Minority and Small Business Week
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In depth coverage o f local minority
and women-owned firms
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Committed to Cultural Diversity
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Volume XXXVI. Number 39
.1
.
.
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • September 27. 2006
T Week ¡n
The Review
Local Business Leader Excels
Speedy Investigation Wanted
Sam Brooks
positioned as
future chair of
business alliance
M ayorT om Potter
and Police C hief
RozieSizer are call­
ing for a speedy
investigation into
the death o f a man
who died in police custody. The
v ictim 's family says they can’t
find justification for the am ount
o f force police used. See sto ry ,
pageA 2.
Body Parts Traced to Man
T he hum an rem ains that have
turned up in pieces along the
C olum bia R iver near V ancouver
o v er the past w eek have been
traced to a P ortland m an, 52-
y e a r-o ld D o u g la s A d am so n .
A dam son had been on the m iss­
ing p e rso n ’s list.
Senator Accused of Racism
r g a H E H Sen. George Allen.
R-Va.. widely seen
..Jy ! as a candidate tor
/ ’■AJ
president in 2008,
U iilW L -
bas been accused
y
55
by Ins
lege football team­
mates o f using the n-word to refer
to blacks in the early 1970s and
stuffing a d ee r's head into the
mailbox of a black family. See story,
page A2.
Portland Airport Rated #1
Portland's airport is the best in the
nation, according to readers of
Conde Nast, a travel magazine.
Travelers like all the new renova­
tions, the easy access to dow n­
town Portland by light rail, the
shops and the w ireless Internet
access.
Liquid Ban on Planes Eased
The governm ent is partially lift­
ing its ban against carrying liq­
uids and gels onto airliners, as
long as they are purchased from
secure airport stores, and will also
permit small, travel-size toiletries
brought from home, officials said
M onday.
Enron Mastermind
Sentenced
A n d re w F asto w ,
the m asterm ind be­
h in d
f in a n c ia l
schem es
th a t
doom ed
E n ro n
C o rp ., w as s e n ­
tenced Tuesday to six years in
prison by a judge who felt he
deserved a more lenient term than
the decade he had agreed to ac­
cept in a plea bargain.
Saints Return to Superdome
in an earsplitting
return to their re­
built Superdom e
s ta d iu m ,
th e
N ew O rle a n s
Saints gave the
Big Easy som e­
thing to cheer about M onday —
an easy 23-3 victory over the A t­
lanta Falcons. See story, page A12
Sam Brooks builds on a
record o f success as a
business owner, founder
and executive director o f the
Oregon A ssociation o f
M inority Entrepreneurs
(0AME); and as an o ffic ia l
and future chairm an o f the
P ortland Business Alliance.
by S araii B lount
T he P ortland O bserver
Since becoming an Oregonian in 1969,
business and minority advocate Sam
Brooks has energetically paved the way
for minority business owners.
He and his wife, M argaret, recently
celebrated the 25th anniversary o f
Brooks Staffing, O regon's first minority
staffing firm.
Long before his num erous contribu­
tions and involvement in several busi­
ness organizations, including honors from
the Governor and White House, Brooks
faced a career in oscilloscopes.
His first gig in Oregon was as a self-
described “thing person” at Tektronix,
where he built the electronic devices
used to test electronic devices, until
paralysis in his left arm forced him to
quit.
Before getting fixed up by a surgeon
named Genghis Khan (that's another
photo by S ean O ’C onnor /
T he P ortland O bserver
story), he visited the Oregon Em ploy­
ment Department to inquire about a
new job.
The man on the other side o f the desk
studied Brooks and immediately recog­
nized a "people person" waiting to
emerge. Still accustomed to physics.
Brooks was persuaded to change course
and ended up working for the em ploy­
ment department.
H e's been a people person since,
having founded the Oregon Association
continued ' y ^ on page AS
Advice from a Pro: Market Yourself First
Roy Jay gives
advice to start-ups
by C harity P rater
T he P ortland O bserver
Some may not recognize his name
but may have ridden in one of his
com pany’s many lim ousines. Many
w ouldn’t identify his face as someone
famous but most likely have parked in
one o f his Smart Park garages. And
most people definitely don’t know that
every time they swipe their debit or
credit card they are using a technology
born partially from Roy Jay 's brilliant
ingenuity.
Jay 's story starts 59 years ago where
he was raised in the north Portland
housing projects. He adm its that al-
Vernon
School’s
NASA
Explorers
Isaiah Johnson, a 7th
grader at Vernon School,
prepares a rocket for
launch under the w atchful
direction o f NASA Re­
source Teacher Tony
Leavitt. He and his class­
m ates launched the air
com pression rockets last
week as p a rt o f a celebra­
tion for the school's
selection as a NASA
Explorer School.
P hotoby M ark W ash im . ion /T he
P ortland O bserver
RoyJay
though his family was poor, he grew up
in a very decent environment. His fa­
ther worked out o f state during the
week leaving his mother to tend to him
and his three brothers. During that time.
Jay ’s father couldn’t find work in town
due to his ethnicity and returned on
weekends to see his family.
At eight years old. Jay couldn't wait
to start playing baseball. But when his
parents couldn’t afford a mitt, he didn't
grow sad or give up on his dream, he
mowed lawns and collected bottles to
earn the money he needed. He took his
earnings o f $3.50 and went to Goodwill
to buy a mitt.
"It had no padding but I didn’t care.”
Roy says, “ It felt so good because I
worked for it.”
For a man who bought his first base­
ball mitt with bottles and mowing money,
Roy Jay has developed the skills to
magni fy hi s earnings potent ial a mi 11 ion
o f times over.
Jay is the president and founder o f the
Oregon AI fiance of M i nority Cham bers
o f Com m erce, the president o f the Af­
rican-American Convention and Tour­
ism Com pany, the owner o f several
local com panies, and also a local educa­
tor on small business success.
He offers a simple set of rules for
others to follow in the business game.
"The firs, and most important part of
starting your own com pany is to market
yourself," Jay said, “advertising will only
go so far.”
He also suggests finding a mentor,
continued
on page AS
f
PDC to Hire
Diversity Director
Follows complaints
of institutional racism
In direct response to local African Am ericans who say
the Portland D evelopm ent C om m ission overlooks m inor­
ity business developm ent and a minority workforce, the
agency has m oved quickly to create an executive position
to reconnect with minority com m unities.
PDC Executive D irector Bruce W arner announced
Thursday that he is creating a new position to reconnect
with all minority com m unities to help spread the city 's
prosperity to all neighborhoods.
"The African American com m unity is correct,"W arner
said. “We do need Io reconnect with the grass-roots
com m unity out there."
At a meeting two weeks ago, more than 90 people
including African Am erican leaders Sen. Avel G ordly,
Rev. LeRoy Haynes Jr. and Baruti A rtharee called on the
agency to address institutional racism within the P IK ',
gentrification that has displaced African Am ericans and
a m inority hom e-ow nership gap.
W arner said the new position would boost the num ber
of minority business contracts aw arded by the P IX ’w ithin
six m onthsand improve w orkplace diversity on construc­
tion projects funded by the agency.
The agency executive said he w ould also set up a
diversity council to work on internal issues.
"It sounds very prom ising," said M arcus C. M undy,
president ol the Urban I.eague o f Portland. "It sounds like
Bruce is starting to do the things he said he w ould."