Page A6
February 28, 2001
(Ttye ^lorUanò (fibeeruer
Purtliiuii
fl
•
® fam ily
SLACK « T O
monm
St. John’s Celebrates With Community Pride Dinner
St. John’s Community Pride
Dinner atJamesJohnE lemen-
tary School.
The Feb 15 event was the
fulfillment o f the vision of
school principal Mike Verbout
to celebrate contributions that
businesses, volunteers, resi
dents and organizations have
brought to the neighborhood.
Roberts spoke about some
o f the past year’s accomplish
ments o f these supporters, in
cluding the creation o f the
Portland ReliefNursery, which
offers respite care and sup
port for families living in the
St John's area, and the imple
m e n ta tio n o f the SUN
(Schools Uniting Neighbor
praises the
hoods) School at the north
accomplishments o f volunteers.
Portland elementary school.
Roberts said that this type o f ad
vocacy and support is typical o f the.
ormer Gov. Barbara Roberts
St. John’s community, which has a
addressed a full house o f
long history o f proactive accomplish
over 200 St. John’s support
ment.
ers and activists at the First Annual She also credited community
F
members with being more politi
cally aware and ready to step
forward to promote community
development.
Roberts has been an active
supporter o f the relief nursery,
modeled after programs in Salem
and Eugene.
The SUN School at James
Johns seeks to offer a verity o f
academic, social, health, and rec
reation programs for youth and
residents this fall. Already, over
215 children have participated in
before and after school programs,
while some 50 adults enrolled in
evening ESL (English as Second
Language) classes. SUN School
co-manger C J Doyle, presented a
slide show that identified the sup
port from a variety ofbusinesses,
schools and conununity organi
zations. Entertainment was pro
vided by 4th and 5th grade stu
dents from James John, who sang
and also performed a reader’s
theater.
family behind you
Wow! Today changes a
lot of things. "I" becomes
"w e" "Ours "replaces "mine." A nd happily ever after
becomes a goal, not a given. Nervous? No w ay
You have a stro ng fam ily b e h in d you.
A m erica n Family M u tual Insurance. W h e n
you're b u ild in g a future , tru s t means e ve ry
th in g an d 70 years in th e insurance busi
ness is experience th a t helps y o u b o th feel
secure. W hen it comes to com m itm ent, our
consistent A+ (Superior) ra tin g fro m th e
respected insurance ra tin g a u th o rity A.M .
Best speaks fo r itself. Just call a n d one o f
o u r h e lp fu l, k n o w le d g e a b le a g e n ts w ill
g la d ly tell y o u more. Now, take a deep
breath. A nd... ju m p ! We've g o t y o u covered.
I
Multnomah County Commissioner Serena Cruz are guests o f honor at the St. John's Community
Pride Dinner.
Census Shows Blacks More
Educated and Affluent
AMERICAH FAM IIY
IN S U R A N C E
A UTO HO M E BUSINESS HEALTH LIEE *
I
All Your Protection Under One Roof.
American Family Mutual Insurance Company and its Subsidiaries. Madison, Wl 53783-0001 www.amfam.com
African Americans are bet
ter educated, more likely to be
employed and have higher
household incomes than ever
before, according to data re
leased by the U.S. Census Bu
reau.
A frican A m ericans now
represent 13 percent o f the
total U.S. population, up from
12.3 percent in 1990. They
spend $572.1 billion annually
on consumer goods, or roughly
$270 billion more than they
spent a decade ago.
That means African Ameri
cans now represent two out of
every three dollars spent by
minorities, making them the
largest buying power group,
a cc o rd in g
to
Diversitylnc.corn’s Business
Case for Diversity.
The census information pro
vides further insight into this
increasingly affluent and edu
cated group. For example, the
median income o f African-
American households has been
on the rise and topped $27,910
in 1999. Moreover, 51 percent
of married African Americans
reported incomes o f $50,000
or more compared with 60 per
cent o f w hites. H ow ever,
single-family households are
more common among African
Americans. O fthe 8.7 million
African-American families re
corded in 2000, single women
headed 44 percent and single
men headed 8 p e rc e n t.
Roughly 47 percent o f all Af
rican-A m erican households
owned their otvn homes.
t