P age A3
T he P ortland O bserver • M ay 25, 1994
Portland Educational Network Stresses
Mentoring, Mediation
M entoring and m ediation pro­
grams in Portland’ s public schools
w ill receive special emphasis in up­
com ing months as the Portland E du­
cational N etwork (PEN) completes
the second year o f its three- year urban
university federal grant.
PEN, based at Portland State
U niversity, is an educational collabo­
rative group that aims to increase
student access to quality education
and im prove student success in the
classroom. A m ajor part o f PE N ’ S
w ork centers around the endangered
Urban C h ild and Y outh Project. The
project is funded by a $1.6 m illio n ,
three-year grant from the U.S. De­
partment o f Education. The program
lin k s PSU w ith P o rtlan d P u blic
Schools, the city o f Portland, M etro
and a host o f business and com m unity
organizations.
PEN is placing special emphasis
on mentoring and mediation program s
lin k in g PSU students w ith urban
youth, said Drew M ahalic, acting
project director fo r the Endangered
Urban C h ild and Youth Project.
M entoring programs encourage
college students to befriend and help
urban youth w hile encouraging them
to pursue careers and education after
high school. In many cases, mentors
help serve as surrogate parents, as
many youngsters today fin d them­
selves g ro w in g up in one-parent
households.
“ The research is conclusive that
kids are more successful when they
have a mentor role m odel to learn
w ith ,” said M ahalic.
PSU currently is offering a course
in “ M entoring Endangered Youth in
C o m m u n ity ,” taught by C onnie
Dawson, an instructor in PSU’s School
o f Education. As part o f the class,
PSU students w ork w ith urban youth
at Jefferson and Marshall high schools.
They also w ork w ith young students
in “ cluster schools” - elementary and
m iddle schools in the neighborhood
o f Jefferson and Marshall high school.
“ W e see this course as essential
to linking the student resources o f
PSU w ith the needs o f urban k id s,"
M ahalic said. M ahalic plans to set up
sim ilar links between college students
and urban youth through programs at
other colleges and universities in the
Portland areas.
T h is su m m er and f a ll, PEN
w i ll c o n d u c t a series o f m e d ia tio n
tra in in g sessions fo r p u b lic school
teachers, so cia l se rvice p ro fe s ­
sio n a ls, urban s c h o o lc h ild re n and
c o m m u n ity leaders. A m e d ia tio n
tra in e r has been h ire d to c o n d u c t
the sessions, w h ic h teach in d i­
v id u a ls how to so lve p ro b le m s by
ta lk in g to each o th e r ra th e r than
by v io le n c e o r ta k in g severe rea c­
tiv e measures.
“ M any believe mediation is the
most im portant s k ill to prevent v io ­
lent behavior,” M ahalic said. “ M any
people see the containment and e lim i­
nation o f violence as The issue in the
schools.”
In conjunction w ith the training
sessions, PEN w ill hold a mediation
Secretary Mike Espy
Outlines Steps
Taken To End Discrimination At USDA
M ajor changes have been made
at the U.S. Department o f A griculture
in the past 14 months specifically to
assist A frican-A m erican and other
socially disadvantaged farmers.
The changes are aimed at stop­
p in g d is c rim in a tio n o f A fric a n -
Am erican and socially disadvantaged
farmers and reversing the decline in
farm ownership by both groups.
‘T o address historic patterns o f
discrim ination and increase U S D A ’ s
sensitivity to the concerns o f m in o ri­
ties, women, and others, I have ar­
ticulated and am w orking to enforce
the strongest Equal O pportunity and
C iv il R ight p olicy in the history o f
U S D A ,” said Secretary o f A g ric u l­
ture M ike Espy.
Espy noted that A frica n -A m e ri­
can and socially disadvantaged farm ­
ers are also victim s o f the same pow ­
erfu l economic trends that have re­
duced the overall farm population
and concentrated land ownership.
Because o f this, he has worked closely
w ith Congress to ensure that funding
w ould be provided fo r technical assis­
tance and outreach to m in o rity and
socially disadvantaged farmers in the
budgets fo rF Y 94 and 95. Since Espy
came to o ffice, more than $495 m il­
lion has been appropriated to m in or­
ity farm er programs.
“ T he p lig h t o f the m in o r ity
fa rm e r is c r itic a l. N o one can e x ­
p ect years o f n e g le ct to be re ­
versed in a fe w m on ths. W e are
ta k in g the necessary steps in o r ­
der to b e g in to reverse w h a t has
been done. In a d d itio n , I have
a p p o in te d the m ost d ive rse g ro u p
ever to ke y p o s itio n s o f a u th o rity
to help lead the U S D A ,” Espy
said.
E ffo r ts are also b eing made to
reverse past trends o f inadequate
s e rv ic e s to m in o r ity , fa rm e rs .
F arm ers H om e A d m in is tra tio n ’ s
(F m H A ) n a tio n a l o ffic e p ro gram
m anagem ent p e rfo rm a n c e goals
fo r s o c ia lly disa dva ntag ed fa rm -
ers d ire c t lo c a l o ffic e s to use 100
p e rce n t o f o w n e rs h ip and o p e ra t­
in g loans ta rg eted to th is g ro u p
and increase the percentage o f
fa rm s sold o r leased to s o c ia lly
d isa dva ntag ed fa rm e rs.
A ls o , F m H A has directed state
o ffic e s to re p o rt o utrea ch a c t iv i­
tie s and a cc o m p lis h m e n ts to the
S e c re ta ry ’ s o ffic e . F m H A ’ s in ­
v e n to ry p ro p e rty re g u la tio n s have
been re vise d to g iv e p r io r ity to
s o c ia lly d isadvantaged a p p lica n ts
w hen s e llin g in v e n to ry p ro p e rty .
Other initiatives undertaken by
this adm inistration that w ill assist
m in o rity farmers include:
• The recently announced in ­
crease in price support levels as w ell
as generally low er com m odity acre­
age reduction program levels than
were applicable in previous crop years.
• A n independent re vie w o f
F m H A loan accelerations to ensure
that a ll distressed farmers are being
treated fa irly.
• Im plem enting an autom atic
tracking system to ensure that a ll
farm loans, w itho ut exception, are
processed in a tim ely fashion.
• Targeting o f $3.5 m illio n in
funds fo r F m H A to w ork through
1890 institutions to provide technical
assistance to small farmers.
“ I am com m itted to assuring that
U S D A is providing, and w ill con­
tinue to provide, more efficient, cost
effective, tim ely, sensitive and cus­
tomer friendly services to m inority
and other small farmers whose needs
have too often been neglected,” said
Epsy.
symposium at PSU this summer. The
symposium w ill allow persons already
involved in mediation in Portland
schools to gauge their progress and
discuss steps needed to secure addi­
tional m ediation training.
A bout $15,000 in urban grant
money w ill be used to provide the
training sessions. That includes money
to pay fo r substitute teachers w ith in
the Portland Public Schools, so that
fu ll-tim e teachers can attend the tw o-
day training workshops.
“ T his is a heavy investment, but
we believe it w ill be w ell received by
the participants. M ediation can live
on after the urban grant goes away,”
M ahalic said. “ I f teachers and stu­
dents are trained properly, they can
use these skills year after year. M e­
diation can be implemented in a short
tim e period w ith long-term effects.”
T o s u p p le m e n t the m e d ia tio n
p ro g ra m , P E N and PSU w i ll o ffe r
a co urse in m e d ia tio n . R o b e rt
G o u ld , fo u n d e r o f the O re g o n
Peace In s titu te , w i ll teach the
course, w h ic h w i ll be o ffe re d d u r­
in g the u p c o m in g su m m er, fa ll
and w in te r term s at PSU .
“ The point here is to secure more
college students to become more d i­
rectly involved in urban youth, and to
f u lfill the need o f training urban kids
in the skills o f m ediation,” M ahalic
said. ‘T hro ug h this course, PSU stu­
dents w ill learn about mediation, per­
fect those sk ills , and become involved
in teaching those skills to youngsters
in the urban schools.”
Tabizon Named
Employment
Department
Assistant Director
Daniel Tabizon, a 16-year vet­
eran o f Oregon state government,
w ill becom e the E m p lo y m e n t
Departm ent’ s new Assistant D i­
rector June 1, Em ploym ent De-
partm entD irector Pamela Mattson
announced today.
Tabizon is currently A d m in is­
trator o f the Internal Support D iv i­
sion at the Department o f A d m in ­
istrative Services.
He has also served as A d m in ­
is tra tiv e S e rvices D ire c to r at
O LC C ; T ra in in g and S ta ff D evel­
opment Manager, C orrections D i­
vision; Equal O pportunity M an­
ager, M ental Health D ivisio n; Spe­
cial Programs Manager, Depart­
ment o f Human Resources; and
Volunteer Services Coordinator,
Public W elfare D ivisio n . Tabizon
has also w orked w ith N IK E , Inc.
developing corporate employm ent
guidelines and preparing corpo­
rate recruitm ent and staffing strat-
e gies f o r N I K E ’ s d o m e s tic
workforce.
“ I am delighted that Dan w ill
be jo in in g our team. He has worked
in the private sector, he has worked
fo r many years in government, and
he has a passion about our mission
- which is to promote the em ploy­
ment o f Oregonians,” Mattson said.
“ As Assistant D irector, Dan w ill
carry a significant part o f our chal­
lenging agenda, w ith both internal
and external roles.”
South Africa Continued:
A Different Viewpoint
by
P rof . M c K inley B urt
It seems that last week’ s article
provoked some rather serious and
somber thoughts among the readers.
It was meant to do just that. People o f
color in this w orld (nor others) can ill-
afford more o f the sort o f naive expec­
tations o f an instantaneous justice
and healing to be accomplished by a
single grandiose and highly emotional
grasp fo r long-overdue liberties (like
freedom marches on a nation’ s capi­
tal).
There can be ugly repercussions
from such a retreat from the realities
o f a cruel and invidious w orld. We
hope that readers and observers on
both continents w ill base their o pin­
ions (and hopes) on far more critica l
reporting than that to be furnished by
the corporate establishment press. The
“ medium is the message,” indeed that
is so. Interspersed here, you w ill find
references to several books on South
A frica that “ mine a deep vein” o f that
n atio n ’ s cruel h istory (to co in a
phrase). The notes, bibliographies and
references are the best and have w ith ­
stood critica l assessment
There is “ The Randlords: The
Exploitations o f South A fric a ’ s M in ­
in g M a g n a te s ,” b y G e o ffre y
W heateroft, Atheneum, 1986. This
3 12-page book is a treasure. The fo l­
low ing quote is from the dust jackeL
“ In the late 1860s, South A frica
was the forgotten end o f the earth,
remote, empty and poor. W ith in 30
years it was irrevocably changed by
the discovery o f fabulous riches in
diamonds and in gold. To these fields
went every buccaneer, swindler and
adventurer at the turn o f the century,
where many o f them made stagger­
ingly huge fortunes.
“ The Randlords,’ as they were
called, were men o f ferocious feuds
and am bitions — men lik e C ecil
Rhodes, who began life as a vicars son
and ended it w ith sinister ideals o f
Teutonic w orld dom ination.” In other
words, a preacher’ s son turned Nazi.
A strange q uirk o f fate that the incal­
culable wealth o f tw o men, one fa­
mous, A lfre d Nobel (“ Nobel Prize” -
- In venter o f dynamite) and the other
infamous, Rhodes (“ Rhodes Scholar­
ship” ), should have financed and/or
expedited two disastrous w orld wars
- w hile their names continue to com ­
mand global respect.
By 1887, Rhodes was approach­
ing the pinnacle o f his powers to
control and manipulate lives, lands
and wealth o f the southern end o f the
great A frican continent. Power on the
European continent went hand and
hand w ith this developm ent, and
Am erican did not remain untouched.
The man was involved in the finest
detail o f managing slave native labor,
quite like King Leopold III o f Bel­
gium who stipulated exactly how the
hand o f offending blacks should be
cut o ff (Belgian Congo, now “ Zaire” ).
Rhodes introduced a b ill in the Cape
government - “ Master and Servant
B ill” - that gave employers the rig ht
o f corporal punishment over native
labor. The press called this legisla­
tion the, “ E ve ry-M an -T o -W allo p-
H is-O w n -N ig g e r-B ill” (p.148).
A fte r these successes in 1887,
Rhodes turned his attention to inten­
sifying the exploitation o f the north­
ern parts o f the South A frica n Penin­
sula, Northern and Southern Rhode­
sia, as it was once called (now, “ Z am ­
bia,” a protectorate w ith the B ritis h
commonwealth and “ Z im babw e," an
allegedly independent republic but
closely controlled by the present South
A frican government and western in ­
telligence services). It was in his rush
to secure and increase production in
these new gold fields that Rhodes
b u ilt his “ machine gun and rope”
reputation.
Some o f the readers are rig h t up
on things, pointing out that those 10
critica l minerals le ft o ff the U.S. em ­
bargo lis t against South A fric a are
mostly those critica l to the m ilita ry
manufacturing o fO reg on ’sTeledyne
Wah Chang plant at A lbany. (Does
that answer your question as to how
they can get by w ith so many e nviron­
mental violations? O r the sides the
U.S. finds its e lf on in places like
A n g o la ? ) I ’ m sure th a t N e ls o n
Mandela understands all this, but what
can he/should he do about it.
N o w , w h ile you pon de r these
happy th ou gh ts u n til n e x t w e e k ,
also read “ C e c il Rhodes and the
P u rs u it o f P o w e r” by R o b e rt I.
R o tb e rg , O x fo rd U. Press, 1 9 8 8 .1
have b oth books (am ong o th e rs )
in m y lib ra ry and s tro n g ly re c o m ­
m end them fo r those w ho w a n t to
understand w ho and how the w o rld
is r e a lly ru n . C o n tin u e d n e x t
week.
Volunteers of America
Volunteers o f Am erica o f O r­
egon, Inc. has joined in partnership
w ith eleven other n ot-fo r-p ro fit orga­
nizations in its vehicle donation pro­
gram. The partner organizations w ill
now be able to accept donations o f
vehicles from their constituents as
V O A w ill process the donations. The
processing includes collecting data
from donors, tow ing, and resale o f the
vehicles. M ost o f the proceeds return
to the partner agency and V O A re­
ceives a fee per vehicle.
“ This is a very positive program.
N ot o nly does it provide a service for
the not-for-profits but also fo r those
people w ho want to make a donation.
V O A has helped us provide that ser­
vice to the public. It is a w in w in
situation,” said Carol Law , D irector
o f Development fo r the Parry Center
fo r C hildren.
P artners in V O A ’ s p ro gram
c u rre n tly in c lu d e A m e ric a n H eart
A s s o c ia tio n , T he D o u g y C enter,
S e re n d ip ity , A U T IS M I I I , M t. St.
Joseph’ s R e s id e n tia l & Care C en ­
te r, P a rry C e n te r fo r C h ild re n ,
A lb e rtin a K e rr C e n te r, M u ltip le
S c le ro s is o f P o rtla n d , O re g o n ,
E cu m en ica l M in is trie s o f O regon,
the P o rtla n d C e n te r fo r H e a rin g
and Speech, and T he A m e ric a n
Red C ross O regon T r a il C h a p te r.
D on atio ns o f ve h icle s in c lu d e
cars, tru c k s , boats o r re c re a tio n a l
ve hicles. T o w in g is p ro v id e d free,
and the d o n a tio n s are ta x d e d u c t­
ib le to the fu lle s t e x te n t o f the
law .
Volunteers o f Am erica o f O r­
egon, Inc. is a human service organi­
zation serving our com m unity since
1896 through children and fa m ily
services, senior services and comm u­
nity corrections. V O A is a nation­
wide organization w ith branches in
over 200 communities.
JCPENNEY STYLING SALON
Jefferson High School
Choir and Jazz Ensemble
Spring Concert
Denny’s
Settles For
$46 Million
Continued from front
issue and advertising o f toll-free
numbers to ide ntify claims.
Denny ’ s also said it has agreed
to settle a 1993 com plaint filed by
a child re n ’ s choir w ith the Prince
W illia m C ounty, V irg in ia Human
Rights Commission.
The co m p la int alleged that
Denny’ s refused service to 132
members and chaperons o f the
M a rtin L u th e r K in g , Jr. A l l
C hildren’s C hoir because o f their
race.
WEDNESDAY
June 1,1994
7:00 p.m .
Whether it’s soft curls or a sophisticated
relaxed look, your hairstyle says a lot
about you. So tell the world you feel like
a million - with style that doesn’t cost a
fortune, from the Styling Salon at
JCPenney.
For the salon nearest you,
call 1-800-542-5565.
Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center
5340 N. Interstate Ave.
Free
Admission
A WHOLE NEW LOOK