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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 26, 2012)
Local News Housing Anti Bullying Pledge age of 55 years of age or know senior home- owners that need support and resources to maintain homeownership, this is the resource for you. Menefee works with the MHAC program hands-on, and says it’s a lifeline for elders who are themselves especially vulnerable to home repair. A phone conversation may be followed up by a home visit and a referral to a local group or agency that can help with home improvements or troubleshooting with banks. “We take a holistic approach,” she says. “This is a place where they can come to be heard and feel supported.” The African American Alliance for Homeownership and Hacienda CDC both provide free counseling and sup- port services, and both take all comers regardless of race. “A lot of our seniors have been in their home for a long time and need a roof on or repairs done,” Menefee says. “They leave relieved knowing they have an advocate and some support, know- ing they have someone on their behalf.” Find more information at www.mhacport- land.org or contact Menefee or Andrea Irby at 503-288-2923 or by email at Shalon- da@pcrihome.org ‘We take a holistic approach. This is a place where they can come and feel supported’ foreclosure prevention scams as well as just plain confusion when faced with the crisis of potentially losing their home Menefee says the typical client often first calls looking for someone who can advocate for them with a bank or other large institu- tions around foreclosure prevention and Bullying took center stage at Grant High School on Sep. 19 in its “Just Delete It” assembly. Multnomah County Commissioner Loretta Smith welcomed the students to a panel discussion featuring Grant staff, students and a representative from the Q Center. KGW’s Laural Porter moderated the discussion, which sought to define bullying, its origins and how it affects people. The ceremony closed with Smith and a number of Grant students signing an anti-bullying pledge. As students dispersed for lunch, there were some who were visibly emotional from the stories shared on the panel. PHOTO BY BRUCE POINSETTE continued from page 1 Emanuel continued from page 1 100TH ANNIVERSARY Saturday, Oct. 6 is Legacy Emanuel Medical Center’s 100th Anniversary Community Celebra- tion in and around the atrium from 1 to 4 p.m. There will be hands on demonstra- tions including the virtual reality pain management system used in the Legacy Oregon Burn Center, and the da Vinci surgical robotic system used in the operating room; free cupcakes and entertainment; and a discount bike/skate helmet sale. There will be a Red Cross Blood Drive and Bone Marrow Donor Registry Drive. For more informa- tion go to www.legacyhealth.org/emanuel100 Health’s President and Chief Executive Officer, closed out the discussion with an impromptu presentation of his own. Citing a recent trip to Cuba as well as his recent reading of Isabel Wilkerson’s book, “The Warmth of Other Suns,” he spoke about the Black diaspora that has seen African descendents forced out of the home continent, and away from deeply-rooted communities in the United States. He also mentioned what Legacy Emanuel currently does to bolster its surrounding neighborhood as well as communities of color and minority-run institutions – includ- ing providing more charity care to local residents than any other hospital in the state. “Yes, we do have to atone for our sins,” Dr. Brown said. “We’re not perfect but we do have an enduring commitment and part of that commitment is to communicate with you in the community to see what it is we can do together to make a better communi- ty — and to try to make this community again the epicenter of African American culture.” Woolley commented in her presenta- tion that the historical memory of the Emanuel relocation displacing families without compensating them for their prop- erty – is not entirely accurate, and that the details of how that collective memory has formed are important for policymakers and local families alike. In an interview Monday afternoon, Wool- ley said that her research, conducted in the City of Portland Archives, showed that the City of Portland and the Portland Develop- ment Commission essentially offered Emanuel an opportunity to expand their campus with the use of urban renewal, and that Emanuel saw this offer as a way to grow their institution in its existing loca- tion for the future. When it was instituted in the late 1960s, the federal Model Cities Program – run by former City Commissioner Charles Jordan, his reason for moving to Portland in the first place – helped provide local groups with a voice in the process, because community involvement was required by federal law for all activities in a Model Cities area. Each homeowner was paid a fixed price for their property by the Portland Development Commission — but because federal law required them to be relocated into a replacement home comparable to what they lost, each homeowner also received a supplemental payment, called a Replacement Housing Payment, to make up the difference needed to pay for their new home. “Every homeowner who owned their property was made whole financially – not necessarily emotionally or spiritually – because many became the only Black homeowners in white neighborhoods,” she said Monday. Woolley located the individual relocation files in the City archives, listing each fami- ly by name, their old home address, the total compensation they were paid for their relocation, and their new address. “There is so much confusion about what happened because so much of the informa- tion people got was through rumors or hearsay—it wasn’t from anything official they got in their hands,” Woolley said this week. Local residents have passed decades feel- ing rage against Emanuel as the driver of the gentrification process. “But you really have to bring the City and the PDC to the table as co-partners in this event – they shouldn’t be out of the picture and never mentioned when you talk about this history,” Woolley says. “It isn’t fair to Emanuel when in fact this was an event that the other partners really drove.” Tubman Leadership Academy for Young Women is a good example. How do you make an announcement that you are closing a school before the board has voted? “Martin Gonzalez was the only board through the Urban League. Fifty high school student tutors and 10 staff worked with 150 elementary students in a program that combined academics, culture and career skills. ministry, was a tutor.” This summer, Leonard helped create the three-week “Girls Lead Summer Camp” for former students of the Harriet Tubman Leadership Academy for Young Women. The school district closed Tubman as part of budget cutbacks, officials said, despite anguished protests from hundreds of stu- dents, their parents and supporters. “We need this generation of children to see that math and science and media are important,” she says. “So we had a three- week program focused on math, media, leadership and public speaking with the help of a volunteer from Toastmasters. We hope they will go on to be leaders who show that girls can do math and science.” Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com Leonard continued from page 1 “I grew up in Southeast Portland, and my family has been attending Portland schools for five generations,” she says. “My father was a math major and my mother went to college for two years, so that love of learning was part of my house- hold. “I have great grandsons who are in the school system right now. The schools are in desperate need of people who understand and care about public education.” Leonard is considering a run for school board, but she says board seats won’t open up until either 2013 or 2015. So that’s still just a possibility, she says. She also would be willing to offer support to another candi- date who will go to bat for all students. “They have really difficult challenges,” she says of the school board. “Sometimes it seems that the district is driving the board rather than the other way around. I don’t see the courage that needs to be there. The dis- trict’s decision to shut down The Harriet ‘I have great grandsons who are in the school system right now. The schools are in desperate need of people who understand and care about public education’ —Carolyn Leonard member who even asked questions,” Leonard says. For 30 years, Leonard worked to improve our schools, as a teacher, supervisor and consultant. For about seven years, in the late 1970s- 1980s, Leonard ran a summer school “Kids learn best from those just ahead of them,” Leonard says, adding that some of those students are now doing great work. “I believe Karanja Crews was one of our tutors,” she says. “And Pastor Mark Strong was a team leader. And Lorraine Graham, who started the Voices in Praise Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com September 26, 2012 The Portland Skanner Page 3
