WWW . THESkANNEr . COm
O CTOBEr 12, 2011
P OrTLANd , O rEGON
V OLumE XXXIII, N O . 50
25
CENTS
i nSiDe
Oklahoma
page 7
Bourbon at the Border
pag 8
Black and Broke
C hallenging P eoPle to S haPe a B etter F uture n ow
Found!
Jobs for
Women
pag 4
Occupy pOrtland
Q&A with Connie
Ashbrook of Oregon
Tradeswomen
A
the Skanner news: Talk about the report
that came out recently—what did it say?
connie ashbrook: The report is talking
about the importance of making training
work so that people of color and women
have access to the high-wage and high-
skilled trades careers that are available in
the transportation industry.
It’s looking at roads, bridges, light-rail,
and other transportation infrastructure.
TSn: I remember a few years ago when
President Obama announced the stimulus
funding for jobs programs, that Oregon
Tradeswomen actually received significant
funding for jobs training. Connie how many
jobs did your trainees get?
ashbrook: Because of stimulus dollars
we were able to educate over 130 women a
year for the past two years about careers in
the blue collar fields. For free.
So also women last year, 79 of them got
jobs in the trades, and their average wage is
$13.89 an hour, and that’s just a starting
wage. Typically that will grow over time
through their apprenticeship because a core
part of the apprenticeship is that you start at
an entry-level wage and every six months,
as your skill and training advances you get a
higher wage.
We’re continuing to work with all of them
to move them into employment somewhere
between 67 and 70 percent of our graduates
are becoming employed in the trades so
we’re very pleased with that.
For instance 27 women so far have
PhoTo bY helen SilviS
national study issued last week sin-
gled out Oregon Tradeswoman as
one of the most effective job equity
institutions in the country for work training
in the transportation industry. the Skanner
news spoke last week with their Executive
Director Connie Ashbrook about the
group’s mission, their training programs,
and how local women can sign up for free
training in blue-collar trades.
Protests against wealth inequality have spread across the country with Portland and Seattle joining the national
campaign, Occupy Wall Street
Cornel West Says: Occupy Your Hood
N
ew Yorker Malik
Rahsaan was dismayed
that few Blacks and
Latinos were represented at
the Occupy Wall Street
Protests. That led him to create
a movement aimed at includ-
ing people of color: Occupy
the Hood.
The protests aim to highlight
the growth of wealth and
income inequality in the
United States. They started in
New York with the Occupy
Wall Street movement and
have now spread to at least 70
cities in the Unites States and
others across the world.
Dr. Cornel West told Malik he
supports the protesters.
“The hood ought to be the
first community to be here
because we have been suffer-
ing than any other community
with the exception of our
indigenous brothers and sisters
on reservations,” West said.
“In terms of education, hous-
ing, not enough jobs with a liv-
ing wage, and the refusal of
people to really come to terms
with the suffering of the chil-
dren. We have 42 percent of
Black children 42 percent of
Brown children and 42 percent
of Red children living in
poverty. The richest nation in
the history of the world:
That’s a moral disgrace.”
Also on board the Occupy
the Hood movement are the
Rev. Al Sharpton, who spoke
to the crowd in New York
Monday, California Congress -
woman Nancy Pelosi and
Georgia’s Rep. John Lewis.
The Occupy Wall Street
movement has spread to cities
all over the country, and
beyond. In Oregon, Monday
Oct. 10, protesters marched
and rallied at the Oregon capi-
tol in Salem. Organizers plan
to camp indefinitely at
Salem’s Wilson Park.
In Portland, the Occupy
Portland demonstrators have
been camping in Chapman
Square, since the march and
rally Thursday Oct. 6. Occupy
Portland came together in sup-
port of the New York protest-
ers ‘Occupy Wall Street’.
Both in the United States and
across the world protesters are
turning out to protest rising
inequalities and policies that
they say favor corporations
and the wealthy. Individual
protesters brought other issues
to the march, including the
continuing U.S. military pres-
ence in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The diverse and good-
See occupy on page 3
See aShbrook onpage 33
inDeX
News ..............2,3,8-10
Opinion ..................4,5
A & E ......................6-8
Obituaries..................9
Bids/Classifieds ........11
Local Educator Tackles Achievement Gap
Augusta Mann headlines Teaching with Purpose conference
by bruce Poinsette
For The Skanner News
K
aranja Crews wants to tackle the
achievement gap in Portland Public
Schools. The Vernon School teacher
has organized the Teaching With Purpose
Conference 10 Year Anniversary to help
provide tools for educators and community
members to address this problem.
Crews has planned the one day seminar
for the state in service day on Friday,
October 14. It will run from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The event will include workshops and a
screening of .
Crews organized the first Teaching With
Purpose Conference ten years ago as a stu-
dent at Portland State University.
At the time, community activist Ron
Herndon and the Education Crisis Team
were protesting PPS over the achievement
gap between middle class whites and minor-
ity and low-income students.
Crews brought in over 150 educators and
national consultants to the event, including
keynote speaker Bob Moses and Augusta
Mann, who is returning as a presenter this
year.
See Teaching on page 3