A u g u s t 3, 2011
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Page 21
Graduation is the Just the Beginning
PCC program
puts immigrants
on career paths
Luis Moreno tells everyone that
this isn't the end; it's the beginning
to a college degree and a new job.
Moreno is the first to graduate
from the new High School Equiva­
lency Program at Portland Commu­
nity College's Rock Creek Campus
and sister program to the College
Assistance Migrant Program.
The instruction gives migrant
and seasonal farm workers and mem­
bers of their immediate family help in
obtaining a GED, and after gradua­
tion, placement in post-secondary
education, employment or employ­
ment upgrade or military services.
Tm happy to be the first person,
but I'm not feeling that this is it,"
said Moreno, a native of Mexico
Luis Moreno is the first to graduate from a new high school equivalency program geared for local
and current Hillsboro resident who
immigrants at Portland Community College's Rock Creek campus.
came to Oregon nine years ago to
join his brother.
lot of motivation to go finish your Migrant Education last year. The percent live in the northwestern part
"I'm still going. It's just the begin­ certificate," he said.
grant will serve 100 students per of the state. With the Latino student
ning for me. On the last day we had
T he a c c o m p lish m e n ts o f year and sustain up to eight pro­ enrollment at PCC increasing by 20
a celebration and I spoke to the Moreno, and the students who fol­ gram staff members who will work to
percent last year from Oregon's surg­
other students. I tried to motivate low him in the years to come, were fill a gap in education for an
ing Hispanic population, the new
them to do a good job and continue made possible when Portland Com­ underserved population.
educational services should be well
with their education. It's a very good munity College scored a five-year,
Oregon has the fifth-largest mi­ utilized.
program and it gives you the chance $2.24 million grant from the U.S. grant and seasonal farm worker
The program recruits potential
to finish your GED, and gives you a Department of Education’s Office of population in the country and 25
students from Clackamas, Wash-
Black Culture in Latin America II
search featured in the series, Gates'
A hidden history book
is a thoughtful travelogue
through Mexico, Peru, Cuba, Haiti,
and evolving
the Dominican Republic and Brazil.
It explores black his­
identity
tory in these six coun­
"Black in Latin
America" by Henry
Louis Gates Jr.: This
spring, Henry Louis
Gates Jr. produced a
four-episode series
for PBS tracing the
legacy of the slave
trade in six Caribbean
and Latin American
countries. "Black in
Latin America" is the
book companion to the television
series of the same title.
The reason for Gates' journey is
a startling fact: O f the roughly 11
million Africans who survived the
trans-A tlantic slave trade, ju st
450,000 made it to the United States.
The rest were dispersed through­
out the region and Gates, renowned
for his African-American studies,
wanted to know how their descen­
dants live now.
More than an outline of the re­
tries, which Gates vis­
ited in 2010, but it doesn't
lin g e r in the past.
Through music, cuisine,
art, dance, politics, reli­
gion and lan g u ag e,
Gates finds living links
to Africa. He also finds
the other legacy of the
slave trade, a sometimes
subtle but persistent
racism despite pledges
of multiculturalism.
Gates' academic questions about
race stem from conversations in
cafes, hotels, museums, street par­
ties, nightclubs, taxi cabs — the
casual places where anyone goes
on v acation. "B lack in L atin
America" would be an interesting
companion to any guidebook for
the Caribbean and Latin America, as
it reveals not just a hidden history
but also an evolving sense of iden­
tity.
T erry F amily
F uneral
H ome
ington, Multnomah, Yamhill and
Columbia counties with most com ­
ing from W ashington C ounty,
which has a rich farming industry.
The Program's first director can
relate to his students.
Beto Espindola, a HEP and CAMP
graduate himself, is the program's
first director jo in in g the college last
February after working with migrant
and seasonal farm workers the last
25 years in Washington's Yakima
Valley.
"Most students who come into
the program are thinking GED, but
once we start talking to them about
plans beyond that, ideas start form­
ing and they start thinking. Ah,
maybe I can do something else be­
yond the GED,"' said Espindola.
"They start seeing the possibilities
which is the secondary objective
for all HEP students.
Eventually, Espindola projects
85 percent of the graduates will be
placed in English as a Second
O ther Language and other aca­
demic program s, em ploym ent or
m ilitary services. He said the HEP
effort is very im portant in helping
the migrant and farm w orkerpopu-
lation realize their options in ed u ­
cation locally.
For more information about this
program, call Beto Espindola, HEP
director, at 971-722-7760.
2337 N. Williams Ave.
Portland, Or 97227
503-249-1788
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