Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

What Cascade would see, should the bond be approved by voters

Photos and Story by Dana Haynes

Seventy-seven days to go until the Nov. 4 election. Fifty-nine days from ballots hitting mailboxes.

Not that I’m counting or anything.

This week, I’m walking through the list of what things would happen, campus by campus, should the bond measure pass in November. Yesterday, we talked about Rock Creek. Today, let’s focus on Cascade.

Here’s what would happen at the campus at 705 N. Killingsworth St. in North Portland:

• A simulation lab for first responders (firefighters, police, emergency medical technicians) and allied health students. The sim lab is designed to provide mock emergencies so first responders can practice their training.

• Add and expand instruction for careers in pre-kindergarten through high school education.

We’ve seen some scary numbers about the workforce shortages anticipated in the education field; most recently from Brad Avakian, the state labor commissioner. According to Brad, by the year 2016, Oregon could see a total of 35,453 job openings in “Education, Training and library Occupations.” Of that, 12,000 or so will be due to population growth and 23,000 will be due to replacement of retiring educators.

Who’s going to train those educators? Right now, PCC is doing its part. Should voters say “yes” to the bond, the college would do even more.

• Add classrooms. That one pretty much explains itself.

• Add a child-care facility for students. We’ve said it before, but lack of high-quality child care is one of the leading impediments for access to education.

• Increased parking. Have you ever tried to find parking at Cascade at, say, 10 a.m.? ’Nuff said.

Tomorrow: Sylvania Campus.

Send your feedback to dana.haynes@pcc.edu. And thanks in advance.