremely difficult task of presenting a plan that is both accessible and affordable. It’s my hope that the premium will be near $100 per month for each covered em ployee.” The basic plan should be on the market in the fourth quarter of 1992. The com m ittee completed most of the plan in February, then met again today to add benefits. The added ben efits inc 1 ude outpatient prescription drugs and additional preventative dental and vision care for children. Barney Speight, Vice President, Policy & Development, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Oregon, chaired SECAC. The sm all em ployer package is a key com ponent of the Oregon Health Plan which would extend medical cov erage to the vast majority o f the state’s citizens over the next three years. (Note: Affected em ployers don’t have to pur chase the insurance at this time. M anda tory health insurance for all Oregon employers is not scheduled until July of 1995.) UNJONzAVENtlE< / /GLAS^CGMPANY; LORRAINE HLAVINKA All Types of Auto Plate and Window Glass Storm Doors and Windows 4709 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd Portland, Oregon 97211 Phone 249-5886 Woman-Owned Running on Empties: Oregon’s Bottle Bill Turns 20 “ If there’s any great fault to the Bottle Bill today,” says Jerry Powell, publisher of the Portland-based maga zine Resource Recycling, “ it’s that law makers haven’t had the guts to change it to expand and adjust to the times.” U p dated bottle bills died before passage by both the 1987 and the 1989 legislative assemblies. On the other hand, the Bottle Bill remains successful enough that it has the potential to stifle other recycling efforts. Private recycling companies stay in business by selling their collected m ate rials to package manufacturers. Yet many producers still prefer to use so-called “virgin” materials for their products, creating a recycling glut and depressing prices. Aluminum commands the highest price on the recycling market, but the Bottle Bill removes lucrative pop and beer cans from re c y c le rs’ revenue streams. To help increase demand for re cycled materials, the 1991 Legislature passed a law requiring half of O regon’s garbage to be recycled by the end o f the decade. The measure also mandates a higher proportion of recycled materials in packaging. “ It’s not just a simple m atter of picking up the materials,” explains law maker Cease. “The question is. W hat do you do with them all?” It was the perfect law for 1972. Oregon’s Bottle BilP’became thestate’s ■egional mythology .’’writes Brent Waith in the Spring 1992 issue of Old Oregon, ihe University of Oregon’s magazine of ideas. But as the Bottle Bill, the first in the nation, turns 20 th is year, have the times passed it by? “The question today,” says state Sen. Ron Cease, D-Portland, a leading environmentalist in the Oregon Legisla ture, “is does it really help us increase recycling, or does it hurt us?” On the face of it, the Bottle Bill appears to be a stunning success. By the end o f the 1980s, Oregonians were pay ing nickle deposits on more than 1 bil lion beverage containers annually. “ States that rely on recycling alone see only about 50 percent of the bottles and cans come back in,” says Peter Spendelow, a recycling specialist for theO regon Department of Environm en tal Quality. “ In Oregon, we see a return rate o f 93 percen t-in some areas, 100 percent.” Not all beverage containers qualify for deposits, however. Twenty years ago, lawmakers never considered the growing number of bottles and cans used for beverages other than soft drinks: wine coolers .mineral water and juices. Y et those containers now are showing up as the litter Oregon hoped to tam p out. _____________________ - i d S a f e dB SSSD Space is lim ited, Call by 4 /8 /9 2 50C C h iklrcn 9 a n d under m u « be accom panied by an adult SPONSORED BY: X NO9TMWESÎ ostiOPAiMic .«n.z-Ai ' M E D IC A I FO U N D A T IO N Twenty-five of Portland’s prem icr chefs, 12 local wineries, two micro breweries and a master espresso maker blended their talents to fight hunger in Oregon on Monday, March 30, at the Portland Center for the Performing A rts(PCPA ). This event came at a particularly important time as Oregon Food Bank and many social service organizations throughout the state focuses on the needs o f individuals and families who are struggling with a tightening O r egon economy. Emergency food box agencies throughout the state report that approximately half the people re ceiving assistance are children, and the numbers are increasing as eco nomic conditions for many families worsen. Students Again Enrolling In Record- High Numbers at PCC’s Campuses Spring term 1992 classes began Monday, March 30 at Portland C om munity College. Enrollment figures for spring term at PCC again show a strong increase over the same time last year. As of March 23, a week before classes began and two days prior to open registration March 25, enrollment figures are 21 percent greater than the same time last year. “Students are registering forclasses earlier, ensuring that they will have a seat,” said Susan Bach, director of In stitutional Research. “ My sense is that current figures will drop somewhat as we get closer to the beginning of the term. However, the growth pattern for spring is very similar to what we experienced w i nter term and I expect that it will stabilize at about eight to ten percent over the prior spring term. “Based on these figures, we are estimating a five-year increase of 30-35 percent,” Bach added. As of March 23, students enrolling in lower division transfer courses have pushed up the enrollment 27 percent over the same time last year. As of March 23, growth on indi vidual campuses in the PCC district, which covers five counties and 1,500 square miles, ranges from a 9.9 percent increase in enrollment to a 46 percent increase. Sylvania C am pus in southw est Portland has enrolled 8,743 students, a 23 percent increase over the same time last year. Rock Creek Campus in W ash ington County has also seen a 23 p er cent jum p, from 2,780 students to 3,421 students. Cascade Campus has seen the greatest enrollment surge—46 percent. Student enrollment at the Cascade C am pus in north Portland has increased from 1,148 spring term last year to 1,682 this year. Non-traditional offer ings through PC C ’s Open Campus, held in numerous locations throughout the Portland-metro area, has enrolled 9.9 percent more students in 1992 when compared with the same time spring term 1991. March 25, the first day o f open registration, “Students began queuing up about 6:30 a.m .,” said Jeanine L ofton-H endrix, assistant registrar. “This morning there are lines at all three campuses. The Sylvania Campus registration line is taking students out the doors andback into the parking l o t ” •x- * Sg The Eighth Oregon Black Political Convention 'Today’s Leaders Preparing Leaders fo r Tomorrow' r ___ C EASTM O RELAND hospital April 11-12, 1992 Howard Johnson Plaza-Hotel 14811 Kruse Oaks Blvd. • Lake Oswego, Oregon 97035 3 LOCATIONS: Mount Scott Elementary School 11201 SE Stevens Road •Ockley Green Middle School 6031 N Montana • Reedwood Friends Church y______ 2901 SE Steele_______ z youth groups o f Mallory and Piedmont Church of Christ Proceeds go tow ards youth attending regional youth conference p re se n ts 1st A nnual Fashion Show Fundraiser RivcrPlacc "Fashion Safari" An Ethnic Experience A Visual Trip Through The World of Dhisi____ African American Fashions Dow ntow n's W aterfront N eighborhood FIRST MONTH FREE RENT* BRAND NEW APARTMENTS WITH RIVER VIEWS, CITY VIEWS, AND GARDEN VIEWS. , ’ First month free rent with 1 year lease 1 BEDROOMS FROM $680 1 BEDROOM + STUDY FROM $805 2 BEDROOMS FROM $975 Secured garage parking included in rent Easy mo»e-m: Credit check and deposit. l AO N. K illin g s ^ o r th Street P ortland. O regon 9 ~ 2 r - 2 -199 Phone (503) 2H5-1976 l ax (5<>3) ¿«3-1979 Chefs and other participants in C hefs’ N ight Out hoped to raise money and awareness to combat this prob lem. Proceeds from this year’s event will benefit several hunger-relief agen cies in O regon—Oregon Food Bank and two o f its regional food banks (Klamath/Lake Counties Food Bank and CAPECO, serving G illiam, M or row and Umatilla counties, and St. Vincent de Paul’s Foodtrain program, which collects perishable and prepared food from Portland restaurants, cater ers, bakeries and groceries and then distributes that food to agencies assist ing hungry individuals and families. Twenty percent of event proceeds will be distributed by the national sponsor, Share our Strength (SOS), to agencies fighting hunger world-wide. It's F U N ! I t s FREE! SATURDAY, A P R IL 11 9 am to 1 :3 0 pm At KID SAFE, children have serious fun learning safety skills that m ight help save a life. Hands-on classes in: CPR; Babysitting; Fire Safety; First Aid. Poison Prevention; Making Emergency Calls; Electrical Safety; Traffic Safety; Drug & Alcohol Awareness; & Personal Safety. Lunch avarlabte Fifth Annual "Chefs’ Night Out" to Benefit Hunger-Relief Agencies Ih e he alth and safety education program for kids ages 4 to I 2 6TH ANNUAL K Top Portland Chefs Add Important Ingredient to Fight Against Hunger >en Daily at SW Montgomery anti SW Harbor Way Mon - F ri 9 AM to 5 PM Sat & Sun, Noon to 4 PM Cornerstone (503) 228-1800 Residential Saturday, April 25th 8PM W hittaker Middle School 42nd & Killingsworth Donation: $10.00 Contact: W anda at ¿«H1O92 o r Dwayne at ¿19-0193 P e r f o r m a n c e by: T h e A fric a n A m e rica n B a llet Reception to Follow Door Prizes
