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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 18, 2009)
Ht street roots 3 < M B i ä T » S Ä ® B C Ä »B Education * Dialogue * Independence NEWSBMCFS Students ride fo r sex trafficking victims Garbage, social inclusion center stage a t Live Debris event Live Debris presents installations and interventions about garbage and social inclusion, from Rio de Janeiro and Portland, Oregon. The event will be Sept. 19-26, (All day, opening event on the 19th) between Burnside and Hawthorne along Portland's Eastbank Esplanade. Live Debris 2009 is a series of international events sharing reuse traditions as a means of reducing \ stigmas around garbage, poverty and street culture. Live Debris has taken place in Beirut, Lebanon, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and now Portland, Oregon. Exchanging and comparing world perspectives on garbage and thè people who w ork closely with it, ... Live Debris explores ways that collaborative reuse can- affect how we see garbage and each other. This ' event is organized by Taylor Cass Stevenson o f red semilla roia, with help from Portland City Art, the Black Rock Arts Foundation, Outside In' Chinook Book and Oregon Electric Group. The event opens Sept. 19 at 9 a.m. with a free breakfast. Bring a mug if you want coffee From . noon to 1. p.m., there will be a Trashtastic garbage- related.performances and from 1 to 2 p.m. a Trash Mash-Up Parade. There will also be a clothing , exchange andparticipants are asked to bring used clothes, a n cff Sewing station where people will be transforming old T-snirts into bags. People are J Other events include: Interactive Garbage Weaving (bring clean trash), Public Paste-Up wall (make,a contribution with paper), Public Crafting Party (bring a craft project), Live painting with local: artists. . Documentary on undocumented youth premieres a t Hollywood The new Portland documentary "Papers" about undocumented youth and the challenges they face as they turn 1-8 without legal status, premieres ■7‘ p.mr Sept. 26 at the Hollywood TheajgrtA12 2 ^ S j ndy Blvd. Community screenings Will follow across the city and country, beginning in October. There are approximately 2 million, undocumented ■ -children who were born outside the U.S. and raised • in this country. These areyoung people w ho were educated in American schools, hold American values, know only the U.S. as home and who, simply by turning 18, become "illegal" immigrants, 65,000 undocumented students graduate every, year from high school without "papers" and the door to their future slams shut. As the documentary filmmakers learned, it is against the law to work or drive. It is difficult, if not impossible insome states, to attend college. Currently, there is no path to citizenship for these young people. ?. Graham Street Productions is producing this film in partnership with'Film Action Oregon. The filmmakers are also working in association with El Grupo Juvenil^fthe^' Papers" Youth Crew), which has been actively involved in the production. Tickets for the premiere are available through. Hollywood Theater, and online at www. papersthemovie.com. ‘ “B ike For Shelter” event to raise money to open a shelter fo r P ortland’s survivors BY ERICA BOULAY CONTRIB UTING WRITER . ‘ ndrea Vedder first became interested in helping underage victims of sex trafficking while in high school. A 60 Minutes special on the plight of young female sex slaves in South Asia got the former Reed College student interested in someday opening her own shelter for survivors of sex trafficking. Oh Sept. 27, the organizing efforts of Vedder and a group of Reed College and Portland State University Students will come to culminate with the “Bike For Shelter” bike ride to raise funds for - ' P H O T O BY ER IC A B O U L A Y Transitions Global shelter for child sex Reed College student Andrea Vedder heard that fu n d in g was being cut fo r a shelter fo r sex trafficking victims. trafficking victims, a n d decided to take to her bike to raise money fo r the cause. Esther Nelson? volunteer program manager at Portland’s Sexual Assault Resource Center says that, “SARC identified and/or suffered severe trauma. Women’s arid served 31 minor victims of sex To ride in “Bike For Shelter or to learn shelters and juvenile Correctional facilities trafficking in the last year.” more about the efforts to bring the do not replace the rehabilitative care the “It’s surprising to me the degree to . Transitions Global shelter provides. Transitions Global shelter to Portland, go which this is happening right under our “Our community is currently lacking a noses,” says Reed College junior Matt to www.bikeforshelter.org and visit the Steele, who has taken on the role of shelter with trafficking-specific, trauma- fundraising page. volunteer coordinator for the student- informed care and wrap around services For more information or assistance in organized ride. tailored to the needs of sexually exploited finding appropriate resources, call: Steele says he’s not only gained valuable youth,” Says Nelson. “There are a handful of Sexual Assault Resource Center: life experience in bringing such an event to residential centers, shelters, and 503-640-5311. fruition, he’s gained a deeper appreciation therapeutic foster homes that do their best for volunteerism. National Human Trafficking Hotline: to offer what these youths need. However, a ’“Like so m any issu es in th e world so e a s y to ig n o r e o r b e c o m e a p a th e tic , b u t th e re are so m any legitim ate causes in th e world, if everybodyjust picked one, things would be so much better!” The plight of the world’s 27 million victims of sex slavery is one such pressing cause. It is estimated that 30 percent of shelter youth and 70 percent of street youth are victims of formal commercial sexual exploitation, not including the many children who engage in other form? of survival sex. (Estes R. & Weiner N. “Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico?) When looking for data on the severity of the situation forchild sex workers in Portland, says Nelson, “We need look no farther than the vast number of Portland’s youths in shelters.” A Portland native, Vedder remembers the pressures students faced in high school and shudders to think that her own classmates may have fallen prey to violent pimps. When she learned in January that the state Department of Human Services had to pull funding to Transitions Global (run bya 888-373-7888 often th a t is asking th e iin p o s sib le o fth e s e O regon H um an Trafficking Task Force: c e n t e r s a n d h o m e s w h ic h w e r e n o t c r e a te d Keith Bickford: 503-251-2479 to provide this specific type of care.” Community response has been family from Hillsboro) in light of recent budgetcuts, Vedder decided to do something to protect the kids from where she grew up. “Bike For Shelter” is a 27.7-mile bike ride to fund a shelter for underage sex trafficking victims in Portland. The first of its kind in the U.S., the Transitions Global shelter would provide holistic rehabilitation to 22 children at a time, providing a wide-range of resources including life-skills training, medical and counseling services. “They let the girls be kids again,” says Vedder. According to the Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the average age of first involvement in prostitution in the United States is 12 to 14, and today finding a refuge for such young victims is difficult Many o f. the children have run away or have beep orphaned, have become addicted to drugs, overwhelmingly positive, organizers say, and “Bike for Shelter” is on its way to reaching the $1 million goal. Many people have donated their time and Vedder is exceedingly thankful. She is also happy to note that more than half of current “Bike for Shelter” registrants are men. Everyone involved, says Vedder is “stapding up for someone m trouble, someone whose voice is ignored, and together we will make an impact on the progress of this shelter!” ~ “There was a time when women’s shelters weren’t common,” says Vedder, who hopes more shelters for child sex tr afficking victims will open up soon. Vedder would like ti/se e “Bike for Shelter” become an annual event. “It would be awesome if this gets so much attention that a place for boys is created as well,” Vedder says. “I hope this shelter sets a precedent for the nation,” Steele says. NORMAL A documentary film by Brian Lindstrom about Central City Concern's Mentor Program Buy it now on DVD ™ www.find/ngnormo/.org LOOKING FOR AN AFFORDABLE PLACE TO RENT! Your online housing search just g o t easier. Thousands o f listings « Free service Includes special needs housing EQUAL HOUSING OPPORTUNITY Cali 2 - 1 - t o r 503-802-8562 ■
