Îlîe ^ o rtla ttb © bseruer
lune IO. 2009
Page A l I
M ississippi’s ReBuilding Center Reshapes Our Thinking
continued ^ ^ f r o m Front
n o n -p ro fit th a t ru n s the
ReBuilding Center seeks to en­
courage people to discover the
energy and talents of their com ­
munity members.
L au ra Schm idt, A m ericorp
com munications assistant, said
th a t th e n o n -p ro fit re c e n tly
helped facilitate a neighborhood
w o rk sh o p on fo o d sh a rin g ,
w hich helped people find out
more about using local ingredi­
ents and new ways to cook.
It also extends to the rebuild­
ing center, which prides itself
on its diverse w orkforce and
efforts to hire people from the
surrounding neighborhood that
has been sh ak en and stirred
from years of rapid econom ic
revitalization.
“T hat person is not ju t som e­
body with buying pow er it's a
fellow community m ember who
brings their own ideas and can
help us support the m ission,"
said B ekem eier o f people who
enter the center.
THE
SPINACOLUMN
photo by J ake T homa . n /T he P ortland O bserver
Laura Schmidt wades through the stacks of salvaged wood planks that line a warehouse
of The ReBuilding Center on Mississippi Avenue. The supplier o f home and office
construction materials celebrates 10 years this week.
Green Economy or Green Divide?
continued j ^ f r o m Front
D uring an April visit to P ort­
land, M arc M orial, the p re si­
dent and c h ie f execu tiv e o f­
fic e r o f the N atio n al U rban
L eague ex p ressed concern to
r e p o r te r s th a t th e c o u n try
w ould have “green apartheid”
or a “green d iv id e ” if m in o ri­
tie s d i d n ’t h a v e r e q u is i te
train in g fo r these jo b s.
H e sta te d th a t th e U rb an
League was m aking it a priority
to p revent th is by p roviding
such training, and proudly m en­
tioned that the league had al­
ready trained 18,000 people for
weatherization w ork and other
green jobs.
There are a num ber o f local
organizations that are gearing
up to m a k e su re th e g re e n
econom y d o e s n 't bypass the
econom ically disadvantaged.
The Irvington Covenant Com ­
munity Development Corpora-
jobs m ean little if workers don’t
h av e b a rg a in in g p o w er and
aren’t paid a fam ily wage.
“T he question certainly b e­
com es ‘grow th for w h o m ?” ’
said Alan H ipólito, the execu­
tive director o f Verde, who ar­
gues that it m eans little to have
a robust green econom y that
doesn’t reach everyone.
“E v e ry o n e ’s try in g to pay
m inim um w age,” said Daniels,
who anticipates this problem.
It’s true that not all green jobs
pay a decent wage. A report by
the Urban Institute, points out
that some green jobs like weath­
erization are relatively low pay­
ing.
Verde trains w orkers prim a­
rily in green landscaping and
nursery. H ip ó lito ’s confident
that the green training will help
w orkers find jobs or start their
own businesses, but can ’t guar­
antee that they’ll im m ediately
find lucrative work.
An ongoing senes ot questions and answers about Amencas natural healing profession
Dr. Billy R. Rowers
HMWMHMMMH
low -incom e w orkers to break
into. She added that train ers
can overcom e this problem by
w orking closely with em ploy­
ers to m atch skills with jo b de­
mand.
B u t th is i s n ’t d e te r rin g
Samuel M artinez, a 49-year-old
im m ig ra n t fro m V era C ru z,
M exico. W earing a plaid work
shirt, he said in Spanish that he
likes doing som ething for the
e n v iro n m e n t, an d it alread y
pays better than the service in­
dustry jo b s he used to work.
Part 23. Chiropractic And Knees:
Knees neet to know how Chiropractic helps too.
: My right knee hurts ter­
ribly all o fth etim e.lt has
been swollen several times to
the point o f needing to be
drained. Can Chiropractic help'.’
: Y ourcase sounds fam il­
iar. It rem inds me o f one
case in particular. A m an once
came to my office for consulta­
tion. He w anted to show me
his knee but his slacks w ere so
tight from sw elling in his knee
that he could not pull his pant
leg up to show me. 1 talked to
h im a b o u t h is k n e e an d
Q;
show ed him graphs o f the ner­
vous system and how it affects
the knee. He decided to become
a Chiropractic patient and has
had no problem with his knee
since. W ithin days the swelling
was out o f his knee. Like so
many patients, he had an added
bonus. His back was stronger
and healthier than it had been
in years. His headaches disap­
peared. In short, he got that
healthy happy feeling o f C hi­
ropractic. If you have knee pain
or if you have any question
concerning your health at all,
call us today, Isn’t it time you
stepped up to Chiropractic?
Flowers' Chiropractic Office
2124 N.E. Hancock Street, Portland Oregon 97212
Phone: (503) 287-5504
\/
t
i j ready?
T V goes digital
by June 12.
photo by J ake T homas /T he P ortland O bserver
Jose Nunez Sr. gets training in green landscaping while
building a bioswale, a catch basin to absorb pollutants
from rain runoff.
tion recently entered into a part­
nership with the United Way and
O regon T radesw om en Inc. to
develop a pre-training program
aim ed at putting m arginalized
people on the path to get good
jobs doing things like installing
wind turbines and solar panels
and retrofitting buildings to be
more energy efficient.
“W hat w e’re trying to accom ­
plish with training is to level the
playing field,” said Pat Daniels,
the director o f the covenant’s
com m unity growth division.
B u t ju s t b e c a u s e th e
econom y is developing a green
tint do esn ’t necessarily m ean
th at p eo p le are g o in g to be
h o is te d o u t o f p o v e r ty in
droves.
Mary King, a labor economist
at Portland State University, is
quick to point out that green
Som e landscaping jo b s pay
a starting wage as low as $8 an
hour and go up to $18, said
Hipólito.
B arbara Byrd, a senior in ­
stru cto r at the U niv ersity o f
O regon’s Labor, Education and
Research Center and secretary-
treasurer for the O regon AFL-
CIO, points out that low income
people often have a litany of
personal problem s that prevent
them from any em ploym ent.
They may have bad credit, or
need help paying for child care.
“It’s hard for them to even
reach that first rung o f the lad­
der,” she said.
K a rin M a rtin s o n , a r e ­
searcher at the Urban Institute,
said that there are better-pay­
ing high end green jobs, often
found in engineering and archi­
tecture that are more difficult for
Parking Taken, Neighbors Stunned
continued j ^ f r o m Front
A c c o r d in g to P o r tla n d
ra n s p o rta tio n D e p a rtm e n t
p o k esp erso n
M a u re e n
andle, the proposal did not
:q uire any p ublic notice to
le re sid e n ts o f th e 3 8 -u n it
partm ent o r R each C om m u-
ity D evelopm ent, the ow n-
rs o f the b u ild in g , b ecause
le com plex w as not directly
f»
adjacent to the reserv ed p ark ­
ing request.
T here also is no ab ility to
appeal the d e c isio n , Y andle
said.
A fte r se v eral d a y s o f in ­
quiries, the P ortland O bserver
w as still w aiting at press tim e
T uesday for a com m en t from
N o rth e a s t P re c in c t d e p a r t­
ment officials, including C om ­
m ander Jim Ferraris.
Contact the Urban League
of Portland if you need
assistance
Urban League
of Portland
10 N. Russell, Portland, OR 97227
(503) 280-2600
Training workshops Mon-Fri
8am-5pm