Despite positive academic results from many of Portland's small schools, the educational experiments mounted in mostly minority schools remain a hot point for the district's critics. Test scores show that small schools have boosted academic achievement for many students, but those schools offer far fewer class options -- particularly when it comes to college level credit opportunities. At the same time plunging enrollment has led to the closure of at least one school within a school, and threatens the future of others ...

North and Northeast Portland businesses are barely scraping by during this tough economic season.
However, armed with a new development grant, the North/Northeast Business Association hopes to jumpstart local enterprise with a special awards event as well as fresh resources for small business owners along the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard corridor.
"What we're doing is we're bringing in a majority of the business owners that have gone above and beyond the call of duty," said marketing and business outreach director RJ Floristan. At a gala event Dec. 5 ... the group will bestow special awards to area business owners, and present information about N/NEBA's new initiatives funded by its new state of Oregon Transforming Main Street grant.
"Our focus is the revitalization of this community," Floristan says. "When you drive down Sandy Boulevard you see Welcome to Hollywood, when you drive in the Northwest, you see Welcome to the Pearl District, well when you drive down MLK we want you to be welcomed to the Soul of Portland District ...

AIDS Awareness Training ...
Landlord Study Hall ...
Support for Lions Medical Work ...
Vision into Action Coalition ...

What's happening for you in Portland this week? Read here a day-by-day diary of free community events to fill your spare time. For a full calendar please click on "Read the complete article" below ….

What's happening for you in Seattle this week? Read here a day-by-day diary of free community events to fill your spare time. For a full calendar please click on "Read the complete article" below ….

Hope Rally ....
Jobs Meeting ...
Special Election Candidates ...
Students: Join ACT-SO ...

Former Seattle Mayor Norm Rice, current chairman of the board for The Enterprise Community Partners, and Jon Fine, United Way of King County president and CEO, this week announced a plan to help people experiencing hardship because of the current economic crisis funded by some of the region's largest corporations and philanthropic groups. In addition to the United Way, the philanthropic coalition includes the Seattle Foundation, the Gates Foundation, Boeing, Microsoft Corporation, Medina Foundation, Puget Sound Energy, Safeco Foundation, The Raikes Foundation and Washington Federal Savings. The coalition's goal is to provide $6 million over 3 years to maximize the ability of community members to tap into available resources.

Surviving breast cancer hinges on early detection. That's why the Swedish Cancer Institute is adding a second mobile mammography bus to reach out to the community instead of waiting for them to come in for a check up. 
"The idea with the smaller coach is to get to the urban areas that the bigger coach does not reach," said Darlene Fanus, supervisor of the Mobile Mammography Services. 
Mary Kelly, medical director of the Swedish Cherry Hill and Ballard breast centers said the buses are "making rolling house calls with advanced medical technology onboard." The buses provide the same mammography screening as one would receive at a doctor's office.
The mobile mammography bus will be making stops at the Holly Park Clinic in South on Dec. 15 and 22. For other times and locations, call 206-320-4760 ...

Today's war veterans are finding an increasingly bleak future when they return home.
In part that's because many of the skills and the experience they gained in military service do not translate to the work world.
A new program recently piloted in Washington State aims to change that by training veterans to find long-term employment through a local labor union.
The Veterans in Piping (VIP) Program was designed by the United Association of Plumbers, Pipefitters and Sprinklerfitters (UA) to help veterans find stable, long-term employment through welding apprenticeships.
"My work history has been a roller coaster since I've got out," said Brandon Andre Thomas, a seven year Army veteran who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. "This is the first stable employment I've had ...

New Orleans native and Common Ground relief organization co-founder Malik Rahim travels to Seattle Tuesday, Dec. 9 for a fundraiser benefitting Nova High School's spring volunteer construction trip to the Big Easy ... The event features a talk by Rahim and photographs of New Orleans by Seattle photographer Matthew Smith ...