The skanner., February 26, 2014, Page 8, Image 8

Regional News
Passage to Education
Conference this Weekend
T
he passage to higher education pro-
gram at Portland Community College
holds its first Black Student Success
Summit, March 1, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at PCC
Cascade Campus, 705 North Killingsworth
St., Portland.
This first of its kind special event serves a
unique program supporting students of
African descent at the community college,
administrative and faculty posts at various
colleges where he has taught undergraduate
and graduate courses on multicultural edu-
cation, educational theory, and race and
education.
“We’re stepping outside of the box, and
talking to students about what they need,”
Causey says. “We want them to engage with
us. What's going to help you get through
higher education?”
Rather than the usual series of lectures
from a podium in an auditorium – there is
‘We want them to engage with us. What's going
to help you get through higher education?’
says coordinator Noni Causey.
“When I started this program, someone
said to me, Noni, students have the right to
fail,” she says. “I said, that might sound true
for you, but it doesn't feel true for me.
“Students have the right to succeed -- we
have an obligation to help students be suc-
cessful.”
The event features speakers, workshops,
student panel dialogues, college recruiters,
vendors, and live performances by Bobby
Fouther and Kemba Shannon dancers.
Keynote speaker is Daymond Glenn,
PhD, the vice president for Community
Life, chief diversity officer, and assistant
professor of Urban Studies at Warner Pacif-
ic College in Portland. Glenn has held
some of that as well – this event is built
around speed dating-style discussions
bringing together small groups with com-
munity mentors who have gone through
college and come back to help a new gener-
ation do it too.
“Usually people go to a conference, they
listen to a keynote speaker, they go to work-
shops,” Causey says. “And then they get
home and they put everything away, they
don’t revisit it.
“We know that African Americans are
very relationship-oriented people. So we've
come together as a group of professionals,
and educators, to say – look, this is not
working for a lot of students. How can we
do something different?”
PHOTO BY THE SKANNER NEWS
Lisa Loving
Of The Skanner News
Soul of the City
Education nonprofit Self Enhancement Inc. held its signature event, Soul
of the City, Feb 22. The annual event included a cocktail reception,
dinner, entertainment, a fundraising auction, awards and an after party.
The Skanner News publisher, Bernie Foster was honored with the 2014 Soul
of the City award for 2014.
Workshops include financial literacy and
avoiding student debt; navigating the high-
er education system and when to use
advising, and counseling; and more.
The event will include seven tables, each
with an educational mentor and with rotat-
ing groups of students.
“We are going to have one on ones with
small groups of students, no more than six
or seven at a time, to talk about college
from their perspective,” Causey says. “In 30
minutes you get to get up and switch and go
talk to another professional.”
Causey says the community mentors have
been chosen from the ranks of academia as
well as the small business community.
“They’re coming back to help people who
look like them, because they know the
struggles that they went through,” she says.
“And so the summit is totally based on
relationships, it’s based on trust, and it's
based on community.”
For more information go to www.pccpas-
sage.com.
‘Spies of Mississippi’ Free Film Screening at NAAM
O
n June 21, 1964, Walter Cronkite
opened his nightly news broadcast
with these ominous words: "Good
evening. Three young civil rights workers
disappeared in Mississippi on Sunday night
near the Mississippi town of Philadelphia,
about 50 miles northeast of Jackson..."
The State of Mississippi knew far more
about the murders than the public ever real-
ized. The source of this inside knowledge
was a vast and clandestine spy network,
operated by a government agency known as
the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission.
A screening and discussion of Spies of
Mississippi is Friday, Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. at
Page 8 The Portland and Seattle Skanner February 26, 2014
the NAAM, 2300 S Massachusetts St.,
Seattle. The event is free but you must pre-
register.
Panelists include Quintard Taylor, PhD,
Scott and Dorothy Bullitt Professor of
American history, University of Washing-
ton; Dr. Nancy Bristow, Distinguished
Professor of History and African American
Studies Program, University of Puget
Sound and Rita Bender, a principal in the
law firm Skellenger Bender, moderated by
Nathan Gibbs-Bowling, social studies
teacher, Lincoln High School.
For
a
reservation,
write
to
outreach@KCTS9.org. Space is limited.