WWW . THESKANNER . COM
J ANUARY 30, 2013
P ORTLAND , O REGON
V OLUME XXXV, N O .17
25
CENTS
For The Skanner
news alerts
Text "NEWS" to
503-715-0890 or
scan this QR code
C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW
Mayor eliminates
Youth Connect,
angers many
By Helen Silvis
Of The Skanner News
T
he City of Portland has axed
$379,000 in funding for a program
targeted at preventing school dropout,
closing the achievement gap and keeping
some of the city’s poorest students in school
and out of trouble.
The Summer Youth Connect program
identified students most at risk of dropping
out as early as 8th grade, and offered them
academic support, paid internships, and
exposure to college and career planning
resources. In 2012, 1,650 students received
academic and career support through Sum-
mer Youth Connect. Around 96 percent of
them were from low-income families, and
more than 70 percent were youth of color.
Intended to prevent crime, reduce genera-
tional poverty and build the future work-
force, the programs have shown some
success in keeping students on track for
graduation, college and career.
Heather Ficht, who manages the Summer
Works youth employment program at
WorkSystems, says the costs of not employ-
ing youth will be higher, since young people
with no money and nothing to do all sum-
mer are more likely to get involved in minor
crimes, for example, riding the max without
a ticket.
Hales told The Skanner News that the cuts
were necessary to cover a projected $25
million shortfall.
“I love this program and this is a very hard
cut to make,” Hales said. “But we have a
very large hole in our budget that we have to
fill. So as soon as we got here we started
looking at everything. We looked at our own
staff and we reduced it from 25 people to
14, to save around $600,000 a year. We’re
going to be pretty relentless in looking
everywhere in terms of short-term cuts that
we have to make, in order to balance the
budget.
“The best way for the City of Portland to
GUNS,
CHEAP
A man holds an inactive missile
launcher he purchased near the
Seattle Police Gun Buy Back on
Saturday, Jan. 26. The missile launcher
was later confiscated by the police.
The event, which was held in a
parking lot underneath the freeway
between James and Cherry Streets,
was forced to close up 3 hours early
because so many people showed up
to trade in their guns that they ran out
of gift certificates. There were
numerous people carrying signs
offering to pay more for the guns on
some of the streets near the buy back
location.
Youth Summit Welcomes Parents
Organizers focus event on physical, mental health -- and music
Lisa Loving
Of The Skanner News
The 7th Annual Portland
Youth Summit, coming up Sat-
urday, Feb. 9, at Portland State
University Smith Memorial
Union, brings a focus on physi-
cal and mental wellness with the
theme, “Be Healthy or Die Try-
ing.”
The not-to-be-missed youth
talent show Saturday at 6:30
p.m. is hosted by Vursatyl, an
MC from the Portland hip hop
group Lifesavas.
See CUTS on page 3
INDEX
News ...................2,3,5
Opinion .....................4
A & E ......................6,8
Bids/Classifieds ..........7
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
Dropout
Program
Axed
Last year the event tackled
schools and personal knowledge
with the theme, “The Mis-Edu-
cation of Our Youth;” hundreds
of young people attended.
This year, the free-of-charge
event is continuing to grow its
outreach to parents as well as
teenagers and young adults.
“For me, when I read the sta-
tistics on obesity and mental
health – there are so many areas
to go into there,” said youth
summit
founder
Imani
Mohammed. “These shootings
that have taken place like in
Newtown – mental health is a
big contributor.
“Also because of the econom-
ics people are losing their minds
– not just the adults, it impacts
the parents’ behavior with their
kids,” she said.
Mohammed’s group, Youth
Organized and United to Help,
stresses that racial disparities
can lead to obesity, substance
abuse, teenage pregnancy, and
communitywide problems in
education and health.
“It just seems like physical
health, mental health, spiritual
needs – the more we give people
the tools to cope with what’s
around them as an individual,
the better off they are,”
Mohammed says.
“At the core of all of this,
whether you have a job or not, is
how do you remain healthy as
an individual?”
One
eagerly-anticipated
workshop, Soulfly Groovment,
features a workout CD pro-
duced by rapper and activist
stic.man from the political hip-
hop duo Dead Prez. Lead by
See SUMMIT on page 3
Peninsula Park Rose Garden Celebrates
Volunteers mark 100th anniversary by replanting 3,000 flower shrubs
Lisa Loving
Of The Skanner News
R
ight now the air is frosty and every
one of the Peninsula Park Rose Gar-
den’s 3,000 blooming shrubs has
been pulled up.
Come June 27 – when the park’s 100th
anniversary is celebrated – the replanted
garden will be in full bloom with thousands
of new roses gifted from local growers.
But there’s one hitch: the garden needs
mulch -- a lot of mulch -- which is critical in
protecting the flowers from midges.
Portland Parks & Recreation and the newly
formed Friends of Peninsula Park Rose Gar-
den say they need about $15,000 to put in
the protective layer.
Many local businesses have contributed to
the park renovation, from rose growers
Weeks Roses, Star Roses and Bailey’s Nurs-
ery to coffee shops, hardware stores and
more.
The value of the rose bushes alone is esti-
mated at $80,000-$100,000.
Last week dozens of volunteers spent
hours in the freezing mud, platting out the
rows with blue and white flags and fertiliz-
See GARDEN on page 3