Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (July 11, 2018)
July 11, 2018 The Skanner Page 3 News cont’d from pg 1 Today, the nonprofit or- ganization has assisted more than 20,000 home- less youth in the Port- land metro area with the support of volunteers, government grants, con- tributions, and more. The Skanner News sat down with its executive director Sean Suib to discuss what makes his organization’s model unique, as well as the big- gest challenges they face in a rapidly evolving city. This interview has been edited for space and clar- ity. The Skanner News: Could you explain who New Avenues for Youth primarily serves and the types of services the or- ganization provides? Sean Suib: The way I The connecting point is that upwards of 40 percent of the youth who live on the streets identify as LGBTQ like to describe it is we serve about four inter- secting populations of disconnected youth. One would be what folks think of as “street kids” or homeless youth. I of- ten talk about them as “street-dependent” kids, so young people who are getting their needs met living out on the street. Another key popula- tion is LGBTQ youth, for whom we have culturally specific services. The connecting point is that upwards of 40 percent of the youth who live on the streets identi- fy as LGBTQ. We also have kids com- ing from various systems of care, so we focus a lot on foster care transition – there’s also a strong connection between someone aging out of foster care and becoming AMR supports. We’re a cred- ited alternative school and we have a career workforce development center. We also have so- cial enterprises, which means we own two Ben & Jerry’s ice cream carts at the Oregon Zoo, and we have a screen printing business. And then we have a whole spectrum of housing programs, including a 26-bed tran- sitional housing facility and two LGBTQ-specif- ic housing programs. We also partnered with Bridge Meadows and built an apartment build- ing that’s connected to a multi-generational com- munity focused on kids aging out of foster care. TSK: How has your organization adapted to Portland’s shifting demo- graphics? Oregon Humane Society Photo Contest Now Open The Oregon Humane Society has announced that submissions are open for its annual photo contest. Categories are top dog, top cat and top other pet. A fourth category—OHS Choice—will be selected by OHS staff from among all photos submitted. Pictured here is 2017 staff pick Kai, photographed by Callie Attanasio. One of the winning photos will be on the cover of the OHS magazine. All winners and runners-ups will be featured in a magazine feature story. The winning photographers in each category will receive a professionally printed and framed photograph of their entry and a $200 gift card from Frame Central. Plus each winner gets a special gift basket of pet treats and toys donated by local businesses. The grand prize winner, with the most overall votes, will receive a two- night stay at the Hallmark Inns on the Oregon coast. Photos can be submitted through Aug. 15 at https://www.gogophotocontest.com/ oregonhumanesociety. There is a $10 fee to enter and $5 fee for five votes. All entry and voting fees go directly to help the animals at OHS. Additional details can be found at Additional details can be found here - https://www.oregonhumane.org/get-involved/events/ ohs-photo-contest/. SS: We’ve put a lot of focus on our racial eq- uity work over the last few years, particularly trying to figure out, like many organizations, how to be more conscious and more representative of the community we serve. We’ve had some success in intentionally chang- ing services to better match the community needs – and we’ve also had some success in at- tracting and engaging people from many differ- ent communities to come work here. It’s so import- ant that these folks who are essentially re-par- enting homeless youth look like the kids they’re serving. This is a pretty inclu- sive place and we’re pushing ourselves to think less like a dominate culture organization and more like a multi-cultur- al organization. Consequently, that would create a better place for young people to experience more cultur- al responsiveness. Read more at TheSkanner.com DOJ cont’d from pg 1 were being forwarded to the uniform death statistics office. Watchdog group Portland Cop- watch first alerted the public to the current errors in a letter to the DOJ in May and published online. The Skanner, in cooperation with Portland Copwatch, has for the third time created a Law Enforcement Use of Force Map using data on the inci- dents collected independently of the Department of Justice, from 2010- 2017. Meanwhile, the City of Portland’s Independent Police Review division has also published a database without errors at www.portlandoregon.gov/ ipr/76848. ficers without ever removing his seat belt. He was never outside his vehicle. DOJ spokesperson Kristina Ed- munson said the database is built on a self-uploading system and that DOJ staff does not fact-check the informa- tion. “Each local law enforcement agency is responsible under statute for send- ing information on an officer involved shooting to Oregon DOJ. There’s a fill- able form on our website. Once an agency submits the form, we do a very cursory review of the information, but we do not review it for accuracy. We then publish all of the reports we receive to our website (cut and paste).” Asked whether there was a plan to correct it, Edmunson wrote only, “We do a very cursory review, but we do not confirm what people have submit- ted.” It remains unclear how the factual errors will be fixed or if there is even a process; Edmunson failed to answer a list of questions on the database and would not consent to an interview. The first time The Skanner reported on SB 111 (2007), Department of Justice officials said they literally did not re- alize the law existed . Two years ago, when The Skanner re-visited the law, officials admitted they did not have the money to eval- uate the use of force incidents and in- stead of sending them to the DOJ, they Copwatch’s detailed list of errors on the site include: • Two Taser-related deaths in Doug- las County in 2013*-2 indicate the suspects’ deaths were caused by “ex- cited delirium,” which is not a medi- cally accepted term. (Side note: Both reports misspell the verb “tase” as “taze.”) • Eight incidents are listed on the wrong dates, including four in Portland: Nicholas Davis is list- ed as being killed in January 2017 (when the entry was made) rather than June 2014, Michael Johnson is listed as being killed in November See DOJ on page 7 cont’d from pg 1 the current system could be improved by better practices included in this cur- rent contract. His view was contradicted by the tes- timony of emergency workers who all argued that if the old system works so well, it should not be changed for a new idea that came only from management. Commissioners, over the objections of the workers, voted to four to one to approve the new contract anyway, and revisit it in six months to see if it is or is not an improvement. Smith zeroed in on why the UHU was removed from the contract, and the an- swer to her question appeared to be: Because experts hired by the County suggested it without input from actual emergency workers. “I just want to remind folks that the industry experts who were on our panel reviewing the proposal actually helped us craft the language around workforce fatigue and stress manage- ment and employee wellness,” said Allison Goldstein, program supervi- sor for Multnomah County EMS and Tri-County 911. “So we’re actually tak- ing feedback from people who are very “ If we depended on companies to do the right thing, then we wouldn’t need la- bor unions, right? well-versed in the industry across the nation to move in this direction.” “I appreciate that and I appreciate you talking to experts, but on that par- ticular task force did you have any folks from the unions on the task force?” Smith asked. “Our rules have very specific expec- tations about who our evaluation pan- elists are and they can’t have any con- flicts of interest,” Goldstein said simply. “The UHU does allow you to more ac- curately monitor, hour by hour, how each individual car is doing,” said Jes- sica Mills, a paramedic in Multnomah County, who said she has also worked in Clark County as well as Clackamas County. Mills said, without UHUs, “You have 15 minutes once you get to the hospi- tal to offload your patient, get your registration, register the patient with the hospital and find out which room you’re supposed to go to, load your pa- tient onto the bed to wait for a nurse or doctor to give a report, and then clean all of your equipment and make sure you’re finished up all your documenta- tion -- in 15 minutes.” “Generally speaking, it’s easier to correct a contract change instead of waiting 12 months,” Smith said. “Again, I think this is being made too hard.” PHOTO COURTESY OF MULTNOMAH COUNTY “ homeless within three years. And lastly, we have a suite of services focused on young people who wouldn’t meet the definition of homeless, but they’re really hous- ing unstable. So a lot of these kids are couch surfing, they’re living in drug- and gang-impact- ed housing, as well as sex-impacted housing. The how we serve is a whole spectrum, a kind of internal continuum. We have everything from drop-in centers where you get basic needs like food, cloth- ing and laundry. Then as they’re using basic needs, you invite them into the next steps; for example, drug and al- cohol supports, peer mentors, health mental PHOTO BY CALLIE ATTANASIO COURTESY OF OREGON HUMANE SOCIETY Youth Allison Goldstein, program supervisor for Multnomah County EMS and Tri-County 911, spoke at the regular meeting of the Multnomah County Commission June 28, where the commission approved an exclusive emergency ambulance services contract over the objections of workers. Read more at TheSkanner.com
