Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current, October 14, 1992, Image 1

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Volumn XXII, Number 42
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‘The Eyes and Ears of the Community’
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M r s . F r a n e PS S c h o e n - N e w s o a o fr
U n i v e r s i t y o f f lr e n o n L i b r
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Loaned Executives And Urban League Employment
Office Connects Job
Volunteer Leaders Guide
Seekers
With
Employers
United Way Campaign
Adolph Evans, Jr.
Several members of the African-
american community are devoting their
time and skills to United Way o f the
Columbia-W illamette’s 1992campaign
to raise $21.5 million for community
wide health and human care programs.
By donating their time to the fund
drive, volunteers keep United W ay o f
the Colum bia-W illam ette’s overhead
and fund-raising costs at about 15 per­
cent. Eighty-five cents of every dollar
contributed goes to support nearly 180
hum an-service program s located in
Clackamas, Multnomah and W ashing­
ton counties in Oregon, and d ark County
in W ashington.
Seona Baldw in, U.S. Bancorp;
Mancin Boyd, U.S. Bancorp; Adolph
Evans Jr., Northwest natural Gas Com ­
pany; paul Jackson, North Pacific In­
surance Company; Marty McClendon,
Boeing of Portland; Barbara Mitchell,
Blue Cross/Blue Shield o f Oregon;
Charles O dim gbc, Tri-Met; and Dorsie
W illiams, Standard Insurance C om ­
pany, are among 7 0 individuals serving
as loaned executives. They work full
time raising funds for United Way while
em ployers continue to pay their c urrent
Sena Baldwin
Barbara Mitchell
Mancin Boyd
Dorsie Williams
w ages and expenses.
In return for their 12-week com ­
mitment, loaned executives gain valu­
able training and experience in com ­
m unication and public speaking; a c ­
count, project and time management;
and negotiation and goal-setting skills.
“T he com bined efforts o f our
loaned executives and volunteers will
have a profound impact on the future of
human services in our com m unity,”
sa id C a m p a ig n C h a irm a n R o g er
Breezley, chairman o f the board, U.S.
Bancorp. “W orking together, they’ll
take us to our goal and help our neigh­
bors o f all ages and backgrounds.”
The Urban League o f Portland has
been helping Oregonians m eet their
em ploym ent goals since 1945.
The League was originally formed
to advocate for African Americans who
moved to Portland to build ships during
W orld W ar II and were denied equal
access to jobs and housing after the war.
Today the L eague’s Employment D e­
partment serves people form many back­
grounds and offers services to the un­
employed, other job seekers, and em ­
ployers from throughout the Portland
metro area.
A p p ro x im a te ly 75% o f the
L eague’s clients are minorities. The
L eague’s outreach efforts target m i­
norities and other protected class job
seekers (including women, dislocated
or disabled workers, and workers over
40). Services are available to all job
seekers.
During the last fiscal year the
Em ploym ent Department placed 160
people in new jobs and helped 1200
people during their job search. All ser­
vices for job seekers are offered free of
charge.
The Em ploym ent Office is located
at the Urban League Plaza at 10 N.
Russell St. in North Portland, at the
com er of N. W illiams. Service hours
are8:30am to5:00pm Monday through
Friday. Job seekers need to call 503/
280-2600 to set up an appointment to
use services.
Services for job seekers include
up-to-date job postings and announce­
ments from employers in Oregon, South-
em W ashington, and Northern C alifor­
nia; career counseling; resume writing
and interview preparation workshops;
on-site interviews with employers; and
em ploym ent applications from many
employers.
“ We have more job postings than
almost any other public or private em ­
ployment office in the metro area,” says
E m ploym ent O utreach C oordinator
Brenda Sherman-Sanders.
Services available to local em ploy­
ers include prescreening and referring
qualified protected c lass job candidates;
assistance with job fairs; assistance with
employm ent-related cultural diversity
issues; and assistance with employee
retention.
The departm ent is partially funded
by local em ployers, 18 of whom have
formed an Employ ment Partnership with
the Urban League. The goal of the Part­
nership is to help local employers re­
cruit and retain qualified minority job
candidates. Employer partners send staff
from their human resource departments
to work as volunteer job recruiters, ca­
reer counselors or workshop presenters.
The original partners included First
Interstate Bank, MentorGraphics, NIKE,
Standard Insurance and U.S. Bancorp.
Since then ARCO, Bank O f America,
Boeing Company, Cellular O ne, City o f
G re sh a m ,
H a lto n
C om pany,
M cD onald’s M eier & Frank, N ation­
wide Insurance, Saif Corp., Tektronix,
W acker Siltronic and Zellerbach Paper
have joined.
The Employment Office receives
Two Elected To
Occupational Health Council
Local Employers To Be Honored For
Work With Economically Disadvantaged
Ten local employers will be hon­
ored at an Employer Recognition Din­
ner hosted by The Private Industry
council (TPIC) on Friday, October
16th at 5:30 p.m. The dinner will be
held at M iller Hall, The W orld For­
estry Center. Keynote speaker at the
event will be G overnor Barbara Rob­
erts. M ayor J .E .“Bud” d a rk will also
be recognized for his continued com-
m itment to The Private Industry coun­
cil and its mission.
The Private Industry Council is a
private, non-profit organization dedi-
cated to providing training and em ­
ployment opportunities for economi­
cally disadvantaged residents o f Mult­
nomah and W ashington Counties. A
primary goal o f the organization is
p la c e m e n t o f p a r tic ip a n ts in
unsubsidized private sector jobs upon
the successful completion of training.
Employers being recognized have
w orked with The Private Industry
Council for a number of years provid­
ing graduates of TPIC training pro­
grams jobs which offer living wages,
benefits and opportunities for contin-
ued training and upward mobility.
Several of the employers being hon­
ored have also participated in the
developm ent o f industry-specific
training programs.
Employers being recognized are:
Advanced Data concepts, Inc.; A n­
odizing, Inc.; Michael Fairchild and
Associates; Gunderson, Inc.; Mt. St.
Joseph Residence & Extended Care
Center; Northwest Paper Box Mfrs.,
Inc.; Residence Inn by M arriott;
TASC of Oregon; Sears Outlet; and
Toshiba Ceramics America, Inc.
Melva Holmes
Linda Jefferson
M elva Holmes o f Freightliner Cor­
poration and Linda Jefferson o f the City
of Portland have been named chair and
vicechair respectively,of theexecutive
com m ittee o f the Occupational Health
Council o f K aiser Permanente.
The Council is composed of about
180 occupational health representatives
from major employers and labor unions
with Kaiser Permanente coverage in
Northwest Oregon an Southwest W ash­
ington. The Council works with Kaiser
Mayor Hails Hatfield Announcement Of $4.37 Million Federal
Economic Assistance Award for North/Northeast Portland
“Inner N orth/N ortheast Portland
will get a formidable econom ic boost
that will bring positive change to a part
o f our city that most needs help,” said
Portland Mayor J.E. Bud Clark, in ap­
p la u d in g U .S . S e n a to r M a rk O.
Hatfield’sannouncement today of$4.37
million in federal assistance to fund a
com prehensive econom ic assistance
program for the area.
The program, to be administered
by the Portland Development C om m is­
sion (PDC), will uniquely com bine
business development loans, technical
assistance and job training funds tar­
geted to revitalize the economic struc­
ture of North/Northeast Portland, build
the C ity’s economic base and create
jobs for City residents. The program
will help implement the North/North-
eastEconomic Development A lliance’s
community plan.
“W e’re deeply indebted to Senator
Hatfield for securing a special appro­
priation for this project,” said mayor
C lark . "T h e S e n a to r has w o rk ed
untiringly for well over a year to win
approval for this award. Congressman
Les AuCoin was also diligent and effec­
tive in winning support for the appro­
priation in the House. Senator Hatfield
and Congressman AuCoin along with
the other members of O regon’s Con­
gressional delegation have made it pos­
sible for us to demonstrate through this
program that inner city neighborhoods
can be revitalized.”
The strategies to be implemented
under the new program were developed
with the assistance and support of the
N orth/N ortheast Economic D evelop­
ment Alliance and numerous other mem­
bers o f the community. The $4.37 m il­
lion to be disbursed by the Department
o f Housing and Urban Development
will be divided as follows:
Business Development Loan Pro­
gram (60%)
Training Development Fund (30%)
T e c h n ic a l A s s is ta n c e P ro -
gram(10%)
The business development loan pro­
gram, will provide the capital to encour­
age job-generating business develop­
ment and bring new investment into the
N/NE area. The program would provide
a variety of different loans:
Very short-term "checkbook” or
transaction loans o f $500 to $15,000 to
be delivered through community-based
organizations with a constituency base
of small businesses in the N/NE Enter­
prise Zone. An example would be a
business that needed $4,000 to meet
payroll, with a $5,500 receivable due in
two weeks. The transaction loan would
fill the two-week gap.
Short-term loans for a /o n e-y ear
term or less of from S 15,000 to $50,000
for any business purpose such as pur­
chasing inventory or paying for services
to meet business demands.
Long-term loans of #$5,000 to
$50,000 for small business needs such
as capital equipment needed at expand
operand operations and add new em ­
ployees.
Real estate loans o f $10,000 to
clients through direct referral, netw ork­
ing by staff, and drop-ins. client traffic
has been very heavy in recent m onths.
“ We do not limit the num ber o f clients
we serve,” says Ms. Sherm an-Sanders.
“W ith the economy in a slow dow n we
are seeing a big increase in the num ber
o f clients.”
Sherman-Sanders says that the m ost
significant barriers to em ploym ent for
Urban League clients have been trans­
portation, the location o f em ployer o f­
fices for interviews, and lack o f up-to-
date information about jo b openings.
The Partnership is working to solve
these problem s, through on-site inter­
views and faster transm ittal o f jo b open­
ing announcements.
Changes in O regon’s em ploym ent
picture have created the greatest barrier
in providing service, Sherm an-Sanders
believes “Our old industries are being
replaced by new, higher tech industries
which require skills that many displaced
workers don’t have. And there aren’t
enough job training program s to help
workers acquire the new skills they
need.”
The Urban L eague’s Em ploym ent
Department hopes to expand services in
the near future. “W e hope to offer job
training when funding perm its,” says
Sherman Sanders. “ If we could add an­
other service it would be a database
listing o f local job openings.”
Sherman-Sanders encourages job
seekers and em ployers interested in us­
ing the departm ent’s services to contact
the League at orientation.
$100,000 for a maximum term of 20
years designed to assist with the pur­
chase and/or renovation of properties in
North/Northeast Portland.
The training dcvelopmentfund will
provide funds to businesses that engage
in substantive training of N.NE Enter­
prise Zone residents. The goals of this
program arc to provide job skills to
newly-hired Enterprise Zone residents
and to add incentives for companies to
increase their hiring o f Zone residents.
Funds will be available for residents
hired through the JobNct consortium
administered by PDC. Training will be
supported only when it helps Zone resi­
dent move into careers with long-term
job potential.
The technical assistance program
will provide aid to North/Northeast busi­
ness development activities, especially
business development loan recipients.
Technical assistance will provide a va­
riety o f professional services that will
facilitate loan origination and support
the viability of funded businesses.
Permanente to improve the effectiveness
of the health m aintenance organization’s
services for workers, both at the worksite
and during treatment. The Council also
conducts education sessions on topics
related to occupational health.
Holmes is an occupational health
nurse w ho’s worked for Freightliner for
15 years. A northeast Portland resident,
she is a m em ber o f the A llen temple
Christian Methodist Episcopal Church,
and also volunteers with the Portland
chapter o f the Urban League.
Jefferson is w orkers’ compensation
m anager for Portland. A Gresham resi­
dent, she has worked in health insurance-
related field for more than 25 years. She
is also a member o f the program planning
committee for the Oregon Self-Insured
Association.
K aiser Permanente is a group prac­
tice health maintenance O rganization.
The nonprofit HMO serves the health
care needs o f about 375,000 people in
Northwest Oregon and Southwest W ash­
ington.
Children To Decorate
H. Ross Perot Office
On Martin Luther King
Blvd. On Friday,
October 16
The children o f the Lazarus Art
Society will decorate the Martin
Luther King offices o f H. Ross Perot
on Friday, October 16.
T he grand open in g o f the
eastside offices for the Perot cam ­
paign will be on Saturday, October
17 at 1PM.
The public is invited to “Perot
Watch Parties” at each Portland area
campaign office:
D o w n to w n ....S W 2nd and
Salmon (across form the W orld
Trade Center) Phone 221-0036
Eastside....5117 Martin Luther
King Blvd.
O re g o n C ity ....7 4 5 M a in
Street, Oregon City Phone 655-
2346
W atch Party Schedule
Presidential D ebate #2 T hurs­
day, October 15 6PM
Perot Inform ational Friday,
October 16 7:30PM NBC
Perot Inform ational Saturday,
October 17 5PM ABC
Final Presidential Debate M on­
day, O ctober 19 4PM