VOICES FROM THE STREET: Linda’s Story Visible Homelessness, Invisible People

VOICES FROM THE STREET:  Linda’s Story

Visible Homelessness, Invisible People

By Hannah Bachman and Jennifer Ransdell, Blanchet House

People sleep on the sidewalk outside Blanchet House.

Accessing just the right kind of help for people suffering without shelter is a challenge for the staff at Blanchet House. Visible homelessness is witnessed daily outside the cafe windows yet the individuals experiencing it remain invisible to society.

The floor-to-ceiling windows lining Blanchet House’s free café give us a view of people navigating their day. Many people we serve meals to are houseless, so after dining with us they have nowhere to go. Guests stake claim to a small area of the sidewalk where they curl up or lean against our building to wait for the next meal.

As café staff, we see so much suffering from our windows. We try to connect with people, give what we have, and help in any way we can. There are times when we feel at a loss for how to help. We make phone calls to try to connect people to services like shelter or medical care. Often these phone calls end with the person in the same position as before–alone on the sidewalk, cold, suffering from injury or illness, dirty because there is nowhere to clean up, and left to battle what might come in the night.

Just like any other neighborhood café, Blanchet House has regulars. Some meal guests we know a lot about, and some we know nothing about. Seeing the same folks day after day builds familiarity and comfort between us. It’s hard not to feel kindly toward someone you see every day, even if all you exchange is a quick nod or “hello.”

We know that there are people who stay in our neighborhood so that they can be close to our cafe. It’s not just the meals that people stay close to, though—they stay for the safety, comfort, consistency, and sense of home they get while inside our cafe.

Our three daily meal services–breakfast, lunch, and dinner–are one hour long. When service is over, we must ask our guests to exit the café so that we can feed an in-house meal to shelter residents living with us. We also need time to clean the cafe and complete other work before we re-open our doors. We also offer clothing, hygiene kits, and to-go sack lunches when we have them available.

When we close the café doors, many diners return home to a nearby tent, they are part of the visible homelessness seen in our community. Others return to temporary shelters, cars, or low-income apartments. But what home looks like varies widely among our guests.

Visible Homelessness: A Doorway Is Her Home

One regular diner, Linda, age 60, rarely strays beyond our block. She sleeps in one of our doorways every night, with only a tarp and several layers of coats that we’ve provided her. We try to talk with her but it’s hard to understand what she’s saying. We can make out that she’d like a cigarette or coffee, her name, and her age, but not the specific resources she needs to get off the street.

Although many of our guests live outside, Linda is an anomaly. We see her every day, and our staff feels a sense of protection over her. ‘Have you seen Linda come in yet today?’ we ask each other. ‘Did Linda get any dinner?’ We can’t help but insert ourselves into her well-being because she seems physically fragile. And we’re aware of how much she depends on us for safety and survival.

Linda seems to be utterly alone. She has no possessions, no wallet, and no ID. She turns down our offers to get her a tent or a ride to an emergency shelter. Every attempt we’ve made to connect Linda to services that might offer long-term help is thwarted by inflexible rules and bureaucratic obstacles. Because Linda is only 60, she doesn’t qualify for social security or Medicare.

Outreach workers visit with her when we call but they are unable to get her off the street. We don’t just wonder how much longer we can be told no—we also wonder how much longer Linda has left.

When the weather got really bad in January, Linda reluctantly accepted transport to a warming shelter in far southeast Portland. She stayed there for a few days, and it was the longest she’d been away from us in months. When she came back to Blanchet House because she had nowhere else to go, she told us she was starving. The emergency shelter had only served breakfast. Although she had a temporary bed indoors, she didn’t have regular access to hot meals or familiar faces.

When the next snowstorm came, we asked her if she’d like us to call a cab to a warming shelter, as we’d done before. Linda refused. In her mind, staying indoors meant sacrificing meals. She chose food and the familiarity of our sidewalk.

Linda isn’t alone in preferring to sleep on the sidewalk to a mat on a shelter floor. A 2019 survey of 180 people experiencing homelessness in Oregon found that the top barriers to using shelters were personal safety and privacy concerns, restrictive check-in and check-out times, overcrowding, and unsanitary conditions, reports KGW news.

Our work is predicated on hope, but sometimes it’s hard to remain hopeful for Linda. Blanchet staff fear coming to work one morning and finding Linda no longer alive. But thankfully this hasn’t happened yet. Among our highly transient diners, Linda is a beacon of unflappable endurance. And just as Linda refuses to quit, so do we.

September 2023 - EDITOR’S NOTE: Heeding the Call of Time

September 2023 - EDITOR’S NOTE: Heeding the Call of Time 

by Bonnie Gregg, Poverty Awareness & Communication Team and member of Madeleine Catholic Parish

It is said that to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven, During the past seven years  from May 2016 until September 2023 I have made it my purpose to prepare articles for the Interfaith Alliance Newsletter,  spending hours in the process, generally a work of love,  as together we have learned about poverty in Portland, and the Interfaith Alliance has expanded its role in the community,  

Years ago, in a galaxy now far away, as a school reporter, I enjoyed interviewing Nat King Cole and Stan Kenton, among other celebrities as well as the Ambassador to Thailand and city officials.  I eventually served as school newspaper editor.  What fun! However, I never became a journalist.  Instead, I wrote manuals, and other materials, including a building newsletter as part of my job as Special Projects Coordinator for the Portland Public Schools Department of Special Education.

It wasn’t until I walked on the streets of downtown Portland researching articles for the Interfaith Alliance on Poverty that writing, again for me, became a meaningful enterprise. 

A few years back, I remember going downtown to N.W. 2nd in the early hours of the morning just as Street Roots newspapers were being unloaded from a truck.  I stood among the vendors lined up for their weekly bundles of papers. We drank coffee while waiting beside the desk at the front of the office.  Everyone was on a first name basis, except, of course, for me. Nevertheless, when I bought a batch of 20 papers, a cheer went up around the room, At $1 an issue, the weekly Street Roots newspaper is a real value.   Nationally renowned, its reporters (including some of the vendors) tell the stories both of the homeless and City Hall.  If you are concerned about poverty and want to know what’s going on in Portland, read Street Roots.

As they welcomed me. I saw them for who they were, these Street Roots salesmen and women. They may sleep on the streets, but they are also share a community who care for each other and see a better day coming, one where opportunities are measured not by where you’ve been, but by where you’re going, and how hard you’re willing to work to get there.  They see a future of possibilities.

I saw that same spirit when I visited Maybelle Center for Community, located at 121 NW 6th.  After showing me around the Maybelle Center, the Director put on her coat, and invited me to take a walk with her around the neighborhood.  She told me to “Look up.  See all those windows.  There is a pair of eyes looking down from each one.  These are the people we serve, the lost and the lonely. Once a month,” she said, “we send teams of nurses and volunteers, to   find out how they are doing, then follow-up, as necessary.  Knowing “someone cares” makes it easier for the residents to leave the building and reach out. Friends are easy to find at the Maybelle, many having shared the same life experiences. When holidays  come round, instead of staring down upon the street, they are able to join friends at the Maybelle community.  A variety of activities there give meaning to their lives.  Mother Teresa said, “Loneliness is the worst kind of poverty.”  At the Maybelle Center for Community, no one is alone.

As we walked around the neighborhood, we passed by people talking to themselves, but also to others sitting on curbsides or in doorways, everyone breathing deep of the fresh morning air.  We met ”the Shoeman” who sells used shoes on the corner.  From a car window, it all looks a bit bleak.   But walking down the sidewalk, the view changes.  Good things are happening.

We grabbed a cup of coffee at the Sisters of the Road Café and met some of the locals.  Each of them tried to impress us with the fact they were not “just homeless.”  It wasn’t always like this, you know.  They had jobs, families, and houses.  Just made a bad turn, Like the Street Root Vendors, they had hope!  Just one right break, and it could all turn around, or at least get better   They exchanged smiles with the Maybelle Center’s Director. 

On the darkest day, hope still lights the way.  Of course, hope is helped when there are organizations like Street Roots, Maybelle Center for Community, Blanchet House, Portland Rescue Mission, Central City Concern, Night Watch, and others willing to offer a ”nonjudgmental hand up,”  Expressing love through the humblest of actions can turn lives around, including our own.

In recent years, I have relied less upon personal interviews, and more upon the expert journalists of OPB, Blanchet House, Street Roots, government offices, and others to provide the basis of Alliance news stories.  We may not be in Street Roots league, but we do our best to make every story help better our understanding of poverty in Portland and be consistent with the mission of the Interfaith Alliance.   

This fall, as the Interfaith Alliance begins a 2023-24 season, under new leadership, I believe it is time for me to heed the call of time and step aside, too, particularly as I am in the midst of selling my house of 60 years and moving to a retirement home in Happy Valley.  Therefore, effective this issue, I am resigning as Newsletter Editor and member of the Poverty and Communication Action Team.  I have had my say.  Now it is time for someone else to have theirs.  Maybe you!  

This could be your opportunity to draw upon your experience and help set communication goals for the Alliance.  Hopefully, you are better able to research articles on the streets of downtown Portland than I am now able to do.   Editing a newsletter requires some level of journalism or writing skills.  Because there is not always agreement on creative thought, newsletters may have many contributors, but usually only one editor.  Like a pot of soup, too many cooks spoil the broth.

Fortunately, the Interfaith Alliance is rich in talent, and very particular about journalistic endeavors.  Therefore, I trust all will be well. Happy reading!  Bonnie Gregg

FRANK SO, NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR/PRESIDENT OF ECUMENICAL MINISTRIES OF OREGON

Frank So comes to Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon (EMO) directly from the Office of the Vice President at the White House. As a Vice-Presidential Associate, he frequently traveled with the Vice President, advising her office on trips outside the continental United States. He previously worked for President Obama as a Presidential Associate, where he traveled in advance of the President to help ensure effective state functions on the ground.

For over a decade, Frank served as a U.S. diplomat in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Northern and East Africa. Most recently, he was the Senior Mission Advisor with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Colombia and Senior Human Rights Advisor for USAID in Honduras.

Before working with the government, Frank served with the United Nations in Darfur, Sudan and the Republic of South Sudan. His last post with the U.N. was as the Darfur Officer in Charge for the International Organization of Migration.

Throughout his career, Frank has specialized in strategy, policy, and coordinating various agencies as they address challenges related to conflict and human migration. Working with refugee and immigrant populations has been one of Frank’s lifelong passions. He is eager to apply this experience to EMO’s refugee and immigration work.

Frank holds a master’s degree in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution from the University of Ulster and a bachelor’s degree in International Studies from Seattle University, where he served as the student body president.

A lifelong Catholic, Frank was educated by Jesuits in Portland, Ore. He is pleased to come “home” to the Pacific Northwest. Fluent in Spanish, Frank is a first generation American—his mother was born in Peru and his father in Thailand.

Message From the Co-Chairs

From the Co-Chairs Of Interfaith Alliance on Poverty

By Rae Richen

I have been reading Stacy Abrams’ book, Lead from the Outside. She discusses how individuals can have an impact and help change their circumstances even though they are outside  the halls where decisions are made. She demonstrated her principles as she worked with teams to build belief in the power of voting. And Georgia’s citizens exercised their rights. 

Of course, we know how that has worked in her home state of Georgia, but also we often have seen her principles at work here in Oregon. 

Recently, a call went out from our partner, Street Roots, to help save the Portland Street Response. The Interfaith Alliance on Poverty helped by passing the message to our leaders and all our members. Our work helped boost that effort, but we were not the only partners of Portland Street Response who stepped up. Many community leaders, businesses and individuals worked together to spread the word. 

The resulting petition of over 11,400 signatures was presented to the city commissioners along with a request for individual meetings with each commissioner. 

Our friend and leader, David Groff, wrote a letter to the editor detailing his very positive interaction with Portland Street Response on behalf of a disoriented man. Many others in the community have written in support, often also with their stories of how well the Street Response personnel dealt with volatile or ill citizens.  

We don’t yet know how the city commissioners will respond to the urgings of their fellow citizens. Will they create a separate budget line for Portland Street Response? Will they insist that it be defunded despite the cry for its support? We don’t know. 

What we do know is that a very large portion of our community leadership believes in Street Response work, and the community worked together to show that support to the city commissioners. 

And that is what informs our future. We will persist together. We will insist together that change for good happens in our region. 

As one of my new-to-the-country students once said about teamwork, “Me alone, can’t do it. Together. Gotta.”

VOICES FROM THE STREET – PEOPLE PUSHED TO THE MARGINS

“A one size fits all solution to serving and ending homelessness will not work for the most vulnerable people” – Scott Kerman, Blanchet House, Executive Director

Who do we serve at Blanchet House asks Scott Kerman?  To quote Jesuit Father Gary Smith from his new book Moments in the Breach, we serve, “those who live on the margins, those who are disconnected, broken, disenfranchised, vulnerable, discounted, and the forgotten of society.”

People like B.

• B.’s been coming to Blanchet House for free meals for a few years now. I’ve learned that B. has a condition that causes her to unexpectedly yell out in the café. This startles staff and guests who are eating nearby.

• The stress of living houseless during the pandemic has taken a toll on B. Sometimes she comes to us in a psychotic-like state, almost unrecognizable as the person we know. On other days, she can be lucid and able to engage in simple conversation. B. sometimes sings along sweetly to the music in the café.

• But we never know how B. will behave. She can go from peaceful to hostile within an hour of meal service. When this occurs, B. is often able to collect herself enough to apologize later. I’m struck by that. I wonder how much she is aware of when she seems to be out of control.

Living like this must be terrifying and sad.

Non-Verbal People

• Another guest we frequently serve who is living on the margins is P. They are difficult to understand because they speak in grunts and gibberish instead of coherent words. It makes serving them difficult because we don’t know what they are asking for. Is it food, coffee, or maybe a cigarette? P. is often delusional and acts in ways that make us reasonably wary. For example, one time P. flung their own feces at our windows.

• B. and P. are not the typical meal guest but their presence in our service community cannot be ignored.

• In Moments in the Breach, Fr. Gary asks, “Is there anything sadder than to see an individual totally cut off, not wanting to communicate, living in a world of self-denial and self-destruction?” In my experience, there is not.

Serving food to those on the margins in Old Town is not easy. The sights and sounds in our neighborhood are often pitiful and piteous. We must step around and sometimes over sleeping or extremely distressed people to enter our building. The despair among the people we serve is profound.

Meaningful Service for the Most Vulnerable

But there is also profound meaning in our service to this most fragile, vulnerable, and forgotten community. And our staff and volunteers are compelled by it.  Because within the despair and at times horror in our midst, we also see grace and hope.

We see grace and hope in B. and P. Even though their behavior would scare away most people, we are instilled with hope when we see them in true companionship with others.  Many Blanchet House guests appear so fragile and incoherent that we marvel at their persistent, inexplicable survival. They survive in part because they are cared for by peers on the street. Even within this community on the margins, there is a calling to help the most disconnected, broken, vulnerable, and discounted among us.

And they survive because organizations like Blanchet House are committed to offering food, clothing, and a safe place to be welcomed and rest. A place to find connection despite their challenges.  Most of our guests are experiencing food insecurity because of temporary poverty but others are in grave mental and physical distress. There is nowhere else for them to go.

I believe it’s important for us to be aware of the varied needs of people seeking aid in our community.

February First Thursday Meeting Notes by David Groff

FEBRUARY 2, 2023 (Meeting Attendance:  57)

Les Wardenaar  introduced Cole Merkel Co-Chair of Here Together Oregon Coalition who discussed Here Together's 2023 Roadmap: Advancing Solutions for  Homelessness  

Cole began by saying that his background is in direct service having worked at Operation Nightwatch and Street Roots. He is now engaged in advocacy on issues of homelessness.  More than 100 community leaders and institutions have signed on as supporters of the Roadmap, including the Interfaith Alliance on Poverty. 

Who are the homeless? There are 6033 people at last count sleeping outside in Portland. The Metro measure has injected more money than ever into the struggle against homelessness. We have tripled the available resources and the measure provides ongoing funding.  Cole displayed a chart showing anticipated revenue. Spending is ramping up slowly but by 2025 Metro will be spending 100% of this revenue.

With the help of Metro funding more than 2000 people moved off the streets and another 10,000 others were prevented from falling into homelessness.  With funding from other sources a total of 38,000 were saved.

Cole emphasized that we must not frame the issues as the current situation as shelter vs housing.  We need BOTH. Shelter beds have increased but so has housing.  Gov. Kotek has made it  clear that she is fully committed to dealing with homelessness and from her first day she has taken action.  She has released a proposal to spend $130 million.  By week four she has released the rest of her budget proposal that includes millions more for addressing homelessness including funds for supportive housing, preservation of existing affordable housing, and the provision of behavioral services.

What do we need to do as advocates to accelerate the response?  The Roadmap has four sections arranged in order of readability, not priority.  

SECTION 1 CALLS FOR: 

• Expediting movement of people off the streets. Regional Long Term Rental Assistance  (RLA) vouchers, one of the principles of getting people into housing, is based on Federal housing vouchers. RLA goes up to 125% of fair market rent thus providing incentives to landlords.  It can be paired with other measures like the housing bond passed by the city. Money will also be allocated to Project Turnkey to use motels as affordable housing. Clackamas County is in the process of buying a hotel.

• Measures to prevent evictions by providing ongoing rent assistance and for streamlining the permitting process for new construction.

• Setting up a homelessness court that would help homeless people to work on themselves and expunge criminal records.

SECTION 2 CALLS FOR:

• Training and retaining the workforce needed to address the problems of homelessness. 

• Employing people with a lived experience is critical. Supporting living wages and benefits is part of this process.  We need more frontline workers.  Washington County has a very effective training program to prepare such workers. They also provide a mechanism for the conversion of lived experience into college credit.  

• Cumbersome contracting protocols must change in dialogue between the counties and the service nonprofits. This will help small providers. 

SECTION 3 IS ABOUT:

• Improving efficiency through better coordination and streamlined process. 

• Streamlining to improve the process of people moving out of the state hospital and correctional institutions.  This will require local engagement of community stakeholders.

The Roadmap also envisions seeking a Medicaid waiver to make Medicaid the payer for certain housing services such as moving in costs, updating of apartments, and food assistance. James Schroeder the new director of OHA is committed to making this happen.

SECTION 4 CALLS FOR:

• Ramping up of data collection, integration, and reporting.  Here Together strongly supports Built for Zero because it provides better coordinated systems. Coordination of information technology is necessary because it improves reporting and accountability.  Regular Metro reports are needed to inform the public and build support.

Q & A SESSION

•Will Here Together support assistance to micro-villages like WeShine?  Here Together has no say on how the money is spent, but it can advocate.  Local taxes are collected by Metro and distributed to the three counties who then allocate it to services.  Here Together supports micro-villages.

•How can you build capacity while simultaneously delivering services? Yes, that is a tension but it is necessary to do both at once.  The pandemic made it even more necessary to get the services out as quickly as possible. At the same time, the capacity of service non-profits and workforce recruitment and retention need to be increased.

•Does Portland Street Response coordinate with non-profit service providers?  Cole didn’t know but said that coordination is absolutely necessary. Built for Zero speaks to this.

•How will the Roadmap be used to track goals?  Here Together tracks legislation like Homeshare Oregon’s HB3032 that incentivizes homeowners to home share.

•Building community support is needed.  Yet there are still many homeless on the streets. 

Will there be a positive change in 2023? By the metric of looking out our windows we are not doing well currently.  Marshalling all the resources is needed.  Built for Zero is a needed methodology.  It’s on all of us to continue demonstrating that we believe in what is being done.

•Project Turnkey advocacy is important.  

What else can we do to support the Roadmap? Signing on as supporters is one way.  The Clackamas County Commission will be voting on Feb. 16 on the proposal to buy the hotel.

•The City is embracing elements of the Roadmap such a safe rest villages. We need to accelerate measures that are working.

•How is funding from Regional Long Term Rental Assistance being paired with city bond funded affordable housing?  Measure 102 made public/private partners easier to establish.  Subsidies come from both ARLA and the bond funded program. 

•What is being proposed to use empty office buildings for housing? Working from home has grown as a result of the pandemic.  The future of a lot of downtown office space is uncertain.  We have an opportunity to rethink the use of office buildings.  It’s complicated but must be pursued.

•Is there an audit function on the Metro fund? There is an audit function built into the Metro supportive housing measure. 

•Can service dollars be used for education?  Yes, there is flexibility.

•What is the progress in Built for Zero implementation?  Cole put a link to a website providing reports.  This spring will be when street outreach begins. https://www.multco.us/johs/news/built-zero-working-end-homelessness

•Do we need better communication to the public?  Yes, we need a Regional Long Term Rental Assistance dashboard so that the public can see how many people are benefitting.

Les thanked Cole and encouraged everyone to endorse the Roadmap as individuals or congregations.  The Alliance has signed up.  We all should consider doing so.  He added that we are all part of the apparatus for informing the public.  Direct people to Here Together website.  It is our responsibility to spread the information we learn at First Thursday.  It is essential that we take action. There are positive statistics that we should gather and share.

Legislative Forum

• Many measures are before the Legislature, such as the Homeshare bill.  

• Erik Anderson spoke about the Oregon Legislature Information System (OLIS) and a new tool, the Legislative Session Participation Guide developed by the House Democrats to enable people to watch hearings, get information on bills, how to find your legislator and testify.  It’s an interactive site.  The Legislature makes it easy to get involved.

Les urged attendees to get involved.  Our faith communities provide a moral voice.  

Housing Multnomah Now

Housing Multnomah Now  

Courtesy of Jessica Vega Pederson

Multnomah County has unveiled a new plan to get more people off of Portland's streets and into apartments, and Chair Jessica Vega Pederson is calling for more transparency from the county and Portland’s Joint Office of Homeless Services as agencies find ways to curb homelessness.

 Alex Hasenstab (OPB) reported on February 6, 2023 that the plan, called Housing Multnomah Now,  allocates $14 million over the next year to move people directly from tents to apartments.  (Excerpts from her report follow.)

The plan will involve a coordinating group made of local and state agencies, including the Joint Office, the city of Portland, behavioral health providers, shelter providers and culturally specific organizations. It’s based on a pilot program and housing-first strategy in Seattle.

• The housing-first model prioritizes housing over other services needed to get people off the street. The plan initially aims to house unsheltered people in central Portland over the next four months. After that, it will expand into the eastern part of Multnomah County. 

• Under the plan, outreach workers will collaborate with community partners in providing housing to the unsheltered people they meet. The county hopes that the accelerated housing placement will open more beds in the shelter system.

• To find available housing, the county will build on its Move-in Multnomah pilot program and the efforts of Commissioner Susheela Jayapal to identify available housing units. The county is offering landlord incentives and rent assistance to identify apartments on the market.

“We need landlords to respond urgently to provide those living on our streets with a safe place to stay,” Chair Vega Pederson said. “We hope landlords will step up as they have in the past and continue to help us address this crisis.”

 To pay for this expansion, Vega Pederson will ask the Board of Commissioners to invest carryover funding from the Supportive Housing Services Measure. Vega Pederson also is calling on the Oregon Legislature to fund Gov. Tina Kotek’s proposed $130 million infusion in emergency funding to address homelessness.

The plan comes on the heels of an announcement from Jan. 31 to improve transparency and accountability within Oregon’s homelessness and housing services system, by creating new performance indicators to help track, report and measure its success.

A task force will develop these new indicators and will include representatives from the county and the city of Portland.

For more information, consult Multnomah County has a plan to move hundreds off of Portland streets and into apartments - OPB

Governor Kotek's Budget Spending Priorities

GOVERNOR KOTEK’S  BUDGET 

SPENDING PRIORITIES

Excerpts from article By Lauren Dake (OPB) and Dirk VanderHart (OPB) https://www.opb.org/article/2023/01/31/tina-kotek

New Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has set course to spend $1 billion in the next two years to preserve and build more affordable housing, funnel more than $9 billion to public schools and devote millions to increase staffing at the Oregon State Hospital, under a $116.5 billion proposed spending plan.

A governor’s proposed budget is a moral document — a signal to the legislators actually responsible for balancing the state’s books of what the state’s chief executive considers most important. So it’s no surprise that Kotek’s proposed 2023-25 budget focuses on the central issues she talked about on the campaign trail: Oregon’s housing crisis, improving access to mental health and addiction services, and improving outcomes for Oregon students.

“The housing crisis is one of the largest emergencies we have ever faced in Oregon and the human suffering it causes to individuals, families and communities is unacceptable,” Kotek wrote in the budget document. “We can and must rise to meet the moment.”

About 18,000 Oregonians are experiencing homelessness now, according to state estimates, and about 11,000 of those have no shelter whatsoever. Oregon has one of the highest homeless student rates in the country, according to Kotek’s budget, and Native Americans are four times more likely to be represented in the homeless population; other communities of color are also overrepresented.

In addition to the $130 million in immediate money Kotek has requested, here are some of the other housing highlights:

• $172.2 million to help people connect to long-term rental assistance

• $73 million to create long-lasting homelessness prevention programs in Oregon

• $24.1 million to maintain shelter operations, including the 600 new shelter beds and those created through the Project Turnkey projects

• $4.5 million to help people who provide housing support pay for affordable insurance

• $5.3 continued emergency response coordinated by the Oregon Department of Emergency Management and Oregon Housing Community Services

• $130 million to build new permanent supportive housing

• $770 million in bonding to help build new affordable homes for renters and new homeowners

• $118 million to preserve existing affordable homes, including manufactured homes and another $4 million to support replacing old and inefficient manufactured homes

• $13.6 million for down payment assistance

• $5 million for community land trusts

• $9.4 million to improve community access to housing by helping with language translation, technical assistance to Oregon Housing Community Services

• $5 million to Oregon’s nine sovereign tribal nations

During the 2022 campaign for governor, Kotek was the only leading candidate who said she would not try to repeal Measure 110, the pioneering drug decriminalization measure voters passed in 2020. The idea behind the measure was to focus fewer resources on penalizing drug users and more on treating them, but the rollout was slow. Now, Kotek said, hundreds of new supportive housing and residential placements are in the pipeline, and she believes combined with her budget proposal the state could finally move away from being “in constant crisis” and move toward “proactive interventions.”

Kotek said she wants to invest state taxpayer dollars to reduce hospitalizations and overdoses, provide timely access to behavioral health and offer the least restrictive environment for people to meet their needs. She is also proposing staff increases and facility upgrades to the state hospital.  Here are some of the other behavioral health funding highlights: $195.7 million continued funding for aid and assist services, peer respite centers, housing for transition-age youth and more

• $40 million to increase additional mental health residential capacity

• $14.9 million to fund civil commitment services, expand jail diversion services to all counties, intervention and outreach to patients before people are civilly committed

• $12.3 million for expanding rehabilitation services

• $8.7 million for substance use disorder for treatments at Oregon State Penitentiary and Snake River Correctional Institution

• $18.4 million to fund 988 suicide and crisis lifelines

• $47.6 million for programs like CAHOOTS to divert people from hospital and jail

• $278.9 million in addiction treatment, overdose prevention, peer support services, funded partly by Measure 110 grants

• $15 million for inpatient treatment and recovery community centers

Serving the Educational Needs of Homeless Children by Bonnie Gregg

Serving the Educational Needs of Homeless Children by Bonnie Gregg 

Portland Public Schools, founded in 1851, is a PK-12 urban school district in Portland, Oregon. With more than 49,000 students in 81 schools, it is one of the largest school districts in the Pacific Northwest, with ethnic diversity including Asian: 6.2%, Black: 8.6%, Hispanic/Latino: 16.6%, Native American/Alaskan Native: 0.5% www.pps.net/domain/265.  Portland Public Schools currently has 1,447 students identified as “Homeless”. 

Attending school is a pivotal experience for every child, the opportunity to see beyond the boundaries of his/her family’s life, to learn about the world and to acquire the skills and knowledge to flourish in that world.  However, for children constantly on the move, couch surfing, living in cars, campsites, shelters, or on the street, etc. the prospect of attending school may be exciting but intimidating as well.  Their parents must be actively involved finding them clothes and school supplies at donation centers and making the arrangements for their actual attendance at school, not the easiest of tasks for those whose daily  struggle is trying to find a safe place to sleep.

Fortunately, Portland Public Schools is committed to serving “homeless children” with a free appropriate public education   in the same manner as all other students of the District. To that end, school policy dictates that “homeless students will not be stigmatized or segregated on the basis of their status as homeless. The District shall establish safeguards that protect homeless students from discrimination on the basis of their homelessness.”  Homeless children and youth are defined as individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence, and include children and youth who meet any of the following criteria:

• share the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, 

• live in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to a lack of alternative adequate accommodations 

• live in emergency or transitional shelters, 

• are abandoned in hospitals,

• have a primary night time residence that is a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings,

• or live in a car, park, public space, abandoned building, substandard housing1, bus or train station, or similar setting

The District provides services to homeless students that are comparable to other students in the District, including transportation services,  and public preschool programs and other educational programs and services for which the homeless student meets eligibility criteria including:

• programs for children with disabilities,

•  programs for English Learners (students with Limited English Proficiency); 

• programs in career and technical education;

• programs for gifted and talented;

• school nutrition programs;

• before and after school programs.

For more information consult:  Homeless Students - Portland Public Schools (portlandk12.org)

March 2023: Editor's Note

MARCH 2023 

EDITOR’S NOTE  

by Bonnie Gregg, Poverty Awareness & Communication Team, and member of Madeleine Catholic Parish

Bigotry is not inherited, but we quickly learn the biases of our people by their words and example.   Education is the main defense against the narrowness of vision that closes the door to truth and broader understanding. Today the wisdom of the world is open to us, but it is important that there be an honest accounting of our past and clear-eyed analysis of our present    Filtering what is taught through the lens of a few, shortcuts education.  When books are burned and government defines education’s message, our democracy is at risk. 

Under the leadership of Portland Public Schools Superintendent Guadalupe  Guerrero,  no books are being burned in Portland, and the district is adhering to its expressed commitment  to racial equity and social justice. Superintendent Guerrero will be speaking at the March 2nd 12:00, Zoom meeting of the Interfaith Alliance.  You are encouraged to attend. See Announcement.  

For homeless children whose families are constantly on the move, couch surfing, living in cars, campsites, shelters, or on the street,  “going to school” presents its own set of problems.  Read about how Portland Public Schools is enabling these children to have an educational experience that may one day free them from the chains of poverty.  See the “PPS Program for Homeless Children” in this newsletter.

Oregon Governor Tina Kotek’s proposed 2023-25 budget focuses on issues to which she is committed:  Oregon’s housing crisis, improving access to mental health and addiction services, and improving outcomes for Oregon students.  Learn about “Kotek’s Spending Priorities” in this newsletter.

Multnomah County has unveiled a new plan to get more people off of Portland's streets and into apartments.  Read Alex Hasenstab’s OPB report on “Housing Multnomah Now” which allocates $14 million over the next year to move people directly from tents to apartments.  

At the last meeting of the Interfaith Alliance, Cole Merkel, Executive Director of HereTogether commented that looking out the window of our car as we pass the homeless camped along our streets, we may be tempted to think that nothing is being  done to change things, but he asserted, we’d be wrong.  Hundreds of people in a variety of organizations are working every day to care for people and find them permanent housing.  He provided a “roadmap” as to just how this may be accomplished.  For more information read David Groff’s Summary of the February 2 Interfaith Alliance Minutes.

A one size fits all solution to serving and ending homelessness will not work for the most vulnerable people  declares Scott Kerman, Executive Director of Blanchet House, particularly those who live on the margins, those who are disconnected, broken, disenfranchised, vulnerable, discounted, and the forgotten of society.  Nevertheless, within the despair and at times horror in our midst, we also see grace and hope.”  To read Scott’s full blog, check out  Voices from the Street.

We are told to “Beware the Ides of March”, the date Julius Caesar was assassinated memorialized in Shakespeare’s play, but we need have no fear of omens, or the darkness that so often surrounds us.  As long as there are educators like Guadalupe Guerrero,  and people working on the front lines of poverty, social/racial justice, income equality, physical/mental health care,  and against violence in all its forms, we can move forward with hope in our hearts. Bonnie Gregg

March 2023: Message from the Interfaith Alliance Chair

I am currently reading the non-fiction book “Invisible Child,” a recent Pulitzer Prize winner written by New York Times reporter Andrea Elliott. What caught my attention at the Powell’s display was the book’s subtitle: “Poverty, Survival, and Hope in an American City” and the book does not disappoint. Elliott tracks a black family in New York from roughly 2010 to 2020, creating a dramatic account of an inherently racist, shelter-only system gone wrong and its traumatic effects on a father/stepfather who rotates between rehab and jail, a loving but irresponsible mother, also an addict, and eight children, centering on a young girl named Dasani from 9 years old through her teenage years.

Dasani is bright, gifted athletically, and exuding personality, but her life is marked by constant chaos: moving (more than 10 times in eight years), new schools, family court appearances, baby-sitting but really mothering her siblings, begging for food and money on the street, teaching her siblings dance routines to perform for money in the subway (the youngest is four years old), and a mix of influencers, some positive but many negative. And Elliott enriches her story with factual commentary about poverty and homelessness; the contradictory and for the most part ineffective housing strategies of the Bloomberg and De Blasio administrations; and the harsh realities of living in the projects of Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Queens. Hope comes for Dasani when she is admitted to the Hershey School in Pennsylvania, a private school for smart but disadvantaged kids that transforms her life. 

Though it is quite long and often very challenging or upsetting to read, I strongly recommend the book. But my point in this column is to return to the theme of the traumatic uncertainty that the poor live with. Well-meaning (and for the most part white) liberals think of poverty in terms of food, clothing, and shelter, but it is the trauma of uncertainty for both children and adults that is the greatest tragedy. 

Where will I be tomorrow? A month from now? A year from now? Will I go to bed hungry and, again, what about tomorrow? Will I be with or separated from my family? Will I ever be able to deal with the disrespect and bullying that my condition brings with it? Do I dare to dream of the future when every dream so far has been crushed? I know that addiction is destroying my life but is my life even worth saving?

As we work on the various dimensions of poverty in Portland, let us always think first about the innate humanity of those we are seeking to help. That is why the Alliance emphasizes not just action but awareness and empathy. It is hard to imagine how Portland will ever be able to serve the whole person when we can’t even provide enough basic shelter, but we must never lose sight of that ultimate goal: creating certainty/stability and then moving to mental and other “services” with the goal not just of housing the unhoused but restoring souls.  That message resonates throughout “Invisible Child” and explains why this work is the most powerful of anything I have read on homelessness in America. 

Family Promise

Report by George Johnson

Family Promise of Metro East (FPME) is one of 200+ independent affiliate of National Family Promise organizations providing community-based shelter to children and their families experiencing houselessness.  The affiliate model means we have our own local Board of Directors and the ability to make our own decisions based on local need, but we have the benefit of institutional knowledge, a tested model, support of a trusted, national nonprofit organization.

FPME welcomed its first families in July of 2022.  Host congregations are partnered with support congregations to provide overnight space, meals and volunteers four times a year. along with other organizations and volunteers. This model is significantly less expensive to run than traditional shelters and provides a solid framework and an opportunity for volunteers to make a difference in our community. 

FPME is looking for additional host and support churches to create more housing opportunities for families. Investigate this opportunity by talking to Family Promise churches and organizers about what is involved (see link below). Your faith community can make Family Promise part of your mission work, because every child deserves a full belly and warm place to sleep at night.

Current Interfaith Alliance “Family Promise” host/support churches include:  The Madeleine Catholic Church, and Rose City Park   and Westminster Presbyterian Churches. Home - Family Promise of Metro East 

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Voices From the Street "The Crisis of Loneliness"

VOICES FROM THE STREET

“THE CRISIS OF LONELINESS”

  BY SCOTT KERMAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BLANCHET HOUSE

Photo by Allison Barr

There is a crisis of loneliness in our community. Chronic loneliness can have a significant impact on our physical and mental health and relief isn’t found at a store. It takes commitment to provide safe public spaces for connection.  

Many people we serve stay in temporary housing or a shelter with a looming day to vacate which can hinder community building. Lack of social connection and community are not simply emotional challenges. Loneliness and isolation affect a person’s physical health and well-being. Alternatively, feeling connected and having a community can improve a person’s physical health. 

Food Insecurity

• Nearly 20% of Portland’s Old Town residents are food insecure according to the data published by the city.

• 32% of tenants qualify as Severely Rent Burdened, which means more than 50% of their income is required to pay rent. This leaves little money left for food, let alone a nutritious meal like those served by Blanchet House. 

Physical Disability 

• More than 25% of residents in Old Town are disabled, which includes hearing, vision, cognitive, ambulatory, self-care, and independent living challenges. A person may have financial assistance, but physical disabilities can make grocery shopping, cooking, and cleaning difficult.  

Elderly 

• 12% of Oregonians aged 65 years or older live alone according to the Oregon Aging Statistics & Resource Guide. Many of our meal guests are senior citizens living alone on a fixed income. A growing body of research suggests the people we spend time with daily have a very large impact on our well-being. Positive social interactions provide a sense of purposefulness in older adults.

 We need to talk about companionship and social connection more. Loneliness is a significant challenge facing persons experiencing houselessness. Many people experiencing houselessness have experienced childhood trauma, which also is connected to adult loneliness. Chronic isolation and withdrawal from social activities as a result of homelessness affect one’s mental health, increasing feelings of paranoia, cognitive deterioration, and depression. 

.Blanchet House is not just a place to eat, it’s a community space where diners can visit with others, make friends, and be treated with respect and dignity. A home for those with or without a roof over their heads.

Mother Teresa has said, 

“Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted

 is the most terrible poverty.”

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A Solution for Home Seekers

A SOLUTION FOR HOME SEEKERS

Home Share Oregon (HSO) is a nonprofit that connects homeowners who have a spare bedroom to rent and home seekers in need of affordable housing. We promote home sharing as a chosen and preferred lifestyle. Homeowners gain financial resilience and home seekers get a new home. 

The mission of Home Share Oregon is to expand access to affordable housing through homesharing. We believe that this is a direct way to prevent housing instability, foreclosure, and homelessness Using thoughtful, secure and personalized processes and technology, Home Share Oregon is your one-stop-shop for finding a compatible roommate that fits your specific home sharing preferences. 

 “It's a success story. I can't believe how Home Share Oregon made it so simple to find just the right person that matches my requirements for a housemate. I found the perfect person. Within 3 days, we sent messages to each other, met in-person, with September 1 as the move-in date. 

The integrity of Home Share Oregon qualifying the people wanting to be a Share Person, with a background check, gave me a satisfied feeling. I would encourage other people seeking a share person to trust Home Share Oregon, it's so easy.”  HomeShare Oregon

Today's Leaders Shaping Tomorrow's History

TODAY’S LEADERS

SHAPING TOMORROW’S HISTORY

CNBC Make It  celebrates Black history year-round, but in February is shining a special spotlight on 23 Black leaders whose accomplishments and impact will inspire  generations to come.  “We encourage sharing with other sites such as Facebook or Email”.   

The Interfaith Alliance has selected four of these leaders to feature in our February Newsletter.To read more, consult CNBC’s website:

  23 Black leaders who are shaping history today (cnbc.com).

“Black Americans have played a crucial role in helping to advance America’s business, political and cultural landscape into what it is today. Since 1976, every U.S. president has designated the month of February as Black History Month to honor the achievements and the resilience of the Black community.  “Following the lead of trailblazers throughout American history, including Shirley Chisholm, John Lewis, Martin Luther King, Maya Angelou, Frederick Douglas,  Rosa Parks, and Mary Ellen Pleasant,(among many others)  today’s Black history-makers are shaping not only today but tomorrow. “ 

On Jan. 2020, Kamala Harris became the first Black, first South Asian American and first  woman Vice President of the United States. 

Harris, born in Oakland, California to an Indian mother and Jamaican father, spoke about her mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, in her first speech as vice president-elect.

“When she came here from India at the age of 19, she maybe didn’t quite imagine this moment,” her daughter said on Nov. 7. (Shyamala came to the U.S. in 1958 to study biochemistry.) “But she believed so deeply in an America where a moment like this is possible.” . . . “So, I’m thinking about her and about the generations of women – Black women, Asian, White, Latina, and Native American women who throughout our nation’s history have paved the way for this moment tonight,” she said. —Cory Stieg

Victor J. Glover, Jr., 44, first Black astronaut to live and work at the International Space Station for an extended stay

When NASA astronaut Victor Glover arrived at the International Space Station — roughly 250 miles above earth — on a SpaceX Crew Dragon Capsule, he settled in for a six-month stay to become the first Black astronaut to live and work on ISS for an extended period of time. (Of the more than 300 NASA astronauts who have been sent to space, only 14 have been Black Americans.)

“It is bittersweet, because I’ve had some amazing colleagues before me that really could have done it, and there are some amazing folks that will go behind me,” Glover, who is serving as pilot and second-in-command on the crew, told The Christian Chronicle. “I wish it would have already been done, but I try not to draw too much attention to it.” —Catherine Clifford

Raphael Warnock, 51, Georgia’s first Black senator 

Both in January 2021 and November2022 Reverend Raphael Warnock defeated his Republican opponent to create  a path for Democrats to gain control of the Senate and make Warnock the state of Georgia’s first Black senator as well as the first Black Democrat Senator from the South since the Reconstruction Era. 

Warnock, 51, grew up in Savannah, Georgia, graduated from Morehouse College cum laude in 1991 and in 2005 he became the youngest senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church – where Martin Luther King Jr. was once a pastor – since the church was founded in 1886. 

In a live-streamed victory speech, Warnock reflected on the historic nature of his election as well as on his mother, who in the 1950s picked cotton and tobacco. “The 82-year-old hands that used to pick somebody else’s cotton went to the polls and picked her youngest son to be a United States senator,” said Warnock. “The improbable journey that led me to this place in this historic moment in America could only happen here.”  —Abigail Johnson Hess

Midshipman Sydney Barber, U.S. Naval Academy’s first Black female brigade commander.

In the U.S. Naval Academy’s 175-year history, there has never been a Black woman to serve as a brigade commander. But all of that changed this January when Midshipman Sydney Barber stepped into the role. 

Barber, who grew up in Lake Forest, Illinois, says she was inspired by her dad, who graduated from the academy in 1991, to attend the institution. “My dad is someone who always believed in me early on and so he will say that he wasn’t surprised [by my position],” says the 21-year-old mechanical engineering major. “But, he started crying first of all on the phone just because he was so proud of me and the opportunity that came ahead.”

Knowing her dad’s experience and the experience of countless other diverse leaders, the 21-year-old says she’s “extremely humbled” by her new opportunity and she doesn’t take the responsibilities of her role lightly. 

“Ms. Janie Mines is another one of my mentors. She’s the first Black female graduate of the Naval Academy,” Barber says. “She’s someone that I speak to often. And she talks about how, at her time at the Academy, she wasn’t even acknowledged or recognized by her peers being that it was a predominantly White male institution.” Mines, who graduated from the academy in 1980, currently manages her own business as an author and executive management consultant. 

“So, I kind of take this as an opportunity to carry on their legacy,” says Barber. “I realize that they blazed the trail for me, and with that I feel a responsibility to continue blazing the trail for those who are coming after me.” —Courtney Connley 

 Read more about Sydney Barber’s journey to becoming the U.S. Naval Academy’s first Black female brigade commander. Sydney Barber 

Albina Vision Trust

In 1844, the newly adopted Oregon constitution stated that “No free negro or mulatto not residing in this state at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall come, reside or be within this state or hold any real estate, or make any contracts, under penalty of law.”   In 1860, Oregon’s black population was just 128 in a total population of 52,465.  

World War II produced change in established norms.  In 1941 following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States needed ships to fill its navy.   Portland-Vancouver shipyards operated 24 hours per day, producing one Liberty ship each, per week.  African Americans joined the thousands coming from cities and towns back east and the south to work in Swan Island and the Oregon Shipyards in Portland, and Kaiser Shipyard in Vancouver. Housing the workers became critical. 

 Vanport, an immense prefab housing complex was constructed on the site currently occupied by Delta Park and the Portland International Raceway.   It became home to 40,000 people, about 40 percent of whom were African-American, making it Oregon's second-largest city at the time, and the largest public housing project in the nation.    

Vanport was destroyed at 4:05 p.m. on May 30, 1948, Memorial Day weekend, when a 200-foot (61 m) section of the dike holding back the Columbia River collapsed during a flood.  Miraculously only 15 lives were lost. 

 When the war ended, many of the newcomers returned back east or to the south.  However, many African Americans decided to stay here.   

Realtors observed a red-line practice whereby African Americans were not allowed to buy property outside certain boundaries, basically Union Avenue to the west, Lombard to the north, NE 33rd to the east, and E Burnside to the south.    

By 1950, the Albina area established itself as a thriving community with businesses, stores, churches, and neighborhoods.    Don Frazier said, “It was a place where you knew everybody’s name”.  

 Albina was also known as “Jumptown” because of its vibrant night life and nationally recognized jazz scene. 

In 1958, an Urban Renewal program was launched by the City of Portland to make possible the construction of the Memorial Coliseum, (now Moda Center), the Portland School District Administrative offices, and expansion of the Legacy Hospital, etc. 

 In the years following, most of the black jazz and blues clubs in Albina were wiped out by urban renewal. Eleven hundred homes and businesses owned by African Americans were claimed under “eminent domain” and demolished to make way for the new construction.  

Residents forced out of their homes and businesses were left to find accommodations elsewhere. Many ended up in northeast and southeast Portland, separated from their community.  

 In 1950, the Albina district was home to 80% of Portland’s Black population.   By the 1990s, that figure had dropped to just under 70%.  Currently, the Black population hovers just shy of 30 %. 

Speakers discussed efforts now underway to reverse some of the effects of Albina gentrification. 

THE ALBINA VISION TRUST

The Albina Vision Trust plans to restore a 30-acre area into a version of the largely residential neighborhood that existed 60 years ago, before it was razed for construction of the Memorial Coliseum and other structures. 

Led by Rukaiyah Adams (Chief Investment Officer with the Meyer Memorial Trust, and Zari Santner (former Portland Parks Bureau director) the Albina Vision Trust hopes to “rebuild a community, not just physical spaces but be honest about the destruction of this neighborhood, not back away from that history.” 

According to Albina Vision Trust, “The plan will keep the Memorial Coliseum and Moda Center, but build new streets and buildings in the areas around them. It will also include a large cap covering I-5, Interstate Ave and the railroad tracks, stretching from NE Clackamas Street north to beyond NE Broadway Ave. and west to the riverfront It would provide public access to the river, create new buildings and streets, and move existing parking underground.” 

The Legacy Hill Block Project, NE Russell Street and Williams Avenue:  

On August 1, 2017, Prosper Portland, the Office of City of Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, and Legacy Health announced a collaborative project to develop the Hill Block property, a vacant 1.7 acre block currently owned by Legacy Health. 

The Hill Block property is located within an area that Prosper Portland and the City of Portland condemned in the early 1970s under urban renewal for an expansion of the hospital campus.  

This action displaced 171 families, 74 percent of whom were African American. Emanuel Hospital (now Legacy Health) purchased land. As reported by Vicki Guinn, Legacy Health System, “This land once housed the Hill Block building and was considered the heart of the Albina business community where many African Americans resided in nearby homes until urban renewal came in the 1960s. Though vacant for nearly 50 years, this plot of land still evokes painful memories for many African Americans who still talk about the unfair destruction and loss of their community.” 

Mayor Ted Wheeler said, “The new project isn’t meant to make up for the past. It is to make clear that whatever ultimately is built on those properties will be done in collaboration with the community and will include projects that serve and support the community.”  

  .   

Reflections on the Way Forward

As we consider the role of the Interfaith Alliance in resolving tensions between the African American and White communities in Portland, it may be helpful to review excerpts from  

REFLECTIONS ON THE WAY FORWARD

By Pastor Don Frazier, Oct 2020

If we are going to understand each other, we have to be intentional about reaching out because people who have lived through the hard things are going to be distrustful of surface connections. 

During this recent time, I have become hopeful. I see that people are beginning to understand what our community has lived through. I see a turnout of all races and of people understanding what racism has done to others. 

In 1968, I was a sophomore at Lincoln High. I was an angry young man, but I have mellowed. Now, I look for solutions. But I have buried many young men involved in gang activity. I have brought ministers together to work on that issue. 

When people are degraded and devalued, and made to feel inferior, it is hard to trust. 

I believe in working for solutions in our community and have felt that sometimes I am juggling two glass globes. I have a commitment to my community, having worked in many capacities and with Promise Keepers for two years until that stopped. Sometimes, when you work with two communities, you wonder where you fit. 

But I have come to Interfaith Alliance meetings whenever I could, and some of the things I have learned about poverty have been a revelation to me. These are things that need to be shared in my community as well, but the distrust will make that have to be an intentional sharing, back and forth. 

I thank you for your advocacy and commitment. Thank God for all of you. Don Frazier

       Pastor Frazier received his Master’s in Specialized Ministry in 1983. The first few years of his ministry Pastor Frazier was bi-vocational, working as a manager at the State of Oregon Children Services Division. In that role, he developed culturally sensitive training for employees to ensure that culturally competent programs were developed for ethnic clients. He states that his “twelve years with CSD deeply burdened my heart for ministry to young people, family, and racial reconciliation.” 

He has also been a leader with Promise Keepers  while pastoring at Mt. Sinai and   began the Bridge Ministries Program, designed as an outreach program aimed at reaching gang affected youth and their families. High risk and at-risk youth were referred to the program by the State of Oregon, Juvenile court, local high schools, and the community.  In addition to working with the youth, his work included a component of racial reconciliation to promote cross-racial understanding within churches.  

Oregon Legislature: "Rolls Up Its Sleeves"

OREGON LEGISLATURE 

“ROLLS UP ITS SLEEVES”

Based on excerpts from Lauren Dake Report (OPB)Jan. 17, 2023 

Photo – Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB

Newly sworn-in Governor, Tina Kotek has declared a homeless state of  emergency  and called for an increase in the production of new housing units. She’s also asked the Legislature to move swiftly to approve $130 million to help more than 1,000 Oregonians. 

Democrats, who control both legislative chambers but lack the supermajorities they’ve had in recent sessions, have signaled they are aligned with Kotek’s plan and are preparing to quickly dedicate money to keeping the state’s most vulnerable housed, in particular: people living with disabilities, veterans and children placed in foster care who are aging out of the system.

OTHER LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES

State’s behavioral health programs and treatment facilities. When Oregon voters approved the 2020 drug decriminalization law Measure 110, part of the deal was funding more treatment programs. But the money has been slow to get out the door delaying the availability of treatment while people struggling with mental health and addiction problems continue to increase. 

Abortion Rights   They have promised to take a closer look at making Oregon’s laws even more protective of the right to an abortion and how to ensure healthcare workers are protected from any criminal litigation that could stem from providing abortions to people coming from other states. 

Gun Laws  They are considering how to strengthen the state’s gun laws and will be looking at a range of options from banning what are known as ghost guns, raising the age to purchase handguns and ensuring the voter-approved Measure 114 new permitting process to buy a firearm is adequately funded. (A Harney County judge has issued an injunction that has prevented Measure 114 from taking effect.)

State’s Workforce Shortage.  There will be bills on how to improve the state’s workforce shortage, reduce property crimes, support teachers and improve how we fight wildfires. Lawmakers will also decide which programs deserve state money and what needs to be trimmed as part of approving the next two-year budget.

Semiconductor Industry.   When President Joe Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act, that sent billions in funding to the industry. If Oregon is able to leverage those federal funds, some lawmakers believe it could funnel billions to the state in the next decade, helping the economy and creating jobs.

Legislators have now returned to Salem and public committee hearings will be in person for the first time since 2020.  Thanks to voter-approved Measure 113 to curb walkouts,  hopefully legislators will work together to address the myriad crises currently facing the state.

 As he was sworn in as House Speaker, Dan Rayfield said, “We have an opportunity to improve housing supply, provide supports to those who are houseless, create pathways to homeownership, and ensure the historic investments we have made in housing, mental health care, and addiction services are making an impact on the ground.” 

Speaker Rayfield added, “I ask all of us to consider what is our responsibility, as leaders of this state, to build community instead of succumbing to the pressures of a political system that incentivizes demonizing each other.”

Source:

Oregon Legislature begins 2023 work with focus on housing and homelessness - OPB.