Sabin Neighborhood Association

Minutes of last Meeting

Monthly meeting May 5, 2000

The meeting was called to order by President Fred Smith. Intro-ductions were made.
Dana Anderson, from the PCC Advisory Board, asked to speak on behalf of PCC Measure 26-1. PCC expects enrollment to increase 50% to 150,000 in the next 20 years. The Cascade Campus has contri-buted to the revitalization of this community and would receive 57% of the funds raised.
Sabin Community Police Liaison Officer Troy Grundmeyer gave an update on crime in the community. It is relatively quiet right now, but they are expecting a busy summer. Last summer was busy and they were understaffed. This year they are trying to provide adequate programs and projects for youth during the summer.
He was asked about curfew sweeps and racial profiling. He believes curfew sweeps are neces-sary for the safety of youth and that racial profiling is a problem. He passed out some community crime statistics. Ric Alexander asked if it would be possible to get the more detailed history of arrests that we used to get. He said he would look into it but that he was not optimistic that they would be available.
He also handed out the Com-munity Policing News with the Multnomah County Child Abuse Hotline, 731-3100. April was child abuse prevention month. If you suspect a child of being abused in any way, please call this number with information.
Kenneth Edwards, NE Crime Prevention Specialist was the next speaker. He briefly explained some of the programs--Community Court, Block Watch and Block Captains--and emphasized that or-ganizing with a block or any group to work on problems can be very effective. He said that he can take members of the community on ride-alongs when he goes out into the area to work on problems, by appointment and occasionally. For more info, call him at 823-4763.
Ann Bremer, Multnomah County Advocate for Early Brain Development, was then introduced. She is from the Multnomah County Commission on Children, Families and Communities (CCFC). All families with first-born children in Multnomah County receive the “New Parent Gift” and information on services for families with newborns .
Early Words is a CCFC campaign to inform parents and child care providers about the importance of reading to babies and young children to promote literacy in later life. She also suggested the following available support pro-grams: Multnomah County Library, Early Head Start, Common Bond, WIC, Healthy Birth Initiative, Well Child Care, Immunization Resour-ces. Call 988-3897 for info.
Leslie Dodd Clark, from the LIFE (Low Income Family Emer-gency) Center on MLK Blvd, spoke about some of the problems they deal with. She emphasized in-volving youth. They have a Youth Board and have events for and about youth. For more info, call 284-6878.
She said they get some money from grants and encouraged Sabin to apply for funds for youth pro-grams in the community. It is a problem for teens to find a place to go and be at ease, welcomed and generally advocated for. Some ideas for programs were discussed. Kenneth Edwards added that some things can be done individually: get acquainted and close to some-one, go into school and read with someone.