WWW . THESKANNER . COM
M AY 2, 2012
P ORTLAND & S EATTLE
V OLUME XXXIV, N O . 18
25
CENTS
For The Skanner
news alerts
Text "NEWS" to
503-715-0890 or
scan this QR code
C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW
Dispute
Over
Expenses
THE RICH & THE REST
Brothers and Sisters
Keepers asked to
return city funds
By Helen Silvis
Of The Skanner News
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
T
he gang outreach nonprofit Brothers
and Sisters Keepers is no longer con-
tracted with the City of Portland. The
city and the nonprofit say they have ended
the contract, “by mutual agreement.”
But a letter and documentation obtained
by The Skanner News reveals the nonprof-
it’s use of city funds is at issue.
City Auditor James Van Dyke wrote April
17 to Tonya Dickens, BSK’s director and a
longtime gang outreach worker.
“I am writing to inform you that the
Mayor’s Office of Youth Violence Preven-
tion on behalf of the City of Portland
demands the return of $20,934.68 in funds
that have not been spent in accordance with
the above-mentioned grant agreement,”
writes Van Dyke in the letter.
Dickens, who spoke to The Skanner News
before receiving the letter, said she did not
want to be quoted directly about the disso-
lution of the contract. She said the nonprofit
would continue its gang outreach work, paid
or unpaid. She said the city wanted too
much documentation on how the grant was
spent.
The entire 2011-12 budget for the Office
of Youth Violence Prevention was
$592,272. Brothers and Sisters Keepers
were budgeted to receive $96,813, for out-
reach workers, phones and administration
costs.
But a budget reconciliation document
from the city shows that Brothers and Sis-
ters Keepers reported spending more on cell
phones and personnel than it could docu-
ment.
The nonprofit’s documented
expenses were $75,878.
The city currently funds 10 gang outreach
workers through five different agencies.
Three outreach workers formerly employed
by BSK under the city’s program have been
transferred to Portland Opportunities Indus-
trialization Center.
Tavis Smiley and Cornell West answered questions at the Neptune Theatre in Seattle April 24 as part of their “The
Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto Tour.”
The Skanner News Goes to New York
Juvenile justice fellowship serves as focus for 2012 reporting project
By Helen Silvis
Of The Skanner News
D
uring the last five years
New York state has
closed 18 youth prisons.
Some 900 young people incar-
cerated in those prisons were
placed in home-based and
home-like treatment programs,
within their own communities.
And under Gov. Cuomo’s
“Close to Home” initiative,
most youth offenders will fol-
low suit.
“Only the most dangerous
See MONEY on page 3
INDEX
young people who pose a risk to
public safety should be in our
juvenile justice system,” says
Commissioner Gladys Carrion,
who leads the New York State
Office of Children and Family
Services. “The vast majority are
not a risk to public safety and
we had evidence that low-level
interventions were more effec-
tive.”
Carrion spoke at a sympo-
sium, “Kids Behind Bars:
Where’s the Justice in Ameri-
ca’s Juvenile Justice System?
Covering the Juvenile Justice
Reform Debate in 2012.” This
reporter, Helen Silvis, repre-
sented The Skanner News as one
of 31 journalists who received
fellowships to attend the sym-
posium, at John Jay College’s
Center on Media, Crime and
Justice in New York City.
The journalists represented
news outlets around the country,
publications as varied as The
Salt Lake Tribune, The New
York Daily News, The New York
Times, Witness LA, NPR, The
Baltimore Sun, the Center for
Public Integrity, the Juvenile
Justice Information Exchange
and the New England Center for
Investigative Journalism. Each
publication, including The
Skanner News, will develop
original work about children
and youth in the justice system
over the next year.
Veteran investigative journal-
ists Stephen Handelman and Joe
Domanick organized the event,
highlighting common issues
affecting youth across the coun-
try, as well as efforts to reform
juvenile justice systems and
See JUSTICE on page 3
ACLU Sues Border Patrol Over Traffic
News ......................2,3
‘People are stopped based solely on their appearance, ethnicity’
Opinion ..................4,5
By Manuel Valdes
The Associated Press
A & E ............6,7,10,11
Food..........................8
Bids/Classifieds ........11
SEATTLE (AP) — The American Civil
Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Thursday
against the U.S. Border Patrol seeking to bar
agents from making traffic stops, saying
people are being pulled over and questioned
for the way they look and without reason-
able suspicion.
The lawsuit stems from tensions between
immigrants and the expanded presence of
Border Patrol agents on Washington state’s
Olympic Peninsula, which shares no land
border with Canada.
``People are being stopped based solely
on their appearance and ethnicity. This is
unlawful and contrary to American values,’’
said Matt Adams, legal director of the
Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, which
also joined the lawsuit. ``No one in a car
should be stopped and interrogated by gov-
ernment agents unless the law enforcement
officer has a legal basis to do so.’’
The ACLU and the Northwest Immigrant
Rights Project filed the lawsuit on behalf of
three peninsula residents who have been
stopped by Border Patrol agents.
See ACLU on page 3