4W
Page A5
DEC. 30, 1908
<37 he |Jo rtIa n h (Dbsertter
and
disabled at
risk during
cold
weather
D u r in g t h i s tim e o f
e x tr e m e c o ld w e a t h e r ,
M u ltn o m a h C o u n t y ’s
A g in g a n d D i s a b il it y
S e r v ic e s e n c o u r a g e s
th e p u b l i c to lo o k o u t
fo r th e ir fra il e ld e rly
n e ig h b o r s o r p e r s o n s
w ith d i s a b i l i t i e s w h o
m ay be is o la te d or
u n a b le to g e t to a
w a rm p l a c e .
P e r s o n s w ith l im it e d
in c o m e s a n d r e s o u r c e s
a n d /o r h e a l t h p r o b le m s
a re p a r t i c u l a r l y v u l n e r ­
a b le d u r in g e x tr e m e
w e a th e r c o n d itio n s .
P n e u m o n ia is a v e ry
r e a l t h r e a t to p e r s o n s
w h o s e h e a l t h is a l ­
r e a d y c o m p r o m is e d b y
c o ld w e a t h e r .
P e o p le w ho h a v e a
c o n c e r n a b o u t an
e ld e rly or d is a b le d
n e ig h b o r or a b o u t
s t a y i n g w a rm t h e m ­
s e l v e s c a n c a ll
M u ltn om ah C o u n ty ’s
A ging and D is a b ility
S e r v ic e s H e lp lin e at
2 4 8 -3 6 4 6 , 24 hou rs a
day.
American Youth
Many o f the essential things that
A frican American young people
need in order to thrive are missing
from their lives. T hat’s the con­
clusion o f a survey that included
789 African A merican sixth, eighth
and tenth grade students (as part o f
a survey o f 10,000 students over­
all) within Multnomah County. The
survey measured the presence o f
40 assets or building blocks that
all young people need to grow up
healthy, caring and competent.
On average, as our survey re­
vealed, local A frican A m erican
youth have only 19 o f these 40
assets, leaving them vulnerable to
many problems.
N ow that we know that, what do
we do? W ell, as this research re­
port reveals, you can do a great
deal. For exam ple, few African
A m erican youth say they have a
positive adult role model, som e­
thing family, school and com m u­
nity members can provide. Only
one in three says young people are
given useful roles in the com m u­
nity. We can provide those roles
for our youth. Only one in four
believes that the com m unity val­
ues them, so we need to com m uni­
cate w ith young people and let
them know we care. We can be
proud o f the relationships we have
established that have given our
young people inner strength. Now
we need to recognize that m any o f
the assets they lack are w ithin our
pow er to provide.
W hat do we know about our A f­
rican A m erican youth? We know
most have hope. W e know they
have integrity and accept personal
responsibility. We know they are
m otivated to do well in school.
Their inner strengths and atti­
tudes co n trad ict the m yth that
young people simply don’t care.
M any are involved in community
service and their religious com-
SKIDS HAPPEN:
A guide to surviving
winter road hazards
’Tis the season for driving hazards. Please share the below
w inter driving tips from L iberty N orthw est and help your readers
be safe this season:
Speed o f light
your night vision is lim ited to the area your headlights show.
N orm ally low -beam lights allow you to see about 100 feet ahead.
At 60 m iles an hour, your car travels at 88 feet per second. Driving
at greater speeds could cause you to overdrive your headlights for
bad conditions, such as snow , rain, ice, and fog.
Glare aware
Staring at bright lights may tem porarily ham per your night
vision. To dim inish the effect o f on-com ing headlights, look at the
low er right side o f your traffic lane as m uch as possible until the
car passes.
Skids happen
A void sudden braking, acceleration or steering m oves. Rem em ­
ber ice form s on bridges before roadw ays - except ice underneath
passes, in shade or at high altitudes.
Take a brake
In freezing conditions, stop slowly. N ever slam on the brakes.
Pump brakes slow ly and if wheels lock, let o ff the brake im m edi­
ately and pum p the pedal again.
Keep your distance
In wet and freezing w eather, allow for at least two to three the
follow ing distance and reaction time.
Surviving the splash
'J
4
3.
4
A
$
In extrem ely heavy dow npours, keeps the w indshield wipers on
high. Passing cars can splash a trem endous am ount o f w ater on
your w indshield blinding you tem porarily.
For the Ions haul
Begin long trips w ell-rested and take breaks every two hours or
100 m iles. D on’t drive after your norm al bed time since your
alertness naturally decreases at that point. Rem em ber to follow
the w arning for prescription and m edications - take care to avoid
anything that may make you drowsy.
See and be seen
C lean headlights and w indshield frequently and replace w iper
blades regularly. Drive w ith your headlights on day and night,
especially in foggy w et and dark days.
munities, are motivated to do well
in school, care about others, stand
up for what they believe in, and see
a bright future for themselves.
African A merican youth con­
tinue to believe and to care and to
hope even as they lack the support
that can virtually guarantee suc­
cess.
W hile African American youth
have m any inner strengths, they
suffer because they d o n ’t have
enough adult involvement in their
lives. Inner strength isn ’t enough -
young people simply can ’t do it all
on their own.
M ost A frican Am erican youth
say they don’t have a caring neigh­
borhood. Most African American
youth say they don’t have a posi­
tive adult role model. M any say
they feel adults don’t value them
or listen to them. These are things
adults can help to fix.
Through this survey, we discov­
ered that most o f our young people
feel they have family support and
love, but the m ajority says their
family doesn’t com m unicate well.
Far too few feel the community
cares about their success or fail­
ure. W ile young people care about
learning and we know their school
environment can have an enormous
impact on shaping their skills and
ambitions, too few have adults who
are involved in their education.
On the average, A frican A m eri­
can youth have just 19 o f the 40
assets they need, but it doesn’t
have to stay that way. There are
things we can do to provide our
youth w ith positive role models,
and to show our interest in the
success o f every A frican A m eri­
can young person.
For our African A merican young
people to succeed, we must take
the time to show them we care for
them, take the time to com m uni­
cate with them, and take the time
• » ; •
A profile o f African American youth was conducted by Multnomah Commission on Children & Families.
to support them. By doing so, we
give our youth the assets they need
to succeed.
To order additional reports, call
the Take the Time Line at 503/
248-5066. ■
Oregon’s Minimum Wage Jumps to
$6.50 per hour January 1, 1999
It will be an especially happy
new year for the 11.4 percent
o f O reg o n ’s work force sched­
uled for a pay raise January 1,
1999 w hen the s ta te ’s m ini­
mum w age increases to $6.50
an hour.
In the final o f three m ini­
mum w age hikes m andated by
a b a llo t in itia tiv e in 1996,
O re g o n ’s m inim um wage in­
creases to $6.50 an hour Janu­
ary 1, 1999. C urren tly $6.00
an hour, up from $5.50 an
hour in 1997, O re g o n ’s rate is
the highest in the nation. The
only exceptions are a few mu-
nicipalities, such as the City o f
P o r tla n d a n d M u ltn o m a h
County that have set higher
“ living wage” requirem ents for
certain w orkers under service
c o n tra cts. Since e m p lo y e rs
m ust com ply with the req u ire­
m ents m ost beneficial to the
em ployee, all Oregon em ploy­
ers must pay the highest wage
m andated. For exam ple, even
though the current federal m ini­
mum wage rem ains $5.15, O r­
egon em ployers m ust pay the
higher state rate.
“ Most em ployers seem to be
prepared for the w age hike,
but the bureau’s Technical A s­
sistance for E m ployers p ro ­
gram info line is still receiving
dozens o f calls asking about
the m inim um w ag e,” noted
Jo a n S te v e n s - S c h w e n g e r ,
T echnical A ssistance for Em ­
p lo y e rs P ro g ra m m an a g e r.
“ E m ployers w ant to know if
there are some exceptions such
as a tip credit o r a low er tra in ­
ing w age, or i f they have to
give their em ployees who cur­
rently m ake $6.50 an hour an­
other raise January 1.”
BOLI officials say the an­
sw er to all three questions is
“no” . “The m inim um wage is
ju st that - the m inim um ,” says
S te v e n s -S c h w e n g e r. “ Y ou
c a n ’t pay less to offset for tips
or training. But em ployers are
not required to pay more than
the m inim um wage when the
rate increases to the current
w age level o f som e o f their
em ployees.”
For more inform ation about
O regon’s wage law s, em ploy­
ers can visit B O L I’s web site,
www. BOLI. state.or.us, or they
can call the Technical A ssis­
tance for Em ployers Program
in Portland, 503/731-4073.
Policy Makers End Month Spent On
Food Stamp Budget
Last Friday marked the end o f a
long and frugal month for twelve
Oregon policy makers who spent
the four weeks living on a food stamp
budget and being paired with a food
stamp recipient in their district. The
public officials participated in Walk
a Mile, an educational program co­
ordinated by Oregon Food Bank and
sponsored by a number o f other so­
cial service agencies.
The participants this year included
Sen. Marilyn Shannon; Sen. Lenn
Hannon; Sen. Veme Duncan; Sen.
Kate Brown; Rep. Ken Messerle;
Rep. Barbara Ross; Rep. K itty
Piercy; Rep. Tom Butler; Rep. Lynn
Lundquist; Julia Cooley, Governor's
office; Bob Repine. D irector o f
Housing and Community Services;
and Gary Weeks, Director o f De­
partment o f Human Resources.
As part o f the project, pairs talked
on the phone, met together over
lunch or went grocery shopping to­
gether. Legislators learned about the
myriad o f issues facing low-income
Oregonians.
Rep. Ken Messerle, Coos Bay
said “Talking with her (his match)
brought into focus the pressures
these folks are facing." Added to the
pressures o f surviving on a tight bud­
get, Messerle added. “The economy
here is very depressed and looking
worse all the time."
Sandra Savage, a food stamp re­
cipient and single mother paired with
Sen. Lenn Hannon o f Ashland shared
the difficulties o f a food stamp bud­
get.
“ It’s hard to live on $237 a month
on food stamps for three people; we
buy what we can to make it through
the month.” Savage recently shared
dinner with Sen. Lenn Hannon and
his extended family. “We had tacos,
talked about education and how hard
it is to find affordable housing."
“This year's project made some
profound co n n e c tio n s betw een
groups o f people who are not often
able to connect. Both legislators
and food stamp recipients expressed
gratitude and understanding after
having the opportunity to meet,” Said
Cassandra Garrison, project coor­
dinator. She added, “the project re­
ally highlighted the void left by wel­
fare reform, social service agencies
simply are not able to fill the gap.”
In addition to Oregon, eight states
including Alaska, Arkansas. Indiana.
Louisiana, Montana, New Y ork, Ohio
and Wisconsin also ran Walk a Mile
projects this fall. The Walk a Mile
program went national in May of
1995 when 16 members o f Congress,
eight Democrats and eight Republi­
cans were matched with welfare re­
cipients in their home districts.
i . *
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