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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 18, 2018)
Inspired by Science Young inventor competes for top prize ‘City of Roses’ Volume XLVII • Number 28 See Metro, page 9 Incredible Survivor Injured woman found alive after crash See Local News, page 3 www.portlandobserver.com Wednesday • July 18, 2018 Established in 1970 Committed to Cultural Diversity photo courtesy M ultnoMah c ounty Case managers from the non-profit Central City Concern’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program, (pictured from left) Juliana DePietro, Hubert Matthews, Jason Sheffey, and Carlos Reynoso, work outside the court system to help low level drug offenders, often people on the streets and people who are homeless, get the social services and treatment they need instead of continuing a cycle through the criminal justice system. Team Beats Back Jail Door Works with drug addicted, homeless to change outcomes by D anny p eterson t he p ortlanD o bserver A pilot project shows promise as a way of helping people struggling with serious drug addictions, many of whom living on the street, get connected with social ser- vices and treatment, instead of continuing to cycle through the criminal justice sys- tem. In a city where one in every two arrests made by the Portland Police Bureau last year was of a homeless person, as the Or- egonian recently reported, a recent expan- sion of the program could help ameliorate the issues that plague the un-housed. The Law Enforcement Assisted Diver- sion or LEAD program is a county-funded, pre-booking jail diversion program that allows police to divert someone facing a low-level drug offense to case managers, who curate individualized treatments, and keep them away from jail or prosecution. For about the past year and a half, the non-profit organization Central City Con- cern has contracted with Multnomah Coun- ty to provide the services to said would-be drug offenders. Originally encompassing clientele from downtown Portland and the Lloyd District, the program expanded in May to encompass central southeast cli- ents, too. The coordinated effort between law enforcement agencies, service providers, community organizations and elected of- ficials is aimed to reduce crime and the harm individuals struggling with addiction can cause themselves and their community. The majority of the program’s clients are those experiencing homelessness, Karen Kern, who oversees the LEAD program at Central City Concern, told the Portland Observer. She said she’s received supportive re- sponses from the community with what the program has been able to achieve so far. “We’ve been able to show that we actu- ally have some positive outcomes. [We’ve helped] people who’ve been chronically homeless and using substances [...] that are now housed and sober and working. Even the officers are like ‘wow I can’t believe this; it’s like a complete transformation for this person,’” Kern said. Since its launch in February 2017, 99 c ontinueD on p age 4
