local news
Vaughn
Benefit Block Party
continued from page 1
members have been searching for her ever
since.
Mayor Sam Adams was at the scene
Friday and comforted her mother with a hug
before telling reporters he hoped this would
bring a small amount of closure to the fam-
ily after their tragic loss.
Murder suspect Parrish Bennette’s
lawyers say he panicked after accidentally
shooting her. Prosecutors paint a grimmer
picture, saying forensic evidence
suggests she was beaten and that
the gun was shot twice.
The Oregonian reported that the
defense team and the judge met
last week privately, and family
believe Bennette disclosed the
whereabouts of the girl’s
remains. After the bail hearing
Shaquita Louis wrote a public let-
ter to Bennette begging him to
disclose the location of her daugh-
ter’s body.
Previous searches at the spot
near
92nd Avenue and Rocky
—supporter
Butte Rd., did not succeed.
Portland Police, Multnomah
County District Attorney’s Office and state
rifice, then your job has been complete.”
Vaughn was a student at Helensview High police worked together on the search.
School when she went missing March 19.
Her mother Shaquita Louis and family
that.
“Your situation is different from most,
because of your age, plus being a young
female, but the same outcome, death, and
not many seems to care about that anymore,
but you’ve started to change that,” he con-
tinued. “You’ve brought unity where their
was none, meaning your life was not in
vein, because if just one child changes his
or her life, because of your involuntary sac-
PhOtO By ANDIE PEtkuS PhOtOgrAPhy
‘You’ve brought unity where
their was none, meaning
your life was not in vein,
because if just one child
changes his or her life,
because of your involuntary
sacrifice, then your job has
been complete’
The annual Summer Block Party to benefit Planned Parenthood of the
Columbia willamette is Friday, July 29, from 5-8 p.m. at the Regional
Service Center at 3727 Ne Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Food, beer, live music
from Lookbook, performances by the Sprockettes bike dance troupe, fire
dancers, games and activities for the whole family. Advance admission is
$10 at www.ppcw.org. Admission at the door will be $15. Admission price
includes two drink tickets. All funds go to family planning services for area
women.
Math
continued from page 1
include Caulin Washington, Arjun
Ratnathican and Dylan Jackson, working
with adults and youths at the Sankofa office.
Hyman says the most important thing is
creating a fun and relaxing environment for
her students, which is why she doesn’t
require homework but rather comes up with
games and activities to make learning fun –
and get rid of math fear for good.
“I want to give back to community and I
wanted little Black kids to see there is
somebody like them who loves math at
school,” she says. “I think it’s important for
parents to realize they play a very big
part in how their child gets educated,
and that if there are free opportunities
they should do it.”
Math coaching lab hours for adults
and kids in fifth grade or higher are $9
per hour, with half-price scholarships
available for up to 18-year-olds. The
scholarships are being paid by an
unnamed donor who wants to make
sure young people can afford the pro-
gram, Jackson says.
“Our pledge is to offer top-quality
math instruction, redressing math
anxieties and poor fundamentals, by
partnering with bright and aspiring young
people (high school and college), those
strong in math and capable of being a wit-
ness to others regarding the ability to know
and master mathematics,” Jackson says.
For more information or to sign up call
503-583-2251,
email
derry@sankofallc.com,
or
go
to
www.sankofallc.com.
Oden-Orr earned a Bachelor of Arts
degree in Political Science from UCLA, and
graduated from the University of Illinois
College of Law. There he was honored with
the Rickert Award for public service.
NAMC-Oregon members issued
statements of support for the move
praising Oden-Orr’s vision on expand-
ing the organization’s operations with
day-to-day oversight lacking in the
past.
“Over the past few months that the
Board has considered the need for an
director, he has provided
—Melvin Oden-Orr executive
thoughtful input on that person’s role
and the direction of the organization,”
He has taught courses in Race and the said Faye Burch of Faye Burch and
Law at the Northwestern School of Law at Associates consulting, a founding member.
“We have an aggressive plan moving for-
Lewis & Clark College. This year President
Barack Obama named him a “Champion of ward,” said NAMCO Board President Mark
Matthews of Pacificmark Construction
Change” in the transportation industry.
Corporation. “Establishing NAMC-Oregon
as the voice of minority contractors
throughout Oregon; better supporting our
members’ development; and continuing to
advocate for greater opportunities for certi-
fied minority firms by leveling the playing
field and removing barriers to their ability
to participate on both public and private
construction projects in meaningful ways.”
“Melvin brings to the role of executive
director, not just the intellectual horse-
power of a first-class attorney, but a passion
for working with our people: minority busi-
nesses,” said founding member James
Posey, owner of Workhorse Construction,
Inc.
For more information on NAMC-Oregon
go to the group’s website, www.namc-ore-
gon.org.
with,” she said.
“Once you know multiplication you can
move to division, but if you didn’t learn
multiplication you can’t move to
division, and if you don’t know
multiplication and division you
cannot move to fractions — and so
that’s the key,” she said.
“So they’re turned off by math,
but once I show them little tricks
and they get turned on by math,
they say, ‘that’s not hard at all.’”
Jackson said he was moved to
create a math and technology
coaching program because it is a simple, yet
critical way to uplift the Black community.
“Most people will tell you the smartest
person in their class is usually the one that’s
the best mathematician,” he says. “Our goal
is to turn our students into valedictorians
and make them mathematicians in their
class, in their school, and by doing that in a
profound way that makes it personal to
them so they actually can be comfortable
and come to love math.”
An important part of the
math program is to get rid
of the fear and stress most
people associate with the
subject
For the summer, Hyman is coaching the
youngsters at Reflections, but she also
works with women in the Passage for
Higher Education program, and fellow stu-
dents at Concordia.
She says most people just need a brush up,
which they can do in a session or two.
“What I’ve seen with the people that I
have had is that most of them – even if they
have gaps or holes in other concepts – most-
ly its multiplication they have problems
Jackson said he was
moved to create a math
and technology coaching
program because it is a
simple, yet critical way to
uplift the Black community
NAMC-O
continued from page 1
taged businesses, Oden-Orr says he’ll con-
tinue to maintain his law firm while helping
lead the organization in new efforts to tight-
en its operations and recruit new members.
Oden-Orr told The Skanner News that
plans are under way to revamp
NAMC-Oregon’s website; flesh out
new programs; create an annual
statewide conference on contracting
equity; and put together more
opportunities for its members to
come together with their public
works partners “to provide focused
attention on increasing the utiliza-
tion of certified firms,” he said.
“One of our big efforts is going to
be membership – we want to establish the
value of the organization to our members as
part of the recruitment,” he said. “It is a leap
into the future and it’s a future that is
focused on increasing the capacity of our
firms and helping them further develop.”
A member of the organization since its
inception, Oden-Orr is a former corporate
counsel for TriMet and the Portland
Development Commission.
‘It’s a future that is focused on
increasing the capacity of our
firms and helping them further
develop’
July 20, 2011 The Portland Skanner Page 3