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USPS 959-680
Established 1 9 7 0
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P U B L IS H E R
C h a rles H. W ashington
E d
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L a r r y J . Ja ck so n , S r.
B u s in e s s
M anager
G ary A nn T aylor
C opy
E d it o r
Joy Ram os
C r e a t iv e
D ir e c t o r
Shaw n S tra h an
In an election year it’s com m on for
political candidates to ask, "A re you
better o ff than you w ere before?”
Increasingly, the states are asking
this question o f form er w elfare
recipients who have gone to work.
W hen U n iv ersity o f O regon
researchers surveyed Oregonians
w ho had moved from welfare to
work, 97 percent said they were
better off.
A lthough this is good news, it’s
also true that a good share o f these
p e o p le c o n tin u e to s tr u g g le
financially. Incredibly, though, some
p e o p le have u sed th is fac t to
suggest that Oregon w elfare reform
isn ’t working. They even im ply that
people were better o ff on welfare
than they are in those first entry-
level jobs, which are abig step toward
econom ic independence.
L et’s set the record straight.
Begin with income: On welfare, cash
assistance and food stamps for a
family o f three is $9,552, which means
they live in extrem e poverty.
Now, if this fam ily’s breadw inner
accepts a full-tim e jo b even at
m inim um w age o f $6.50 an hour,
annual spendable incom e (after
taxes and child-care expenses) rises
to $17,376 from paychecks, food
stam ps and a tax credit.
G ranted, even after going to w ork
this family is still poor. But no fair-
m inded person w ould suggest that
a fam ily dependent on $9,552 a year
in public assistance is better o ff
than a w orking family with $ 17,376.
M oreover, the typical O regonian
m oving from w elfare to w ork today
starts not at m inim um wage, but at
$7.45 an hour. M ore than one in four
start at $8 an hour or more.
A nd that first jo b gives them an
4 7 4 7 N E M a r t in L u th e r K in g ,
Jr. B lv d .
P o rtla n d , O R 9 7 2 1 1
r
M aking black
history
by
O D baerucr
A bad bill on dying
by
u.s.
S enator R on W yden
eor T he
o p p o r tu n ity to m o v e up. A n
in dependent study by the state
Employment Department shows that
after 12 m onths on the job, form er
w elfare recipients w ho are still
working typically earn $9.03 an hour.
A lthough governm ent can help
p eo p le o u t o f p o v erty , ex p erts
increasingly recognize this isn ’t
enough. In a recent article, O regon
State U niversity Professor C lara
Pratt pointed to the need for a
coordinated strategy that takes into
a c c o u n t th e m an y rea so n s fo r
poverty. O ne school o f thinking
lays a key cause o f poverty at the
door o f unaffordable housing costs.
N evertheless, w hen O regonians
m ove from w elfare to work, w e
m easure our effectiveness in part
by how w ell they im prove their
circum stances.
W e know that the initial six m onths
on that first jo b are critical. So w e
offer jo b coaching as well as helping
people new to em ploym ent ensure
th a t
th e ir
c h ild - c a r e
and
transportation arrangem ents work.
W e offer staffed resource room s
w h ere p eo p le can look up jo b
openings, w ork on resum es, brush
up on interview skills, use a phone
and seek job-hunting advice.
T his is in addition to at least a
year’sOregon Health Plan eligibility,
help w ith child-care costs, a federal
tax credit, and food stamps for those
w ho qualify.
The 1980s welfare office m ostly
determi ned whether people quali fied
for a w elfare check. In 2000 it has
becom e an em ploym ent office that
not only helps people find a jo b , but
also helps them clim b the incom e
ladder. T his explains not only why
they answ er “y es” to the question
o f w hether they are better off, but
also why they have real hope o f
doing m uch better.
P ho to g ra pher
David Yandell
I
Lonth
(Elje J l o r t l a n b
Are entry level j obs better
than welfare?
1 | C
M
Articles do not
necessarily reflect or
represent the views of
P orti and O bserver
The House last year used a seem ingly
hard-to-oppose cause, pain relief for
the dying to cam ouflage and pass a
b ill th at e s s e n tia lly o v e rtu rn e d
Oregon’s controversial law-legalizing
assisted suicide. Now the Senate may
take up the ill conceived, m isleading
baill named Pain ReliefPromotion Act.
O ne can have serious qualm s about
legalizing assisted suicide, as w e do,
an d s till o b je c t to C o n g r e s s ’s
repeated efforts to reverse a S tate’s
legitimate attem pt to find its own way
on a c o n te n tio u s and tro u b lin g
subject. O regon’s law, the only one
in th e n a tio n , w a s u p h e ld by
referendum and has survived court
challenge and a previous effort by
Congress to get it directly. That earlier
bill, which would have authorized the
Drug Enforcement Agency to impose
heavy criminal penalties on any doctor
who adm inistered a lethal dose o f any
controlled substance, failed once to
becam e clear that it w ould block not
just drug dosages intended as lethal
but the entire neighborhood gray area
o f drugs adm inistered to the dying to
m akethem more com fortable.’
T his y ear’s bill purports to fix the
problem s by lim iting penalties to
drugs prescribed “w ith the intent” to
cause death. (It also allocates m oney
for palliative care.) But the fix doesn’t
work. D octors w ho treat the dying
say th e lin e is in e v ita b ly fuzzy
betw een a dose that hastens death
and one that merely eases it; doctors
(or nurses or pharm acists) afraid o f
crim inal sanctions w ould be deterred
notjust from former but from the latter
as well.
The Senate version o f the bill has
b e e n d e la y e d b e c a u s e it w as
assigned, apparently by m istake, to
tw o different com m ittees. L abor and
H um an R esources and Jud iciary
Chairm en-Sen. Jam es Jeffords and
O rrin Hatch are expected to take very
different approaches to m aking it up.
T he snafu offers an opportunity to
drop the w hole thing.
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A L L R IG H T S R E S E R V E D ,
R E P R O D U C T IO N IN W H O L E O R IN
P A R T W IT H O U T P E R M IS S IO N IS P R O ­
H IB IT E D .
The Port land Observ er—O regon' s Oldest
M ulticu ltu ra l P u b lica tion -is a member o f the
National Newspaper Association-Founded in
1885, and The National Advertising Represen­
tative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc, New York,
N Y , and The West Coast Black Publishers
A siocialion* Serving Portland and Vancouver
It is A frican A m erican History M onth - a tim e w hen all
A m ericans, n o tju st A frican A m ericans - can celebrate
and learn m ore about the m any and varied contributions
o f A frican A m erican to this nation. Until w e all com e to
know those contributions. W e who are African Americans
will continue to be erased - as in the case o f the T ulsa
race riot, w hich w as all but erased from the collective
m em ory o f O klahom ans and all Americans.
In other instances, our African Am erican children do not
know the stories o f the people upon w hose shoulders
they stand.
Birmingham C ivil R ight Institute
The people o f Birm ingham , A1 are determined that future
generations will know their ow n history and know o f the
many sacrifices w hich African Americans in Birmingham
and throughout the South made. Thus, in the 1980’s
M ayor Richard A rrington put together a com m ittee to
develop the B irm ingham Civil Right institute. O dessa
W oolfolk becam e the head o f that planning com m ittee
O dessa W oolfolk w as b om and raised in Birm ingham .
Her m other w as a school teacher and her father a
craftsman. A product o f the B irm ingham public school
system, she w ent to nearby T alladega College and then
returned to her hom etow n as a teacher herself. Eight
years later she m oved to upstate N ew York and spent
tim e at Yale U niversity, the U niversity o f C hicago and
O ccidental C ollege in Los A ngeles w hile earning her
m aster’s degree in urban studies. Then in 1972 she
returned to the U niversity o f A labam a at Birm ingham .
W hen the m ayor tapped her to lead the planning for the
new museum, she agreed, believing that “ Birm ingham
needed to not run aw ay from the issues that had been so
crippling to us in the past,” adding, w e needed to accept
our history as h isto ry ." And w e had to show people we
w ere better than our history.” Led by young people
across the South. It puts the civil rights m ovem ent o fth e
U.S. in the larger context o f the struggle for hum an rights
around the world. It tells the story o f m any unknown
people who stood up to the pow erful forces o f evil so
that African A m ericans w ould have the opportunity to
vote, to eat and drink and be educated along side their
w hite counterparts.
O dessa W oolfolk understood that history and worked
to m ake sure that young African Am ericans and others
would know that history too. Now eight years after the
opening o f the Civil Rights Institute, she can he proud
oflier contribution to making sure that African American
history o f struggle w ould not be lost. She understood
that the best w ay to honor Black History is to make some
and in her case, the m aking was in the telling. Thanks,
Mrs. W oolfolk.
ENTER THE PASSPORT TO KENYA SWEEPSTAKES AND TOO COULD WIN A TRIP FOR 4 TO KENYA!
As part of our year long salute to African American Heritage, McDonald’s* is
celebrating Black History Month in a big way. You could win one of five trips to
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Entering is easy - just fill out the entry form in this ad or go to our web site at
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moMiofcDonM’s-rosraaitk
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'30417 Í Enter as often as you wishbone entry w stan yl envelope, postmaried by Mowh 24,
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OFFICAL ENTRY FORM
| Entering is easy! Just (ill in the info below, cut on the
! clotted line, and send to: McDonald's- “Passport to Kenya"
¡ Sweepstakes, P O Box 8170, Grand Rapids. MN
' 55745-8170. You m ust print Entries m ust be received
! by M arch 31, 2000 ©2000 M cD onald’s C orporation.
• NRMEi___________________________
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