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Jobs
History Makers
Americans was 13.6 percent. For Hispanics,
it was 10.7 percent. Overall the rate is 8.3
percent.
Marc Morial, president and CEO of the
National Urban League, says the league will
be pushing an 8-point jobs plan to level the
playing field for people of color. “Clearly,
more must be done to ensure that our econ-
omy’s rising tide lifts all boats.” Morial says
in an email. “That is why we are issuing a
call for immediate national action around
the education and job-training steps neces-
sary to bring jobs back to communities most
in need. Any serious discussion of job cre-
ation and economic opportunity must offer
solutions for the obvious shortcomings of
our current national approach to education,
from early childhood education to adult-
hood and beyond. A broken national system
of education and job training will continue
to yield a broken economy.”
The Urban League of Portland runs a
workforce development program to combat
the resulting poverty. Policy analyst Debra
Lindsay says the basic plan for 2012 is to
offer recruitment and careers assistance,
along with job readiness training, skills
upgrade classes, a job club and resume
assistance.
Jobseekers can find the Urban League’s
job postings on Twitter, on their Facebook
page or by going into the Urban League
building at 10 N. Russell St., Portland, and
looking at the job book. Also available at
the office is access to computers and a
career resource room.
“We ‘re not like other public resources in
that we don’t put any limits on how long
you can use our computers,” Lindsay said.
The only limit to how long you can use
them is whether they’re available and if
someone else needs to use them.”
With 59 percent of Oregon’s job vacan-
cies in Portland and the tri-county area, the
report found the jobseekers to jobs ratio is
slightly better in the city than in other parts
of the state. Vacancies in the Portland Tri-
County area were more likely to require
previous experience, less likely to require a
license or certificate, and more likely to be
PHOTO BY RIBA ALLMON
continued from page 1
The 1st Annual Salute to Black History Makers recognized 10 of Portland’s movers and shakers Monday night. Pictured,
from left: Frank Taylor, co-owner of Portland Prime restaurant and the event founder; Larry Miller, general manager
of the Portland Trail Blazers, honoree; jazz great Mel Brown, honoree; Robin Givens, actress and emcee; Bernie Foster,
publisher of The Skanner News, honoree; former Sen. Avel Gordly, honoree; Multnomah County Commissioner Loretta
Smith, honoree; Dr. Ernest Hartzog, honoree; former Sen. Margaret Carter, honoree; KGW anchor Brenda Braxton,
emcee; Vesia Deweese Loving, legendary community activist and honoree; Michael Montgomery, US Bank
executive and event sponsor; Pastor W.G. Hardy, honoree.
for temporary or seasonal jobs compared to
other areas of the state.
The bad news for entry-level jobseekers
and people who have been unsuccessful
finding work in the past, is that employers
are looking for work history.
“We found that about three-quarters of all
job vacancies require previous experience,”
Johnson said. “So for any subgroup that has
had more difficulty finding jobs in the past,
they’re going to find it very difficult to have
previous experience to put on their resume.”
Where were the jobs? The report showed
that 19 percent were in health care and
social services, the highest percentage in
any one sector. Sales, administrative sup-
port and waste services each accounted for
about 14 percent of vacancies. Three specif-
ic occupations had more than 1,000 vacan-
cies each: retail salesperson, heavy or
tractor/trailer truck driver, and customer
service representative.
The average wage for October 2011 job
vacancies was $16.58 per hour, although the
report says, “wages varied drastically by
occupation, education requirement, and
licensure requirement. About 32 percent
required education beyond high school, 32
percent required a license or certificate.
“For jobs that only required a high school
education, the average hourly wage was less
than $15 per hour, compared to $20.04 per
hour for vacancies requiring an associate or
vocational degree, $28.05 per hour for a
bachelor’s degree, and $34.54 for a gradu-
ate degree. Nearly 60 percent of the jobs
available offered a starting wage below $15
per hour.”
About 64 percent of the vacancies were
for full-time positions, and 79 percent were
for permanent jobs.
Almost half of all vacancies, 48 percent,
were in small companies of less than 50
employees. Medium sized employers (50-
249 employees) had 31 percent of the jobs
and large companies (250+ employees) 21
percent. Large employers were more likely
to be hiring for high-paying, full-time posi-
tions.
503tv
continued from page 1
athletes, started taking filming seriously
when coaches at Jefferson High School
asked them to take videos of the team and
opponents. Soon, individual players began
asking for highlight tapes. Soon the two
turned it into a business where players
would submit footage and Lee and Stone
would do the editing.
Stone says he saw the bigger picture of
multimedia when he began to travel.
“I used to think we had a pretty large
Black community here,” he says. “If you’ve
been out of state you’ve probably had peo-
ple ask, ‘They have Black people in Port-
land?’ We wanted to branch out and show
people parts of Portland that aren’t seen.”
The company provides video recording,
video editing, photography, video tape digi-
tization, promotion and marketing. They
shoot everything from women’s pregnancy
photos to the Black History Game Nights
hosted by the Journey to Freedom Project.
“We have a broad range of customers and
clients,” says Lee. “Also, if we come across
a movement that we deem worthy we’ll film
it.”
In addition to Lee and Stone, 503tv has
three other members.
Roderick Edwards is the team’s ‘south
correspondent’ and works out of Salem. He
is focused on building the client and fan
base in the Salem and Eugene areas.
Andre Barber is the marketing director.
According to their website, he brings fresh
The minds behind 503tv are: (not pictured in order) co-creators Sadiki Stone
and John Lee Jr.; Roderick Edwards, ‘south correspondent’ covering the Salem
area; Andre Barber, marketing director and Malik Edwards, music manager.
ideas and concepts to the team and handles
503tv’s promotional duties.
Lastly, Malik Edwards is the team’s music
manager. He is a Portland recording artist
and childhood friend of the group who uti-
lizes the city’s music scene to help with
503tv projects.
According to Lee, 503tv helps to preserve
many of the people and institutions that
have been lost and pushed out by gentrifica-
tion.
Both Lee and Stone grew up in Northeast
Portland and have noticed the changes in
the area over the years, specifically the
migration of Blacks who have been priced
out of their homes.
Despite the tensions caused by the change
in demographics, Stone says he wants to
work with newcomers to the community as
well.
“We want to reach out to the skateboard-
ers and the hipsters,” he says. “They are a
part of what makes Portland what it is too.”
The team is working on 503tv News,
which is tentatively scheduled to begin in
late April.
Lee says the goal is to produce a commu-
nity based news program that capitalizes on
503tv’s lack of outside influences and cor-
porate sponsors.
“The nightly news programs have a
slant,” he says. “We want to report and tell
it how it is.”
503tv is utilizing social media to help
spread the word of their business.
The team is using particularly aggressive
techniques on their Facebook page. Accord-
ing to Lee, they are marketing female t-
shirts by having all the women who model
them use their modeling photos as profile
pictures. He says this has made a statement,
as well as helped sell merchandise and pro-
mote the photography hub of their business.
503tv even jumped into the “Sh*t People
Say” meme frenzy with a “Sh*t People Say:
Portland” You Tube video.
“I’m inspired every time I look on TV and
see something that’s well within our capa-
bilities that’s making the big bucks,” says
Lee. “That’s what motivates us and helps us
to keep growing our skill set.”
Stone emphasizes the importance of fans
and supporters to 503tv’s success. He says
the team doesn’t turn anything down.
“A lot of people come to us with ideas,”
says Stone. “We just want to thank them and
let them know we appreciate it. This is big-
ger than us.”
To find out more about their services, go
to www.503tv.com.
February 29, 2012 The Portland Skanner Page 3