The Skanner News - Portland News and Events for Feb. 7

PHOTO: The Oregon Historical Society opens A Community on the Move, the third exhibition in a series produced by the Oregon Black Pioneers. This groundbreaking exhibition explains how the WWII shipyards, migration from the South, the Vanport flood, and urban renewal projects impacted Portland’s black families and businesses. Public talks are scheduled as well through March. The first, on ‘The Community: Families, Churches, & Social Clubs,’ is coming up Sunday, Feb. 22 at 3 p.m. at the June Key Delta Sigma Community Center, 5940 N Albina Ave., Portland. For more information go to www.ohs.org. Photo by Lisa Loving

Community-based Art Project Adds to Post-Ferguson Conversation

In the months following the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown, young people around the country are galvanizing, protesting and demanding to be heard.

In that spirit is ‘My Black Sons & Daughters are Worthy,” a performance and celebration Saturday, Feb. 7, door opens at 6 p.m., program begins at 6:30 p.m., at the Blazers Boys & Girls Club, 5250 NE MLK Jr. Blvd.

My Black Sons & Daughters Are Worthy is a community-based art project, primarily funded by the Regional Arts & Culture Council, which allows parents of black children, whether biological, adopted, foster, etc., to publically acknowledge and honor the worthiness of their children.

Concluding the My Black Sons & Daughters Are Worthy performance will be the Y.O.U.th Summit’s “Be The Change” concert, featured local talent Mic Crenshaw, Blacque Butterfly, RoseCity Mischief, Talilo, and DJ Grimrock. Spirit of Portland winner Imani Muhammad founded the first Y.O.U.th Summit in 2007 in response to the inner Northeast Portland shooting death of 14-year-old DaVonte Lightfoot, a Benson High School student and one of Muhammad’s former students.

For more information go to www.ReneeMitchellSpeaks.com.

Register Now for Business after School: Engineering Week

Young adults interested in visiting local businesses and learning about careers surrounding engineering have until noon on Feb. 10 to register for Business After School: Engineering Week.

The event is Feb. 16-18 and is open to young adults, ages 16-21. Sponsoring companies: Kiewit Infrastructure West, Silicon Forest Electronics, GeoDesign, Columbia Machine, MacKay Sposito and Elkhart Plastics are hosting two-hour events from 3-5 p.m. or 4-6 p.m. on one of the three days and will be providing company tours, hands-on activities and discussions of the necessary education, training, skills and job prospects.

To register to attend an event, go to www.business-after-school.webs.com and click the "Events & Registration" tab.

There is no cost to attend, but registration is required (no drop-ins) and space is limited. Youth under age 18 must be accompanied by an adult, with a maximum 10 students to one chaperone. Participants will arrange their own transportation.

Many industries will face labor shortages in the near future as long-time employees retire and industry growth outpaces trained workers. Bridging this gap is critical and why the Southwest Washington Workforce Development Council, Clark College, Columbia River Economic Development Council, Cowlitz Economic Development Council, Greater Vancouver Chamber of Commerce, Kelso Longview Chamber of Commerce, Lower Columbia College and Washington State University Vancouver have created Business After School to help young adults learn about and explore high-growth industries and gather information about career opportunities and skills they'll need to obtain jobs.

For more information, visit www.swwdc.org.

BPI’s STEAM-Xplosion 2015

The Black Parent Initiative and Portland Community College are hosting a science education fair for communities of color - STEAM-Xplosion 2015
The event will be held at the PCC Southeast Campus on Feb. 7, from 10 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. and will focus on bringing families who are traditionally underrepresented in technology together with inventors, app-developers and engineers.

STEAM, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math, is an expansion of the STEM acronym, adding in the importance of Art to the sciences.

STEM represents one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. High paying STEM-related careers are expected to grow 17 percent through 2018 compared 10 percent of non-STEM jobs.

Some sessions for children are divided up by age and gender. There are activities for those as young as 4-years-old with Stacey Sowder’s chemistry demonstrations aimed at the young scientist.

The gendered break-out sessions provide safe places for boys and girls to explore STEM with their peers. Young women are encouraged to attend the Girls Inc. STEM Superstar Challenge with Karin Malbrough. Young men can check out the Brothaman Tech Incubator with Jomo Greenidge.

There are also workshops on application development, forensic science and renewable energy solutions.
To learn more or to RSVP for the event, go to www.thebpi.org.

HIV Awareness and Testing App

National Black HIV Awareness Day is on Feb. 7 and the CDC estimates that nearly 20 million new sexually transmitted infections occur every year. A simple, life-saving tool is Healthvana – a yelp-like health app that helps users find Free HIV & STD testing centers in their area.

The app or website - https://www.healthvana.com/free-std-testing/ provides users the following information.

STD Testing Services offered at the location.
Hours of Operation and Average wait time
Communities Serviced – LGBT, Youth or Women
STD Treatment services offered at the location
If Services are Free or if Insurance is accepted
Shows when listing is last update
Phone number and website of clinic
Recommendations by other Healthvana users

The highly curated locator was developed over a three-year period with Healthvana team members traveling all over the U.S. to visit and recommend centers. If you are interested in speaking to the CEO, Ramin Bastani, please let us know. Utilizing smart design and technology, Healthvana believes it will dramatically reduce STDs through its radically different approach to prevention. The company’s mission is to help people make better health decisions by giving them high quality information at their fingertips.

For more information tweet @healthvana or go to www.healthvana.com.

Community Discussions on Race and Policing

Widespread protests in response to the deaths of black men at the hands of police in 2014 have prompted national conversation over issues of race and policing—subjects with which many residents of the Portland area have long been familiar.

In February, Oregon Humanities invites Portland-area community members to talk about the challenges built into how we protect ourselves in a series of community discussions on race and policing. The discussions will be led by trained facilitators and will take place at the following locations around Multnomah County:

Saturday, Feb. 14, 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. at Kenton Library, 8226 N Denver Ave., Portland. Facilitated by Reiko Hillyer, assistant professor of history at Lewis & Clark College.

Saturday, Feb. 28, 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. at Rockwood Library, 17917 SE Stark St., Portland. Facilitated by Wendy Willis, executive director of the Policy Consensus Initiative.

The events are free and open to the public. Oregon Humanities is planning two additional events for later in February. Visit oregonhumanities.org for the latest information.

Portland Job Fair Coming Up

The City of Portland's 15th Annual Diversity Employment Day Career Fair will be held Wednesday, Feb. 25 at The Ambridge Events Center, 1333 NE MLK Jr. Blvd., from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. As part of its ongoing mission to "Get America Back To Work in 2015", The Diversity Employment Day Career Fair offers the general public a rare opportunity to meet face-to-face with recruiters and staffing managers from Union Pacific, Country Financial, Kaiser Permanente, Les Schwab Tires, Oregon State Lottery and over 20 other major employers representing hundreds of jobs and careers from entry to professional level.
The largest and longest-running recruiting event for diversity and inclusion in the nation, The Diversity Employment Day Career Fair serves Multicultural and

Bilingual communities, People with Disabilities, Women, LGBT, Veterans and Mature Workers. Oregon's top corporations, government agencies and non-profit organizations eagerly participate to discover the Greater Portland area's most qualified candidates at this huge annual event.

The Diversity Employment Day Career Fair is free and open to the general public 18 years of age and older. Business attire and résumés are required. Candidates can skip the lines by emailing résumés to [email protected] with PORTLAND in the subject line.

Portland’s Black Creative Collective @ Work

Stop by the Collins Gallery at the Central Branch of the Multnomah County Library from through March 8 to check out a curated installation of Portland's Black creatives mobilizing visual art, printed materials, movement, and voice to honor and celebrate the intersection of interests, histories, and cultural production of our community.

Then join the poets, performers, and image makers of Portland’s Black Creative Collective: BrownHall for an art-filled Opening Reception on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 2 pm.

Featuring: Akela Jaffi Auer, Turiya Autry, Samiya Bashir, Aasha Benton, Aisha Edwards, Diamond Ferguson, Chris Fuzell, Keyon Gaskin, Jamondria Harris, Elijah Hasan, Lin Lucas, Nakeia R. Medcalf, André Middleton, S. Renee Mitchell, Sidony O'neal, Alex Riedlinger, Jonny Sanders, Sharita Towne, Tasha Triplett, David Walker.

Free and open to the public, Collins Gallery, 3rd Floor Central Library, 801 SW10th Avenue, Portland.

For more information go to www.multcolib.org/events.

For more Portland and Seattle events, check our community calendar.