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OACWC Celebrates Legacy Of Service
Network, Inc.; Ms. Pamela Rahsaan -1 9 9 0
Business M ajor - Career Federal Govern­
ment Employee and Miss M onica Hurst -
1990 w ho w ill be a 1994 graduate o f
Gram bling University, Gram bling, L o u is i­
ana (statement given by her mother, Ms.
Sally Hurst).
Each recipient addressed the meaning
o f the scholarship to them, the college/uni-
versity or school attended, their goals and
accomplishments.
Red Lion Maxi Lounge
Portland Downtown, 310 SW Lincoln,
Portland,Oregon
Presents: March 4 & 5, Doors Open
7:30 P M E n te rta in m e n t; A r t Abram s
Swingtet W ith Vocalist Ralph Black. Cover
charge $5.00
“ A rt Abram s Sw ing M achine B ig
Band” D ine Dance And A ll That Jazz” ;
March 19,1994; Doors Open 7:30; Enter­
tainment Dance 8:30 to 12:30 PM . Enter­
tainment & Dancing Hotel Ballroom. Ticket
Price Includes Hor D ’oeuvres.
Young Parents Free
Tuesday
The program concluded with intro­
duction of Clubs and members:
(L to R) - Layola Brown, General Chairman; Lillian Whitlow, Program Chair; Mary
Harrison, OACWC State President
3-5 p.m., Tuesday, March 8th
M etro Washington Park Zoo is dedi­
cating the afternoon o f Tuesday, March 8th
to young parents and their children. This
afternoon w ill be free o f charge and Port­
land area agencies w ill be on hand to
provide guidance and inform ation to v is it­
ing parents. This event w ill be both educa­
tional and fun fo r young parents. W e hope
fo r this to become an annual event that w ill
benefit the surrounding com m unity and
help agencies and young parents reach
each other in a fun and exciting atmo­
sphere.
The Portland Art
Museum Presents
Carrie Mae Weems
March 29 - May 2 2 ,1 9 9 4
For fifteen years, Carrie Mae Weems
has been confronting issuesof ide ntity, race
and gender through a forceful com bination
o f photographic imagery, engaging narra­
tive and provocative humor. Carrie Mae
Weems, the firs t major traveling survey o f
her w ork, w ill be on view at the Portland
A rt Museum March 29 through M ay 22,
1994 as part o f the A rt/O n the Edge series.
Theexhibition is sponsored by Philip M orris
Companies, Inc., w ith additional support
form the Elizabeth Firestone Graham Foun­
|L
HE OREGON ASSOCIATION OF
COLORED WOMEN’S CLUBS,
AFFILIATE OF THE NATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF COLORED WOMEN’S
CLUBS,--THE OLDEST BLACK
WOMEN'S ORGANIZATION NATION­
ALLY, HELD ITS ANNUAL LUNCHEON
AND BLACK HISTORY PROGRAM
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1994 AT
VANCOUVER AVENUE FIRST BAPTIST
CHURCH.
Mrs. M ary Harrison, State President,
welcomed the 150 guests. Greetings were
extended by the General Chair, F irst Vice
President, Mrs. Layola Brown. M rs. L illia n
W h itlo w , Second V ice President was M is ­
tress o f Ceremonies. Mrs. L illie Raibon led
the group in fervent prayers o f faith to open
and close the luncheon. “ O ur O A C W C
Legacy: Service T o Youth And Com m unity
- C om m itm ent To H igher Education” was
the Luncheon theme. A b rie f historical re­
view “ A T rip in T im e” - 1895 - 1994 was
presented by Mrs. Betty Thompson. H igh­
ligh ting the program was the special youth
presentation by the Soldiers O f L ig h t G ir l’ s
Club. “ A H istorical Presentation o f Past and
Present Black Achievers” produced and en­
acted by C lub members, featured Singer
M arian Anderson, Astronaut, Mae Jamison,
comedian and Producer, B ill Cosby and Brain
Surgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Miss Jamila F lo w ­
ers was Mistress o f Ceremonies. Other fea­
tures included vocal solo by Miss Celeste
C alvin and presentation o f Miss Kim berly
Barney, their member who was crowned na­
tional G irls and Boys Clubs Penny Queen in
Portland when the Soldier o f L ig h t G ir l’ s
C lub hosted 400 yofl A at their 1992 Conven­
tion held in Portland, Oregon. The youth also
displayed th eir Beadmaking and T Shirt
Fundraising Projects by which they are spon­
soring to attend their 1994 convention in
O klahom aC ity,O klahom a. Miss HeatcrCain
is President o f Soldiers o f LighL Ms. Sally
Hurst, Northwest Regional Supervisor and
Mrs. Queen Ann Deloney, State Youth Su­
pervisor, assisted the girls.
A special program feature also included
Past O A C W C Scholarship Recipients. Mrs.
M innie Belle Johnson, O A C W C Scholarship
Chairman, presented the Rev. Alccna Boozer,
1956- Principal Jefferson High School (State­
ment read in her absence); Ms. Lynda Grice
- 1959, Senior Manager o f Conventions &
H osp itality, Oregon Convention Services
M a rc h 31 & A p r il 1: W a rrio r M arks.
A com pelling collaboration between film ­
maker Pratibha Parmar and novelist A lice
W alker w hich explores the ancient A frican
custom o f female genital m utilation; w ith
Kathe Sandler’ s A Question o f C olor, a
look at the interplay between racial iden­
tity , culture and self-image through skin
color.
Portland State University
National Penny Queen, Kimberly Barney
• Katherine Gray C lub - Mrs. M attie lies,
President
• M ultnom ah W om en’ s C lub - M rs. L illia n
W h itlow .
Others serving on the Program C om m it­
tee were Mrs. L illie Raibon, Mrs. Louise
Waters and Mrs. Carrie Cannon.
1994 Oregon Mother Of The Year
dation.
Museum And Film Center
Present Program Of
Contemporary African
And African-Am. Films
• A ltru is tic C lub - M rs. M ary Brannon,
President
• Fleur de’ L is Club - Mrs. Carrie H olliday,
President
• H arriet Tubman C lub - Mrs. Pauline
Bradford, President
I
.I l
he Oregon Assn, o f American Moth-
ers, (O A A M ), announced the 1994
Oregon M other o f the Year on F ri­
day, February 18th, at a Gala Banquet held
in her honor. Her name is Margie K e lle r and
she was introduced by Kathleen Huston,
1993 Oregon M other o f the Year.
M argie, sponsored by Hughes M em o­
ria l United M ethodist church in northeast
Portland, has 6 children and 8 grandchil­
dren.
As Chairperson and UnitC om m issioncr
for the past two years for T roop 74 o f the Boy
Scouts o f Am erica, she started the first Boy
Scouts Troop in her comm unity in tw o de­
cades.
For the past four years Margie has served
as coordinator for a Narcotics Anonymous
Recovery Group at Hughes Mem orial. Last
year, as a comm unity outreach, she coordi­
nated the first Annual Block party for the
neighborhood around her church. In addi­
tion to coordinating and cooking fo r the
annual free com m unity Thanksgiving D in ­
ner held at Hughes M em orial, M argie also
started the S A F E H A V E N com m unity after
W hat: The second o f the BorderCross-
ings Lecture Series, a series o f free public,
on campus lectures exam ining issues o f
intercultural relations in im m igrant, refu­
gee, and exiledcultural groups livin g w ithin
larger, dom inant cultures. Specific ex­
amples w ill be examined through the lens
o f artistic and cultural expression. The
lectures w ill also examine how the culture
and art form s themselves cross borders:
aesthetically, culturally and geographically.
Lecturers And Topic: RosanneRoyer,
by P romise K ing
D irector o f the Oregon Peace Institute; and
ore and more black high school
Christopher M e rrill, poet and jou rn a list -
students are staying in school till
“ The Bridges o f Bosnia”
graduation the Oregon Depart­
W hen & W here: Wednesday,5:30pm, ment o f Education findings has confirmed.
March 2. PSU M u lticu ltu ra l Center, Smith
Long gone arc the days when about 12-4
Center, 1825 SW Broadway, on the first floor. percent o f the total black students find their
A dm ission: Free
way out o f school before receiving their
In fo rm a tio n : (503) 725-5389
diploma. The drop out rate have decreased to
about 8.6 percent, according to the depart­
Margie Keller
sch o o l p ro g ra m held at Hughes. T h is is a
v ita l and necessary program designed to
serve the c h ild re n o f the n e igh bo rho od
and keep them o f f the streets. The p ro ­
g ram , th ro u g h its p la nned a c tiv itie s and
c a rin g v o lu n te e r s ta ff, o ffe rs lo v e and
n u rtu rin g to c h ild re n w h o liv e in homes
w ith p o v e rty , v io le n c e and drug abuse.
In the words o f her pastor, Rev. Curtis
K irkpatrick, “ M argie has been (and s till is on
the vanguard) o f m oving Hughes from being
an only-on-S unday to an open-every-day-of-
the-week church. No where has M argie’s
comm itment been more evident than in her
concern for and w ork w ith our addict popula­
tions in and around our church and through­
out our comm unity. We have users, abusers
and (un til recently) drug pushers rig h t around
and on our church property. Those addicts,
who have come forward or who she could
coax, were assisted into treatment virtually
single-handedly by Margie. This was the
beginning and continues to be the basis o f the
C hurch’ s m inistry to addicts.”
Margie K eller w ill represent her state at
the National Convention in Salt Lake C ity,
Utah, A p ril 29-May 2nd. This convention
w ill name the new National M other o f the
Year and Oregon can be proud o f T H E IR
M other, M argie Keller.
B la c k s H igh S c h o o l D rop
M
S ubmissions : C ommunity C alendar
I nformation M ust B e D ated T wo
W eeks A fter T mb I ssue ' s
P ublication D ate
ment reports.
This decline shows that about 38 o f the
bad boys and girls have turned a new leaf.
But, there was an increase o f 12.5 percent
to 14 percent o f the overall dropout. StudcnLs
o f hispanic descent. The reports also shows,
native Am erican students increase in the drop
out rate. Asian American students like black
students, according to the department fin d ­
ings, show a decline in the dropout rale. Their
figure went down from 3.9 percent the previ­
ous year to 3.7 percent last year w hile white
students maintain a 3.8 percent for last two
years.
The overall high school drop out in O r­
egon state shows a consistent decline in the
last four years but this year’s rate revealed a
slight from last years reports.
State school superintendent Norma Paulas
said the results served as another reminder
Spirit Shines
In Heart Of
Gangland
Neighborhood
h e re ’ s a n e w lig h t s h in in g
o n N o rth e a s t A lb e r ta S tre e t
at 1 7 th A v e n u e , th a n k s to a
h u g e n e w c h o ir , w it h p ra y e rs a nd
th e H o ly S p ir it fre e a nd a v a ila b le to
a ll c o m e rs .
The huge, inter-church Portland Mass
C hoir rehearses and prays from 7 to 9pm
every Monday evening at 1737 N E A l­
berta, in Good Samaritan Church o f God in
C hrist, and the rehearsals are free and
open to the public, according to Ray and
Ada Tellis, the husband-wife founders,
directors, and ministers o f the choir. They
hope their choir rehearsals offer a new type
o f m inistry to the troubled inner city. L ig h t
refreshments w ill be offered.
The choir rehearses all original music
by Ray T ellis and other local musicians.
T ellis is the acknowledged leader o f the
local gospel music com m unity, and is an
associate pastor at New Beginnings Prayer
Center.
As director o f Portland Mass Choir,
T ellis has invited and auditioned about 95
m ulti-ethnic singers from about 30 local
churches from across Portland. The choir
is setting new local standards fo r excel­
lence in the performance o f A frican-A m eri­
can gospel music.
The choir has been together less than
one year, but has begun to be acknowl­
edged as a regional cultural resource tak­
ing its place in the national pantheon o f
metropolitan-based mass gospel choirs.
Musicians include Terry Davis, who
is music director at M t. O livet Baptist
C hurch, the largest A frica n-A m erican
Baptist Church in Portland w ith a regular
Sunday assembly o f about 1,000 persons.
Another musician is Eugene Blackman,
who is a music teacher at Jefferson H igh
School.
The two Tellises, Blackman, Davis
and other local musicians are composers o f
most o f the music on a forthcoming album
o f original gospel music now being re­
corded and engineered at M usicraft, a
W ilso nville company.
There arc about five dozen African-
Am erican churches in Portland, each w ith
at least one, and sometimes as many as four
choirs. Sunday church attendance is said
to be about 40 percent o f the entire A m e ri­
can population. W ord o f the new m inistry
is being circulated in the bulletins o f all
local Northeast churches.
Oregon Tourism Win Awards
M
he Oregon Tourism D ivision reciev-
ed national recognition recently in
New Y o rk, N Y ., at the H ospitality
Sales and M arketing Association Interna­
tional Adrian A dvertizing and Golden B ell
Public Relations Awards.
Oregon T ra il Ad - a promotion by the 7
Oregon T ra il states - and the complete 1993
Tourism D ivision image campaign. “ T IC O ”
won two bronze awards for “ M y Week O r So
InO rceon” . brochure & video. 503-373-1270
D e c re a s e s
why Oregon schools must change.
“ A school system which loses one o f five
students before graduation is obviously in
need o f repair,” she stated.
The other findings from the report shows
that students are more lik e ly to drop out o f
high schools. She added that the rate in
schools w ith more than 600 students is 6.2
percent compared to 2.3 percent in schools
w ith less than 25 students.
The assessment s p e c ia lis t w ith the
O regon E d u c a tio n D e p a rtm e n t, Steve
S later, to ld the O b server o v e r the phone
that th is decrease in m in o r ity students
drop outs is a te s tim o n y that students are
resp on din g to the “ Stay In S ch oo l
cam ­
paign m o n ito re d by the state g o v e rn ­
m ent, v a rio u s school a d m in is tra tio n s and
o th e r o rg a n iz a tio n s .
“ The reason is that school administrators
arc doing better jobs in keeping students in
schools. Jefferson High School has im proved
a b it” , Slater said.
The state school reports discovered that
reason cited by school personnel fo r drop­
outs, include non-attendance, independent
liv in g burdens, unstable home situation and
fu ll or part time w ork and fifty three percent
o f those who dropped out were classified as
seniors or older in their age.
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