Portland State Magazine Fall 2014

4 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE FALL 2014 Park Blocks Oregon’s invisible immigrants RUSSIAN IS the third most spoken language in Oregon after English and Spanish. Yet Multnomah County’s Russian and Slavic immigrants experience more unemployment and poverty, and lower levels of education and health care than the general population, according to a recent PSU study. The study by PSU’s School of Social Work and the Coalition of Communities of Color found that one reason for this disparity is that these immigrants are counted as “white” on census forms, statistically indistinguishable from the mainstream English-speaking, American-born population. As such, they miss out on receiving needed government help. The Coalition presented the findings to the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners in the hope of getting these immigrants the services they need. Teaching tots to eat their veggies The food a toddler thinks is “icky” could matter for long-term health. A new partnership between community health professor Betty Izumi and Head Start programs introduces young children to healthy foods: fruits, vegetables, salmon and white fishes. Research suggests that children’s palates are mostly determined before the age of 5. The program, Harvest for Healthy Kids, seeks to curb the negative outcomes of a poor diet, such as childhood obesity, through changes in institutional food service, classroom education and family engagement. About 1,000 children from low-income families now receive healthier Head Start meals and by next year all will have received lessons on healthy food.