Page 8 The Skanner Portland & Seattle June 21, 2023
News
Senate Passes
Bipartisan Bill to
Teach Oregon Students
Personal Finance, Career
Path Skills
Formerly Wrongfully Incarcerated,
Yusef Salaam Runs for Office, Seeking
Redemption in the City’s Power Structure
Member of ‘Central Park Five’ is running for a New York City office
The Skanner News
SALEM – Tuesday, the
Oregon Senate passed
Senate Bill 3, which will
add to Oregon high school
graduation
require-
ments one half-credit of
personal finance educa-
tion and one half-credit
of higher education and
career path skills.
The bill passed 24-1 and
now heads to the House
for consideration.
As defined in the bill,
personal finance educa-
tion includes instruction
on:
• Credit scores, how to
build credit, long-term
impacts of good or bad
credit and the costs and
benefits of borrowing
• Investments,
assets,
types of bank accounts,
understanding retire-
ment plans and total
cost of loan repayment
• Budgeting strategies
• Comparing costs asso-
ciated with renting and
home ownership
• Tax credits, filing state
and federal tax forms
and familiarity with
federal, state, regional
and local taxes
• Financial well-being,
including preventing
fraud and identity theft
“Our students must be
prepared to make ma-
jor financial decisions
immediately upon grad-
uating high school, if
not sooner,” said Senate
President Rob Wagner
(D-Lake Oswego), co-
chief sponsor of the bill.
“This bill will help en-
sure our young people
are leaving school with
the skills they need to
make good financial de-
cisions now and through-
out their lives.”
Instruction on higher
education and career
path skills will include:
• Resume writing and
job applications
• Applying for post-sec-
ondary education in-
stitutions, apprentice-
ships and job-training
programs, including
finding financial aid
and scholarships
• Developing and im-
proving
employable
skills and taking ad-
vantage of communi-
ty-based learning
• Acting as a self-advo-
cate for mental, physi-
cal and financial health
“Our schools have al-
ways been about more
than reading, writing
and arithmetic. They
are about helping young
people find the path that
is best for them,” said
Senator Michael Dem-
brow (D-Portland), co-
chief sponsor of the bill.
“The better our students
understand the various
paths they can take af-
ter graduating, the more
successful they will be on
those paths.”
These courses will be
required for students
graduating in January
2027 and beyond.
Despite having bipar-
tisan support, Senate
Bill 3 is one of hundreds
of bills that were threat-
ened by the Senate Re-
publican walkout.
AP PHOTO/MARY ALTAFFER
Bill is one of hundreds that were
threatened by walkout.
New York City Council candidate Yusef Salaam, right, talks to a Harlem resident while canvasing in the neighborhood, Wednesday, May
24, 2023, in New York. Salaam is one of three candidates in a competitive June 27 Democratic primary. With early voting already begun,
he faces two seasoned political veterans: New York Assembly members Al Taylor, 65, and Inez Dickens, 73, who previously represented
Harlem on the City Council.
By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National
Correspondent
Y
usef Salaam, a man who en-
dured wrongful imprison-
ment, has launched a cam-
paign for a seat on the New
York City Council.
Widely recognized for the un-
just ordeal that altered the trajec-
tory of his life, Salaam now aspires
to join the very power structure
that once condemned him.
In 1989, when Salaam was just
15 years old, he and four other Af-
rican American teenagers, collec-
tively known as the Central Park
Five, were apprehended by the
police.
Falsely accused and convicted
of raping and assaulting a white
woman in Central Park on April
19 of that fateful year, the group
faced years of wrongful incarcer-
ation.
Reflecting on his experienc-
es, Salaam remarked during an
interview with the Associated
Press at his campaign headquar-
ters, “I’ve often said that those
who have been close to the pain
should have a seat at the table.”
Salaam’s and his co-defendants’
miscarriages of justice, which
included Antron McCray, Kevin
Richardson, Raymond Santana,
and Korey Wise, attracted nation-
al attention.
Their convictions were over-
turned in 2002 when new evi-
dence, including DNA analysis,
linked the crime to a serial rapist.
The city awarded the group,
now known as the Exonerated
Five, a settlement of $41 million.
Salaam counts among three
candidates locked in a closely
contested Democratic primary
scheduled for June 27.
The primary outcome will de-
termine who will represent Har-
lem’s district in the City Council.
“When people look at me and
learn my story, they resonate
with it,” Salaam expressed with
conviction.
“But now, after 34 years, I can
utilize the platform I have to re-
purpose the pain and help uplift
people as we emerge from de-
spair.”
As a native New Yorker, Salaam
passionately seeks to address
some of Harlem’s most pressing
challenges, including poverty,
homelessness among children,
and the ongoing issue of afford-
able housing.
Political experts said Salaam’s
campaign represents a remark-
able journey of resilience and
pursuit of redemption.
If successful, he said a goal is to
leverage his unique perspective
and experiences to advocate for
those historically marginalized
and neglected.