Community gathering to promote the multi-cultural diversity and resilience of the Cully neighborhood will be held Saturday, July 8 – ll:00AM – 3:00 PM, at Trinity Lutheran Church, 5520 NE Killingsworth, Bus Line 72. There will be food, performances and fun for kids Sponsored by Living Cully, Haciendas, Northeast Emergency Food Bank, Cully Blvd, Naya Family Center, 42nd Avenue, and Trinity Lutheran Church. Please bring food to share with neighbors.
PRAYER POWER WORKS
“Despite racist threats looming in the day leading up to the event, the 'Good in the Hood' parade went off without a hitch Saturday, June 24. “ (KGW News) When Good in the Hood organizers received threats of “a blood bath”, they did not cancel their festival. They contacted the FBI, but did not hire armed guards. Instead they asked for PRAYERS from the faith-based communities of Portland. Interfaith Alliance members joined in this effort. Our thanks to all who participated.
Good in the Hood Festival Organizers Request Prayers
On Saturday, June 24, 2017, the annual ‘GOOD IN THE HOOD FESTIVAL” is set to begin in Northeast Portland. This threatening letter was sent to Good in the Hood festival organizers. which read as follows: "TO ALL####LOVERS AND ####
"OUR PRESIDENT TRUMP HAS ISSUED AN EXECUTIVE ORDER TO KILL ALL ####
"######WILL DIE AT THIS SO-CALLED GOOD IN THE HOOD!!!!
"THAT PRESIDENT SHAWN PENNIE NEEDS TO KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT BEFORE MY THIRTY OTT SIX DOES IT FOR HIM. ONCE A SLAVE, ALWAYS A SLAVE. WHITE POWER RULES!
"THIS IS MY FREEDOM OF SPEECH! WE THE WHITE KKK NOW OWN THE NORTH AND NORTHEAST PORTLAND. SO LET THAT BLACK MONKEY PIECE OF #### KNOW WE ARE WATCHING HIM AND HIS FAMILY.
"THE GOOD IN THE HOOD WILL NOT HAPPEN UNLESS YOU WANT TO SEE A BLOOD BATH!
"WHITE POWER TRUMP SUPPORTER - FREDOM OF SPEECH"
Shawn Penney, president of the Good in the Hood organization, responded, saying “This is still our neighborhood, it’s still the people’s neighborhood. We’re not going to cancel it, because if we cancel it, they win. This year is going to be a great event. That letter isn’t going to scare us. We aren’t going to run away from it.”
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler has stated, “Our city, just two weeks removed from a national tragedy, has experienced a number of incidents this week clearly motivated by hate. Threats to the Good in the Hood festival in the heart of Albina, targeting communities of color, particularly black Portlanders. Reports today of racist language directed at a middle school child. This is unconscionable.
“We are in communication with local school districts, the Governor’s office, and are actively working with local, state, and federal law enforcement. We are doing all we can to investigate these recent incidents and protect our residents who are living under threat. If you have any information that could assist investigators, please contact the Portland Police Bureau.
“These times can be terrifying… I’ve spoken to many people who are scared. We have a tremendous opportunity to come together to ensure that everyone is welcome in our city, and we all live in safety and with dignity.
“Please, let’s continue to stand up for one another.”
Jessica Rojas, of the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhood advises that the Good in the Hood are asking for prayers from clergy and their congregations.
The Interfaith Alliance on Poverty encourages all of our members to join in prayers for Peace, Love, Justice, and Respect for all human beings as children of God.
June 2017 Interfaith Alliance Newsletter
THE POWER OF EDUCATION
In June, graduating high school students across the country set out to seek their fortunes. Those raised in families where there was always food on the table and a place they called “home”, where choices were many, and success the expectation, look forward to graduating from college, maybe backpacking through Europe, then pursuing bright futures ahead.
Those raised in families where food was scarce and shelter uncertain, where choices were limited, and failure the norm, are less sure where their tomorrows will take them. The fact that they graduated from high school is itself an accomplishment, not all that common in their community. But they are unsure what they should do next, try for a community college, take that job at McDonald’s, or just “hang” w/friends.
Growing up in poverty, college is seldom seen as an option. All kinds of excuses are made for not going. “If we can’t pay the rent, how can we send you to college? It’s time you started pulling your own weight! What would you do- become a doctor, maybe a hot-shot lawyer? The idea is made to seem laughable. College isn’t for the likes of us.” Nevertheless education is their key out of poverty, not only for themselves but their children, and their children’s children.
Minimum wage jobs do not pay enough to support the needs of most families. Income sufficient to cover the increasing cost of rent, food, utilities, transportation, clothing, health needs, etc. is necessary to escape becoming homeless. Government assistance is uncertain and varies with political winds. Good paying jobs are the answer. To obtain the skills necessary for 21st century jobs, education is necessary. Those who grow up in poverty who attend college, are able to earn 91 percent more over their careers than their peers who have earned only a high school diploma or GED. Education widens the horizon, making possible destinies unlimited by poverty.
John F Kennedy said “Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.” And not just strength for our nation, but a way out of poverty for kids in Portland, and those around the globe.
Nelson Mandela stated, “Education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world.” -- Not mighty armies or commercial empires, but EDUCATION can transform this tiny planet we call home. Knowledge makes it possible to solve the most thorny problems, Hunger and disease can be eradicated. Eco-systems can be restored. Achieving his/her full potential can become the expectation for every child. Whatever the cost, education is our best investment. Bonnie Gregg
MAYOR WHEELER’S NEW BUDGET
On May 1, Mayor Ted Wheeler submitted his budget proposal, saying, ”My first budget makes significant investments to address the real concerns of everyday Portlanders. Topping the list of priorities are livability, road maintenance, community policing, housing, homelessness, and resilience. These are the issues I hear about the most, things that city government is uniquely positioned to address.”
More than $25 million in General Fund resources is being allocated to the Joint Office of Homeless Services, matching Multnomah County’s commitment to invest in supportive housing, diversion programs, rapid rehousing shelter, and system coordination.
MARC JOLIN TELLS ABOUT “A HOME FOR EVERYONE”
At the April 27th meeting of the Alliance Planning Meeting, Marc Jolin, head of the Multnomah County Joint Office of Homeless Services, reported that a “Home for Everyone” is a community-wide plan organized in response to the crisis of homelessness in Multnomah County. During 2015-2016, they served over 25,000 people with some level of housing and support services This year, they plan to prevent homelessness by 5,000 people; increase permanent housing placements for 4,350; and expand emergency shelters by 650 beds to double the current capacity for those who remain homeless.
- Lack of available housing is the biggest challenge. Therefore, they are offering private landlords financial incentives to encourage them to rent to homeless people. Last year, they were successful securing 300 more housing units.
- Stable income leads to stable housing. Therefore they have introduced programs which connect rental assistance with employment training.
- By aligning mental health, corrections, and homeless service systems, they are better able to serve the community. A community-wide data platform has been created to facilitate application processes and make sure people get the services they need.
- Shelter options remain critical to provide basic safety, hygiene facilities, and opportunities to connect with housing, employment, and health services.
Marc indicated everyone’s help is needed. To find out more visit www.ahomeforeverone.net or ahfe@multco.us or call 503-988-2525.
BREAKING THE CHAIN OF GENERATIONAL POVERTY, STARTING WITH THE CHILDREN, May 7 2017 By John Elizalde
About 60 people gathered under the banner of the Interfaith Alliance on Poverty to learn about how trauma, especially childhood trauma, impacts our lives and the lives of those living in poverty. Dr Mandy Davis, director of Trauma Informed Oregon (tio.org) led the afternoon workshop. It was terrific!
Medical and social sciences have progressed enough to recognize the long lasting effects that trauma has on our lives. None of us escape without some form of trauma as we grow up, face life on life’s terms, raise families, have jobs, struggle with relationships, money and so many more of day-to-day reality. As Dr Davis pointed out, faith communities are often providers of safety net services. Our members serve meal sites, shelters, offer encouragement and support to families in transition and many other direct service activities. The communities where we live, work, worship and serve are populated with those who have experienced adversity, trauma, and toxic stress. So, with every interaction we have an opportunity to restore, reconnect and repair the people we serve and serve with.
We got a good, working definition of what trauma informed care is: “A program, organization, or system that is trauma-informed realizes the widespread impact of trauma and understands potential paths for recovery; recognizes the signs and symptoms of trauma in clients, families, staff, and others involved with the system; and responds by fully integrating knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices, and seeks to actively resist re-traumatization”
The workshop then took us through the learning we needed in order to realize, recognize, respond and resist re-traumatizing. Just understanding trauma was a chore. It can be a single event, a series of events that may recur over time, there could be interpersonal violence or violation at the hands of a trusted figure, or even events that impact a group or have occurred to family in the past. Many of us found ourselves thinking about our own past and the events that may have impacted us.
It seemed the key was why trauma is important for those of us concerned about poverty, economic justice and making a positive difference in the lives of our neighbors. It is important because:
—Trauma is pervasive.
—Trauma’s impact is broad, deep and life-shaping.
—Trauma differentially affects the more vulnerable.
—Trauma affects how people approach services.
—The service system has often been activating or re-traumatizing.
Thus, if our work is to break the chain of generational poverty we need the awareness of how trauma sets the stage for this generational inheritance. We talk about starting with the children because we learn that science has taught us about
how vulnerable children are (sure we knew this but current research has put a sharper focus on children and trauma). Trauma (toxic stress, adversity) impacts the way our brain develops and functions (neurobiology). We learned that trauma can have impacts that persist across generations (epigenetics). And, we find that adverse childhood experiences are particularly important due to the neurobiology at play with young minds. Dr Davis puts it succinctly: “The take home message about ACEs is that adversity in childhood leads to challenges in health for adults and helped us understand why. It linked adversity to heart disease, diabetes, stroke, copd, etc.” These experiences show up in education results, earning power and can indicate the likelihood for lesser education and economic outcome.
This summary cannot begin to discuss the details of the ACEs study and its findings. Suffice to realize that children are at the foundation of generational poverty and need our support, lots of our support. And, that we can make a positive difference if we look for and develop ways to create safe, stable and nurturing relationships so children can learn skills such that they can reach their full potential.
We learned that our resilience actually allows us to experience positive surroundings that reverse, prevent or heal the disruption caused by trauma. Our service activities and the facilities we work in offer opportunities for us to connect personally with those we serve and serve with. Resilience affords the chance to become self-aware and to learn and understand self-reflection and self-care. This leads to becoming more flexible, curious and persistent and being able to be of service to others. Like so much of life we learn that resilience is a capability we need to develop and nurture if we are to thrive living life on life’s terms.
And so there were concrete steps we could take to enhance our relationships. Creating physical and emotionally safe places for our service is a step in the right direction. Dr Davis provided examples of how we might do that and help restore power and value to the people we interact with. So much of trauma informed care is about the way we work rather than the work we do. The workshop didn’t get deep into skill development but it is clear that being ‘trauma informed’ is an area of development for most of us.
Often we hear it said, “it’s not about the food/shelter/clothes or other direct service. It is about how we provide the food/shelter/clothes or other service.” Dr Davis is likely to endorse that perspective. Those who attended “Breaking the Chain of Generational Poverty: Starting with the Children” have plenty to reflect on. That’s a good thing.
Learn more at Trauma Informed Oregon (tio.org) and get a copy of the handouts from the training by emailing: registerinterfaithalliance@gmail.com.
WHERE THERE’S A WILL, THERE’S A WAY By Rev. Connie Yost, (Article has been edited for newsletter. To read full text, see Allianceopoverty.org website.)
“It began in Denver, in July of 2016, when Southwest Airline computers crashed and my flight home to Portland was cancelled. An hour and a half wait in line had me rebooked on a flight out the next evening, and an apologetic $200 voucher was issued, good only on a future, Southwest Airline flight.
“Never one to turn down a good coupon, discount or voucher, that $200 weighed heavily on me. Where to go? Finally, I decided to tour parts of the Midwest I had skipped over (or flown over) in previous trips. My trip began in Detroit, wound through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, ending in Chicago.
“Between booking the trip and taking the trip, I had gotten more involved with the Interfaith Alliance on Poverty in Portland, specifically researching programs that have effectively moved people and communities out of poverty. I remembered studying the Chicago-based work of Bethel New Life when I was in seminary some years back. I was in luck – Mary Nelson, one of Bethel’s founders and executive director for many years was still living in the community, and she would be happy to talk with me and show me around.
When I arrived at Bethel ,I was flabbergasted at the size of it! I had no idea that their offices were in a former 465-bed hospital and nursing school, now a senior independent and assisted living facility they purchased and rehabbed.
Mary, having retired as Bethel’s executive director in 2006, lived in an apartment there, and still had an office in the old nursing school section. She was nimble and jaunty in her clogs and patterned loose pants, not nearly as old looking as I thought she would be. Mary told me the story of Bethel New Life, which was born out of Bethel Lutheran Church where her brother became Pastor in 1965. Three days later, riots broke out.
In 1965, Bethel Lutheran Church had 35 elderly white members. By then, the surrounding community was overwhelmingly black. White flight had accelerated over the years, but with the riots, the community shut down completely. Businesses left, banks left, landlords stopped maintaining buildings. Residents found there were few jobs nearby, and even those with a good income couldn’t get a home loan in this “risky” neighborhood. By 1979, the area was losing 200 housing units to demolition each year. There was no major grocery store, few good doctors, no local bank and too few jobs. West Garfield was in a tailspin, and almost no one from the outside seemed interested in saving it.
Yet a new community organization found that there were plenty of resources available within this worn-out neighborhood. There were local people willing to put abandoned buildings back together again, families who pitched in to start a food co-op, older men who would comb parks and alleys for aluminum cans worth a penny or two each. There were church members and neighbors who couldn’t spare much, but who were willing to give a little to see their community grow again. There was hope, the will to rebuild. And that was enough to start.
I am sure that those 35 members of Bethel New Life never imagined what their faith and hope would start in motion. With a commitment to be of service in their community, they opened their doors to the neighborhood. Pastor Nelson went door to door and invited people to come in. They opened the church to black groups, started an afterschool program, and provided a convocation for their local teachers, most of whom did not live in the neighborhood, teaching them the realities of the people’s lives.
By 1979, it was clear that there was a housing crisis. By then, Bethel Lutheran had 70 members who voted to do a housing ministry, though no one knew how to do it. They just knew it needed to be done. “All we knew about housing,” said one church member, “was that it was long and hard and complicated.” They went to the bank and applied for their first loan, and when the bank asked for collateral, they voted to mortgage the church building. And when they ran out of money, they used their personal credit cards to buy the things they needed to rehab the buildings.
Fast forward 10 years, and they had grown into a $4.5 million per year organization with 350 employees. In their first three decades, Bethel built 1,200 affordable homes, advocated for social reforms, provided in-home care to the elderly, welcomed people home from prison to find legal employment, provided programs for neighborhood youth, were instrumental in the development of community investment vehicles such as the New Market Tax Credit program and led efforts at the local and national level in community development and transformation.
Rev. Connie’s report demonstrates how people of faith can overcome the most formidable of obstacles to achieve astounding results. In these challenging, sometimes discouraging times, it is a message we all need to hear.
“Escalating Inequality and Poverty” Course for Churches
The Rev. Connie Yost, affiliated community minister of First Unitarian Church, is available to teach “Escalating Inequality and Poverty” at your church. The course is designed as four, weekly sessions of two hours each, but Rev. Connie is willing to work with you to tailor to your needs.
Rev. Connie advises “In this four week course, we will explore economic inequality and poverty in the United States and specifically here in Portland. We will engage with the complex history and realities of economic inequality which exists at every level of human community, from local to global, and is composed of overlapping and interrelated systems of education, income, housing, taxation, democracy, banking, public health, workplace policies, and many others. We will gain an awareness of how structures of oppression affect the systemic nature of economic inequality. Finally, we will explore ways in which inequality and poverty can be reduced. Come and be inspired to be part of the solution to escalating inequality. Contact Rev Connie at cyost @ uuma.org or 503-885-0155.
UPCOMING ALLIANCE MEETINGS – All are welcome!
Thursday, June 1, 7:00 PM, Evicted” Book Discussion at Madeleine Catholic Parish, 3123 NE 24th Ave, Fireside Room, led by Dave and Peggy Albertine.
Monday, June 5, 12:00 noon-2:00 pm, Transitioning to Stability Work Group of the Alliance, Agenda: Review effective national models, Rose City Park Presbyterian Church, 1907 NE 45th Street, Library (enter ramp by awning)
Friday, June 16, 9:30-11:30 AM, Advocacy Work Group, Grace Memorial Episcopal Church, 1535 NE 17th
Thursday, June 29, 12:00 Noon-2:00 PM, Monthly Meeting of the Interfaith Alliance on Poverty, Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1624 NE Hancock, Fireside Room; Share pot-luck lunch!!
UPCOMING COMMUNITY EVENTS - Join us!
World Environment Day Global Goals Fair, Saturday, June 3, 2017, 12:00 4:00 PM: Portland Hawthorne Hostel, 3031 SE Hawthorne Blvd. -- Live music, local food & drink vendorsl
On May 8, 2017, United Nations Deputy Secretary General, Amina Mohammed, said,
“Eradicating poverty remains the greatest global challenge. Poverty is more than the lack of income and resources to ensure a sustainable livelihood. Its manifestations include hunger and malnutrition, limited access to education and other basic services, social discrimination and exclusion as well as the lack of participation in decision-making. Economic growth must be inclusive to provide sustainable jobs and promote equality.”
June 6 Salem Rally To Protest 1.6 Billion Budget Cuts –by Tom Hering
Last Friday, the Advocacy workgroup of The Alliance unanimously voted to support a Salem rally sponsored by A Better Oregon coalition. As you know, Oregonians are bracing for $1.6 billion in budget cuts as a result of Oregon’s lowest-in-the-nation corporate taxes.
If lawmakers do not show leadership and ask corporations to pay their fair share the results will be devastating: 350,000 Oregonians would be kicked off their health insurance and severe cuts to public education could occur with greatly increased class size. We need to tell our elected leaders it is outrageous to ask Oregonians to accept deeper cuts that directly impact people living in poverty while Oregon has one of the lowest corporate taxes in the nation.
- What:Legislature Rally to voice our opinion about budget cuts
- When:June 6th, Leaving Portland at 10 a.m.
- Where:Salem on the Capitol Steps at Noon
- Why:To Ensure $1.6 Billion in Cuts Don’t Impact Programs with Poverty Implications
- How:Traveling by bus, van or carpool; Register here for free lunch: https://fastfor.ms/E58F2.
Jesse Jackson Speaks of Portland Martyrs
In response to the recent hate crimes in Portland, at the invitation of Rev. Mark Knudsen, the Reverend Jesse Jackson spoke to a public press gathering at Augustana Lutheran Church on June 2, 2017. Rev. Jackson said that we must prayerfully acknowledge the “martyrs among us” whose lives are sacrificed as were the two men who were killed while trying to stop an “anti-Muslim” hate rant at the Max train station. He noted that “we may not be able to stop their crucifixion, but neither can they stop our resurrection.” We must become “instruments of peace, not hate.” He recommended that when they march, we stay home, “denying them fuel for their hate.”
He observed that “poverty is an annihilation,” and that we must “leave the racial battlefield to seek an economic common ground that will enable us to achieve the moral high ground” where all men are treated equally in a global community. We must pull down the walls of ignorance to build bridges of understanding. We must remember that regardless of our color or religion, we live in “one big tent.” B. Gregg
Salem Rally June 6
On June 6, 2017, Interfaith Alliance members and Jessica Rojas of the NE Coalition joined a rally on the steps of the state house, sponsored by the Better Oregon Coalition, representing parents, students, teachers, nurses, small business owners, labor unions, social workers, the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, economists, and other community advocates from every region in Oregon. Their message was simple. Oregon is in crisis and our children, our schools and colleges, small businesses, health care programs, the elderly and people in poverty need help now.
According to studies by the Tax Foundation and the Heritage Foundation, California (13.3%) and Oregon (9%) have the highest middle class tax in the nation. On the other hand, Oklahoma, Oregon, and North Carolina have the lowest corporate tax burdens in the nation.
More Oregon corporations are finding a way to avoid being subject to the state's corporate income tax, In 2004, 35,880 Oregon corporations filed income tax returns. By 2014, that number had dropped to 29,376.
With major cuts on the table due to the state’s $1.4 billion deficit speakers at the rally demanded that legislators take immediate action to address the need to make corporations pay their fair share.
WE CAN’T WAIT! the crowds shouted. INVEST IN PEOPLE, NOT CORPORATIONS!
"When we better fund education, health care and other critical services we improve the productivity and vitality of the our state," said Hanna Vaandering, the president of the Oregon Education Association. "We as a coalition refuse to accept cuts to services for students and those in need as long as corporations in Oregon are paying lower taxes here than anywhere else in the country."
Rev Mark Knudson, pastor of Augustana Lutheran Church in Portland said that our budget expresses the values of the people of Oregon and noted that a society is judged by the way in which they treat the most vulnerable among them, the children, the elderly, the poor, the sick, etc. Also educated, healthy people are good for our state’s economy.
He quoted from Martin Luther King, Jr. speech in which Dr. King said, “I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture of their minds, and dignity, equality, and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down, men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive goodwill will proclaim the rule of the land.” B. Gregg
Salem Rally To Protest 1.6 Billion Budget Cuts - June 6
Last Friday, the Advocacy workgroup of The Alliance unanimously voted to support a Salem rally sponsored by A Better Oregon coalition. As you know, Oregonians are bracing for $1.6 billion in budget cuts as a result of Oregon’s lowest-in-the-nation corporate taxes.
If lawmakers do not show leadership and ask corporations to pay their fair share the results will be devastating: 350,000 Oregonians would be kicked off their health insurance and severe cuts to public education could occur with greatly increased class size. We need to tell our elected leaders it is outrageous to ask Oregonians to accept deeper cuts that directly impact people living in poverty while Oregon has one of the lowest corporate taxes in the nation.
What: Legislature Rally to voice our opinion about budget cuts
When: June 6th, Leaving Portland at 10 a.m.
Where: Salem on the Capitol Steps at Noon
Why: To Ensure $1.6 Billion in Cuts Don't Impact Programs with Poverty Implications
How: Traveling by bus, van or carpool; Register here for free lunch: https://fastfor.ms/E58F2.
RSVP by 5 p.m. May 31 to Sarah Carolus: 503-381-6944 or scarolus3@gmail.com
The rally is also being supported by Oregon Center for Christian Voices and Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon. Please announce or share this information with your congregation as soon as possible. See if you can insert an announcement into your bulletins or publicize from the pulpit. In addition, feel free to pass this along to other friends or colleagues who may be interested. You can email me with any questions at tehering@gmail.com.
MAY ALLIANCE PLANNING MEETING
Thursday, May 25. 12:00 noon- 2:00 pm, Westminster Presbyterian Church 1624 NE Hancock, Fireside Room. Code to enter: 26312
Speaker will be Cameron Herrington from Living Cully
RALLY: Tuesday June 6, Noon Salem Capitol Steps
Oregonians from all around the state will rally in Salem on June 6 to tell legislators that We Can’t Wait for big business to decide it’s time to pay their fair share. We need action from our legislators. We need new revenue to stop the cuts and finally invest in schools, healthcare and public services that we can be proud of. Register online: https://fastfor.ms/E58F2
WORLD ENVIRONMENT GLOBAL GOALS FAIR
Saturday, June 3, 2017, 12:00 4:00 PM, Portland Hawthorne Hostel, 3031 SE Hawthorne Blvd. -- Live music, local food & drink vendorsl UN SETS GOALTO ERASE POVERTY
On May 8, 2017, United Nations Deputy Secretary General, Amina Mohammed, said,
“Eradicating poverty remains the greatest global challenge. Poverty is more than the lack of income and resources to ensure a sustainable livelihood. Its manifestations include hunger and malnutrition, limited access to education and other basic services, social discrimination and exclusion as well as the lack of participation in decision-making. Economic growth must be inclusive to provide sustainable
Affordable Housing Smith-Warner Conference Report by Marilyn Mauch
Faith, Land, and Housing Conference, Saturday, April 29, 2017 -- 8:30 am – 3:00 pm Presented by Warner Pacific and Community Partners: Rockwood Community Development Corporation, Habitat for Humanity, Oregon Opportunity Network, and the Leaven Community
How can Portland’s faith communities use their land and resources to respond to the affordability crisis?
The conference opened with Apostle Steven Holt, Kingdom Nation Church, giving an impassioned call to action for faith communities to use their resources for affordable housing. Key thought: It’s not only a matter of equity, but also a matter of righteous action. Matt Tschabold, Portland Housing Bureau, gave a short overview of the Portland area housing crisis and Lorelei Juntenen gave a quick-paced Housing Development “101” addressing the development process and obstacles which builders of affordable housing face.
Note: After the conferences, I resorted to internet sleuthing to try and reconstruct hurdles developers of affordable housing face. My brief notes follow. M. Mauch
Suitable land for low income housing needs to be sited near transportation, grocery stores and other community services. In the Portland locale, such land sites are hard to find and command top dollars. However, the rents to be charged must be relatively low given the income level of those needing the shelter. As summarized in a Bloomberg report [1]……”there are only a few levers that truly affect a developer’s ability to finance a project. Taking a smaller fee or negotiating a more favorable loan can help at the margins; so can making the project so appealing to residents that no one ever moves out. To really reduce costs or raise revenue, though, there are just these options: Spend less on land, materials, and labor, or bring in more money by raising rents or finding new public financing. But land, materials, and labor can only be cut so much (construction costs are effectively fixed by labor and commodities markets), and raising rents removes the "affordable" from affordable housing.’’
Presentations on three examples of faith communities using land for housing.
Example 1: Gethsemane Lutheran Church, Seattle, Pastor Joanne Engquist gave an overview of the transition of the church which now includes a new building with five floors of affordable housing above the church’s entry and office spaces, a Sanctuary and a basement community service center. The original church chapel remains adjacent to the new building.The affordable housing was built in partnership with Compass Housing Alliance. See Seattle Times article below.
Gethsemane church remodel includes affordable housing (2012 Seattle Times article)
Gethsemane Lutheran Church in downtown Seattle has opened a new building that includes a sanctuary, 50 units of affordable housing and a community-service center.
The Rev. Chris Boerger’s words brought knowing laughter from the congregation at Gethsemane Lutheran Church on Sunday when he described the work it took to turn a 1950s-era sanctuary into a versatile new building that’s not quite like any other church in the region.
It’s a church, yes — but it also includes 50 units of affordable housing, and a basement community-service center that serves hundreds of needy people with a variety of programs, from Sunday soup and movies to a day shelter for homeless women and children. “This has been a building program, and it has been hard work, and it has not always been easy,” said Boerger, bishop of the Northwest Washington Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, as he helped dedicate the $20 million project.
Gethsemane, at the corner of Stewart Street and Ninth Avenue in downtown Seattle, is the oldest Lutheran church in the city. Fifteen years ago, a church committee began exploring the idea of turning some of the downtown property into affordable housing. The land had grown increasingly more valuable over the years. But when the 2001 dot-com bust hit, a developer who was interested in the land backed out, said Jean Anderson, a congregation member who headed two of the three church committees that worked on the project.
The idea was renewed when the value of downtown properties recovered. “It kept going from one unthinkable idea to the next,” Anderson said. “A few dedicated people just hung in there. There was a lot of prayer, and faith.” The church’s brick chapel, which seats about 150, is little changed. But it’s now part of a larger building that includes a jewel-like sanctuary at Stewart and Ninth, fronted with long, thin, colored panels of art glass and fused glass. “When the sun hits it, it does amazing things in here,” said architect Jim Olson, of Olson Kundig Architects. He described the building as “one of the most meaningful projects I’ve ever worked on.” Above the church’s entry and office spaces are five floors of affordable housing, built in partnership with Compass Housing Alliance. The top is capped with a rooftop garden, meant to be an oasis in the urban location. The basement is home to Mary’s Place, a day shelter for homeless women and children, and to the soup and movies program, which feeds and entertains up to 120 homeless people every Sunday afternoon.
“This place is an extraordinary gift to the downtown community,” said Gethsemane’s pastor, the Rev. Joanne Engquist, who moved from Cambridge, Mass., to be pastor of this church in May 2011. At the time, the building site was just a hole in the ground. On Sunday, Engquist talked about how she hoped the church would be more than just a shelter and a place of worship — it would also be open to the community, and people would seek it out for fun, games and laughter. “This is a magnificent project,” she said.
Example 2: Rivergate Community Church and Habitat for Humanity, North Portland
Rivergate Community Church is located on North Lombard Street. The congregation was in decline and aging. There were three levels to the church that impeded congregational use as well as their desire to use their bottom floor Fellowship Hall to serve activities with and for the Portland community. However, they couldn’t afford to put in an elevator to enable easy access to all three levels of the church buildiing. The church sits on a large piece of land much of it lying empty or for parking. When the church inquired, they found that the empty plot was the largest unused lot in the area. After much congregational deliberation, they decided to inquired if Habitat could build affordable housing on the land. They sold that plot to Habitat and 12 affordable houses were erected and the congregation was able to install an elevator. The congregation and the people moving in have developed a community garden. The congregation is also “big” on pot lucks and they join with the families to have good times at the meals together. While before, the church was seen as a” sleepy place” in town, it is now well known for what they have done.
The presentation at the housing conference consisted of a video that explains their journey in full. You can see it at the following internet address:
Click below to see the video shown at the Warner Smith Possibilities Housing Conference
http://www.rivergatecommunitychurch.org/media.html
Example 3: St. Andrews and All Souls Episcopal Church + University Park United Methodist – Rob Justus, developer.
See the below for write-ups on the affordable housing being provided by University Park UMC.
http://koin.com/2016/08/03/portland-church-answers-call-for-affordable-housing/
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2017/03/affordable_housing_ideas_for_c.html
http://portlandtribune.com/pt/9-news/317308-194858-church-to-build-affordable-housing
http://portlandtribune.com/uej/9-news/317308-194858-church-to-build-affordable-housing
A North Portland church is beginning its quest to help solve the affordable housing crisis in the city. Created on Thursday, 04 August 2016 | Written by Bianca Pahl |
Almost two years ago, University Park United Methodist Church’s members discussed the possibility of utilizing their property to build affordable housing units for low-income households. In April, when the church’s Board of Trustees of the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference agreed to guarantee the loan, University Park’s talk turned into action.
The church, at 4775 N. Lombard St., is now securing loans, hiring a contractor and awaiting permit approvals.
The congregation will build a 26-unit apartment building on its property, which will cost $2.1 million to construct, says the developer, Rob Justus. Funding will come from a bank loan and the profits of selling a home set aside to house the pastor, which is no longer needed.
If everything goes smoothly, construction on the apartments should start in the spring of 2017, says University Park Pastor Julia Nielsen.
The Annual Conference hopes to organize a system where it can repurpose other properties for affordable housing. Nielsen says University Park will be a prototype project for other churches wanting to do the same. “If we can do this, we might be able to learn some things that we can share with other churches,” Nielsen says. “Our goal is to solve the affordable housing crisis in Portland. I think there’s a possibility of making that happen.”
The church partnered with Justus, cofounder of Home First Development, who says two other churches have already approached him about starting an affordable housing project since he began the University Park apartments. Many churches have assets and are thinking of new and innovative ways to use those assets to help the homeless and the community, says Lowell Greathouse, the mission and ministry coordinator for the Oregon-Idaho Annual Conference.
“It opens up the possibility of sparking a revolution or a new way for churches to be involved in addressing affordable housing,” Greathouse says. The route University Park is taking is appealing, Justus says, because it doesn’t involve the government, saving time and money. The church owns the land and the bank issues a loan. “It’s straightforward financing,” Justus says.
The church is more than 120 years old and at one time had hundreds of members. The congregation has been dwindling in members for the past 20 years, Nielsen says. More than a year ago, St. Johns Community Church formed a union with University Park, and the community grew. Both churches, which now share the same place of worship, have a historic relationship with helping the homeless in each of their communities.
Portland’s sizzling housing market has caused rents to rise at a record pace, increasing homelessness. In January 2015 there were 3,801 homeless people sleeping on the streets, in shelters and in temporary housing in Multnomah County, according to the 2015 Point-In-Time Report.
“Housing is a critical need,” Greathouse says. “We want to be a part of the solution to homelessness and affordability of housing in Portland.”
The church’s dream is starting to become a reality.
The housing will consist of 13 two-bedroom units with 790 square feet, and 13 one-bedroom units with 400 square feet. Every unit will have a washer, dryer and full kitchen.
Justus says the apartments will be rented to people with incomes less than 60 percent of the median family income. Nielsen says she anticipates rents will be around $700 a month.
The housing will fill the current lawn space on the church’s property, as well as take up a portion of the west side of the Errol Stephenson Hall, Nielsen says. There will be some deconstruction to the hall but the place of worship will remain.
“This makes it possible for University Park to connect with their community in a real, tangible way that makes the church relevant and a partner with the community in addressing a real need,” Greathouse says.
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATIONS (CDC)
Representatives from local CDC’s provided snapshots of their affordable housing efforts. CDC’s represented were
Rose Community Development CDC
Hacienda CDC
PCRI - Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives
Below is a site explaining funding and efforts of CDC’s.
Proud Ground – Mission, Vision and Values A representative from Proud Ground attended the conference. Proud Ground is a community land trust that was started by the City of Portland. Here are just a few excerpts from Proud Ground’s website -- https://proudground.org/about/faq/
Goal of community land trusts: Utilizing the Community Land Trust model of permanent affordability, expand homeownership opportunities for families, with low to moderate incomes, so they can live or remain in the community of their choice. Serve as a leading strategic partner to improve affordability region-wide, with a focus on areas affected by displacement.
Community Land Trusts are nonprofit organizations that help make homes and other things (such as community gardens, commercial space, affordable housing) affordable and accessible. For most CLTs, affordable housing is the highest priority. There are over 250 CLT programs across the country, serving communities from small towns to large cities.
In exchange for a reasonable purchase price (about $60,000 to $100,000 LESS than a market-rate home), homeowners agree to resale arrangements that provide a seller with a share of the homes equity while ensuring the home remains affordable for another moderate-income homebuyer. This arrangement is guaranteed through a legal agreement between Proud Ground and the homeowner. Homebuyers review these legal agreements with an attorney independent of Proud Ground to understand all the details before buying a home.
Why It’s So Hard to Build Affordable Housing: It’s Not Affordable
Developers struggle to break even on rental projects for the poorest Americans, by Patrick Clark, July 26, 2016, 3:00 AM PDT
A real estate developer wanted to increase affordable housing in Denver, trying to make fiscal sense out of a plan to build rental apartments for people making only 30 percent of the area's median income—the kind of housing America desperately needs. He discovered that, no matter what lever he moved or compromise he made, he was going to need some money from the government to make it work. Then he was going to need some more.
Almost one in four U.S. renters spends more on housing than they can afford, according to a report in June from Harvard University‘s Joint Center for Housing Studies—and the problem gets worse at the lower end of the income spectrum. About 10 million renter households earn 30 percent or less of the area median income, accounting for a quarter of the renter population. The U.S. would need to add more than 7 million cheap apartments to meet demand from such extremely low-income renters, according to a recent report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
“If we want to prioritize closing the gap for low-income households, we’re going to need more funding from public subsidy,” said Erika Poethig, director of urban policy initiatives at the Urban Institute, which published an online simulator Tuesday for the purpose of illustrating the challenges to building new affordable housing. Our Denver developer above is fictional, but he's an illustration of what that simulator churns out: No matter how you slice it, creating the affordable housing needed today probably requires government help.
With the interactive tool, users can play developer, toggling their costs and expected revenues in an attempt to make a project "pencil out," a real estate euphemism for profitable, adjusting everything from rent levels and vacancy rates to debt service coverage, administrative expenses, and construction costs. The data underlying the project comes from a handful of recent affordable housing developments in Denver, a fast-growing city in the middle of an apartment-building boom that has increased costs for developers of market-rate and rent-regulated buildings alike.
Building for such poor renters is never an easy task, and in the case of our Denver developer, the job was complicated by the his desire to build near a light rail stop to carry his residents into the center city. That meant choosing a small site and limiting the number of units to 50, making it hard to count on winning federal tax credits to help fund the deal. He could raise rents so the average tenant is spending half their income on rent, but that would defeat the central purpose of the project. He could try to slash outlays for concrete and steel—but there’s only so far you can pare costs without running afoul of building codes or endangering tenants. Instead, he was forced to hunt for a development site farther from the city center, but also further away from people who needed the housing, not to mention their jobs.
Playing with the simulator, you quickly learn that there are only a few levers that truly affect a developer’s ability to finance a project. Taking a smaller fee or negotiating a more favorable loan can help at the margins; so can making the project so appealing to residents that no one ever moves out. To really reduce costs or raise revenue, though, there are just these options: Spend less on land, materials, and labor, or bring in more money by raising rents or finding new public financing. But land, materials, and labor can only be cut so much (construction costs are effectively fixed by labor and commodities markets), and raising rents removes the "affordable" from affordable housing.
That leaves subsidies, the biggest of which is the low-income housing tax credit, which Congress funded to the tune of $7 billion last year. Even so, that program is more useful to developers building for higher wage-earners, said Linda McMahon, chief executive of The Real Estate Council, a trade group for Dallas-area real estate companies. "Below 50 percent of area median income, you're talking about people who can only afford $500 or so in rent, and you really need another layer of subsidy to pay your [commercial] mortgage," she said.
Developers seeking to build for poorer renters sometimes start with low-income housing tax credits, then apply for additional funding from state or local governments. Poethig also pointed to a new law that would let developers tap rental vouchers to fund new projects, as well as mechanisms by which local governments give builders publicly-owned land or development rights in exchange for a promise to build affordable units.
There's also another way to create housing for the poorest renters, which is to build housing for higher wage-earners, freeing up older, lesser-quality units through a process called filtering.
"It's not always politically attractive, because you're talking about housing that has deteriorated a bit," said Reihan Salam, policy fellow at the National Review Institute. "That's basically how housing markets have always worked."
The cost of affordable housing: Does it pencil out?
Internet retrieval – article from the Urban Institute, 2016. The Assisted Housing Initiative is a project of the Urban Institute, made possible by support from HAI Group, to provide fact-based analysis about public and assisted housing. The Urban Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization and retains independent and exclusive control over substance and quality of any Assisted Housing Initiative products. The views expressed in this and other Assisted Housing Initiative commentaries are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute or HAI Group.
Copyright © Urban Institute July 2016. View this project on github
There is not enough affordable housing in the United States. For every 100 extremely low income households, there are only 29 adequate, affordable, and available rental units. That means two parents who both work minimum-wage jobs might wait years to find a safe, affordable place to live with their two kids. With such high demand, why aren’t developers racing to build affordable apartments?
It turns out building affordable housing is not particularly affordable. In fact, there is a huge gap between what these buildings cost to construct and maintain and the rents most people can pay. Without the help of too-scarce government subsidies for creating, preserving, and operating affordable apartments, building these homes is often impossible. This tool helps explain why.
Why is there a gap?
Development costs a lot of money. Developers rely on loans and other sources to fund construction before people move in and start paying rent. But developers can only get those loans and equity sources if the development will produce enough revenue to pay back the loans and pay returns to investors. The gap between the amount a building is expected to produce from rents and the amount developers will need to pay lenders and investors can stop affordable housing development before it even begins, leaving few options for the millions of low-income families looking for safe, affordable homes.
The problem is even more difficult when you consider the poorest residents. In many places, the rent the poorest families can pay is too little to cover the costs of operating an apartment building, even if developers could build that building for free.
To illustrate this problem, we examined data from the Denver metro area, which is experiencing a growth in rental housing demand but is not a traditionally high-cost city. The rental housing conditions in Denver are largely representative of other US cities.
Uses
Buildings cost money to build: to developers, those costs are often called uses. The first major use is the land developers plan to build on, called the acquisition cost. In some cases, developers are able to use public land to develop affordable housing. But when that option is not available, there is little a developer can do to lower the land cost.
Simulate donated public land
The next major development cost is construction. While a developer could make some decisions to minimize construction costs, they are largely determined by market forces. Construction costs for the various Denver properties we analyzed ranged from $8.8 million to $17.6 million, making construction the largest single use.
A third use to consider is the developer fee. This fee is built into the calculation of the development costs because a developer uses it to pay all the costs of doing business: hiring staff, running an office, finding new opportunities, and more. After all, developers can't build if they aren’t going to earn any money from the project. Affordable housing developers can choose to defer a portion of the fee, leaving more money to cover development costs. The developers then recoup the deferred portion of the fee as rents are paid over time. This assumes, of course, that the gap is eventually closed, that the building is built, and that it operates successfully for years.
While these are three important uses a developer must account for, other costs include: design fees, construction loan interest, permanent financing fees, reserves, and project management fees.
Sources
To cover the costs of building and operating a housing development, developers rely on a number of different sources of money. One important source is debt. Developers borrow money from lenders based on the amount they will be able to pay off over time.
Though the current market affects the terms of the loan, it’s unlikely developers will ever get a loan big enough to close the gap.
To demonstrate this, we look at vacancy rates, generally an indicator of market strength. In a weak market, it might take longer to fill an apartment after a renter moves out, so you’d expect a higher vacancy rate. Repairs to an apartment in between occupants and other factors can also lengthen vacancy. Since the size of the loan is based on the future rent a building is expected to bring in, lower vacancy rates—and the resulting increase in income—should increase the size of the loan. Below, you can adjust the vacancy rate to see its effect on the gap.
Vacancy rate
Besides the loan, developers might fund development through tax credits or grants. These sources come with caveats, however. The tax credits a building is eligible for depend on how much it costs to create the property and on how much rent the developer plans to charge relative to the average income in the area. Additionally, federal, state, and local governments have limited amounts for tax credits and grants, so even if a development qualifies, funding is not guaranteed.
Closing the gap
Can we close the gap...with bigger loans?
It’s fair to ask at this point: if there aren’t enough grants or tax credits out there, why don’t developers just take out bigger loans to get the building off the ground?
In short, the lenders won't (and shouldn’t) let them. The size of the loan a bank will make depends on the project's net operating income (NOI), or the amount of money it expects to bring in from rent after accounting for operating expenses.
Lenders use NOI to calculate how much debt a developer will reasonably be able to pay off, accounting for interest and recognizing the developer still needs to have some cash flow to cover unexpected expenses.
But if the rent is set at rates that a working family can afford, that NOI is going to be quite low. It might even be less than zero if operating costs exceed revenue. The lower the NOI, the lower the size of the loan.
Can we close the gap...with more apartments?
So if you need a higher NOI to get a bigger loan, why not add more apartments to your building to increase the NOI? Though this will increase construction costs, some costs, like the acquisition cost and project management fee, may remain the same or increase more slowly, helping close the gap. You can see this to your right: the gap for the 100-unit building is proportionally smaller.
There are, however, some caveats. The first is a matter of economics. One of the big benefits of developing a building with more apartments is that tax credits might be more cost effective. But just because your project is eligible for tax credits doesn’t always mean you get them. Click the button below to see what happens when you don’t have the tax credit.
Tax credits for 100-unit building
The other caveats are practical ones. Consider, first, that adding more apartments is only useful if developers can fill them, which might be possible in larger cities but harder as you move farther away from dense urban areas. Additionally, creating large communities of affordable housing has its social and economic downsides, particularly if it unintentionally segregates low-income families from the rest of a community. It all depends on the scale and shape of the particular place.
Can we close the gap...with higher rent?
Charging residents more in rent might seem like an obvious solution, since it means higher property revenue, which leads to a larger loan. But when does affordable housing stop being affordable?
For a building to qualify for tax credits, the apartments must be affordable to families earning no more than 60 percent of the area median income (AMI). Additionally, many rent subsidies are targeted to extremely low-income families, or those earning less than 30 percent of AMI.
The current standard is that a family should pay no more than 30 percent of its household income on rent. Anything more is no longer affordable.
To make a unit affordable to an extremely low-income family of three, you could charge no more than $540 a month. You could charge up to $1,081 for a family of three and still qualify for tax credits, but now you risk shutting out extremely low-income residents, like a parent of two children earning $21,125 as a retail cashier.
Consider that in Denver, the AMI for a family of three is $72,100, so earning 60 percent of AMI means a family takes home $43,260; earning 30 percent of AMI means a family earns $21,630. A married telemarketer would earn $36,544 in Denver—slightly less than 60 percent AMI for a family of two. A person working full time but earning minimum wage, which in Colorado is slightly above the federal minimum, would be just above 30 percent AMI but still well below 60 percent.
Use the toggles below to see the effects of raising rent. You can choose to raise rent by either targeting higher-income (but still low-income) renters, asking renters to pay a larger portion of their income toward rent, or both.
60% AMI renters
50% of family income goes towards rent
So...how can we close the gap?
Subsidies are essential to closing the gap.
Changes to land use, to regulations, or in what and how we build all will help close the gap, but we won’t get where we need to be without subsidies.
Subsidies come in different forms. Some, like vouchers or rental assistance, help pay the rent, leaving tenants enough income to pay for other needs and making the property operate sustainably. Others, like tax credits, HOME funds, Community Development Block Grants, and housing trust funds help pay the costs of construction, development, or major repairs. No one subsidy can solve the affordable housing problem. Rather, a combination of programs including federal tax credits, state housing trust funds, local zoning decisions, and public land contributions can help affordable housing get built. To close the gap for affordable housing, especially for the lowest-income households, there almost always has to be assistance for both development and rental income over time.
Breaking the Chain of Poverty, Starting with the Children by John Elizalde
BREAKING THE CHAIN OF GENERATIONAL POVERTY, STARTING WITH THE CHILDREN, May 7 2017 By John Elizalde About 60 people gathered under the banner of the Interfaith Alliance on Poverty to learn about how trauma, especially childhood trauma, impacts our lives and the lives of those living in poverty. Dr Mandy Davis, director of Trauma Informed Oregon (tio.org) led the afternoon workshop. It was terrific!
Medical and social sciences have progressed enough to recognize the long lasting effects that trauma has on our lives. None of us escape without some form of trauma as we grow up, face life on life’s terms, raise families, have jobs, struggle with relationships, money and so many more of day-to-day reality. As Dr Davis pointed out, faith communities are often providers of safety net services. Our members serve meal sites, shelters, offer encouragement and support to families in transition and many other direct service activities. The communities where we live, work, worship and serve are populated with those who have experienced adversity, trauma, and toxic stress. So, with every interaction we have an opportunity to restore, reconnect and repair the people we serve and serve with.
We got a good, working definition of what trauma informed care is: “A program, organization, or system that is trauma-informed realizes the widespread impact of trauma and understands potential paths for recovery; recognizes the signs and symptoms of trauma in clients, families, staff, and others involved with the system; and responds by fully integrating knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices, and seeks to actively resist re-traumatization”
The workshop then took us through the learning we needed in order to realize, recognize, respond and resist re-traumatizing. Just understanding trauma was a chore. It can be a single event, a series of events that may recur over time, there could be interpersonal violence or violation at the hands of a trusted figure, or even events that impact a group or have occurred to family in the past. Many of us found ourselves thinking about our own past and the events that may have impacted us.
It seemed the key was why trauma is important for those of us concerned about poverty, economic justice and making a positive difference in the lives of our neighbors. It is important because:
—Trauma is pervasive.
—Trauma’s impact is broad, deep and life-shaping.
—Trauma differentially affects the more vulnerable.
—Trauma affects how people approach services.
—The service system has often been activating or re-traumatizing.
Thus, if our work is to break the chain of generational poverty we need the awareness of how trauma sets the stage for this generational inheritance. We talk about starting with the children because we learn that science has taught us about
how vulnerable children are (sure we knew this but current research has put a sharper focus on children and trauma). Trauma (toxic stress, adversity) impacts the way our brain develops and functions (neurobiology). We learned that trauma can have impacts that persist across generations (epigenetics). And, we find that adverse childhood experiences are particularly important due to the neurobiology at play with young minds. Dr Davis puts it succinctly: “The take home message about ACEs is that adversity in childhood leads to challenges in health for adults and helped us understand why. It linked adversity to heart disease, diabetes, stroke, copd, etc.” These experiences show up in education results, earning power and can indicate the likelihood for lesser education and economic outcome.
This summary cannot begin to discuss the details of the ACEs study and its findings. Suffice to realize that children are at the foundation of generational poverty and need our support, lots of our support. And, that we can make a positive difference if we look for and develop ways to create safe, stable and nurturing relationships so children can learn skills such that they can reach their full potential.
We learned that our resilience actually allows us to experience positive surroundings that reverse, prevent or heal the disruption caused by trauma. Our service activities and the facilities we work in offer opportunities for us to connect personally with those we serve and serve with. Resilience affords the chance to become self-aware and to learn and understand self-reflection and self-care. This leads to becoming more flexible, curious and persistent and being able to be of service to others. Like so much of life we learn that resilience is a capability we need to develop and nurture if we are to thrive living life on life’s terms.
And so there were concrete steps we could take to enhance our relationships. Creating physical and emotionally safe places for our service is a step in the right direction. Dr Davis provided examples of how we might do that and help restore power and value to the people we interact with. So much of trauma informed care is about the way we work rather than the work we do. The workshop didn’t get deep into skill development but it is clear that being ‘trauma informed’ is an area of development for most of us.
Often we hear it said, “it’s not about the food/shelter/clothes or other direct service. It is about how we provide the food/shelter/clothes or other service.” Dr Davis is likely to endorse that perspective. Those who attended “Breaking the Chain of Generational Poverty: Starting with the Children” have plenty to reflect on. That’s a good thing.
Learn more at Trauma Informed Oregon (tio.org) and get a copy of the handouts from the training by emailing: registerinterfaithalliance@gmail.com.
Where there's a will, there's a way by Rev. Connie Yost
It begin in Denver, in July of 2016, when Southwest Airline computers crashed and my flight home to Portland was cancelled. An hour and a half wait in line had me rebooked on a flight out the next evening, and an apologetic $200 voucher was issued, good only on a future, Southwest Airline flight. Never one to turn down a good coupon, discount or voucher, that $200 weighed heavily on me. Where to go? Finally, I decided to tour parts of the Midwest I had skipped over (or flown over) in previous trips. My trip began in Detroit, wound through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, ending in Chicago.
Between booking the trip and taking the trip, I had gotten more involved with the Interfaith Alliance on Poverty in Portland, specifically researching programs that have effectively moved people and communities out of poverty. I remembered studying the Chicago-based work of Bethel New Life when I was in seminary some years back. I was in luck – Mary Nelson, one of Bethel’s founders and executive director for many years was still living in the community, and she would be happy to talk with me and show me around. Mary’s email said that I should take the “L”, Chicago’s elevated subway, green line west to Cicero, where I would transfer to the #54 bus going north 7 stops to Thomas. Then, it would be a short walk to Bethel at 4950 W. Thomas. It’s complicated, she said. No worries, I replied.
I was on the green line headed west when I began to worry. A man sat down across from me and started trying to put a dollar bill in the pocket of the young man next to him. The young man looked straight ahead and never said a word while all of this was going on. When the Pulaski stop came up, the older man told the younger man, “This is your stop.” Again, the young man looked straight ahead and said nothing. The next stop was Cicero, and as I got up to get off, both of the men also got up. Uh oh, I thought, what if they follow me?
As it turned out, they weren’t interested in me. I felt pretty conspicuous though, as I noticed I was the only white person around. Me, a little old white lady in big ole bad Chicago! I thought that if it was truly dangerous for me to be doing this trip on public transportation, Mary would have said so, right? I hope? I had some time so I popped into the corner Dunkin’ Donuts for a coffee, which was run by a cheery Hispanic man playing Mexican music. The patrons there were mostly black, but there was one young white man as well as a couple of Hispanic folks ordering coffee and donuts. This sure ain’t Portland!
I arrived at Bethel, flabbergasted at the size of it! I had no idea that their offices were in a former 465-bed hospital and nursing school, now a senior independent and assisted living facility they purchased and rehabbed. Mary, having retired as Bethel’s executive director in 2006, lived in an apartment there, and still had an office in the old nursing school section. She was nimble and jaunty in her clogs and patterned loose pants, not nearly as old looking as I thought she would be. She had come out of retirement to be the volunteer executive director of the World Parliament of Religions, organizing their last world conference in 2015. Still vibrant, she also serves on a number of national boards.
Mary told me the story of Bethel New Life, which was born out of Bethel Lutheran Church where her brother became Pastor in 1965. Three days later, riots broke out. In 1965, Bethel Lutheran Church had 35 elderly white members. By then, the surrounding community was overwhelmingly black. White flight had accelerated over the years, but with the riots, the community shut down completely. Businesses left, banks left, landlords stopped maintaining buildings. Residents found there were few jobs nearby, and even those with a good income couldn’t get a home loan in this “risky” neighborhood. By 1979, the area was losing 200 housing units to demolition each year. There was no major grocery store, few good doctors, no local bank and too few jobs. West Garfield was in a tailspin, and almost no one from the outside seemed interested in saving it.[1]
Yet a new community organization found that there were plenty of resources available within this worn-out neighborhood. There were local people willing to put abandoned buildings back together again, families who pitched in to start a food co-op, older men who would comb parks and alleys for aluminum cans worth a penny or two each. There were church members and neighbors who couldn’t spare much, but who were willing to give a little to see their community grow again. There was hope, the will to rebuild. And that was enough to start.[2]
I am sure that those 35 members of Bethel New Life never imagined what their faith and hope would start in motion. With a commitment to be of service in their community, they opened their doors to the neighborhood. Pastor Nelson went door to door and invited people to come in. They opened the church to black groups, started an afterschool program, and provided a convocation for their local teachers, most of whom did not live in the neighborhood, teaching them the realities of the people’s lives. By 1979, it was clear that there was a housing crisis. By then, Bethel Lutheran had 70 members who voted to do a housing ministry, though no one knew how to do it. They just knew it needed to be done. “All we knew about housing,” said one church member, “was that it was long and hard and complicated.”[3] They went to the bank and applied for their first loan, and when the bank asked for collateral, they voted to mortgage the church building. And when they ran out of money, they used their personal credit cards to buy the things they needed to rehab the buildings.
Fast forward 10 years, and they had grown into a $4.5 million per year organization with 350 employees. In their first three decades, Bethel built 1,200 affordable homes, advocated for social reforms, provided in-home care to the elderly, welcomed people home from prison to find legal employment, provided programs for neighborhood youth, were instrumental in the development of community investment vehicles such as the New Market Tax Credit program and led efforts at the local and national level in community development and transformation.[4]
[1] Barry, Patrick, Rebuilding the Walls: A Nuts and Bolts Guide to the Community Development Methods of Bethel New Life, Inc. in Chicago, 1989, 5.
[2] Ibid, 6.
[3] Ibid, 49.
[4] http://www.bethelnewlife.org/about-us/
May 2017 Newsletter
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NEWSLETTER – MAY 2017 The Interfaith Alliance newsletter is produced by the Poverty Awareness & Communication Workgroup. To contact: Email Bonniejgregg@msn.com
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MAY 14 -HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY
God could not be everywhere; therefore, he made Mothers.” Rudyard Kipling
MAY 29 -MEMORIAL DAY REMEMBRANCE
As we commemorate those who have given the ultimate sacrifice in defense of liberty, we remember some of the words of our nation’s presidents.
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” John F. Kennedy
“This world of ours... must avoid becoming a community of dreadful fear and hate, and be, instead, a proud confederation of mutual trust and respect. Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” Dwight D. Eisenhower
BREAKING THE CHAINS OF GENERATIONAL POVERTY, STARTING WITH THE CHILDREN
On Sunday, May 7th, the Interfaith Alliance is offering an opportunity for members and friends to hear Dr. Mandy Davis, Executive
Director, Trauma Informed Oregon, Portland State University explain:
Do you want to understand how the services you provide at meal sites, food pantries, etc., can impact people who have had these traumas?
Do you want to learn about the changes you can make so your service can be more welcoming and effective?
Do you realize that providing services can impact us as providers and what care we might need to serve more effectively?
Then join us for Dr. Davis’ presentation at Madeleine Parish, 3123 NE 24th from 1:30-5:30 PM on Sunday May 7. Light refreshments will be provided.
To register, Email John Elizalde registerinterfaithalliance@gmail.com $10.00 Fee payable at the door (cash or check, please) - no one turned away for lack of funds
TRAUMA OF HAVING PARENTS IN PRISON
PTSD “Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome” is a term most of us know. We normally associate it with veterans returning from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, but PTSD is experienced not only among veterans, but by men and women who have never worn a uniform, and sadly among children as well, especially those who have one or more parents in prison. Since approximately 50 percent of those incarcerated in U.S. prisons are parents, over 2 million of their children suffer from mental health and behavioral problems associated with their parents’ incarceration. Having a parent in prison also contributes to child homelessness and poverty which in turn intensifies intergenerational inequalities.
NORTHWEST FAMILY SERVICES
Marianne Kersten, Program Manager for Youth Solutions Student Mentoring at Northwest Family Services, in Portland, Oregon
Few events can be more traumatic for a child than witnessing the arrest of a parent. Speaking before the April 3 meeting of the Madeleine Parish Altar Society, Marianne noted that seldom do parents arrested “go quietly.” To see uniformed police enter the sanctity of a home, whether that home be a house, apartment, trailer, or tent, and then to see mom or dad placed in handcuffs, with or without a fight, assaults a child’s perception of his/her well being. Gunshots may not be fired, but the memory of words spoken, anger expressed, fear exposed, and grief overwhelming the family can never be forgotten.
In the child’s eyes, both their parents and they themselves are the victims of injustice, a system stacked against them.
Marianne advised that often it is the incarcerated parent who is the “better parent,” because in 95% of the cases, the parent left to care for the family is addicted to drugs or alcohol. Barely able to take care of themselves, they cannot take care of the children. Therefore the children frequently end up on a path to foster homes; however, not always. The majority of children referred to Marianne’s Mentoring program are still living with one parent.
She has 25 children in her group with a waiting list twice as long. They are between the ages of 8 and 18. All meet some level of “adverse experience criteria” which means they have been homeless or hungry, experienced violence, have first hand knowledge of drugs and alcohol, and a negative impression of the police and social services. Without intervention, they are at risk of repeating the behaviors of their parents. However, empowered by mentorship programs such as provided by Northwest Family Services, they are able to pursue education goals and lead successful lives.
The mission of Northwest Family Services focuses on “core issues that support individual success, family stability, and child well-being”. They have an array of services ranging from “professional counseling, job readiness and placement, work solutions, positive youth development, healthy relationships, gang prevention, school site management, financial literacy, parenting, anger management, etc.”
Marianne said that there are no “quick fixes”, which is the reason mentors volunteering for her program need to commit to a minimum of 1-year, typically involving contact every week. Usually she says a meal is involved and an activity which appeals to the child’s interests. Letting them know “somebody cares” makes all the difference. According to Northwest Family Services, “Children who have a meaningful relationship with a non-parental adult
- Are 46% less likely to start using drugs
- Are 27% less likely to start drinking
- 1/3 less likely to resort to violence
- Skip ½ as many days of school.
- Are more competent in their ability to do well at school
- Have more positive relationships with their peers
- Improve their appearance
- Take more positive risks
- Decrease hostility and have fewer disciplinary referrals
- Are happierVolunteers are carefully matched with children to produce the best bonds. Marianne says she has seen lives transformed. She told about two young women she is currently mentoring who once thought college an impossible dream. By utilizing federal programs they are now attending institutions of higher learning on their way to stable, successful lives. To volunteer or obtain more information, call 503-548-6377 or visit the web at http://www.nwfs.org
SB 241 CREATES “BILL OF RIGHTS FOR CHILDREN OF INCARCERATED”
State Senator Michael Dembrow reports that Senate Bill 241 creates an Oregon Bill of Rights for the Children of Incarcerated Parents to ensure that they are given the justice they deserve and are not punished as a bi-product of the crimes of their parents.
“WINDOW OPENED AT CITY HALL” by Bonnie Gregg
Chloe Eudaly, City Commissioner, and Jessica Rojas, Community and Environmental Manager, NE Coalition on Neighbors
At the invitation of Jessica Rojas, as a representative of the Interfaith Alliance on Poverty, I attended a gathering of community activists at the NE Coalition of Neighbors office to welcome City Commissioner, Chloe Eudaly, on April 17.
They say that City Hall isn’t the same since Chloe came. It’s as if “a window has opened” in the old building. She does seem to bring a breath of fresh air with her. When she entered the room, we knew immediately she was one of us. We were a mix of folks from the NE Coalition, neighborhood associations, environmentalists, business advocates, churches, and other groups.
Chloe knew first-hand the causes for which we spoke, the need for:
- More public bathrooms to accommodate the homeless;
- “Affordable housing”’ and a system to support stable housing;
- Renters relief;
- Reducing gentrification;
- Opportunities for those re-entering the community after incarceration;
- Education;
- Economic development supporting small businesses;
- Community partnerships;
- Fair distribution of contracts;
- Safety and stability;
- Racial equality;
- Criminal justice reform;
- Clean air;
- Clean water;
- More parks;
- Land and nature conservation;
- Redeveloping “brownfields”;
- Reducing oil transport;
- Reducing diesel emissions;
- Supporting “green energy”;
- Supporting legal and legislative actions to effect change.
A pastor at the meeting observed that when our community reaches its full potential, it’s going to be “beautiful” and we are going to work to keep it that way.
Chloe Eudaly grew up-- in her words, “in the country around Portland,”-- coming to the city as a teenager. For 18 years she raised her son and operated a book store. However, she acknowledged that as ”a capitalist”, she has been “a failure.” Always a renter, she became appalled by the high cost of rents for minimal accommodations, sometimes little more than “a shed.” She reached out to the community to express her outrage on pdx.rentersunite. Soon she had a following of hundreds who shared her concerns. Her political career followed. As City Commissioner, she now has what she describes as a “dream job”, which she says can also be a “nightmare.” There is just so much that needs to be done.
During her first three months in office, shelter space has doubled and efforts are being made to improve affordable housing, The renters re-location assistance ordinance has been approved by the City, and House Bill 2004A to extend its passage has been passed by the Oregon House.
She encouraged community to report “Zombie Houses,” derelict structures commonly owned and abandoned by absentee landlords. She hopes that the houses can be reclaimed to become affordable housing. Contact her at officeofComm.Eudaly.gov.
After the meeting, I talked to Tanisha Jones, Communications Manager and Marketing Consultant for “Homegirl Consulting.” She said “I think I’ve heard about your organization. Do you know Marilyn Mauch? She told me about you.” Why, yes, I did, I acknowledged. “She is the founder of the Backpack Lunch Program.” Tanisha said “I call her “Miss Marilyn,” We agreed that the world is a better place because of Marilyn Mauch..
I then talked to Commissioner Eudaly. She said she “is excited about all the good work the Interfaith Alliance is doing.” Jessica Rojas told her that when she had called out for assistance regarding two apartment complexes,” the Alliance had been the first to respond!”
In our efforts “to alleviate poverty in Portland”, we as an Alliance may be taking small steps, but I believe we are fortunate to have arms linked with such community partners as Jessica Rojas, NE Coaltion of Neighbors, City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, and of course, our own Marilyn Mauch.
For more information, refer to website: allianceonpoverty.org – News Room -City News.
ALLIANCE PLANNNG MEETING
At the March 30 Alliance Planning meeting held at Westminster Presbyterian Church, John Elizalde, Alliance work group leader welcomed guest speakers, Diane Yatchmenoff and Ana Hristic, representatives of the Trauma Informed Oregon.
UPCOMING ALLIANCE MEETINGS
Sunday, May 7, 1:30 PM-5:30 PM “Breaking the Cycle of Generational Poverty: Starting with the Children”, sponsored by the Alliance, Madeleine Parish, 3123 NE 24th Ave. To register, email John Elizalde at registerinterfaithalliance@gmail.com
Monday, May 15, 12:00 noon-2:00 pm, Transitioning to Stability Work Group of the Alliance, Agenda: Review effective national models, Rose City Park Presbyterian Church, 1907 NE 45th Street, Library (enter ramp by awning)
Friday, May 19, 9:30 AM- 11:30 AM, Advocacy Work Group of the Alliance; Grace Memorial: 1535 NE 17th Ave, downstairs in the Mason-Burnham room.
Thursday, May 25, 12:00 Noon-2:00 PM, Monthly Meeting of the Interfaith Alliance on Poverty, Speaker will be Cameron Herrington of Living Cully, at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1624 NE Hancock, Fireside Room
“Evicted” BOOK DISCUSSIONS:
Sunday, May 14 & May 21, 9:00 AM, Central Lutheran Church, 1820 NE 21st Ave
Thursday, June 1, 7:00 PM, Madeleine Parish, 3123 NE 24th Ave, Fireside Room
UPCOMING COMMUNITY EVENTS
A HOME FOR EVERYONE (AHFE) COORDINATING MEETING
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LEGISLATURE: HOUSING OPPORTUNITY DAY – Thursday, May 18 9:30 AM-4:30 PM
Meeting Location: The Mill at the Willamette Heritage Center, 1313 Mill St. SE, Salem, Oregon, Morning snacks and lunch provided. For more information, contact John Elizalde @ john_elizalde@hotmail.com or Tom Hering @ tehering@gmail.com
NORTHWEST FAMILY SERVICES
TRAUMA OF HAVING PARENTS IN PRISON PTSD “Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome” is a term most of us know. We normally associate it with veterans returning from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, but PTSD is experienced not only among veterans, but by men and who have never worn a uniform, and sadly among children as well, especially those who have one or more parents in prison.
Since approximately 50 percent of those incarcerated in U.S. prisons are parents, over 2 million of their children suffer from mental health and behavioral problems associated with their parents’ incarceration. Having a parent in prison also contributes to child homelessness and poverty which in turn intensifies intergenerational inequalities.
NORTHWEST FAMILY SERVICES
Marianne Kersten, Program Manager for Youth Solutions Student Mentoring at Northwest Family Services, in Portland, Oregon
Few events can be more traumatic for a child than witnessing the arrest of a parent. Speaking before the April 3 meeting of the Madeleine Parish Altar Society, Marianne noted that seldom do parents arrested “go quietly.” To see uniformed police enter the sanctity of a home, whether that home be a house, apartment, trailer, or tent, and then to see mom or dad placed in handcuffs, with or without a fight, assaults a child’s perception of his/her well being. Gunshots may not be fired, but the memory of words spoken, anger expressed, fear exposed, and grief overwhelming the family can never be forgotten.
In the child’s eyes, both their parents and they themselves are the victims of injustice, a system stacked against them.
Marianne advised that often it is the incarcerated parent who is the “better parent,” because in 95% of the cases, the parent left to care for the family is addicted to drugs or alcohol. Barely able to take care of themselves, they cannot take care of the children. Therefore the children frequently end up on a path to foster homes; however, not always. The majority of children referred to Marianne’s Mentoring program are still living with one parent.
She has 25 children in her group with a waiting list twice as long. They are between the ages of 8 and 18. All meet some level of “adverse experience criteria” which means they have been homeless or hungry, experienced violence, have first hand knowledge of drugs and alcohol, and a negative impression of the police and social services. Without intervention, they are at risk of repeating the behaviors of their parents. However, empowered by mentorship programs such as provided by Northwest Family Services, they are able to pursue education goals and lead successful lives.
The mission of Northwest Family Services focuses on “core issues that support individual success, family stability, and child well-being”. They have an array of services ranging from “professional counseling, job readiness and placement, work solutions, positive youth development, healthy relationships, gang prevention, school site management, financial literacy, parenting, anger management, etc.”
Marianne said that there are no “quick fixes”, which is the reason mentors volunteering for her program need to commit to a minimum of 1-year, typically involving contact every week. Usually she says a meal is involved and an activity which appeals to the child’s interests. Letting them know “somebody cares” makes all the difference. According to Northwest Family Services, “Children who have a meaningful relationship with a non-parental adult
- • Are 46% less likely to start using drugs
- • Are 27% less likely to start drinking
- • 1/3 less likely to resort to violence
- • Skip ½ as many days of school.
- • Are more competent in their ability to do well at school
- • Have more positive relationships with their peers
- • Improve their appearance
- • Take more positive risks
- • Decrease hostility and have fewer disciplinary referrals
- • Are happier
Volunteers are carefully matched with children to produce the best bonds. Marianne says she has seen lives transformed. She told about two young women she is currently mentoring who once thought college an impossible dream. By utilizing federal programs they are now attending institutions of higher learning on their way to stable, successful lives. To volunteer or obtain more information, call 503-548-6377 or visit the web at http://www.nwfs.org
SB 241 CREATES “BILL OF RIGHTS FOR CHILDREN OF INCARCERATED”
State Senator Michael Dembrow reports that Senate Bill 241 creates an Oregon Bill of Rights for the Children of Incarcerated Parents to ensure that they are given the justice they deserve and are not punished as a bi-product of the crimes of their parents. For more information, refer to website: allianceonpoverty.org – News Room State News
Breaking the Chain of Generational Poverty, Starting With the Children
Dr. Mandy Davis, Executive Director, Trauma Informed Oregon, Portland State University
On Sunday, May 7, the Interfaith Alliance will be sponsoring a community-wide event featuring a presentation by Dr. Mandy Davis regarding the impacts of living in poverty. It will be held in the atrium at the MADELEINE PARISH, 3123 NE 24th from 1:30-5:30 PM. Light refreshments will be provided.
Dr. Davis’ presentation is entitled: BREAKING THE CHAIN OF GENERATIONAL POVERTY, STARTING WITH THE CHILDREN. It will enable attendees to:
- Gain a new understanding of the affects on people living in crisis from poverty, homelessness, hunger, addiction, violence, etc.
- Learn how these affects impact the development of children
- See how these affects can last for generations,
To register, Email registerinterfaithalliance@gmail.com Suggested Donation: $10.00; no one turned away for lack of funds
April 2017 Newsletter
NEWSLETTER – APRIL 2017
The Interfaith Alliance newsletter is produced by the Poverty Awareness & Communication Workgroup.
To contact: Email Bonniejgregg@msn.com
William Shakespeare says: “April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.” After the winter we’ve had in the Pacific Northwest, we surely need it! Our very bones creak. All those days staring out the window onto frozen streets. Going out meant bundling against the cold and watching our step on slippery sidewalks.
Now, seeing skies of blue, pink blossoms on the tree, and feeling the sun warm upon our shoulders, life surges anew. We throw off our parkas and get out our gardening tools. We vow to lose the blues, reform and reclaim our lives, and reach out to those in poverty, so they can reclaim their lives, too.
Springtime is all about rebirth and renewal, which is why most of the world’s religions embrace this season.
Martin Luther said, “Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in spring-time”.
MAYOR’S VISION FOR PORTLAND
Excerpts from Ted Wheeler’s March 24 remarks before City Hall)
“Some call Portland the Rose City. Some call it Stump Town. Blazers fans call Portland Rip City, while Timbers fans call it Soccer City USA. Some people just call Portland Weird. And guess what? We are all that and more.
“Many people have referred to the West Coast as the last line of defense against forces that seek to roll back the progress we’ve made on health care, on education, on the environment, on reproductive rights, on LGBT issues and issues of race. While this may be an apt description, I say this: I am not satisfied with Portland merely being the last line of defense. I want our great city to be the first line of offense.
“A safe, affordable place to live is a home base for any family. It’s a place from which parents go to work and kids go to school. It anchors that family to a community. It’s where parents and kids do the most important thing any family can do: spend time together.
The cost of housing is the major obstacle to securing housing, but it is not the only obstacle. Renters, in particular, face many hurdles, including applications, credit checks, security deposits, and
more. Additionally, tenants and landlords alike are often not aware of their rights and responsibilities under the law.
“Whatever we do, I am determined that it benefit everyone in the community, and that any housing that is created includes all levels of affordability. And however we do it, I am determined that we lead the nation in ensuring that women, people of color, and underserved communities participate in the economic benefits of the project through a strong commitment to minority and women-owned contracting principles. We have a chance to reshape the face of our city. I also believe we have a chance to reshape our spirit.
“My final thoughts are these. We are not some monolithic, homogenous city, and we don’t want to be. By coming together, embracing our shared values and acting on them, we can ensure that Portland’s character will endure for generations to come. That Portland will continue to be a place for all people. That we will continue to be an example to our neighbors, the nation, and the world.
APRIL: AMERICAN ARAB MONTH
Although April is “American Arab Month”, the Portland Arab American community hold their “Mahrajan” celebration in late summer.
“Arab” refers to those who speak Arabic as their first language. and who are united by the culture and history of their native lands primarily in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Most Arabs are Muslims but there are also millions of Christian Arabs and thousands of Jewish world wide. During the revolutionary war, Algeria provided horses to the American cavalry, and Morocco was the first country to officially recognize the U.S. as a new nation. However, it wasn’t until 1867 that Syrians began immigrating to America. A hundred years later, in 1967, following the 6-day Arab-Israelis war, Palestinians arrived in large numbers as well.
Today Arabs make up 1.2 % of the US population. They have made important contributions to the U.S. culture and economy, frequently pursuing professional careers; therefore, poverty is seldom an issue in their communities. However, the same cannot be said for their relatives who are being driven out of their homes into refugee camps by middle east wars.
Of the 4.8 million Syrian refugees, half are children. We may think of Arabs as a nomadic people roaming the desert, but those arriving in refugee camps from Aleppo were accustomed to all the culture and conveniences of a modern city. Most of the children have survived traumatic events including gunfire in their streets, the destruction of their homes, and the death of family members and friends, followed by a hard journey to the camp. Instead of a 3-bedroom apartment, they now live in a
tent. They hang on to hope that their life in the camp is temporary.
Unfortunately, their path to resettlement is not easy. War continues to bar their way home. Other countries are no longer welcoming. Procedures for resettlement are lengthy. First a United Nations representative decides if the person fits the definition of refugee. Less than 1% of refugees meet that criteria. The entire process can take up to two or more years.
The PEW Research Center indicates that worldwide, because of wars and climate change, “nearly 1 in 100 people are being displaced from their homes.” To find food, water, and a place to live, they are willing to walk miles, risk drowning in a packed boat, take shelter on city streets or in a crowded refugee camp. To build a global community, free of war, where everybody has a home, may be the greatest challenge of the 21st century.
> Myth: "Growing up in poverty doesn't affect children as long as you raise them right."
Fact: Poverty affects the healthy development of every child.
The AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION indicates that ”children who grow up in generational poverty suffer chronic stress, anxiety, depression and low self esteem. This in turn affects their behavior, social development, academic performance, employment readiness, and personal relationships”.
“They will become part of a vicious, intergenerational cycle that curtails children’s opportunities, deepens inequality and threatens societies everywhere.
“Trapped in a cycle of disadvantage, children from the poorest households, are effectively pre-selected for heightened risks of disease, hunger, illiteracy and poverty based on factors entirely outside
their control. They are nearly two times as likely to die before the age of 5. They are also far less likely to complete school, meaning that those who survive this precarious start find little opportunity to break free from their parents’ poverty and to shape their own futures.
“Around the world, children make up nearly half of the almost 900 million people living on less than U.S. $1.90 a day. Their families struggle to afford the basic health care and nutrition needed to provide them a strong start.
“This challenge is compounded by the increasingly protracted nature of armed conflict. Nearly 250 million children live in countries and areas affected by armed conflict, and millions more bear the brunt of climate-related disasters and chronic crises.”
The UN projects the world is facing its worst humanitarian crisis since World War II, with 20 million people facing starvation and famine.” The U.S administration is now proposing to cut foreign aid by 30%
LEARNING FROM OTHERS
by Rae Richen
In our work to end houselessness and provide support toward housing stability, the Transitions Workgroup of Interfaith Alliance has recruited teams that support with families moving into homes.
At the same time, members of the Transitions workgroup have decided to take an in-depth look at models of support that work in other cities. We find that from Baltimore to Winnepeg, cities are demonstrating that having a safe place to live is the first and most important step toward solving the problems that keep people in poverty. This approach to caring for the houseless is called ‘Housing First’.
Before Housing First became widely known and demonstrated success, most programs to address homelessness were based on what was often called ‘Housing Readiness’ model. Many cities still use that older model. The Housing Readiness approach assumes that homeless people should be treated for complex problems while living in residential treatment or transitional housing. Treatment will create healthier people, able to end their own homelessness with a little help.
Housing First turns the Housing Readiness model upside-down. Housing First is based on the idea that permanent housing is a person’s first and foremost need and a basic human right. Once a person is safely housed, then all other needs can begin to be addressed and health and social participation can improve. Housing First makes certain that supports are in place so that people can become stabilized while in their new home.
In the next months, we will report to you on the best models of housing and support that we discover in these efforts to provide stability
March 2017 Newsletter
| NEWSLETTER – MARCH 2017
The Interfaith Alliance newsletter is produced by the Poverty Awareness & Communication Workgroup. To contact: Email Bonniejgregg@msn.com
|
“When Irish eyes are smiling, all the world is bright and gay, but when Irish eyes are crying, sure they’ll steal your heart away!.”
Most of us know the tune that goes with these words. March is Irish Heritage month and on St. Paddy’s Day we wear a bit of green, march in parades, and tell Irish jokes. It doesn’t matter if we’re Irish, we’re proud to claim Irish heritage. It makes us feel a little lighter somehow, better able to see the “sublime”, especially after a couple of Guinness. But that wasn’t always the case.
In 1850, at the peak of the Potato Famine, more than 200,000 Irish immigrated to the United States and Canada. A celebrated orator, Orestes Browson, declared, “ Out of these narrow lanes, dirty streets, damp cellars and suffocating garrets will come forth some of the “noblest sons of country” whom she will delight to own and honor.” Americans didn’t see them that way. The Chicago Post wrote, “The Irish fill our prisons and our poor houses. Scratch a convict or a pauper, and the chances are you will tickle the skin of an Irish Catholic. Putting them on a boat and sending them home would end crime in this country.” Ads also specified that job applicant must be Protestant or American, effectively banning Catholics.
In 1862, Miss Kathleen O’Neil wrote and sang the following song (excerpts below):
“I’m a simple Irish girl, and I’m looking for a place, I’ve felt the grip of poverty, but sure that’s no disgrace. ”Twill be long before I get one, tho indeed it’s hard I try, for I read in each advertisement, “NO IRISH NEED APPLY”
“Now I wonder what’s the reason that the fortune-favored few, should throw on us that dirty slur, and treat us as they do. Sure they all know Paddy’s heart is warm, and willing is his hand, They rule us, yet we may not earn a living in their land. Now what have they against us, sure the world knows Paddy’s brave, for he helped to fight their battles, both on land and on the wave.“Ah, but now I’m in the land of the Glorious and Free” And proud I am to own it, a country dear to me. I can see by your kind faces, that you will not deny, a place in your hearts for Kathleen, where “ALL IRISH MAY APPLY”
Kathleen’s Irish wit smiles throughout her song. Within the next 100 years, the Irish were assimilated into every venue in the country, achieving success in politics, business, entertainment, sports, and the arts. An Irish Catholic, John Fitzgerald Kennedy became the 35th U.S. president.
From 1845 to 1851, hundreds of thousands of immigrants entered the United States, not only from Ireland but other countries in Europe and around the world. Their arrival upset the previous wave of immigrants who were now established and saw themselves as the true “Americans.” In 1866, the Ku Klux Klan became a national movement. advocating for “white supremacy”, white nationalism, anti-immigration, anti-Catholicism, and anti-semiticism. We see some of the same attitudes expressed toward today’s immigrants, refugees, and members of the Muslim faith.
ROB JUSTUS EXPLAINS HOW TO “BUILD AFFORDABLE HOMES AFFORDABLY”
Rob Justus shared his view on creating affordable housing with members of the Interfaith Alliance at their February planning committee meeting.
In 1992, Rob Justus, a social justice activist, with a Masters in Divinity, founded JOIN, launching the “home first” program, working one-to-one with homeless individuals and families to move them from sleeping on the streets into permanent housing. Concerned about the lack of affordable housing, in 2001, he left JOIN to establish Home First Development, a company governed by what he describes as a “moral compass.” “Home First Development is driven by the belief that decent affordable housing is fundamental to the health and wellbeing of a community.”
Justus’s goal is to provide quality units that rent for $600 which are at the same time reasonable for owners to operate and maintain. Working with independent contractors, Justus has been successful in building multiple housing complexes for a cost of $68,000 per unit, compared to the industry average of $250,000.
He has had used no public money, but has worked with non profits and private donors. He has also collaborated with CASH Oregon in creating innovative approaches to increase income for low income Oregonians. A number of faith-based communities have cooperated in selling their property for affordable housing projects. Home First has built 257 units locally and has other projects underway in east Portland, Bend, LaPine, and Sisters. He encouraged the Alliance to support zone changes affecting church properties to allow construction of low-cost housing
CITY HALL APPROVES RENTERS’ RELOCATION ASSISTANCE
Chloe Eudaly - Photo Credit -April Baer – OPB
Newly elected City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly and Mayor Ted Wheeler campaigned on a promise to help renters and led the effort to amend the Affordable Housing Preservation and Portland Renter Protections to add relocation assistance. Interfaith Alliance members joined a rally led by Portland Tenants United outside City Hall on February 2, 2017 in support of this amendment. The City Council voted unanimously to approve an emergency ordinance to require landlords to pay moving costs for tenants evicted “without cause.”
The new ordinance will require tenants to receive a 90-day notice for a no-cause eviction and landlords to pay relocation assistance. Mayor Wheeler said, “It is a huge step forward in terms of renter protections as they exist in the community today.” The ordinance states that: “The average Portland tenant is paying between 45% to 49% of their income on rent, which puts them at significant risk of becoming “severely cost burdened” paying over 50% of their gross monthly income on rent.”
“Rent increases of 10% and higher have the effect of constructively evicting tenants (“Economic Evictions”) resulting in involuntary displacement. Involuntary displacement occurs not only as a result of economic evictions, but also when a tenant is forced to leave their home through no fault of their own through “no-cause eviction.” This has resulted in a 28% increase in newly homeless individuals, including 48% increase in persons of color and a 24% increase in families with children.
Relocation expenses associated with involuntary displacement such as application fees, security deposits, double rent, moving supplies, storage, and lost wages present a significant challenge to Portland renters.
COMMUNITY ACTION SUPPORTS RENTERS
A mass “no-cause eviction” notice was issued to 72 renters of the Titan Manor Apartments in north Portland, following the sale of the property in October 2016. The Community Alliance of Tenants (C.A.T.) directed a letter to the new owners asking that the notice be withdrawn. The C.A.T. initiative was supported by the NE Coalition of Neighbors and the Interfaith Alliance among other organizations. On February 24, the notice was withdrawn, allowing the residents to remain in their current housing and their 59 children attending Portland Public Schools to remain in their current placement..
When the Normandy Apartments on NE Killingsworth were recently sold, renters learned their rent would be “doubled.” The Alliance joined with the Cully Association of Neighbors in a Feb 26 “Renter Solidarity March & Rally” to support the renters .
INTERFAITH ADVOCACY DAY IN SALEM
On Tuesday February 7, 2017 members of the Interfaith Alliance joined with representatives of the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon and other faith communities to advocate with legislators for compassionate legislation regarding housing, hunger, health care, gun safety and climate justice. In above photo, Interfaith Alliance members are preparing to meet with Rep. Michael Dembrow.
MULTNOMAH COUNTY LIBRARY
Who does not love a library? All those volumes of books and now E-books, audio tapes, CD’s, films, classes, and technology -- whatever you want to know-- is yours, “free for the taking.” If education is key to escaping poverty, the library provides the gateway through which many pass on their path to knowledge.
The Library has expanded its mission beyond loaning out books. The “ Everybody Reads,Program” is an annual Multnomah County Library reading project supported by the Library Arts Foundation. The 2017 selection is Matthew Desmond’s book, “Evicted”. The Library Arts Foundation encourages Portlanders to:
“Join the library in discussing and envisioning real solutions to our housing crisis. Let's learn from each other, promote greater understanding and celebrate the power of books in creating a stronger community.” Library Director, Vailey Oehlke, says, “We consider ourselves part of a reading ecosystem. Democracy is under a lot of pressure. There are fewer places for people of different classes and viewpoints to come together.”
What is now the Multnomah County Library dates back to 1864, when Portland was a frontier town with frame buildings and muddy streets.
An early 1900s bookmobile delivered books to rural Multnomah County residents. Just 13 years after the city’s incorporation, a small group of businessmen organized a Library Association of Portland. In 1900, John Wilson donated his collection of 8,000 books and $2,500 in gold coin to establish the library. A block, then on the outskirts of downtown Portland was purchased and Albert Doyle was hired as architect to construct a new library.
Mary Frances Isom was employed as head librarian. Mary pushed Doyle to design one of the nation’s first “open-stack” libraries. He designed a building clad in brick, with stone benches outside and marble stairways and Georgian revival rooms inside, at a cost of about $1 million in today’s dollars. It opened in September 1913. Today the Multnomah County Library system is second only to the New York Public Library in circulation volume.
AN EVENING WITH MATTHEW DESMOND, sponsored by the Library Arts Foundation, will be held Thursday, March 9, at 7:30 pm, in the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall. Author of “Evicted”, Desmond is a Harvard Associate Professor of Social Justices, whose work has focused on the causes, dynamics, and consequences of eviction among the urban poor.
EVERYBODY READS “Evicted” Programs are planned at many locations including the following:
- SISTERS OF THE ROAD will be showing a film, “On The Ground” on Saturday, March 4, from 2:30 to 3:30, at the Multnomah County Central Library in the U.S. Bank Room
- FIRST UNITARIAN CHURCH OF PORTLAND will have an event including a panel discussion on housing issues in Portland, a small group discussion of “Evicted” and a presentation by the Oregon Housing Alliance. The date will be March 12, from 1:30-4:30 pm, in the Buchan Room.
- FREMONT UNITED METHODIST BOOK CLUB is reading the “Evicted” and there will be a discussion open to the neighborhood on Monday, March 13th at 7:00 pm at the church located at NE 26th and Fremont.
- ROSE CITY PARK PRESBYTERIAN. Several regular book groups will be reading “Evicted” during February and March. In April a church wide discussion will be held that will be open to the community. Rose City Park is located at 1907 NE 45th in the Hollywood district.
UPCOMING EVENTS
ESCALATING INEQUALITY AND POVERTY by Rev. Connie Yost - Mar. 1, 8, 15; 7–9 pm
-- “In this four week course,” Rev. Connie states, “ we will explore economic inequality and poverty in the United States and specifically here in Portland. We will engage with the complex history and realities of economic inequality which exists at every level of human community, from local to global, and is composed of overlapping and interrelated systems of education, income, housing, taxation, democracy, banking, public health, workplace policies, and many others.
We will gain an awareness of how structures of oppression affect the systemic nature of economic inequality. Finally, we will explore ways in which inequality and poverty can be reduced. Come and be inspired to be part of the solution to escalating inequality.”
Facilitator: Rev. Connie Yost is an affiliated community minister with First Unitarian Church, Portland. She is the founder of Friends Stay Warm which provides utility assistance and advocacy to farm and other low-wage workers. She is on the board of Farm Ministry NW and the planning committee of the Interfaith Alliance on Poverty.
Presentation will be at First Unitarian Church, 1211 SW Main St. For more information, Please contact Rev. Connie Yost at cyost@uuma.org
LOBBY DAYS IN SALEM
Stable Homes for Oregon Families Day, March 2: This is a day focused solely on tenant protections. There will be an opportunity to visit with legislators as well as a public hearing on House Bill 2004. That bill will eliminate the ability of landlords to evict people without a reason, and allows local jurisdictions to try rent stabilization to help slow the rate and speed of rent increases.
Housing Opportunity Day, March 22 (the Housing Alliance's advocacy day). It will start around 8:30 AM and go until about 4:00. Focus will be on the full Housing Opportunity Agenda including both tenant protections and new resources.
SAVE THE DATE = SUNDAY AFTERNOON, MAY 7, LOCATION TBD “BREAKING THE CHAIN OF GENERATIONAL POVERTY” The Interfaith Alliance on Poverty will host a presentation by Dr. Mandy Davis, LCSW, Co-Director and Trainer of Trauma Informed Oregon, Portland State University School of Social Work
There are no “poor children.” But, there are children living without the critical resources needed to achieve normal development. Come for an afternoon exploring the role poverty plays in the lives of children and limits them to lower educational and economic outcomes. Learn ways we, as individuals, people of faith and faith communities can make a difference in their lives. Learn techniques and skills to be of more caring direct service. And, how we can help break the chain of generational poverty.
MARCH 30 - INTERFAITH ALLIANCE PLANNING COMMITTEE will be held at 12:00 at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 1624 NE Hancock. Representative from the Trauma Informed Oregon will be guest speaker.