3
August 1, 1998
News
Job services bring new life to Portland office
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John Smith and VEEP Project Coordinator Tracie Meyer outside the Portland Outreach office.
"It's shocking to realize how many people didn't
even know the Portland Outreach office existed..."
. Jon George, Voc. Rehab. Specialist
By Oscar Johnson
As a new career program gears up
to serve the over 450 tribal members
living in Multnomah and Washing
ton counties, many are hoping the
added services will also rehabilitate
the Grand Ronde Tribe's satellite of
fice in Portland.
The Vocational Employment Expe
rience Program (VEEP) aims to help
members with disabilities find their
ideal career by assessing personal
needs, career interests and skills then
providing hands-on experience in
their field of choice. Although the
12-month-long, federally funded
project is also accessible to members
in Salem and Grand Ronde, it could
help breathe new life into the Tribe's
dormant Portland office.
"I found out about it in the Smoke
Signals so I beelined it down here,"
says John Smith, the first Portland
area tribal member to take advantage
of the tribes new vocational rehabili
tation project. "I've been kind of
clinging on to them every since."
Smith, who until recently was get
ting by on monthly disability pay
ments, says he has only been able to
find part-time work. Thanks to VEEP
and support from the Portland office
staff, now he has earned his Gradu
ate Equivalency Diploma (GED); is
saving up to buy a car; and pursuing
his career interest in drug and alco
hol prevention.
"I enjoy working with this project
and other tribal folks," says Smith, a
long-time Portland resident who re
calls the days when the office was al
most always closed. "This is like
having our own embassy."
What Smith calls Grand Ronde's
Portland-based "embassy," some
might call one of the Tribe's best kept
secrets. So well kept, in fact, that no
one seems to know exactly how long
the Southeast Portland office has been
around.
For at least the last three years the
office lay nestled amongst the hodge
podge of small organizations housed
in the old Portland Library Building
at 1110 Southeast Alder Street.
"It's shocking to realize how many
people didn't even know the Portland
outreach office existed," says Voca
tional Rehabilitation Specialist, Jon
George who was recently hired to
work out of both the Grand Ronde
and Portland offices. "I'm kind of
like the Ginny-pig to see if there is a
need to place a person here full
time." George says that since he was hired
in June his Portland caseload has al
ready jumped from two to six mem
ber clients who learned about him
through Smoke Signals and he ex
pects to hear from more Portland area
tribal members once the word gets
out. The Tribe's lone, part-time Port
land office staffer says a mailing cam
paign to inform residents in
Multnomah and Washington counties
the branch's service area is also
in the pipeline. There are currently
366 members living in Multnomah
County and 89 in Washington County
which, when combined, gives the
greater Portland area the largest and
most concentrated population of
Grand Ronde tribal members.
The Portland office was originally
an outreach center for the Tribe's
Health and Human Services Division
(HSD). Over the last few years it has
been used as an appointment-only
meeting site for Grand Ronde gen
eral assistance, chemical dependency,
child welfare and vocational rehabili
tation service providers and Portland
members, according to Vocational
Rehabilitation Manager, Patti Tom
Martin. Since the branch has never had full
time staff many say that those few
members who did know of its exist
ence would often stop by only to find
the doors locked.
But for the duration of the VEEP
project the doors will be open for busi
ness daily, says VEEP Project Coordi
nator, Tracie Meyers. Meyers, an
alumni of vocational rehabilitation her
self, heads Klone Okustee, the social
service consultancy contracted by the
Tribe to run VEEP.
She says the key element to the pro
gram is connecting clients with the
right mentors who are "absolutely
committed, capable of letting the
project be mentor driven and recep
tive to feedback."
"One year down the road I expect
clients to know and be excited about
what their career choices are," says
Meyer. "If they can take responsi
bility for their own growth. that
would be ideal. The Portland-based
program began in March after the of
fice moved to a larger, four room spot
in the lower half of the building.
But both Meyer and George, who
are Portland-based tribal members
themselves, are setting their sites be
yond just vocational programs.
While George some day hopes to
see a fully staffed satellite of HSD "ac
cessible for any client to come in for
any service" including information
and referrals for other tribal, state and
federal agencies, Meyer hopes the
programs will enhance what she says
is a much needed grassroots sense of
community.
"I'm hoping this will be a place for
tribal members to come in, have a
cup of coffee, talk to each other, or
use the phone if they need to," Meyer
says. "We got to get together in this
community. We can't just sit back
and let Grand Ronde do it for us. We
really should be having things like
community picnics we really
should know each other."
Voc Rehab staff eager
to help members
Tribal member Jon A. George
was recently hired by the Tribe as
a Vocational Rehabilitation Spe
cialist, working for the HSD to de
velop the Portland Outreach office
located at 1110 S.E. Alder. The
office is open Monday-Friday from
8 a.m. to 5 p.m. If any tribal mem
ber in the Portland area would like
to stop by for information, you are
welcome at any time. There are
other programs in the Outreach of
fice which may be of help to Port
land area members.
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