Street Roots • Aug. 24-30, 2018
Opinion
Page 3
Partnering income, housing gets us all across the finish line
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executive d irector o f
Street Roots. You can
reach her a t
kaia@streetroots. org.
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Twitter @ m kaiasand
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Street Roots
211 NW Davis St.
Portland, OR 97209
503-228-5657
Fax:503-227-3117
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Hours: 7:30 a.m,-3 p.m. Mon.-fti, 7:30
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Andrew Hogan 3tandrew@streetroots.org
Staff
Executive D irector Kaia Sand
kaia@streetroots.org .
Executive Editor Joanne Zuhi
joanne@streetroots.org
Vender Pro gram D ire cto r Cole Merkel
cole@streetroots.org
Development D irector Andrew Hogan
andrew@streetroots.org
Se n ior S t a ff Reporter Emily Green
Program A ssista n t Caefin Miltko, Jesuit
on the streets. T hat’s the
death. Four Street Roots
resources.
goal. Street Roots vendor
vendors or former vendors
Cory McKelvey is
have died in the last month,
participating in this program
decades before their time. Two
with a determination that,
other vendors died earlier this year. We have
should he secure
been running tributes to our late vendors in
housing, any success he
recent editions of the paper.
achieves helps more
People need safe dwellings. This includes
people secure housing.
self-governed, secure places to camp, places
“We are not measured
like Right 2 Dream Too. And this includes a
as a people by how the
place indoors to call their own.
first of us cross the
There isn’t a quick fix to getting people
finish line but how the
housing, but there are many fixes. And
last of us cross the
that’s what we need - a lot of collective
finish line,” he said, and
energy toward many fixes.
this philosophy guides
There is a constant energy at Street
him. *
Roots. The door swings open with people
Housing is sky-high
offering what they can. I could fill columns
expensive and subsidies
singing the praises of community partners
are few. We need to get
who find a way to offer their skills and their
more money into
resources.
That’s what happened when Laura Locker people’s pockets and we
need to get the cost of
of Mercy Corps Northwest began
housing down for more
brainstorming with Street Roots Vendor
people. At Street Roots,
Program Director Cole Merkel about how
we take Cory’s
Mercy Corps Northwest - based only blocks
philosophy to heart as we fight for systemic
from Street Roots - could make a difference
change, but we also know that, one-by-one, if
in the local struggles around homelessness.
we can get a few people closer to housing -=
Locker manages the organization’s
across that finish line, as Corey put it - that
Individual Development Account, or IDA,
matters. As we pilot a program like this one
matched savings program, which works with
with Mercy Corps Northwest, we aim to
low-income, entrepreneurial people to help
carve out a model that can be extended.
them build their assets and become more
Life shouldn’t be so cruel that someone
financially resilient. She decided to take the
should fear falling asleep each night, prey to
tools she has to apply it to the problems of
violence, delirious from sleep deprivation. If
homelessness.
one night in a safe home did one Street
“We work in Old Town. We care about the
Roots vendor wonders, just think what his
people we see,” Locker said. She reached
own house keys would do. That’s what is at
out to Street Roots, she said, because,
stake.
Mercy Corps Northwest works with
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something
D IR EC TO R 'S
K a ia S a n d is the
Write iii
If you would like
ecently, a Street Roots vendor showed entrepreneurs, “and Street Roots is all about
up in our office refreshed. His face
entrepreneurs.” Our vendors buy the
looked smoother, more rested, than it
newspaper for a quarter and sell it for a
had earlier in the week. His speech, calmer
dollar. The currency is often in pennies,
and clearer. His mood, more optimistic. And
nickels and dimes, but they are doing all
his black eye had begun to disappear.
they can to make that grow enough to
It had been only two weeks since.
survive, managing ledgers in pocket
.
someone had beat
notebooks and sharing marketing tips with
him with a beer
each other. Each day, they must summon
bottle when he was
the gumption to hit the sidewalk and earn
asleep in his sleeping
money.
bag in an attempted
Locker realized that she could use the
robbery.
h ByKaiaSand
IDA program to increase fivefold the money
What was the
earned by at least a few Street Roots
difference? One night
vendors when they save that money toward
indoors in a safe
housing.
space. A friend had
Over the next year, Mercy Corps
given him a night’s respite from the
Northwest is piloting this program with a
exhaustion and insecurity of homelessness,
handful of vendors. Participants open a bank
a little time to heal.
account, and every dollar they save is
The next day his weariness returned. He
matched with $5. Through
was back on the streets,
the program they create a
careful not to overstay his
plan that helps them analyze
welcome, he said. But oh,
There Is a constant barriers to housing and
would he like keys of his own,
create a budget, and they
energy at Street
a safe place to sleep each
attend
rent-well classes. Up
Roots.
The
door
night
to $600 will be matched with
swings open with
At Street Roots, we work
$3000, which can go toward
with about 175 vendors each
people offering
many expenses of housing -
week, more than half of whom
what they can. I
deposits, first and last
áre homeless, and most,
could fill columns month’s rent, moving
deeply poor. On the streets,
singing the praises expenses, application fees,
people áre subjected to
furniture.
of community
violence, stress, sleep
Locker hopes that this
partners who find a
deprivation, exposure to
program can grow, and we
infection, and other struggles
way to offer their
can apply it to more people
th at result too often in early
Volunteer
Vendor A ssistant Scott Jackson, Alex
Gillow-Wiles
Development A ssistant Rosemary Wilson
Editorial Producer Monica Kwasnik
Reporters Sarah Hansell, Leonora Ko, Emilly
Prado, Eitena Rosenthal, Amanda Waldroupe,
DeVon Pouncey, Helen Hill
Photographers Diego Diaz, Arkady Brown,
Celeste Noche
C anvasser Desmond Hardison
Board of Directors
C h air Rachel Langford
Vice-Chair Dan Jones
Treasu rer Heather Stadick
Se cretary Alison Hallett
D irectors Michael Anderson, Sandra Hahn,
John Brown, Hels Johnson
Street Roots
Vendor Cory
McKelvey.
Volunteers
John Barker, Stacey Heath, Anjali Rathore, Dennis
Hogan, Lucas Hawthorne, Thomas Buell Jr., Jason
Cohen, Doug Spangle, Susannah Kamala, Jon
Raymond, Diana Richardson, Paul and Madeline
Gefroh, Mary Anne Joyce, Brooke Anderson, Gillian
Horen, Mark Oldani, Bianca Butler, Camber Hansen-
Karr, Miranda Woods, Henry Brannan, Helen Hill,
Mary Emerson, Brooke Anderson, Kathleen McFall,
Robb Hengerer, Malle Yeats-Rowe, Erin Parsons, Faye
Powell, Danny Moran and Megan Pickerel-Winer. If
you're interested in volunteering with Street Roots,
please submit a volunteer application at streetroots.
Org/volunteer. Or. you can call for more information
at 503-228-5657.
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