Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (April 11, 2014)
2 street roots April 11, 2014 Keep the presses ro llin g — every week, with your support! 0 Safety Net a lesson on the w ork to be done coking at the numbers of homeless people struggling these days, the people unable to get adequate health care, or the job services to get them back on their feet, it would be easy to say that our social-service systems don’t work. But it would be wrong. The systems are working. People are getting help, getting back into housing, back to health arid stability, but they are beyond capacity and underfunded at both state and national levels. The case of Safety Net of Oregon and the human fallout from its closure sheds light on the fragility of one such system. As the largest representative payee in Oregon, Safety Net provided a valuable service to people by managing Social Security payments on In the public dialogue their behalf, ensuring about homelessness and that rent was paid, the poverty, talk runs between utilities stayed up to emotions and statistics, date arid their daily often with little room for financial fieeds were productive discussion about the real mechanics met. For most of our that push people to the readers, the payee edge. system may seem an unusual and unfamiliar necessity, but for thousands of Oregonians it is an essential service of financial management that, for mental, physical or circumstantial conditions, is beyond their capacity. When Safety Net closed, under the weight of a federal investigation of financial mismanagement, its 1,000 clients were left with only a few weeks to regroup and find a replacement. As of April 1, they would be on their I own. It is unfortunate that it took a lawsuit by Disability Rights Oregonand the Oregon Law Center, and a judge’s 'agafflSTTHb' Sbc'i^r'SSfcili!1 i i ^ * w-******i' Admitiistration, to prompt the proper outreach and corrective measures. With that, the agency has stepped up its efforts to connect with form erclients, those who could not be reached by rnere bureaucratic notices in the mail, or who are unable to process the information upon re ce ip t We have hope, with local social service agencies at work, that they will all be paired with new payees as soon as possible. In the public dialogue about homelessness arid poverty, talk runs between emotions and statistics, often with little room for productive discussion about the real mechariics that push people to the edge. The story of- Safety Net lays that bare. Nan Roman; the president and CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, writes in this edition , about a time when we didn’t have the massive .numbers of people experiencing hom elessness that we have today. When it comes to homelessness, We know what to do, but we don’t do enough of it and we don’t do it long enough, she says. And unless we get unlimited resources, she adds, we don’t do it efficiently enough. She also noted that, with the right systems in place, nearly 80 percent of people who experience hom elessness get back ori their feet. Programs do work, but we have to be vigilant when they fad. Safety Net’s collapse was an incident, but this kind of failure can impact people for the rest of their lives. and stability have everything to do with id you know Street Roots is working Street Roots. They are my family. They are towards going weekly? It’s a big deal. my loye.” Going weekly will mean stabilizing your neighborhood vendor’s income. It will Street Roots is love. Street Roots takes on and covers some of the most complex and mean fostering more relationships between intense issues fating opr community, yet still, people experiencing poverty and the general it’s about love. It’s about connection and self- public. It will mean more quality journalism worth. It’s about overcoming obstacles and and voices from thé working together. It’s about being a team / community. It will player and searching for solutions. It’s about mean supporting making individual and social change in bur Street Roots to be D IR E C T O R 'S community. strategic and bold in DESK This spring offers readers a chance to the work we do on the double your impact with a gift to Street poverty front. A By Israel Bayer Roots. We encourage you to give a one-time stronger Street Roots or ongoing donation online at www. means a stronger streetroots.org. You dan also send a check to social justice 211 NW Davis, Portland, OR. 97209. community in Portland. k “Thank god for this paper,” says Louis, a A new and generous donor believes so Street Roots vendor. “If I didn’t have this much in Street Roots going weekly she has paper I’d probably perish. This paper’s a big offered to match your donation in April up to help, let me tell you. A big help.” $10,000. That’s amazing! We’re asking ‘ Your donations will go towards creating readers to give a donation this spring to help real change in our community. Your donation us on our jourriey towards weekly. will mean making Street Roots strong. Your “I’m going to stay awake all night tonight donation will mean allowing Street Roots to and look orit the windows to make sure this dream big. We can’t thank you enough. is not a dream,” says Charles, a Street Roots vendor who obtained housing. “My housing Israel Bayer is the executive director . Street Roots. You can reach h im a t israel@streetroots.org or follow him on Twitter @israelbayer. LETTER Kudos (and a correction) fo r work on Social Security benefit problems WHAT DO YOU THINK? Send letters to the editor to the Street NW Davis St, Portland, OR 97209, or e-mail to joanne® streetroots.org lawyer can earn, it would not be possible to . practice in this area of law and do that. What I do js limit myself to 12 hearings a month, so that I can consult with clients’ physicians, prepare legal briefs on their behalf and above all, spend time preparing my clients for hearings. ..... min m t i -^Lbmz^-nhserv^H many applaud Street Roots for the article “Checks and imbalances” in the March 14 edition. As a social security disability lawyer who sees firsthand the misery that many folks endure while they wait two years (and longer) to be approved for benefits, I ? have been dismayed by the media emphasis S q u e s t io n a b le a p p r o v a l, I c a n s h o w y o u t e n representatives from disability mills meeting folks who should have been approved and whose health and lives deteriorate while they appeal wrongful denials of benefits to which they are legally erititled. I do want to correct one factual error: the article reported that I take only 12 cases a year in order to provide quality representation. I wish that were possible but because the law severely limits how much a their clients for the first time at the hearings office, and I feelsorry for those clients. No attorney would be reluctant to represent a disabledindividual, no matter how challenging his case. It’s representing those who are not truly disabled that . attorneys like me refuse to do. CHERYL COON Swanson, Thomas, Coon & Newton T h u m p in g H e a r t by Alex LaFollette Anything to keep alive Stay breathing for morning's light We are hot, we are still The Devil’s one last kill The gears they move Moving is more to do Anything to keep alive In the pity we make our stride Keep your hand in my hand Grourid is rough, but it still is land Forbidden apple from the tree Guess my hunger got the best of me Anything to keep alive Anger knows how to dive Moon with its eyes on me I finally am learning to see Night is brighter than days of death Broken and cold and out of breath Anything to keep alive One thing we must do right Our mission Staff Board of Directors V a a tfiA n e 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- 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 . our vendors, we receive additional support from donations and in-kind contributions. - ’ ' Street Roots publishes every two weeks, launching on Fridays, and is available exclusively through our street vendors or by subscription. We are proud members of the International Network of Street Papers. Street Roots 211 NW Davis St. Portland, OR 97209 503-228-5657 Fax: 503-227-3117 streetroo1s.org news.streetroots.org » UaRagtog Editor Joanne Zuhl joanne@streetroots.org , Vendor Coordinator Cole Merkel cole@streetroots.org Operations Director Sarah Beecroft Program Assistant Grace Badik, Jesuit Volunte grace@streetroots.org Development Director Sarah Cloud Office Assistant Amber Bielman Reporters Jake Thomas, Alex Zielinski, Nathan Gilles, Sue Zalokar, Ann-Derrick Galliot Photographers Kristina Wright, Christopher Onstott Darren Alexander, Amber Bielman Volunteers Jan Bayer, Lisa Waldo, Elizabeth Tierney, Rob Shryock, Ann-Derrick Gaillot, Stacey Heath, Vinnie Kinselta, Michelle Breslau, Paula Cracas, John Barker, Mary Locke, Lucas Manfield, Jessie Carver, Cherie Vedal, Sam Bouman, John Yohe, Isaac Hastings Hauss, Emily Green Street Boots Bose City Besource 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. J S - goes directly to the vendor who sold you the paper 3 goes toward printing costs Vendor orientations are at 1 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Street Roots office.
