www . THESKANNER . COM
N OVEMBER 30, 2011
P ORTLAND , O REgON
V OLUME XXXIII, N O . 57
25
CENTS
I nSIDe
Baseball Exhibit
page 2
‘Reel Injun’
page 6
Healthy Recipes
C hallenging P eoPle to S haPe a B etter F uture n ow
Kids at
Coffee
Creek?
page 8
Rob IngRam, 38
Testimony sought on
juveniles held at
adult prison facility
by lisa loving
of The Skanner News
pHoTo bY julIe keefe
D
o you know a teenager who has been
processed for incarceration through
the adult Coffee Creek Correctional
Facility?
The nonprofit Partnership for Safety and
Justice wants to know how juveniles are
being treated there, as part of a research
project to bolster new legislation keeping
youths out of adult jails.
Youth advocates cite research showing
that youths incarcerated in adult jails are at
increased risk for physical and sexual
assault, and when held in isolation can an
increased risk of suicide and attempted sui-
cide.
“The consequences of juveniles in adult
prisons are very serious and that’s why we
at Partnership for Safety and Justice are
working to address that issue,” says the
group’s associate director Shannon White.
While Coffee Creek Correctional Facility
is considered to be the state’s women’s
prison, it also serves as the processing cen-
ter for newly-convicted male offenders.
Earlier this year
During the last legislative session the
Partnership helped pass HB 2707, which
helps to keep youth who are charged as
adults out of jail, pretrial.
“Research shows kids who have contact
with the adult criminal justice system are
much less likely to be successful when they
get out than youth who are kept in the juve-
nile justice system,” White says.
Youth who are charged and convicted as
adults often — even if they’re going to
serve their sentence in an Oregon youth
authority facility — can end up doing an
intake process through the adult Coffee
Creek prison.
“We heard from a number of members,
both family members and youth who went
to Coffee Creek, that it can be awful experi-
ence that usually lasts a week, but some-
Rob Ingram was a beloved city leader and director of the Portland Office of Youth Violence Prevention who passed
last weekend of a heart attack. Here he is pictured accepting the Skanner News Drum Major for Justice Award in
January, 2010. The International Fellow ship Family hosts a memorial at noon Friday, at 4401 NE 122nd Ave.
Leader, Advocate, Family Man Lost
His motto: ‘I don’t work for the police department, I work for kids’
by Helen Silvis
of The Skanner News
Rob Ingram, director of the
Portland’s Office of Youth
Violence Prevention, died
suddenly Sunday Nov. 27 of a
heart attack, at just 38 years
old. He leaves behind his wife
of 11 years Dana Ingram, and
his five children: Shamyua,
Derriel, Renee, Njeri, and
Kai.
With friends in every corner
of the city, Ingram was known
as a tireless champion for
young people, but particularly
for poor and minority teens.
“I don’t work for the police
department, I work for kids,”
was his motto.
Mayor Sam Adams released
a statement saying: “Today,
sadly, we lost a friend and
public servant, Rob Ingram,
who was passionately dedicat-
ed to the success of all
Portlanders, especially our
youth of color. Rob was a man
of wit and wisdom and he will
be deeply missed. Our
thoughts and prayers are with
his spouse Dana and his entire
family.”
The International Fellow -
ship Family will host a cele-
bration of his life at noon
Friday, at 4401 NE 122nd Ave.
Viewing will be held
Thursday, Dec. 1, from 5:30
pm to 7:30 pm at Caldwell,
Hennessey,
Goetsch
&
McGee, 20 N.E. 14th Ave.,
and again 10 to 11 a.m. Friday,
Dec. 2 at the church.
“He was an excellent leader
and I expected him to be a
force in this community for
decades to come,” said
Marcus Mundy, president if
the Urban League of Portland.
“Everything he did in the
community was positive. He
had a lot of passion and he
worked very hard. He wasn’t
getting rich doing it – he was
fairly selfless. He was a good
family man: a loving family
man and husband. He was just
a very nice person on top of
everything else.”
Ingram was The Skanner
See Ingram on page 9
See prISon on page 3
InDeX
Urban League Launches Jobs Initiative
News .................2,3,10
Portland ranks 4th worst city in the nation for poverty among Black
Opinion ..................4,5
by bruce poinsette
Special To The Skanner News
A & E ......................6,7
Food.......................8,9
Bids/Classifieds ........11
T
he Urban League of Portland is
rolling out a new jobs initiative to tar-
get multigenerational unemployment
in the Black community.
“Unemployment has had a devastating
effect on Portland,” says director of
Advocacy and Public Policy Midge Purcell.
“According to recent poverty figures,
Portland is number four in the country in
poverty levels for Black children.”
The Urban League will be holding its
Urban Jobs Initiative Community Forum at
Humboldt Gardens from 6-7:30 p.m. on
Nov. 30. It encourages job seekers, people
and families coping with unemployment
and underemployment, employers and com-
munity members to attend.
An Urban League issue brief on inequali-
ties in employment shows that there is a
large disparity, both nationally and locally,
in how the economy has affected Black and
white populations.
According to the report, white unemploy-
ment decreased from 8.8 to 8.5 percent on a
national level in the third quarter of 2010. In
See jobS on page 3