Page 12 Minority & Small Business Week October 4, 2017 Job Training to Break Cycle of Low Employment Non profit helps young adults reach full potential by D anny p eterson t he p ortlanD o bserver David Greenidge is working to break a cycle of low employment and hous- ing that keeps too many young men and women from our community from reach- ing their full potential. Several years ago, he and other con- cerned residents got together to survey why people couldn’t find jobs in the King neighborhood of northeast Portland. They found many members of the black com- munity were out of work due to a prior criminal history. Greenidge then went to work to break the criminal justice bonds. As a resident of Portland, he founded the National Ur- ban Housing & Economic Community Development Corporation to help former offenders turn their lives around with job training and housing assistance. According to a Racial and Ethnic Disparities Report from 2016, Afri- can-Americans are over represented in the Multnomah County jail system—they represent 5 percent of the overall popula- tion, but they represent 27 percent of its jail population. That disparity is impact- ing many people of color economically. David Greenidge A Poverty in Multnomah County report from 2014 showed black residents are over-represented in the county’s impover- ished population—36 percent of the black population are in poverty, while only 14 percent of whites are in poverty. Further- more, a study from 2001 to 2006 examin- ing three states found that less than half of people returning to their community from prison had secured a job. “I saw people needing help and I thought we could put together a nonprof- it that could help them,” Greenidge said, describing the start to his specialized pro- gram about two years ago. Greenidge said he discovered that one C ontinueD on p age 25 A non-profit rooted in Portland’s African American community provides training in construction as a way to break a cycle of low employment impacting young men and women from our community.