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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 7, 2023)
Page 4 June 07, 2023 Local Teachers Receive Onpoint’s Prize for Excellence Winners will have their mortgage or rent paid for one year and receive $2,500 for their school OnPoint Community Cred- it Union has announced the four winners of the 2023 On- Point Prize for Excellence in Education Educator of the Year awards. Samuel Platt, principal of Tumalo Community School is the first recipient of the Gold Star Educator award, a category for pre-kindergarten teachers, school counselors, substitute teachers, librarians, or school administrators. Caryn Anderson, fourth grade teacher at Aber- nethy Elementary School. Lu- cas Dix who is a sixth through eighth grade media arts and jour- nalism teacher at Rowe Middle School. Willie Williams, ninth through 12th grade history and economics teacher at Roosevelt High School. From left to right: Caryn Anderson, K-5 Educator of the Year winner; Lucas Dix, 6-8 Educator of the Year winner; Rob Stuart, President & CEO, OnPoint Community Credit Union; Willie Williams, 9-12 Educator of the Year winner; Samuel Platt, Gold Star Educator of the Year winner. The four Educators of the Year will have their mortgage or rent paid for one year and receives $2,500 for each of their schools. In addition, the four runners-up will receive $5,000 for them- selves and $1,500 for each of their schools. “Educators have a profound impact on their students, as well as their entire community,” said Rob Stuart, President and Chief Executive Officer, OnPoint Community Credit Union. “This year’s Educators of the Year re- spect their students as individ- uals and create educational ex- periences that truly connect and inspire them. We are honored to recognize these educators and know they will continue to make a difference for their students and our region.” In the 14 years since the On- Point Prize for Excellence in Ed- ucation campaign launched, it has awarded more than $650,000 in prizes to 313 local educators and schools. The 2023 campaign awarded an additional $193,000 to 21 more deserving public and pri- vate K-12 educators and schools. Metro’s New Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Striving to cultivate diversity, advance equity and practice inclusion in all of its work Sebrina Owens- Wilson new director of diversity, equity and inclusion at Metro Metro chief operating of- ficer Marissa Madrigal an- nounced Thursday that Sebri- na Owens-Wilson, a veteran of equitable job creation who previously served as Metro’s Regional Impact Program Manager, has been selected as Metro’s director of diversity, equity and inclusion. In more than four years at Metro, Owens-Wilson has man- aged the growth of a program that worked to advance racial equity through Metro policy, programs, and investments, in- cluding the Construction Ca- reer Pathways program, Metro’s Civic Engagement Capacity Building Grant Program and its Committee on Racial Equity. “Sebrina’s work to align eco- nomic opportunity, job creation, public engagement and equity outcomes has been not only in- strumental for Metro and our region, it’s been truly ground breaking on a national scale,” Madrigal said. “Her experience working with partners from la- bor, the public and private sectors and community leaders is going to improve our work at Metro, and make a difference in the lives of so many Oregonians.” The Construction Careers Pathways program is Metro’s effort to address a forecast shortage of labor in the skilled and construction trades by ad- dressing barriers to entry for women and people of color. The Civic Engagement Capac- ity Building Grants supported community organizations that had historically been excluded from decision-making process- es in building the foundation they needed to be able to effec- tively influence policy at a re- gional level. Before joining Metro in 2019, Owens-Wilson worked for 11 years at the Partnership for Working Families, supporting community coalitions across the country in achieving racial justice outcomes through public investments and authored re- search that supported policy de- velopment and implementation focused on equitable develop- ment, climate justice and work- force equity including the U.S. Department of Transportation’s implementation of the local hir- ing policy for federally funded transportation projects during the Obama administration. “When I think about the moment Metro is in now, I am excited about all of the oppor- tunity that is in front of us to grow and learn and push our racial equity strategies to the next level,” Owens-Wilson said. “Previous DEI directors, Metro leadership, and commu- nity and regional partners have built a strong foundation for this work. I’m honored to build on this foundation and continue the work of delivering meaning- ful racial equity outcomes that improve the lives of BIPOC communities and ultimately ev- eryone in the region.” Owens-Wilson holds a mas- ter’s in International Studies from the University of Oregon and a bachelor’s in Interna- tional Political Economy from Colorado College. She is a graduate of the National Labor Leadership Institute.
