local news
continued from page 1
group’s campaign to get the Oregon Health
Authority to investigate how doulas can
improve birth outcomes for women of color.
Sponsored by Rep. Tina Kotek, legislation
mandating further research on the topic was
passed into law this year.
“While these findings are preliminary and
we need to complete more research on these
issues, the survey in many ways verifies
what we see and hear from Black women in
Oregon’s communities,” Monroe said.
“Many are in the public health care system,
percent of African American babies county-
wide have low birth weight (5.9 percent for
White babies, 5.6 percent for Hispanics, and
8.1 percent for people of color overall).
“We have seen birth outcomes for both
the mother and baby improve when Black
women have access to affordable doula
services,” she said. “This is the type of com-
munity-based, direct healthcare service that
can lead to big changes and ultimately equi-
ty in how Black women are treated through-
out the birth process.”
Key ICTC survey findings
include:
- Nearly two-thirds of women did
not attend birth education classes
prior to delivery;
- Nearly one-third of women were
concerned about their treatment dur-
ing the birth of their baby;
- The majority of women surveyed
have government-paid health insur-
ance coverage;
- Over half of the women surveyed were
single;
- Only 25 percent of Black women were
still breastfeeding their babies at six
months, compared to over 60 percent for
Oregon moms overall (the national average
is 40 percent).
“Because our work at ICTC relates to
training women to be professional doulas
Oregon’s First-Ever Survey
of Black Mothers Sheds
Light on Poor Birth
Outcomes
they don’t have access to or support to take
birthing classes or maintain breastfeeding,
they often give birth alone with no support
besides hospital staff, and some expressed
fear during their time in the hospital based
on their treatment.”
Monroe cited the recent “Communities of
Color in Multnomah County: An Unsettling
Profile, 2010” report, which showed 11.4
Working
Kirk
Known as “The
Hawthorne Bridge
guy,” Kirk Reeves
entertains families near
Pioneer Courthouse
Square with Christmas
tunes, juggling tricks
and a little bit of
balloon magic.
photo By liSSa loviNg
Babies
and support women before, during and after
birth, we need to have a deeper understand-
ing of what’s working now in the healthcare
and social services sectors and where the
breakdowns in services, communications
and outreach are occurring for Black
women,” Monroe said.
For info go to www.ictcmidwives.org .
“Many schools are more racially isolated
today than they were in the 1970s. Today’s
guidance recognizes the harms of re-segre-
gation and the benefits of diversity.”
That statement was signed by the ACLU,
the NAACP Legal Defense & Education
Fund, and three other community-of-color
legal associations.
Conservative observers decried the
smackdown of the Bush Administration’s
anti-race policy. The Wall Street Journal
cited a case pending before the U.S.
Supreme Court concerning the University
of Texas at Austin, where a plaintiff seeks to
shut down “a race-conscious admissions
policy.”
The Journal quotes a conservative activist
predicting the new guidelines will be over-
turned.
Meanwhile, more than 100 high school
and college students crowded around tables
at PSU’s Smith Center, soaking up pitches
from HBCUs, Ivy League schools, the
Peace Corps, and more.
“We decided to put together this event
because there are so many of our students
who needed help and guidance,” Livingston
said.
Coming quickly behind the BUF is the
Oregon Community Foundation, which
announced Monday it is dishing out
$40,000 to the BUF to bolster its higher
education programs; in addition, it awarded
$25,000 to Elevate Oregon to improve high
school graduation rates; and $25,000 to
Campfire Columbia for their Cradle-to-
Career program.
“On top of that we have a huge
scholarship program too, where
we give scholarships to more
than 2,000 students all over
Oregon,” said Joan Vallejo of the
OCF. “Another huge barrier to
higher education is funding –
that much we know.”
Livingston says the BUF is
committed to continuing its
annual college fairs as well as
ongoing help and mentoring for
young people who want to go.
“When you have a college
education your earnings potential increases,
you have greater access to health insurance,
more access just to opportunities – doors
open,” she says. “So we want to encourage
our students to get a college education – it
opens the world to them.”
Livingston said more volunteers from the
community are needed to give one-on-one
support to the young people who come in
for guidance. She said the BUF’s programs
are also always open to area sponsors who
wish to pitch in with resources, as Portland
State University and The Skanner News did
with the college fair last week.
eling the playing field for disadvantaged
teens.
“It’s very important, particularly when
students are moving, not just with gentrifi-
cation but also because of school closures,”
says Jon Oster of the environmental justice
group OPAL. “With closing, those students
are now traveling further to get to Madison
or Franklin. It’s critical for youth.”
Marci Jackson, a working parent, said
transportation expenses put financial stress
on many parents.
“I have three to buy, so that’s $75 a month
just to help me get kids to and from school,
and to and from activities,” she said. “That’s
pretty expensive for parents.”
When it was created, the YouthPass was
funded through ’s Business Energy Tax
Credit program. But last June, the Oregon
Legislature decided to sunset that funding at
the end of 2011.
Diskin says he understands why the tax
credit program is not the best way to fund it,
but he says the program is far cheaper than
using a yellow bus system to transport high
schoolers, and it offers many more benefits.
The state would have to reimburse 70 per-
cent of the costs of those buses, which total
about $6 million, Diskin said.
“I do think it is the responsibility of our
state to think about meeting the needs of
young people, and that includes transporta-
tion.”
Advocates say the YouthPass not only
supports families, it helps reduce traffic
congestion around neighborhood schools,
lowers carbon emissions – which helps
Portland’s Climate Action Plan – and intro-
duces the next generation to public transit.
Shani Josefina Plunkett-de la Cruz, a jun-
ior at Roosevelt High School, and a
Multnomah Youth Commissioner, is one of
the teens who advocated for continuing the
YouthPass.
“Many students in my school alone have
no other option. They depend on the bus
pass and for some, without it, they would
not be able to get to school at all,” she said.
“My mom works two jobs, so she doesn’t
have time to drive me everywhere I need to
be. With the YouthPass, I can travel to and
from extracurricular activities such as
sports, or the Multnomah Youth
Commission.”
BUF
continued from page 1
higher education, U.S. Department of
Education statistics show that men of color
are particularly absent from the university
classroom: overall graduation rates for
African and African American males are
about 33 percent; for Black women the rate
is just under 45 percent. The entire universi-
ty system graduates just 57.3 percent of stu-
dents.
An article on America’s Wire by Marjorie
Valbrun, “Black Males Missing from
College Campuses,” published earlier this
year, explores the issue in depth.
http://americaswire.org/drupal7/?q=con-
tent/black-males-missing-college-campuses
Friday a coalition of Civil Rights groups
leaped to back up the new admissions
guidelines, which they say “provide a
roadmap for K-12 schools, colleges, and
universities to implement the voluntary
diversity and integration standards set by
the Supreme Court’s decisions in Grutter v.
Bollinger (2003) and Parents Involved v.
Seattle Schools (2007).”
“Racial segregation and concentrated
poverty are increasing in our nation’s
schools, suggesting that we are backtrack-
ing on the successes of the civil rights
movement,” the civil rights groups said.
Racial segregation and
concentrated poverty are
increasing in our nation’s
schools, suggesting that we
are backtracking on the
successes of the civil rights
movemen
In addition, Kaiser Permanente and
Wieden+Kennedy contributed cash for four
$500 scholarships for high school and col-
lege students at the fair.
For more information go to the Black
United Fund website at www.bufor.org
YouthPass
continued from page 1
The youth commission wants the program
extended to every middle and high-school
in the Portland-metro region. A 2009 survey
showed that 80 percent of the 13,000 stu-
dents who have a YouthPass use it almost
daily. Students use the pass to get to school,
to take part in sports and activities, to meet
friends and to travel to jobs.
“I really need a bus pass,” says Nick Cruz,
a student at . “It’s how I get to and from
school every day, and it’s how I get to the
places I need to get to, and back home. If
you take away my bus pass you’re essen-
tially making me stay at home the entire
time.”
Schools with higher numbers of students
of color and low-income students use the
pass more, suggesting it contributes to lev-
December 7, 2011 The Portland Skanner page 3