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JAN. 27, 1999
Page A4
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Infant M ortality Decreases...but African American Babies
Still Die at Twice the Rate o f White Babies
O n December 7,1998 Reuters story
that reported on a study com pleted
by John H opkins U niversity and the
N ational Center for H ealth Statistics
in Chicago announced the good news
about longer life and less infant
deaths.
But, K athryn Hall, Founding D i­
rector ofB irthing Project, USA based
in Sacram ento, California, w as not
celebrating. In a statem ent in re­
sponse to the study, Ms. H all, whose
non-profit organization has saved
thousands o fb ab ies lives since 1992,
clarified the statistics.
“ I am concerned by recent m edia
reports regarding A m erica's decreas­
ing infant m ortality rates,” Ms. Hall
said. “T he reports are m isleading and
they give the im pression that w e have
won the battle against poor birth
outcomes. W hile this may be true for
som e o f us, it is not true for specific
ethnic groups. The disparity betw een
whites and African Americans, Ameri­
can Indian/A laskan N atives, N ative
Hawaiians and Puerto Ricans is alarm­
ing. Specifically, the mortality rate for
A frican A m erican babies rem ains
tw ice that o f Caucasian babies.”
T he B irthing P roject affiliates
across the country provide one-on-
one support to at-risk pregnant teens
and women.
“ Birthing Project and other pro­
grams that target these at-risk fami-
lies are continuing to educate our
com m unities about the need for pre­
natal care w hile w e provide the sup­
port required to access it. It w ould be
extrem ely helpful if new s organiza­
tions w ould rem ind the public that
even though th ere’s good new s in
general, the disparity in infant m or­
tality rem ains and continued aw are­
ness o f the problem can reduce the
num bers g reatly,” Ms. H all co n ­
cluded.
A frican Pride Products has been
the sole corporate sponsor o f the
Birthing Project since 1995. Brian K.
M arks, President o f A.P. Products,
Ltd, distributors o f A frican Pride,
added, “We are quite proud o f the fact
that since our involvement with the
Birthing Project, they have grown by
50%. Because our aw areness efforts
have helped this growth we are help­
ing to save babies lives all across the
country. We are grateful and proud o f
our continuing relationship."
The following are current statistic
for specific urban areas regarding in­
fant m ortality per thousand births o f
A frican A m erican babies:
Forth Worth, T X -10.0; Chicago, IL
-17.2; M emphis, T N - 14.3; Washing
ton,D C- 18.2;Philadelphia,PA -19.3
Sacramento County, C A - 14.0; Harlem
N Y C - 15.2;M arianC ounty,IN -17.9
Los Angeles C’o u n ty .C A -16.3: Phoe
nix, A Z - 15.6.
School Closures:
Jefferson, Tubman And Penninsula Threatened
“T he threat o f school closures is
real,” says G e n W ashington, youth
advocate and candidate for the ESD
board. “ T hose o f us in N orth/N orth-
east need to organize and fight or we
could be losing Jefferson, T ubm an
and P ennisnsula."
A n audit com m issioned by P ort­
land Public Schools recom m ended
the closure o f thirteen schools to
save the district $26 m illion dollars.
KPM G Peat M arw ick’s perform ance
audit called for the closure o f one
high school, one m iddle school and
eleven grade schools to save $ 11
m illion in maintenance costs and gain
$15 m illion by renting the space.
B ruce Sam pson, PPS general coun­
sel, says the cuts are necessary be­
cause the district faces a $40 m illion
shortfall next year.
Jefferson H igh School at 57% of
capacity. Tubm an M iddle School at
61% , and Penninsula E lem entary at
41% are am ong those schools w ith
the low est student enrollm ent. Some
com m u n ity activ ists b eliev e the
b o ard w ill m ove to clo se these
schools because they serve low -
incom e, racial m inority and po liti­
cally w eak neighborhoods. “W hen
the ax com es, w e know that w ealthy
neighborhoods w ill be spared and
our schools w ill be hit,” asserted
Jam ie Partridge o f the New Party.
D espite a citizens panel recom ­
m endation o f no closures, school
officials such as superintendent Ben
C an ad a continue to point to school
clo su res as the single b iggest cost
saving device available to the d is­
trict. A final decision will be m ade by
the school b oard in the spring.
T h e su p e rin ten d e n t and som e
m em bers o f the school board, nota­
bly the chair Ron Saxton, favor char­
ter schools. C losing neighborhood
schools and directing public m oney
to u n trie d , u n re g u la te d c h a rte r
sch o o ls appears to be on the b o ard ’s
agenda. C om m unity critics charge
that the audit com pany (K PM G ) was
h ired through S ax to n ’s influence to
further this agenda. “ Is it p o ssib le to
get an in d ep en d en t' audit from a
firm that d o e sn ’t appear to be public
ed ucation friendly? Is there a con-
Looking To The Future
W here Do We Go? And How
Do We Get There?
D riv in g or rid in g ? P ed alin g or
w alking? W hat are the best choices
fo r the tran sp o rta tio n future o f our
reg io n ? M e tro ’s elected o ffic ia ls
and local p artn e rs from T ri-M et
an d th ro u g h o u t the region w an t to
h ea r your suggestions! T h a t’s w hy
M etro is h o stin g a series o f lis te n ­
ing p o sts in m id-January.
T h ere are som e b ig issues th a t
the re g io n ’s leaders m ust face over
the n ex t few m onths and years:
* W h at sh o u ld h appen in the
S outh/N orth corridor follow ing the
N o v em b e r vote?
* W hat is the best m ix o f roads
and rails? o f cars and m ass tran sit?
* W h at are the people o f this
reg io n w illin g to pay for?
M any p eo p le have alread y w rit­
ten, e -m a ile d o r called w ith th eir
ideas. A b o u t 150 p eo p le atten d ed
th e first listen in g p o st h eld in early
D ecem ber. O f th o se w ho spoke,
m an y said th at the reg io n co uld
not b u ild its w ay o u t o f co n g e s­
tion. R ather, th ey u rg ed the elected
o ffic ia ls and p la n n ers to ex p lo re a
variety o f options that include m ore
stree tc ars, b u sw ay s, co m p etitiv e
bus o p tio n s, co m m u te r rail, b etter
b ik e and p e d e stria n fac ilities, and
continued dev elo p m en t o f light rail
as w ell as new o r im p ro v ed roads.
“ W e w an t to g et p e o p le in ­
v o lv ed so th at w e get all th e id eas
on th e ta b le ,” sa id M etro C o u n ­
c ilo r E d W a sh in g to n (D istric t 5).
“ T h a t w ay w e ca n co m p are and
m a y b e co m b in e the m o st in n o v a ­
tiv e a n d m o s t c o s t - e f f e c t i v e
p la n s.” A s c h a ir o f th e Jo in t P o licy
A d v iso ry C o m m ittee on T ra n sp o r­
ta tio n , C o u n c ilo r W a s h in g to n
c a lle d fo r the lis te n in g p o sts an d
h as ask ed d o zen s o f lo c al o ffic ia ls
to jo in him at th e e v e n ts to h ear
from citizen s.
C itiz e n s are a lso e n c o u ra g e d to
ca ll in o r sen d in id eas. T h ey m ay
c a ll M e tro ’s T ra n s p o r ta tio n
H otline at 797-1900 to leave a m es­
sag e. T h ey m ay se n d e -m a il to
w w w .m e tro -re g io n .o rg or w ritte n
su g g e stio n s to th e M etro C o u n c il
O u tre a c h O ffic e , 6 0 0 N E G ra n d
A venue,
P o rtla n d ,
OR
9 7 2 3 2 .M e tro p ro v id e s re g io n a l
se rv ic e s to 1.3 m illio n p e o p le liv ­
in g in 24 c itie s a n d 3 c o u n tie s.
M e tro w o rk s to help g u id e g ro w th
an d to h elp c re a te liv a b le co m m u ­
n itie s fo r the fu tu re.
flict o f interest w hen a consulting
firm audits a public school system
an d a lso m a n a g e s s c h o o ls fo r
profit?” asks the C itizen M onitoring
A d v iso ry C o m m itte e (C M A C ),
w hich has conducted extensive re­
search on K PM G an d the audit.
Cam paign L aunched to Stop C lo ­
su re s
A n alliance o f com m unity organi­
zations is launching a Stop C losures
c a m p a ig n . A p u b lic fo ru m on
W ednesday, January 27th, 7 PM at
the K ing N eighborhood F acility,
4815 NE 7 th, will rally members o f the
H ispanic Parents A ssociation, Black
United Front, Coalition ofB lack Men,
R ainbow C oalition, N ew Party, and
Rethinking Schools T eachers to hear
from C M A C , school activists, and
members o f the Task Force on School
C losures, including C ounty C om ­
m issioner D iane Linn.
S chool closure critics charge that
c lo s in g n e ig h b o r h o o d s c h o o ls
ca u se s tra n sp o rta tio n p ro b le m s,
atten d an ce and p are n t in v o lv em en t
problem s, leading to low er achieve­
m en t an d d ro p o u t p ro b lem s. C lo ­
s u re s w o u ld s e r io u s ly d is r u p t
n e ig h b o rh o o d re la tio n sh ip s an d
v ita lity , th ey say. In N o rth P o rt­
land, th e clo sin g o f Je ffe rso n H igh
S ch o o l o r T u b m a n M id d le S chool
w o u ld d isp e rse B lack stu d e n ts, re ­
v isitin g th e b u sin g p ro b lem s o f the
six ties an d se v en ties. M e m b ers o f
the T ask F orce on S ch o o l C lo su res
say the p ain an d d isru p tio n o f c lo s­
ing sc h o o ls w o u ld o u tw e ig h the
fin a n c ia l sa v in g s.
T h e C itiz e n ta sk fo rc e re c o m ­
m e n d ed g e ttin g c ity an d co u n ty
a g e n c ie s an d o th e r u se rs to pay
ren t to sh a re sp ace in u n d eru tilize d
sc h o o ls. S c h o o ls as co m m u n ity
h u b s , w h e r e a d u lt e d u c a tio n ,
h e a lth c lin ic s , r e c r e a tio n p r o ­
g ram s, a n d o th e r so c ia l se rv ic e s
are o ffe re d w o u ld b e g o o d fo r
n e ig h b o rh o o d s , sa y ta s k fo rc e
m em b ers. W hen p a re n ts feel c o m ­
fo rta b le co m in g to sc h o o l fo r d if­
feren t se rv ic e s , th e y a re m o re in ­
v o lv e d in th e ir s tu d e n t’s s c h o o l­
in g , th e re fo re stu d e n ts p erfo rm
b e tte r.
Applications available
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O reg o n ’s Fastest Growing
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Demographics show women and
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west Washington.’
TheU.S. Small Business Administra­
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an alliance to provide a series o f techni­
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nomic opportunities for entrepreneurs,
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Humberto Reyna, President o f the His­
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working with SB A to ensure that women
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