December 2, 2009
Page A2
Black Oregon Symposium: Call for Action
The State o f Black Oregon
Symposium: A Call for Action
and Accountability will be held
on Thursday, Dec. 3 at Portland
State University, Smith Memo­
rial Hall, 1825 S.W. Broadway,
Portland Mayor Sam Adams from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Mayor Adams, Multnomah
will lead a roster o f elected offi­
cials, policymakers, and commu­ C ounty C o m m issio n er Je ff
nity leaders at a Symposium on Cogen and Oregon state legis­
the State o f Black Oregon re­ lators Sen. Chip Shields and
port, recently published by the Rep. Lew Frederick will focus
on specific solutions for ad-
Urban League o f Portland.
Urban League
hosts strategy
session at PSU
The State o f Black Oregon A ssociate Professor, Nohad form er Senator Avel Gordly,
dressing the stark disparities
highlighted in the report that Symposium is part o f the Ur­ A. Toulan School o f Urban A ssociate Professor, D epart­
exist for African Americans in ban League o f Portland's work Studies and Planning, P ort­ ment o f Black Studies, Port­
Oregon in the city, county and to develop a bold action plan land State U niversity; Joyce land S tate U n iv ersity , and
that calls for implementation of Braden Harris, Co-chair, A fri­ Peggy Ross, G overnor's O f­
state.
A panel o f experts, who con­ proven, effective policies and can A m erican A lliance; Dr. fice, D irector o f Affirm ative
tributed research and analysis tools to elim inate the state's R obert T hom pson, O regon A ction.
The State o f Black Oregon
to the report, will also outline gaps between African Ameri­ State University, D epartment
strategies for change in public cans and the majority popula­ o f Ethnic Studies and David Sym posium is sponsored by
policy aimed at eliminating dis­ tion in income, wealth, health, Rogers, Director, Partnership The Urban League o f Portland,
parities in education, employ­ social progress and educational for Safety and Justice, Tricia Portland State University, PSU
Tillm an, A dm inistrator, O r­ Black Studies Department, PSU
ment, health, criminal justice attainment.
O th e r sp e a k e rs, in c lu d e egon O ffice o f M ulticultural Toulan School o f Urban Stud­
and child and youth welfare.
Sheila Holden, N orth/N orth- Health, A ngela Cause, D iver­ ies and Planning, US Bank,
east Economic Development sity Manager, Oregon Depart­ Featherlite Inc, Urban Bridges,
Alliance; Dr. Karen Gibson, m ent o f H um an S e rv ic e s, and Comcast Inclusion Team.
Collection Drive for Survivor
The H ealing Roots Center,
w hich provides services to
African and African American
fam ilies surviving dom estic
violence, is collecting C hrist­
mas presents for 11-year-old
Jasmine Medina-Barr.
“O ur hearts ju st go out to
this child who is the only sur­
viving member o f her immedi­
ate family,” organizers said.
J a s m in e ’s 2 8 -y e a r-o ld
mother Tameka Medina and 4-
y e a r - o ld b r o th e r A sh a w n
were killed earlier last month
by her father who also shot
him self in one o f at least three
tragic, dom estic violence-re­
lated m urder-suicides in the
Portland area in recent weeks.
The com m unity is asked to
help bring some joy back into
this child's life by dropping
o ff new gifts appropriate for
an 11-year-old girl at Reflec­
tio n s C o ffe e , 44 6 N .E .
K illingsw orth, or the Healing
Roots Center, 5432 N. Albina
Ave.
You can also make a deposit
to the Tameka Medina Family
F und in care o f any W ells
Fargo branch.
For more information, email
reneemitchellspeaksiifyahoo.com
or call 503-278-8280.
Rights Group Seeks Members
families.
Food Panty Helps Others
Members o f Zeta Sigma tained at least 10 non-perish­
O m ega C hapter o f Alpha able food items each.
S ev eral m em b ers o f the
Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
donated enough food items c h a p te r d e liv e re d 11 food
to the AKA Food Pantry to boxes to diverse and very ap­
provide 16 families in need preciative families on Nov. 22.
with food boxes that con­ The rem aining 5 boxes were
delivered before T hanks­
g iv in g . T he A K A F ood
Pantry com m unity service
project, w hich started in
March 2009, was organized
by
c h a p te r
m em ber
LaShanda Hurst.
“We are about neighbors
helping neig h b o rs im prove
th e ir com m unity.”
Mary Harrell
at FriendA of TreeA
5 0 3 -¿82 8846
r y o u r d is c o u n te d tre e b e fo r
• ••
• ■ ' •
y o u r n e ig h b o rh o o d d e a d lin e !
www.FriendsofTrees.org
ill»
F rien d s « /T re es
Growing Healthy Commun ititA
Today, career advancem ent is spelled
"W-i-l-l-a-m-e-t-t-e M-B-A"
The City o f Portland is seek­
ing qualified volunteer appli­
cants to fill three vacancies on
the Human Rights Commission.
The com m ission w orks to
elim inate discrim ination and
bigotry, strengthen intergroup
relationships and foster greater
understanding, inclusion and
justice for those who live, work.
study, worship, travel and play
in the City o f Portland.
T he com m ission is c o m ­
prised o f 15 members who rep­
resent a broad spectrum o f the
com m unity with areas o f ex­
pertise in advocacy, leader­
ship, and community involve­
m e n t. T he c o m m is s io n is
broad on a num ber o f diver-
sity fronts including educa­
tion, profession, race, ethnicity,
gender and gender identity,
sexual orientation, national ori­
gin, age, religion and geo­
graphic identification.
For more information or to
apply, visit portlandonline.com/
hum anrelations or call Koffi
Dessou at 503-823-4429.
Media Tackles Disparities
continued J ^ j r o m Front
land jobs in the future.
A fter young people have
c o m p leted an in tro d u c to ry
cablecast course, kids inter­
ested in pursuing a career in
media are put on a track to de­
velop specific skills like script
writing, and digital editing.
PCM also offers coursework
for people wanting to get skills
relevant to our increasingly
technology-saturated society.
People can learn how to use
animation programs and other
visually-oriented technology to
produce features for the web
and television. They can also
learn about new media technol­
ogy like Facebook, Twitter, You
Tube, and other highly-used
Internet mediums.
"We're really needed more
than ever in this economy,” said
McDaniel, who has seen people
wanting to pick up new skills
while the economy is in a slump.
In order to help further bridge
the digital divide, PCM aims to
bring down the barriers be­
tween it and the community it
serves. It recently landed a
grant to partner with six com-
cilities, located at 2766 N.E.
Martin Luther King Jr. Boule­
vard, which he points out aren’t
as huge a commercial television
station, but are still up to snuff.
M cD aniel exp lain ed that
many businesses, both for and
non-profit, are increasingly re­
lying on new media, particularly
video, to get their m essages
across to the public.
"People want visual commu­
n ic a tio n ,” said M cD aniel.
"Video is what really tells the
story."
McDaniel didn’t have num­
bers on how many people who
have taken classes have got­
ten jobs, but noted that they
would start tracking that in the
future.
Mindy Clark, marketing direc­
tor for Children’s Justice Alli­
ance- which works with the chil­
dren o f incarcerated people, ex­
perienced the benefits o f PCM
first hand. She took a course in
multi-media to help revamp her
organization’s website with a
video telling the stories o f three
fathers in local penitentiaries.
“ It was a huge help to get our
proficient.
o
rg
a n iz a tio n up to an o th er
"We try to do m ore w ith
less," said Larson o f PCM ’s fa- level,” she said.
munity organizations like Cen­
tral Northeast Neighbors to es­
tablish “SmartAccess” centers.
M cD aniel ex p la in e d th at
PCM’s SmartAccess program is
meant to directly address com­
munity media needs, rather than
just assuming PCM knows what
those are and hope people will
come to them.
At each Sm artA ccess site,
hosted by the community or­
ganization, people will have the
opportunity to get training in
digital technologies and multi-
media.
McDaniel points that many
o f the classes, which range from
$65 to $ 150, are typically more
affordable than many other in­
stitutions o f higher learning.
"It's one thing to have a mas­
ters in communications, it's an­
other to have your hands on a
camera," said Ray Larson, chief
engineer at PCM.
Larson said that he tries to
get people to focus on one as­
pect o f television production
that they’re most comfortable
with, and work on becoming
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