EDUCATION INFRASTRUCTURE AND PROGRAMS

This is an ongoing area that is considered critical by the SUN Coordinating Council and the partners. The Council has adopted a “poverty-index” that identifies each school relative to the number and percent of children participating in free and reduced lunch meals. This list of schools is what is used to identify the next SUN Community School sites as resources become available to the system.

Asian Pacific American Network of Oregon's(APANO) 'Youth Advocacy Institute' trained and worked with 10 API youth, former refugees from Thailand to address and advocate for education equity issues

Our "Subotnik" project addressed action point L.4.1 by coordinating youth-oriented educational programming via the Portland Parks Department, Zenger Farm and Leach Botanical Garden. Field trips were organized for the children and youth at Springwater Commons at both Zenger Farm and Leach Botanical Garden as the culminating events of the larger Subotnik project.

Additionally, Springwater Commons’ youth were involved on the day of the Subotnik event, working directly with the JCWC representative to chart out the bioswale restoration. Participating youth also took initiative in learning how to plant the native species, and led the younger children in the project as well. The youth also took charge of the curb painting project, with excellent results. In addition, a representative from Growing Gardens provided a children’s program in June on growing their own food. Children and youth planted vegetable seeds and learned about food gardening.

Though these areas are not specifically assigned to the library, the library does focus on providing welcoming spaces and services to teens at the Midland Library. For example, the Midland library has a Teen Council which meets twice a month and is open to all teens. The purpose is for teens to work with library staff to make the library and its services teen-friendly. Teen Council program is supported by The Library Foundation.

El Programa Hispano implemented the Círculo de Padres (Latino Parents Circle) project at Ron Russell and Floyd Light middle schools during the 2012-2013 school year. The Círculo de Padres has two primary aims: (1) to increase the understanding in the Latino community about the educational system, and (2) to motivate Latino parents to engage and actively participate in school activities and their children’s education.

The Círculo de Padres has met each month since August 2011, covering topics such as getting to know school personnel and their roles within the school, understanding grades and attendance policies, communication between parents and the school and college a career information. Additionally, the Círculo de Padres participants have learned about the variety of services that El Programa Hispano provides to the Latino community. Group participants also have attended community forums about discipline, tax information and resources, and drug and alcohol prevention. El Programa Hispano utilizes the popular education approach in each of the group meetings to encourage active participation and multiple modes of learning, create spaces for trust and participation, empower the group to develop long-term strategies, and develop new community leaders. Each of these workshops has lasted approximately 2 hours, and has had at least 15 Latino participants at each. Food and childcare have been provided to address barriers to parent participation.

The average participation in the Círculo de Padres groups at each school has ranged from 15-37 parents per session. Attendance has steadily increased since August due to positive word of mouth among Latino families at both middle schools. The parents at Ron Russell have participated in a total of 14 meetings so far this year. They have developed friendships with each other that will carry them through their children’s middle school years. The parents at Floyd Light started a morning walking group of about 13 mothers, and they have reached out to families at Cherry Park elementary school to start a similar group there.

The long term result of the Círculo de Padres at each school has been a strong group of parents that are very involved in the school’s life as volunteers and leaders. Many have committed to helping establish a Círculo de Padres at each school during the coming school year. Overall, the Círculo de Padres project funded by East Portland Action Plan has given El Programa Hispano a wonderful opportunity to start creating a strong family engagement culture at Ron Russell and Floyd Light middle schools. The results of our work have indeed lived up to the expectation that ¡Si se puede!

Multnomah County Library has two neighborhood libraries in the East Portland area: the Midland library and the Rockwood library. Each library serves a population of about 74,000 within a 2-mile radius, with the two facilities representing 21% of the library system’s total square footage. These two libraries have 20% of the system’s library cardholders and 63% of the target language cardholders (Spanish, Vietnamese, Russian, and Chinese). During 2009-10, over 13,000 people attended story times; almost 23,000 people attended programs for children, teens, and families; and 13,000 people attended target language programs. The free meeting rooms were used by over 600 groups. Not all services take place within the library buildings. A couple of examples: story times were also held in local childcare centers and agencies such as WIC, while Books 2 U book talkers made regular visits to local targeted schools to increase kids’ motivation to read.

Due to the current economic situation, the library’s funding limitations, and the need to provide fiscally sustainable services, Multnomah County Library will not be adding any new facilities in the foreseeable future to the East Portland area or anywhere else in Multnomah County. The library’s goal is to continue to maintain the current number of library locations, open hours, and services throughout Multnomah County during these difficult times.