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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (June 26, 2013)
WWW . THESKANNER . COM J UNE 26, 2013 P ORTLAND , O REGON V OLUME XXXV, N O . 38 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 Farewell Rudy Crew CELEBRATE CEO of schools jumps ship for New York after one year Helen Silvis and Lisa Loving Of The Skanner News PHOTO BY HELEN SILVIS F arewell Rudy Crew. The New York educator who came to Oregon a year ago to transform the state’s education system is leaving, to head one of the col- leges in City University of New York’s system. Crew will head the historically Black Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn. Hired by Gov. Kitzhaber as Oregon’s chief educa- tion officer, Crew came to Oregon on a three-year contract, with a salary of $280,000 a year. His mission included con- necting up the education system from pre-school through college. His hiring by Gov. John Kitzhaber was controversial because the governor took for himself the state Superintendent of Public Instruction job – phasing out Susan Castillo, who had held the position – to bring in a CEO of Public Instruction, or Chief Educa- tion Officer, as Kitzhaber said. Over the past year Crew has mostly trav- eled the state talking about his vision for reforming education. Crew’s deputy has been former Tualatin Schools Superinten- dent Rob Saxton, who is tasked with actually running the State Department of Public Instruction. In a statement Tuesday Kitzhaber wrote that Crew told him he had accepted the job that afternoon. The governor wrote that he expected Crew’s formal resignation later this week and that he wished Crew well. “I expect to have an interim Chief Educa- tion Officer appointed by July 15,” Kitzhaber said. “I will convene the Oregon Education Investment Board in coming days to discuss a process for selecting a replace- ment.” When news first broke of Crew’s applica- tion for the position, the Associated Press reported he was not committed to moving or taking the position but that he said he applied “at the request of a dear friend.” It’s that time again. With July 4 just around the corner, fireworks stands are opening for sales across the city. We spotted this enthusiastic family group on North Killingsworth Street at North Rodney. Fundraiser for Nigerian Projects Local organizers are helping pay for development efforts By Helen Silvis Of The Skanner News A fundraiser for the Amiri International Develop- ment Union will entertain guests with African dancing and a variety of deli- cious food and drinks. The union’s 21st Annual Fundrais- ing Convention, will run from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. Saturday July 6, at the Matt Dishman Communi- ty Center, 77 N.E. Knott St. “We’ll be serving food and drinks at no charge,” said Cos- See CREW on page 3 INDEX mas Nwerem, the nonprofit’s chairperson. “We depend on people’s good will to help us raise money to undertake proj- ects back home.” Back home is the small, iso- lated town of Amiri, in the Oru region of southern Nigeria. And Nwerem is one of a small group of families in Portland who have been working for the last two decades to help their ancestral homeland. Through raising more than $60,000, the group has helped villagers to repair several schools, as well as kickstarting the major task of putting run- ning water into homes and businesses. Now, the group wants to raise money for two projects: Com- pleting the water supply system and building a new health cen- ter. “Our parents put in two water bore holes and an overhead tank,” Nwerem says. “We want to lay pipes so that people can at least drink good water.” The new health center is equally crucial, he says. Cur- rently village women are giving birth in an ancient “maternity home” and if you’re sick, there is nowhere to go. “The walls are broken – they’re made of mud,” he says. “There is no security, no fence and no clean toilet. The delivery room is a mess: the bed is made of wood. “We want to start building a new health center that we can furnish with beds and equip- ment, so pregnant women can be comfortable, and where peo- See PROJECTS on page 3 Afro-Centric Pregnancy Fair in Lents News .......2,3,10,11,12 Midwife project branches out to improve Black birth outcomes Opinion ..................4,5 F A & E ......................6-9 Bids/Classifieds ........11 ollowing up on an expansion of their community and new offices on North- east Martin Luther King Boulevard, the International Center for Traditional Childbearing hosts its second Afro-Centric Pregnancy Fair, Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Lents Park at SE 92nd and Holgate in southeast Portland. Shafia Monroe, ICTC founder, says the event is designed to draw the whole family out in embracing childbirth and plugging into services and healthy options for moms, dads and kids. The ICTC is a non-profit group working to increase the number of midwives, doulas, and healers to empower families to reduce infant and maternal mortality. A midwife is a woman who specializes is childbirth, prenatal care and infant health; a doula is a professional health worker who cares for the whole family, often during the months before a birth and especially in the months after. Because Monroe has spent so many years researching and connecting with African midwives, she brings the quality of their childbirth practices back to the United States. See BIRTH on page 3
