WWW . THESKANNER . COM
F EBRUARY 29, 2012
P ORTLAND , O REGON
V OLUME XXXIV, N O .9
25
CENTS
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C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW
The Truth
About
Jobs
YOUTH SUMMIT
Oregon report finds
six looking for work for
every vacancy
By Helen Silvis
Of The Skanner News
PHOTO BY LISA LOVING
T
he ratio of out-of-work Oregonians to
jobs is six to one. That’s according to
the latest jobs report from Oregon
Employment Department.
The state jobs agency surveyed employers
last fall and found 30,400 job vacancies in
Oregon during October. About 176,400 Ore-
gonians were looking for work that month,
the agency estimates. The ratio is slightly
better than in 2010, when 6.5 people were
unemployed for every job vacancy. Nation-
ally the figure is 4 people for every job
vacancy.
“In 2010 we found just over 30,000 job
vacancies and in 2009 we found 18,200
vacancies, so the good news is that we have
had a pretty good increase in job vacancies
over the last two years,” said Charlie John-
son, a senior economic analyst with the
State of Oregon, and the author of the
report. ‘The bad news is that in 2008 we
had about 40,000 vacancies, so we are defi-
nitely not back up to that pre-recession level
of hiring.”
Nationally, economists have reported
signs of recovery, from the two-year long
downturn that’s been named, “The Great
Recession.”
“I think the storyline is that that there is a
slow and steady recovery, but not a sharp
increase in the number of jobs out there,”
Johnson said.
Jason Gettel a policy analyst with the Ore-
gon Center for Public Policy said we still
have a long way to go to repair the damage
done during the recession.
“Taking into account population changes,
the number of jobs per 100 working age
Oregonians is not projected to reach its pre-
recession level until 2017.”
People of color, particularly African
Americans, have been harder hit by unem-
ployment than other groups. Nationally, the
January unemployment rate for African
Multnomah Youth Commissioners are working hard to pull together the Rob Ingram Youth Summit Against Violence.
Pictured here from left: Rakiyah Johnson, Ana Meza, Isai Rojas-Arcos, Perla Alvarez and Violeta Alvarez.
Ingram Youth Summit Against Violence
Multnomah Youth Commissioners need support for event
By Helen Silvis
Of The Skanner News
W
ith just six weeks to
pull together the Rob
Ingram Youth Sum-
mit Against Violence, Mult-
nomah Youth Commissioners
are looking for help. If you are
under 21, and you’re interested
in helping with the summit,
that means you.
At a meeting downtown
Wednesday Feb. 20, a group of
youth commissioners came
together for their weekly plan-
ning meeting. The summit will
take place from 10 a.m. to 4
p.m. Saturday, April 21 at
Highland Christian Center,
7600 N.E. Glisan Street.
Marc Fernandes, the Mult-
nomah County staffer support-
ing the group asks a question.
“If you ask how many people
in the room have been impact-
ed by violence, how many do
you think will stand up?”
“Everyone,” say several
voices at once. “Almost every-
one.”
From bullying to child
abuse, from partner abuse to
gang shootings, violence, or
the threat of violence, is perva-
sive in our daily lives. Through
the summit, Multnomah Youth
Commissioners want to give
youth a voice in the issue.
“We want to hear from peo-
ple who have been directly
impacted by violence,” said
Violeta Alvarez.
The other goals of the forum
are to connect youth to helpful
resources, and to increase
communication
between
young people and the adults
who make decisions that affect
their lives.
The morning will be open to
youth only. In the afternoon,
elected officials and decision
makers will be invited to hear
what youth have to say
“Before the Multnomah
Youth Commission I didn’t
know I had rights that could be
infringed upon,” said Rakiyah
Johnson. “I didn’t know I had
rights. So if even 100 more
people left the summit know-
ing that, they might speak out
See YOUTH on page 9
See JOBS on page 3
INDEX
News ................2,3,8,9
Opinion ..................4,5
A & E .................6,7,10
Bids/Classifieds ........11
503tv Shines Light on Local Talent
Video television entrepreneurs film events otherwise overlooked
By Bruce Poinsette
Of The Skanner News
503tv
wants to expose the world to
a side of Portland they prob-
ably haven’t seen.
“This is not the Portlandia you see on
IFC,” says co-creator Sadiki Stone.
Stone and fellow Jefferson High alum
John Lee Jr. created the production compa-
ny as a means to promote talented individu-
als and movements in Portland.
Lee and Stone first took an interest in film
as students in a video class at Harriet Tub-
man Middle School (now Harriet Tubman
Leadership Academy for Young Women).
They emphasize that this was before the
introduction of a lot of digital technology.
In the early 2000s they began making
amateur videos, mostly humorous films for
You Tube.
They taught themselves filming and edit-
ing techniques through trial and error, as
well as with online tutorials.
“We started out with Sony Handycams,”
says Stone. “There were no grants. No spon-
sors.”
Lee and Stone, both former high school
See 503TV on page 3