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‘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