Commissioner Rob Handy speaks with Community Volunteer, Lyllye Parker
Lyllye Parker is Commissioner Rob Handy’s representative to the Lane County Commission for Advancement of Human Rights (CAHR). Commissioner Handy recently met with Lyllye to talk about her passions, her work on CAHR, and other community issues.
RH: Lyllye, I know you and your family are a part of this areas pioneer heritage. Citizens of Eugene and Lane County certainly have benefited from your efforts to make our community a better place for people from all walks of life. I believe our pioneer families should be familiar to everyone who lives here. Please share with me and our community some background about yourself and your work.
Lyllye: I am blessed with remarkable friends and family. I am a Eugene native, and a member of the 3rd African American family to put down roots in Eugene. I finished my formal education at Henry D. Sheldon High School in 1964, and am a proud member of the 1st graduating class from that institution. At the age of 40 I entered the University of Oregon and earned my Bachelors of Arts in Sociology in 1991. For the past 15 years, I have been an Academic Advisor in the Office of Multicultural Academic Success, at the University of Oregon. One of my greatest honors to date was being recognized at the 2011 University of Oregon’s Women of Color Conference with the honor of having the Conference named after me: the Lyllye Parker Women of Color Conference.
RH: I am not surprised to hear that. Congratulations! You certainly have earned the admiration and respect of people from all walks of life, here in our community and beyond. I know you have a rich history of community outreach and participation. Please tell us more about your community involvement and committee work both here in Lane County and nationwide.
Lyllye: I have been involved in community issues for a number of years. I took part in the civil rights movement in the 1960s, and was Vice President of the local Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. I lead my church’s youth group to meeting exchanges with many youth groups in predominantly white churches of all denominations during that time in an effort to bridge relationships. I was also on the Social Concerns Committee of the Christian Methodist Episcopal 9th Episcopal District Conference for a number of years.
I have served on the Board of Directors for Clergy and Laity Concerned (CALC), the University of Oregon Counseling Center and Women’s Center, and held membership on planning committees for the university. I have served as the Co-Director of the Education Committee for the NAACP, and held membership in that National Organization as well as Blacks in Government.
I continue my Social Justice work both in the campus community and the greater Eugene community. I am hopeful that my past work will inform the work I do on the CAHR, and I look forward to serving Lane County in this capacity.
RH: The CAHR is an extremely important committee, and certainly has its work cut out. I believe the County has a responsibility to look out for our most vulnerable populations. Your appointment as a member of CAHR is relatively recent, and I know you are anxious to get to work on important human rights issues. Based on your rich and extensive experience in the field of human rights, do you have any initial observations about the CAHR that you would like to share?
Lyllye: There hasn’t been much opportunity for me to assess how CAHR operates or its strengths and weaknesses. I do know that just prior to my appointment CAHR was revamped, and that until more members are appointed, CAHR is without a quorum. I am hopeful this circumstance will be quickly resolved. I can tell that the members of CAHR want to be proactive, and as representatives of the Commissioners and community members we take our responsibility seriously.
RH: As you may know, I am the only Commissioner member of the Human Services Commission (HSC), and have served on HSC since joining the Board of Commissioners in 2009. Through my work on this Commission, I recognize how many marginalized and vulnerable populations there are throughout our community. I also am painfully aware of the County’s shrinking revenue and the many funding challenges we face in this and coming fiscal years.
Can you tell me what you think are some of the important issues CAHR will be dealing with once it is up and running?
Lyllye: First of all, I hope the citizens of this county will have an opportunity to learn more about CAHR and the work we do. CAHR should have a positive relationship with the community and establish trust with community members. I hope we can combine outreach and educational efforts to help us reach as many people as possible, and I don’t expect that these kinds of activities would be financially debilitating.
I would like to see CAHR focus on what it can realistically accomplish, taking budget and other resources into account. I think our first efforts should be prioritizing issues and then identifying where we can be most effective. Education and children are “near and dear” to me. I speak from experience when I tell you we have a huge population of economically deprived children here in Lane County. My children, grandchildren, and I attended 4J schools and through those experiences I’ve seen how many people are struggling every day, and how difficult it is for children to learn, if not thrive, when they are hungry and burdened with homelessness. Asking for help is always hard, but when folks feel judged because of their circumstances, reaching out is even more difficult.
I also hope CAHR can address some concerns I have about a local hate website that is damaging to our community as a whole. Please take a moment to look at it, however I must admit I have not read all that was posted and what little I did read made me sick to my stomach.
RH: You are certainly correct about there being tough problems and important community issues to deal with, even without the constrained resources issue we now have to address. Do you have a sense of what the upcoming budget cuts might mean to the work of CAHR, and what CAHR can realistically accomplish given the County’s need to address a $7 million+ budget deficit in the 2011-12 fiscal year?
Lyllye: I cannot really comment on how CAHR will be affected by budget cuts. But I can tell you that I am not going to be interested in wasting time on rhetoric, and I hope CAHR will get down to the business of helping people in need as soon as possible. There are things we can potentially accomplish without adequate funding, such as reaching out to our retirees as possible volunteers who can help low income people with things such as budgeting, financial strategies, and who can mentor and help empower people to gain more independence. We have allowed people to think they need to be dependent, and without the self esteem and education to help people exercise their independence, our vulnerable populations often feel a sense of hopelessness. I hope CAHR can put together some community teams and I believe we can never have too many support systems for protecting and promoting human rights.
I believe government on every level should be responsible to their citizens. CAHR has an opportunity and responsibility to ensure the Board of Commissioners walks the talk when it comes to providing services for our must vulnerable community members.
RH: Lyllye, you amaze me with your compassion and energy. You are so inspiring, and our community is so fortunate to have you! I hope we can talk again after CAHR is up and running. Thank you so much for all you do on behalf of a better community, a better Lane County.