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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 8, 1992)
> »» è » » >■» H > y » »'■»•»» y y yT*r-»-r'/y.'->v • » r *■* , April 8, 1992...The Portland Observer...Page 5 E & M Sentry, New Kids On The Block? L.I.F.E. Center Benefits from April Food Drive Continued from front page The Low Income Fam ilies Emer gency Center benefits from tri-county libraries’ A p ril Oregon Food Bank drive for local member agencies. A collection barrel is located at Tidal Wave Used Books. 216 N.E. Knott Street, A p ril 1 to 30, fo r the collection offoodstuffstobenefitclientsofL.I.F.E. Center, a United Way social-service agency at 2746 N.E. M artin Luther K ing Blvd. The barrel is placed as part o f the metro area libraries’ celebration o f National Library M onth. “ We hope to empty the barrel sev eral times this month. Each barrelful w ill feed many low-income or unem ployed individuals in the Portland metro area,” said board member Richard Rickel. C anned goods and o th e r nonperishable food can be dropped o ff between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., Monday through Saturday in the collection bar rel inside the store. Tidal Wave Used Books is an out let for discarded M ultnom ah County L ibrary books, records and magazines. For more in fo rm a tio n , contact Charles Carter at the Low Income Fami lies Emergency Center at 284-6878. the way we started-anyw ay!” As I entered the store earlier, I witnessed Robert engaged in a personal conversation w ith o ne of the customers. I wondered i f the friendly attitude was merely an outward showing or was it from within? They, both, began speaking sim u l taneously. “ The object is to make the people fee, welcome so that they w ill want to come back” , said Chris. “ W e ll!", said Robert, “ That kind o f relationship between customer and employee makes for good PR. And it works as a real good deterrent to poten tial crim inals, entering the store. I f you have a lot-o people speaking to you as you go through the store, you are not apt to take anything because by the time every employee in the store, that you pass, speaks to y o u -y o u w ill do one o f two things: leave the store quickly and quietly because everyone knows what you look like or begin to feel good because someone has been nice to you. And sometimes that’ s all it takes." Chris and Robert agreed that the “ Be Nice To Your Customers” policy is fast becoming a lost practice. Because the larger you get the more impersonal you get. As clerks, in the early stages o f I I I I I I I I I I I their careers, they were taught “ Be nice to your customers” . So--why should they stop now? The P O R T L A N D O B SER V ER takes this opportunity to welcome E & M SENTRY M A R K E T to the comm u nity. May your business venture be a successful one. * * * * * T h is coupon is good O N L Y at E & M S E N T R Y .***** E&M 909 N. K ILLIN G S W O R T H This Coupon good for one “ FREE” loaf o f Western Bread. Choice: Wheat or W hite L im it: one (1) coupon per person/per purchase Coupon Good: A p ril 9 - 1 8 , 1992 I I I I I I I I I I I “ Buy Freedom” Network Launched Callers to 900 number aid needy in their communities BY JAMES L. PATTERSON, JR., Indianapolis Star Staff Writer A campaign designed partly to give seed capital to veterans, m inorities, welfare recipients and low-incom e en trepreneurs has begun. The Buy Freedom 900 N etwork is the brainchild o f syndicated television host Tony Brown. Its premise is simple: Telephone callers choose items for sale from cat egories o f participating businesses na tionw ide, and at the same time support their com m unity through job creation, scholarships or other activities. The project is essentially a tele phone marketing and investment ser vice that allows buyers and sellers to network, explained Brown. He contends that justice fo r m i norities and poor people is incomplete without an opportunity fo r business and property ownership. “ New laws are not enough. The emergency we now face is economic, and it is a desperate and worsening situation,” said Brown. The Buy Freedom N etwork 900 phone system works a bit like discount catalog shopping. I t ’ s a telephone-based self-help program designed to recycle profits from calls into the hands o f the needy, especially the poor and the young, while providing inform ation to con sumers who call 1-900-976-6670. Callers to that number w ill have access to a “ talking yellow pages” lis t ing more than 500 businesses.churches and groups nationwide. Firms from Indianapolis and Gary are expected among the early advertisers. A portion o f profits from the cost o f the calls (S I.99 for the first minute, 99 cents for each additional minute) w ill provide loans to start and expand businesses in areas where the calls originate. According to Brown, out o f every S3 generated, SI w ill go to A T & T , S 1 to the businesses listed in the talking yellow pages and SI w ill be gross revenue. Out o f that $ 1 gross, 50 cents w ill provide loan capital. The plan has a goal o f starting 50,000 businesses in five years through the loan program. “ Ifw e g o t lOpercentofpoorblacks o ff o f poverty, it would do more for blacks than 100 high-paying jobs for the black middle class,” Brown said. Annual Sickle Cell Benefit A Huge Success! Rickey Grundy was the featured guest o f honor at the Portland S ickle Cell Anem ia’s 8th Annual Gospel Musical. The benefit was held at the New Hope Baptist Church where the Inspirational Sounds, Sermonettes, N W Interfaith C hoir and the Voices o f New Hope joined Rickey Grundy in voices o f praise. R ickey received a hardy welcome to Portland from Commissioner D ick Bogle and Margaret Carter demonstrated her support by her presence and contribu tion. “ The musical was a huge success” , states M arcia T aylor, Executive Direc tor for the Foundation. The Boeing Good Neighbor Fund approved a $5,000 grant and the employees o f Boeing boosted that amount to $6,020 through payroll deductions, which was presented to Mrs. T aylor at the musical. T aylor states, “ one o f the things that made the musical a great success was the fact that several individuals came forth to volunteer their services, including an RN, a flig h t atten dant, a homemaker, and a D.J.” The Foundation is currently gearing up fo r a cable telethon in September, which is “ National Sickle Cell Awareness M onth” w ith Rickey Grundy. Taylor is encour aging everyone to be tested i f they haven’t already done so, because “ Sickle Cell Disease is a painful, disabling, inherited blood disease, and one doesn’ t always know all there is to know about one’ s heritage.” Persons desiring to volunteer, be tested and/or obtain additional in fo r mation, should call (503) 249-1366. Job Corps Warren Rhodes is a clinical psy chologist leaching at Delaware Slate College. When he was 17 he was in prison after fa ilin g in school, robbing stores, dealing drugs and nearly dying from a drug overdoes. What caused Warren’sdramatic turnaround? Accord ing to Rhodes, it was his desire to change and the a vailability o f a slot at Breckenridge Job Corps Center in Ken tucky. Dr. Rhodes espec ially credits his Job Corps basic education teacher: “ She had faith in me and that gave me the faith in m yself.” Not all Job Corps participants be come Ph.D. graduates, o f course, but most come from sim ila rly troubled backgrounds. The average Job Corps enrollee isan 18-yearold m inority (30.5 percent are W hite) high school drop out from a poor fa m ily whose annual income is less than $5,500. He or she has never held a fu ll-tim e job. Some enrollees don’ t last very long in Job C orps-about a third leave the program w ithin the first three months. They may be unable to adjust to strict discipline and demands o f the program or they lack m otivation. However, 84 percent o f participants do succeed and are placed in a fu ll-tim e jo b , in further education or advanced training. For most o f those who do stick it out (the average stay is 7.3 months, with some remaining two years), the re wards fo r themselves and society are calculable. They are more lik e ly than peers who do not get Job Corps training to hold a job; they make more money and are less lik e ly to have to resort to welfare or to be arrested. A comprehen sive study done in the early 1980s showed that fo r every $ 1 invested in Job Corps. $ 1.46 is returned through reduc tions in welfare, costs o f crime and X~\ Z X z ^ 104 N E Russell Portland, OR 97212 282-5111 (503) Near Lloyd Center l/l/e Have Moved Closer To The Community Rafael Arellano. z^ •V * * », • L 'S " !'X IZ i f ' L U • • tr • ■ • • «- 1 .“‘ J' ! a r • & z\ z z ^ 800 N.E. Oregon Suite 260 Z> Z \ u Speedy Service Friendly Call for Quote! Best Cash Prices NEW STAFF ( ( •;.6. heating oils ( GET READY...Train For Your Future GET SET...Learn Job Skills ( GO...If You’re 16-21, call ( ( 731-4086 Pictured from left to right are Job Corp ‘s taff members Marco N ^ t e . Vincent Shone, Poncho Gonzalez. Lana Barr. Kimberly Bndwell. Ollie Smith and • -• / *• I Dad's Oil Service For Best Results Advertise in the Observer Z \ incarceration and through taxes paid by graduates. Job Corps has radically changed since its beginnings in 1964. A major overhaul has been underway in the last few years. Improvements include mak ing the program available to more young women, focusing on computer literacy, adding more counselors, providing ad vanced-level training to expand earning potential, linking Job Corps w ith other programs (such as Head Start), and pro viding an allowance to enable graduates to readjust to life outside the Job Corps centers. Program administrators as well as advocates continue to explore ways to increase the program ’s effectiveness. Job Corps has 107 centers serving 62,000 youth aged 16 to 21, approxi mately one in seven o f the most needy eligible youth. M ost Job Corps partici pants go to residential centers away from their neighborhoods to participate in a round-the-clock comprehensive pro gram including basic education aimed at gaining high school equivalency de grees and jo b training in such fields as carpentry, plumbing, landscaping, so lar installation, culinary arts, building maintenance, health occupations and automotive trades. They also get inten sive medical attention (from corrective glasses to dental care), good meals and personal counseling. They play team sports, participated in student govern ment, and build self-esteem. Bread fo r the W orld w ill suppon funding increases o f approximately $340 m illion for fiscal year 1993 as a part o f an effort called the “ 50-50 Plan.” The plan seeks to serve 50 percent more poor youth by opening 50 new Job Corps centers over the next decade. We w ill also promote program im prove ments. z\ ( « *, A ••• > > « «
