New Turf for Clinics
Health care fo r the needy
moves to food pantries,
other gathering spots
See story, page A6
BlackSkin, White Mask
Multicultural film
festival puts
anti-racist political
author in spotlight
See story, page A 7
attu (Uh scrim*
f <
‘City of Roses’
Volume XXXVIII, Number I
New Minimum Wage
The ushering in o f the New Year
bumped up O regon's m inim um
wage by 15 cents, from $7.80 to
$7.95 per hour. The increase re
flects the rise o f the cost o f living
as d enned by the C onsum er Price
Index and is m andated by Ballot
M easure 25, approved by voters
in 2002.
Conditions even worse
for people of color
Rigler Dreamers Adopted
Third graders from Rigler Elem en
tary in northeast Portland will re
ceive long-term m entoring, tutor
ing and financial assistance for
college as the new est class o f
dream ers with the I Have a Dream
Foundation. See sto ry , page A7.
Assassination Shock Waves
T he assassin atio n o f Pakistan
opposition leader Benazir Bhutto
last week sent shockwaves around
the world with Poland ordering
extra troops to Afghanistan and
other leaders vowing new help in
battle against Al-Qaeda.
Fast Growing State
Portland s
photo by
P all S. F ardig
‘Dreamgirls ’
Lava Alapai, (from left) Julianne Johnson and Joann Coleman make their way from backup
singers to headliners in the Portland production o f “Dreamgirls, ” based on the Tony Award
winning play and Academy Award winning film. Stumptown Stages will bring the passionate
story to the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center stage beginning March 7.
Smith’s Scientology Rumor
T op box-office stars Tom Cruise i
and Will Sm ith may share more
than just a close friendship. Smith
has done little to quel I rum ors t h a t '
he has follow ed his friend's foot
steps into Scientology.
New Home Sales Plunge
The latest figures for new -hom e
sales are the lowest level in more
than 12 years, down nine percent
nationally, a grim testam ent to the
problem s plaguing the housing
sector.
Americans More Wired
About .38 percent o f U.S. consum
ers are watching TV show s online,
36 percent use their cell phones as
entertainm ent devices and 45 per
cent are creating online content
like W eb sites, music, videos and
blogs for others, according to a
new m edia survey.
■J
c *7
o m
C ¿ 5 "
Wednesday • lanuaiy 2. 2008
Fewer Oregon
Families Earn
Living Wage
TlWeek ¡n
Thc Review
Oregon is the 11 th fastest grow ing
state in the nation, according to
new Census Bureau state popula
tion estim ates released Thursday.
California remains the nation’s most
populous state with about 37 m il
lion people.
www.portlandobserver.com
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
by R aymond R endleman
T he P ortland O bserver
A newly released report reveals startling num bers o f Oregon
families earning below aliving wage. Odds against finding a living-
w age jo b becam e even steeper for people o f color, according to
research by a regional alliance o f nonprofits.
Fifty-five percent o f current jo b s in the Oregon econom y do not
pay a living wage for a family of four with both parents w orking,
and the state’s black, Latino and native populations in this type
o f household have less than a 20 percent chance o f making a
decent wage, according to findings from The Race for Wages:
Jobs in the Current Economy,
the latest report from Oregon
Action and the Northwest
Federation o f C om m unity
Organizations.
A living wage, for the pur
poses o f the study, “allow s
families to meet their basic
needs, without public assis
tance, and provides them
some ability todeal with em er
gencies and plan ahead."
Each adult in that family o f
four would have to make at
least $32,594 a year or $ 15.67
an hour to get above the cal
culated subsistence level.
Geh Washington
As all types o f Oregon
households with one parent w orking fall even shorter, only single
or childless adults have a better chance to obtain a living wage.
“T his holiday season is not a merry tim e for many fam ilies in
Oregon,” saidC layborn Collins, a businessman and board member
o f O regon Action, for the report’s recent release at the Portland
office o f the Bureau o f Labor and Industry. “Families forced to
make tradeoffs between basic needs all year round lace even
greater burdens at this time when heating costs are high and things
like presents under the tree need to be traded oil too because the
money ju st isn’t there."
continued
'y f
on page AIO
Former Convicts Look Beyond Barriers
Striving for full
employment
by R aymond R endi . eman
T he P ortland O bserver
Form erly incarcerated people
and justice advocates have spear
headed a cam paign to open up
e m p lo y m e n t o p p o rtu n itie s fo r
people who are rebuilding their lives
after pay i ng a debt for past crim inal
behavior.
Paula D rake had a com m on
struggle because ot her prior felony
conviction. A recovery program
graduate, she needed to stay em
ployed as a condition o f her hous
ing. B ut she liv ed in fea r o f
hom elessness because o f the diffi
culty finding work.
Em ployers would lament that
Drake was well-qualified, but com
pany policies prohibited hiring
som eone with a crim inal record.
With a previous career in m arket
ing, she could only get a jo b as a
house cleaner with no benefits and
a wage barely above minimum.
“ I’m not asking for any gifts,”
says Drake, 46, "I d o n 't deserve to
be right where I was when I left off:
I have to earn that back, but in
doingthe things that I'm d o in g , I'm
absolutely earning that back to
deserve a chance, and that’s what
I'm asking for."
Job opportunities for the stream
of form er convicts leaving prison
areslim . InM ultnom ahC ounty.thc
unem ploym ent rate fo rex -o ffen d
ers on active supervision runs as
high as 55 percent.
However, the past few months
brought some m easures to ease the
destitution o f this large popula
tion. Forexampje, standard em ploy
ment applications for county jobs
no longer ask about crim inal his
tory, leaving discussions on the
topic to follow -up interviews.
“ W e need to find o ut w hat
y o u 'v e d one to turn y o u r life
around; then your past tends to be
an experience that you can bring
forw ard to benefit others,” says job-application question about felo
Patty Katz, director o f the Beyond nies.
“W e have to h u m an ize that
Barriers program that scored its first
m ajor victory with the co unty’s stigm a,” says Katz, “I want anyone
w h o isq u alifietffo ran y kind o f job
decision.
W orking through the nonprofit to be considered without having
Partnership for Safety and Justice, som eone at the desk ju st throw
Katz prom oted the change with a away that application.”
The caveat: N o one condem ns
message to “Think Outside the Box"
in reference to stereotypes as well em ploym ent statutes designed to
as the checkm ark next to a com m on protect vulnerable populations by
photos by R aymond R f . ndleman /T he P ortland O bserver
Beyond Barriers Program Director Patty Katz
points to a report that finds unfair treatment in
employment practices for people who are
productive members of society after paying a
debt for past criminal behavior.
Paula Drake lived in fear of homelessness
because of the difficulty o f finding work. Hiring
bosses would say she was well-qualified, but
company policies prohibited enlisting someone
with a criminal record.
excluding people recently released
from prison. But, when applications
claim nodisqualifiers while serving
to weed out anyone with a crim inal
record, justice advocates agree that
thc unstated discrim ination strips
hope from an already vulnerable
population and contributes to re
cidivism.
Katz, 60, had learned firsthand o f
th ese em p lo y m en t b arriers for
those who have been incarcerated
after her own “ 14 years o f very
dysfunctional life."
W h en a p p ly in g in a n o th e r
county through a temp agency, she
found that the standard form only
assures crim inal history will not
“autom atically" disqualify an ap
plicant, even for a job that would
use her recovery experience to help
others find a new life. With six years
drug-free and out o f prison, she
marked the box that read "H ave you
been convicted o f a felony in the
last seven years" and soon heard
back that her past made her an
unacceptable candidate.
N ow h o p in g o n e c o u n t y 's
change sets a statewide precedent,
Katz credits her drive to “show
them that we can do it and make a
difference in the lives o f others"
with preventing despair at thc slow
progress. “ I want to blaze the trail
for people com ing behind me," she
says. “It has given hope to a lot o f
people, and that has been am azing
in o f itself.”
Katz also drew hope from the
past year bringing even broader
non d iscrim in atio n initiatives in
continued
on page AW
>