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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 2018)
wnere poverty. BY SHANNON SINGLETON poverty and assum ed that people of color C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T experienced hom elessness at a higher rate because we experience poverty at a higher few years ago, I wrote about race in rate. W hile this is true, the information that I social work and the structural and learned during the SP A R C initiative helped interpersonal racism that went undiscussed in Portland. Portland seem ed m to e realize that this assumption is in fact more com plex. M o st com m unities’ rates of rely on a problematic narrative about itself hom elessness are actually lower than their that included being proportionate rate of poverty. In the black “progressive” and community, however, our rate of “colorblind.” M y issues hom elessness is double our rate of poverty, with this approach to while white households’ rate of hom elessness race and racism persist, drops in com parison to their poverty rate. So and despite long why, then, are we as a com m unity not making standing equity the connection between structural racism initiatives in both and hom elessness? T h e data seem s to tell a Portland and pretty clear story. M ultnom ah County D uring the SP A R C initiative, we spent the governm ent structures, Shannon week talking about the need to center race we have yet to have Singleton and m ake changes in our organizations. honest, authentic and Shannon Singleton T h ese changes include hiring practices and frank conversations is the executive cultures that are often toxic to people of about race. T h is began director o f JO IN , one color, as well as structural changes that can to change in M arch with o f Portland’s largest address racism and the disparities that exist the Supporting providers o f services in housing and hom elessness services on the Partnerships for Anti- to help people get basis of race. R acist Com m unities into housing Stay with m e. It is easy and com fortable to (SPA R C) initiative. get defensive and assert to m e that you are W hile com m unities of not racist. B u t as a colleague once told m e, color have been waving the flag of we all drink from the sam e poison well of oppression and inequity for years, having racism . T h e structures that we are all facilitators com e into our com m unity and socialized into are designed to serve and lift speak frankly about the consequences and up the dom inant culture and oppress people dangers of racism seem ed to have helped A those in the dominant culture finally listen. I have long associated hom elessness with incapable of m aking the needed changes that will m ake services equitable. We need to understand our biases in order to address the organizational and structural barriers. I implore all of us working in this field to slow down, listen to people of color, exam ine our biases and the structural oppression that exists within our system . To change the culture of our organizations to be more equitable and to undo and challenge the white suprem acist culture that perm eates the way we do this work and design our organizations. I implore my fellow executive directors to dedicate tim e and resources to truly address racism . We cannot continue to rely on a few people of color in our agencies to carry this work, to call out racism , and to wait patiently while we have yet another cultural com petency training. Enough is enough. Step up, create space for real change, get com fortable with being uncom fortable. U nderstand that equity m ight m ean that dominant culture organizations receive fewer resources. Listen to and believe people of color when they are sharing their experiences. P u t ego aside. E m brace the reality that social justice and ending hom elessness work requires us to exam ine and undo the institutional and structural oppression that has helped create our current reality where people of color are significantly m ore likely to be hom eless than of color, and without-intentional work to white people. If we can do this, we can begin exam ine and undo our internal biases we are to create an equitable housing system . SPARC and Portland ■ Ail percent of those living in poverty, they account for more than 40 percent of ■ Black men remain homeless longer than white or Hispanic men, according Social Innovation. ■ In Multnomah County, blacks of blacks tallied in the 2017 Point in Time homeless count doubled over the previous number just two years earlier. ■ Portland is part of a 10-city initiative by SPARC to examine the root causes of racial disparities in housing and related social service networks. II1S1IIBIBBill111II!IlII11111 1 1 ! I l c B l I i B I ■ Dallas, San Francisco, Syracuse, N.Y.; Tacoma, Wash.; Atlanta, Ga.; Minneapolis, Minn.; and Columbus, Ohio are among the other cities in the project. Need health insurance? CareOregon’s goMobile Team makes it easy for your to get dental, mental and physical health care under the Oregon Health Plan (OHP). Our community partners host us on these dates, where we can check your eligibility for OHP, enroll you in Medicaid/OHP and make your doctor appointments! CLACKAMAS COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES MT HOOD COMMUNITY COLLEGE PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY CLACKAMAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE COMMUNITY CENTER 50 SW 2nd Ave, Portland A p ril 3 ............................... 9-11 A p ril 1 0 ......... 9-11 A p ril 17..............................9-11 A p ril 2 4 ............................9-11 Student Union - 2 6 0 0 0 SE Stark St Gresham A p ril 3 ....................... .....12-2 p.m. A p ril 17........................... 12-2 p.m. PSU TriO - 4th Floor Rm 425, 1829 SW Broadway, Portland A p ril 11............................ 12-2 p.m . A p ril 2 5 .........................12-2 p.m . PCC SYLVANIA COLLEGE CENTER STREET ROOTS 24375 SE Stark St, Gresham A p ril 9 .............10:30 a.m .-6 p.m. 12000 SW 49th Ave, Portland A p ril 11..............................9-11 a.m. A p ril 2 5 .......................... 9-11 a.m. 211 NW Davis St, Portland A p ril 2 6 ...................... ...12-2 p.m . FREEDOM FOURSQUARE CHURCH WORKSOURCE GRESHAM 660 SE 160th Ave, Portland A p ril 2 3 ......... 10:30 a.m .-6 p.m. 19421 SE Stark St, Portland A p ril 5 .............................. 2 -4 p.m. 3 NW 3rd, Portland A p ril 2 4 ............................2 -4 p.m . HUMBOLDT GARDENS HEALTH FAIR PORTLAND RESCUE MISSION WASHINGTON COUNTY 5033 N Vancouver Ave, Portland A p ril 2 0 ..............2 :3 0 -5 :3 0 p.m. 111W Burnside, Portland A p ril 1 2 .......................... 8-10 a.m. A p ril 2 6 ......................... 8-10 a.m. BEAVERTON CITY LIBRARY 19600 S Molalla Ave, Oregon City A p ril 4 ...............................9-11 a.m. A p ril 18..............................9-11 a.m. a.m. a.m. a.m. a.m. EAST COUNTY CHURCH OF CHRIST COLUMBIA COUNTY ___ ______ SACAGAWEA HEALTH CENTER 1060 Eisenschmidt Ln, St Helens A p ril 2 ............................ 9-12 p.m. MULTNOMAH COUNTY CLACKAMASSERVICECENTER 8 8 0 0 SE 80th Ave, Portland A p ril 1 0 ......................... 10-12 p.m. JOIN UNION GOSPEL MISSION 12375 SW 5th St, Beaverton A p ril 5 ..............................9-11 a.m. 1435 NE 81st Ave, Ste 100, Portland A p ril 1 2 ......................... 12-2 p.m. CareOregorr Caleb Green, Community Outreach Coordinator, greenc@ careoregon.org 503-416-4883 Tamara Pedrojetti, Community Relations Program Manager, pedrojettit@ careorgon.org 503-416-1 goMobile team careoregon.org
