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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 11, 2006)
M a rtin L u t h e r K ing J r ." u I R o s a P a r k s 2006 Page B4 s p e c ia l e d ili q a ____ January II, 2 0 0 fa Strides for Housing Equity B ask of the w est Activist follows King s dream to end homelessness LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL Sisters o f the Road Café Director Genny Nelson (right) and Jimmy Brown, a longtime department manager in the city o f Portland. L ee P erlman T he P ortland O bserver LikeM artinL utherK ingJr., Genny Nelson hasadream : To end homelessness. It is a dream she feelscan be achieved. N elson is a cham pion o f people outside America’s com fortable m ainstream - in her case, the hom eless o f Portland. As founder o f Sisters o f the Road C afe and its director for m ost o f its 29 years o f ex ist ence, N elson is perhaps the c ity ’s m ost experienced, re spected and effective homeless advocate. She was an early recipient <if by BANK OF THE WEST IS PROUD TO HONOR THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. • • . z» < ♦ • »■ w w w bankofthewest.com BANK Member FDIC Brooks Staffing Supports the Martin Luther King Holiday B rooks S taffing A Division of S. Brooks & Associates, Inc. A Full Service Staffing Company the M ayor’s Spirit o f Portland A w ard, an annual recognition o f work for com m unity better m ent. A m onth ago she re c e iv e d a N atio n al C arin g A w ard from the National C ar ing Institute in Washington, D.C. Inspired by the exam ple of M other T eresa, the aw ard is given to people w ho are “a visual m anifestation that one person can make adifference.” At a City Hall cerem ony to m ark the occasion, Portland m ayorT om Pottersaid Nelson has been “ very effective" as an advocate while remaining “the kindest, most cari ng person I' ve ever known.” In th e case of h o m elessn ess. N elson said, “ B uilding relationships w ith people is p a ra m o u n t. Y ou c a n 't ju st throw' m oney at the problem. W e’ve institutional ized the p ro b lem - it’s a c cep ted . and th e re ’s no a t tem pt to deal w ith the u n d e r lying issues.” She noted that in Portland, “O ne of the largest barriers to having a hom e is that rents here have skyrocketed.” T o co m bat this, s h e 'd like to see a “perm anent housing subsidy” to m ake m ore housing afford able for the poorest people. She said this should be coupled with the work o f another agency calledJO IN . “They build a relationship with individual landlords and get them to take in hom eless people. If the person screws up and trashes the apartm ent, the landlord know s that JOIN will m ake good the dam ages.” A nother issue, she said, is that it’s no longer possible to live independently on a m ini m um wage job. “ You could raise the m ini m um w age to a livable level, m aybe $ 13 an hour,” she said. N elson said efforts to build continued on page B 7 Life Before and After the Boycott Rosa Parks w as educated at the M ontgom ery Industrial School for G irls in the 1920s. The school closed when Parks was in eighth grade. She then attended the Laboratory Schrxil at A labam a State T eachers C ollege for N egroes, ev en tu ally dropping out tocare for her ailing mother. She later received her high school diplom a. In 1932, at 20 years old, she m ar ried a barber. Raym ond Parks, a charter m em ber o f the M ont g o m e ry C h a p te r o f th e N A A C P. During W orld W ar II, Parks worked at M axwell Field (now M axwell A ir Force Base) in M ontgom ery, Ala. At the time of her arrest for re fusing to sit at the back o f bus segregated by race and the ensuing bus boy cott, Parks was em ployed as a seamstress at the M ontgomery Fair departm ent store. Due to Rosa Parks working as a seamstress in Montgomery, Ala. in the mid 1950s. her notoriety after the boycott, she and her husband were un able to find work. In 1957 they moved to Detroit, Mich, where she rem ained active in the civil rights movement. In 1965, Parks began w ork ing for the campaign o f John Conyers priortohisentry intothe U.S House o f Representatives. She continued to w ork for Conyersuntilsheretinedin 1988. "Where Temporary Staffing leads to Permanent Satisfaction” Experienced employees are carefully screened and unconditionally guaranteed. ■ No surplus labor ■ No insurance costs ■ No interviewing ■ No tax records Simply sign the temporary employee’s weekly time card. You will receive an itemized invoice, that’s it! We give you the individualized attention you deserve! Call, to start saving 5 0 3 .2 8 4 .7 9 3 0 B rooks S taffing A Division of S. Brooks & Associates, Inc. A h ill Service Staffing Company M o n tgo ni e r y I m p rove m e n t Associ a tio n 1130 NE Alberta Street Portland, Oregon 97211 FAX: 503.284.7977 Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. presides over a meeting o f the Montgomery Improvement Association in 1955, a Montgomery, Ala. group founded ju s t days after Rosa Parks’ arrest for refusing to comply with the city's race segregation laws. The group organized bus boycott strategies and kept efforts at a local level to attract little opposition. Members also included Parks (center) and Rev. Ralph Abernathy (seated left). www.sbrooks.com jobs@sbrooks.com i
