September 7, 2016
Page 5
photo by C ervante p ope /t he p ortland o bserver
Boy Scouts of America district executive and former Peace Corps advisor Jonathan Malloy joins members of the Coalition of Black Men to greet and encourage the suc-
cess of students entering Ockley Green Middle School in north Portland on the first day of classes for the new school year.
Youth Mentoring from the Start
C ontinued from f ront
says.
To overcome this disparity,
school leaders worked harder
to ensure that schools with the
highest level of minority student
punishment were making better
use of existing programs direct-
ed at helping black kids, while
also making clearer guidelines
and incentives for better behav-
ior, and using conflict resolution
instead of actual punishment.
That’s also when the district
reached out to the Coalition of
Black Men.
The Coalition have stepped up
its efforts by mentoring a large
group of kids at both Ockley
Green and Boise-Eliot Middle
Schools, two high-minority en-
rollment schools serving north
and northeast Portland. From the
first bell of the current school
year to the last, the Coalition, for
example, has worked to show the
influential impact a responsible,
successful and nicely dressed
black adult mentor can have on
the insights of not only black
youth, but all youth in general.
Since the beginning of their
collaboration with PPS in 2015,
the Coalition of Black Men has
mentored 80 male youth, offer-
ing guidance on how not to let
stereotyped, violent and inappro-
priate behavior define them. The
outreach included field trips to
Intel, tours of Legacy Emman-
uel Medical Center and meeting
retired NFL running back Mar-
shawn Lynch.
a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Legacy Gantenbein Ave.
a table at the event, contact Cher-
The efforts have not gone un- Emanuel Medical Center Loren-
For more information about yl Thompson at 503-919-6804 or
noticed.
zen Conference Center, 2801 N. attending the session, or hosting cthompson@cobmportland.org.
“A lot of the responses we’re
getting from school district ad-
ministrators and teachers are that
the boys are more present, more
engaged, more involved and re-
spectful,” says Watts.
“Each day we’re at a school,
we go there and greet every kid
that’s coming through that door,
so what we try to do is a model
of positive interaction,” he says.
“It’s changed my life being in-
volved with good black men that
have a greater mission than just
what’s good for personal gain.”
Useni Eugene Perkins, a distin-
guished youth worker, poet and
playwright from Chicago, start-
ed Portland’s Coalition of Black
Men in 1988 when he served as
chief executive officer of the Ur-
ban League of Portland. His ten-
ure here was only two years, but
the impact he made is carried on
by the Coalition today.
Perkins will be a guest of hon-
or, when the Coalition kicks off a
drive to encourage new mentors
to join them in a “Power of Pres-
ence-Mentoring our Youth” con-
ference later this month focused
on providing informative materi-
als on how to become a mentor
with their group of with similar
organizations.
Perkins will speak at the event
and a continental breakfast will
also be provided.
“The Power of Presence –
Mentoring Our Youth” will be
held on Saturday, Sept. 24 from 8