june18 2020
free
VERNONIA’S
volume14 issue12
reflecting the spirit of our community
Community Action Team
has Assistance Programs
to Help Right Now
Local residents can apply for
funding assistance through local
not-for-profit
By Scott Laird
Community Action Team (CAT) has
announced they are accepting applications
for rental and utility assistance from com-
munity members affected by the COVID-19
shutdown to help them access federal and
state emergency funds.
CAT is currently in the process of
distributing funds to their eligible house-
holds, and is encouraging people to apply for
these much needed relief programs.
“If people are out of work, are hav-
ing trouble getting their unemployment
benefits, or are struggling in other ways, we
really want them to apply,” says CAT Ex-
ecutive Director Dan Brown. “This funding
is really intended to meet the current imme-
diate demand.”
CAT is a not-for-profit corporation,
serving Columbia, Clatsop, and Tillamook
counties by connecting people with resourc-
es to help them become or stay self-sufficient
and address the needs of the economically
disadvantaged. CAT currently serves over
16,000 people annually.
CAT received a first round of emer-
gency funding on May 20, about $300,000,
which has already mostly been distributed.
The second round of funding, $55 million
across the state of Oregon, was announced
on Friday, June 5. “We’re excited to have
a portion of this additional funding to help
our local communities over the next few
months,” says Brown, noting that a lot of
effort went into getting approval for the re-
laxed guidelines for how it can be distribut-
ed, including the help of State Senator Betsy
Johnson.
Currently the state of Oregon has
14.4% unemployment. Across the three
counties CAT serves, the numbers are high-
inside
er: 15.4% in Columbia County, 18.4% in
Tillamook, and 24.4% in Clatsop County
(the second highest rate in the state). “Obvi-
ously there is a lot of need in the counties we
serve,” says Brown.
Eligibility requirements have been
expanded and CAT will use the last 30 days
of income as the base to allow more people
to qualify for household assistance. “This
will allow us to serve, not just our traditional
clients and demographics, but those in the
work force who have been out of work for
a few months or affected by the shutdown,
especially the self-employed and small busi-
ness owners,” says Brown. “It’s a big differ-
ence in who it allows us to expand services
to,” adds CAT Housing Program Manager
Heather Johnson.
Johnson encourages anyone who is
in need of assistance to apply, regardless of
income levels. “We don’t want anyone to
assume they don’t qualify, because we al-
ways want to be able to talk to them,” she
says. “We have funds right now they might
not have normally been eligible for.”
In addition to housing and utility as-
sistance, CAT also provides senior services
assistance, healthy family support, and com-
munity investment programs.
Brown notes that, regardless of what
program people apply for assistance through,
CAT always reviews the applications with
an idea there might be other programs they
could be eligible for. “Getting them in to
apply is the first critical step,” says Brown.
“Our case managers are trained to make re-
ferrals to other programs within our agency
and get them connected to the funding they
need.”
For more information contact:
Community Action Team (CAT) – Columbia
County - 503-397-3511
Clatsop Community Action (CCA) –
Clatsop County - 503-325-1400
Community Action Resource Enterprise
(CARE) – Tillamook County - 503-842-
5261
affordable
ppe available
8
growing veggies
in containers
13
good ol’ days
Ballot initiative proposes
citizen commission rather
than legislature to redraw
district boundaries
By Scott Laird
A few weeks ago you may
have received an envelope in the
mail from a group called People
Not Politicians which contained a
petition they asked you to sign and
return. Were you unsure what this
mailing was about? Here’s some
information.
People Not Politicians, a
statewide coalition, is collecting
signatures in an attempt to place
a measure on the November 2020
ballot which would change the way
Oregon conducts its redistricting
process. The group has set a July 2
deadline to return petitions.
Redistricting is how new
congressional and state legislative
district boundaries are drawn. Each
of Oregon’s five United States Rep-
resentatives and 90 state legislators
are elected from political divisions
called districts. United States Sena-
tors are not elected by districts, but
by the state at large. District lines
are redrawn every 10 years follow-
ing completion of the United States
Census. The federal government
stipulates that districts must have
nearly equal populations and must
not discriminate on the basis of race
or ethnicity.
In the past Oregon’s Leg-
islature has been given the respon-
sibility for drawing both congres-
sional and state legislative district
lines, and has used several different
methods to try and accomplish the
task. Only twice since 1911 has the
Oregon legislature passed a redis-
tricting plan that became the final
adopted plan. Oregon is projected
to gain a sixth U.S. Congressional
seat because of population growth;
Oregon has not added a Congressio-
nal seat since 1982.
The ballot initiative pro-
posed by People Not Politicians
would create an independent, citi-
zen-led commission made up of 12
members – four Democrats, four
Republicans, and four people who
are unaffiliated with either party.
Incumbent politicians, lobbyists, or
political operatives would not be al-
lowed on the commission.
According to the proposed
initiative, the Commission must
hold at least 10 public hearings. At
least one hearing is required in each
congressional district and at least
one in each of Oregon’s regions:
coastal, Portland, Willamette Val-
ley, southern, central, and east of
the Cascades. Seven votes will be
needed by the Commission to ap-
prove the redistricting map; at least
one vote from each group (Demo-
crat, Republican, unaffiliated) will
be needed.
Redistricting reform is not
a new idea. Seven states – Alaska,
Arizona, California, Colorado, Ida-
ho, Michigan, Montana, and Wash-
ington have independent citizen
redistricting commissions, while
three other states – Missouri, Ohio,
and Utah have passed redistricting
reforms. Citizens in Nevada are
also currently attempting to reform
their redistricting process.
Redistricting has been a
contentious issue between Republi-
cans and Democrats in Salem in the
past. In 1991 the legislature could
not agree on a plan, and the job fell
to Democratic Secretary of State
Phil Keisling, whose plan incorpo-
rated public input and was praised
by Republicans and grudgingly ac-
cepted by Democrats. In 2001 the
process was especially difficult as
continued on page 7
It’s Time to Listen:
Reflections on Three Weeks of Civil Unrest
The power of protest
proves change can happen
3
Oregon Group Pushes
Change to Redistricting
By Scott Laird
America is struggling with it-
self. With its history of systemic racism
and oppression. With police brutality,
accountability, and injustice. With civil
unrest and how we protest. With how
we ask difficult questions, and talk to
and listen to each other.
At first many of us were
shocked by the video clip of the Min-
neapolis police officer kneeling on
George Floyd’s neck until he died, but
that quickly turned to outrage, confu-
sion, and heartbreak. Outrage at the
ongoing injustice. Confusion at the
backlash of rioting and destruction that
broke out in cities across the country.
And heartbreak, because, here we are
again, as a nation, confronting the ugly
reality of our white supremacist cul-
ture. While the Civil Rights protests
of the 1960s exposed America’s racist
roots, as a culture we are still strug-
gling, 50 years later, to examine and
fully confront it as it continues today.
The violent reaction, the en-
suing riots, and the persistent calls for
action and structural change following
the death of George Floyd caught many
of us by surprise. But this is a response
to a much deeper wound, an accumu-
lation of injuries. After centuries of
oppression and decades of economic
hardship, coming on the heels of the
continued on page 6