Black Relief News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Former state representative Akasha Lawrence Spence has been appointed to serve as Senator for Oregon District 8, which stretches from Downtown Portland to Tigard, spanning Multnomah, Washington, and Clackamas counties. Former Senator Ginny Burdick left the position earlier this month—in the middle of her four-year term—to join a statewide energy council, leaving the seat open for a short-term appointment. Lawrence Spence was appointed by an unanimous vote Monday from commissioners from Multnomah and Washington counties....

City Club online forum will address inequities, solutions as pandemic effects vary. Leaders of BIPOC business groups on Wednesday, Feb. 3, will talk about potential reforms after a year in which the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately hammered racial and ethnic minorities. The hour-long discussion hosted by City Club of Portland, part of a series called "State of the Possible," happens online starting at noon. The pandemic has disproportionately hit BIPOC-owned businesses, according to several studies. One study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York last July concluded that 41 percent ...

City Club online forum will address inequities, solutions as pandemic effects vary. Leaders of BIPOC business groups on Wednesday, Feb. 3, will talk about potential reforms after a year in which the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately hammered racial and ethnic minorities. The hour-long discussion hosted by City Club of Portland, part of a series called "State of the Possible," happens online starting at noon. The pandemic has disproportionately hit BIPOC-owned businesses, according to several studies. One study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York last July concluded that 41 percent ...

(Image: File) `According to U.S. Census Bureau’s 2017 American Community Survey, only 2.9% of Oregon’s population is African American. Since the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, Black residents have struggled to get access to the state’s COVID-19 aid programs to help their struggling businesses. In response to seeing Black business owners struggle in their community, these individuals got together and created the Oregon Cares Fund to help. The Oregon Cares Fund for Black Relief + Resiliency was established by four individuals—Akasha Lawrence- Spence, Nkenge Harmon Johnson, Joy Alise ...

White and Latino Plaintiffs Stall Oregon COVID Relief Fund Specifically Addressing Needs of Black Families and Businesses, Calling It Discriminatory Citing a number of historical disparities that have decimated the Black community for centuries, Oregon lawmakers last year took steps in trying to ease the burden on African-Americans impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Legislators carved out $62 million in aid for Black families and business owners from the state’s $1.6 billion Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act package. But a pair of federal lawsuits filed last year in ...