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J ANUARY 23, 2013
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C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW
Solving
Wealth
Gap
HONORING KING
Report says poverty’s
impact on children is
deep, long-lasting
By Helen Silvis
Of The Skanner News
Research by Caroline Ratcliffe and Signe-
Mary McKernan for the Urban Institute, a
national think tank, shows that little girls
–and boys – born into poverty do not have
the same chance to succeed as anybody else.
Being born poor has deep and long-lasting
effects.
“Children who start out life poor are more
likely to stay in those circumstances,” Rat-
cliffe told The Skanner News. “And
particularly if they are minorities, they are
more likely to stay persistently poor.
“Just by knowing what their circumstance
is in that first year of life, it tells us they are
vulnerable to long spells of poverty and they
are also vulnerable for these negative adult
outcomes: having teen pre-marital birth; not
graduating from high school; and having
patchy employment as an adult.”
Ratcliffe says the cycle of poverty, school
dropout and teen parenthood can continue
over generations if families don’t get help.
PHOTO BY BRUCE POINSETTE
W
hen President Obama gave his
second inauguration address
Monday, America’s yawning
wealth gap was at the center of his speech.
“For we, the people, understand that our
country cannot succeed when a shrinking
few do very well and a growing many bare-
ly make it,” the president said. “We are true
to our creed when a little girl born into the
bleakest poverty knows that she has the
same chance to succeed as anybody else,
because she is an American; she is free, and
she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but
also in our own.”
Inspiring? No question. Possible? Only if
we create deliberate policies designed to
fight poverty.
Nearly 1,000 attendees packed the Hilton Hotel Grand ballroom Monday for The Skanner News’ 27th Annual
Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast. More photos starting on page 5. A complete video of the MLK Breakfast, including
the keynote speech from Dr. Irma McLaurin on poverty and the Internet, airs Saturday Jan. 26 at 11 a.m. on
Channel 22.
More School Closures at PPS?
Protest planned Saturday at Jefferson meeting on enrollment
Lisa Loving
The Skanner News
P
arents are planning a pick-
et line and rally Saturday
at noon at Jefferson High
School in advance of yet anoth-
er contentious community
meeting about proposed school
closures in the Jefferson cluster.
Portland Public School Dis-
trict
officials this month
Family Stress Harms Children
released a series of proposed
When mothers and fathers are stressed by options for “balancing enroll-
their struggles with poverty, children suffer ment” in the North and
Northeast Portland schools that
See POVERTY on page 3
include closing down Wood-
lawn Elementary or possibly
Vernon Elementary, merging
them with Ockley Green K-8,
pulling the Sabin Access pro-
gram out of that school and
dropping it into King Elemen-
tary, and more.
The kicker: After an “enroll-
ment balancing” process that
has lasted for months, parents
were only given notice that the
schools might be closed last
week, and now the decision is
on a fast-track for a board vote
in February.
Angry parents are calling for a
district-wide enrollment balanc-
ing process – rather than only
focusing on Portland’s tradition-
al Black neighborhoods — and
an end to the transfer policy that
has pitted Jefferson cluster
schools against more desirable
small schools in other parts of
town – all of which benefit from
the “white flight” of Jefferson
families.
“We would like the PPS to
make a district-wide sustain-
able, equitable strategic plan
before they start messing with
the Jefferson cluster again
because they’re constantly fid-
dling with this cluster,” said
Vernon parent Janet Strong.
“I do know that schools out-
side our cluster benefit when
our students transfer out to
them, there are other low-
enrolled schools in the district
but they are in desirable neigh-
borhoods,” Strong said. “The
money follows the kids. The
schools are funded based on the
number of students they have.”
Parents are demanding that
See SCHOOLS on page 3
INDEX
Historical Society Hires Black Visionary
News ..................2,3, 9
Carter is a founding member of NW African American Museum
Opinion .....................4
Breakfast Photos.....5-8
Bids/Classifieds ...10,11
Bruce Poinsette
Of The Skanner News
C
oming out of college, Brian J. Carter
dreamed of starting a museum in the
Northwest focused on the African
American experience.
He says African American history was put
into a box, only to be recognized at a partic-
ular place and/or at a particular time when
he was growing up.
The 33-year-old Carter was recently
named Director of Museum Services and
Education for the Oregon Historical Society
(OHS). He is excited to bring his message
of community driven exhibit creation to
OHS.
“I consider myself a history nerd, a real
lover of history from an early age,” he says.
“For history to be truthful it’s got to be
reflective of a lot of different viewpoints
and it’s got to be accessible from a lot of dif-
ferent viewpoints.”
His love of history began as a child in
Yakima, WA. In order to feed his son’s
curiosity, Carter’s father would take him to
the local library. During these library visits,
Carter would ask him about lesser known
See CARTER on page 3