News
Summerworks
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hours of work during a six- to eight-week
time period over the summer. There are dif-
ferent types of work experiences like work
and maintenance crews, junior camp coun-
selors, and clerical office support.
The internship prioritizes youth who lack
have the opportunity to learn those skills
while the stakes are pretty low,” she said.
Ficht says this training helps to break the
cycle where young people aren’t being hired
because they don’t have previous work ex-
perience.
traditional professional networking oppor-
tunities: 93 percent of the interns are from
low income families, 76 percent are youth
of color.
An important part of the program is teach-
ing youth employment readiness skills.
Summerworks begins to look for job seek-
ers in April by reaching out to 95 commu-
nity partners, school districts and faith or-
ganizations. From that, they get about 2,000
applicants.
During the screening process the youth go
through work readiness training. Ficht says
this training is like an extended interview
and hiring experience which helps young
people develop skills in a friendly environ-
ment.
“It’s really trying to simulate what the ac-
tual process is of applying for work, and be-
ing hired, and being evaluated, so that they
The program also hosts a series of re-
source fairs for the youth where they learn
about workplace safety, harassment and
financial literacy. Part of the education in-
forms the youth about predatory check cash-
ing facilities and credit cards.
“We want to teach them how to be respon-
sible with their own money as we are giving
them their first pay check,” Ficht says.
The numbers of interns has grown to 750
this year from 570 the year before and 490
the year previous to last. Multnomah Coun-
ty and the City of Portland are the largest
sponsors of interns.
Tri-Met has employed interns to conduct
surveys about mass-transit experience. Mi-
crochip Technology, Inc., in Gresham brings
in interns to get young people interested in
technology jobs in the future.
Summerworks is the youth employment
PHOTO COURTESY OF SUMMERWORKS
An important part of the program is teaching
youth employment readiness skills
Pictured here is Isreal, who worked for Bureau of Environmental Services (BES) at
the City of Portland. BES is sponsoring 150 youth this summer.
program of Work Systems, the work force
development board for the region. They are
funded by the federal government to cul-
tivate work force investment through the
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.
Summerworks coordinates the program
and its partner, the Immigrant & Refugee
Community Organization who work direct-
ly with the interns to screen, train and place
them in appropriate jobs.
Read the rest of this story online at
www.theskanner.com
Garden
should be able to plant, cultivate,
and maintain the memorial for
several years into the future.
She and a crew of more than a
dozen began readying the plot for
Half will go to the local chap-
ter of Black PFLAG (Parents and
Friends of Lesbians and Gays),
with the second half going to the
youth program of Queer Rock
The community garden...shares
grounds with some unsuspecting
neighbors—skinheads
the oncoming abundance of plants
in the days following—even get-
ting a head start on the green to
come, laying down some of the
seeds.
Mozee’s campaign was so suc-
cessful she ended up with more
than $500 in extra funding.
Instead of using those funds
to add to the garden, Mozee has
pledged to donate all the excess
dollars to two organizations assist-
ing the lives of people of color.
Camp for a scholarship created to
assist a person of color with the
costs of attendance.
According to Mozee, the com-
munity garden, located in the
historically Black Portsmouth
neighborhood, shares grounds
with some surprising neighbors —
skinheads.
“Their presence has scared me
away from a space I had hoped
would be healing and connecting
for me and I was close to giving up
my plot all together,” Mozee writes
on the GoFundMe page. “But I’m
tired of hate winning ground. So
I’m taking a stand by doing what
I love to do-- create love and heal-
ing for the community.”
So instead of leaving, Mo-
zee is planting her feet firmly
at the plot—returning this time
to celebrate the lives of Black
people through a tradition she
says is not only of practical sig-
nificance, but historical as well.
“Black people need to have access
to grow your own food. It is really
such a wonderful way to reconnect
with our heritage,” Mozee says.
Upon the garden’s completion,
all that grows in it will be free and
up for the community’s taking at
any time during its opening hours.
Another work day will be
planned to further help set up the
Black Lives Matter Memorial Gar-
den in the coming weeks.
Mozee will announce the next
occurrence on a Facebook page
PHOTO COURTESY OF GALADRIEL MOZEE
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Portland resident Galadriel Mozee raised $840 – more than
double the $350 goal – to create a memorial garden and
healing space in a community garden in Portsmouth. The gar-
den will commemorate lives lost to white supremacist violence.
Excess contributions will be donated to Queer Rock Camp and
to the Youth Program of Portland PFLAG Black Chapter.
she has set up for garden to keep
the public updated on its develop-
ment.
To stay updated on this project
‘like’ the page here: https://www.
facebook.com/blmgardenpdx
Churches
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ers there is “no evidence” of a hate crime.
On June 24, Briar Creek Baptist Church
in North Carolina burned in the middle of
the night, causing $250,000 in damage,
NBC News reports. Authorities are investi-
gating whether the intentional blaze was a
hate crime. It took 75 firefighters to bring it
under control.
On June 26, Glover Grove Missionary
Baptist Church in South Carolina was vir-
tually destroyed in an overnight blaze, the
Aiken Standard reports. While the cause of
the fire is still under investigation, the FBI
has been called in.
Another blaze on the 26th in Florida at
predominantly-Black Greater Miracle Ap-
ostolic Holiness Church caused $700,000 in
damage. The fire is under investigation but
fire officials believe it to be accidental, the
Tallahassee Democrat reports.
Burning Black churches has historical sig-
nificance that harkens back to the civil rights
era, according to the Atlanta Black Star.
“From slavery and the days of Jim Crow
cation, social and political development and
organizing to fight oppression,” David Love
writes.
The Ku Klux Klan has ramped up recruit-
ing activity in the days since the Charleston
Burning Black churches has historical significance
that harkens back to the civil rights era
through the civil rights movement and be-
yond, white supremacists have targeted the
Black Church because of its importance as
a pillar of the Black community, the center
for leadership and institution building, edu-
shooting. Residents in California, Kansas,
Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and Geor-
gia woke last weekend to find bags in their
lawns filled with candy and Klan flyers
seeking new members.
White supremacist Dylann Roof, who has
been charged with the attack that killed nine
at Charleston’s historical Emanuel AME on
June 17, left behind a racist manifesto that
said, “We have no skinheads, no real KKK,
no one doing anything but talking on the in-
ternet. Well someone has to have the brav-
ery to take it to the real world, and I guess
that has to be me.”
The fires also come as activists and pol-
iticians begin the process of removing the
Con-federate flag from public property,
sparking protests.
“We’re still talking about this issue and
it’s 2015,” Briar Creek pastor Mannix
Kinsey told CNN.
“And so we all have to consider, what else
do we need to do to actually be able to work
together?”
July 8, 2015 The Portland and Seattle Skanner Page 3