Native Americans in Portland

I’m spending the morning watching Channel 30, covering the Portland City Council’s hearings live. The first person testifying under Citizen Communications was Bridgette Mesa, who has worked as an intern at City Hall this summer. She spoke to inform the Council and citizens watching about her experience as a Native American living in Portland. She said while Portland is the 28th largest city in the United States, we have the 9th greatest population of Native American people.

There are some 38,000 Native Americans living in Multnomah County, 32,000 in the City of Portland. According to Bridgette Mesa and the Native American Youth & Family Services web site, more than 50% of them live 200% below the poverty level. And the web site notes that of all cultural groups, Native American students have the highest drop out rate of 19.6% each year, compared with the general population’s rate of 6.3%.

One reason Native American students drop out is because traditional schools set up for cultures other than theirs teach subjects and in styles Native Americans find difficult to relate to. For instance, reliance on written information rather than oral. One great step forward in helping provide culturally-relevant education is the opening of the Native American Early College Academy next month. From the Native American Youth & Family Services web site:

“The NAYA Early College Academy opens its doors to 9th-12th graders seeking a hands-on, culturally relevant, student-centered learning environment offering a blended high school and post-secondary curriculum. Students attending the Academy have the unique opportunity to earn a high school diploma while earning up to two years of transferable college credit. Small class sizes encourage individualized educational options for each student and academic programming integrates local native culture, extensive family and community outreach, and partnerships with Portland Community College and other post-secondary institutions.”

And from their press release:

“NAYA Family Center joins nine other groups in this groundbreaking work to establish early college high schools. The other grantees are Klamath River Early College in Klamath, California; Siletz Valley Early College Academy, Oregon; Medicine Wheel Academy in Spokane, WA; Ferndale High School in Ferndale, WA; Tulalip Heritage School in Marysville, WA; the Suquamish Tribe on the Port Madison Indian Reservation, WA; Wellpinit High School on the Spokane Indian Reservation, WA; La Conner High School, Skagit Valley, WA; and Shelton High School in Shelton, WA.

“Each school will feature culturally relevant curriculum, integrate high school diploma and associate of arts degree requirements, promote family and community engagement, and provide academic advising. In addition, the schools will provide these services to students in their local communities, which should increase their chance of success,” explains Linda Campbell, Ph.D., who directs the Early College Consortium for Native Youth at Antioch University Seattle.

The schools are part of a $120 million initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Carnegie Corp. of New York and the Ford Foundation to create or redesign 170 early college high schools for underserved and low-income young people across the nation. In these purposely small schools, students have the opportunity to earn both a high school diploma and two years of college credit toward a college degre.”

The opening of this school next month is a good step forward for underserved people within our community. I wish everyone involved in it great success.