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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (June 26, 2009)
CEI.£B M TIW G ,M 12 E ü ß i street rootsJIB VJR Education * Dialogue * Independence We are all a collection of experiences, not all of them good ecently, I found myself at a nail salon in Dayton, Ohio, explaining what exactly it is I do for a living, Those who know me well might have trouble picturing this scenario, as l am much more likely to be foundgettingmy hands and nails dirty rather than polished and clean. However, I was in Dayton to join in the wedding of a good friend from college. It seems to me that lately, th e ' further I am from our building on Burnside, the more I am compelled to talk about the wonderful place I work and the community I get to be a part of each day. I had just sat down with Cecilia, and I started to answer her question, “So, what do you do?” with my usual answer: “I work for a Catholic church in downtown Portland where we have a variety of ministries that support folks in our neighborhood, both those who are experiencing homelessness, and those living near us who need help in meeting their own basic needs...” I expected her to smile and change the subject, but instead she looked up from my fingers, stopped her work for a moment,' and said, “Gosh. I bet you see a lo t I see a lot of folks here who are down and out It makes me sad and I wonder how they ended up that , way. What do you think?” Her question caught me off guard. I stammered and explained that l am not an expert on homelessness or poverty, and that people’s lives are often more complicated ■ Sally M artin is the front office manager arid pastoral assitant for The Downtown Chapel o f St. Vincent DePaule Cahtolic Parish - connection with a long-lost friend of relative. Each of these things can often be the beginning of hope in one’s life. A woman I’ve known for a few years, Mindy, recently brought in a letter she had • written to her future self. A survivor of abuse at different points in her life, she wrote of how proud she is of all she has dealt with in her life. She wrote of how she | certainly has regrets and has made bad choices over the years, but is doing her best have returned to that conversation over to learn from .them. She wanted to share it and over in the past few weeks, and have with me and together we celebrated how far decided that I would change my answer. I * she had come and how limitless her future would tell Cecilia that I have come to could be. She'told me that for the first time believe that the issues I see people grapple’ in her life, she had come to believe in her with every day are sad and troubling: , own potential. She went on to say that she huriger, isolation, gripping loneliness, didn’t always love who she saw in the addiction, lack of access to medical mirror but thatshe was working on it. resources, unemployment — the list is long. I would share that from where I sit, we need more funding for successful programs often think of Mindy and the many others that empower folks to end their own cycles I’ve known who have hone the hard-and of poverty and hbirielessness. Adequate courageous work of believing in themselves resources and widespread access to them after losing Hope for many years. Iwonder are crucial for people who are living on the what it would be like to transport them all margins, but I would argue further that we baclt to their childhoods, and give them the could be doing sb much more to get at the encouragement and support that everyone heart of many of these prevalent issues in needs, and deserves to believe in our society today: What we really need is to themselves. In some ways it is hard to let start caring about each other again, and to myself think of all of the disappointments, make sure everyone believes in themselves harsh words, failures, and missed starting at an early age. opportunities that one person might collect One of the greatest gifts that I receive, throughmy work in our neighborhoodis the over a lifetime. But it is also important to begin to see the person in front of me as a chance to journey with people, many of collection of their experiences, as part of a • Whom go through turning points in thifeir lifetime’s worth of stories and encounters lives. Each new day can bring much to - that formed them, instead of seeing them as celebrate — a job, interview, a new day of sobriety, entry into a treatment program, a a label that is all too easily attached. and their problems more complex than we will ever know. I shared that in my almost four years working in th e Old Town neighborhood, I have come ta learn that for every person experiencing homelessness or poverty, there is a specific journey that they are on and a stbry to learn from them. We chatted for a few more minutes while my nails dried, and then'we parted ways. I I News you can use, on an issue we can’t afford to ignore secured. ' ustice Matters is 24 pages of truth, Or I can read Justice-Matters. Usually printed four times a year by a non-profit within the context of the articles, there is - ' organization that “unites people some data I may have known, but forgotten- victed of crime, survivors of crime, arid the families of both to redirect policies from such as the News Brief concerning an over-reliance on incarceration to effective sentencing reform reminded me that “with 5 percent of the world’s population, our strategies that reduce country now houses nearly 25 percent of violence and increase the world’s reported prisoners; about one in safety.” It is published by Partnership For STO W T B every 31 adults in the United States is in Safety and Justice (PSJ), prison, in jail, or on supervised release, a t a a nonprofit organization. cost to taxpayers: local, state and federal Ruth Kovacs spending on corrections adds up to about The staff is professional, dedicated and well- $68 billion a year.” informed. The current issue presents such topics as . R uth Kovacs is a Portland activist, former teacher an d host o f Ever since I became Prison Pipeline on KBOO, 90.7fm . She writes regularly sentencing reform news, the Drug Policy ^abofrt the issues surrounding the millions: o f individuals and concerned about the Alliance (DPA) and their “Cautious families affected by the U S. prison system. ; T, . prison system, 1 have optimism about President Obama’s selection looked to this of Chief Gil Kerlikowske as the country’s organization for up-to- new drug czar,” and an update of New - date and accurate information. When I am York’s repeal of the Rockefeller drug laws looking for the facts about a current (enacted in 1973). Also covered under the legislative issue pertaining, to prison news, heading “Youth Justice News” was a report budgets or a human-interest story, I turn to that Multnomah County passed a resolution PSJ. I can find out what’s going on by “declaring that juveniles in county custody searching the Web, or I can telephone their should not be housed in adult jails.” office here in Portland, and any staff person The “Legislative Overview” includes (in I get connected to either answers my addition to other information) the fact that a question, gives me to someone who can, or budget hole for 2009-2011 is expected to be calls me back after the answer has been “anywhere from $3;1 to $5 billion.” This ! massive shortfall results in asking all state agencies to develop a budget that envisions a 30 percent cut. Other legislative news * items discuss youth justice, crime survivor services apd House Bill 2335, which concerns parole board hearings. . There’? more, but my favorite story in this issue was an Interview by Patty Katz with recently released prisoner “Barb.” Katz is the director of PSJ’s Beyond Barriers Program. If you’re a regular listener of Prison Pipeline you may recall, her sharing a report of her work with folks from All Of Us Or None, who talked about the box an ex-felon has to check on job applications. (Barb was granted parole on July 22, but she was not released Until January 16.) This is definitely a “must read” interview. You can also, request various materials , including “Prisoner Support Packets” which include the newsletter and a resource directory. It’s worth your time to learn more about these issues, because with each passing year, more and more of us know a friend, ’ family member or a member of our community affected by the prison system. Learn more about the Partnership for Safety and Justice at www.safety andjustice.org, or call 503-335-8449. Dynamic Drupal customization training media Site Design & Development com
