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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 22, 1998)
Page A2 JULY 22,1998 (Che P o rtb m ò dìlbsntwr O'H “I Have A Dream” Program Empowers Portland Area Youth To Build Own Community PCC Cascade Welcomes New Dean of Instruction “Don't you want to drive a Lexus someday?” "O f course, we all do,” Earl Ford told the group o f 13-14 year olds sitting in front o f him. "So how can we get to be one o f the haves, instead of the have-nots?” The 14 participants ofthe Whitman College-based "I Have a Dream" (IHAD) program, all local Portland area youth, shouted their answers: “Education." “By getting involved. “Vote!" Earl Ford, an eco-systems planner with the U.S. Forest Service at Gifford Pinchot National Forest Headquar ters in Vancouver, Wash., smiled. As a guest lecturer return ing for the second year to teach the IHAD students a lesson in environmental racism, he had achieved his goal—to instill the importance o f dreaming, while also becoming actively in volved in their futures to empower themselves. Charles Sieracki Portland Comm unity College re cently hired Virginia higher educa tion leader Charles Sieracki to take the dean o f instruction position at the Cascade Campus. Highlighting his experience in community outreach and previous dean o f instruction positions, PCC Cascade Executive Dean Mildred Ollee said Sieracki is a per fect fit for the C ascade C am - pus. “Charlie has an internal drive for excellence and the enthusiasm to get the job done," she said. “His previ ous experience in similar po sitions in Virginia and com munity team building skills made Charlie the right per son for this position." Prior to accepting the po sition at PCC, Sieracki served as the dean o f Workforce and Community Development at Germanna Com munity College in Fredricksburg, VA., where he also held the posi tion o f dean o f instruction from 1989-1997. Sieracki also held ad ministrative and teaching positions at Thomas Nelson Community Col lege in Virginia. He received his doctoral degree from the University o f Illinois, a master's degree from MarquctteUni- versity and a bachelor's degree from St. Mary’s University o f Minnesota. Sieracki, who started in the posi tion at PCC June 23, is eager to make a difference at Cascade. He praised the work o f his predeces sor, Don Johnson—w ho retired in June after nearly 30 years at PCC— and others at Cascade for their tire less efforts to benefit the commu nity and the college. Sieracki said that will continue under his leader ship with the help o f current staff and faculty, as well as new addi tions at the campus. “I hope to keep our en thusiasm and focus while working with the creativ ity ofthe new members of the crew to renew our commitment to the com munity," he said. On the job itself and relocating from the North east to the Northwest, Sieracki is equally ex cited. “This is a wonderful opportunity in a great city, with a great commu nity college serving a great city," enthused Sieracki. "I'm honoredto be a part of that." Sieracki will be responsible for providing primary leadership for planning, implementing, evaluating and coordinating the educational programs o f Cascade Campus and other administrative duties as as signed by Executive Dean Ollee. The Cascade Campus, which is located at 705 N. Killingsworth St. in Portland, served 8,700 students each year in the areas o f job train ing, college transfer courses and self improvement classes. In a lesson on environmental racism, IHAD participants and counselors look on as Earl Ford points out the quality of facilities at Walla Walla's Washington Park. Photo by Jennifer Kimura. During their field trip on environmental racism, IHAD students observed the conditions around Mill Creek in an industrial area of Walla Walla. Photo by Jennifer Kimura. IHAD, now in its seventh year, is a collaborative effort between the Portland Public Schools and the Oregon IHAD Foundation a national organization founded in the early 1980's by businessman Eugene M. Lang. Program sponsors include Whitman College, as well as individuals in Portland and other cities. This summer’s program budget came to $54,000, provided by grants of $10.000 each from the J.F.R. Foundation in Portland. OR., the Texaco Foundation in New York, and Whitman College. The Oregon IHAD Foundation contributed $ 14,000. Students participating in Whitman’s summer IHAD pro gram have become known as the Dreamers. The group of 8th and I Oth graders recently completed the summer’s third and final six-day IHAD session, held on the Whitman campus in Walla Walla, Washington. The students hail from Jefferson, Benson, Grant, Roosevelt High Schools, and Whitaker and Harriet Tubman middle schools in Portland. After a classroom lesson, Ford led a field trip around four visible economic divisions o f Walla Walla, allowing the students to observe the differences in use o f natural resources. What the students noticed was ample evidence o f environmental racism— picket fences in developed areas versus barbed wire or no fences near creeks in poor and industrial areas, and sheltered restrooms versus outhouses. Perhaps the most visible difference was the abundance of lush shade providing trees in the better parks, versus hot basketball courts and dried grass at parks in the poorer parts o f town. “What does this mean?” Ford asked the group in his booming voice. It is discrimination— ’’not necessarily on color," he said, but environmental racism is a matter o f availability o f funds and the political decisions which guide them . "Poor people pay taxes too,” he said. "Black people pay taxes too. Do we deserve to have rundow n parks?" he asked the students, as they shook their heads. He stressed that environmental racism is not intended, but exists in every community, whether it be Walla Walla or Portland. Ford does not want his students nor anyone else to point fingers at racism, but rather to stand up and do something about it. “You have to be politically involved to get justice," he said. His overall message was clear: that the power o f educating oneself and becoming involved by voting is the key to success, as he has learned from personal experience. Ford, 45, was bom and raised on a small farm in Louisiana with 14 siblings, he left home at 18 to pursue his education. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in agronomy from Southern University, and later his master’s in public administration from the University o f San Franscico. The field trip led by Ford was only one o f many activities that provided focus into this year's IHADprogram theme, "EmpoweringOurselvestoBuildOurOwnCommunity." Recent Whitman graduates and counselors Jason Smith and Ryan Hagemann taught a component on public speaking, having the students to choose a topic of importance to their community and prepare and deliver a persuasive speech as in a city council meeting. Smith and Hagemann believe that this is skill is "indispensable to empowerment and the ability to contribute to a vibrant eommunity. Led by Whitman graduate Greer Bevel and Walla Walla College student Dawn Goldson, the Dreamers also completed a project in community planning and building. They worked on their writing skills as they composed descriptions of the parks, schools and homes and people in their neighborhoods, in addition to developing mock funding proposals tor improvements in their community. “Many young people today do not fully understand what it means to have a sense of their community,” said Whitman IH AD director Evan Jones, a 1997 graduateof Whitman College. “We want to help them understand the importance ofthe concept, and that they have a certain power within themselves to change and affect their community in a positive way." BIG-TIME BARGAINS! Oregon to Receive Funds fo r After-5chool Programs SAFEWAY COUPON SAFEWAY FOOD & DRUG resident C linton has announced Look For Your $40 m illion in education grants to establish and expand after school program s in 36 states across the country. In Your Oregonian FOODday “This is an im portant step in helping our children say no to crim e and drugs in the Portland Metro Area and say yes to a brighter future,” said ...and save more shopping D em ocratic National C om m ittee (DNC) at Safeway G eneral C hair G overnor Roy Romer. “ A quality education is the most im Enjoy Extra Savings portant tool that we can give our c h il With The dren to succeed in life. A fter school program s like these keep our young people o ff the streets and in the class rooms w here they w ill get that educa tion. 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I v A One coupon per customer Coupon valid 7/22/98 I thru 7/28/98 at your Oregon Saleway Stores (except Milton-Freewater) and S.W Washington stores 000000076807 serving Wahkiakum. Cowlitz. Clark. Skamania and Klickitat Counties 0 Sweet Com Yellow or White. SAVE up to $2.33 on 10 26 Prtc«<t e f f e c t i v e W e d n e s d a y July 7 7 . >am th ru T u e s d a y In ly 7H M id n iq h t 'terns 4 pne« m this ad are avallarne at your tool Safeway stor« I Mo sat« to deafen 'estau-ants or 'nstrtuhons Safes >n retail Quantities only j Juantiti« Of some -terns may be unMed and subteef to avaiiab'ity Mm -esoonsiWe »or typnqraohicai m pictorial errors We -eserve the right fo correct ari printed e»rorî Safeway Sforw Inc , .Sex*'» N obody does it B etter ’ for L ess . . ri , ; ;
