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A UGUST 27, 2014
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V OLUME XXXVI, N O . 47
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C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW
Annual
Job Gap
Study
25
RALLY FOR HOPE
Report finds $15 per
hour is not enough to
stay out of poverty
Lisa Loving
Of The Skanner News
PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED
W
hile the campaign for a $15 mini-
mum wage takes root across the
country, a new report underscores
just how meager that wage really is for fam-
ilies.
The 2014 Annual Job Gap Report from
the economic research group, the Alliance
for a Just Society, found that in Washington
State the living wage for a single individual
is now $15.99 an hour, while in Oregon it
takes $15.96 per hour.
A single adult with two children in Ore-
gon needs $30.75 per hour; in Washington,
$30.01.
“I think for Washington State the most
important thing is what a realistic living
wage is for families,” says Kathy Mulady
with the Alliance for a Just Society in Seat-
tle.
“This means a wage not where a family
can barely survive, but a wage where a fam-
ily has a chance to actually thrive.”
“One of the things that struck me the most
is that we’re seeing that even though there’s
a $15 minimum wage campaign being
waged across the country, this report — for
the first time that I’ve seen it — implies that
even $15 is not enough,” said Darlene
Huntress, executive director of Oregon
Action.
The annual report, which covers 10 states
plus New York City, has been issued since
1999 by the national office of the Alliance
for a Just Society in cooperation with local
community justice groups.
“For workers saddled with debt, the wage
to pay off that debt would be even greater
than the calculated living wage,” the report
says. “Students in Washington graduate
with $23,293 in student loans, and the aver-
age credit card holder in the state has an
outstanding debt of $5,269. Additionally,
nearly 20 percent of mortgages in the state
are underwater.”
People prayed for the City of Seattle and celebrated God at the 10th Annual Rally for Hope, Saturday, Aug. 23 at
Westlake Park, in Seattle. The event was dedicated to inspiring young people and included appearances by Dr.
Dorinda Clark-Cole, Michelle Lang, the Mt. Zion Wind Ensemble and many more.
Ready for the LOVE Challenge?
Portland man inspired by ice bucket videos uses media for peace
By Helen Silvis
Of The Skanner News
J
ames Crittenden Sr. issued a
challenge to Portland last
week. He calls it the LOVE
Challenge: Let Our Vengeance
End.
“It takes a real man or a real
woman if you can approach
someone and let them know,
‘I’m sorry about what I did.’ Or
if they did something, to say: ‘I
want to let go of what you did.
Let’s not let this happen again.
Let’s just live life and be
happy.’”
Crittenden says he’s challeng-
ing people to let go of old
grudges, reach out to former
enemies and move forward in
peace. And he’s leading by
example.
Last week he posted a video
of himself reconciling with a
former love rival, Cory. The two
men fell out after they both fell
for the same woman.
“We haven’t seen each other
for a while, and it is good,” he
says in the video as the two men
hug. “This is my brother, and to
all you haters out there, this is
what we did. And this is what
we might be doing again. So to
all you gang members out there,
I challenge you. I challenge you
females. I challenge everybody
to get with the ones you don’t
get along with and do just this.”
The video must have hit a
nerve because it was shared on
Facebook more than 3,400
times.
Crittenden says he was
inspired by how the ice water
challenge started to draw atten-
tion, and funding, to the muscle
wasting illness ALS. Thousands
of people have joined in the
challenge, dowsing themselves
with buckets of ice-cold water
and circulating challenge videos
on social media.
“When I saw that I thought if
people will pour ice on them-
selves, why wouldn’t they go to
somebody and say, ‘I apolo-
gize’. Why hold on to a grudge
when nine times out of 10 it’s
over nothing, something really
small. Maybe you have a family
member you have an issue with.
See LOVE on page 3
See WAGE on page 3
Community Cycling Center Boosts Outreach
INDEX
News ...........1,3,6,9-10
Opinion .....................2
Calendars ..............4,5
A & E ......................7,8
Bids/Classifieds ........11
Group makes history with new efforts at bridging racial divides
Lisa Loving
Of The Skanner News
T
he Community Cycling Center is on a
roll.
After hiring Mychal Tetteh as chief exec-
utive officer last summer, the organization
boosted its community organizing staff in a
bid for growth. Then this summer the Cen-
ter hired North Carolina native Ernest
Stephens as its Chief Operating Officer.
This month the organization – which for
more than 20 years has operated a bike
repair shop on Northeast Alberta Street –
held its first-ever Bikes for Kids event in
East County.
Then when Jason Washington of Brothers
Gaining Equality through Excellence and
community organizer DeMarcus Preston
decided to start a “Take Back the Streets”
movement against violence, the Center
stepped up to sponsor their work with a big
kickoff event last weekend.
After years of working to build grassroots
support for bicycling in Northeast Portland,
the Community Cycling Center has suc-
ceeded in transforming bikes from a symbol
of gentrification to a tool for community
empowerment for families that have been
pushed out of the city center.
When The Skanner News met with Tetteh,
See CYCLING on page 3