WWW . THESKANNER . COM
O CTOBER 3, 2012
P ORTLAND , O REGON
V OLUME XXXIV, N O . 40
25
CENTS
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C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW
Feds
Fund
New DA
U N IT Y
The prosecutor will
work in Albina/
Killingsworth corridor
Helen Silvis
Of The Skanner News
PHOTO COURTESY KYMBERLY JEKA
M
ultnomah County District Attor-
ney’s Office has landed a $600,000
grant from the federal Bureau of
Justice Assistance, part of the Department
of Justice.
The three-year grant includes $45,000 a
year to support Eleven:45, the church-led
youth violence prevention initiative. It also
will fund a Deputy District Attorney who
will work in the Albina and Killingsworth
corridor to work with the street crimes unit.
Deputy District Attorney Jim Hayden
announced the grant at the Gang Violence
Task Force meeting on Friday. Hayden, who
is based at the Northeast police precinct,
says the grant will help Eleven:45, reach out
to gang-affected youth and families.
“It is exciting, because we have some
momentum going here and the more that we
can do now, the better,” said Hayden.
Eleven:45 and the District Attorney’s
office are working together on an initiative
that connects gang-affected youth with pas-
tors. As a condition of probation, first-time
offenders who have committed minor
offenses will be asked to contact a mentor
through the Eleven:45 program.
The initiative started with pastors taking
youth to lunch, to offer them support and
help connect them to resources in the com-
munity, including mentoring. The grant
also will help with administrative costs and
organizing volunteers.
The Office of Youth Violence Prevention
has allocated a separate grant of $4,500 to
the volunteer group Connected, said Tom
Peavey, policy manager for the office. The
funds are intended to help Connected con-
tinue its work. Connected puts a caring adult
presence into parks and streets where vio-
lence has a been a problem. Since it was
started by former youth violence prevention
director John Canda, Connected has been
walking in Holladay Park every Friday at
Inspired by the City Repair project, artist Kymberly Jeka wanted to create a community mural on her street, at the
intersection of North Haight and Emerson. After months of bringing the idea around the city for approval,
neighbors got together last weekend and painted the striking geometric design of interlocking triangles. “The
design represents Unity and Community,” Jeka says. “It represents diverse neighbors coming together and working
as one.”
Black GLBT Report: First of Its Kind
Oct. 11 forum looks at disparities in income, housing, violence
Submitted by the Urban
League of Portland
A
new report provides the
first
comprehensive
glimpse into the lives
and concerns of black Oregoni-
ans who are also lesbian, gay,
bisexual, transgender or queer
(LGBTQ).
Until now, almost no data
about this population existed.
The report – which relies on a
survey of 200 people, two com-
munity focus groups, plus
information from other studies –
See GRANT on page 3
INDEX
News .2,3,6,7,12,13,16
Opinion ..................4,5
A & E .........................8
Books.........................9
Food...................10,11
Bids/Classifieds ...14,15
shows that discrimination on the
basis of gender and sexual iden-
tity, compounded by racial
inequity, creates far greater
social and economic disparities
for black LGBTQ people.
The Parent’s and Friends of
Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG)
Portland Black Chapter teamed
up with the Urban League of
Portland to produce the study.
“This is a groundbreaking
document that shows black gay
and transgender folks are
among the most vulnerable peo-
ple in our society,” said Khalil
Edwards, the coordinator for
Portland PFLAG’s black chap-
ter. “The issues we face must be
addressed, and this report will
help us address them.”
Some of the highlights of the
report:
Black LGBTQ Oregonians
have disproportionally high
rates for poverty and unemploy-
ment: 43.7 percent have an
annual income of $20,000 or
less, and 18 percent are unem-
ployed. One third reported
discrimination in being hired or
on the job. These rates are high-
er than those among white peo-
ple of any orientation and
straight people of color.
Black LGBTQ people of color
fare worse in health when com-
pared to heterosexuals and
white LGBT people, with
almost 11 percent of black
LGBT Oregonians reporting
being diagnosed with HIV.
Black LGBTQ Oregonians
often face homophobia, with 70
percent of respondents reporting
it as a problem within the black
community.
See FORUM on page 3
Maya Angelou Visits Portland Oct. 30
The poet author and national treasure speaks to The Skanner News
By Helen Silvis
Of The Skanner News
D
r. Maya Angelou is scheduled to
speak in Portland, Oct. 30, at the
Arlene Schnitzer Hall. Born in St.
Louis, Mo., in 1928, she has traveled wide-
ly and earned renown as an author, poet,
dancer, actor, producer and civil rights
activist. She has counted among her friends
many of the most influential people of the
20th Century and beyond, including with
Malcolm X, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.,
and James Baldwin. It was Baldwin who
encouraged her to write her autobiography.
The first volume, “I Know Why the Caged
Bird Sings,” was published in 1970 to enor-
mous acclaim. That work, and her 30
subsequent biographies, poetry and novels,
have inspired readers the world over.
Dr. Angelou’s awards and honors include
three Grammys, a Pulitzer, 30 honorary
degrees – including one from Portland State
University— the Presidential Medal of Arts
in 2000 and the Lincoln Medal in 2008. At
the request of President Bill Clinton she
composed and recited a poem for his 1993
inauguration, “On the Pulse of The Morn-
See ANGELOU on page 3