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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (March 13, 2015)
Street Roots «M arch 13-19,2015 Editorial Homelessness series packed with many lessons Write in if you would Ske nna Griffin has been around the block. After a challenge to wade through the politics of homelessness spending 10 years at the Charlotte Observer, and poverty to be able to tell a story that’s accurate and Griffin moved west to take a job at The reflects what is really happening. How did you navigate Oregonian. Her first day on the job was Mayor Tom that? Potter’s inauguration. Since that time she’s been a City Hall beat reporter covering such topics as the Joint A.G.: I’m always struck on how many different Terrorism Task Force, public campaign financing and messages and different views you hear from within the lobbying disclosures, among other things elected system, housing agencies and government Griffin has been Metro columnist offices versus what you see on the ground and what you and is now an editor and senior hear from people who work on the ground. I think that reporter with The Oregonian after everybody means well, and I think a number of elected a one-year Nieman Fellowship at officials in this community have been passionate Harvard University. advocates and really want things to change and want to Currently, Griffin has put makes things better. We have a system at the together what will sure to be an government level where, to get money you have to show By Israel Bayer award-winning eight-part series success. To get elected you have to show success. I titled, “Our Homeless Crisis.” In think things are sometimes spun in a way that doesn’t the series, Griffin tackles a range necessarily always reflect the reality on the ground. You of matters related to the issue - can make statistical progress, but still have thousands of including looking at life on the streets for individuals people sleeping outside tonight. Somebody working in a and families, policy efforts locally and federally and government office is going to take a long-term asking whether Portland is a magnet for people approach. People with boots on the ground, working or experiencing homelessness. She spent a night on the living on the streets, they have to think about how to streets with homeless outreach workers and built respond to the situation right now. relationships with people sleeping outside — all while trying to capture both thè harsh personal and political I.B.: So often homelessness is covered in a vacuum in realties of trying to solve homelessness. the media. Were there things you learned in doing Griffin still isn’t done, telling me this week that, something more indepth? “when I started writing about homelessness it went from maybe I’ll write three stories on homelessness to A.G.: I do think we have more people who care about maybe I’ll write more. I don’t think I’m ever going to be this issue and want to do good and want to help, but I done writing about it.” also think, especially within the city of Portland, our I had a chance to sit down with Griffin this week to form of government makes sustained progress on any is s u e re a lly d ifficu lt. P o litica lly , w e ’v e e x p e r ie n c e d a talk about the project. massive turnover in leadership at the city and county something * that you’ve written incur like to get in voked as a member of our reporting staff, ■ reach him a t israel@streetroots.org o r follow him on Twitter @israelbayer. Isr a e l B ayer: So, why do a series on homelessness? Were there things you wanted to come out of it? Anna Griffin: I started at The Oregonian covering City Hall in early 2005, so I covered the beginning of the 10-year plan. It’s been something I’ve been interested in as a journalist from the beginning, and you and I have had many conversations for years in which I’ve said I should do something bigger on the topic. Part of what I wanted to do with this project was help the typical Oregonian reader understand that the reasons people end up on the streets are much more complicated than that gut level, “Oh, you’re an addict, or you screwed up in some way.” ! wanted to give homeless people who don’t often have a yoice in our publication a voice to help educate the audience. I.B.: Were there any stories that stuck with you specifically when doing the series? ' A.G.: What frustrated me as a reporter, in almost all these stories of people who were living unsheltered, was that invariably it came down to people make | mistakes or fall under horrible circumstances in their lives and we don’t have a system that makes it easy or straightforward for somebody to rebuild their life quickly and easily. I was struck in a lot of cases by just how long people were waiting for housing, and how few options there actually are. Going places and seeing children is the worst. I have a story coming out next week on family shelters. The lack of hope among many parents and just knowing it’s going to be many months before they get something permanent - it’s heartbreaking. I don’t know how anybody who pays attention to homelessness in our community doesn’t end up heartbroken. LB.: At Street Roots, we experience so many people trying to manage the issue of homelessness, from elected and civic leaders to executive directors and foundations to, frontline workers and people on the streets. Sometimes, it's Street 2H N W 0am $t 503-228-5657 g Fax; 50&227-3117 r ww.streetroofcorg www.news.streetroots.org Hours; 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Mon.-FrL, 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m., Sat., and 7:30-11 a.m. Sun. Staff Executive Director Israel Bayer israel@streetroots.org Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl . Operations Director Sarah Beecroft Program Assistant Grace Badik, Jesuit Volunteer, gracG@slreetroolS.org Development D irector Sar a h G o o d Development A ssistant An n-Derrick level. That makes solving homelessness extremely difficult The notion that we attract (homeless) people to Portland, because we are so giving: I just think that’s the wrong question to be asking. At the end of the day, I don’t think it matters. You’re talking about people. If they’re not going to be homeless here, they’re going to be homeless somewhere else. Why not serve people to the best of our ability? It’s the right thing to do. We bill ourselves as a progressive community that does things differently. Let’s do that then. Let’s walk the walk. I.B.: Portland is changing right before our eyes, but housing costs and population growth seem to be accelerating those realities. Both homelessness and housing are at the heart of the challenges we face in Portland. A.G.: I look back at all the projects that I’ve done at The Oregonian. Everything really that I’ve done goes back to the fundamental question of what is Portland going to be when it grows up? We have this great city that’s renowned for smart growth. It’s world renowned for its food, and everybody thinks of it as a cool, hip and compassionate place where we do things right. We do things smart. The question is what do we do next? Is the Portland that so many of us know and love and were attracted to actually sustainable? You and I could sit here today and craft a series on the vanishing middle class in Portland and what that means. Homelessness - to a certain degree - is its own unique issue with a long history in public housing and mental health care. It’s also hard on people who are being priced out of the city. I have young reporters who work for me who can’t afford to buy a home in inner city neighborhoods anymore. They have to go to the suburbs or to Vancouver, I have a white-collar job and if I were to buy a house now, as opposed to 10 years ago, See DIRECTOR'S DESK, page 7 t joanne@streetroots.org Vender Coordinator Cole Merkel cole@streetroots.org • Galliot ' . -,é executive director o f Street Roots. You can IttR E C lW S DESK ■' > ■. Reporters Emily Green, Sue Zalokar, ' Israel Bayer is the 503-228-5657Joanne@streetroofe.org. Christen McCurdy, Sarah Hansell, Sam Bouman, Jacques Von Lunen Photographers Diego Diaz, Kristina W right Desmond Hardison ■ i : Jll£i contact Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl at > O I | ; M iO l lS w i iB w t • ~''J w ■ Board of Directors Bruce Anderson Brad Taylor Treasurer Heather Stadick Secretary Amber Bielman Directors Rich Rodgers, Michael Anderson, Leo Rhodes, Nora Coon, Darren Alexander, Eddie Barbosa, Rachel Langford Volunteers Jan Bayer, Rob Shyrock, Stacey Heath, John Barker, Sarah Hansell, Jade Maniscalo, Sam Bouman, Eliese Baker, Tom Ray, Lee Ko, Aaron Von Reyn, Cherie Vedal, Jessie Carver, James Yu, Melissa Kahn, Lisa Waldo, Susannah Kamala, Monica Kwasnik, Doug Spangle If you are interested in volunteering with Street Roots, please submit a volunteer application at streetroots.org/vblunteer. Or call Volunteer Coordinator Grace Badik for more information at 503-228-5657.
