October 26, 2016 The Skanner Page 3
News
cont’d from pg 1
housing — can also pur-
chase laptops for $150
through Comcast.
Since 2011, when In-
ternet Essentials began,
Multnomah County —
recognizing that $150 can
be a burdensome amount
for many families — has
dedicated funding to
purchase laptops for eli-
gible households in part-
nership with Comcast.
County commissioner
Loretta Smith said the
county works with or-
ganizations that serve
low-income
families,
such as Head Start or SEI,
to identify families who
“
Comcast
subsidizes
the cost of the $150 com-
puters, but the $9.95 is a
price point it set for qual-
ifying families, who can
apply for the program ei-
ther by visiting Internet-
essentials.com or calling
1-855-8-INTERNET
(1-
855-846-8376).
Nicolas Jimenez, senior
manager for Internet
Essentials, said Comcast
works with nonprofits
and institutions like li-
braries all over the coun-
try to provide digital lit-
eracy training, and the
way the program is im-
plemented will vary de-
About 18,000 families in Ore-
gon and southwest Washing-
ton have used the Internet
Essentials program since its
inception in 2011
might benefit from the
gift of a laptop and from
reduced-cost
Internet
access, as well as digital
literacy training.
Mari Young, a mother
of two who spoke with
The Skanner in advance
of the laptop giveaway,
works for a medical
equipment company and
said she primarily ac-
cesses the Internet using
her phone, or sometimes
borrows her mother’s
laptop — but connects
through the Internet
Essentials wi-fi service
rather than her phone’s
data plan.
“A lot of times, [my chil-
dren] have assignments
where they have to re-
search things at home,
and we don’t have a com-
puter so it’s kind of hard-
er to walk to the library
or wait around to use a
computer,” Young told
The Skanner.
SEI founder Tony Hop-
son said most of the fami-
lies who received laptops
Monday were part of the
Jefferson High School
cluster, with many living
in Northeast Portland or
East Portland.
According to Rebecca
Brown, senior manager
of community invest-
ments at Comcast, about
18,000 families in Oregon
and southwest Washing-
ton have used the Inter-
net Essentials program
since its inception in
2011. Initially, the pro-
gram was available only
to families with children
who qualify for free or
reduced lunch.
In August, Comcast
partnered with the De-
partment of Housing
and Urban Development
to offer the program to
families in HUD-assisted
residences, public hous-
ing or Section 8 housing
— making 30,000 more
households eligible for
the program.
pending on what individ-
ual communities need.
“We work with non-
profits, with libraries to
provide in-person digi-
tal literacy training. We
work with partners all
over the country. The
way that work is imple-
mented can vary slightly,
but it’s all about build-
ing awareness of the fact
that this program exists,
providing training and
resources so we can get
folks to cross over the
digital divide,” Jiminez
said.
“The most important
part of this effort to me
is things becoming ac-
tionable, with the train-
ing that’s necessary and
with the families being
connected to something
that’s going to continue,”
Hopson said. “We could
have three million, we
could have ten million
folks who’ve touched
a computer. That don’t
mean that they really
know what to do with it
and that they’re going to
follow through and it be-
comes a part of their life,
that the access becomes
so real that now they’re
a better individual with
more access to jobs and
all kinds of things.”
Before she became the
spokesperson for Inter-
net Essentials, she said,
Joyner-Kersee created
a community center in
East St. Louis that includ-
ed a computer lab to help
ensure kids would have
the ability to have Inter-
net access for homework
— and parents for job ap-
plications.
“We’re in a global econ-
omy. When you talk
about that digital divide,
if young people do not
have access to the In-
ternet to do their home-
work, you’re talking
about, really, the dimin-
ishment of self-esteem,”
Joyner-Kersee said.
PHOTO BY JERRY FOSTER
Kersee
Matt Dishman Pool Re-opening
The pool and spa at Matt Dishman Community Center reopened at a family night celebration Oct. 21. The Matt Dishman Pool schedule
can be found on PP&R’s website (http://www.portlandoregon.gov/parks/60933) or by calling (503) 823-3673. Recreational swimming,
swim lessons, and fitness classes are all available again. Pictured here are Evan Lilly, city commissioner Amanda Fritz, Jesse Porter,
Amourie Downing and Christine Hickman.
PDC
cont’d from pg 1
Northeast Portland.
The Portland Development
Commission held a community
forum on the N/NE Community
Development Initiative. The goal
is to create economic prosperity
for longtime residents in the In-
terstate Corridor Urban Renewal
Area.
The interstate corridor had
been designated as an urban re-
newal area in 2001 with the inten-
tion of making investments that
“
displaced the Black residents.
The draft plan acknowledged
the massive destabilization of the
community and the focus of the
remaining urban renewal money
to benefit Black community mem-
bers.
“The investments are ... specif-
ically pointed to ensuring that
with the remaining Interstate
Corridor economic development
resources are primarily directed
towards the community of color
they were denied those opportu-
nities through racist policies that
were enforced — even, in many
respects, into the ‘80s and ‘90s
here.”
The draft version of the plan
calls for $21.5 million to go to-
wards multi-generational wealth
creation and $10.5 million to cre-
ate culturally relevant spaces.
The $21.5 million multi-gener-
ational wealth development will
be spent on grants and loans.
It wasn’t that people were not savvy enough to get homes, it
wasn’t that they did not work hard. It was that they were de-
nied those opportunities through racist policies that were en-
forced – even, in many respects, into the ‘80s and ‘90s here
would benefit existing residents
and businesses. The corridor is
the city’s largest urban renewal
area. It includes the area north of
the Broadway Bridge to Marine
Drive, parts of the space extend
west into St. Johns neighborhood.
PDC Executive Director Kim-
berly Branam said the agency
made a lot of progress develop-
ing business corridors, bringing
light rail and increasing livabil-
ity. The increasing desirability
of the area pushed out longtime
African American residents for
more affluent White residents.
The development agency esti-
mates a 49 percent decrease in
the Black population of the area
between 2000 and 2013. At the
same time, the White population
grew by 23 percent.
“What we have not done was
benefit those who were the in-
tended beneficiaries, the long-
time residents and the business
owners there and part of that is
that we dramatically underesti-
mated the market forces,” Branam
said.
Branam said that PDC had spent
more than $67 million in the area,
but that amount was dwarfed by
more than $1 billion being spent
by private investment — which
that has been most negatively im-
pacted by the changes,” the plan
states.
The money comes from tax-in-
crement funds that are slated for
economic and redevelopment
purposes. The money needs to
be spent between 2016 and 2021,
before the urban renewal area
expires.
Because they are using tax-in-
crement funds, they can only be
spent on the planning and con-
struction of physical improve-
ments. They can’t be used for
workforce development or em-
ployment assistance.
Tory Campbell, the PDC inter-
im economic development direc-
tor presented the draft plan at
the community forum. Campbell
talked about strategic ways to
use the money to create wealth
through property development.
Campbell spoke about foster-
ing multigenerational wealth,
the passing down of assets and
knowledge down generations. He
spoke about wealth inequality as
an effect of policies enacted two
or three generations ago.
“It wasn’t that people were not
savvy enough to get homes, it
wasn’t that they did not work
hard,” Campbell said. “It was that
These will support home proper-
ty development, tenant improve-
ments, the creation of affordable
retail space and pathways to
homeownership.
The $10.5 million to create cul-
turally relevant spaces has $8 mil-
lion allocated for one or two loans
for large signature projects that
would create a space to offer cul-
turally significant services, food
or entertainment. The remaining
$2.5 million will be awarded as
community livability grants for
local nonprofit projects.
An earlier version of the plan
included a proposal to create jobs
by granting or loaning money to
businesses that would hire em-
ployees from the community. An
earlier community forum did not
favor this proposal. Members
were wary that businesses would
not follow the benefit agreement
or that the Black employees would
leave due to a hostile workplace.
Campbell told The Skanner News
that community members have
been focused on the most direct
means of creating wealth.
“It was ... wanting to ensure that
the dollars that are being directed
to working with individuals and
ownership opportunities,” Camp-
bell said.