August 16, 2017 The Skanner Page 3
News
cont’d from pg 1
involved in gangs.
Three years ago, she
and two friends, both
of whom came of age
in Portland gangs as
well, formed Neighbors
Against Violence, an
initiative to steer young
people toward college
opportunities, scholar-
ships and jobs to keep
them on a positive path.
“
destroy it, so I’m going to
give back,” Taylor said.
Taylor formed NAV
and started to re-engage
with her mentoring and
education work after be-
coming concerned about
an apparent uptick in
gang violence in Port-
land, particularly in east
Portland.
“My message to the kids
Music
Millennium
Music Milliennium celebrated it 25th Annual
Customer Appreciation Day Aug. 12 with a
barbecue and live entertainment. Terry Currier
(center) shares a cake with his likeness with Thure
Gray (left) and Jenseen Brons, both of Bremerton,
Wa.
Music Millennium was founded in 1969 and its
East Burnside location is believed to be the oldest
continually operating record store in the Pacific
Northwest. In 2009, it was given the number-
nine spot in Spin magazine’s list of the 15 best
independent record stores in the U.S.
This year, Mayor Ted Wheeler proclaimed Aug.
12 Terry Currier Appreciation Day. Currier helped
start Record Store Day and is credited with
adopting and spreading the slogan “Keep Portland
Weird.” He’s also one of the co-founders of the
Oregon Music Hall of Fame.
I’ve got to give back to my
community. I helped destroy
it, so I’m going to give back
Two years ago she
made “The Nicole Taylor
Story,” which describes
her life as well as Port-
land’s gang milieu from
the 1980s and 1990s. She’s
also made a 60-minute
documentary, which in-
cludes footage from the
first and incorporates
stories from others’ lives
and has submitted both
to Netflix.
Taylor is also planning
a tour this fall to show the
films to Boys and Girls
Clubs and youth deten-
tion facilities all over the
west coast. The tour will
be funded by book sales,
she said, but she is also
seeking sponsorships.
Her long-term dream
is to open a community
center that would act as
a drop-in site for kids,
as well as serving as a
homeless shelter.
“I’ve got to give back to
my community. I helped
Pregnancies
cont’d from pg 3
PHOTO BY TONY WEBSTER
48-Hour
if just because you’re
able to pull that trigger,
that doesn’t mean you’re
going to hit that person,”
Taylor said.
Misfires and accidental
shootings are common,
Taylor said, and the oth-
er major lesson of her
youth is that long-term
friends aren’t always
who young people think
they will be. Many of Tay-
lor’s childhood friends
became Crips while she
was a teenager, and she’s
rekindled her friend-
ships with them since
leaving gang life behind.
“God revealed a lot of
people to me,” Taylor
said.
To contribute to the
GoFundMe for the tour,
visit
www.gofundme.
com /i5-taylormade-
freeze-awarenesstour.
To see the trailer for
the film, view this story
on TheSkanner.com.
Police officer with baton, Portland, Oregon.
fatal.
Last month the Port-
land
Police
Bureau
had proposed a policy
change that would have
delayed police inter-
views in such cases, pos-
sibly by weeks.
Now, with the 48-hour
directive no longer in ef-
fect, officers can be asked
to promptly provide
their account of what
happened in less than
two days.
“And, unlike the cur-
rent version, we will im-
plement the policy NOW,
rather than waiting for a
court to give us the ok,”
tweeted Mayor Wheeler
the day before the coun-
cil convened.
The city council voted
to amend the 48-hour
rule, but so far has only
closed
the
loophole
which let the rule ride.
The precise language
of the clause will be re-
worked and is expected
to be reviewed by council
by the end of the month.
The city had been
forced to re-evaluate and
reform its police practic-
es when it was sued by
the U.S. Department of
Justice after a 2012 inves-
tigation found the Port-
land Police Bureau had
a pattern of using exces-
sive force against people
with mental illness.
PHOTO BY JERRY FOSTER
Taylor
cont’d from pg 1
The lack of dollars, say Big Cit-
ies Health Coalition (BCHC) — a
forum for the leaders of Ameri-
ca’s largest metropolitan health
departments — will severely im-
pact evidence-based programs,
services, and research for reduc-
ing teen pregnancies.
According to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention,
one in four teens will become
pregnant by age 20.
In protest to the funding cut, 37
Democratic senators sent a letter
to U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services Secretary Tom
Price, questioning why crucial
funding is being yanked out of
public health departments across
the U.S — two years too soon.
Days later, the BCHC sent its
own letter to Price, signed by 20
health commissioners and echo-
ing the sentiment of the senators.
The health advocates argue
that the TPPP has made unprece-
dented progress in reducing teen
pregnancies.
Since 2015, the TPPP has served
nearly 1.2 million youth in 40
states and territories in avoiding
unintended pregnancies.
In addition, they say, cutting off
the funding negatively impacts
the teenage girls who are partic-
ipating in current programs and
services. It will also spell “fewer
project jobs, fewer trained pro-
fessionals, and reduced commu-
nity partnerships,” states BCHC’s
letter.
‘A huge hole’ in services
While the TPPP falls under the
category of reproductive health
education, the program funds
platforms that go beyond sex ed-
ucation, including teacher train-
ing, trauma counseling, and pro-
gram evaluation.
Since its inception, the TPPP
has awarded 81 grants, distribut-
ed to public health departments
across the nation.
If funding is cut short, it would
“create a huge hole in being able
to provide services to vulnerable
teens,” said Dr. Leana Wen, Com-
missioner of Health for the City of
Baltimore, during a BCHC confer-
ence call last week.
In Baltimore, the TPPP helped
reduce teen pregnancies by 44
percent between 2009 and 2015.
“The grant developed a compre-
“
These same
youth also expe-
rience dispar-
ities for many
co-occurring
risk factors
hensive approach city-wide. This
is the only program we have,”
said Wen, who noted that 20,000
students will not have access to
pregnancy-preventing services if
funds discontinue.
Multnomah County also bene-
fited greatly from the TPPP, when
it won a competitive $6.25 mil-
lion grant in 2015. The money has
helped middle and high school
students – along with their par-
ents and teachers – in five school
districts to prevent unintended
pregnancies and teach healthy re-
lationship skills.
The county is calling the ter-
mination of the grant agreement
“improper.” Its funding helped
establish the ‘Adolescents and
Communities Together’ project,
a partnership between Planned
Parenthood of Columbia Willa-
mette, the Boys and Girls Clubs of
Portland Metro, Latino Network,
Native American Youth and
Family Center, and Self-Enhance-
ment, Inc.
The project was designed to ad-
dress health disparities and high
teen birth rates among American
Indians, Alaskan Natives, Afri-
can Americans and Latinas.
“These same youth also ex-
perience disparities for many
co-occurring risk factors such
as sexually transmitted diseases,
socioeconomic disadvantage, ed-
ucational attainment, and lack of
positive youth development op-
portunities and supports,” wrote
the Multnomah County Health
Department in an official state-
ment appealing the TPPP’s early
cancellation.
To date, Adolescents and Com-
munities Together has served
more than 8,000 young people in
Portland Public, David Douglas,
Parkrose, Reynolds and Centen-
nial school districts.
“David Douglas is among the
most diverse school districts in
Oregon, with some of the highest
urban poverty rates and students
who are at high risk for both un-
wanted pregnancies and STDs,’’
said Dan McCue, spokesman for
the David Douglas School Dis-
trict, in the county’s statement.
“This grant has provided a
valuable tool for us to deliver
culturally specific, accurate, and
state-standard compliant sex ed-
ucation to these high risk popula-
tions,” he continued.
In Washington State, the TPPP
grant funds 30 percent of FLASH,
a sexual health education curric-
ulum developed by Public Health
Seattle & King County to prevent
teen pregnancy, STDs, and sexual
violence.
FLASH is used by every school
district in King County – whose
teen birth rate has fallen by
55 percent since 2008 – and in
schools across all regions of the
U.S.
Without funding for FLASH, 41
health teachers at 20 schools in
the rural south and urban Mid-
west will not receive the curric-
ulum and teacher training they
were promised.
Funding needed to measure
outcomes
Ending the program would also
leave thousands of school profes-
sionals without data, said Patty
Hayes, director of Public Health
Seattle & King County.
“We’ve never before had the
opportunity to evaluate the long-
term outcomes of FLASH,” said
Hayes during the BCHC call.
