Committed to Cultural Diversity
ZlT o nun n nt
to
I e n b a r
www.Dortland
Crisis Team members move in on School Board
A Day at the Fair
T he L eadership Developm ent program at
Portland State U niversity, in partnership
w ith organizations such as the Black
United Fund, A lbina Ministerial Alliance,
Center forC om m unity Mental Health, and
th e U rb an L ea g u e, is o rg a n iz in g a
c o m m u n ity f a ir to b rin g to g e th e r
P ortland’s N orth/N ortheast residents and
connect them with nonprofit organizations
that help to build healthy and successful
futures. T he event will be on June 3, from
10 am .- 2 pm. at the M att D ishm an
Community Center, located at 77 NE Knott.
Call 503/282-7973.
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Serving Up Youth Tennis in
the Parks
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The w hack o f a racquet against a tennis
ball is a special sound o f sum m er -
especially w hen m ade by kids and teens
p a r tic ip a tin g in P o rtla n d P ark &
R ecreation’s Junior Tennis in the Parks
program. T hree 2-w eek sessions will be
offered starting June 26 and ending
A ugust 3. Lessons take place M onday-
Thursday for one hour. Call 823-3189.
Frem ont/M L K
V ision
Committee Meeting
The next tw o m eetings o f the Frem ont/
M LKVisionCommitteewillbeonTuesday,
M ay 30, at 6 pm. at O A M E Plaza, 4134 N.
V ancouver and then on Tuesday, June 13,
at the sam e tim e and location. All o f the
w orking C om m ittee m eetings are open to
the public and include a public com m ent
tim e. D epending upon the progress o f the
com m ittee, they anticipate that the next
com m unity-w ide presentation to solicit
com m ents on vision study alternatives
will occur in July, although no firm date
has been set. Additional information about
this and other PDC projects is on-line at
w w w .portlanddev.org/develop.
T heater about the Local A rtist Show case
on Friday, June 23,2000.
The Palace and Collections
of a Russian Noble Family
Art lovers have a few m ore days to see the
StroganofT: The Palace and Col lections o f
a Russian Noble Family at the Portland Art
Museum. This acclaimed exhibition, which
has garnered international press attention
clo se s on W ed n esd ay , M ay 3 1 .T he
exhibition features icons and antiquities,
gold and silver decorative arts, palace
furnishings all arrayed as they w ere in the
S troganotf Palace, one o f the grandest 18lh
century buildings on St. P etersburg’s
principal thoroughfare.
Try Acupuncture, Herbal
Remedies at Free Seminars
A re you healthy as you w ant to be, could
be? C om plem entary m edicine can give
you a new outlook on your health. Now,
you can check it out in a safe, educational
forum. The O regon C ollege o f Oriental
M edicine (O C O M ), 10525 SE Cherry
Blossom Dr.. Portland, is sponsoring free
sem inars on June 10, 17 and 24. Each
Saturday sem inar starts at 10 am. and lasts
about 90m inutes. Call 503/253-3443.
E n vironm en tal Ju stice
Action Group Meeting
T he Environm ental Justice Action Group
(EJA G ) will be having a m eeting on
W ednesday, June 7, from 6-8 pm. in the
King N eighborhood facility. T he focusof
the meeting is to review results o f a recent
E JA G c a n v a s s in N o rth /N o rth e a s t
Portland around air pollution and asthm a
issues conducted in conjunction with
Portland State U niversity students. The
o r g a n iz a tio n
is
d e d ic a te d
to
environm entalism in the inner city.
»
* T he N ew Party is urging the school district
and board to immediately implement the Crisis
= Team proposals and provide sufficient high
5 quality m aterial sm aller class sizes, student
“■ and teacher mentors and tutors to im plem ent
changes. T he party is confident that voters
w ill pass the sch o o l b o n d m e asu re in
N ovem ber, w hich can provide the needed
funds. The Crisis Team has proposed hiring
“achievem ent czars” for each o f the low-
achieving schools, and allowing them to make
final decisions on classroom instruction
policies. Instead, the school district should
put its best and brightest principals in those
sc h o o ls , an d m a k e it fin a n c ia lly an d
professionally w orthw hile for them to stay in
place and turn them around. T he Crisis Team
is right: T h ere’sn o m ore tim eto waste. Every
year that this gap persists sentences another
group o f kids to a sub-par education.
f
Tony H opson, p resid en t o f S e lf Enhancem ent Inc. a n d Ron Herndon, co-chair o f the B lack U nited F ront a n d h ead o f the A lbina H ead
Start program , explain their reason f o r m arching on the sch o o l board m eeting on M ay 22.
CONTRIBUTEPSTORV
"W e're w orking on it.”
That was the Portland Public S chools’ answ er
to those w ho dem anded action to close the
ap p allin g gap in s tu d e n t’s ach iev em en t
between minority and w hite kids 30 years ago.
It was the answ er 20 years ago. And 10 years
ago. And it is the d istrict’s answ er today.
M eanw hile, the racial achievem ent gap is still
there - ju st as large, ju st as ugly, ju st as
Attention Unsigned Artists!
A pproxim ately 10 artists and bands,
encom passing all styles o f m usic, will be
chosen to perform at the Black Music
Artist Show case on June 23rd. T op 3
perform ers will have a chance o f w inning
great prizes like $1,000. T he deadline is
M ay 26. Send a 2-song cassette, bio,
picture if possible, any press m aterial and
com plete contact inform ation w ith non-
refundable application fee o f $25 for a
single artist and $75 for group by the
deadline date. C ontact the R oseland
T hey’ve been waiting, som eofthem , forthree
long decades. T hey w o n ’t w ait - they
shouldn’t w ait— any longer.
The Educational Crisis Team had set a May 12
deadline for the school district to respond to
its dem ands for action, it failed to m eet the
deadline, so the Educational Crisis Team
demonstrate. Yet the Educational Crisis Tearn
is right to insist on a sense o f urgency. This
cannot be allow ed to go on - this clucking
over a system that enables som e children to
achieve, but not others.
O f course, this isn ’t ju st Portland’s problem
- the m inority achievem ent gap is evident in
urban schools all over this county. And it’s
not ju st a school problem , either. Too many
students get little or no help at home; too
m any show up at school unprepared to learn.
Y et it’s possible to close the achievem ent
gap. O thers have done it. A grow ing num ber
o f urban school serving m ostly m inority and
poor kids are bringing high percentages o f
their students to grade level in math and
reading. If they can, so can Portland.
unconscionable, as ever.
The Portland school district is w orking to
close the gap. Superintendent Ben Canada
calls it his highest personal priority, and a
m ajor effort to close the gap is part o f a new
strategic plan to be approved by the school
board in June.
Yet the district is m aking a m istake by failing
to im m ediately take up the proposals o f a
com m unity coalition that has produced its
own plan for boosting lagging achievem ent
at 14 schools with m ostly poor and m inority
stu d en ts.
T he coal i tion, known as the "Education Crisis
Team ," is made upofm ainly African American
and Latino leaders. It’s the w rong group for
the district to kiss o ff w ith a w e're-w o rk in g -
on-it, leave-it-to-us" approach.
These people, theses parents, these graduates
o f the Portland schools them selves, have
seen and heard it all before. T h ey 'v e been told
before to wait for the new plan, the new effort,
the new approach to fix these schools that
keep failing kids.
———————————— ---------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------------i—
2000 Oregon salute to small business
i o h T iie
P ortland O bsekx lh
Each year for the past 37 years, the President
o f the United States has issued a proclamation
calling for the celebration o f Small business
W eek. This year. N ational Small Business
W eek, w hich is sponsored by the U.S. Small
Business A dm inistration (SBA), was held
from May 21-27,2000. The celebration honored
the estim ated 25 m illion small businesses in
Am erica that em ploy more than h alf the
country’s private work force, create tw o o f
every three new jobs, and generate a m ajority
o f A m erican innovations.
Small Business Week recognizes outstanding
small business ow ners for their personal
ac h ie v em e n ts an d c o n trib u tio n s to our
n a tio n ’s e c o n o m y .
O n e o u ts ta n d in g
entrepreneur is named to represent each state,
the District o f Colum bia, Puerto Rico and
G uam as the state Small Business Person o f
the Year. From this group, the national mall
Business Person o f the Y ear is chosen.
Trade associations, cham bers o f com m erce
an d b u sin e ss o rg a n iz a tio n s fre q u e n tly
sponsor candidates. Sponsors subm it a
nomination package to the nearest SBA district
office for review and selection by each district's
S m a ll B u s in e s s A d v is o ry C o u n c il.
Nomination packages are then sent to regional
SBA offices and prepared for transm ittal to
the SBA O ffice o f A dvisory Councils for
review. The national Small Business Person
o f the Year, as well as tw o runners-up, are
selected by the SBA A dm inistrator based on
th e re c o m m e n d a tio n s o f th e N atio n al
Advisory Council and are announced during
Small Business W eek.
This years' aw ard cerem ony w as held at the
Benson Hotel May 17,2000
Ken Boddie, for the third year in a row, was
chosen to be M aster o f Cerem ony. "W hen a
quarterback finds a play that works, why
change it?" said Phil Gentry, District Director,
SBA Portland, speaking o f the job he gets
form Ken Boddie each year without fail.
at
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(Top) Ken B oddie draws d u ty as M aster o f
Ceremony.
X
(Right) Phyllis S. Gaines o f Vessels
Í
accepts aw ard f o r the Sm all Business
s
A dvocate o f the Year.
Phil Gentry, also introduced the new Regional
Administrator. Region X, SBA, Joann Francis,
w ho took over the awards cerem ony with a
m oving talk about her em ergence into her
current position.
Joann preceded to introduce the keynote
speaker, Joan Hartley. Business Development
C oach, Speaker & Author w ho brought tools
and toys to m ove the audience to looking at
d o in g b u s in e s s from m a n y d if fe r e n t
perspectives, using everyone as a part o f the
team.
Small Business Advocalesand Special Award
Winners
A small business advocate is an individual
who has used his or her professional expertise
o r p e r s o n a l ta le n ts to f u r th e r th e
u n d ersta n d in g an d a w a re n e ss o f sm all
business. These individuals have also taken
an active role in creating opportunities for
small business.
The fol lowing smal 1 busi ness advocate awards
w ere presented:
A ccountant A dvocate o f the Year . ..Bryan P.
Fitzsimmons, CPA-
F in a n c ia l S e r v ic e s A d v o c a te o f th e
Y ear..... Cherie Folkens, Jam es M ackinnon&
K elly M ears O regon C ertified B usiness
D evelopm ent Corporation
M inority Small Business A dvocate o f the
y ear.......... Phyllis S. G aines- V essels
W om en in Business A dvocate o f the Year
......M ary O ’K ief Southern O regon
W om en's Access to Capital (SO W A C )
V eteran Small Business A dvocaate o f the
Y e a r.. .C arl W h a le y -S a le m 's V ete ran
Center
M edia A dvocate o f the Y ear. . .Stephen R
W oodw ard & Jacuelinc S. Love-
O regonian
O reg o n S m all B u sin ess P erson o f the
Y ear
John R. Bendit-U pscale Automotive
Region X and Oregon Small Business Exporter
o f the Y e a r.. JohnC . H agler-Classic Trolley.
Inc.