March 23, 2022 The Skanner Portland & Seattle Page 3
News
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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