COMMUNITY / A.C.E.
June 1, 2020
Oregon provides $8.5
million for rent relief in
Oregon communities
The economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has
left many Oregon families without resources to pay rent,
buy food, make utility payments, and provide other
necessities. Oregon Housing and Community Services
(OHCS) has a COVID-19 Rent Relief Program that
provides much-needed rent assistance for people who
have experienced a loss of income and are at risk of
homelessness due to COVID-19.
“Through no fault of their own, many Oregonian
families are facing an abrupt loss of income and find
themselves unable to pay their rent during this
pandemic,” said governor Kate Brown. “Through Oregon
Housing and Community Services, we can deliver
immediate rent relief so that more families can stay
housed as we work to build a safe and strong Oregon.”
Many Oregonians are struggling to pay rent, and low-
income Oregonians and communities of color are more
likely to be rent burdened than their white counterparts.
For these reasons, OHCS has distributed thousands of
dollars in funds to local community action agencies across
the state, and Oregonians are encouraged to apply.
For more information about the COVID-19 Rent Relief
Program, please reach out to the agency serving your
county.
Oregon Human Development Corporation (OHDC) –
Statewide: 1-855-215-6158
ACCESS, Inc. – Jackson County: (541) 779-6691
Lane County Human Services Commission (LCHHS) –
Lane County: (541) 682-3798
Community Action (CAO) – Washington County:
(503) 648-6646
Mid-Columbia Community Action Council (MCCAC) –
Hood River, Sherman, and Wasco Counties:
(541) 298-5131
Community Action Program of East Central Oregon
(CAPECO) – Gilliam, Morrow, and Umatilla Counties:
1-800-752-1139
Mid-Willamette Valley Community Action Agency
(MWVCAA) – Marion and Polk Counties:
(503) 585-6232
Community Action Team, Inc. (CAT) –
Columbia, Clatsop, and Tillamook Counties:
(503) 397-3511
Multnomah County Department of Human Services –
Multnomah County: (503) 988-7453
Community Connection of Northeast Oregon (CCNO) –
Wallowa, Union, Baker, and Grant Counties:
(541) 963-3186
NeighborImpact (NIMPACT) – Jefferson,
Crook, and Deschutes Counties: (541) 548-2380
Clackamas County Social Services Department
(CCSSD) – Clackamas County: (503) 655-8575
Community in Action (CINA) –
Harney and Malheur Counties: (541) 889-1060
Oregon Coast Community Action (ORCCA) –
Coos and Curry Counties: (541) 435-7080
Community Service Consortium (CSC) –
Linn, Benton, and Lincoln Counties:
Benton County: (541) 752-1010
Lincoln County: (541) 574-2280
Linn County: (541) 928-6335
United Community Action Network (UCAN) –
Douglas and Josephine Counties: (541) 672-5392
Klamath/Lake Community Action Services (KLCAS) –
Klamath and Lake Counties: (541) 882-3500
Yamhill Community Action Partnership (YCAP) –
Yamhill County: (503) 472-0457
To apply for rent relief, contact your local community
action agency. Be sure to have your loss of income
documented and ready to share. Please note that rental
assistance payments are made directly to landlords on
behalf of tenants.
“The last two months have been trying for many in our
communities,” said OHCS director Margaret Salazar,
“Oregonians were already struggling to find a safe, stable,
and affordable place to call home. As families grapple with
lost wages, the need is even greater. I am so grateful to get
this assistance in the hands of our friends and neighbors
in need, including farmworkers and their families who are
facing unique housing challenges.”
The $8.5 million was allocated by the Oregon
Legislature through the Joint Emergency Board. OHCS
anticipates additional resources from the Coronavirus
Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act will be
made available in the weeks ahead.
To learn more, visit the website of Oregon Housing and
Community Services, <www.oregon.gov/ohcs>.
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 13
Kumail Nanjiani is finding his
way through “The Weirds”
By Jake Coyle
AP Film Writer
EW YORK — Kumail
Nanjiani has a few names for
quarantine life. He has
divided
time
firmly
between
“pre-Hanks/Wilson”
and
“post-
Hanks/Wilson,” referring to the early
COVID-19 diagnosis for Tom Hanks
and Rita Wilson. And he has settled
on calling the strange, bewildering
days of lockdown “The Weirds.” This
applies to all the confusion and just
plain odd parts of life since the
pandemic began. Like when Nanjiani
was on “Good Morning America” in
May.
“I did that over Zoom from my
garage. It’s New York time, 5:00am,
so the sun’s not out. I’m wearing
pajama bottoms,” says Nanjiani. “It’s
just a strange reminder of how
different everything is right now.”
With his wife, screenwriter Emily
V. Gordon, Nanjiani has been
chronicling all the mood swings,
anxieties, and small comforts of
quarantine life from their home in
Los Angeles in their for-charity
podcast “Staying In.” Right now, after
more altruistic periods, Nanjiani
considers himself in his “most selfish
phase.” Like everyone else, he wants
his life back.
But the quarantine has also given
Nanjiani a chance to contemplate a
whirlwind few years. Since his
breakthrough in 2017’s Oscar-
nominated The Big Sick, an
autobiographical romantic comedy he
wrote with Gordon about the
dramatic
beginning
of
their
relationship, Nanjiani has morphed
into a leading man.
He played an Uber driver with
Dave Bautista in Stuber. He voiced a
tiny CGI alien in Men in Black
International, and a mischievous
ostrich in Dolittle. He’ll co-star in the
upcoming
Marvel
movie
The
Eternals. And now, he’s starring
alongside Issa Rae (“Insecure”) in The
Lovebirds, a comedy in which a
couple, just after splitting, become
embroiled in a deadly crime saga. It
debuted on Netflix after the
streaming company acquired the film
from Paramount Pictures due to the
pandemic.
Not all the projects have worked.
But even in the disappointments, the
42-year-old Nanjiani has been a
bright spot of unrelenting deadpan
sarcasm, spiralling neurosis, and
authentic sweetness. He tends to
make anything he’s in better.
As a Pakistani-American stand-up
comedian-turned-actor, Nanjiani is
unlike any star before him. He’s now
N
KUMAIL’S QUARANTINE. Pakistani-American stand-up comedian-turned-actor Kumail
Nanjiani has a few names for quarantine life. He has settled on calling the strange, bewildering days
of lockdown “The Weirds,” which applies to all the confusion and just plain odd parts of life since
the pandemic began. Nanjiani is seen on the right in this scene from The Lovebirds alongside Issa
Rae, left. (Skip Bolen/Netflix)
finding his way in a Hollywood where feel that safe.”
South Asian actors, when they’re cast
The Lovebirds is also a result of a
at all, have usually been typecast. So trusted relationship. It’s directed by
right now, when Nanjiani isn’t Michael Showalter, who directed The
freaking out about the pandemic, he’s Big Sick and has collaborated with
contemplating what kind of movies Nanjiani going back to the 2009
he wants to make.
series “Michael and Michael Have
“It’s
honestly
during
this Issues.”
quarantine that I sat down and sort of
For Showalter, the appeal of The
thought, ‘What do I want the next five Lovebirds was predicated largely on
years of my life to look like?’” he says. the combination of Nanjiani and Rae.
“Sometimes you just do things
“I just love that they’re 21st-cen-
because people are asking you to do it tury movie stars. They’re not what
and it’s a big-budget thing. The last we’re used to seeing,” says Showalter.
few years, I’ve gotten to do some stuff “The idea of a movie with these two
that I really enjoyed, that I loved, and actors playing romantic opposites in a
some stuff that I didn’t enjoy that fun action movie felt like a really
didn’t turn out great.”
invigorating, fresh piece of casting
Nothing captured Nanjiani’s trans- that makes the whole thing feel
formation more than a photo he interesting.”
posted in December on Instagram
It’s clear that Nanjiani is
displaying
his
new
chiselled motivated partly by taking roles that
physique, a result of training for The others might not expect him to. He’s
Eternals. The photo — a good drawn to subverting stereotypes
distance from the computer nerd of because he doesn’t fit them, anyway.
his “Silicon Valley” character —
“I don’t feel like I belong in any
kicked off a storm of debate about specific group. I don’t say that as a
body image and “the twilight of the way of being like, ‘You can’t put me in
schlubs.”
a box. I’m so weird.’ I would like to
“To me it was important. I was belong to a specific group,” says
playing the first Pakistani superhero Nanjiani. “But I don’t feel Pakistani
in a Hollywood movie, in a Marvel because I don’t live in Pakistan. I
movie no less,” says Nanjiani. “And it don’t feel American because a lot of
was very important to me that this Americans don’t think of me as
guy looked like he could hang with American. I do comedy but I also
Thor or Captain America.”
other things.”
Nanjiani considers The Eternals,
During quarantine, Nanjiani went
slated for release next year, a new back and watched three movies he
direction he’s eager to continue — not hadn’t seen since he was 10: Krull,
just because it’s a step outside of Beastmaster, and The Thief of
comedy but because of the experience Baghdad.
working with the director, Chloé
“Suddenly there would be an image
Zhao (The Rider). “She’s really one of and you’re like, ‘Oh, my god. This is
the great filmmakers of our time,” he part of my DNA,’” says Nanjiani. “I
says. “Working with her changed my realized that the things I loved about
perspective. I realized: I want to be movies when I was eight years old are
working with someone who makes me still the things I love about movies.”
Spike in coronavirus cases in Oregon traced to gatherings
Continued from page 12
Morgan Emerson, preparedness
coordinator with Deschutes County
Health Services, told the TV station
that 18 of the county’s 25 new cases
were traced back to family or social
gatherings, including some of the
coronavirus cases in Redmond.
“Some of this rise is due to multi-
household gatherings,” Emerson told
KPTV. “We have seen similar trends
of cases associated with attending
family and social gatherings in other
areas of Deschutes County as well.”
Emerson said the new cases
predated Deschutes County’s recent
approval for Oregon’s Phase 1
reopening plan. The majority of new
cases came from known contacts, not
strangers, she said.
State officials urged people to stay
close to home during Memorial Day
weekend and to avoid large
gatherings with anyone outside of
their own household.
“Even if you’re healthy, going to …
a large event [with] many extended
households getting together — this
isn’t the year,” Emerson said.