March 22, 2017
INSIDE
The
Week in Review
O PINION
Page 3
edition
CAREERS special
This page
Sponsored by:
page 2
pages 6-7
pages 8
S PORTS
photo by Z aChary s enn /t he p ortland o bserver
Rahsaan Muhammad, Kirk Fatland and Cassie Cohen of the Portland Harbor Community Coalition
are working to make sure people from the local community, especially minority and disadvantaged
populations, are hired as part of a $1 billion Superfund cleanup of the Willamette River Harbor in
Portland.
Hire Diverse and Local
Advocates
plead for river
cleanup jobs
M ETRO
page 11
by Z aChary s enn
t he p ortland o bserver
As federal, state, and local
governmental entities begin an
estimated $1 billion clean up of
Portland’s polluted harbor, local
community members are pushing
to have the Superfund revitaliza-
tion work completed by a local
and diverse workforce.
Individuals and organizations
represented by the Portland Har-
bor Community Coalition say it
is only right for Portland residents
who been adversely affected by
the harbor’s contamination to ben-
efit from the immense economic
investment necessitated by the
cleanup.
The coalition represents a di-
verse array of populations with
historical and contemporary pres-
ences in Portland and the metro
area, including Native American,
black, and immigrant communi-
ties.
The group was formed in 2012
in response to a massive public
relations campaign by the Low-
er Willamette Group, formerly
known as the Portland Harbor
Partnership, a group representing
several of the entities and corpora-
tions that the federal Environmen-
tal Protection Agency has listed as
potentially responsible parties for
the decades-old pollution, includ-
ing the Union Pacific Railroad,
Arkema, the city of Portland and
Phillips 66.
“Polluter groups were basically
taking the lead on all the content
that’s out there,” Portland Harbor
Community Coalition representa-
tive Cassie Cohen said.
She said it was important for
the environmental justice com-
munity to insert the voices of the
most affected communities into
ongoing decisions regarding the
harbor restoration’s implemen-
tation, especially for people of
color who have been victims of
the pollution’s negative effects to
become recipients of the benefits
of the economic stimulus that the
revitalization will create.
Rahsaan Muhammad, a mem-
ber of the Portland Harbor Com-
munity Coalition, says that he
also is hoping to see responsible,
community-led stewardship of the
revitalized river and land once the
cleanup is complete.
Wilma Alcock, a 79-year-old
Portland native, says that she
grew up eating fish caught in what
C ontinued on p age 13
Urban League Job Fair on Tap
pages 8-13
Arts &
ENTERTAINMENT
C LASSIFIEDS
C ALENDAR
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page 15
The Urban League of Portland
is hosting a free job fair for the
community, connecting job seek-
ers with over 80 of the metro ar-
ea’s best employers.
The annual event is coming
Tuesday, April 4 from 10 a.m. to
3 p.m. to the Double Tree Hotel
at Lloyd Center. Job seekers will
have the opportunity to meet face
to face with employment special-
ists through job postings, career
counseling, employment resource
referrals, youth employment pro-
grams, career counseling, train-
ings and other events.
People from all backgrounds
and skill sets are welcome, wheth-
er you’re just starting out in a field
or would like to change career
paths.
Participants can learn about
non-profit careers focused on the
arts, education, healthcare and
social justice. Discover jobs with
federal, state, county and city
governments. Talk to representa-
tives about paid apprenticeships
in skilled trades such as carpentry
and more. Meet with recruiters to
learn about jobs in manufacturing,
retail, hospitality, customer ser-
vice and finance.
The Urban League of Portland
mission is to empower local Af-
rican Americans and others to
achieve equality in education,
employment, and economic se-
curity.