Only $1,500 to go –tell your friends about the great work of Street Roots!

Dear Street Rooters, 

Street Roots needs to raise $1,500 dollars in August to reach our summer goal of $15,000 to help the organization remain sustainable during these hard economic times.  

You all have already done so much -thank you!  We’re almost there.  What we need to reach our goal is $1,500 and we hope that can be from old and new friends to Street Roots.  Please forward this to your friends, neighbors, co-workers and family to tell them about the great work of Street Roots and help us meet our goal.  Plus, new friends to Street Roots helps build the movement year round!

 The Ganapati Fund “Remover Of Obstacles” in Portland is offering a matching grant challenge for five one-hundred dollar donations in support of Street Roots Vendor Program. A $100 donation could help leverage $1,000 for Street Roots.  We, of course, would love to match a $100 donation from you, but would also love to match $100 donations from people new to the Roots – Please spread the word!

If you are interested in giving to this matching fund, please e-mail Israel at streetroots@hotmail.com or call us at 503.228.5657 or give safely on-line today and forward this to your friends. You can also give through the mail at Street Roots, 211 NW Davis, Portland, Oregon 97209. 

More than 80 vendors experiencing homelessness and poverty work with local businesses and thousands of customer’s everyday. The relationships being built are invaluable. This year alone Street Roots has worked with hundreds of individuals on the streets to give people access to job training skills, a supplemental income, housing and most importantly, dignity.

In July and August the newspaper highlighted important stories on the African and Asian communities while also featuring Multnomah County Chair Ted Wheeler.

In the current edition of the newspaper we report on life for people experiencing homelessness and poverty in Portland motels along with a hard look at affordable housing downtown and throughout the region. We also highlight the voices coming from the streets, giving all of us a unique perspective.

Over the summer we reported and led a campaign to save 100s of individuals from losing Section 8 vouchers in NW Oregon and throughout the country. We did it!  HUD recently fully funded the housing authority in NW Oregon and Street Roots coverage and advocacy helped save hundreds from losing their housing not only in Oregon, but around the country. 

A housing advocate recently sent this letter to us. ”Congratulations on the successful advocacy campaign spearheaded by Street Roots to save the homes of Section 8 tenants in Northwest Oregon and elsewhere around the country. It is inspiring to see the power of the press used to protect the most vulnerable among us.”

With your help we can continue to empower people and report and highlight stories that are not only real and meaningful, but that have an impact in our community. 

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely, 

Israel Bayer, Executive Director

Also read Loaded Orygun piece on Street Roots.

Vendor corner: Home sweet home.

The Ganapati Fund offers Street Roots matching grant challenge – you can help!

The Ganapati Fund “Remover Of Obstacles” in Portland is offering a matching grant challenge for five one-hundred dollar donations in support of Street Roots Vendor Program. Your $100 donation could help leverage $1,000 for Street Roots.

If you are interested in giving to this matching fund, please e-mail Israel at streetroots@hotmail.com or call us at 503.228.5657. Thank you Ganapati Fund!

Living between two worlds: African refugees battle cultural isolation as they try to adapt to their new home in Portland

From the August 7 edition of Street Roots. 

On a toasty Tuesday afternoon, Suleqa Ismail wears the trademarks of two different continents: her dark, shoulder-length headscarf reflects the tradition of her native Somalia, while the purse she carries — white with a sequined Minnie Mouse appliqué — is classic American. The split runs through her family, too: The oldest of Ismail’s four children, 9-year-old daughter Fartun, was born in Africa, but her 17-month-old son, Fuad, is a stateside native.

There’s even some ambivalence to her experience in the United States. Although Ismail and her husband, Saleman Adan, are infinitely grateful that they were able to leave war-plagued Somalia and come here as refugees four years ago, the challenges they’ve faced since have made their transition less than smooth. They’re one of many African families in Portland who’ve run across serious housing hurdles since arriving in the U.S.

Since January of 2007, Ismail and Adan have lived with their children at the New Columbia, the Housing Authority of Portland’s sprawling low-income housing complex in North Portland. They pay a third of their income for rent, which was adjusted down when Adan was laid off from his job with a rental car company in February of last year.

This spring, they received a letter stating that the clutter in their yard was in violation of their lease, but because they can’t read English and speak only a Somali dialect called Maay Maay, they didn’t realize the notice was important, and it was forgotten.

In July, to their surprise, Ismail and Adan received a final eviction notice. The couple was baffled.

Vendor corner: Home, sweet home, is a family affair

From the August 7 edition of Street Roots. 

Oftentimes, we here at the paper refer to Street Roots as a family; contributing members, bound together by a common thread.

I have been volunteering at Street Roots for over a year and a half and may still only have a cursory understanding of all the different aspects of the paper’s multi-faceted gene pool.  There are many reasons why every one of us — from vendor to reader to volunteer — interacts with Street Roots. One of the most important is the basic idea that to be a part of Street Roots is to strive for something better.

Marshall and Julie Worley think so. They became vendors together in February. Selling the paper is beneficial for more than a means of income, and Marshall is happy to discuss it. In fact, he’s happy about a lot of things these days.

Vendor Leo Rhodes: Portland was a place to rest — and renew street activism

I have been in Portland since about the first week of March. I came from Seattle, Wash., where I started my advocacy on homelessness specifically for shelters and tent cities. But I have also spoken up for other causes dealing with homelessness.

In Seattle, December 2001, I was in a shelter under a bridge. The shelter folks were looking for an indoor space. Through an ally (Bob “Uncle Bob” Santos), we got a space with the Port of Seattle. A billion-dollar industry gave homeless people space for two weeks. When the two weeks were up, we went to thank the Port of Seattle commissioners. Three quarters through my speech a commissioner motioned that they would give us 30 more days. It was unanimous. I thought, “Wow, people are listening.”

The shelter is called “Safe Haven.” It’s one of 14 indoor shelters with an organization called SHARE (Seattle Housing and Resource Effort). Share is an organization homeless and formerly homeless people trying to resolve homelessness. In addition to the shelters, SHARE has two tent cities (I helped start one), a housing for work program called SHARE II, and storage lockers.

SHARE is self-managed with very little staff. It’s sister organization, WHEEL (Women’s, Housing, Equality, Enhancement, League) is made up of homeless and formerly homeless women dealing with related issues.

Through my association with SHARE and WHEEL in Seattle, I spoke to elected officials, church congregations, high schools, grade schools, neighborhoods, radio and television reporters, and so on. I have worked to prevent shelters from being closed, and to keep a low-income apartment complex from being demolished. I spoke on behalf of SHARE about its indoor shelters and tent cities. I was SHARE’s treasurer.

Vacaville to Chino, swimming pools and movie star killers

From the August 7 edition of Street Roots. 

Greetings!

Well friends, I believe we left off in Vacaville Prison in northern California. I had just come back from the movies where I had quite an experience. Things were pretty routine after the initial settling in.

On several different occasions I happened to see Charles Manson. I’m sure you all have heard of him. It seems ol’ Charles was trying to win some friends there at Vacaville, so he decided to buy every dorm a color television. Trouble with that was nobody wanted anything from the little weasel. I don’t care much for Charles. He was always escorted by two or three correctional officers wherever he went. It wasn’t for our protection, but his.

Well, I had finished my intake and was on my way to Chino, which is way down in southern California. Now, during your intake an inmate may choose three prisons where he would like to go and they say they will try to send you there. My three choices were California Men’s Colony, San Quentin Ranch and Folsom Ranch, where I had once been. These prisons are all in northern California, so of course they sent me in the opposite direction: Chino State Prison.

So here I am now in Chino State where, once again, we were all put in lock-down for two weeks so they could get all our paperwork in order. You’d think after spending three months in Vacaville they’d have everything in order, but not the state of California. Time went by fast, though, and I was placed as a clerk in the captain’s office. I was in a two-man cell, which was only locked at 10 at night till about six in the morning. The rest of the time we were free to roam around.

Now, Chino was a huge prison. They had correctional officers driving around the prison in cars like a regular town. It had a small golf course, several weight yards, and a gymnasium. Why, there was even a swimming pool right outside my dorm across from the Captain’s office where I worked. That made it real handy on hot summer days, and there were a lot of them in southern California.

I only had about 14 more months to do so I was considered short (as time goes) when I arrived there.

Mental Health Association of Portland new column in Street Roots: Compassion, good guidance, the bedrock of new center

From the August 7 edition of Street Roots.

On July 2 the Multnomah County Commission voted to fund and build a new facility to help persons who are acutely mentally ill.

In 2001, during a generational redesign of Multnomah County’s mental health system, a variety of providers, former patients, referring agencies, community members, and independent clinicians decided to close a similar facility — the Crisis Triage Center, or CTC.

The CTC was a 24-hour psychiatric clinic attached to Providence Hospital, which planned to provide immediate treatment for anyone. It specialized in being a third choice for police, the first two being doing nothing or making an arrest. The CTC started unpredictably and badly with the tragic death of Emily Comeaux, a person with needs beyond the comprehension of the CTC staff.

Prospective patients, sick and in crisis, who were coached to seek services at the CTC regularly waited hours before seeing a clinician. Sick children were kept in the same waiting room as adult patients. The cost of care was high and rising. Some patients and clinicians chronically overused the CTC, clogging the service for others.  Patients were put on psychiatric holds unnecessarily, given the wrong medicine, or complained their concerns were dismissed.

After some public debate and critical events, such as the death of Jose Mejia Poot, Providence Hospital and Multnomah County, both pointing fingers at each other, quit the contract and closed the CTC.

A re-design was proposed. The newly formed Cascadia would operate five walk in clinics which would be open 24 hours, staffed with able-bodied clinicians, and located in all five quadrants of the city. Anyone could walk in and get help in a few minutes. The costs would be lower because the clinics were uncoupled from a hospital.

The clinics opened with much media fanfare, but within a few weeks, bureaucrats were thinking of how to save money. If services could be reduced, costs could be cut. Cascadia closed one clinic after another, leaving eventually only one that was not open 24 hours, and services were only available to certain people.

The closure of the CTC added a hard-to-measure burden on a variety of services and individuals which had no coordinated way of comparing experience and recognizing an additional set of responsibilities. We’d estimate the cost of not having this service is in the tens of millions of dollars per year.

So we applaud that the county leadership recognizes this new facility is an important component of the continuum of county services.

Extra! Extra!

Thanks to all of you who wrote in about our vendors lately. We’ve known how great they are for years, and it’s good to hear it from their customers, too. So, if you haven’t talked to your vendor lately, you’ve got a great reason to swing by tomorrow morning. The new edition of Street Roots hits the pavement around 9 a.m. Friday. Here’s what’s inside:

Motel limbo: Some of Portland’s motels hide a troubling side to homelessness. Becca Robinson reports.

Loss of low-cost housing routing poor from downtown: Amanda Waldroupe reports on the latest figures on housing in the city’s center, and how services are looking beyond for affordable options for the poor.

Who’s raking the muck? Joanne Zuhl interviews Harper’s editor Ken Silverstein, who lays out his brutal vision of modern-day journalism.

HUD’s hopes for the future: HUD Secretary Shawn Donovan cut his teeth on homeless issues with the National Coalition for the Homeless. Now, homeless advocates want to hear how he will apply what he’s learned.

Plus more news, a new column by vendor Leo Rhodes, letters to the editor, and lots of attitude in between. Let us know your thoughts, and as always, thanks for your support!

Posted by Joanne Zuhl

The streets and Street Roots

There’s been a wave of press this month on aggressive behavior by panhandlers and canvassers on Portland’s sidewalks, mostly due to the fallout from the sit-lie ordinance being struck down by the local courts.

None of that coverage has included Street Roots vendors.

At Street Roots, we train individuals experiencing homelessness and poverty to sell the newspaper and be polite – treating people like they expect to be treated. And the rhetoric about the problems on the streets have not gone unnoticed among the team. Here is an e-mail one of our vendors sent today to Commissioner Randy Leonard, who has included “magazine” sellers among those to be treated equally in the city’s next approach to the streets:

Mr. Leonard,

I read the article in today’s Willamette Week on your proposal to regulate panhandlers. Like you, and many others, the more aggressive panhandlers – particularly more able-bodied ones who hold cardboard signs when they could be working to make a decent living for themselves – can be a thorn in the backside. While I applaud this, I am concerned about the canvassers and other vendors.

I am a vendor for Street Roots, which I’m sure you’re familiar with.  As the director, Israel Bayer, himself would state, selling Street Roots is a more acceptable alternative to panhandling. The majority of us- 99.99% of us – are courteous, friendly, and do what we can to build community and contribute to the betterment of society. My concern is this regulation could wrongfully target those who are behaving themselves as they canvass for charities and/or selling SR. What I basically ask for is assurance that you only target those who are overtly aggressive and belligerent.

In closing, I want to thank you for your service to the city, and thank you for listening.

In kindest regards, I remain,
Darren W. Alexander

Commissioner Leonard’s response:

I agree with you, Darren.  I have had nothing but positive experiences with Streets Roots vendors.

Thanks for writing….Randy

Which leaves a lot flapping in the wind on how folks like Darren will experience the next generation of street ordinances.

So we want to know: What’s your experience with Street Roots vendors been lately?

Street Roots needs your support!

Street Roots is grateful to the many individuals that have given to the summer fund drive this year. With your support we’ve raised nearly $12,000. Thank you!

The organization still needs to raise another $3,000 this summer to maintain the vendor program and newspaper this fall. We’re hoping you can take the time to give today.

Your donation goes to support individuals experiencing homelessness and poverty that sell the newspaper and access resources throughout the Portland region.

George Mays who sells at the downtown Multnomah County Courthouse says, “Street Roots gives me a chance to dialogue with people and use a model of self-sufficiency.”

“Street Roots gave us a spark of hope,” says Donna Bacon who became housed while with the organization. “They are there for their vendors and homeless people who want to change their lives for something better.”

Kevin Bynum became homeless nearly a year ago and Street Roots has helped him gain access to housing and stability. “I’m grateful to Street Roots because it keeps a roof over my head. I also get to meet hundreds of new people each day. We listen to each other’s stories.”

Vance Schweigart sells the newspaper downtown and in the Irvington neighborhood. Schweigart says that selling Street Roots allows him to pay for a room each night. “Street Roots customers are kind to me. They treat me like a real person, and not like a bum.”

Update on NW Oregon Families: Families on the fringe go month-to-month unsure of housing assistance

(Jennifer Cherry stands in the doorway of her home, holding the cancellation letter from the housing authority. Photo by Ken Hawkins.)

While hundreds of families in Northwest Oregon continue to live month-to-month in hopes of good news for their housing assistance, relief is trickling down from Washington D.C.
The federal government recently announced it will provide $30 million to people on Section 8 housing assistance, after authorities across the country reported massive shortfalls in funding.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, funds the Section 8 program through local housing authorities. Among them is the Northwest Oregon Housing Authority, which in May notified nearly 300 families in Tillamook, Clatsop and Columbia counties that the authority could no longer afford to provide them housing assistance (Street Roots, “The Letter,” June 12). According to news reports and testimony before Congress, the same was happening to authorities across the country, as the economic downturn overburdened the resources for housing assistance. (Street Roots, “The Perfect Storm,” June26)

For Jeff Crist and Jennifer Cherry, a family in Girabaldi Street Roots has been following throughout this crisis, life has been reduced to a stressful, monthly waiting game. The couple, who have three children, were among the hundreds of families dropped from the Section 8 program as of July. Because of disabilities, neither Jeff nor Jennifer have been able to work, and NOHA was covering about 90 percent of their rent.

Last month, NOHA elected to draw on its other funds to pay rent for families to stay in their homes on an immediate basis. Crist says they’re secure for the month of August with NOHA’s assistance, but he says they probably won’t know about September until late in the month.

“They’re playing the day-to-day-basis thing on us,” Crist says. “Hopefully one of these letters will say we’re going to help you like we were. But from day-to-day, you don’t know if you’re going to be packing or leaving.”

In the meantime, Crist says he continues to look for work wherever he might find it, but, he says, “it’s not looking really good right now. There are no job openings. But there’s a lot of work starting up. I’m keeping my eyes out for any little thing at the employment office.”

Cherry is recovering from surgery on a herniated disc in her neck. She is restricted to lifting no more than 10 pounds right now, which limits her work options. But she and Crist are hopeful that as she recovers that restriction will be lifted, and that as the economy strengthens, Crist can find work.

HUD has already spent $89 million of the $100 million set-aside fund provided annually by Congress to support housing authorities facing increased demand or “unforeseen circumstances.” HUD says the remaining $11 million will go to agencies that are on the verge of terminating families. The additional $30 million will go to agencies that are eligible to receive extraordinary administrative fees for technical assistance to prevent the termination of families. These funds can also be used to fund vouchers, according to HUD. The nation’s 2,400 housing authorities were notified at the start of August that the funds would be available. These agencies now have until Aug. 14 to notify HUD that they need this money to prevent existing voucher terminations.

Carol Snell, the executive director with NOHA, says that they immediately applied for $700,000 out of the $30 million HUD has made available. If they receive all of that, Snell says, NOHA expects to bring everyone who was terminated from the program back on to vouchers. The housing authority has already spent its reserves for housing, and at this time has no money to support those terminated past August, Snell said.

“We’re carrying people for as long as we can, but the housing authority does not have any other pots of money that we can go to to pay rents for September,” Snell said.

According to HUD, the funding shortfalls — revealed in May when HUD notified agencies of their 2009 allocations — have impacted about 15 percent of all public housing authorities. HUD says that if it determines that additional funding is needed, it will work with Congress on legislative changes to adjust allocations.

The Section 8 funding system is the subject of a bill now working it’s way through Congress. SEVRA — the Section 8 Voucher Reform Act, includes provisions that would create more flexibility and stability in funding formulas for housing assistance. Advocates say it’s a good move forward, but not enough to correct the problem of wholesale voucher terminations, the complete scope of which is still not known.

“There’s no doubt that some of the policy changes that are contained in the SEVRA bill would help make it less likely that this year’s type of situation would recur in future years, so we strongly support that bill, it will give HUD and housing authorities more flexibility in dealing with problems in the future,” says Jeremy Rosen, executive director of the National Policy and Advocacy Council on Homelessness in Washington D.C. “That said, no amount of flexibility can get around the situation where there isn’t enough money for the program. … The policy changes and SEVRA just by themselves won’t change this problem or fix future problems.”

Rosen was among a group of advocates of affordable housing, including the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, National Housing Law Project, and the National Low Income Housing Coalition, that met with HUD to talk about solutions to the current Section 8 crisis. Rosen and others say they will be sending a letter to HUD urging it to ask Congress for additional funds to correct the funding shortage. However, Rosen said that such a request from HUD would be politically unpopular.

“The counter argument, of course, is that you have 285 people in Oregon, not to mention the people in all too many other places around the country where the housing authorities have notified them that they may lose vouchers and could eventually become homeless,” Rosen says. “HUD is sincerely looking at ways to make sure no one actually gets terminated, but it remains to be seen if they can actually accomplish it.”

In June, Street Roots led dozens of organizations around the country to demand that HUD save 100′s of families around the country.

By Joanne Zuhl, Staff Reporter

Street Roots editorial: We’re losing ground, time to charge

Street Roots editorial from the August 7, edition

In Portland the housing options for the poorest in our town has declined by 23 percent, while the same options for the more affluent gained nearly 12 percent. Statewide we have the dubious distinction of being, per capita, No. 1 in the nation for homelessness, No. 2 in unemployment, and No. 3 in hunger. As the largest metropolitan area in Oregon, Portland has a responsibility to push beyond and say this is not acceptable.

Portland controversial program offered as example for nation

On Thursday, July 30, two Portland Police officers in charge of the controversial Service Coordination Team presented a workshop in Washington D.C. at the National Alliance to End Homelessness Conference along with representatives from Central City Concern and Volunteers of America.

Cambodian oral history documentary debuts at Khmer Rouge forum

In March, Street Roots reported on the local Cambodian community’s project to document its elders’ experiences of the deadly Khmer Rouge regime. The film, in which young people interview their own parents and grandparents about the atrocities they survived, is now complete and will debut this weekend as part of a larger forum on the Khmer Rouge Tribunal and healing process.

The free, day-long event will also include a keynote address by activist, lawyer and author Theary Seng; live music and dance performances; and panel discussions with genocide survivors, mental health specialists and officials from the UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal in Cambodia. The discussions will be moderated by Emily Harris of Oregon Public Broadcasting’s Think Out Loud.

The event flyer with details is after the jump.

McKenzie River Gathering get together this weekend in Eugene

Street Roots traveled to Eugene yesterday to spend the day with the activists around the state. The event held at Alton Baker Park was hosted by the McKenzie River Gathering and offered an array of music, food, fun and networking opportunities for groups that came.

(Rose City Resource Specialist Eddy Barbosa talks with a attendee about Street Roots.)