Mayor Tom Potter's Visit

Mayor of the City of Portland Tom Potter visited Slavic Coalition members



General Slavic Coalition Meeting

IRCO (Main Office) Tuesday, June 10, 2008 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm

Slavic Coalition was visited by City of Portland Mayor Tom Potter ,

Meeting Agenda: To share our issues with the Mayor to build understanding about our community and to learn more about how we can engage with local government. ________________________________________

Meeting Minutes:

At 5:30 pm the meeting was brought to order by Slavic Coalition Chairperson Anya who warmly greeted Mayor Tom Potter and all in attendance.

Introduction to the meetings agenda was presented by Chairperson Anya who estimated the Slavic population of Portland to be 100,000 (approx one hundred thousand). Catherine R. Van Son commented that calculation of Slavic numbers in the city is difficult since census only counts minorities as people of color and as Caucasians our group gets left out, though we also need services because we have lots of special needs.

Questions presented by the Mayor to the committee:

1) Mayor Potter asked everybody to share specific issues and problems faced by the local Slavic community.

Almost all in attendance introduced themselves and touched on some difficulties that they faced when first coming to the United States of America and issues what they and/or their clients have at the moment. The list of concerns included:

· The lack of resources

o i..e.: where and how to get a job in the US

· The language barrier

· No direct transfer of education

o Highly educated and skillful Slavic individuals cannot utilize their skills unless their credentials are from America

§ The mayor acknowledged this is also the case with doctors from the former Soviet Union .

2) Mayor Potter presented a question about the role of local Slavic churches in the development of resources to address the concerns of this committee (resources other than spiritual or religious).

The response from the committee was this list:

· ESL classes

o For adults and children

o Some churches have opened private Russian/English schools.

3) Mayor Potter expressed his concerns regarding the gaps in communication and understanding between the Slavic children and their parents, since the younger generation is more adaptive to the language, to the American habits, and society

· The committee agreed that this fact can create significant misunderstandings between Slavic children and their parents.

Lolita suggested parenting services that would address the Mayor’s concern:

· She suggested that it would be beneficial for all of us to develop more parent educational projects that would address such issues.

4) Mayor Potter was also asked by Coalition the question, “What impression do you have of our community and what would you like to understand better?”

The Mayor responded that he knows little but is learning more from our meeting; he especially was interested to know what churches do besides religious services.

In addition the Mayor suggested:

· Become visible: Currently he sees the Slavic population as somewhat invisible because we are not community with color.

· Hold festivals where different communities can share cultural heritage (for example, food traditions)

o Get connected with other diversity groups and also become aware of their challenges.

§ “If you want to get to know more about people from other cultures, you need to eat with them.”

· Police can provide a support in terms of safety.

· Be more vocal. Go and visit every city commissioner and county commissioner. Squeaky wheels always get the oil.


· The Civic Involvement Program of the City of Portland offers training for people who work with community concerns. This training provides leadership skills, community organizing expertise, and the knowledge of how to get access to the City Hall planning meetings

5) Ela asked about the future of the Community Gathering Center :

· When this Center can be built and if it is realistic enough.

Tom Potter reported:

· There is no budget yet. We still need more voices and more active and interested people.

In conclusion the Mayor reminded the committee:

· Be united with other communities and go a lot further together. Together you can become a giant with the tremendous strength.

· Train more people in community organizing and leadership. Go and get this training and then share knowledge with the community.

· Never accept “no”, status quote from any governor.

· Give 10% of your time to the community.

· Get yourself organized.

· Create a community newspaper.

· You have already successfully overcome the language barrier, so now you can overcome other obstacles and excel above average with the hard work.


The next meeting of the Coalition will be held at the main office of IRCO Tuesday, September 9, from 5:30 to 7:00 pm.

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