This content was published: May 22, 2009. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
Delegations make a difference in Salem
Photos and story by Dana Haynes
We’re being heard.
After the Legislature’s Ways and Means Committee released a ruinous proposed budget – amounting to an 18 percent cut in state support for community colleges – we asked the PCC community to respond.
And respond it did.
A team of PCC students hustled from Senate office to Senate office yesterday, making the case for why PCC is the right answer for them in the midst of this recession.
College President Preston Pulliams, along with Campus Presidents Nan Poppe, Algie Gatewood and David Rule, hit other Senate offices, making the case for why our enrollment is up 18 percent, year over year, and how we are the first responder to so many Oregon families battling the recession.
Phone calls got made. E-mails were delivered. Lawmakers and staffers alike told me they were getting the message. They understand that we are training the workforce that will help drag the state out of the economic downturn. That we’re a safe harbor for the laid-off and the unemployed.
The battle isn’t won. The budgets have yet to be finalized. But at least we know we’re being heard.
dana
About Dana Haynes
Dana Haynes, joined PCC in 2007 as the manager of the Office of Public Affairs, directing the college's media and government relations. Haynes spent the previous 20 years as a reporter, columnist and editor for Oregon newspapers, including ... more »