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M ARCH 14, 2012
P ORTLAND , O REGON
V OLUME XXXIV, N O . 11
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C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW
Living
on the
Street
NEWSMAKER 2012
Study: Almost 30
percent of Portland’s
homeless are Black
By Bruce Poinsette
Special To The Skanner News
Portland Mayor Sam Adams and Chabre Vickers, at a benefit breakfast for Big Brothers Big Sisters last year in
Portland. Vickers will be given a medal for her community work by the Royal Rosarians at a gala dinner this week.
PHOTO BY
HELEN SILVIS
B
lacks are overrepresented in Port-
land’s homeless shelter population,
according to a new report by the
Institute for Children, Poverty and Home-
lessness (ICPH).
“This is something that no one really
wants to talk about,” says co-writer
Matthew Adams. “Media attention is
focused on the one percent and the middle
class.”
The study, titled “Intergenerational Dis-
parities Experienced by Black Families,”
utilizes the US Census Bureau’s 2005-2009
American Community Survey data to ana-
lyze why Black families are overrepresented
in US homelessness and poverty statistics.
Nationally, 23.3 percent of Black families
lived in poverty in 2010, compared to only
7.1 percent of white families. To put that in
perspective, one in every 141 Black family
members stayed in a homeless shelter ver-
sus one in 990 white family members.
Blacks made up only 12.1 percent of the
US population, but represented 38.8 percent
of sheltered persons in 2010. Meanwhile,
whites were 65.8 percent of the general pop-
ulation but only 28.6 percent of those
occupying shelter beds.
In addition to national statistics, the report
also breaks down general versus sheltered
populations for Blacks and whites in 37
cities, including Portland.
Although Blacks made up about 5.4 per-
cent of Portland’s general population, they
accounted for 28.3 percent of the city’s
homeless. Whites, on the other hand, made
up 77.2 percent of the general population
and only 41.5 percent of the sheltered popu-
lation. Blacks are overrepresented in the
homeless population by 22.8 percent while
whites are underrepresented by 35.7 per-
cent, according to the study.
The authors of the study suggest that
racial barriers to resources are the cause for
Royal Rosarians to Honor Visionary
Vickers is active in many local groups advocating for youth
T
he Skanner News has selected
Chabre Vickers as its Newsmaker
of the Year 2012, in recognition of
her exceptional work with Portland’s
11:45 Movement to link at-risk youth
with adult mentors.
The Royal Rosarians, Portland’s official
goodwill ambassadors, hold the annual
Newsmaker of the Year banquet to honor
“citizens who have performed exception-
al acts of heroism or benevolent service in
the metro area.” News organizations are
invited to nominate an individual for the
prestigious award, which is presented at
the banquet.
This year’s awards banquet will be held
Wednesday, March 14 at the Double Tree
Lloyd Center Hotel.
Vickers, who is director of community
relations and diversity programs for Big
Brothers Big Sisters of the Columbia
Northwest has been active with the 11:45
Movement since it was formed. The pas-
tor-led initiative was created in response
to an increase in youth violence that last
year took the lives of several teens includ-
ing: Yashanee Vaughn, Shiloh Hampton,
Shalamar Edmonds, Mario Marin and
Julio Cesar Marquez.
At its first community-wide meeting
last June, Vickers signed up 85 people to
become mentors for youth. That was a
first for the organization and drew nation-
al interest from other chapters of Big
Brother’s Big Sisters. Vickers spoke at the
nonprofit’s national meeting in Atlanta
about 11:45 and the mentoring initiative.
“People were calling me up from all
over the country,” Vickers says. “They
wanted to know how did I manage to do
that – in the least churched state.”
Vickers says Portland’s church commu-
nities stepped up to help youth because
they saw the need and believed in the
power of mentors to change children’s
lives. Since then she has continued to gain
volunteers from 11:45. About 2,000 chil-
dren are on the waiting list for mentors.
Vickers said the hardest matches to make
are for African American and Latino boys.
Many boys of color who need and want
mentors grow up without ever being
matched with an adult Big Brother.
Vickers work through 11:45 is not her
only exceptional achievement. Through a
partnership with NIKE’s Black Employ-
ees group, she has secured donations and
opportunities that will help Portland-
metro area children for years to come.
If you want to volunteer as a mentor you
can contact Chabre Vickers at 503-249-
4859.
See HOMELESS on page 3
INDEX
News ...................2,3,9
Opinion ..................4,5
Obituary....................6
A & E .........................7
Healthy Food...........10
Bids/Classifieds ........11
Financial .................12
Foreclosure Reform Passes Legislature
Enforcement of new law for homeowners remains a question mark
By Helen Silvis
Of The Skanner News
T
he last-minute success of
a foreclosure reform bill,
which the Oregon Legis-
lature passed on the last day of
this year’s session, astonished
even seasoned Salem watchers.
“We did the impossible; I’m
not kidding,” says Angela Mar-
tin of the nonprofit advocacy
group Economic Fairness Ore-
gon, which lobbied hard for the
bill.
“Homeowners will now have
the right—whether they are in
default or are underwater with
their homes, but have not fallen
behind – to have a face to face
meeting with their lender. The
lender has to show up and they
have to send someone who has
the power to make decisions and
can give a full accounting of any
fees the bank says they owe.”
How effective the reform will
be remains unclear, since the
law doesn’t give the Attorney
General power to enforce it.
What the new Oregon law
does say is that mortgage
lenders must meet with home-
owners in the presence of a
mediator and make a good faith
effort to avoid foreclosure. And
banks are forbidden from simul-
taneously pursuing foreclosure,
See LAW on page 3