Christian Bryant, Portland Area Rental Owners Association President, advises that the. "City Council will vote on making the Mandatory Relocation Fee a permanent fixture in our local Landlord / Tenant Laws. As many of you know there has been a lot going on in Portland surrounding our industry. As of right now the only law change has been the Mandatory Relocation Fee Ordinance. It’s always had an expiration date, but on February 28, 2018 Portland City Council will be voting on whether to make this a permanent ordinance and if approved how they will amend the law going forward. If you don’t know the specifics, this ordinance requires landlords with two or more rental units in Portland to pay a relocation fee up to $4,500 to their tenants in certain circumstances. The first thing that can trigger this fee is if a landlord raises their rent by 10% or more in any 12-month rolling period. The other main trigger is tenant no-cause notices to move out. You can also trigger this fee if you make a “substantial” change to the lease agreement. As a member of the Oversight Committee for this ordinance, I have done my best to speak out on behalf of Portland landlords and investors, but now it’s time for you to take action. This topic will come before the city council on February 28, 2018 at 3 pm at City Hall. If your schedule permits and you want your voice heard, put this on your calendar and plan to show up. You will need to sign up for public testimony when you arrive and most likely they will limit each testimony to two to three minutes. The main topic is whether this ordinance should become permanent, but there are a couple amendments that will most likely come up for a vote. The biggest one is the removal of the 1-unit exemption that currently exists. If you haven't been paying much attention to this issue because you have been exempt, then you need to attend to have your voice heard before you lose your exemption. How drastically would a $4,500 fee affect you financially? Would this cause you to sell your Portland rental to someone that will live in it rather than keep it as a rental? As 2018 progresses there will be several ordinances and reforms up for debate that affect landlords in Portland. I will try to keep you updated as best I can, but here are a few websites to bookmark so you don’t miss any opportunities to voice your opinion."
OREGON HOUSING ALLIANCE DAY IN SALEM REPORT
“There were several hundred housing advocates gathered in Salem to learn about key legislative measures, how to talk with representatives and visit the representatives and ask for their ‘yea’ votes on these measures. Each attendee was matched with appointments to visit both their representative and senator.We were asked to stress one bill during our visits.
HB 4007, Document Recording Fee: What the Oregon Housing Alliance has to say about this bill:
“Preventing and ending homelessness, building and preserving affordable housing, and expanding access to affordable homeownership are all key purposes of the document recording fee. The document recording fee is stable, ongoing revenue that provides critical and flexible funds to housing opportunity. Ten percent is directed to preventing homelessness, 14% to promote homeownership, and 76% to multifamily affordable housing development. Within each of these priorities, one out of every four dollars serves veterans experiencing housing instability. HB 4007 increases the fee to $75, raising an additional $82 million per biennium. HB 4007 includes a proposed First Time Home Buyer Savings Account, providing a small tax incentive for people with moderate incomes to save for the purchase of a first home.”
Another piece of legislation is also important this session:HJR 201 Constitutional Amendment for Affordable Housing, From the Oregon Housing Alliance:
‘Bonds are an incredibly powerful tool to help meet affordable housing needs. The Oregon State Constitution limits the ability of municipal governments to use bonds to build needed affordable housing. The constitution prohibits lending of credit by local jurisdictions which means that bonds issued by local jurisdiction for affordable housing cannot be used with other funding and the housing much be owned and controlled by the local government entity. HJR 201 asks the Legislature to refer to voters a constitutional amendment that would create an exemption for affordable housing. Additional flexibility will ensure more effective use of bonds to address local housing needs’.
“Readers of this report: Please call your representative/senator (use this link to find them www.oregonlegislature.gov/findyourlegislator/leg-districts.html) and ask them to vote ‘yea’ on these two measures. 4007 needs to pass with a 3/5 majority so we need ‘all hands on deck’ to support these measures.” John Elizalde
Putting SOUL Into Business by Thomas Hering (Interfaith Alliance Co-Chair on Advocacy) and Mary Anne Harmer
“We wrote “Putting Soul Into Business” for one reason: hope. “Because we believe the Benefit Corporation is going to be a strong catalyst for a better world and for a better business by adopting and practicing the 3 P’s of People, Planet and Profit. “It is our intent in this book to not only show why you should embrace this entity for your business, but how to do it. Along the way you’ll read about companies both larger and small learning about their decisions to become a Benefit Corporation. We believe you will find the transcripts for their interviews with us inspiring. It certainly was the case for us as we talked to these forward-thinking yet humble leaders. “…It is our hope (operative word, here) you jump in and become part of this fast-growing movement and embrace what a short while ago seemed almost impossible: putting soul into business.
“Hope. -- Hope for the environment. -- Hope for social justice. “Hope for business. -- And Hope for the world.
You see, we believe we are at that proverbial crossroad where there is no more time. Either we stay on the road we’ve been on or we choose to travel the path less followed. We’ve seen the writing on the wall. Global warming. Hate crimes accelerating. Corporate greed spiraling upward. “The good news is that a new generation of enlightened humans are saying 'enough is enough.' And they are making their beliefs and opinions about the environment and social justice known to businesses with the most potent tool of capitalism: their pocketbooks .Here's what we write in the introduction of Putting Soul Into Business: How the Benefit Corporation is Transforming American Business for Good...
“A 2015 research study by Nielsen reports nearly 66 percent of global online consumers across 60 countries said they are willing to pay more for products and services by companies that are committed to positive social and environmental impact. These are convincing numbers all by themselves. But when you consider that the report also stated that the willingness to pay more is consistent across all income brackets, you have data that simply can't be ignored.
“In another 2015 report, this one conducted by Cone Communications which focused on Millennials in the U.S., research found that 70% are willing to pay more for products and services of companies with corporate social responsibility programs (CSR). 70%! The study also suggests that female Millennials appear to be the most loyal supporters of those companies with a willingness to:
“Buy a product with a social and/or environmental benefit, given the opportunity (90% versus 83% adult average) -- “Tell their friends and family about a company's CSR efforts (86% versus the 72% adult average); and, -- “Be more loyal to a company that supports a social or environmental issue (91% versus 87% adult average)
“All of which brings us back to hope and why we believe there is plenty of room for it in today's world. Because we believe the Benefit Corporation is going to be a strong catalyst for growth by the companies who adopt and practice such contemporary thinking today and in the months and years ahead. “It's been said that "hope shines brightest in the darkest moments." Care to join us in leaving the darkness behind?“ If you'd like to see if your business is ready to become a benefit corporation, just take our free 12-question "sniff" test and find out right now.” ~benefitcorporationsforgood.com~
BLACK HISTORY IN PORTLAND
Although Oregon law prohibited slavery from the earliest days of its provisional government in 1843, it wasn’t enforced, and a number of early settlers from Missouri came with one or more slaves to help work their new Willamette Valley farms. In 1844, the Peter Burnett-led legislative council amended the law to allow slaveholders two years to free male slaves and three years to free female slaves. In 1857 an all-white male Oregon constitutional convention was held. A clause was approved in the state constitution which read:
“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. At the same time Oregon voters cast ballots decisively voting down slavery. 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
The need for housing was great. Vanport, an immense prefab housing complex was constructed on the site currently occupied by Delta Park and the Portland International Raceway. Construction began in August 1942 and Vanport 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 this area had become a vibrant part of the city with thriving neighborhoods, churches, and stores.
Don Frazier, Pastor of Genesis Community Fellowship, remembers growing up there, how everybody knew everybody, people sat out their porches of a summer evening, kids played on the street and families dressed up of a Sunday morning to go to church. It was a neighborhood that felt like home.
The Albina district also housed a vibrant night life with clubs, restaurants, and music, which Jim Thompson has described in his book “Jumptown”, as “the Golden Years of Jazz”. .
While there had been just a few hundred African Americans in Portland before the war, that number swelled to more than 20,000 during the war. With that many people making good money, the clubs began to flourish and, in turn, began to attract big- name acts such as Thelonious Monk, Charlie Barnet and Nat King Cole. The scene also began to cultivate local talent.
Paul Knauls told of his experience coming to Portland in the early 1960s and opening the Cotton Club. He said that Portland had become a mecca of jazz and blues at that point and the clubs had begun to draw many white fans as well as black devotees. He listed acts such as Etta James, Diana Ross, Martha and the Vandellas and the Four Tops as among those who came through Portland at the time.
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, etc.. 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. Gang members moved from Los Angeles to Portland bringing problems with them.
On August 28, 1963, more than 200,000 people, black and white, congregated in Washington, D. C. for a peaceful march with the main purpose of forcing civil rights legislation and establishing job equality for everyone.
Addressing the crowds, in his “I have a dream” speech Dr. Martin Luther King said “Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. “ But let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. “I have a dream that one day- every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together." With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. “And when this happens, and when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
Dr. King witnessed the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by President Lyndon Johnson, legislation that had been authorized by President John F. Kennedy before his assassination. The law guaranteed equal employment for all, limited the use of voter literacy tests and allowed federal authorities to ensure public facilities were integrated.
On February 21, 1965, former Nation of Islam leader and Organization of Afro-American Unity, founder Malcolm X was assassinated at a rally. Three years later, on April 4, 1968, civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated on his hotel balcony.
Calling themselves the “Black Panthers” young blacks across the nation took to the streets in grief and anger to protest social injustice and police violence. .
The Black Panthers’ ten-point platform included “equality in the realms of employment, housing, and education, along with freedom for political prisoners and an end to police brutality.
In Portland, about 20 young blacks organized as the Portland Panthers . In June 1969, their chapter opened an office on the southeast corner of Northeast Cook Street and Union Avenue (present-day Martin Luther King Boulevard), the first of four locations.
By the end of that year, the Portland Panthers had started a Children´s Breakfast Program at Highland United Church of Christ—where they fed up to 125 children each morning before school. They also established the Fred Hampton Memorial People´s Health Clinic, extending free medical care five evenings a week at 109 North Russell to anyone of any race. In February 1970, they opened a dental clinic at 2341 North Williams.
When their medical clinic was condemned and razed to accommodate a planned expansion of Emanuel Hospital, the chapter moved their Monday and Tuesday night dental practice to the Kaiser dental clinic at 214 N Russell and their medical clinic to the former dental clinic space on North Williams.
“It felt good,” Oscar Johnson recalls. “We were doing something. We had the respect of the community.” New members were attracted to the social programs, and the Portland chapter grew, though it never exceeded fifty members, about a third of whom were women. George Barton, a neurosurgeon, was their first volunteer physician, and Gerald Morrell was their first volunteer dentist. As head of Community Outreach for the Multnomah Dental Society, Morrell persuaded many others to join him.
The Portland Panther chapter lasted a decade, finally closing the medical clinic in 1979. “We decided we just couldn´t keep going,” says Sandra Ford, a founding member who worked in the health clinic as a medical assistant.
In 1960 the Portland School District implemented a busing program to desegregate schools. The goal was to improve racial harmony; but the burden was placed on the black community. While white children remained in their schools, black children were bused out of their communities to attend white schools. Often children were assigned to different schools each year, making it difficult for black children to become familiar with their new classrooms and hard for their parents to attend meetings, etc. to provide support
Since busing increased the enrollment in white schools while decreasing the enrollment in black community schools, it was decided that more black community schools should be closed. By 1980, it was clear the busing program was not working and it was hoped desegregated middle schools might help..
Melanie Sevcenko reported in the The Skanner News that “through tenacious protest from groups like the Black United Front, Portland Public Schools eventually agreed to open Tubman at the Eliot Childhood Education Center. For more than 20 years, the middle school stood as a precedent for community pushback against institutional racism within the school district. “In 2007, it was converted into the Harriet Tubman Young Women's Leadership Academy, as part of restructuring Jefferson High School. Five years later, the academy dissolved too. “
Christine Pitawanich, KGW, reported on November 16, 2017 that, “Without a school at the heart of the historically African American neighborhood, community members say it’s been difficult to form a strong community or promote parental involvement. “
At a community meeting in North Portland’s Center for Self Enhancement , Superintendent Guadalupe Guerrero assured neighbors, “The Portland Public Schools Board of Education, and the district are committed to opening Harriet Tubman as a comprehensive middle school, grades 6-8 for the fall of 2018.”
“THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS” provides an excellent commentary on the epic story of “America’s Great Migration” from the South to the North and West between 1915 - 1975. It is told through the true stories of four individuals who made the journey. Herself a child of the migration, Isabel Wilkerson, tells how individuals responded to the Jim Crow south, where despite their emancipation following the Civil War, black people were valued primarily for their labor and compensated as the white land owners saw fit. Their children were allowed to attend schools only when they were not needed for field work and every aspect of their lives was segregated. If they expressed any resentment, they could be beaten, or lynched. Isabel Wilkerson tells their their story with graceful imagery and humanity.
“It was during World War I that a silent pilgrimage took its first steps within the borders of this country. The fever rose without warning or notice or much in the way of understanding by those outside its reach. It would not end until the 1970’s and would set into motion changes in the North and South that no one, not even the people doing the leaving, could have imagined at the start of it or dreamed could take a lifetime to play out.
“ Their decisions were separate joining a road already plied decades before by people as discontented as themselves. A thousand hurts and killed wishes led to a final determination by each fed-up individual on the verge of departure, which, added to millions of others, made what could be called migration. It would become perhaps the biggest underreported story of the twentieth century. It was vast. It was leaderless. It crept along so many thousands of currents over so long a stretch of time as to make it difficult for the press truly to capture while it was happening.”
On April 28, 1917, an editorial in the Cleveland Advocate wrote “There is no mistaking what is going on; it is a regular exodus. It is without head, tail, or leadership. Its greatest factor is momentum. People are leaving their homes and everything about them, under cover of night as though they were going on a day’s journey – leaving forever.
Breaking Away
“I was leaving without a question, without a single backward glance. The face of the South that I had known was hostile and forbidding and yet out of all the conflicts and the curses, the tension and the terror, I had somehow gotten the idea that life could be different. I was now running more away from something than toward something. My mood was I’ve got to get away; I can’t stay here. “ Richard Wright, “Black Boy”
MAYOR WHEELER SUPPORTS OVERLAY ZONING!!!
On January 19, 2018 Mayor Tom Wheeler advised “Manufactured Home parks are a critical part of the affordable housing that we need in Portland. We join Verde and Living Cully in wanting zoning and other tools to protect this housing from unnecessary change. I look forward to getting these code amendments to City Council for action. Additionally, I hope you will join Nathan Howard, one of my Senior Policy Advisors, on January 24th at 10:00 AM in City Hall to discuss this further and work together on protecting residents living in Manufactured Housing Parks.” Representatives from three parks are scheduled to attend meeting.
"Righting the Wrongs of Black History"
Carol Turner and David Groff, West Minster Presbyterian, Co-Chairs of the Interfaith Alliance welcomed a crowded room of those attending the Interfaith Alliance’s first meeting of the year. John Elizalde, First Unitarian, and Co-Chair of the Becoming Poverty Aware & Communication Action Team, introduced featured speaker, Joy Alise Davis, Executive Director of the Portland African American Leadership Forum (PAALF). Originally from Jamaica, Joy Alise grew up in Ohio, and received her Masters of Urban Design at Miami University. She has expertise working on social sustainability projects, including racial equity strategies, collaborative design strategies, project development, civic engagement and community data analysis.
As Executive Director of PAALT, she has devoted herself to social justice issues involving the African American community in Portland. Originally neither the City of Portland or the State of Oregon welcomed African Americans.
Oregon had a law prohibiting slavery from the earliest days of its provisional government in 1843. However, it wasn’t enforced, and a number of early settlers from Missouri came with one or more slaves to help work their new Willamette Valley farms. In 1844, the Peter Burnett-led legislative council amended the law to allow slaveholders two years to free male slaves and three years to free female slaves.
In 1857 an all-white male Oregon constitutional convention was held. A clause was approved in the state constitution which read:
“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. At the same time Oregon voters cast ballots decisively voting down slavery. In 1860, Oregon’s black population was just 128 in a total population of 52,465.
World War II produced a change in established norms. The U.S. had just had its fleet sunk and there was an urgent need for ships to fill its navy. African Americans joined the thousands coming from cities and towns back east and the south to work in Northwest shipyards. Swan Island and the Oregon Shipyards drew workers in Portland, as did Kaiser Shipyard in Vancouver. Shipyards operated 24 hours per day, producing one Liberty ship each per week.
The need for housing was great. Vanport, an immense prefab housing complex was constructed on the site currently occupied by Delta Park and the Portland International Raceway. Construction began in August 1942 and Vanport 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, 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 this area had become a vibrant part of the city with thriving neighborhoods, churches, and stores.
Don Frazier, Pastor of Genesis Community Fellowship, remembers growing up there, how everybody knew everybody, people sat out their porches of a summer night, kids played on the street and families dressed up of a Sunday morning to go to church. It was a neighborhood that felt like home.
The Albina district also housed a vibrant night life with clubs, restaurants, and music, which Jim Thompson has described in his book “Jumptown”, as “the Golden Years of Jazz”. Oregonian reporter, John Kellin reported in March 2015 about a History Hub discussion held at Kennedy School. "For the first time in our lives, we had money," said Ben Johnson, who came to Portland in 1943 when he was 13 with his parents so his father could help build ships. He said that his mother, a schoolteacher, had never made more than $16 a month. But his father was suddenly making $18 a week (or about $250 a week today) in the shipyards.
"We had discretionary income to spend and we wanted to spend it," said Johnson. "Problem was, where could you spend it? In part, he said, the answer was the night clubs such as the Dude Ranch. And his parents were far from alone. While there had been just a few hundred African Americans in Portland before the war, that number swelled to more than 20,000 during the war. With that many people making good money and looking for places to spend some of it, the clubs began to flourish and, in turn, began to attract name acts such as Thelonious Monk, Charlie Barnet and Nat King Cole. The scene also began to cultivate local talent.
Paul Knauls told of his experience coming to Portland in the early 1960s and opening the Cotton Club. He said that Portland had become a mecca of jazz and blues at that point and the clubs had begun to draw many white fans as well as black devotees. He listed acts such as Etta James, Diana Ross, Martha and the Vandellas and the Four Tops as among those who came through Portland at the time.
Bill Rutherford talked about how influential the music scene was on Portland youths and said that dances for young people often drew overflow crowds to venues such as the old Knott Street Community Center. Eventually, most of the black jazz and blues clubs in Albina were wiped out by urban renewal. Places like the Dude Ranch, the Savoy and the Acme became memories.
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 Administration building, and Legacy Emmanuel Hospital expansion. Hundreds of 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. Gang members moved from Los Angeles to Portland bringing problems with them
Joy Alise explained that efforts are now under way “to right these wrongs.” The PAALF People’s Plan serves as a powerful tool for research, organizing, and implementation. By viewing the community as the drivers of change, this project engaged over 400 African Americans on their experience living in Portland. Empowering the Black community to assert their right to actively shape the city we live in, the PAALF People’s Plan hopes to ensure that solutions are informed by the people affected.
Although African Americans continue to “yearn” for their community, lack of affordable housing has become another barrier to their return. Nevertheless, efforts are being made to support their “Right to Return”. Joy encouraged Interfaith Alliance members to support organizations working to make this happen. B. Gregg
THE ALBINA VISION
Rukaiyah Adams Source: J. Maus/BikePortland – September 2017)
The “Albina Vision” would develop the 30-acre Rose Quarter with housing and businesses that respects history and embraces the future.
Rukaiyah Adams explained “What we envision is … putting bikes and walkers first and not just having them be unsafe crossing giant highways and streets.” She shared that her great-grandmother moved to the Rose Quarter after fleeing the violence of the Jim Crow south. “It was a lot like Ladds [neighborhood] today,” she said. “Imagine bulldozing Ladds Addition to build a soccer stadium.” She wants to, “rebuild a community, not just the physical spaces” of a neighborhood that she refers to as “ground zero for the discussion about equity and history in Portland.”
The “Albina Vision wouldn’t seek to demolish the Coliseum. Rather,” Adams says, “Portland must be honest about the destruction of this neighborhood, not back away from that history.
The way we see it,” she continued, “the homes of black veterans were bulldozed to build a monument mostly to white veterans — so this is our Robert E. Lee monument. We look at it and can appreciate the beauty and wanting to protect the architecture; but also feel like there’s a story about what we’re monumenting here-- that has to be told if it will be preserved.”
Beth Israel Opens Portland Homeless Family Solutions Emergency Winter Shelter
On December 4, 2017, Multnomah County shelters were packed to the brim, leaving homeless families out in the cold with no place to sleep but the streets of Portland. When the City and County asked Portland Homeless Family Solutions for assistance, they reached out to their long-time partner Congregation Beth Israel in Northwest Portland for help. Congregation Beth Israel did not hesitate.
Congregation Beth Israel (Interfaith Alliance member) will be opening their doors to provide "an emergency winter family shelter" from December 11, 2017 through April 30, 2018 to accommodate 75 moms, dads, and kids
You can help us make this new shelter a success!
- Volunteer to help set up the shelter: Join us between December 4-10 to set up the beds, organize shelter supplies, and get ready to welcome families. Email Bethany@pdxhfs.org to sign up.
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Volunteer to help run the shelter: Bring food for dinner, come play with kids, or help keep the night running smoothly. Please attend a volunteer orientation on Thursday, December 7 or Sunday, December 10. RSVP required: email Bethany@pdxhfs.org to sign up for an orientation.
- Donate these supplies: Hygiene supplies like soap & shampoo, tooth paste & brushes, and deodorant, breakfast and snack foods, blankets and twin sheet sets, pillows and pillow cases, and warm winter coats. We are also collecting holidays toys for kids in shelter. Email Emma@pdxhfs.org to coordinate donations.
- Give a financial contribution: The County & City are funding the operation of the shelter, but they aren't providing funding to help families from shelter move into housing. Help us end homelessness by donating money that we can use to help families in shelter get back into homes - and stay there. Donate here!
We always say it takes a village to raise a family, and we are going to need you - our village - to help make this shelter successful.
Mark Knutson, Pastor Augustana Lutheran Church
Rev. W. J. Mark Knutson, will reflect on "Poverty in Portland" at the October 5th Interfaith Alliance meeting to be held in Room 23, at Augustana Lutheran Church, 2710 NE 14th Street, from 12:00 - 2:00 PM. Rev Knutson came to Augustana in 1995 in what he calls a response to "God’s call and the possibility of growing a multicultural congregation that is unafraid to step out in faith on the important issues of our day for the well being of all." He says that the biggest challenge is "Discerning what the cutting edge issues of justice, peace, diversity, equity, reconciliation and inclusion are going to be and helping to position the church to be ready and relevant to be proactive with others as a voice of conscience and a move in action always ready to step out in faith to do what is right."
The Augustana website reveals that under Rev Knutson's leadership. "Augustana has grown from 243 members in 1995 to an 800-member congregation that is also home to several non-profits including the Community Alliance of Tenants, Familias en Accion, the Society for Haitian Arts, Culture and Social Support, Irvington Cooperative Preschool, the Well Arts Institute, and the Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice.
"Over the past 30 years, Rev.r Knutson has served on many local and national boards and committees, and has keynoted and conducted workshops in a variety of settings. Mark completed in 2015 his term as Chair of the Northwest Health Foundation Board, and is past Chair of the Board of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon and of Familias en Accion. He is on the Steering Committee for the Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform. He was one of three statewide petitioners for the Freedom to Marry Ballot Initiative, and is an American Leadership Forum Senior Fellow.
"In the January 2012 issue of Portland Monthly magazine, Mark was named one of the 50 Most Influential Portlanders. The issue noted his “vigorous activism” against war and in favor of immigration reform and gay rights. His congregation shares his dedication to these and other social causes that put our Christian faith into action in our world.
"Rev. Knutson was given the Heart of Sanctuary Award by the Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice in 2015; named Ecumenist of the Year in 2009 by Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon; Distinguished Pastor by Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley in 2009; the Fortenza Award by Desarrollo Integral de la Familia for service in the Latino community in 2014; the Drum Major for Justice Award in 2015 as a member of the AMA Police Reform Steering Committee; and one of the 50 Most Influential Portlanders by Portland Magazine in 2012. Prior to coming to Augustana he served as the National Director of Youth Ministries in Chicago for the 5.3 million member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He is a graduate of the University of Oregon and has a M. Div. from Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkeley. He is currently enrolled in the doctor of Ministry Program at Wesley Seminary in Washington, D. C."
AUGUST 2017 INTERFAITH ALLIANCE NEWSLETTER
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It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. Frederick Douglass The Interfaith Alliance newsletter is produced by the Poverty Awareness & Communication Workgroup. Website: :allianceonpoverty.org Contact: Bonniejgregg@msn.com
2017 HOMELESS REPORT FOR MULTNOMAH COUNTY Reported by David Groff and John Elizalde Every year Multnomah County and the City of Portland volunteers and outreach workers combine efforts to do a comprehensive “point in time” count of children and adults experiencing homelessness. This year the count occurred on February 22, 2017, and revealed that “11.6% fewer people” were sleeping without shelter. It is believed that this is the result of the community’s “investment in rent assistance, housing placements and more than 600 new shelter beds.” “In the Portland area, the average one-bedroom apartment now rents for more than $1,100 a month.“ Rents have grown 20 times faster than the median income since 2015, leaving minimum wage earners with little to cover other expenses. In addition, more than 18,000 people in Multnomah County rely on federal disability checks that top out at $735 a month. For more information, email ahomeforeveryone.net MARK YOUR CALENDAR – AUGUST 31YOU are invited to attend the monthly meeting of the Interfaith Alliance which will be held at the Madeleine Parish Fireside Room, 3123 NE 24, from 12:00 - 2:00 PM, Featured speakers will be: Israel Bayer, Street Roots Executive Director and Lori Lematta, Street Roots Vendor Street Roots provides income opportunities for people experiencing homelessness and poverty by producing a newspaper and other media that are catalysts for individual and social change. Israel Bayer has been working at Street Roots, founded in 1998, for the past 15 years. In Jessica Pollard’s article in the Willamette Week, she says he has “become one of Portland's leading moral authorities on homelessness." "Personally” Israel says, “ I've always tried to lead the organization in a way that wasn't geared toward doing the popular thing, but the right thing — for both the organization and people on the streets," Lori Lematta has been selling Street Roots for three years. She will share her personal story. "MAN WITH MANY HATS"- Excerpts from article written by Robin Schauffler , STREET ROOTS, Sept 17, 2016“Tom Lechner is an art teacher, IT expert, photographer, facilities manager and role model. He’s also the one who makes sure dozens of homeless children get to school each day. "Tom Lechner is also the transportation coordinator at Community Transition School in Portland. The private, non-profit school for children experiencing homelessness serves about 80 students per day - this year 221 students total, from 121 families. He sits at a schoolroom-style desk in one corner of a busy office, a computer screen in front of him, folders of paperwork on the desk, pen in hand, phone at the ready. He’s a tall, slim guy with tightly curling black hair showing wisps of gray, and frameless glasses perched on his nose. It’s his job to get 80 elementary school children to school every day, no matter where they may have spent the night. ”All of the CTS students are homeless. They live in cheap motels or doubled-up in the apartments of relatives or friends; they sleep in shelters or in family cars or outside on the street. Some students might be in the school for just a day; others have stayed for years. The average length of stay is 13 weeks. “CTS takes care of these complexities one family at a time, wherever they are. How do they do it? Size and intimacy explain a lot. It’s a small, close-knit school; everyone knows everyone. They don’t have to follow each federal guideline. They can be in touch with every family, answer every call. “ Once a week, Tom teaches a drawing class for a group of lucky students. There are other regular art classes, with all kinds of materials, but in Tom’s class, he said, “we usually just use paper and pencil.” Tom calls it observational drawing, but the kids simply call it Art with Tom. The application process is “astonishingly simple: no birth certificate, no proof of immunization, no paperwork. And no tuition. Families learn of CTS through word of mouth, and the shelters and other support organizations post signs and help spread the word. CTS maintains a close relationship with those in social services; the school depends on these people to help homeless families learn about CTS. A parent calls, gives the child’s name and birth date, and most recent grade level, and “in five minutes,” they’re on Tom’s list for the next morning. “Tom may have to figure out where a family has moved. Once, when parents didn’t call in, Juli Osa told the child, “Find an envelope that has an address on it, and tell us what it says, and then we’ll figure out where to go.” Every day, that second grader read out a new address, and called in to say where she was. She moved 22 times that year. This past year, one student moved 13 times in 110 days, and missed only two days of school. “If a child doesn’t show up at the morning bus stop, Tom or someone in the office will call to find out what’s going on – but if they can’t get through and the child doesn’t show up for a couple of days, they stop sending the bus. It’s a painful part of the job: “You get to know the kids, and then they’re gone.” “A lot depends on the kids’ initiative,” he said. “They have to figure it out. Somehow, magically, they find a way to get here.” It’s a remarkable place, and magic doesn’t seem too strong a word. What would Tom most want others to know about the Community Transitional School? He answers slowly, pausing to think, and finally decides: “That it exists.” NOTES FROM THE CULLY MOBILE PARK WORK CREW“Several of us from the Interfaith Alliance on the Poverty Advocacy group were at the Arbor Mobile Home Park last Friday, July 28, as part of a Living Cully project. David Groff, Westminster Presbyterian Church, helped build a stairway and Les Wardenaar, Fremont Methodist Church helped with window caulking. Marilyn Mauch, Fremont Methodist Church, myself, another Central Lutheran member and a friend of mine prepared a dinner meal for the group.” Sarah Carolus, Central Lutheran Church “David Groff built the stairs at Cedar Shade Mobile Home Park. The rest of us were at Arbor Mobile Home Park.” Marilyn Mauch Fremont Methodist Church “Thank you for bringing food to the Living Cully work project last night. You probably saw Les who was doing some caulking at the first of two mobile homes we worked on. “ I worked with a group that built steps for a recently rebuilt porch on the other mobile home. We managed to finish both sets of steps, which was much appreciated by the owners of the mobile home. “I enjoyed working with the Living Cully folks. Cameron is an impressive organizer with excellent Spanish language skills.” David Groff, Westminster Presbyterian Church INTERFAITH ALLIANCE YEAR-END MEETING |
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2017 HOMELESS REPORT FOR MULTNOMAH COUNTY
Reported by David Groff and John Elizalde
Every year Multnomah County and the City of Portland volunteers and outreach workers combine efforts to do a comprehensive “point in time” count of children and adults experiencing homelessness.
This year the count occurred on February 22, 2017, and revealed that “11.6% fewer people” were sleeping without shelter. It is believed that this is the result of the community’s “investment in rent assistance, housing placements and more than 600 new shelter beds.”
“In the Portland area, the average one-bedroom apartment now rents for more than $1,100 a month.“ Rents have grown 20 times faster than the median income since 2015, leaving minimum wage earners with little to cover other expenses.
In addition, more than 18,000 people in Multnomah County rely on federal disability checks that top out at $735 a month.
For more information, email ahomeforeveryone.net
MARK YOUR CALENDAR – AUGUST 31
YOU are invited to attend the monthly meeting of the Interfaith Alliance which will be held at the Madeleine Parish Fireside Room, 3123 NE 24, from 12:00 - 2:00 PM,
Featured Speakers will be:
Juli Osa, Developmental Director of the Community Transition School
Juli will share the mission and operation of the Community Transition School. CTS was founded in 1990 to provide a haven of learning for homeless children aged 4-14 in Multnomah, and sections of Clackamas and Washington counties. Key to the CTS Education is the CTS Bus. Once referred to the Community Transition School, a student can depend that a CTS Bus will show up promptly every school day morning to take him or her to school. It doesn’t matter whether his or her home is a shelter or the back of a car.
Lori Lematta, Street Roots Newspaper
Lori has been selling Street Roots for three years. She will share her personal story. We learn from the web that Street Roots “creates income opportunities for people experiencing homelessness and poverty by producing a newspaper and other media that are catalysts for individual and social change.
“A MAN WITH MANY HATS”, Excerpts from article written by Robin Schauffler , STREET ROOTS, Sept 17, 2016
“Tom Lechner is an art teacher, IT expert, photographer, facilities manager and role model. He’s also the one who makes sure dozens of homeless children get to school each day. C
“Tom Lechner sits at a schoolroom-style desk in one corner of a busy office, a computer screen in front of him, folders of paperwork on the desk, pen in hand, phone at the ready. He’s a tall, slim guy with tightly curling black hair showing wisps of gray, and frameless glasses perched on his nose. It’s his job to get 80 elementary school children to school every day, no matter where they may have spent the night.
”All of the CTS students are homeless. They live in cheap motels or doubled-up in the apartments of relatives or friends; they sleep in shelters or in family cars or outside on the street. Some students might be in the school for just a day; others have stayed for years. The average length of stay is 13 weeks.
“CTS takes care of these complexities one family at a time, wherever they are. How do they do it? Size and intimacy explain a lot. It’s a small, close-knit school; everyone knows everyone. They don’t have to follow each federal guideline. They can be in touch with every family, answer every call.
“ Once a week, Tom teaches a drawing class for a group of lucky students. There are other regular art classes, with all kinds of materials, but in Tom’s class, he said, “we usually just use paper and pencil.” Tom calls it observational drawing, but the kids simply call it Art with Tom.
The application process is “astonishingly simple: no birth certificate, no proof of immunization, no paperwork. And no tuition. Families learn of CTS through word of mouth, and the shelters and other support organizations post signs and help spread the word. CTS maintains a close relationship with those in social services; the school depends on these people to help homeless families learn about CTS.
A parent calls, gives the child’s name and birth date, and most recent grade level, and “in five minutes,” they’re on Tom’s list for the next morning.
“Tom may have to figure out where a family has moved. Once, when parents didn’t call in, Juli Osa told the child, “Find an envelope that has an address on it, and tell us what it says, and then we’ll figure out where to go.” Every day, that second grader read out a new address, and called in to say where she was. She moved 22 times that year. This past year, one student moved 13 times in 110 days, and missed only two days of school.
“If a child doesn’t show up at the morning bus stop, Tom or someone in the office will call to find out what’s going on – but if they can’t get through and the child doesn’t show up for a couple of days, they stop sending the bus. It’s a painful part of the job: “You get to know the kids, and then they’re gone.”
“A lot depends on the kids’ initiative,” he said. “They have to figure it out. Somehow, magically, they find a way to get here.” It’s a remarkable place, and magic doesn’t seem too strong a word.
What would Tom most want others to know about the Community Transitional School? He answers slowly, pausing to think, and finally decides: “That it exists.”
NOTES FROM THE CULLY MOBILE PARK WORK CREW
“Several of us from the Interfaith Alliance on the Poverty Advocacy group were at the Arbor Mobile Home Park last Friday, July 28, as part of a Living Cully project.
David Groff, Westminster Presbyterian Church, helped build a stairway and Les Wardenaar, Fremont Methodist Church helped with window caulking. Marilyn Mauch, Fremont Methodist Church, myself, another Central Lutheran member and a friend of mine prepared a dinner meal for the group.” Sarah Carolus, Central Lutheran Church
“David Groff built the stairs at Cedar Shade Mobile Home Park. The rest of us were at Arbor Mobile Home Park.” Marilyn Mauch Fremont Methodist Church
“Thank you for bringing food to the Living Cully work project last night. You probably saw Les who was doing some caulking at the first of two mobile homes we worked on.
“ I worked with a group that built steps for a recently rebuilt porch on the other mobile home. We managed to finish both sets of steps, which was much appreciated by the owners of the mobile home.
“I enjoyed working with the Living Cully folks. Cameron is an impressive organizer with excellent Spanish language skills.” David Groff, Westminster Presbyterian Church
INTERFAITH ALLIANCE YEAR-END MEETING
Alliance Co-Chair, Carol Turner, Tallies 2016-2017 Achievements
On June 29, 2017 members and friends of the Interfaith Alliance gathered to enjoy a potluck and review accomplishments of the past year.
Tom Hering, Co-Leader, with Sally Fraser, of the Advocacy Work Group described actions taken to support tenants’ rights, protest no-cause evictions, promote affordable housing and recommend legislation.
Working with groups within the community including Living Cully and St. Charles Church, the Advocacy group has been active participating in efforts to produce positive change, joining a number of rallies at both the City Hall and the State Capitol as well as supporting renters throughout Northeast Portland.
Rae Richen, Co-Leader, with Dave Albertine, of the Transition to Stability Work Group, reported that working with the Village Support Network, a number of Alliance churches have been able to assist homeless families in finding stable housing.
Since the Village Support Network was forced to close on May 1, 2017, the Transition to Stability work group is now exploring other options for helping families out of homelessness.
John Elizalde, Co-Leader, with Bonnie Gregg, of the Becoming Poverty Aware & Communication Work Group, reported on activities staged this year.
Poverty Curriculum seminars were presented at Fremont Methodist by Love, Inc., and at Westminster Presbyterian and First Unitarian churches by Rev. Connie Yost.
In cooperation with the 15th annual “Everybody Reads Program” sponsored by the Multnomah County Library, the Alliance promoted reading of “Evicted” by Matthew Desmond.
Rae Richen obtained a grant to enable the Alliance to provide ten Evicted books to each of the Alliance congregations to share with their members and the community,
Holly Schmidt and Claudia Roberts organized a number of events to promote the Everybody Reads program.
On May 10, 2017, Dr. Mandy Davis, of Trauma Informed Care, presented a 4-hour seminar at the Madeleine Parish which was attended by about 60 people.
The Alliance newsletter is beginning its second year of monthly publication, the Alliance website allianceonpoverty.org was launched in March 2017, and the Alliance Facebook page will be available soon.
Jessica Rojas, NE Coalition of Neighbors Program Manager, shared her personal story.
Jessica’s family was poor. They endured the challenges confronted by poor people everywhere, struggling to find work, food, and shelter. She also learned that real wealth is found not in accumulation of possessions, but in the relationships we forge within our families and communities.
College educated, Jessica has become a leader among those advocating both for those in poverty and the health of our environment.
She observed that we tend to think of poverty in relation to lack of money, but Jessica directed our attention to other factors.
When the land, rivers, oceans and air become polluted, other kinds of poverty result. No longer is there clean water to drink, fresh air to breathe, bees to pollinate our plants, soil to produce healthy crops, seas abundant with life, and forests to cleanse the atmosphere. Jessica commented that if we do not address threats to our environment, one day we may see the number of “climate refugees” rival the number of refugees now struggling to escape war zones. When seas rise and crops fail, people will flee.
Other types of human experiences reflect poverty as well. Immigrants and refugees experience “poverty of homeland” living in daily fear of deportation and broken families. People of color and different religions experience the “poverty of discrimination.” The elderly, the mentally ill, the addicted, the homeless—those who find themselves no longer connected with family or friends who have become strangers in their own communities, experience the “poverty of loneliness.”
Mother Teresa has said, “Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.”
Jessica observed that faith communities have traditionally responded to those in need. Working together, she is hopeful we can address all issues of poverty and create a healthy, caring community in Portland.
EXCERPTS FROM: “A MAN WITH MANY HATS”, by Robin Schauffler , STREET ROOTS, Sept 17, 2016
Tom Lechner is an art teacher, IT expert, photographer, facilities manager and role model. He’s also the one who makes sure dozens of homeless children get to school each day. C Tom Lechner is also the transportation coordinator at Community Transitional School in Portland. The private, nonprofit school for children experiencing homelessness serves about 80 students per day – this year 221 students total from 121 families.
Tom Lechner sits at a schoolroom-style desk in one corner of a busy office, a computer screen in front of him, folders of paperwork on the desk, pen in hand, phone at the ready. He’s a tall, slim guy with tightly curling black hair showing wisps of gray, and frameless glasses perched on his nose. It’s his job to get 80 elementary school children to school every day, no matter where they may have spent the night.
As transportation coordinator, Tom is crucial to the Community Transitional School on Northeast Killingsworth Street. The CTS serves one special sector of the metro area’s population of school-age children: All of the students are homeless. They live in cheap motels or doubled-up in the apartments of relatives or friends; they sleep in shelters or in family cars or outside, on the street. Some students might be in the school for just a day; others have stayed for years. The average length of stay is 13 weeks.
CTS takes care of these complexities one family at a time, wherever they are. How do they do it? Size and intimacy explain a lot. It’s a small, close-knit school; everyone knows everyone. They don’t have to follow each federal guideline. They can be in touch with every family, answer every call.
And they have Tom. He had no experience with homeless people before coming to CTS. But, he said, “I always had this urge to do something that had some sort of good mission to it.”
He’s been touched by seeing the things these kids deal with on a daily basis.
“Sometimes there are circumstances that just stick with you through the evening, and that’s hard.” He looked down and turned his palms up, a small gesture, matter-of-fact.
“I’m a newcomer here,” Tom said, downplaying his role in a way I came to learn was typical. In fact, he’s been running the school’s transportation system for about 10 years.
Before getting the transportation job, Tom was the school’s night janitor. He had been studying physics and math, but at some point, he said, “I noticed I was spending all my time making art, so I dropped out and went off to be an artist.” He graduated from Pacific Northwest College of Art in 1998, and it was tough to find work.
He heard about the janitorial job through friends. “It sounded great, interesting. And part time, so I’d still have time to do art.”
One by one, he acquired other responsibilities. “Whenever they had a computer problem, I’d be just hovering in the background, and I think it was just kind of noticed.” He became – informally – the school’s entire tech department. Then in August 2006, the transportation job opened up, and there he was.
“Every single part of it was difficult,” he said of the early days. “Figuring out all the laws, and then the requirements of the parents. And getting the buses repaired. If it’s just changing lights or something simple, I do it.”
He still makes art, and he’s become the school’s main photographer. Once a week, he teaches a drawing class for a group of lucky students. There are other regular art classes, with all kinds of materials, but in Tom’s class, he said, “we usually just use paper and pencil.” Tom calls it observational drawing, but the kids simply call it Art with Tom.
Tom arrives each morning by bicycle before the buses and settles in at his desk. His first task of the day is to take out the kitchen trash.
He enjoys the diversity of people who come through the doors and interact in the busy, welcoming office: the homeless children and their parents; the dedicated staff and teachers; the many volunteers from all over town, coming in just to help out for a few hours; the neighbors dropping by to donate clothing or school supplies; the high school kids from Lake Oswego who collected breakfast cereal; the big donors bringing a check for a thousand dollars. Everyone becomes part of the team.
What holds this team together is the focus on children. Every CTS student shares the stresses that children with a stable home do not understand – even tease them for. They may be escaping domestic violence, or a parent has lost a job, or there’s been a medical crisis that left the family unable to pay rent. They are all equals in that one important way; no one’s going to put anyone down for where he or she lives. And there are new students every week. It’s one of the benefits, Tom points out: “You’re never the new kid for very long. That’s a great situation.”
Founded in 1990 as part of Portland Public Schools and originally housed at the YWCA downtown, CTS is today a registered private school, an independent nonprofit organization serving homeless children. It’s the only such school in the state. With about 80 students each day – this year 221 students from 121 families – it can reach only a tiny portion of the homeless children in the metropolitan area. But the school does what it can. It operates on a tight budget with a staff of three full-time teachers, one part-time Title I teacher, two teacher’s aides, three office staffers, one meal server, four bus drivers, and many loyal volunteers – all focused on the school’s mission of providing to these children “a place where they have room to learn, laugh with friends and build hope,” according to the school’s website.
Osa outlined the astonishingly simple application process: no birth certificate, no proof of immunization, no paperwork. And no tuition. Families learn of CTS through word of mouth, and the shelters and other support organizations post signs and help spread the word. CTS maintains a close relationship with those in social services; the school depends on these people to help homeless families learn about CTS. A parent calls and gives the child’s name and birth date and most recent grade level, and “in five minutes,” Osa said, “they’re on Tom’s list for the next morning.”
Tom may have to figure out where a family has moved. Once, when parents didn’t call in, Osa told the child, “Find an envelope that has an address on it, and tell us what it says, and then we’ll figure out where to go.” Every day, that second grader read out a new address, and called in to say where she was. She moved 22 times that year. This past year, one student moved 13 times in 110 days, and missed only two days of school.
“Usually I’ll figure out approximately which bus a child should go on and what route,” Tom said, “but that doesn’t always translate into a realistic picture of how things will actually work, and the drivers – sometimes they’ll have to decide what makes sense, which side of the street they can pick up on. If an apartment looks seedy, they might not want to let the kid off until they see a parent there. Or if the kid’s never been there before, he might say, ‘I’m not gettin’ off here!’”
If a child doesn’t show up at the morning bus stop, Tom or someone in the office will call to find out what’s going on – but if they can’t get through and the child doesn’t show up for a couple of days, they stop sending the bus. It’s a painful part of the job: “You get to know the kids, and then they’re gone.”
Osa described what these families deal with: “It’s chaotic, a brutal lifestyle. Outside of school, it’s near-constant instability.”
Once the children arrive at CTS each day, they’re safe, well-fed and cared for. For homeless families, that may seem more important than the education the kids are getting, she said; many of their parents didn’t finish school.
He said that what he should have is buses that never break down, and he’d like to be able to pay drivers better. But he makes do. When a bus does break down on the road and can’t be repaired right there, there’s no back-up bus waiting at school. Tom has to call on local taxi companies to rescue the kids. Yes, it’s expensive, but what else can he do? The kids are depending on him.
“Behind Tom’s desk, there’s a huge pink heart made from construction paper. It’s decorated with messages, in children’s practiced handwriting – a list of words to describe Tom: happy, clever, good artist
(“Without you, I wouldn’t have known what shading is”), good with computers, helpful, organized, brave, “helps us with our math problems,” “has a big job.” And thank-you notes: Thank you for the keys to the bathroom. Thank you for lifting the tables at lunchtime, for driving the bus, for bringing color into our lives. And one last note: The unsung hero of CTS.
Tom dismisses any talk of his own ccomplishments and puts it all on the children. He doesn’t get them to school, he insists; they do it.
“A lot depends on the kids’ initiative,” he said. “They have to figure it out. Somehow, magically, they find a way to get here.” It’s a remarkable place, and magic doesn’t seem too strong a word. What would Tom most want others to know about the Community Transitional
Month of February: Focus on Everybody Reads book “Evicted” by Matthew Desmond.
A number of Alliance congregations will be holding community book discussions on this book during February, plus there are other related events. For more information, please contact Holly Schmidt at Schmidt.holly@gmail.com or Claudia Roberts at clarobb@juno.com
Thursday, Jan. 26, 12:00 noon- 2:00pm: Paul Schroeder speaks at Planning Committee of the Interfaith Alliance on Poverty.
Paul is a thought leader on working with people who are living in poverty and will be speaking about his upcoming book on Six Spiritual Practices that changes lives. Held at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1624 NE Hancock, Fireside Room. All are welcome.