news
Education Conference Tackles Parenting
The Black Parent Initiative held
its second annual Breaking the
Cycle conference about education,
parenting and supporting the next
generation to be successful aca-
demically and in life.
The conference was held at
Concordia College in North
Portland and included workshops
by local and national experts:
Phillip Jackson of The Black Star
project in Chicago; Dr. Andrae
Brown of Lewis and Clark
Graduate School of Education and
Counseling; author and counselor
Dr. Johnny Parker; Dr. Joy
Dr. Parker presented his five
building blocks for a healthy rela-
tionship: Integrity, Nurturance,
Honor,
Humility,
and
Commitment.
The building blocks apply to all
kinds of relationships, parent-
child relationships as well as life
partners, for example. All relation-
ships need that foundation of
integrity and honesty, because
without integrity you can’t build
trust.
He quoted H. Jackson Browne,
saying, “Live so that when your
children think of fairness and
‘You have to know how people want
to be nurtured because people are
different’
-- Dr. Johnny Parker
DeGruy of Portland State
University; Dr. Stephanie Irby-
Coard; Christopher James of the
Black Fatherhood project; and
Tinal Marie Glover. The keynote
speaker was Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu.
The Skanner News dropped in
on two sessions: Dr Johnny
Parker’s session on Healthy
Relationships and co-parenting;
and Dr Kunjufu’s wrap-up sess
integrity they think of you.”
In an interactive discussion with
audience members, Dr. Parker
explained that any relationship
needs attention and time. And he
emphasized the different ways
people feel nurtured in a relation-
ship.
“You have to understand how
your kids are different and how
they like to be nurtured,” he said.
“You have to know how people
want to be nurtured because peo-
ple are different.”
He pointed out the classic sex
difference, that may not apply to
everyone, but fits for many: men
usually don’t like to talk for the
sake of talking unless there is a
goal or reason, whereas women
are more likely to want to talk
about daily ups and downs.
“We talk more when we are
doing something with you,” he
told the women present.
The brick of honor involves
appreciation and respect for one
another and also keeping trust
alive by demonstrating trustwor-
thiness. The brick of humility
means recognizing your own
weaknesses as well as your
strengths, and respecting that your
partner, children and colleagues
have strengths that exceed yours
in some areas.
“I think we all have a sweet
spot,” he said. “God has wired us
all differently so we all have dif-
ferent strengths.”
The brick of commitment means
continuing to look for ways to
enrich your relationships. “What
are your challenges? How can you
improve?”
Open and warm, Dr. Parker and
his wife Lezlyn, who also con-
tributed to the workshop, talked
about the benefits of living in a
LaRonn Arnold with Dr. Andrae Brown
supportive community and the
strength they draw from their
church. He mentioned the 300
project, where 300 people commit
to a positive activity for a month.
One month, 300 men in their
church made a commitment to
appreciate women. A simple idea,
yet the results were powerful, he
said.
At the final wrap up session, Dr.
Jawanza Kunjufu, expanded on
his earlier address by answering
audience questions. Focusing on
the experience of Black boys in
education he said the most impor-
tant grades are kindergarten, 4th
grade and 9th grade. “Our boys are
still academically competitive in
the early years,” he said. “For
some reason the long longer that
our children are in the school sys-
See bPI on page 8
June 22, 2011 The Portland Skanner Page 5