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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 23, 2022)
CAREERS & Education See articles inside PO QR code Volume XLVV • Number 12 ‘City of Roses’ www.portlandobserver.com Wednesday • June 23, 2021 Committed to Cultural Diversity Nonprofit helps homeless, youth Summer event set to reclaim city streets b everly C orbell t he p ortland o bserver Pastor Dwight Minnieweather worries about vulnerable young people and those who have no home, and like so many other members of the Black communi- ty he grows ever more concerned about the violence impacting youth and others on our city streets. But Minnieweather does more than worry: He takes action. Through his nonprofit Straight- way Services, the Portland pas- tor, with his wife Cassandra, regularly volunteer and recruit others to distribute free food and supplies to homeless camps. Un- til the Covid pandemic hit last year, they sponsored a midnight basketball program for young people in cooperation with neighborhood police. Now with public health re- strictions easing with the distri- bution of COVID vaccines, the couple is taking community ac- tivism a step further with a major event set for this summer when a “Reclaim Oregon” day is held by photo by M ark W ashington /t he p ortland o bserver Through their nonprofit Straightway Services, Pastor Dwight Minnieweather and his wife, Cassandra, take action to help vulnerable young people, the homeless and other members of the Black community. on Saturday, July 10 at Pioneer The name reflects on a de- of a year of protests, but also to Courthouse Square, downtown, sire to see Portland cleaned up progress politically, addressing from noon to 9 p.m. from the debris and vandalism some of issues impacting people C ontinued on p age 5 Experienced Teacher Raises Achievement Bar ‘We want to support the Black educators, that’s first and foremost.’ by s. r enee M itChell F or the p ortland o bserver Kevin Bacon, the new president of the Oregon Alliance of Black School Educators (ORABSE), Kevin Bacon had a calling early on to become a public school educator. As a young boy, Bacon would make lesson plans for a group of friends in his apartment build- ing about the adventures they would discover together. As a fourth-grader, he’d find him- self taking mental notes on what worked or didn’t work with the ways teachers interacted with stu- dents or taught their subjects. Then after school, Bacon would regularly settle in front of the family television set to watch the now-late actor Lloyd Haynes portray the charismatic and well- loved Black teacher Pete Dixon on “Room 222.” This popular, half- hour television series about a mul- tiracial Los Angeles high school ran for 113 episodes, from 1969 to 1974. Bacon often found himself daydreaming about having a ca- reer like the character Dixon. ““It was one of the first TV shows that portrayed African American characters in a positive way,” Bacon said. “That had an impact on me.” Those collective group of clues pushed Bacon toward a career path as a middle school teacher in the 1980s, pseudo school admin- istrative positions in the 90s, and ultimately a principal at all three levels elementary, middle and high before he retired in 2018. Bacon says one of the rea- sons he was drawn to take over ORABSE was his interactions with other Black educators during his first year as a Portland Public C ontinued on p age 13
