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M etro
‘ri’e ^Jortlanit © bseruer
/nom m unity
C a le n d a r
ZooTeens
T h e O regon Z oo needs 300 high school
stu dents, for the sum m er, to assist in
ed u catin g zoo v isitors. If you love a n i
m als and teaching others, call 503-220-
2449.
International Night
Saturday, Feb. 17, the U niversity o f Port
land will host a night o f international
sights, sounds, and tastes from around
the world in the U niversity Com m ons.
D inner will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
and the show runs from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Tickets are $8 per adult at the door.
Ghana Women’s Art Exhibit
W SU Vancouver, 14204 N.E. Salmon
Creek Ave., hosts a pow erful W est A fri
can art exhibit with guest lecturer and
well-know n G hanaian art historian Nii
Q uarcoopom e. The gallery hours are
M onday thru Thursday from 8 a.m. to 9
p.m. and Fridays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more
information, call 360-546-9580.
School Rally in Salem
M onday, Feb. 19, show your support to
improve Portland Public Schools. Sup
porters will rally rain-or-shine on the capi
tal steps in Salem at noon.
Sisters Fat Tuesday
Tuesday, Feb. 20, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30
p.m. at 137 S.W. Sixth Ave., Sisters o f the
Road, a com m unity advocacy group, will
celebrate breaking ground on the Per-
sonalist Center expansion, with free Fat
T u e sd a y fe s tiv itie s in c lu d e m u sic,
gum bo, and M ardi G ras fun.
February 14. 2 0 0 7
‘Middle Passage’
Author Coming
to Portland
See page B2, inside
V CCI i d «
•'com m unity servie
SECTION
Portland Observer ‘Mother of the Year’
Opal Strong lives
up to her name
BY N lA DlYG
Tin-: P ortland O bserver
n ancient cultures much importance
was given to the nam ing o f a child, for
it was believed that he o rsh e would live up
to the inherent qualities o f that name.
A lthough O pal Strong cam e to her name
via m arriage, this belief holds true today.
The Portland O bserver has nam ed Mrs.
Strong our “M other o f the Y ear" following
her recent surprise 90th birthday gala at
New Song Church C om m unity Center.
Family m em bers cam e from as far a way
as Tulsa, Okla. and N ew York City, and
G hana, W est Africa, to attend the Feb. 3
celebration.
Special guests included such dignitar
ies as State Sen. A velG ordly, M ajor Lewis
"Bud” Fuqua o f the Salvation Army, W illie
Brown o f the N ortheast N eighborhood
Coalition and African Am erican Cham ber
o f C om m erce President Roy Jay.
PHOTO BY N lA D lY (;/T H E PORTLAND OltSERV ER
Each presented Strong with com m em o
rative aw ards honoring her many decades
Opal Strong glows with matriarchal pride at festivities held in her honor.
I
o f com m unity service and activism in a
variety o f endeavors.
Featured surprise guests were S trong’s
sister. Lucille Reed and her niece Patrice
M cDonald, both o f Tulsa, w ho reunited
after 17 years in an ecstasy o f joyful em
braces and tears.
The three-hour gala featured poetry,
vocal and musical perform ances by vari
ous m em bers o f this trem endously tal
ented and successful family, who poured
out their hearts and souls to an apprecia
tive audience and a som etim es em otion
ally overcom e matriarch.
D aughter Gail Strong-Price and grand
son Sean Strong sang musical selections:
g r a n d d a u g h te r s S o n d a F ie ld s an d
Catherine Rhodes perform ed a violin duet;
original poem s were read by daughter-in-
law Bea Strong, great-granddaughters
M cKenzie and M ichelle Strong and great-
grandson D emetrius Rhodes. Son Luther
Strong Jr. and fam ily m em ber Eileen
G ilchrist also hosted the celebration.
A fter an invocation prayer by grand
son Dr. Rev. Mark Strong, pastor o f Life
continued
on page B6
Two Hot Weeks of Portland Jazz
Wolf Family Encounters
Saturday, M arch 3 , 10a.m. to 11 a.m., the
Oregon Zoo, presents “ D on’t be afraid o f
the big bad w o lf’, a unique opportunity
forchildren ages 8-13 years old (children
must he accom panied by an adult), to
explore and learn the nature o f wolves.
Call 503-220-2781 for more information.
Weight Loss Series
New Seasons M arket at N ortheast 33rd
and Killingsworth Street will host free
w eight loss classes on Feb. 28. March 28,
and April 25 from 7 p.m. t o 8 :3 0 p.m.
Humboldt Elementary Fund Raiser
T uesday, March 6, M cM enam ins Chapel
Pub. 430 N. Killingsworth, will contribute
50 percent o f all food and beverage sales
after 5 p.m. to the H um boldt Elem entary
School program s. Enjoy a delicious meal
and help support the school.
End the War Now Rally
Sunday, March 18. Pioneer C ourthouse
Square. O regonians will mark the 4th an
niversary o f the Iraq W ar, with a peaceful
march through dow ntow n Portland at
1:30p.m. Call 503-230-9427 for more infor
mation.
Fostering Diversity
Thursday, April 26 thru Friday, April 27,
Mt. Hood C om m unity C ollege and Port
land State University, will host the two-
day conference to address critical diver
sity-related issues in the Portland and
G resham com m unities, with educational,
business and cultural leaders. Call 503-
491 -7254 for more information.
Black History Foundation
The Black History M useum o f Oregon is
seeking the brilliant m inds o f concerned
individuals to help in restructuring the
museum foundation’seommittee. Call 503-
284-0617 for more information.
Community Support
The African American Health Coalition,
a non-profit that touches the lives o f
m illionsof African A m ericans each year,
rem inds you to support your com m unity
organization. All donations, grants, and
gifts arc tax deductible. For more inform a
tion, visit aahc-portland.org.
Bradley-Angle House
The Bradley-Angle House needs volun
teers to help its outreach against dom es
tic violence. W omen o f color and bilin
gual women are encouraged to call. For
more information.call 503-282-9940.
Parenting Classes
N ew borns d o n ’t com e w ith instruction
m anuals but parents and parents-to-
be can attend classes through P ro v i
d en ce H ealth S ystem s to learn about a
variety o f topics from pain and c h ild
birth to b reastfeeding to infant CPR
and m uch m ore. For a schedule o f
ev e n ts, call 5 0 3 -5 7 4 -6 5 9 5 o r visit:
p ro v id e n c e .o rg /c la sse s.
American jazz
legend Chick Corea
is one o f the most
influential artists in
his genre. Corea
performs with Gary
Burton on Friday,
Feb. 16 at the
Arlene Schnitzer
Concert Hall.
Saxophonist Branford Marsalis kicks o f the 4 th Annual Portland Jazz Festival on
Friday. Feb. 16atNewm ark TheateratthePortlandCenterforthePerformingArts.
Festival opens Friday with
Chick Corea and Gary Burton
he 2(M)7 Portland Jazz Festival kicks
off Friday with tw o full w eeks of
events.
Festivities begin with dual headline
concerts featuring Chick Corea and Gary
Burton, 7:30 p.m. at the A rlene Schnitzer
Concert Hall, and Branford M arsalis.9:30
p.m. at N ew m ark T heater at the Portland
T
C enter for the Perform ing Arts.
G ram m y-award winning trumpeter Roy
I largrovc. perform ing with his jazz quintet
as a fundraiser for Cascadia Behavioral
Health Care, kicks off the second week on
Friday, Feh. 23 at 8 p.m. at the New mark
Theater.
The festival will officially close with the
annual “ First Jazz" performance, presented
by the Jazz Society o f Oregon, Sunday.
Feh. 25 at4:(X)p.m . at the Hilton Portland
continued
on page B6
Report Finds Living Wage Jobs Scarce
Gap widening for
working families
hen it com es to finding a jo b in
O reg o n , the num bers ju st d o n ’t
add up.
For every jo b opening that pays a living
wage in O regon, there are as many as 20
jo b seekers. These are the findings o f the
annual study. Searching for Work that
Pays: 2007 N orthwest Job G ap Study.
W
com piled by the Northwest Federation ot
Com m unity Organizations.
The study com pares the num ber of
available living wage jobs to the num ber of
job seekers and calculates the percentage
of available living w agejobs based, prim a
rily. on data from the Bureau o f l abor
Statistics.
The report finds that the Northwest
econom y is not creating enough jobs to
meet the dem ands of everyday life, with
the gap w idening for w orkers that have
families. In Oregon. 84 percent o f open
jo b s pay less than a living wage for a
household o f three, a single adult with two
children.
T he consequences for w orkers strug
gling to make ends meet are staggering.
Many families are forced to make tough
decisions, juggling scarce dollars between
buying milk for the baby or gas for the car.
T here are renewed calls before the O r
egon Legislature in Salem to help people
find living w age jobs.
Gov. Kulongoski has intnxluced the
Skill Up Oregon bill that will establish a
program to aw ard grants to local and re
gional w orkforce investm ent boards to
provide w orkforce training to individuals
to becom e em ployed in high-dem and o c
cupations.
The advocacy group O regon Action
has proposed an am endm ent to this bill
that would help evaluate its success if
continued
on pane H(i