Page A3
December IO, 2 00 8
Lawmaker Fights for Kids, Families
with a mix o f behavioral therapy,
jo b placem ent and jo b retention
services.
“ Better People has show n that
there are solutions to the problem
o f repeat o ffe n d e rs,” S hields
sa y s, “ W e s h o u ld in v e st in
people, especially children, in­
ste a d o f p riso n s. T h a t’s the
m indset I w ould bring to the Hu­
man Services Subcom m ittee of
W ays & M eans.”
Shields com pleted his M aster
o f Social W ork degree at the
M acL aren Y outh C orrectional
Institution and the V olunteers of
A m erica M en’s R esidential C en­
ter, a north and northeast Port­
land inpatient drug and alcohol
treatm ent center.
At VOA, Shields learned about
addiction treatm ent under the
Looks to chair
key committee
by P aul G erald
F or the P ortland O bserver
State Rep. Chip Shields will
likely gain a plum assignm ent as
chair o f the Human Services Sub­
com m ittee o f W ays and Means.
And that, he says, could bring
benefits to his north and north­
east Portland district.
Shields hopes to use his know l­
edge o f health care and human
services to keep kids and adults
from w inding up in institutions
like the Oregon D epartm ent o f
C o rre c tio n s and the O reg o n
Y outh A uthority.
The D em ocrat has been busy
m astering hum an services issues
at the sam e tim e the state faces an
econom ic dow nturn and corre­
sponding $1 billion hole in the
state budget.
O ne o f his com m itm ents is to
im prove foster care.
H e an d h is w ife , S h e ld a
H olm es, recently becam e foster
parents them selves. The couple
hosted a roundtable last month at
W idm er G asthaus for local foster
parents.
“All too often w e forget that
the foster hom e is really where
children can be helped, not jus,
wing of A1 Forthan, a long-time zations, chronic disease m anage­
fixture in the African-American ment, physicals, w om en’s health,
recovery com m unity who passed family planning, and help with
away in 2006. Shields has been everyday injuries and illnesses.
involved in V O A ’s effort to pro­
“There are simply too many
vide co lleg e sc h o larsh ip s to kids that don't have any insur­
Jefferson High School students ance, and too many o f their par­
in Forthan's name.
ents are uninsured too,” he said.
Shields recently met with Greg
D espite the econom ic chal­
Stone of VOA and other experts lenges and slum ping revenue.
in drug treatment to help chart out Shields is optim istic that there
the most effective way to respond will be advances in health care
to treatm ent provisions in Ballot and health care coverage through
M easure 57, the new sentencing a fee on hospital providers and
measure passed by voters Nov. 4. insurance com panies.
“As D em ocrats, we are com ­
Shields also sees the health
care crisis in all its com plexity at mitted to solving the health care
H ands on M edicine, 5311 N. crisis, and with President-elect
V a n c o u v e r, w h ich h is w ife O bam a at the helm and a strong
founded in 2007. H e’s the busi­ majority in the Oregon House, we
ness manager o f the clinic, which will make strides this session,"
offers well-child checks, immuni­ said Shields.
photo by C heryl J uetten
Rep. Chip Shields, representing north and northeast Portland,
hosts a thank-you dinner and focus group for local foster
parents.
housed," said Shields. “We can
do a m uch better jo b for kids by
making every foster home one full
o f healing foster parents who are
well trained and well supported.”
The challenge is clear: be­
tween 25 and 41 percent o f former
foster youths spend time in prison,
Shields says. O ne study found
that the arrest rate is 67 percent
higher for youths previously in
the child welfare system than for
those never in that system.
Shields knows that failing to
invest in kids on the front end
means spending much more on
prisons on the back end.
In 1998, he founded Better
People, a nonprofit now located
at 4 3 10N .E . Martin Luther King
Jr. Blvd., w hich helps form er of­
fenders break the cycle o f crim e
DHS: PUBLIC HEALTH DIVISION
Protecting ONE takes EVERYONE!
Is your family protected against pertussis?
Pertussis can occur at any age, but infants and young children
MMM
Warming Centerfor Families
con tin u ed
fro m Front
o f donations o f blankets and pil­
lows, twin sheets and pillow cases,
bassinets, coats, jackets and other
w inter clothing, as well as food.
K ey B ank o f O reg o n has
stepped forward by donating to
the W arming Center and will have
three drop-off sites for non-food
donations at branches located a,
G atew ay 1205 N.E. 102nd Ave.;
LloydCenter, 825 N.E. Multnomah chase items for the W arming Cen­
St.; and the Gresham Mall. 390 W. ter and for others in need.
Human Solutions is a nonprofit
Burnside.
There will also be a drop-off organization that has been in
site at H uman Solutions’ M ain operation since 1988-a n d is dedi­
O ffice for all types o f donations, cated to helping low -incom e and
hom eless fam ilies gain self suffi­
12350S.E. Powell Blvd.
A nyone w ishing to m ake a fi­ ciency by providing affordable
nancial contribution can go online housing, fam ily support services,
at hum ansolutions.com or send a jo b readiness training and eco­
check to H uman Solutions. C on­ nomic developm ent opportuni­
tributions will be used to pur- ties.
Oregon Legislature Helps with Heating Bills
Some 35,000additional Oregon
families will receivehelpwith heat­
ing bills through a federal grant
approved last w eek by the O r­
egon L egislature’s Em ergency
Board.
The additional federal dollars
- w hich require no new state ex­
penditures - will increase the
num ber o f low income families
receiving heating assistance to
nearly 100,(XX).
“These are struggling families
that need som e extra assistance
during these tough tim es,” said
State Rep. Nancy N athanson, D-
Eugene. “A nd when we can use
these federal dollars it means fami­
lies can afford to buy food and
m edicine; it m eans a little less of
a burden on food banks and other
service providers. These federal
funds could not have com e at a
better tim e for Oregon fam ilies.”
Prototype for Public Decency
con tin u ed
The new Tdap vaccine will help protect your family.
Aregon
V* partnership
• to Immunize
■ C hildren
For more information, please call your health care provider or
1-800-SAFENET to find out where you can get a pertussis vaccination.
)fb H S
Independent Healthy Safe
BringHome
Holiday *
Refreshment
fro m Front
Loo. Instead there is a spigot on
the outside for hand w ashing and
a hand sanitizer dispenser in the
inside.
The city has been m ulling over
w ha, to do with the lack of public
restroom s in dow ntow n for years.
Its m ost recent solution was to
keep a security guard staffed all
nigh, at City Hall so that the bath­
room s could rem ain open. H ow ­
ever, this cost about $120,000
annually.
“W e cannot do nothing with
people on the street,” said Lan
N guyen, the ow ner o f the N orth­
w est O rchid Salon and a m em ber
o f Public H ygiene Lets Us Stay
Hum an, a group form ed in con­
ju n ctio n w ith the O ld T ow n-
Chinatow n N eighborhood A sso­
ciation.
N guyen said that since she
started h er O ld T ow n b u siness
five y ears ago sh e 's had to c o n ­
stan tly grap p le w ith hom eless
d o in g th e ir b u sin e ss on the
s te p s o f h e r s a lo n , a n d is
pleased to see the city step up
to the issue.
Carol M cCreary, the treasurer
o f the neighborhood association,
said th a t the lack o f p ublic
restroom s has been an issue since
she moved to the neighborhood
in 2003, and added that the asso­
ciation is pleased the city is ad­
dressing this longstanding issue.
“ Portland stepped up to the
plate,” she said.
O ld to w n -C h in a to w n has a
large population o f hom eless
people, which is why it was cho­
sen for the firs, Loo.
" I ’m d elig h ted ,” said Fern
Elledge, com m unity service sec­
to r d ir e c to r fo r T ra n s itio n
Projects, which helps Portland’s
hom eless and is based in the
neighborhood.
can spread the disease to infants and young children.
photo by J ake T homas /T he P ortland O bserver
Cameras capture the moment Monday after Mayor-Elect Sam
Adams gives the Portland Loo its maiden flush. The public
toilet is the first of a prototype to give street people and the
public at large a place to go to the bathroom.
Leonard said he go, the idea city has receiv ed q u eries from
w hileon a vacation to Italy, where O lym pia, a suburb in A tlanta,
he saw sim ilar facilities. That and V ictoria, A ustralia.
She said that the biggest d if­
prompted him to wrangle $500,000
from city council aw arded in in­ ficulty w ith the project has been
crem ents last year and early this escaping ih e sp ecter o f a sim i­
lar, and failed, p roject launched
year.
The prototype Loo was built by S eattle several years ago.
by local metal fabrication com ­ T he elab o rate and expensive
pany. M adden Fabrication for to ilets b ecam e hubs o f u n sa­
$140,000. Leonard is hoping to vory activ ity and flopped, c o st­
put up tw o more Loos with the ing th e city m illions. Since then,
money left over. Tw o sites being people have been skeptical o f
considered are N orthwest Third P o rtlan d 's sim ilar effo rt, said
Avenue and C ouch Street, and D iB enedetto.
H ow ever, Portland might be
another at Jam ison Square in the
onto something. Paul Brubaker,
Pearl District.
In the future, the cost to build program m anager with the Ameri­
the facilities is estim ated to go can Restroom Association, said
dow n to around $25,000 a pop. that no other city has anything
T h e m o n e y w o u ld g o to quite like the Loo, and that more
Portland’s W ater Bureau, which cities are looking to add similar
facilities to enhance their“li vabil-
Leonard heads.
L eonard is hoping the L oos ity."
w ill bring in m oney for the city
“T h e re ’s b een an in te rest
by selling the design to o th er across the country for this," he
cities. Di B enedetto said that the said.