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Volumn XXII, Number 36
‘The Eyes and Ears of the Community'
<- 9
September 2, 1992
(Etje ^tlnrt l:tnh © beerter
Teens Say Respect Key To
Solving Inner-City Problems
j T h i s summer, Portland, Oregon
•
was one o f three Sites across the
nation for an exciting, new venture to
continue Sum m erTraining and E du
cation Program (STEP) services to
third-year high school students. STEP
services are offered on a collabora
tive basis between The Private In
dustry Council and local school dis
tricts throughout M ultnom ah and
W ashington counties. Funding is pro
vided by the federal governm ent
through the JobT raining Partnership
Act.
STEP offers low-income youth
the opportunity to participate in sum
mertime classroom and work experi
ence program s designed to give
youngsters the skills they will need
to meet the challenges of tom orrow ’s
workplace. Traditionally, STEP has
been offered to 14-and 15-years olds
with clearly-defined classroom ac
tivities during the morning and work
experience in the afternoon. An ad
vocate assigned toeach student works
to effect a smooth transition between
the two activities and to provide o n
going support during the school year.
In this exciting new program
made possible by an additional grant
from the Northwest Film C enter’s
V ideo/Film m aker-ln-Schools pro
gram (a statewide artist residency
outreach program funded by the O r
egon Arts Commission, National En
dowment for the Arts and M etropoli
ta n A rts C o m m is s io n ), K risty
Edmunds, artist-in-residence, worked
hand-in-hand with STEP instructor
Amy M itchell to integrate work ex
perience and classroom activities in
the context o f assisting students in
the production of a 10-minute video.
For seven weeks, seven students
from several high schools located in
Northeast Portland made the psycho
logically long trek to Portland’s af
fluent Southwest downtown area to
utilize the filmmaking facilities at
the Portland Art M useum ’s N orth
west Film Center.
To begin their summer-long as-
signment, students (Trina Alexander,
Charles Denis, Darryl English, Mario
Jackmon, Nokita M erriweather, Karl
NAMCO
And Black
Contractors
Picket
Emanuel
And Legacy
Top:
Irving Robinson,
Lyles roofing, Joints
Picket of Baugh
Construction at
Emanuel Hospital
Bottom:
Families
come out to lend
support
25*
Portland Assoc. Of Black
Journalist present awards
The Portland Association of Black
Journalist (PAB J) has selected two out
standing journalism students to receive
the PABJ Scholarship for African-
American Journalism Students for 1992.
PABJ is an affiliate o f the National
A sso c ia tio n o f B lack Jo u rn a lists
(NAB J). Proceeds from theNABJ 1991
Regional Conference in Portland estab
lished the first annual PABJ Scholar
ship Fund.
High school and college recipient
award categories were designated by
the chapter to provide funds for educa
tion in the field of journalism or related
careers. Q ualifications for the award
were based on academic achievement,
a writing sample and letters of recom
mendation. The awards are for S500
each.
This year’s high school student
award went to Stacey Givens, 1992
graduate o f Parkrose Senior High
School. Stacey intends to enroll at Port
land State University in the Fall and
would like to prepare for a career in
magazine journalism or television news
reporting.
The outstanding college student
award went to Glenn Harris, a student at
Portland Community College. Glenn
has been active on the student new spa
per, The Bridge at PCC. Some o f his
work has also appeared in The Skanner
Newspaper. He would like to continue
his work in the print media.
“ W e’ve extended an invitation for
these award winners to becom e student
members o f PA BJ,” said Ken Boddie,
chapter president, “ we hope to provide
them with support and assistance on a
practical level, too.” The students will
receive a certificate of aw ard at the next
PABJ chapter meeting in October.
PCC Construction Trades Program
Announces First Graduates
Pavelic and Jeffrey Brown) were asked
to decide on a them e for their video. By
brainstorming a num ber of topics, the
students decided to incorporate the ide
als o f respect (for self, other youth,
adults and com m unity), a need to return
to values and the need for role models
into their film. Thus, the birth of “Quick
to Com e Up and Slow to R espect.”
During the course o f the following
seven weeks, students worked long
hours (in many cases far and above the
num ber of hours they were being paid ),
as they began to take on real ow nership
of the project.
In the first tw o-and-a-half to three
weeks, the youth worked in identify the
message they wanted to convey in their
film, who their audience was and what
format the film should take (ic: drama
vs. docum entary) to most effectively
convey the message. Once the students
decided upon the formal of a docum en
tary, they then needed to identify who
to interview and what scenes to film.
Most poignantly, the students decided
to film scenes from their own neighbor
hoods in Northeast Portland even though
in doing so the students were aware they
were risking the danger of reinforcing
the very stereotypes they were attem pt
ing to dispel.
Over the course of the next several
weeks, the students hauled heavy and
cumbersome video equipment in som e
time 100+ degree temperatures to cap
ture what they termed “moments of dis
respect”: broken glass, graffiti, theft,
prostitutes working the streets, young
children left alone to watch babies on the
porchstcps o f their homes. These arc the
images these young people have grown
up with. ..the reason these and other youth
have been “quick to come up.”
Out of the disparity, however, these
young filmmakers wanted to convey a
message of hope. To counter the bleak
images o f the first half o f the film, the
students interviewed a number of their
peers as well as prominent members of
the community to define for themselves
what a positive role model is.
In the process, these seven young
people left a real and lasting impression
on the many lives they touched. As
Kristy Edmunds noted, these young
people have empowered themselves,
their mentors in STEP program and at
the Northwest Film Center and they
subjects they interviewed to lake re
sponsibility for their community. As
Ellen Thomas, Education Director of
the N orthw est Film Center, com
mented at the prem iere of the film:
“(these young people) will amaze you
and give you great confidence in our
future.”
This project was funded and sup
ported by The Private Industry Coun
cil, Portland Public Schools, Public/
Private Ventures, the Northwest Re
gional Education Laboratory, the Port
land Leaders Roundtable and the Port
land Art Museum Northwest Film
Center.
The Private Industry Council is a
private, non-profit organization whose
mission is to promote individual self-
sufficiency and a skilled workforce
by eliminating barriers to productive
employment.
“ No Jobs - No Peace,” is amongst
the slogans o f Sing W elding Pickets
who gathered at a construction jobsite
in north Portland beginning last M on
day. The pickets are dem anding con
tracts and job for local area businesses
and residents.
The Emanuel Hospital and Health
Center mob, now under construction,
is located at the southwest section of
the Emanuel Hospital campus. The
three block area will house a six story
pored concrete building and accom pa
nying four story parking structure con
sisting o f 425 parking stalls. Baugh
Construction Company o f Beaverton,
Oregon, is the general contractor on
the multi-million dollar project.
According to a flyer being circu
lated by the informational protesters,
“ Em anuel H ospital, a m em ber of
Legacy Health Systerri, has lied about
com m unity econom ic reinvestment.
They continue to build and expand in
northeast Portland and around the city.
After years o f promising to provide
jobs and contracts and to include resi
dents, African-Americans in northeast
Portland are again left out.”
Baugh construction, the flyer al
leged, “is contributing to this problem
because they accepted the prime con
tract and neglected to provide jobs and
subcontracts to African-Americans liv
ing in the heart of the construction
activity. “Pickets claim that no blacks
arc currently working on the project.
James Posey a spokesman for The
Coalition of Contractors and unem
ployed construction workers headed
by The National Association O f M i
n o rity C o n tra c to rs O f O re g o n
(NAMCO), said that the picketing ac-
PCC students graduate from two
nationally recognized trades programs.
Many have overcome great personal
obstacles and now have hopes of secur
ing high-paying construction trades jobs
and bettering their lives.
From Monday Aug. 24 to Thurs
day, Sept. 3, students are working on
job sites throughout the Portland-metro
area. Sites include Tualatin Valley Fire
and Rescue Training Facility, City of
Tigard, W ashington County Com m u
nity Action and Scouter’s Mountain
Boy Scout Camp in southeast Portland.
B-Wcst (Building W orkers Enter
ing Skilled Trades) Regional Workforce
Training Center, a six-month intensive
training program to help the unem
ployed and those working below their
ability, will graduate its first class on
Friday, Sept. 4 at the Rock Creek Cam
pus in the Pioneer Room, Building 3,
17705 NW Springville Road.
The ceremony begins at 11 a.m.
and the public is invited. In addition,
the college’s non-traditional training
program for women, B-FIT (Building
Futures in Industry and Trades), will
graduate its sixth class.
Fifty-one students will participate
in the ceremony. The program includes
guest speaker Quint Rahberger, direc
tor of Apprenticeship and Training for
the Bureau of Labor and Industries; B-
WEST student speakers David Ponce
and Tammy McLeod; and B-FIT stu
dent speakers C athy A ndrew an d
Suzanne Scheans.
B-W EST and B-FIT were both
designed with these workforce changes
in mind. The program s recruit and train
people for jobs in construction, m e
chanical, electrical and masonry trades.
Inaddition,T he B-W EST program
provides program -developm ent m ate
rials and training to high schools and
community colleges and other organi
zations in the region. It also offers free
consultation and workshops to em ploy
ers in industry to help them prepare for
the changing workforce.
Karla Talley, 34, is currently en
rolled in the B-FIT program and will
graduate on Sept. 4. The northeast Port
land resident has long-term plans to
become a journeym an plumber.
An African-American, Talley was
looking for a trade which would “ help
me use my natural mechanical abilities
and eliminate the boredom. I have a l
ways been awed by those who could
lake lumber, nails, wires and pipe and
build something both useful and beau
tiful.
“I applied for the plum ber’s ap
prenticeship program, I was interviewed
and was accepted. T here’s no question,
I will succeed,” said Talley. For more
in fo rm a tio n , p le a se c o n ta c t D ick
Burchell at 244-6111 ext. 7474.
tivity is the culmination o f efforts to
the Emanuel officials sensitive to the
needs of the African-Americans com
munity prior to extensive expansion
activities.
“ After several years o f trying to
get them to realize that they need to
give more than lip serv ice to the idea of
community reinvestment, they intend
to expand their operation while ex
cluding local area workers and com
munity-based contractors from par
ticipation.” Posey said.
The project in question was made
possible thru land acquisition by the
hospital some twenty years ago. “Many
of the families removed through this
urban renewal process,” according to
o n e b y s ta n d e r, “ w e ’re b la c k
homeowners.” Some o f them were
driven to being renters instead of home
owners because the prices paid were
well below market value and they were
unable to afford comparable housing
in other areas o f the city. Likewise,
acquisition of surrounding properties
also meant the demise o f black-owned
businesses which once formed a cul
tural business hub along W illiam s
Avenue and Russell Street.
Nathan Proby, former NAMCO
President, said he had contacted hos
pital officials as early as October of
1991, and expressed an interest in in
suring that north and northeast com
munity based contracting firms receive
contracts during construction phases
of the expansion program. “NAMCO
received bid documents, had minority
business participation language w rit
ten into an addendum , and encouraged
its members to submit bids.” Some
NAMCO members bid the project but
were not able to negotiate contracts
with Baugh who said there were no low
bids received from m inorities.
Both Posey and Proby have d is
cussed the deficiencies with Em anuel
and Baugh Personnel over the past few
months. In an A ugust 12, 1992 letter
addressed to Larry Hill D irector o f
Corporation Real Estate, Posey ad
dressed the broader issue of the devel
oping of a strong contract procurem ent
inclusion policy for com m unity disad
vantage business and suggested that
Hill set up a meeting betw een Legacy
and NAMCO representatives. No re
sponse was ever received, thus the
picket.
“ W hat we expect out o f this is to
bring them to the bargaining table to
hammer out a long term binding policy
of inclusion for jobs and real co n
tracts,” Posey said. He pointed out that
Emanuel Hospital is just the tip o f the
iceberg. Many large corporations o p
erate in our community and tradition
ally, reinvestment to them is to provide
token efforts, providing free space to
non-profit organizations, and the an
nual donation to a local civil rights
agency along with circus tickets are
examples of such gestures. “We mean
business and are seeking the support of
all concerned citizens and organiza
tions," Posey said. Those interested arc
urged to com e to the picket line and
grab a sign. “ If people are serious about
economic developm ent in the black
community they will come and a help
us in this effort” he said. Meaningful
rein vcslincnlcom es with jobs andcon-
tracts and this docs not appear to be the
case with Emanuel Hospital, which as
a large African-American clientele.