local news
Diabetes
honored
continued from page 1
and 74 have diabetes as well as one in four
Black women over the age of 55.
According the American Diabetes
Association, these disparities are reflected
in the complications from the disease as
well.
Blacks are 50 percent more likely than
non Hispanic whites to develop diabetic
retinopathy, which is associated with blind-
ness. Similarly, blacks are 2.6 to 5.6 times
more likely to suffer from kidney disease
with 4,000 new cases of End Stage Renal
Disease each year. Lastly, Blacks are 2.7
times more like-
ly to suffer from
lower
limb
amputations.
According to
Yoder,
The
American
D i a b e t e s
Association has
been putting on
these
Expos
since 2002.
She says the first one was held in Phoenix,
Arizona and was well received and well
attended. Since, the Expo has expanded to
cities all across the US.
Yoder says attendance continues to grow
in Portland. This year, she says the organi-
zation is expecting over 5,000 attendees.
She says there are 65 exhibitors and a
variety of activities available.
Jesse Wornum of the biggest loser will be
opening the doors at 8:45 a.m. and then
sharing his personal story of how he’s
learned to manage his diabetes. Attendees
can sign up for the “Walk with Jesse” Step
Out Walk to Stop Diabetes Team in the
American Diabetes Association Experience.
There Expo will also feature healthy
cooking and active living demonstrations.
The healthy cooking stage will feature
presentations Ivy Manning, Chef Bill King
ad Chef Tamara. According to Yoder, it will
address issues like snacks and cooking on a
budget.
The active
living stage
will feature
presentations
f r o m
C U RV E S ,
D e A n n e
Hardy
and
Stephanie
Knoll. Topics
will include “Circuit Training”, “Zumba:
Shake Your Booty”, “Don’t Be Square, Just
Dance” and “Sit & Be Fit”.
Some of the resources available to atten-
dees will include the aforementioned free
hearing screenings, a panel on finding help
and a senior pavilion, according to Yoder.
There will also be an “ask an expert” area
where attendees can have one on one ques-
tion and answer sessions.
African-Americans are 1.6
times more likely than non
Hispanic whites to have Type
2 diabetes
Portland civic leader John Canda, left, chair of Connected, received the
Drum Major 2012 rosa Parks Award at the Sixth Annual “Living the Dream”
at the Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church last weekend. here he is
pictured with Portland mayor candidate Charlie hales.
Lastly, the Expo will be holding a speaker
series in both English and Spanish.
The English speakers include Michael
Fulop, Elizabeth Stephens of Providence
Medical Center, Andrew Ahmann of the
Harold Schnitzer Diabetes Health Center,
Dan Root of Oregon Sleep Associates,
Michelle Grove of the Portland Clinic and
Steven Tillet.
Spanish speakers include Leda Garside,
Ruth Dallas and Lucrecia Suarez.
Some of the topics the speakers will be
covering include diabetes burnout, the rela-
tionship between sleep disorders and Type 2
diabetes and the necessity of having a dia-
betes team, or a set of doctors to handle par-
ticular complications from the disease.
“It teaches people how to maintain their
diabetes so they don’t lose a foot or a toe,”
says Yoder.
“The lack of inclusion and economic par-
ity in the private sector, along with lack of
access to capital, severely limited options
for Black Americans to generate or create
wealth five decades ago. The same problem
exists today,” Green said.
“Our strategy is to tell the story of the
Innovation Economy, its challenges and
opportunities, in a manner that’s easy to
understand, using three core pillars:
· STEM (science technology, engineering
and math) education and workforce devel-
opment
Entrepreneurship, especially high-growth
entrepreneurship
Access to Capital and Capital Formation.
Our approach is to follow the solution pro-
vided by Dr. Martin Luther King. We seek
to connect the disconnected and develop
strong relationships across the racial and
economic divide.
Unfortunately, as Green
explained, Black Americans
have been excluded from the
wealth creation strategies that
have worked well for other
Americans. And unemployment
has remained twice as high in
Black communities as in White
– the same as during Dr. King’s
lifetime.
“Today we see the economic
consequence of decades of isolation and
disconnect due to White businesses and
majority corporations keeping Black busi-
nesses and entrepreneurs at arm’s length.
With few opportunities to connect to those
in our society generating wealth, Black
America has lagged in its ability to compete
and thrive economically, and the wealth gap
has
widened.
As President Obama has said, “it isn’t class
warfare, it’s math.”
Nationally Green’s organization is part-
nering with Rutgers Business School, CNN,
Open Government TV and a growing group
of potential investors, entrepreneurs and
educators. The University of Portland host-
ed a screening of a CNN documentary on
the issue. At the breakfast, Patrick Quinton,
executive director of the Portland
Development Commission, said the PDC
will be interested in supporting the initiative
as it develops.
After getting inspired by Green’s speech,
scholarship sponsors presented awards
worth $1000 each to about 20 students, who
had graduated from local high schools.
Some students have received multiple
scholarships through the foundation, help-
ing them as they progress through college
and university.
Wrapping up the event was the Skanner
Publisher, Bernie Foster. As well as thank-
ing all the sponsors and volunteers who
made the event possible, he urged legisla-
tors to make sure that federal resources help
those who need it most.
recently under a broad interpretation of the
term “collective garden.’’
And a new law could open the door to a
statewide dispensary boom, especially in
some larger cities, such as Bellevue, that
have refused to allow them.
``I don’t think it’s fair that Seattle and
Tacoma have people coming from all over
the place to purchase marijuana in their
jurisdiction,’’ Kohl-Welles said.
The bill sets off what is likely to be a big
year for marijuana-policy debates.
Lawmakers are expected to send to voters in
November an initiative that would legalize
and tax recreational-marijuana sales.
Whether lawmakers have the stomach —
or the time — to legalize dispensaries is
unclear in a session already crowded with a
budget deficit of roughly $1.5 billion and a
gay-marriage proposal.
Police oppose dispensaries, and federal
authorities recently raided some shops.
Cody, who has invested about $20,000 in
Herban Legends, said he is patient, if nerv-
ous. ``We’re still in this limbo,’’ he said.
``As time goes on, more people will come
on board. Things take a while, and they
should.’’
After Gregoire’s partial veto of a 2001 bill
that would have set up statewide regulation
of dispensaries, storefront shops gravitated
to perceived safe havens, particularly
Seattle.
Event
continued from page 1
The convention center staff served up crab
patties, topped with poached egg in béar-
naise sauce and a waffle. Portland
Community Media and the North Portland
Multimedia Training Center recorded the
event live for broadcast on Channel 30.
Madam Wendy Jackson led the singing of
the Black National Anthem ‘Lift Ev’ry
Voice’ and also delighted the audience with
the classic, “I’ve come too far to turn back
now.” Pastor Crayton Jackson of Daniels
Memorial Church of God in Christ gave the
invocation and the benediction.
the Skanner’s news editor, Lisa Loving,
presented the Drum major for
Justice Award 2012 to
Karanja Crews, a teacher and
the inventor of Journey to
Freedom. Journey to Freedom
started out as an interactive
game designed to engage
Black students through teach-
ing the history and culture of
African Americans. From that
small beginning Journey to
Freedom has become a program that works
especially well with young Black men to
encourage reading and promote academic
success .
Accepting the award, Crews said he
stands on the shoulders of those who came
before him, not just Martin Luther King Jr,
and other national civil rights leaders, but
also the local heroes who blazed the civil
rights trail in Portland, people like Avel
Gordly and Ron Herndon.
Green, a former CNN journalist, now
lives in Oregon.
He blogs for the
Huffington Post, but his main focus is the
America 21 Project, which he co-founded
with economic development expert
Johnathan Holifield and biotech entrepre-
neur Chad Womack. The project aims to
link Black Americans to the structures that
create wealth in America. (You can find out
more at the website, blackinnovation.org)
Black Americans have been excluded
from the wealth creation strategies
that have worked well for other
Americans
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Pot
continued from page 1
Legislators, still pained by the veto but
pressed by cities to fix the mess, are prepar-
ing to try again. A hearing is scheduled
Wednesday on SB 6265, a bill proposed by
medical marijuana’s champion in Olympia,
Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, to
legalize nonprofit dispensers and kick regu-
lation to cities.
If passed, the plan could clear a legal haze
hovering over storefront shops. Although
not explicitly allowed under state law, they
have operated via legal loopholes, most
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January 18, 2012 The Portland Skanner Page 3