Street Roots • February 13719, 2015
MERITOCRACY, fro m page 4
in creating and m aking opportunities for the
next-generation o f civically engaged leaders?
A nd what role do those programs have in
college admissions decisions? •
L.G.: Well that’s a good question, because
there’s a good example of the people who
go into the military: Malcolm Gladwell
points out that people apply to basically
work for the United States on behalf of the
needs of the country. What Gladwell is
saying is that you’re not looking for people
who are already good soldiers or who are
already good sailors, you’re looking for
people who can become really good soldiers
or really good sailors. And then you’re not
evaluating each person who is applying to
be in the military and determining that
some people are smarter than others and,
therefore, they deserve to be in the military,
and those people who are less smart but
perhaps more passionate about defending
the United States and somehow they’re less
important under this “testocracy system.”
So his point is that we’re using the wrong
measures for determining who’s going to
contribute to the benefits of the larger
community... not just of the individual him
or herself.
J.P.: How do you feel about President
Obama’s proposal for free community college
for students who maintain at least a 2.5 GPA
DIRECTOR'S DESK, fro m page 3
We will start to adequately reinvest in our
affordable housing infrastructure.”
Charlie Hales, Portland mayor: “Better
coordination of efforts by the city, county
and private sector through the Home For
Everyone planning process. Encouraging the
private sector to build affordable housing.
Government projects can1 be slow and over
burdened with regulations. The private
sector can build affordable housing well and
quickly, and we need more housing stock.
“Addressing the root causes of
homelessness. That includes assisting
people in mental health crises and who
suffer from addiction. These aren’t the only
causes but need to be addressed.
“Walking beats. We heard from people
without houses, activists, business owners
and neighbors on Hawthorne: We have well-
trained officers who understand the dynamic
öf homelessness, and who interact with
everyone on the street. Because arrests
isn’t the goal; serving the community is the
goal. This works! We piloted this in 2014.
You’ll see more in 2015.
“Rapid re-housing and retention. Taking
extra measures to stop chronic
homelessness before it starts, uses housing
resources more efficiently.”
Ibrahim Mubarak, the co-founder of
both Right 2 Dream Too and Dignity
Village: “Being able to end homelessness is
a long shot. We can start by making housing
affordable in the city to support all kinds of
people. This would create more spending
power in the city to create jobs and support
News
and are progressing toward a degree or
transfer to a university?
the film “Selma” in theaters, how do you see
the health o f civil rights today?
L.G.: Well, that’s a difficult question to
L.G.: I think it’s a great idea if we can
answer. I actually teach a course here at
afford it. He’s basically saying that
Harvard Law School on law and the political
community college is the next step after
process, and one of thef core issues relates
high school, and people go to high school
to the development
under the taxpayers’
of the.Voting Rights
dime, not their
Act of 1965. You
parents’. If you go to ,a
mentioned the movie,
public high school,
"In stitu tio n s of education h a w
which I did get to
you don’t have to pay
broader goals thaa sim ply
see. I thought it was
to go to the high
a great opportunity
school. And his point a dm itting people who are w r y
is you want to develop smart, Fart o i th e ir goals are to for Americans — as
well as people around
people’s talents and
educate people who are golag
educate them to the
to he leaders la society, to edm the world — to see
the power of young
extent that they can
cate people who are golag to be
people working
make a more valuable
problem solders la this society, together to solve
contribution to the
These
are not Ideas or commit» problems in a way
larger society in
that was very
meats that yon can determine
terms of solving
collaborative. These
problems, and also in based oa.someoaers SÄT«M
were people who
terms of contributing
marched on the
their abilities. But it
independence bridge
also is making a
— and it was a range j
contribution (to) that
of people, some of them were middle age,
individual person’s opportunities, and to
some of them were older, and- some of them
that individual person’s opportunities to
were very young. There were 8- and 9-year-
have a family, to be able to support the |
olds who were marching on the
family, etcetera.
Independence Bridge. After the state of
Alabama went after the marchers and got
J.P.: This is a little bit more o f a general
the attention of the American people, there
question: With M artin Luther King, Jr. ’s
was a third march, which actually made it
birthday having ju st passed and the release of
small businesses*
“In the meantime, projects like Right 2
Dream Too and transitional campgrounds
can create short-term opportunities for
people to simply have a safe place to rest.
Creating opportunities for a range of
different people including women and
families is critical. The reality is there are
thousands of people sleeping outside and we
can’t just continue to do what we’ve always
done. We need out-of-the-box strategies that
work toward stabilizing people’s lives and
giving people the opportunity to get back on
their feet.”
Marc John, director of A Home for
Everyone: “There are a lot of people in our
community committed to ending
homelessness, but there is no one for whom
this issue is more urgent than the person
who is spending tonight in a doorway or on
a mat on a shelter floor.
“Not only do the people experiencing
homelessness feel the greatest sense of
urgency around ending it, they also have the
best insight into what support they will need
to get into housing and remain there.
“As we move into an era of greater
coordination of homeless policy
development and funding, that coordination
needs to be built around the wisdom of
those who have lived the experience of
homelessness.
“The most effective programs offer each
individual and family the mix of support
services that they identify as most critical to
getting off the streets. The most effective
policies give service providers the flexibility
to deliver services in this way.
“With A Home for Everyone we have an
unprecedented opportunity to make real
progress in the fight to end homelessness.
Capitalizing on that opportunity will mean
combining the wisdom of those experiencing
homelessness with the capacity of our social
service providers and the political
leadership of our electedofficials.”
Nick Fish, Portland city
commissioner: “Everyone has a role to
play in ending homelessness. Working
together, we must act with urgency and
purpose. No one should be forced to live on
our streets.
“Over the past decade, our community did
something important. Leaders from
government, philanthropy, business, non
profits and the faith community sat down
and worked to find solutions to chronic
homelessness. We made real progress. We
developed new and innovative approaches
and partnerships, and helped over 13,000
people move from the streets into homes.
“Was it unrealistic to expect Portland to
“end” homelessness? Too many families,
children and veterans still live on our
streets. And we are not alone; cities across
the country are dealing with the same
challenges. The question before us: Where
do we go from here?
“Restore a strong federal role in funding
affordable housing, and place this issue at
the heart of the 2016 presidential election.
“Build more affordable homes for the
lowest income families and individuals.
Without an adequate supply, we will never
achieve our ambitious goals. Lift the
preemption on inclusionary zoning.
Strengthen local coordination. We have a
new framework for local cooperation called
Page 5
from Selma to Montgomery. And that march
changed the United States in a very
powerful and productive way. That is, that
march brought people’s attention to the
need for a voting-rights act, which act was
then adopted in 1965 and which act
permitted blacks and other people to
participate in our political system. This is a
group that had been denied access to the
ballot for more than 60 years, a group that
had been voting in Alabama in 1900, but as
a result of the 1901 Constitution (of the
state of Alabama) were basically denied the
right to vote for the next 65 years.
J.P.: What do you hope is the biggest
takeaway for redders o f your book?
L.G.: I think the most important
takeaway is the value of collaboration* And
by “value of collaboration” I mean if we want
to solve the big problems of the universe ..._
that what we really want as a country, as the
United States of America, is a sense of
unitedness, or a sense of being able to work
together with other people and to find the
right groups of people.who bring different
talents and different perspectives to the
table, so that you’re not just working with a
group of people, each of whom agrees with
each other in exactly the same way. If you
can collaborate with people of different
perspectives and different talents, you’re
more likely to solve the problem in a way
that’s enduring.
A Home for Everyone. Make it work. Invest
in long-term, cost-effective strategies. We
don’t have to reinvent the wheel or
compromise on our values.”
Janet Byrd, Neighborhood
Partnerships: “There’s no silver bullet
that will end homelessness. There is only
us. How serious are we about tackling
homelessness in Oregon? Imagine what we
could do if we really made ending
homelessness our No. 1 civic priority. We
could have housing of all shapes and sizes,
more outreach, more services, and more
money to keep the housing affordable.
Here’s what we need to do now to achieve
that vision:
“Work together and work beyond the
boundaries of organizational benefit or
public acclaim. This is not about who gets
credit for the work or who gets paid to do
the work, but about whether all our
neighbors have roofs over their heads.
“Open our imagination to new
approaches, and learn from and listen to
each other in open conversations - we are
taking amazing steps to find solutions
throughout the state. We need to look
squarely at what has worked, for whom it
worked, who has not been reached and what
has not worked well.
“Call on our elected officials and
legislators in cities and in Salem to dedicate
real resources. We need investment into
homes, sources of low-cost debt, land to
locate homes near opportunities and policy
tools that will help us create the
communities we want to see.