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A UGUST 8, 2012
P ORTLAND , O REGON
V OLUME XXXIV, N O .32
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C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW
First Mini
URAs Get
Funds
GET READY
Chase Bank donates
$50,000 to new
‘prosperity initiative’
By Helen Silvis
Of The Skanner News
PHOTO BY LNAOMI P[IERCE
J
.P. Morgan Chase Bank has made a
$50,000 donation to the Neighborhood
Prosperity Initiative to support develop-
ment in six Portland neighborhoods. Creat-
ed by the Portland Development
Commission, the Neighborhood Prosperity
Initiative created six small urban renewal
districts across Portland’s Eastside.
Each neighborhood is creating a develop-
ment plan that aims to improve the environ-
ment for small business, to spur job growth
and increase livability for residents. The six
prosperity initiative districts are: Our 42nd
Avenue; Cully Blvd.; Parkrose; 82nd Ave. at
Division, (also known as the Jade District);
Division Midway; and Rosewood.
“I want to thank Chase, and I really do
think it’s going to be the first of many dona-
tions,” said PDC executive director, Patrick
Quinton at PCC’s Workforce Development
Center on Northeast Killingsworth Street.
“We’ll look back and thank Chase for being
the first to step forward.”
The Neighborhood Prosperity Initiative
was created to help struggling neighbor-
hoods using urban renewal money, with the
goals of growing jobs, supporting small
businesses and filling in vacant space. The
development commission supplied each dis-
trict with seed money of $10,000 to get
started, and with technical assistance to
develop a plan. The commission also asked
each district to raise $30,000 in private sec-
tor funding, and promised matching funds
to help run the program and to hire district
managers.
Instead of competing against one another
for corporate funds, the prosperity districts
decided to solicit donations as a group.
“We’ve been very supportive of that effort
and we think it’s right to have one voice for
this whole initative, Quinton said. “We hope
this is the first of many such announcements
like this.”
FOCUS EAST presented Get Ready at the Midland Library Saturday, Aug. 4. The event brought in people interested
in gaining information and connecting with neighbors to discuss some of the issues facing East Portlanders. Three
workshops on Crime Prevention, Business, and Health were offered, and Multnomah County provided blood pressure
checks. Sponsored by The Skanner News Group and East Portland Action Plan.
VOA Program on Youth Re-Entry
Young men leaving prison get help from others who’ve done it too
By Helen Silvis
Of The Skanner News
C
PR stands for Communi-
ty Partnerships Reinvest-
ment, but it’s tempting to
think of it more in the medical
sense, as CPR for young offend-
ers. Because, while it doesn’t
actually kickstart hearts that
have stopped beating, it does
seem to stop young men from
throwing their lives away.
DeAndre Frison is completely
open about his troubled teen
years. He was just 13 when he
See NPI on page 3
INDEX
News ................2,3,5,6
Opinion .....................4
A & E ......................5,8
Food..........................6
Bids/Classifieds ..........7
was sentenced to juvenile deten-
tion for assault. And just before
his 18th birthday he went to
prison for shooting at a car full
of rival gang members. Legally
an adult when he started his 60-
month mandatory sentence, he
says, inside he was just a boy.
“It was definitely scary, the
uncertainty of what would hap-
pen,” he says. “I’m not really a
man, though I am in the eyes of
the state.”
Released in 2009, Frison was
one of a group considered at
high-risk for reoffending: young
people under 25 who have a his-
tory of crime and incarceration
as a youth. But in 2010, he grad-
uated from a program designed
to reduce that risk, the CPR re-
entry program, run by Volun-
teers of America.
Today, Frison holds down two
jobs. From 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
he is a tradesman with a local
Steel company. From there he
goes back to CPR — this time
as a mentor, helping other
young men leaving prison.
“He’s a really solid young
man and I am so proud of him,”
says Kathy Sevos, the CPR pro-
gram director. “These young
men are really beating the odds.
It’s tough out there.”
CPR stands for Community
Partnerships Reinvestment, but
it’s tempting to think of it more
in the medical sense, as CPR for
young offenders. Because,
while it doesn’t actually kick-
start hearts that have stopped
beating, this program does seem
to stop young men from throw-
ing their lives away. A five-year
follow up study by Portland
See YOUTH on page 3
EASA Program Helps Mental Illness Now
Contrary to popular belief, there is help for psychosis -- and it works
By Helen Silvis
Of The Skanner News
P
lenty of us have days when we feel as
if we’re losing our minds. Three out of
every hundred people, won’t just feel
that way; they will slide into a psychosis.
The younger you are, the higher the risk.
Teens and young adults are most likely to be
hit with psychosis. That’s the bad news.
But the good news is that two of every
three people who develop psychosis, will
recover completely. They will never have
another attack. And it gets better. That one
person in 100 who has repeated bouts of
psychotic illness, usually can learn to cope
with the symptoms and live a normal life.
Yet mental illness gets such a bad rap that
most of us falsely believe that the most
extreme cases are typical, says Neil Falk
M.D., a psychiatrist with the Multnomah
County’s Early Assessment and Support
Alliance, known as EASA.
“The fear for families is that when they
hear the words psychosis or schizophrenia,
they assume their child is or family member
is going to become a homeless street per-
son,” Falk says.
See EASA on page 3