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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (June 13, 2018)
June 13, 2018 The Skanner Page 3 News Baker cont’d from pg 1 The Skanner News: How does the work of Blanchet House set it apart from other home- less organizations? Greg Baker: A lot of people who come here are not necessarily homeless – they can af- ford their rent but they can’t afford their meals. So those people, wheth- er homeless or not, get something out of it. But volunteers contin- ue to come back because Greg Baker it’s refreshing to the soul that one is able to do this. People want to know that they’re giving something to help others, which I think is the magic of all the work done here. And it continues to grow. Maybe by 2020, we’ll be at 10,000 volunteers and we’ll have an army of people to go out and change the world, who knows (laughs). Blanchet is a sterling model of “all hands on deck” and the homeless feeding the homeless. We also have a 62-acre farm in Carleton that has always been understated. We’re able to house some 22 men there, in various stages of recovery. We take them right out of treatment, so the farm is a calming in- fluence. It’s quiet, serene and rural. We raise pigs, goats and chickens there, and we also have a wood- shop where they can go through a program and learn how to make er- gonomically-sound Ad- irondack chairs. We’re also exploring the possi- bility of marketing and selling those as a social enterprise, which is good because men in recovery need work. And that’s all part of any kind of a treat- ment plan — they need to be working and they need to be reinforced. Almost three years ago, we won a national grant to build tiny homes at the farm. So our homeless men are building these homes, and then they’re donated to homeless shelters. And a few of the guys who worked on the houses have actually re- ceived jobs through the carpenters’ union. All of these elements of pro- gram expansion are real- ly working. exceptionally since you took the role of executive director. What do you think you’ve brought to it? GB: We now have two case managers here; when I first got here there were no case man- agers. Blanchet had traditionally not real- ly invested itself in the long-term care of the men that come through these doors — but today that’s not the case. They have created what we call “a life plan,” and that plan is an instrument that the guest along with the case manager uses to work through areas of that person’s background where they want some improvement. To me, it’s a wonderful negotiation piece. For example, you want to repatriate your- self with your family, we can do that. You want to pay off some bills, we will do that. You’ve got some DUIs you need to ex- punge, we can help you. We have a seven-month residential program here in downtown Portland and an eight-month res- idential program at the farm. And from time to time, guys that do a real- ly good job can graduate to the fourth floor at the Blanchet House, which is transitional housing. It’s a free month-to- month lease and and they can stay for up to nine months. As long as they maintain their job, or maintain a certain GPA if they’re going to school, they can stay here. It’s a rapidly evolving organization. Before I got here, they had never done a fundraiser be- fore. Now we’ll be work- ing on our fourth one in 2019. We also now have a development depart- ment, thanks to a grant through the M.J. Mur- dock Charitable Trust. And we have a full-time resident manager and we’ll be bringing in two more new employees be- fore the years is out – a data collection person and a volunteer coordi- nator. All of those things have happened in the last four years. Things are changing for the better and the organization is maturing. TSN: That said, the or- ganization has grown Read more at TheSkanner.com “ Volunteers continue to come back be- cause it’s refreshing to the soul PHOTO COURTESY OF PORTLAND PARKS & RECREATION clarity.) Gabriel Park Playground to Become Newest Inclusive Play Area City of Portland Commissioner Amanda Fritz and Portland Parks & Recreation announce that Gabriel Park (SW Vermont Street and 45th Avenue) will be the site of the next inclusive playground in the PP&R system. The new playground will become a “destination” site, with a footprint of 10,000 square feet, up from 3,250 square feet. Inclusive playgrounds provide a rich play experience, addressing physical, sensory, and social needs of all children and their caregivers, and are designed with universal accessibility in mind, accommodating everyone and challenging them at their own developmental level. Funding for Gabriel Park’s new play area comes from the 2014 Parks Replacement Bond ($1.7 million) and $2.5 million from Parks System Development Charges (revenue from citywide construction.) Housing cont’d from pg 1 pending on whether or not that amendment passes in November. “Our goal is to see approxi- mately 1,600 homes created for households with 30 percent of area median or less if the consti- tutional amendment passes, or 1,200 homes for these households if the amendment does not pass.,” reads Metro chief operating offi- cer Martha Bennett’s report rec- ommending the bond, which the agency released last week. According to Metro, at least half the homes created would be for people making 30 percent of the region’s median family income, half the homes would have two or more bedrooms and no more than Juneteenth 10 percent of homes would be re- served for people making 60 to 80 percent of median family income. Current median family income for a household of four people is $81,400. The agency estimates the bond would cost Portland homeown- ers about $60 per year. If the bond is passed, Metro would im- mediately appoint an oversight committee and work on local im- plementation strategy, including community engagement, with a plan to finalize the strategy by March and implement it in April. Money raised by the bond would not go to Metro, but to area housing agencies to implement “ At least half the homes created would be for people mak- ing 30 percent of the region’s median family income construction. In 2016, voters in the city of Portland approved a $258 million bond to provide at least 1,300 af- fordable housing units. cont’d from pg 1 in 2015. She’s now the namesake of Port- land’s annual Juneteenth parade – the Clara Peoples Freedom Trail Parade – which will take place from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. June 16. The parade will start at Safeway at NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. and Ainsworth and head south on MLK to Russell, then west on Rus- sell to Legacy Field. The parade kicks off this year’s Juneteenth Oregon Celebra- tion, which takes place at Legacy Emanuel Hospital Field. The celebration runs from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. and include local music, food, retail vendors and a kids’ area. And in advance of those events, on Thursday there will be a Miss Juneteenth Oregon pageant at 6:30 at Billy Webb Elks Lodge for a $10 entry fee. For more information about the pageant, parade and festival visit the Juneteenth Oregon Facebook page: www.facebook.com/june- teenthoregon15. Other upcoming Juneteenth cel- ebrations include: Freedom Summer Juneteenth Art Camp. This camp takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily, June 18-22 at Pacific Northwest College of Art, 511 NW Broadway. This camp, a partnership project of Don’t Shoot Portland and PNCA, fea- tures art making for all ages and ability levels. To register to at- tend or volunteer, visit https:// bit.ly/2y2ZnQB. Juneteenth: Words Along the Way. North Portland Library will commemorate Juneteenth with words and music by PassinArt from 3 to 4:30 p.m. June 17 at the North Portland Library, 512 N. Killingsworth. For more informa- tion, visit https://multcolib.org/ events/juneteenth-words-along- way/90076. Free to Read: A Juneteenth Cele- bration. This event takes place from 2 to 4 p.m. June 17 at the Kenton Library, 8226 N Denver Ave. Eva Abram of Rainwater Storytelling will share a story about Charles Mitchell — a story of of slavery in the Northwest. There will be crafts, books, give- aways and light refreshments. For more information, visit https://multcolib.org /events/ free-read-juneteenth-celebra- tion/90077. 2018 Juneteenth Celebration in Vancouver. This event will take place from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. June 23 in Hannah Hall at Clark College, 1933 Fort Vancouver Way, Vancouver. This celebration, hosted by Ruby Lewis and the Vancouver NAACP Branch, includes a boun- cy house, free hamburgers and hot dogs for kids, face painting, a children’s craft doll table, a job fair and pie contest. There will also be a live panel discussion, “Where Do We Go From Here: Ending and Erasing Systemic Racism,” featuring Clark Coun- ty government officials, police department, City of Vancouver officials, and representatives from Vancouver and Evergreen Public School Districts. For more information, visit www.face- book.com/ VancouverNAACP/ posts/10156132191036839. Oregon Shakespeare Festival Juneteenth Celebration. In Ashland, the Oregon Shake- speare Festival will host its annu- al Juneteenth Celebration start- ing at 10 a.m. June 18. The day’s activities include a variety show, a play reading, a tribute to the late actor G. Valmont Thomas and a roundtable discussion.
