2
street roots
Dec. 23, 2011
E D IT flllljB l.
Extraordinary stories, extraordinary people
ear Street Rooters,
Your support helps Street Roots
D
Right 2 Dream Too validates
create connections, one conversation
and newspaiper at a time. These
relationships help build the dense social
fabric in which change comes, both
individually and
collectively.
The mission of
its role to the streets
he Right 2 Dream Too overnight sleeping area on
Fourth Avenue and Burnside deserves to be taken
seriously. Specifically, city officials, nonprofits and
institutions that champion housing should practice what they
preach and find a way to work with, the group of 50-plus
people on the streets doing everything in their power to help
themselves.
Each night, more than 1,700 individuals sleep in the cold
on Portland’s streets. In response, Housing Commissioner
Nick Fish led an effort along with local churches and the
county (see page 3) to offer car camping and overnight
sleeping to a small group of people in church parking lots.
City Hall and the faith-based community should be
commended for their
efforts. Looking outside
The group of 50-plus
the box for short-term
homeless individuals who
solutions while
have been camped
individuals and families
downtown since Oct. 2 is
wait to secure housing is
one small example of
a positive step in the
people on the streets
evolution of working with
standing up and doing
thousands of people on
something for themselves.
the skids.
The group of 50-plus
homeless individuals who
have been camped downtown since O ct 2 is one small
example of people on the streets standing up and doing
something for themselves.
Since that time, Street Roots and others have noticed that
Old Town/Chinatown has been calm, quiet even, on some
nights. The camp, coupled with overflow shelter beds, has
given downtown a sort of refuge during the cold spell.
We have gone around and around with city officials,
neighborhoods and business representatives for more than a
decade on the camping issue. We’ve watched different efforts
come and go. Dignity Village was bom out of similar
circumstances in 2000.
First and foremost, the city should find a way for Right 2
Dream Too to coexist with scores of other nonprofits working
with people on the streets. The camp is low-cost and offers a
safe place to sleep away from the doorways, bridges and
many other unhealthy environments that people on the
streets are forced to sleep in every night. The city Spends
millions of dollars to staff services that Right 2 Dream Too
Can offer for less than pennies on the dollar.
Second, Right 2 Dream Too needs to make sure they learn
from past campaigns and offer its best effort to partner with
housing agencies, outreach workers and others to find people
staying at Right 2 Dream Too permanent housing. If the city
can offer a place for the camp, the camp can offer a place for
outreach workers and other services to have a safe place to
build relationships.
If the city simply sweeps Right 2 Dream Too aside and lets
dozens of individuals filter out again into the cold of night,
scattered throughout downtown. It will leave a bitter and
cynical taste in the mouths of advocates and Portlanders who
can see with their own eyes that the group is doing
something positive for people experiencing poverty in our
community.
People on the streets have little power when it comes to
political wranglings at the city. Right 2 Dream Too, from the
start, has been organized and professional. The camp is
clean, orderly and, most importantly, safe. Something that
you won’t find in the dead of a cold, winter Portland night.
a
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Israel Bayer is the
executive director o f
Street Roots. You can
reach him a t israel@
streetroots.org
D IRECTOR'S
DESK
cSrTatemcomeSt°
opportunities for
people experiencing
By Israel Bayer
homelessness and
poverty by producing
a newspaper and
other media that are
catalysts for individual and social change.
We believe in change. We embrace it,
constantly.
Vendors feel a sense of community year-
round, but it’s at these times that your
support of the vendor program goes above
and beyond. Our vendors have been
reporting just how kind you have been
during the holiday season and appreciate
your love.
Just this week, three vendors received
housing through the support of Street
Roots and community organizations. In the
past year, SR has helped both secure
housing for people on the streets and
prevent other from becoming homeless. We
know how important the relationships built
between vendors, businesses and readers
are. We also know how important the
newspaper has become for the community
and a vehicle to deliver stories that you
simply aren’t going to find anywhere else.
This year, we have delivered several
special series and in-depth reporting on
traumatic brain injury, Asperger’s
Syndrome, and have been running
interviews with local candidates for City
Hall, giving you a perspective on how future
leaders will represent our community on
important poverty issues. We have featured
the realities of HIV on the streets, given
you budget policy analysis at a local and
state level, covered the Occupy and
grassroots homeless movements from the
ground up and taken home an award for our
on-going coverage of veterans and poverty.
People on the streets who sell Street
Roots do extraordinary things to survive.
The organization itself does extraordinary
things with the resources it has with the
newspaper, vendor program, the Rose City
Resource Guide and our advocacy work.
We’re asking you this holiday season to
do the extraordinary, and to help Street
Roots remain strong and vibrant. Grassroots
support makes up one-third of the Street
Roots budget We need your support more
now than ever to help us maintain all of the
important connections outlined above. Help
us remain strong.
You can give by giving safely on-line at
www.streetroots.org, or by simply giving a
check to Street Roots, 211 NW Davis,
Portland, OR. 97209.
Story highlights challenges for small grocers
m a n y re s id e n ts o f B o is e -E llio t th a n W h o le
F o o d C r iS t to m e n tio ii
WHAT DO
YOU THINK?
Send letters to the
editor to the Street
Roots office, 211
NW Davis St.,
Portland, OR 97209,
or e-mail to joanne®
streetroots.org.
our article brings much-needed attention
to a serious, far-reaching problem.
Unfortunately, you have ignored an
independent produce market whose mission
has been to bring affordable fresh produce to
North Portland’s community since the early
1990s. (“Making Portland’s complex food
deserts grow green,” Street Roots, Dec. 9.)
“Other areas, such as the residential
Boise-Eliot neighborhood along North
Mississippi Avenue, don’t have any [healthy
markets]. The nearest grocery store is a
Whole Foods store, which many cannot afford
to shop at regularly.”
Cherry Sprout Produce, formerly the
original Big City Produce, located at North
Sumner and North Albina, is just north of
the Boise-Elliot neighborhood, closer for
Y
Cherry Sprout-like Big City before it -
strives to serve the neighborhood, including
the African American community in North
Portland and beyond. In fact, Cherry Sprout
has served as a source of information to the
Village Market’s organizers. The store offers
a broad, seasonal selection of produce, with a
focus on affordable Southern cooking staples
such as collard, mustard and turnip greens,
yams and smoked meats. And some of what
Cherry Sprout offers cannot be found
anywhere else in the city.
Your overlooking of this North Portland
staple underscores a problem I have found
with new initiatives to promote healthy
neighborhood markets and combat food
deserts in general. Although many grants
have popped up in the last few years as
Michelle Obama and others have brought
attention to the problem of food deserts, I
am hard pressed to find grants that serve
existing markets in need of expensive
equipment upgrades, etc. It is not easy to
maintain decades old refrigeration
equipment, keep the lights on, pay the taxes,
and provide living wage employment, while
keeping fresh, high quality food affordable.
— KATIE NICHOLS
Portland
Our mission
S taff
Board o f Directors
Vendors
Street Roots creates income opportunities for
people experiencing homelessness and poverty by
producing a newspaper and other media that are
catalysts for individual and social change.
Executive Director Israel Bayer
Bruce Anderson (Chairman), Michael Anderson (Vice-
chairman), Heather Stadick (Treasurer), Eddy Barbosa
(Secretary), Rich Rodgers, Brad Taylor, Leo Rhodes,
Ken Hawkins
Street Roots vendors buy the newspapers for 25 cents
each and sell them for $1, keeping the 75 cents in
profit for themselves. In order to keep the cost low to
Street Roots publishes every tw o weeks, launching
on Fridays, and is available exclusively through our
street vendors or by subscription. W e are proud
members of the North American Street
Newspaper Association and the International
Network of Street Papers.
street
Roots
israel@streetroots.org .
Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl
joanne@streetroots.org
Vendor Coordinator Becky Mullins
becky@streetroots.org
Operations Director Sarah Beecroft
Program Assistant Cole Merkel
cole@streetroots.org
Grant Writer Sarah Cloud
Volunteers
Christine Gadeholt, Mary Pacios, Leo Rhodes, Jan
Bayer, Eliese Baker, Sue Zalpkar, Tave Drake,
Michael M oore
Accountant H eather Stadick
Street Roots Rose City Resource
Reporters Am anda W aldroupe, Stacy Brownhill,
Street Roots publishes the Rose City Resource, a
comprehensive booklet o f services for people
experiencing homelessness and poverty.
To inquire about getting an order of the Rose City
Resource for distribution, please write to
pdxrosecityresource@gmail.com. Resources are also
available online at www.rosecityresource.org.
2U NW Davis St.
Portland, OR 97209 I
Jake Thomas
503-228-5657
Jansons, John Ryan Brubaker
Fax: 503-227-3117
www.streetroots.org
www.streetroots.wordpress.com
Intern Liz Fosteer
Photographers Leah Nash, Ken Hawkins, Jennifer
our vendors, we receive additional support from
donations and in-kind contributions.
goes directly to the vendor
w ho sold you the paper
goes toward
printing costs
Vendor orientations are at 1 p.m. every Monday,
W ednesday and Friday at the Street Roots office.