Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 28, 2015)
Page 4 October 28, 2015 Bridging the Gap c ontinued from p Age 3 after the shootings of unarmed black teens like Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice. Officer Vince Elmore came up with the idea of setting up a meeting during a conversation with Portland Police Chief Larry O’Dea. “We wanted to know how to improve relations between the police bureau and the black community,” said Jefferson High School guidance counselor Don- ald Dixon. Dixon invited O’Dea and asked his members from the bureau to join Boys to Men for breakfast. Over 100 officers and the chief responded. “I told the chief that the pur- pose is not to bash them today, or to point fingers at them or to blame them for what they do or don’t do,” said Dixon. “I told the chief that the purpose is to include them as men along aside other men to share their life, ex- periences, and knowledge to our boys and to one another.” Mayor Charlie Hales also at- tended and shared his thoughts as well. “To watch our police officers mentor students at the Donald Dixon Boys to Men Breakfast was amazing,” he said. “For everyone working to build the relationship between police and the commu- nity, and for everyone working for equity in our community: Pay attention to this. This was an empowering event.” The whole purpose of the Boys to Men program is for men to share their skills, ex- periences, talents, and wis- dom with young men who are heading down a path that older community members have trav- elled. “Though the men being old- er will probably have more knowledge and experience, they too can learn from the younger boys,” added Dixon. This fit well with the goals of bringing the two communities – officers and black young men – together, so learn more about the world as the students enter adulthood. Dixon explained that it was a unique experience and he hopes the students gain valuable in- sight, along with the officers, about the humanity of each oth- er’s groups. “It is no secret that there is a problem for the black male across America,” said Dixon. “In light of the nation- al attention toward the black male, especially black boys, we have an opportunity to address our black boys in the city of Portland with having a boys to men program and including our own Police Bureau.” Bill Patterson, who coached two adult national championship amateur teams, is the new women’s soccer coach at Portland Community College. Soccer Returns to PCC Teams suit up for men and women Walter Arevalo is the center of attention as soccer practice gets underway. Arevalo welcomes players to the artificial turf field next to Port- land Community College’s Rock Creek Campus, handing each their blue-and-white jerseys, white shorts and multi-band long socks with impressive skill and swift- ness. It’s made a bit harder amid the playful shouting and general craziness that comes with corral- ling 25 college students for a team photo. “It’s part of the administration skills,” he said with a shrug and smile. It’s not any team photo day. The day signifies the reboot of PCC’s new intercollegiate men and wom- en’s soccer teams, both competing in the Northwest Athletic Confer- ence this fall. The college announced this past spring that it was bringing back soccer and held a series of tryouts in June. Arevalo was named the first men’s coach while respected former Astoria High School boys coach Bill Patterson was picked to lead the women. PCC briefly sported intercol- legiate teams in the early 1990s with the men placing runner-up in 1994. From the late 1960s until the early 1980s the PCC club soc- cer team was a force among sim- ilar teams throughout the North- west. The Panthers captured state titles in 1971, and 1977-81 and in 1982 beat Oregon State Universi- ty 2-1 in the title club game, their last trophy. Arevalo said he’s excited by the potential of his Panthers, which has players from Paraguay, Con- go, Hillsboro, Beaverton, Forest Grove, Milwaukie and others. “I’m a competitor and a com- petitive coach so I don’t want to say right now that we’ll get to the finals, but it’s pretty much the feeling of the players,” he said. “I want to be in the finals and I be- lieve we have a chance because we have good players.” Patterson, who has coached soccer for 20 years and is a philos- ophy instructor at the Rock Creek Campus, got intrigued by the sport because of his kids, who were top high school players in the 1990s. As they progressed through the ranks, he would watch the coach- es and became interested in their craft. Eventually he got licensed to coach soccer and was hired to be the head coach of the Astoria High School boys soccer team. Patterson, who coached two adult national championship amateur teams, led Astoria to six league ti- tles and to the state playoffs every year during his 10 years there. At PCC, Patterson hopes to build around talented core play- ers with a sharp, crisp passing and possession style. “I’m really encouraged by the season,” Patterson said. “We have a group of committed players who want to get better and play as a team. They put their uniforms on with great pride. That’s a great thing - to give these players who may not have the opportunity to play intercollegiate sports a chance to play. They get to repre- sent their community, their school and themselves.” Money Moved for Affordable Housing More money will be directed to affordable housing projects from Portland’s Urban Renewal Districts over the next five years under a proposal going to the Portland City Council. As part of a new initiative announced by Mayor Charlie Hales in response to a housing emergency, nearly $67 million will be added to the $202 mil- lion the city already expects to receive for housing projects over the period. The property taxes set aside for affordable housing in the city’s urban renewal districts will grow to 45 percent of the total revenue received, up from the current 30 percent, just short of the 50 per- cent set aside housing advocates proposed when the housing crisis was declared earlier this month. “We have scrubbed each Ur- ban Renewal Area in detail, looking at both opportunities and costs, in an effort to direct money toward affordable hous- ing while maintaining projects to enhance jobs, livability and equity,” Hales said. Housing Commissioner Dan Saltzman said, “Increasing the amount of money we spend in ur- ban renewal areas for housing is a community-led solution which I am pleased to join the Mayor and Commissioner Fish to support.” Hales said north and northeast Portland will see the largest in- crease in affordable housing re- sources.
