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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 23, 2016)
NOVEMBER 23, 2016 Portland and Seattle Volume XXXIX No. 8 25 CENTS News .............................. 3,8-10 A & E .....................................6-7 Opinion ...................................2 Day of Disruption ............9 Calendars ........................... 4-5 Bids/Classifieds ....................11 CHALLENGING PEOPLE TO SHAPE A BETTER FUTURE NOW PHOTO COURTESY OF PORTLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS WORLD DANCE PARTY Octaviano Merecias and Raahi Reddy testify at last week’s meeting of Portland Public School’s board of education. The board passed a resolution last week saying it would not assist immigration officials in finding information about students or families who may be undocumented. By Arashi Young Of The Skanner News I n the wake of the election of Donald Trump, Portland Public Schools vot- ed to make it harder for immigration officials to seek out undocumented students and families. Thursday night the PPS board of ed- ucation unanimously passed a resolu- tion protecting community members from the U.S. Immigration and Customs See PPS on page 3 Mula Reda demonstrates traditional Amharic Dance at the World Dance Party Nov. 18 at Meadowbrook Community Center. The event was made possible by the Seattle Parks District Recreation 4 All Initiative and organized in partnership with The Seattle Public Library, Lake City Future Fund, and several other community organizations. Neighbors enjoyed a potluck and the opportunity to learn dances from all over the world. Companies Expand Services for Unbanked Credit unions seek to tailor their offerings for people who don’t have access to traditional bank accounts, credit or other banking services By Christen McCurdy Of The Skanner News A Vanport survivor Curnel Walden speaks to documentary producers about the 1948 flood and his family’s rush to get out of the house before the waters hit. FILM REVIEW: ‘The Wake of Vanport’ Kam reviews the latest in the series page 7 Easy Retirement? page 8 Federal Deposit Insurance Corpo- ration report re- leased earlier this fall reported a decrease in the number of people na- tionwide without access to basic financial services — but said the number of un- banked Portlanders is up. In the Portland area in 2015, 23.6 percent of households did not have an account with a traditional financial institution. That number is up from 20.5 percent, the number re- leased in 2013. Statewide the number is higher, with 25.6 reporting access to a lack of traditional banking services, up from 21.6 per- cent in 2013. The FDIC did not break out demographic data for specific regions, but its survey did find that racial minorities, especially Af- rican Americans and Lati- nos, tended to have higher rates of being unbanked. (The unbanked rate among Black households de- creased from 20.6 percent in 2013 to 18.2 percent in 2015 — but Black Ameri- cans are still more likely to be without a bank account than the general popula- tion.) Approximately 24.5 million U.S. households, composed of 51.1 million adults and 16.3 million children — or about 20 per- cent of households were did not have bank accounts in 2015, unchanged from 2013. The FDIC also tracks the number of “underbanked” households — defined as having a checking or sav- ings account and using one of the following prod- ucts or services from an alternative financial ser- vices provider in the last 12 months: money orders, check cashing, interna- tional remittances, payday loans, refund anticipation loans, rent-to-own ser- vices, pawn shop loans or auto title loans. Lower-income people, people with less educa- tion and people with dis- See UNBANKED on page 3 Black Unemployment Rate Is Up Among adults 20 years and older, Black men suffered the biggest setback in October By Freddie Allen NNPA Newswire Managing Editor B lack workers lost ground last month, as the unemployment rate increased from 8.3 percent in September to 8.6 percent in October, according to the latest jobs report from the Labor Department. October was a bad month for Black workers, in general. Not only did the share of Black workers in the labor force slide, the share of Blacks who held jobs (employment-population ratio) also declined. The employ- ment-population ratio for Blacks de- creased from 56.8 percent in Septem- ber to 56.5 percent in October. The White unemployment rate im- proved slightly from the 4.4 percent mark set in September to 4.3 percent in October. The labor force participa- tion rate for White workers ticked See UNEMPLOYMENT on page 3 PHOTO COURTESY OF NNPA Schools won’t help immigration officials get information on students PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED PPS Adopts Sanctuary Campus Resolution The unemployment rate for Black workers increased from 8.3 percent to 8.6 percent in October, and the change in rate of unemployment for Black men was even worse -- from 8.2 percent in September to 8.7 percent in October.
