August 17, 2016 The Skanner Page 3 News cont’d from pg 1 wards said. The Black Chapter was founded in 2009 as a pro- gram under the PFLAG Portland non-proit, sharing a board of di- rectors and a Tax ID number. Since that time both organizations have grown: PFLAG added chapters in East County and Washington County ‘A real point of departure be- tween the Black Chapter and PFLAG Portland was when they decided that paid staf was the way that they needed to move their work forward’ and the Black Chapter grew in membership and expanded services. In addition to their sig- nature LGBTQ celebra- tion event, Black Pride, the Black Chapter has been working on Black Lives Matter activism, book drives for incarcer- ated youth and prison di- vestment initiatives. Edwards said the struc- ture of the organiza- tion worked well when PFLAG Portland and the Black Chapter agreed on how to run the non-prof- it. But when the two or- ganizations diverged, PFLAG Portland had the inal say. Dawn Holt, the Presi- dent of PFLAG Portland said the biggest disagree- ment between PFLAG Portland and the Black Chapter was the choice to have paid staf instead of being a volunteer-run organization. “A real point of depar- ture between the Black Chapter and PFLAG Port- land was when they de- cided that paid staf was the way that they needed to move their work for- ward,” Holt said. Most of the PFLAG or- ganization throughout Comic ally administer efective- ly,” Holt said. For Edwards, the deci- sion to lay of staf and go to a volunteer model would have fundamen- tally changed the work the organization could do. In his experience, work in the Black LGBTQ community requires more than volunteers, it needs investment in those organizers. “An all-volunteer mod- el … does not work for our work and our com- munities,” Edwards said. “To really do work efec- tively, it requires paid staf to carry out that work in a real way.” The transition from PFLAG Portland to an independent organiza- tion has been tumultu- ous. The group needed to rebrand and establish a new non-proit identity to fundraise and begin paying their staf. Throughout the up- heaval, Edwards remains optimistic about the fu- ture of the new PFLAG Black Chapter. “We are going to get through this challenging time in our history and our journey and come out stronger than ever,” Edwards said. Race Talks Fahima Osman, Samia Brotherson, Leocadia Montro-Hainly and Norma Hernandez speak at a citizens panel on actor Jesse Williams’ BET Awards speech earlier this summer. Race Talks is part of a series of discussions on race in U.S. culture hosted the second Tuesday of every month at McMenamins Kennedy School, accompanied by screenings of ilms by or about people of color. The next discussion, on music and the African disaspora, will take place Sept. 12. Terminal 1 cont’d from pg 1 tonio’s Haven for Hope homeless camp. Only a few years ago Williams was embroiled in a well-publi- cized ight to keep the homeless camp Right 2 Dream Too out of the Pearl District. On Wednes- day, he testiied to the council that helping the homeless was the re- sponsibility of both city and busi- ness leaders. “Our homeless is our problem. It’s a community problem and I think that it’s imperative if we are going to make progress that the public and private side need to both get involved,” Williams said. The 14.5 acre site at Terminal 1 includes a 96,000-square-foot unheated warehouse. The irst phase of the plan would turn that warehouse into a temporary shel- ter that could house up to 400 people. The second phase is the construction of a permanent shel- ter on the site. Commissioners Steve Novick and Dan Saltzman approved the proposal while Nick Fish and Amanda Fritz voted against it. Mayor Charlie Hales delivered the tie-breaking vote to approve Terminal 1. Mayor Hales addressed the di- “ Pearl district were concerned about having a homeless shel- ter next door. Numerous others brought up the idea of using the empty Wapato Jail as a mass homeless shelter. ‘Let’s do the right thing, let’s make sure we do it the right way, but above all, do something’ —Mayor Charlie Hales vision in his closing remarks, say- ing that Terminal 1 is a response to the homeless state of emergen- cy, requiring rapid action, delib- erate experimentation and real money. “Let’s keep trying to work to- gether as a community here, even if this is a divided vote and even if this is a divided house today,” Hales said. “Let’s do the right thing, let’s make sure we do it the right way, but above all, do some- thing.” About 60 people gave testimo- ny to the council. Many from the Members of self-organized homeless encampments testiied against the development of the shelter. Terry Leight of the Ha- zelnut Grove community said the management, decision making power and information is cen- tralized in the hands of a few city oicials and developers. Leight told the council that this concentration of power will ulti- mately harm the houseless if de- cisions are made without input from the most vulnerable. Read more at TheSkanner.com cont’d from pg 1 project is inding talent we didn’t know we had,” said Joann Hardesty, who has been meeting with the students regu- larly at Portland Community College’s Cascade campus. “We have students who didn’t think they were artists but they actually are.” Anthony Sylvester, a recent graduate of Roosevelt who will head to Pomona College in California and is interested in studying psychology and political science, not only created the artwork for the comic book but also created some computer animation for an on- line training module. Hardesty said when Sylvester got in- volved with the project, he didn’t think of himself as an artist. Hardesty said every student has had a role in every aspect of production, and all students have been present at meeting with groups like the Latino Network or the Asian Paciic Ameri- can Network of Oregon to discuss their concerns and stories about interacting with police. Students have also brought their own perspectives on policing into bear during discussions. “ into law enforcement. She hadn’t previously been interested in law enforcement, but the ride-along she participated in as part of the proj- I appreciated seeing things through police’s eyes and being a voice for the Somalian com- munity, which aren’t always heard “I appreciated seeing things through police’s eyes and being a voice for the Somalian community, which aren’t always heard on issues like this,” said Faiza Jama, a sophomore at Roosevelt, who plans to attend a historically black college or university and eventually return to Somalia to practice medicine. Some students have even changed their career goals ater participating in the project. Tanya Tiradio, who is in her second year at Portland Community College, plans to transfer to Portland State Uni- versity and join its cadet program to go ect changed her mind. She started to see things from oicers’ perspectives and saw how most approach their jobs. “Our goal is not to paint all police of- icers as bad. It’s for young people to have tools when they interact with po- lice,” Hardesty told The Skanner. Nonetheless, said Kate McPherson, the publications director at Roosevelt who has been working on the project, the project came about in part because so many community members have anxiety about interacting with police. Read more at TheSkanner.com PHOTO BY CHRISTEN MCCURDY “ the country is run by vol- unteers and a volunteer board of directors, ac- cording to Holt. She said that pursuing paid staf meant more work devel- oping a funding stream and pursuing larger grants. “That was more and more diicult for an all-volunteer board to re- PHOTO BY JERRY FOSTER PFLAG Tanya Tiradio, Faiza Jama, Angel Yh-palacios and Brandt Yamamoto are all high school students or recent graduates participating in the Youth and the Law publication project sponsored by the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization’s Summerworks program.