Portland observer., October 05, 2022, Page 8, Image 8

Page 8
Minority Business Edition
Security Owner
Provides Safety for
Multiple Businesses
b y m olly W ashington
Hasan Artharee, owner of Safeguard
Security, grew up in the facilities man-
agement and security industries. His
grandfather owned Oregon’s oldest
Black-ownedbusiness Coast Industries, a
facilities management company, and Em-
pire Security, a security company. Some
of his earliest jobs involved working for
these companies and so it was no surprise
that Hasan continued the family legacy of
business ownership.
Hasan earned his bachelor’s degree
from Portland State University and his
master’s degree from Willamette Uni-
versity, which provided the tools to un-
derstand the ins and outs of running and
managing a business. Although the edu-
cation he obtained provided validity, the
actual experience and knowledge was
learned hands-on. Leaning on genera-
tions of hard work of his family and the
experience and knowledge shared, Hasan
attributes that generational knowledge to
his ability to navigate and avoid some of
the missteps that trip up other new busi-
ness owners.
Safeguard provides security services
that focus on new construction, asset pro-
tection, and fire watch. The relationships
with its customers have been instrumen-
tal to the success of Safeguard. Most of
the businesses that Safeguard works with
are repeat customers and their success is
tied to the success of Safeguard and vice
versa. The security industry has become
increasingly more challenging in recent
years but Hasan takes it in stride, evolv-
ing his employees’ training to meet the
needs of being a security “ambassador
to the community,” as he describes it.To
prepare their security officers for this
role, Safeguard provides empathy train-
ing and reinforces compassion, respect,
October 5, 2022
Hasan Artharee
and independent choice. “There is a dif-
ferent level of empathy we have to have
for the community and so we try to be
ambassadors whether you’re somebody
going to work, somebody sleeping on
the street, somebody using drugs right in
front of us, we try to treat them all with
respect because again, you would want
the same kind of treatment if you were in
that situation,” Hasan explains. “Empa-
thy is huge in public safety.” “The goal,”
he says, “is to show them that we are
treating them with respect, to show them
we are empathetic about their situation,
and to offer them services that the City
offers for them.”
Building Futures
in Construction
b y m olly W ashington
Jeff Moreland is the President of
Raimore Construction, a Black-owned
heavy civil contractor, doing large in-
frastructure and streetscape construction
projects for over 20 years in the Portland
area. Originally from the west side of
Dayton, Ohio, his ancestors traveled
north from Georgia to escape the racism
of the south.
What happens when you grow up in
an environment where everyone looks
like you? Black doctors, Black teachers,
Black dentists, Black-owned supermar-
kets, Black-owned shopping center,where
everywhere that you look, is a reflection
of you and all that you can become? The
word that comes to mind is Empowered.
Jeff’s answer: “I had a sense of, while
growing up, of confidence in myself…
everybody I knew was brilliant.”
It is no wonder that in everything it
does, Raimore Construction’s belief in
Empowerment is front and center. Over
70% of the management staff are people
of color or women; 50% of the workforce
are people of color or women. The com-
pany believes in training people and it
looks for talent and a strong work eth-
ic above all else. “Our people are bril-
liant….Minorities are some of the most
intelligent people I’ve been around….
That’s not seen that way because some
of them don’t necessarily have the for-
mal education. But in terms of just sheer
intelligence and brilliance, we stack up
with anybody. And to be able to give
them that opportunity to show what they
can actually do is what I have done be-
cause I realize that’s really all it takes.
This industry has locked them out of
that… You can learn to be anything be-
cause you have that aptitude to be able to
do that. That’s the way it’s always been
for us but we just haven’t had those op-
portunities. So what I do at Raimore is to
make sure people get those opportunities
Jeff Moreland
and then they’re able to get in where they
fit in.”
Not only does Raimore support its
workforce in this way, but it helps peo-
ple to fly. “That’s what it’s all about.
It’s not trying to be a gate keeper but it’s
trying to open up the flow as much as
you can for our people, all of our people
to benefit from the opportunities that we
have historically not benefited from in
construction.”
Afterall, if you ask Mr. Moreland
what has been the most instrumental in
achieving the success of the business, he
will tell you unequivocally – “Faith and
People, just that simple.”
PETER
CLARKE
Broker Liscensed
in Oregon
503-333-5809
peter@livingroomre.com