Il|e JJortlanb (Observer
Page A4
April 4, 2007
Opinion articles do not
necessarily reflect or represent the
views o f The Portland Observer
O pinion
Getting Your Groove On:
Busting a move
can pave way for
better health
by M arc H. M orial
In 2003 the National
Urban League under­
took a more focused and
aggressive approach to
health issues in light of
serious disparities in the
physical well being of
African Americans com­
pared to whites.
It stands to reason that a
healthier community means a more
prosperous community - one with
fewer sick days, higher productiv­
ity and lower healthcare costs. So,
it pays to take preventative steps
women. Roughly half of African
Americans lead inactive lifestyles
compared to 38 percent of whites,
the CDC contends. And cancer is
most likely to hit black men than
any other ethnic group and gender,
followed by white men.
If the African Ameri­
can community contin­
ues down this road, we'll
never be able toclose the
gaps that exist between
us and m ain stream
America. That is why we
need to get serious about
becoming more active
and eating less. And that is not as
difficult as you think.
Incremental changes to your
lifestyle - adding 2.IXX) more steps
a day and cutting calories by 1 (X) -
can halt weight gain.
America on the Move found that dancing is
double the workout that walking is. So we
banded together with the group, PepsiCo, YMCA
and the National Council o f La Raz.a to help
communities o f color get their dance on.
PCC C ascade C onnection
BY
Weekend College for Busy People
by A lgie G atewood
G uaranteed O pportunity
My past two years as Presi­
dent o f P ortland C om m unity
C olleg e's Cascade Campus have
been marked by an unusual honor:
during each o f those years, the
top com m unity college scholar in
Oregon has been a Cascade C am ­
pus student.
Now, am ong the ranks o f cam ­
pus presidents, such a thing is a
feather in o n e 's cap. It brings
recognition to Cascade Campus,
it stimulates interest among mem­
bers o f the community, and it adds
a little healthy com petition into
the mix. It gives me a measure of
bragging rights, even though it is
the stu d e n ts th em selv es who
have done the heavy academic
lifting.
But this year in particular, amid
the accolades and hoopla, a sa­
lient fact stands out. This y ear’s
top scholar, Lisa Hummel, is an
extraordinarily hard-working and
dedicated student who deserves
every bit o f the recognition she
has received and will receive
when she is honored next month
at a nationw ide convention of
com m unity colleges in Tampa,
Fla.
Lisa’s achievements, however,
were made possible by a seem ­
ingly simple but all-important fac­
tor: accessibility. Had she not
been in a p osition to attend
classes at PCC, she would not
have been able toexcel in the way
she has, and her future would
look decidedly different than it
does as this moment.
There is no Ivy Leagueexclusiv-
ity on community college cam­
puses. It is a point of pride for us
that we exist to serve everyone in
the community, regardless of back­
ground, age, race or economic sta­
tus. To get a start on her education,
Lisa took advantage of a Cascade
Campus program called Project In­
dependence, which helps displaced
homemakers transition into higher
education or the workplace. The
program enabled her to bridge the
gap between her dream of going to
college and the reality of actually
doing it.
This question of accessibility
must always be at the front of my
mind and those of my fellow com­
munity college administrators. We
must always look for ways to make
community college more accessible
to everyone, to help would-be stu­
dents bridge their personal gaps
the way that Lisa did.
It is with this notion of accessi­
bility in mind that PCC is launching
the Weekend College program this
Spring Term, which Cascade Cam­
pus is privileged to host. Weekend
College exists to help those people
w ho want to attend classes but are
barred by that most elusive of fac­
tors - time. By offering courses
from Friday evenings through Sun­
day afternoons. Weekend College
reaches out to those people whose
A lgie
G aiehus
work and/orfamily lives simply pre­
vent them from attending classes
during the week.
So for those of you who would
like to go to school but are busy
living your lives during the week­
day hours, I would like to propose
a bargain. If you will give Weekend
College at Cascade Campus a try -
and take that first step toward a
degree, a change of careers, or sim­
ply a broadening of your personal
horizons - 1 will continue to do my
utmost at Cascade Campus to make
higher education even more acces­
sible to you, your family, your
friends and your neighbors.
Trust me on this one - if s a good
bargain, one in which everybody
wins. You will never regret seizing
an educational opportunity, 1 guar­
antee it.
Just ask Lisa Hummel.
Algie Gatewood is president o f
the Cascade Campus o f Portland
Community College in north Port­
land.
S
NEW S E A S O N
_____ -J
M A R K E T
N O W D E L IV E R IN G
Y o u r fa v o r ite n e ig h b o r h o o d g r o c e r y s to r e n o w d e liv e r s
g r o c e r ie s r ig h t to y o u r h o m e o r o ffic e .
à
to stave off major illness for as
long as possible - not only in terms
of physical but fiscal health as
unforeseen medical expenses can
wreak all kinds of havoc on a
family's bottom line, especially if
your uninsured as 19 percent of
African Americans are.
Even when you're covered,
there's no guarantee that you w on't
be driven into the poor house by
an unexpected medical emergency.
According to a 2005 Harvard Uni­
versity study, 50 percent of bank­
ruptcy filers, a majority (68 per­
cent) with health insurance, at­
tributed their situation to unfore­
seen medical crises. And the aver­
age out-of-pocket medical debt
incurred by those who declared
bankruptcy was roughly $ 12,(XX),
which is twice the average net
worth of African Americans.
This is an issue we cannot af­
ford to ignore, especially in the
African-A m erican com m unity,
where rates of diabetes, heart dis­
ease and obesity are higher than
other ethnic groups. In our 2(X)6
State of Black America, the health
sti lus of blacks was almost 76
percent of that of whites. Accord­
ing to the Centers for Disease
Control, African-American women
are roughly twice as likely to suf­
fer from hypertension and to be
overw eight or obese as white
Back in 2006, the health non­
profit America on the Move (AOM )
joined with us to launch the Healthy
Steps program to get more Ameri­
cans, especially in communities of
color, off the couch and into their
walking shoes.
AOM found that dancing is
double the workout that walking is.
So we banded together with the
group. PepsiCo, YMCA and the
National Council of La Raza to help
communities of color get theirdance
on.
We kicked off the Smart Spot
Dance! initiative with Mario Lopez
of Dancing with the Stars, LaChanze
of Broadway hit The Color Purple
and veteran choreographer Maria
Torres.
Busting a move is so much more
than a leisure activity. It's also a
great way to get fit and lose weight,
which translates into an improved
quality of life on so many levels -
physical, spiritual and financial.
G iven the c u rre n t state o f
health o f African Am ericans na­
tionw ide, our com m unity must
take some major steps now not
later to ensure that we'll be around
for our golden years. If not for
ourselves, for our children and
their children.
Hate Crimes
p e rp e tra to rs o f th ese vicious
crimes. You do not sit with them
and want to have a “friendly chat!”
You prosecute the Eugene School
District, the schools involved and
the Oregon High School Athletic
Association for permitting these
events to take place.
If the state Board of Education
cannot and will not protect stu­
dents of any ethnic, gender or age
group at state of Oregon athletic
events or any other public taxpayer-
sponsored student activities, then
we are reverting to pre-desegrega­
tion eras.
Prosecute the violators in fed­
eral court for the commissions of
hate crimes. Do not condone the
behavior at any level o f life in this
state!
Recent events in Eugene at the
5A Basketball Tournament show
exactly how far this NCAA-sanc­
tioned college town has improved
in 40-plus years.
I am a fo rm er “T e d d y /
R o u g h rid er" from 1962-1966
(Vincent Earl Waites, four-year
letterman and high school All
American artist/fine arts.)
In all my years at Roosevelt, we
were always the school from the
‘sticks,’ etc. But we were never
treated with racial slurs, threats and
federal hate crime violations.
Eugene has continually passed
itself off as the last vestiges of the
1960s love era. Now we know what
kind of love for their fellow man
they intend. I’ve read the articles in
the Oregonian about the students
wanting to sit and talk with the
Marc H. Morial is president and
chief executive officer o f the Na­
tional Urban League.
Jean E. Vincent (Waites)
Northeast Portland
Reconsider Community Colleges
w w w .n e w s e a s o n s m a r k e t.c o m
you click, we deliver, (or pull up for pick up)
I
Once again the Legislature is
furthering the deterioration ot
O regon's community colleges and
higher education system.
The newly released Ways and
Means Co-Chairs' budget does
little to reverse the six-year slide in
state support for higher education.
These reductions have resulted in
lost opportunity for thousands of
Oregon students, and this new
budget level doesn't begin to re­
store those losses.
We need a strong K -12 schixil
system, but if public community
colleges and universities can’t of­
fer the courses and programs stu­
dents need, at the price they can
afford, where will our high school
graduates go?
I hope the Legislature reconsid­
ers this budget, finds revenue to
fund needed programs and services
at all levels of education, and be­
gins to rebuild what was once a
world-class education system in
this state.
Preston Pulliams
Portland Community College
District President