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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (March 23, 2022)
March 23, 2022 The Skanner Portland & Seattle Page 3 News cont’d from pg 1 that are providing a viv- id portrait of the nation’s promise, but also its en- during racial challenges. Chairman Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill, opened Wednesday lamenting that his panel had become “the testing ground for conspiracy theories and culture war theories.” Nevertheless, he de- “ America is ready for the Supreme Court glass ceiling to finally shatter clared, “America is ready for the Supreme Court glass ceiling to finally shatter.” Here are some take- aways from Day Three of the weeklong confirma- tion hearings. In Defense of Public Defenders Jackson is the first fed- eral public defender to be nominated to the Su- preme Court, and she re- lated her views about the importance of the work to ensure fair trials for all Americans. Under questions from Democratic Sen. Jon Os- soff of Georgia, she ex- plained that prior to the court’s 1963 ruling in Gideon v. Wainwright, people who were accused of crimes but couldn’t afford lawyers were not guaranteed the right to legal representation. “The protections of the Sixth Amendment, the right to trial, includes the right to appointed counsel, so that every- body who is accused of criminal behavior now has the right to an attor- ney,” she said. Albina “And that’s very im- portant.” Jackson’s efforts rep- resenting those accused of crimes, alongside the sentences she handed down as a federal judge, have provided a lengthy record of difficult cases for senators to review, in particular as Republi- cans have suggested she is soft on crime. Critics say she brings too much “empathy” to the cases. Democrats counter that Jackson, who comes from a family with po- lice officers, is backed by the Fraternal Order of Police, the large law en- forcement organization. Jackson’s record is be- ing scrutinized much the way the work of the first Black nominee to the court, Thurgood Marshall, the storied civil rights attorney, was probed for representing criminal defendants a half a century ago. ‘Judges Can’t Make Law’ Jackson has presented herself a judge who relies on method, not judicial philosophy, to remain neutral as she works to “stay in my lane” as a judge rather than a poli- cy-making legislator. She expanded on that view Wednesday re- minding senators that the Constitution gives Congress the power to make laws and gives the courts “the judicial au- thority, the power to in- terpret the laws.” Republicans have tried to portray Jackson as a potentially activist jus- tice, a judge who has shown “empathy” for defendants and cases that they argue goes too far for a position on the high court, which is now tilted 6-3 toward conser- vatives. Read more at TheSkanner.com PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED Hearings Makers Create a Community Angelica Carner does a laser cutting demonstration during an open house, Sunday March 20th at Seattle Makers in Wallingford. Seattle Makers is a member based makers space that anyone can join. It provides classes and a variety of tools for laser cutting, 3D printing, milling and woodworking, sewing and electronics The maker space allows creatives a chance to learn new skills through classes, and a community of other makers. HUD cont’d from pg 1 services to those grappling with housing instability. Of that, $28 million will go to such programs in Multnomah County. The U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s Continuum of Care awards is the largest vein of federal grant fund- ing for housing support organi- zations. HUD recognized nearly 40 programs in the Portland area run by Multnomah County, the city of Portland, Central City Con- cern, Neighborhood House, Brad- ley Angle House, Luke-Dorf Inc., Transitions Projects Inc., Human Solutions Inc., Northwest Pilot Project, Cascade AIDS Project, the Immigrant & Refugee Commu- nity Organization (IRCO), JOIN, Outside In, the Urban League of Portland, Self Enhancement Inc. (SEI), New Avenues for Youth Inc., Cascadia Behavioral Health- care, The Salvation Army, Home Forward and the YWCA. “These resources will open the doors to long-term housing sta- bility for thousands of families in our region and will help build an equitable recovery from this time of crisis,” HUD regional admin- istrator Margaret Solle Salazar said when announcing the Ore- gon recipients. The largest awards went to Home Forward’s Shelter Plus Care program ($7 million), Cen- “ help build an eq- uitable recovery from this time of crisis tral City Concern’s HOPE pro- gram ($2.8 million), Project HA- VEN, a rapid rehousing initiative through SEI ($2 million), Human Solutions Inc.’s Family Futures ($1.4 million) and Cascadia Behav- ioral Healthcare’s Royal Palm 2 Permanent Supportive Housing ($1.3 million). HUD’s selections represent an array of vulnerable populations served, including youth, families, communities of color, the LGBTQ community, those struggling with addiction, young mothers, veterans, se- niors, immigrants and refugees. The program’s mission is to fo- cus on rapid rehousing for home- less individuals while “minimiz- ing the trauma and dislocation caused by homelessness” and to ultimately “optimize self-suffi- ciency among those experiencing homelessness,” according to HUD. Marcy Trueb is the survivor services manager at IRCO, work- ing with populations that are not only new to the country but who have also survived domestic vio- lence, sexual assault, stalking or human trafficking. Her program was awarded $382,000 by HUD. “These community members are people who’ve experienced trauma, and on top of that, many of our cases are people who don’t speak the language, don’t know the culture, don’t know how to navigate the systems for services and support,” Trueb told The Skanner. “Our role is to help them navigate those systems and to make sure they understand their rights, and we do it in a language See HUD on page 11 cont’d from pg 1 arts and the historic Albina communi- ty brings a familiarity; it also brings a credibility. And my heart for this proj- ect and others is for us to find a way to positively collaborate, to rely on each other, and find healing from harms that have been perpetuated against us, but also the harms we’ve caused each oth- er.” Warren is also serving as a strategic advisor on the ongoing I-5 Rose Quar- ter Improvement Project, which is intended to address the daily 12-hour traffic bottlenecks where Interstates 5, 84 and 405 converge. This state high- way project also is intended to generate substantial economic opportunities and redevelopment into the histori- cally Black, and beleaguered Albina neighborhood, which experienced a series of displacements of hundreds of homes, businesses, churches, and social gathering places that were the bedrock of Portland’s Black communi- ty since the 1950s. Warren also served as a co-consul- tant and facilitator of other communi- ty-visioning processes, including the Black-led Russell and Williams Project, “ There’s a whole community of folks who love Albina which is expected to build affordable apartments and homes, a plaza and community garden, and communal office space on land being returned to the community by Legacy Health. That grassy plot of land was condemned by the city in the early 1970s, displacing 171 mostly Black families. The Russell/ Williams visioning process, which also included community input, took four years, and was advised by a work group whose members have strong historical ties to the North/Northeast communi- ty. “There’s a whole community of folks who love Albina. Through a communi- ty-led process, together we are going to make recommendations on which Black-led nonprofit should be the new steward’ of the former Albina Arts Center, on the corner of North Wil- liams and Northeast Killingsworth. The building has been a part of the Al- bina neighborhood since the 1960s, and was a cultural resource and gathering space that offered Black youth free classes in dance, modeling, art, photog- raphy and even, the African language Swahili. Over the years, numerous or- ganizations and small businesses have been housed in the space, including the In Other Words feminist bookstore, which was in the space from 2006-2019. For over 15 months, a large portion of the building sat vacant until jazz musician and Portland State Universi- ty professor Darrell Grant walked by the space and noticed the art of Port- land native and arts curator Bobby Fouther propped in the window. To- gether, the two well-respected Black creatives re-activated the empty, ne- glected space. Grant’s experimental “Soul Restoration Project” offered live jazz concerts, film screenings, visual art, and spoken word events. His proj- ect, though, ended at the end of January 2022. On Feb. 1, 2022, the Black-led pro- gram I Am M.O.R.E. (Making Ourselves Resilient Everyday) LLC, founded by Dr. S. Renee Mitchell, an award-win- ning writer, teacher and community visionary, moved in, signed a two-year lease, and renamed the large middle space the Soul Restoration Center, with Grant’s permission. I Am MORE’s healing-centered and research-based curriculum is the foundation of the City of Portland’s recently investing $950,000 into programming that spe- cializes in leadership building and cre- ative empowerment of Black youth. In the corner office space, another Black See ALBINA on page 8
