July 12, 2017
The
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INSIDE
Week in Review
O PINION
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Hundreds of young people gather to kick off the SummerWorks internship program operated though
Multnomah County and the city of Portland. The program primarily serves young people who are low
income or from diverse communities.
Summer Jobs for Youth
M ETRO
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Program is
more than just a
paycheck
A record number of local youth
will be gaining valuable work ex-
perience through SummerWorks.
The summer jobs program oper-
ated by the city of Portland and
Multnomah County is expected
to accommodate as many as 1,150
young people from across the
Portland metro region.
The program is placing 16-to-
24-year-old participants in work
opportunities at roughly 200 job
sites. The participating employers
represent the private, public and
nonprofit sectors.
Young people who take part in
the program work in paid 180-hour
internships, and receive on-the-job
training and mentoring. The pro-
gram aims to provide local young
people with the opportunities nec-
essary to gain valuable real-world
work experiences. SummerWorks
is specifically targeted at low-in-
come and minority youth.
Multnomah County Commis-
sioner Loretta Smith and Mayor
Ted Wheeler attended the annual
welcoming ceremony on June 30
where hundreds of the young par-
ticipants had the opportunity to
network with eligible employers
and sign up for bank accounts.
“I’m proud to kick off an-
other season of SummerWorks,
an amazing program that gives
young people real-life experience
in the workforce with access to
mentoring that will help prepare
them for the high-skill jobs we
know are coming to our region,”
said Wheeler.
The event was keynoted by
Multnomah County Circuit Court
Judge Adrienne Nelson, the sec-
ond black female judge in Ore-
gon’s history and a community
leader known for speaking about
the values of diversity, education,
professional development and eq-
uity.
SummerWorks, a private-pub-
lic partnership supported by a
wide coalition of local govern-
mental entities was started in
2009, and has placed 4,816 youth
in summer jobs since then.
Legislative Highs and Lows
Arts &
ENTERTAINMENT
C LASSIFIEDS
C ALENDAR
Session ends
with progressive
wins, defeats
Z achary S enn
t he p ortland o bServer
The Oregon Legislature ad-
journed its current session on Fri-
day, hailing several progressive
victories. Tenant advocates and
other activist groups, however, are
worried that some of the state’s
most pressing problems were not
addressed.
Among initiatives passed by
by
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the Democrat-controlled House
and Senate being hailed as the ses-
sion’s most notable accomplish-
ments were protections for wom-
en’s healthcare, a bill that allows
undocumented children to receive
insurance coverage under the Ore-
gon Health Plan and a law aimed
at curbing police profiling.
House Bill 3391, which will
take effect as soon as it receives
Gov. Kate Brown’s expected sig-
nature, will require a substantial
amount of women’s healthcare ini-
tiatives to be provided by private
insurers. The measure is known
as the Reproductive Health Eq-
uity Act, and will require private
insurers to provide treatment and
diagnosis of sexually transmitted
diseases, abortion services, and
pre- and post-partum pregnancy
care at no out-of-pocket cost. It
also requires insurers to provide
services to all women in the state,
regardless of their immigration
status.
The Cover All Kids Act, Senate
Bill 558, also extends healthcare
to undocumented children in Or-
egon.
In a statement, Imelda Dacon-
c ontinued on p age 5