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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 6, 2013)
2 street roots Dec. 6, 2013 Join the conversation at #MyHomePDX EDITORIAL he campaign #MyHomePDX has become wildly successful in Portland. Haven’t heard of it? Check out the hashtag #MyHomePDX on Twitter or link through the Street Roots Facebook site and see for yourself. The campaign is a social media project T With your help, we can do more ick W. didn’t think he’d be sleeping on the streets after arriving home from two tours as a combat medic in Afghanistan. After experiencing a traumatic brain injury and trauma in the field, that’s exactly what happened. After being homeless for two years, Rick is on the verge of obtaining housing through the VA. If it weren’t for Street Roots and customers like you, Rick’s long journey might not be ending with stability and housing. Rick’s story isn’t unique. Street Roots works to serve more than 400 individuals and families each year. We partner with more than 70 local businesses to provide Going weekly w ill give vendors a stable income a stable environment week in and week out — on sidewalks for something that w ill no vendors and doubt change the lives of businesses alike. people who sell the Street Roots works newspaper for the better. with numerous ■ m m m h h h h h h m m m h housing organizations to get vendors the necessary services and housing they deserve. Besides giving people an income, we collectively give individuals and families hope — something you can’t put a price tag on. Offering a newspaper in exchange for a dollar or more gives people on the streets the opportunity for dignity, to build important relationships and to stand on their own two feet with the support of others. Street Roots is working toward going weekly in the fall/winter of 2014. We need your help. Vendors R DIRECTOR'S By Israel Bayer Israel Bayer is the executive director o f Street Roots. You can reach h im at israel @streetroots. org or follow him on Twitter @israelbayer. own experiences of poverty and to ask people to share their stories. Launched by Street Roots and private residents along with allies at JOIN, Northwest Pilot Project, the Oregon Law Center, the ACLU, the Oregon Opportunity Network, 211info and more — the campaign is meant to connect, educate, advocate, and invest towards creating the political will to combat poverty in our community. How can you get involved? The first step is connecting with people experiencing homelessness and poverty in the greater Portland area by having real conversations. Look people experiencing homelessness and poverty in the eyes, and acknowledge they exist. Help meet people’s basic needs. Research organizations that you love and find out what they need. Give to individuals on the streets or directly to organizations. Educate yourself and your peer network LETTER need your help. We regularly ask the vendors what they want, what they need, and the vast majority tell us a weekly newspaper. Going weekly will give vendors a stable income week in and week out — something that will no doubt change the lives of people who sell the newspaper. Going weekly will also allow Street Roots to become a stronger voice in the community, giving readers wider access to news and commentary. In the long run, it will allow vendors to have a stable income year in and year out. We need your help! If you’ve never given to the organization before, now’s the time. If you’re a longtime donor, we need your extra support now more than ever. We can’t do it without you, plain and simple. We’re asking you to dig deep. We’re actually pleading with you. Please give generously at whatever level fits your budget. Your donation will make the difference. There are several ways to give. You’ll find an envelope in this edition of the newspaper. Think about becoming a monthly recurring donor. Can’t do that? Give a one-time donation or give to Street Roots through the Willamette Week GivelGuide at www.giveguide.org. meant t0 engage Portlanders on their Susan Emmons one of the city's seers 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 Thanks for the interview with Susan Emmons and for archiving online the important talk she gave at First Congregational Church. Better than anyone in Portland, Emmons tells the story of how this community contributed to the numbers of homeless people by destroying or repurposing the low-income rental inventory she remembers when she first took over as director for Northwest Pilot Project. In her talk - and I hope everyone gets a chance to read it - she tells the story of one Mr. Christiansen, a dear old man who was relocated repeatedly by NWPP, just ahead of the wrecking ball’s arrival at each of his “new” homes. She does not tell the story, presumably because it is so grim, about how NWPP first began relocating tenants: it goes back to the early 70s, when founder Peter Paulsen was still directing the agency, and one of their clients was found dead in a freeway snowbank. She had come home to her small room at the Freeway Hotel to find nailed to her door a HUD notice Vendor Coordinator Cole Merkel Street Roots 211 NW Davis St Portland, OR 97209 503-228-5657 Fax:503-227-3117 streetroots.org news.streetroots.org Operations Director Sarah Beecroft Program Assistant Grace Badik, Jesuit Volunteer, grace@streetroots.org Development Director Sarah Cloud University of Oregon Intern Jasmine Rockow Office Assistant Amber Bielman Reporters Jake Thomas, Alex Zielinski, Nathan Gilles, Sue Zalokar, Ann-Derrick Caillot Photographers Kristina Wright, Christopher Onstott advising her the building was to be demolished. In her fear and confusion, she ran away and died of exposure. Susan Emmons has, for decades now, argued that no amount of money allocated for “services” and no “ten-year plan” can solve this problem, if we continue to shuffle people and funding around without building more housing. And now she is proposing some very concrete things we could do to create that replacement housing. I’m amazed that, after three decades doing this work, she still has the juice and to come up with these ideas but one thing is clear: we need to listen to her. She is one of this city’s seers. MARTHA GIES Portland Oregon You can read the complete Oliver Lecture series presentation by Susan Em m ons, along with the interview, a t news.streetroots. org. each and sell them for $1, keeping the 75 cents in profit for th e ir e r t« ;* i order to keep the cost low to our vendors, we receive additional support from Managing Editor Joanne Zuhi street vendors or by subscription. We are proud members of the North American Street Newspaper Association and the international Network of Street Papers. on the issues of homelessness and poverty in the community. Read Street Roots, visit www.wraphome.org and find out about the history of homelessness and civil rights on the streets. Serve dinner at a family shelter, either as a family, community, workplace and/or church. Have discussions around the dinner table, with your children and friends. Advocate for the rights of people experiencing homelessness and poverty. Speak up about the needs of people struggling in our community. Tell politicians and civic leaders in our community that we need real solutions and commitment to end homelessness. Visit your local neighborhood association and tell them you care about the issue of homelessness and ask what you can do about it. Invest time and resources in organizations that are working to end poverty. Donate to your favorite charity working to end homelessness. Portland has a wide range of non-profit organizations working to address immediate needs, helping people find stable housing and organizing to build community and power through advocacy work. To check out the many stories Portlanders have already shared, go to #MyHomePDX on Twitter and FaceBook. Share your stories and experiences and get involved. We’re all in this together and together we will make a real difference in the community. Volunteers Mary Pados, Jan Bayer, Ann Ereline, Vinnie Kinsella, / Ann-Derrick Galliot, Joe Thick, Stacey Heath, Taurin Skinner-Macginnis, Bethany Hague, Michelle Holbert, John Lisifka, Raven Canoles, Michelle Breslau, Paula Cracas, Sharron Thompson, John Barker, M a y Locke Street Roots Rose City Resource Street Roots publishes the Rose City Resource, a comprehensive booklet of services for people experiencing homelessness and poverty. To inquire about getting guides, call 503-228-5657. Resources are also available online at www.rosecityresource.org. goes directly to the vendor who sold you the paper Vendor orientations are at 1 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Street Roots office'
