Street roots., November 24, 2017, Page 5, Image 5

Street Roots • Nov. 24-Dec. 1, 2017
News
Page 5
TIME SERVED, from page 4
challenge.”
“There are many legal and statutory
barriers that make everything much more
difficult,” he said.
Duane de la Vega said the restaurant
industry isn t the only area of employment
she’s been targeting during their tour.
While in Portland, she held a second
screening where representatives from the
manufacturing, construction and tech trades
were invited.
Skvarla said while restaurants and
construction trades are some of the most
accessible for inmates just coming out of
prison, they aren’t necessarily the best fit
for every inmate.
“There can be some sketchy stuff that
happens,” she said, such as employers who
fail to pay their workers in full or on time,
or environments rife with alcohol and drug
abuse. “That’s not necessarily the best
place for somebody that’s trying to learn
how to be professional and trying to learn
how to be in a more stable environment,”
she said.
But, she said, the more professional the
atmosphere is at the restaurant or jobsite,
the better the outcome will be.
Skvarla, whose nonprofit connects
business leaders in the community with
inmates at Columbia River Correctional
Institution, said Oregon needs to do more
inside its prisons to prepare inmates for
real careers once they’re released.
“As a society, we are not helping anybody
gain the hands-on skills that they need to be
in a new career,” she said. "There is a gap
between what we expect from inmates
reentering society and what we prepare
them for. A lot of the guys have really good
people skills, but they don’t necessarily
have the professional technical skills to
back it up.”
She explained that at Columbia River
Correctional Institution, there are 600
inmates, but only about 10 computers. “And
that’s no fault of the department’s, that’s
just been the way it is. As taxpayers, we are
the ones who have to demand that that stuff
changes,” she said.
She said any business leader, owner or
manager who is interested in sharing their
knowledge with inmates can do so with her
program. All it takes is a three-hour time
commitment to come in and give a
presentation. But, she said, presenters
typically choose to come back and do it
again.
“Really, the point of that is for business
executives to get in there and see that
there are really smart people in prison,”
she said. Often relationships will develop
organically, giving the inmate professional
connections upon their release who might
be able to help them network or even offer
them employment, she said.
Restaurant owners and managers who
are interested in participating in the
industry night job fair at Columbia River
Correctional Institution in January, or
business leaders and entrepreneurs in
other industries who are interested in
working with A Social Ignition’s other
programs inside the prison, should contact
Skvarla by email at: sonja@asocialignition.
com.
emily@streetroots. org. @greewrites
‘Dreamers' exhibit celebrates hope with a rt
Silent auction of
Portraits to benefit
organization working
with undocumented
immigrants
BY SARAH HANSELL
S T A F F W R IT E R
elday de la Cruz came to the U.S.
from Jalisco, Mexico, when he was
just 2 years old. He learned English
at the age of 5. It wasn’t until he was 15
when his undocumented status really hit
him for the first time. He wanted to learn
how to drive, but he couldn’t get his permit,
“That was the first wall I hit,” de la Cruz
said.
An artist and aspiring designer, he
worked hard in high school, hoping for
private scholarships, since undocumented
immigrants do not qualify for federal aid.
He received a scholarship for the
University of Portland. But because he
couldn’t take out a federal loan to pay for
the rest, he had to turn it down.
“As a DACA recipient you work your ass
off in high school hoping to get something,
some sort of aid,” de la Cruz said. “And I
had to turn (the scholoarship) down. That
H
w as a re a l b u m m e r fo r m e, h a v in g to f a c e
all these realities - these walls that I kept
hitting.”
When the Deferred Action for Childhood
Arrivals policy, or DACA, was enacted in
2012, he was nervous to apply. DACA is a
program established by the Obama
administration granting temporary
protection against deportation to some
undocumented immigrants who entered the
country as minors. DACA can be renewed
when it expires every two years and allows
recipients to qualify for a work permit.
“I just felt like it was a really great
achievement, but it was also really scary to
have to come clean and give the
government your fingerprints and your
address,” he said. “Eventually I did it, my
parents convinced me to, and I’m really
glad that I did. It was life-changing. I was
able to live normally.”
Since becoming a DACA recipient, de la
Cruz went to school at PCC for graphic
design, and got his dream job at Ecotrust
as a graphic designer.
In September of this year, however,
the Trump administration issued a deadline
to rescind DACA, which would strip
protection against deportation from almost
800,000 people. The implementation of the
repeal has been postponed for six months
to allow Congress to make a plan to address
the current DACA recipient population.
As a response, and in support of DACA,
de la Cruz is hosting an art show Dec. 1
called We The Dreamers, which will feature
his own illustrations of 10 DACA recipients,
along with their stories. The event will also
include a silent auction, speeches, a special
musical guest, a DJ, a bar and an afterparty.
Proceeds from the event will benefit
organizations working to support
P H O T O C O U R T E S Y O F H E L D Á Y DE LA C R U Z
Helday de la C ruz’s work “Denzel,” one o f the 10 portraits fo r the gallery portion o f the We the
Dreamers exhibit. Denzel is a DACA recipient and musician in Portland. Denzel’s story will
be printed alongside his portrait at the show.
IF YOU GO
What; We The Dreamers: An Art
Show to Defend DACA. After party at
NYX, $10 at the door
When; 7:30-11 p.m. Dec. 1; 11 a.m.-3
p.m. Dec. 2
Where: Ecotrust Building, 721 NW 9th
Avenue #200, Portland
Tickets: Eventbrite, search “We The
Dreamers."
undocumented immigrants on the national,
state and local levels - respectively United
We Dream, Oregon DACA Coalition and
Pueblo Unido.
“We live in secret for so much of our
lives about all of that, we don’t talk about it.
It’s a scary thing to do,” de la Cruz said.
“But then we’re given this sort of gift (with
DACA), and this really amazing thing that
changes your life drastically.
“And then to have that just taken away
again is really frustrating. And I personally
feel like I have just lived that secret life for
so long and I don’t want to go back to that,
there’s nothing there for me anymore. I
feel really empowered by DACA and I want
to stand up for it. I’m the right person to
fight for it. DACA recipients are the right
people to talk to.”
Alex Vallé, another DACA recipient who
will be the subject of one of de la Cruz’s
illustrations for the event, came to the U.S.
when he was 7 or 8. He fell in love with art
in middle school and took all the art classes
he could in high school. He graduated from
Madison High School class of 2014 with a
3.5 G.P.A., 11 extra credits, and four
college credits.
He had to decline a full-ride scholarship
to University of Oregon’s design program
because as an undocumented immigrant,
even with DACA status, he could not
receive federal aid.
High school, Vallé says, was the hardest
time of his life.
“From my perspective it was just like,
‘you’re from here, I’m from here.’ I didn’t
know what it meant,” he said of being an
undocumented child. “I didn’t think
‘because you’re from here you get this, I
don’t get this.’ I never saw it that way until
I understood how things worked, how
FAFSA, how funds, how money worked.”
He said many people he knew dropped
See DACA page 14