Multnomah County has declared Severe Weather for Thursday December 27th and Friday December 28th! No one can be turned away from shelter during these two nights. For additional information about how to keep yourself safe, click here.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Monday, December 17, 2007
2007 Annual Homeless Memorial
Please join Yellow Brick Road at Outside In this Friday as we light candles & remember those we lost on the streets in 2007. The Annual Homeless Memorial is an inspiring & intimate community event that honors our city's most vulnerable citizens. We hope you'll join us.
Friday December 21 at 4:00pm
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Remembering Amber
We regret to announce the death of Amber Anderson who passed away unexpectedly on the evening of November 27th. Amber was loved dearly by those who knew her on the streets and her death has impacted many of us here in Portland. Her name has been placed on the Memorial Tree in the courtyard of Outside In so please feel free to visit and send your thoughts to Amber and her surviving friends & family. Rest In Peace, Amber!
photo courtesy of kif
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Severe Weather Transportation
During severe weather conditions, Yellow Brick Road and Can We Help frequently provide transportation to the homeless within the downtown Portland area in an effort to get as many people indoors as possible. Transportation is generally available during severe weather from 6pm-10pm but always call first to confirm availability!
Dennis Lundberg (503) 789-4011
(Janus Youth Programs/Yellow Brick Road)
Steve Trujillo (503) 933-9418
(Can We Help)
(Janus Youth Programs/Yellow Brick Road)
Steve Trujillo (503) 933-9418
(Can We Help)
Severe Weather Shelter
Here in Multnomah County when the temperature drops below 25 degrees or we expect hazardous conditions (such as snow, ice, or windstorms) the City of Portland will frequently announce a Severe Weather Alert. In these instances additional emergency shelter space is made available throughout the area and every effort is made to get as many people indoors as possible. Below is a list of severe weather services. If you are homeless, we hope this info will help you navigate these services a bit easier. If you are not homeless, we hope you will consider contacting one of these agencies to offer volunteer support. Many of these severe weather shelters are made possible by volunteers from the community. The Winter Shelter Hotline is also available to help you during severe weather. The hotline is available Monday-Friday 8am to 8pm & weekends 10am to 6pm.
211 Winter Shelter Hotline: (503) 721-1500
FOR YOUTH UNDER 21
FOR YOUTH UNDER 21
Porchlight Crisis Shelter
Porchlight Crisis Shelter is the city's only emergency youth shelter for young people under 21 years of age. During severe weather, Porchlight has the capacity to provide a few additional beds on a first-come-first-served basis. (6 extra beds for a total of 36 guests). Note that Porchlight staff will always prioritize safety when determining if the shelter can accommodate additional youth. Porchlight does not have the abililty to accomodate pets or dependents.
Porchlight Crisis Shelter is the city's only emergency youth shelter for young people under 21 years of age. During severe weather, Porchlight has the capacity to provide a few additional beds on a first-come-first-served basis. (6 extra beds for a total of 36 guests). Note that Porchlight staff will always prioritize safety when determining if the shelter can accommodate additional youth. Porchlight does not have the abililty to accomodate pets or dependents.
FOR ADULTS, COUPLES, & SPECIAL NEEDS:
There are multiple sites around town for adults during severe weather. These shelters will not require TB clearance during severe weather. If these shelters become full, the city may have some limited ability to voucher people into hotels to keep them safe. Probably the easiest thing to do is check in with the Winter Shelter Hotline to see where there are open beds and (if all the beds are full) where to inquire about hotel vouchers.
WOMEN ONLY:
Salvation Army Female Emergency Shelter (S.A.F.E.)
Ankeny St. entrance at Harbor Light (2nd and Burnside)
(503) 731-3942
Space for 12 additional single women via mats on the floor in the day space during severe weather. Day space open 7am to 11pm daily. Shelter open 7:45pm to 7:00 am daily. No pets or carts. Not disability accessible due to steep stairs.
Daybreak Shelter Network (Operated by Human Solutions)
Rotating Sites in Multnomah County call (503) 548-0200 or (503) 988-4531 or go to TPI’s Community Service Center at 435 NW Glisan for entry information. Space for 5 additional women (or women with children) within faith-based family shelter during severe weather. No pets or carts. * Rotating sites, call for information on accessibility.
Ankeny St. entrance at Harbor Light (2nd and Burnside)
(503) 731-3942
Space for 12 additional single women via mats on the floor in the day space during severe weather. Day space open 7am to 11pm daily. Shelter open 7:45pm to 7:00 am daily. No pets or carts. Not disability accessible due to steep stairs.
Daybreak Shelter Network (Operated by Human Solutions)
Rotating Sites in Multnomah County call (503) 548-0200 or (503) 988-4531 or go to TPI’s Community Service Center at 435 NW Glisan for entry information. Space for 5 additional women (or women with children) within faith-based family shelter during severe weather. No pets or carts. * Rotating sites, call for information on accessibility.
MEN ONLY:
City Team Ministries
526 SE Grand Avenue (503) 231-9334
Space for 10 additional single men via mats on the floor in the main room during severe weather. May also be open during the days during severe weather. Typically there is a $3 per night charge, which includes sleeping space and a meal. May require TB card and sobriety agreement. No pets, and limited space for belongings. Disability accessible location.
Portland Rescue Mission
111 W. Burnside (503) 227-0859
Space for 10 additional single men via mats on the floor in the lobby, may also be open during the days during severe weather. No pets and limited space for additional belongings. Disability accessible location.
526 SE Grand Avenue (503) 231-9334
Space for 10 additional single men via mats on the floor in the main room during severe weather. May also be open during the days during severe weather. Typically there is a $3 per night charge, which includes sleeping space and a meal. May require TB card and sobriety agreement. No pets, and limited space for belongings. Disability accessible location.
Portland Rescue Mission
111 W. Burnside (503) 227-0859
Space for 10 additional single men via mats on the floor in the lobby, may also be open during the days during severe weather. No pets and limited space for additional belongings. Disability accessible location.
MEN, WOMEN, COUPLES, PETS:
The Estate (Shelter service operated by American Red Cross) 225 NW Couch (Old Town)
Opens each night at 8:00 pm, morning exit at 7:30am. Space for 40-50 adults via cots in the renovated basement – refreshments provided. Pets allowed, and some space for carts. Disability access with elevator.
Foursquare Church (Shelter service operated by American Red Cross)
1302 Ankeny St. (behind Old Wives Tale at 14th & SE Ankeny)
Opens at 8:30 pm, morning exit at 7:30am. Space for 175 adults via mats on the floor – light refreshments provided.
Calvary Christian Church (Operated by the American Red Cross)
126 NE Alberta (MLK & NE Alberta St.)
Opens at 8pm. Space for 60-70 adults via cots/mats in downstairs gym. Pets allowed & some room for carts. Refreshments provided. Transportation is often available from downtown (see below).
Union Gospel Mission
15 NW 3rd (503) 228-0319 Open until at capacity
Space for 50 men and women in separate sleeping areas via blankets on the floor - refreshments provided. Operates from 10pm – 6:00am. Dinner offered at site from 8:00-9:00pm. Service animals allowed, space for carts. Disability accessible location.
Opens each night at 8:00 pm, morning exit at 7:30am. Space for 40-50 adults via cots in the renovated basement – refreshments provided. Pets allowed, and some space for carts. Disability access with elevator.
Foursquare Church (Shelter service operated by American Red Cross)
1302 Ankeny St. (behind Old Wives Tale at 14th & SE Ankeny)
Opens at 8:30 pm, morning exit at 7:30am. Space for 175 adults via mats on the floor – light refreshments provided.
Calvary Christian Church (Operated by the American Red Cross)
126 NE Alberta (MLK & NE Alberta St.)
Opens at 8pm. Space for 60-70 adults via cots/mats in downstairs gym. Pets allowed & some room for carts. Refreshments provided. Transportation is often available from downtown (see below).
Union Gospel Mission
15 NW 3rd (503) 228-0319 Open until at capacity
Space for 50 men and women in separate sleeping areas via blankets on the floor - refreshments provided. Operates from 10pm – 6:00am. Dinner offered at site from 8:00-9:00pm. Service animals allowed, space for carts. Disability accessible location.
DAY SERVICES
Expanded severe weather day shelter may also be available at Portland Rescue Mission or Salvation Army, depending on weather severity and their capacity to offer the service. Please contact sites directly with questions. St. Francis, Julia West/Daywatch, and S.A.F.E. Shelter all operate day service for adults year round. New Avenues For Youth & Outside In offer day services for youth under 21 year round.
TRANSPORTATION:
Yellow Brick Road and Can We Help often provide Severe Weather Transportation in an effort to get as many people indoors as possible. Transportation is generally available during severe weather from 6pm-10pm but always call first to confirm availability!
Dennis Lundberg (503) 789-4011
(Janus Youth Programs/Yellow Brick Road)
Steve Trujillo (503) 933-9418
(Can We Help)
(Janus Youth Programs/Yellow Brick Road)
Steve Trujillo (503) 933-9418
(Can We Help)
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
Re-Imagining Our Youth
“We are what we imagine. Our very existence consists in our imagination of ourselves…The greatest tragedy that can befall us is to go unimagined.”
~ N. Scott Momaday
We had seen her there night after night. You’d probably seen her there yourself. The frail young woman curled up on the sidewalk near Powell’s Books on Burnside with scraped knees pulled tightly against her chest, concealing the early paunch of pregnancy. Choppy bangs hung over her heavy-lidded eyes and she held a small piece of cardboard requesting spare change from anyone who might glance down in her direction. Beneath the dirt she bore a telling scar in the pale fold of her arm. She looked as though she might slip right into the cracks of the pavement and disappear forever, if only it were that easy. Let’s call her “Mary”. That’s how she appeared when our Street Outreach teams first approached her on our nightly rounds of downtown Portland and, crouching down as we have done countless nights before, introduced ourselves: “Hello, we’re Yellow Brick Road, can we help you with anything tonight?”
Like many of the young people we make it our business to meet on the streets, Mary’s clothing was a tattered assemblage of seemingly undecipherable punk rock patches and slogans. It was in that clutter of weather worn patches that we first detected road signs of her painful journey and glimpsed an opportunity to break through the isolation. Contrary to popular misconception, young people are great communicators even if their messages aren’t always easily understood or desirable. Even in silence, young people are incessantly expressing themselves in their own obscure tongues and we adults, us youth advocates, have only to tune in, listen attentively, and learn the language. An experienced and attentive outreach worker can frequently glean more raw data from a young person’s faded patches and “homemade” tattoos than could ever be discerned from a more formal assessment. We just have to learn the language. And to learn the language we have to want to hear what young people are saying. Sometimes we find their hearts are literally sewn onto their sleeves! As our outreach team squatted beside Mary on the sidewalk one evening I made a passing remark about one of the band names emblazed across her skirt and asked if she had recently been out east. For the first time in nearly two months since we first began visiting her regularly at that corner of Burnside & 11th Mary pushed the hair away from her eyes and looked directly into my face. It turns out she’s from Pennsylvania. And even though she refused our assistance yet again that night, I walked away knowing that we had just made an important connection and that her trust in these funny “outreach people” with bags full of “stuff” was growing. The next time we saw Mary she accepted a Q-Tip to clean her ears and mumbled a polite “thanks” under her breathe as we walked away. A week later we met again at a public meal under the Burnside Bridge where she remembered my name and called me over to talk. She still couldn’t quite look me in the eyes but she accepted a clean pair of socks and we had our first conversation that night. When tears came to her eyes I jokingly reminded her, as I often do, that after years of doing this work I no longer take it personally when people cry during our conversations. An unexpected laugh escaped her lips and surprised us both. She finally agreed to visit me at my office later in the week.
I’m not entirely sure how she eventually mustered the courage to walk through the door but the following Wednesday, as she had promised, Mary visited me during our weekly Outreach & Engagement office hours. That afternoon we sat together and discussed her life in great detail. I listened unflinchingly as she explained her childhood, the slow creep toward heroin, and the burned bridges that so often follow in the wake of addiction. She had traveled to Portland with her boyfriend where they had planned to get clean and start a family. Living in a car they conceived a child just days before he was arrested and extradited back east, leaving her strung-out and pregnant on the streets of Portland at the age of 22. It’s no wonder that she was soon plagued with panic attacks and the paralyzing grip of depression. Beyond the long shadow of all those seemingly insurmountable problems I saw, as many of us who choose to work with vulnerable young people do each day, the shining promise of a young woman about to embark on the long journey toward recovery. I think I jokingly suggested, as I often do, that the most “punk” thing she could do was get clean and have a healthy baby. Within hours we were able to determine Mary’s identity and legal history and she was immediately provided a bed at the Janus Youth Crisis Shelter. The following morning she agreed to wake early and catch a bus across the river to a detox center. Suddenly she had options again and together we formulated a strategy to prioritize her needs and begin to unravel the unfortunate circumstances that had so overwhelmed her life.
Since that afternoon Mary and I have met every Wednesday to discuss her progress and plan appointments. We enrolled her in OHP and went together to her first pregnancy exam at the Women’s Wellness Center at OHSU. Soon she received her first ultrasound exams and attended the first of several parenting classes. She began substituting heroin for methadone and regardless of your opinion of methadone it sure beats the dull unending grind of panhandling and copping illegal drugs. We call that “harm reduction” downtown. And what does a recovering addict do to replace the void of that unending grind? Create new rituals of health with yoga classes and other healing arts. With funding Janus Youth Programs recently received from a Hoover Foundation grant we were able to take Mary and others on field trips to unlikely destinations like the Portland Zine Symposium and the Body Worlds exhibit at the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry. Increasingly she joked and told stories and began to simply enjoy her pregnancy. It was clear as she began looking people in the eye that Mary was beginning to envision herself as a competent person and a healthy mother. Shelter access allowed her to regulate her diet and sleeping patterns and take control of her hygiene with showers and laundry. We set her up with her own voicemail message system and she spent hours on our computers and phones looking for apartments and employment. She was never late for a single appointment (ahem...which is more than I can say for myself!). We secured a housing voucher and, after several weeks of hunting for a fair-market apartment suitable for a young mother and newborn baby, Mary moved into her very own studio this past October. Just a few months after meeting Yellow Brick Road on that corner near Powell’s Books Mary was out in the community picking up furniture for her new home. She hasn’t used heroin for almost 4 months. And it’s a girl.
Still Mary’s struggle has only just begun and as we all know, few things in life are certain. Mary has a difficult road ahead as a single mother and recovering addict with very limited work history. It takes time and resources and the support of the entire community to help young people transition from the streets successfully. Mary’s situation is uniquely inspiring in that it all happened so quickly and so smoothly. It often takes much longer and the outcome is not always so optimistic. Which is precisely why I chose to share her story and why I invite you all to share in Mary's success as she embarks on her own courageous path toward wholeness. I know those of you who work with vulnerable young people have met folks similar to "Mary" and you all have stories of your own. I hope this account somehow invigorates your work as we empower young people to re-envision their lives beyond the streets.
~ N. Scott Momaday
We had seen her there night after night. You’d probably seen her there yourself. The frail young woman curled up on the sidewalk near Powell’s Books on Burnside with scraped knees pulled tightly against her chest, concealing the early paunch of pregnancy. Choppy bangs hung over her heavy-lidded eyes and she held a small piece of cardboard requesting spare change from anyone who might glance down in her direction. Beneath the dirt she bore a telling scar in the pale fold of her arm. She looked as though she might slip right into the cracks of the pavement and disappear forever, if only it were that easy. Let’s call her “Mary”. That’s how she appeared when our Street Outreach teams first approached her on our nightly rounds of downtown Portland and, crouching down as we have done countless nights before, introduced ourselves: “Hello, we’re Yellow Brick Road, can we help you with anything tonight?”
Like many of the young people we make it our business to meet on the streets, Mary’s clothing was a tattered assemblage of seemingly undecipherable punk rock patches and slogans. It was in that clutter of weather worn patches that we first detected road signs of her painful journey and glimpsed an opportunity to break through the isolation. Contrary to popular misconception, young people are great communicators even if their messages aren’t always easily understood or desirable. Even in silence, young people are incessantly expressing themselves in their own obscure tongues and we adults, us youth advocates, have only to tune in, listen attentively, and learn the language. An experienced and attentive outreach worker can frequently glean more raw data from a young person’s faded patches and “homemade” tattoos than could ever be discerned from a more formal assessment. We just have to learn the language. And to learn the language we have to want to hear what young people are saying. Sometimes we find their hearts are literally sewn onto their sleeves! As our outreach team squatted beside Mary on the sidewalk one evening I made a passing remark about one of the band names emblazed across her skirt and asked if she had recently been out east. For the first time in nearly two months since we first began visiting her regularly at that corner of Burnside & 11th Mary pushed the hair away from her eyes and looked directly into my face. It turns out she’s from Pennsylvania. And even though she refused our assistance yet again that night, I walked away knowing that we had just made an important connection and that her trust in these funny “outreach people” with bags full of “stuff” was growing. The next time we saw Mary she accepted a Q-Tip to clean her ears and mumbled a polite “thanks” under her breathe as we walked away. A week later we met again at a public meal under the Burnside Bridge where she remembered my name and called me over to talk. She still couldn’t quite look me in the eyes but she accepted a clean pair of socks and we had our first conversation that night. When tears came to her eyes I jokingly reminded her, as I often do, that after years of doing this work I no longer take it personally when people cry during our conversations. An unexpected laugh escaped her lips and surprised us both. She finally agreed to visit me at my office later in the week.
I’m not entirely sure how she eventually mustered the courage to walk through the door but the following Wednesday, as she had promised, Mary visited me during our weekly Outreach & Engagement office hours. That afternoon we sat together and discussed her life in great detail. I listened unflinchingly as she explained her childhood, the slow creep toward heroin, and the burned bridges that so often follow in the wake of addiction. She had traveled to Portland with her boyfriend where they had planned to get clean and start a family. Living in a car they conceived a child just days before he was arrested and extradited back east, leaving her strung-out and pregnant on the streets of Portland at the age of 22. It’s no wonder that she was soon plagued with panic attacks and the paralyzing grip of depression. Beyond the long shadow of all those seemingly insurmountable problems I saw, as many of us who choose to work with vulnerable young people do each day, the shining promise of a young woman about to embark on the long journey toward recovery. I think I jokingly suggested, as I often do, that the most “punk” thing she could do was get clean and have a healthy baby. Within hours we were able to determine Mary’s identity and legal history and she was immediately provided a bed at the Janus Youth Crisis Shelter. The following morning she agreed to wake early and catch a bus across the river to a detox center. Suddenly she had options again and together we formulated a strategy to prioritize her needs and begin to unravel the unfortunate circumstances that had so overwhelmed her life.
Since that afternoon Mary and I have met every Wednesday to discuss her progress and plan appointments. We enrolled her in OHP and went together to her first pregnancy exam at the Women’s Wellness Center at OHSU. Soon she received her first ultrasound exams and attended the first of several parenting classes. She began substituting heroin for methadone and regardless of your opinion of methadone it sure beats the dull unending grind of panhandling and copping illegal drugs. We call that “harm reduction” downtown. And what does a recovering addict do to replace the void of that unending grind? Create new rituals of health with yoga classes and other healing arts. With funding Janus Youth Programs recently received from a Hoover Foundation grant we were able to take Mary and others on field trips to unlikely destinations like the Portland Zine Symposium and the Body Worlds exhibit at the Oregon Museum of Science & Industry. Increasingly she joked and told stories and began to simply enjoy her pregnancy. It was clear as she began looking people in the eye that Mary was beginning to envision herself as a competent person and a healthy mother. Shelter access allowed her to regulate her diet and sleeping patterns and take control of her hygiene with showers and laundry. We set her up with her own voicemail message system and she spent hours on our computers and phones looking for apartments and employment. She was never late for a single appointment (ahem...which is more than I can say for myself!). We secured a housing voucher and, after several weeks of hunting for a fair-market apartment suitable for a young mother and newborn baby, Mary moved into her very own studio this past October. Just a few months after meeting Yellow Brick Road on that corner near Powell’s Books Mary was out in the community picking up furniture for her new home. She hasn’t used heroin for almost 4 months. And it’s a girl.
Still Mary’s struggle has only just begun and as we all know, few things in life are certain. Mary has a difficult road ahead as a single mother and recovering addict with very limited work history. It takes time and resources and the support of the entire community to help young people transition from the streets successfully. Mary’s situation is uniquely inspiring in that it all happened so quickly and so smoothly. It often takes much longer and the outcome is not always so optimistic. Which is precisely why I chose to share her story and why I invite you all to share in Mary's success as she embarks on her own courageous path toward wholeness. I know those of you who work with vulnerable young people have met folks similar to "Mary" and you all have stories of your own. I hope this account somehow invigorates your work as we empower young people to re-envision their lives beyond the streets.
Dennis Lundberg
Yellow Brick Road
November 2007
Yellow Brick Road
November 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
Potluck-in-the-Park Homeless Resource Fair 2007
Once again Yellow Brick Road represented Homeless Youth Services at Potluck-in-the-Park's 16th annual BBQ and Resource Faire this Sunday September 16th. The event took place at Portland State University and, at last count, more than 950 guests were served. This marks the biggest Resource Faire ever! Yellow Brick Road provided stationary outreach to dozens of homeless and high-risk young people (including their older friends), providing much needed first-aid & hygiene supplies as well as direct referrals to services such as emergency shelter. We even had unexpected help at our table from some young volunteers...
Thanks to Peggy Reuler, Dave Utzinger, all the volunteers, and everyone who came out for making this amazing event such a success.
See you next year!
Friday, September 07, 2007
Yellow Brick Road Volunteer Training
You are invited to attend our upcoming
YELLOW BRICK ROAD VOLUNTEER TRAINING
WHEN: SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23rd (2-5pm)
WHERE: Please R.S.V.P. for location: dlundberg@janusyouth.org
YELLOW BRICK ROAD VOLUNTEER TRAINING
WHEN: SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 23rd (2-5pm)
WHERE: Please R.S.V.P. for location: dlundberg@janusyouth.org
This training is FREE and open to anyone interested in learning more about our street outreach program. We will really focus on resources & referrals for outreach in Portland, Oregon. We hope to explain and demystify some of the most critical agencies & resources in town and how to navigate appropriate referrals on outreach. We’ll also discuss the recent Sit/Lie Ordinance and how it might impact young people on the streets. This is a great opportunity to meet our current team of volunteers and learn more about Portland's longest running volunteer-based street outreach program! Applications will be available after the training.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
HOMELESS WOMEN'S SELF-DEFENSE TRAINING!
Yellow Brick Road & Portland Outreach & Engagement are hosting a Women's Self Defense Training this Wednesday SEPTEMBER 5th at 1pm.
This is a great workshop that will focus on self-empowerment and how to reclaim your voice and personal space as a woman (on the streets and beyond). It is FREE and available to all self-identified homeless women UNDER 25. We hope to see you there!
Wednesday September 5th
1pm
1635 SW Alder St.
(Burnside & 17th)
(503) 789-4011
1pm
1635 SW Alder St.
(Burnside & 17th)
(503) 789-4011
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Food Front Supports YBR!
Yellow Brick Road is now participating in Food Front's generous Bean Bag program! Food Front is one of Portland's longest-running cooperatively owned grocery stores and their Bean Bag program allows customers to donate 5 cents to various local non-profit organizations every time they shop with their own bags. Next time you shop at Food Front, we hope you'll bring your own recycled shopping bag and consider donating 5 cents to Yellow Brick Road. Those nickels really add up and make a difference!
Monday, July 16, 2007
WE'VE GOT A BRAND NEW BAG!
Yellow Brick Road is proud to launch our new (and very much improved) outreach bags for 2007! These new bags greatly enhance the safety and visibility of our outreach volunteers and are much more noticable for folks seeking our services on the streets. As if that weren't exciting enough, the bags were made possible by a generous donation from our friends at Timbuk 2! We also wish to thank Bob Sanders at River City Clothing for customizing our bags! On behalf of everyone at Janus Youth Programs, we thank Timbuk 2 and River City Clothing for their support of our mission to end youth homelessness.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
PROJECT HOMELESS CONNECT
Project Homeless Connect is a collaboration of agencies, social services, and the Portland community at large coming together to meet each other and help solve issues of homlessness. Please spread the word about this amazing event and if you wish to get involved as a volunteer you can find more information here.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
OUT OF THE SHADOWS
OUT OF THE SHADOWS:
Service providers discuss ways to improve outreach to sex workers
by Joanne Zuhl, Street Roots Contributing Writer
Service providers discuss ways to improve outreach to sex workers
by Joanne Zuhl, Street Roots Contributing Writer
Leslie Bull: Poet, performance artist, filmmaker, graduate student, sex worker. No, not sex worker - ho. Career ho. Successful ho, and one outspoken activist of a ho.
"I never really got out, things just changed," said Bull. "I started trading sex for drugs at age 15. At 20, I turned my first trick for money. I was off drugs at the time and hooked up with an old-school pimp who taught me the basics of the trade. I looked really young and fresh. I worked bars, escort services, and the street. Sometimes I made a lot of money, up to $500 per date.
"I kept working (hoing), mostly alone but sometimes with a pimp, off and on for the next 12 years. I did it all, from high-class call girl to homeless junkie ho, and lots in between. My longest time homeless and working the street was three years. I left the streets at age 32, got my G.E.D., and ended up graduating from PSU. All through college I wrote about being a street ho. I ended up getting my work published by Emi Koyama (www.eminism.org), making a video with Penny Arcade and Ariel Lighteningchild titled, "on being a junkie ho in sex worker world," and performing on two national tours with the "Sex Worker Art Show." For me, along with being employment, hoing is a state of mind I don't feel I will ever leave, or ever want to."
Bull is now lending her experience and advocacy to the Sex Worker Outreach Coalition, a new network of advocates using a harm-reduction model to improve the lives of people in all aspects of the sex industry, formal or otherwise.
Still in its formative stages, the Sex Worker Outreach Coalition's mission is not one of salvation but of service, making sure needs are met without the social prejudices and preaching that can keep sex workers from seeking assistance with such matters as health care or escaping violence.
For Bull, the importance of this coalition can be summed up simply: "To stop the hate."
To date, the coalition boasts members from the Portland Women's Crisis Line, Legal Aid of Portland, Cascade AIDS Project, YWCA of Clark County, Outside In and the Bad Dateline, among other affiliations.
"What we've seen over the years is that there just isn't much in the way of direct programming available to commercial sex workers," said Wayne Centrone, medical director of the Outreach Program for Outside In. "What little programming is available seems to be incongruent. It's not connected and there's no one agency that acts as a bridge building between all of the other agencies."
Liberating Ourselves Through Understanding Sexploitation, or LOTUS, has come and gone, as has Danzine, both groups that worked on behalf of people in the sex trades to access services. The Lola Green Baldwin Foundation is one of the only programs in Portland specifically serving people in the industry, however, it is not a member of the coalition at this time.
For the past year, Outside In has conducted a pilot project with Cascades AIDS Project to deliver health care and other services directly to the hardest to reach populations. The organizations staff a 38-foot mobile van along 82nd Avenue, complete with a physician, medical assistant, social workers, syringe exchange services, and a pharmacy. Clients to the van include sex workers who prostitute along the 82nd Avenue corridor.
"They've been ostracized by society," Centrone said. "We don't' really know what to do with them. It's a criminal activity, so you can't walk into an emergency department and say, 'I'm a sex worker.'"
According to Centrone, workers with this pilot project found overwhelmingly that clients seeking services are looking to make a change in their lives but lack the personal advocacy skills to do it on their own.
As the coalition develops, members hope to incorporate the involvement of people in the industry to identify and address the needs of sex workers from all walks of life.
"Our objective is to find out what the needs of the community are and to let them know we're here should there be any experience of domestic assault or violence," said Melissa, an advocate for victims of sexual assault and outreach worker with the Portland Women's Crisis Line. (Given the nature of her outreach, Melissa did not want her last name used, to protect her safety.) "It's becoming more and more apparent to us that using a harm-reduction philosophy is going to be the best way to make sure that everybody out there is getting services they deserve."
The Portland Women's Crisis Line began as a rape hotline back in 1973, but found it was receiving as many calls related to domestic violence. In 1975, the organization adopted a new mission to serve women and children who were victims of domestic and/or sexual violence and/or sexual violence. The organization also provides direct services to people engaged in, or affected by the commercial sex industry.
The sex industry runs the gamut of occupations and activities, Melissa said, spanning legal striptease acts in a club, to prostitution, escort services and "lingerie modeling." It also includes survival trade, the trading of sexual services for basic needs, such as food and shelter, or alcohol or drugs.
"It's a population that has been historically really marginalized and felt excluded from a lot of those services that are out there," Melissa said. "There is just a history of feeling judged. There are some programs out there that would not be able to continue to support someone in the sex industry if they found out that that is how they support themselves."
That stigma has become a deterrent to seeking assistance, Melissa said.
"What I see is that that is just reducing the chances that people who really need services are going to get them," Melissa said. "Everybody deserves to have the same things available to them, regardless of what their choice in profession is, or what they're life circumstances are."
Melissa emphasizes that experiences in the sex industry are different for everyone. Sex work has become synonymous with abuse and violence, and that has established a sweeping victimization of people in the industry, whether or not it applies to every individual. The violence is absolutely real, she says, and sex industry workers are at a higher risk, but the combined identity of sex worker and victim is pushing people underground and away from the services that can help them.
Bull says she wasn't victimized by prostitution, "I was victimized by rapists, beaters, haters, momos, thieves, and cops, but not by hoing."
Bull said she reserved a special animosity for tricks that wanted to "save" her, and ran from the do-gooders trying to put her out of business.
"As for the do-gooders, they might as well be the police," Bull said. "I wanted nothing to do with them, as their goal was to shame me and starve me out in the name of making me "good." I was "good" if I worked at Wal-Mart or scrubbed floors for minimum wage, but "bad" if I sold sexual favors for 10 times the money. My "badness" could only be cured by the do-gooders and the dreary, menial-labor poverty they wanted to make of my life."
Leslie Peterson, primary trainer for the Portland Bad Date Line, says the industry is driven more by economics and social issues than sex. The Bad Date Line collects reports on violent customers in the sex industry and distributes them in a monthly publication to raise awareness among workers.
"The Sex Worker Outreach Coalition is forming as we speak, so what its goals are and what it's going to accomplish are still unfolding," said Peterson. "I think that having different service agencies being able to communicate and share and build something together is going to really help respond to people's needs. People who are doing this activity are misunderstood, and I think it's going to be helpful for different reasons, to help us better understand how to serve people doing these activities."
Today, the oldest profession is changing with the newest technology. Street walkers who used to advertise and make connections on the streets are now able to line up a week's worth of work by cell phone and Internet. From an outreach worker's perspective, this affordable, ubiquitous technology has actually further isolated the most at-risk workers in the industry.
"You can hop from cab to cab and never be seen by an outreach worker," said Dennis Lundberg, program supervisor of the Yellow Brick Road street outreach program, a project of Janus Youth Programs. "Arranging this work through technology, you're just as vulnerable, but you're now isolated from people and agencies that might be there to serve you."
Lundberg works with homeless youths and people on the streets who are youth-identified, up to 27 years old. Most of the youths are in denial about their work, and many are using drugs to deal with it. As a result, the risk for getting hepatitis, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections runs high. Here again, however, the stigma surrounding their activities prevents many from seeking help on their own.
Lundberg, who attended the initial meeting of the coalition, said he would like to see sex workers involved in setting the agenda.
"I think nobody really understands the needs of sex workers like sex workers," Lundberg said. "There needs to be a place where their voices can be heard, where they can be part of an ongoing dialogue. There really needs to be a safe forum for that dialogue, so that they're not busted every time they speak out."
In the absence of an effective advocacy on behalf of sex workers, the city has followed a misdirected course of penalizing behavior, according to Centrone.
"Creating drug-free zones and prostitution-free zones allows us to not look at them as people," Centrone said. "And the lack of advocacy allows these things to happen. There wasn't anyone continuously monitoring the radar screens. Criminalizing behavior only creates criminals. These are people who deserve just as much an opportunity to gain the skills and create the life they want as any one of us do."
In the end, the problem isn't sex workers, Centrone said. The problem is poverty, exploitation, poorly funded and poorly staffed mental health services, a lack of access to alcohol- and drug-treatment programs, and limited resources to meet the needs of people.
"When a person finds them self on the street, they didn't just wake up and say I'm going to walk downtown and be a sex worker. It's a series of events. When we criminalize something, we negate that series. Life's not an event, it's a process, and little steps in that process are often the key."
Believing that trading sex for money is harmful to women is a morality issue, Bull says, and if someone thinks prostitution is wrong for religious or other reasons, they shouldn't participate. But when people blame prostitution for rape and the mistreatment of women they let the real perpetrators off the hook, she says.
"And if prostitutes are raped more often than other groups of workers, doesn't it stem from the hate; i.e., people believing deep down that prostitution, and by association prostitutes themselves, are wrong, shameful, harmful, and so on, even when this belief takes on a very "liberal" or "progressive" tone. These attitudes end up giving the rapos permission to rape, beaters a reason to beat, the cops a license to brutalize and harass, and the people a justification to turn their eyes from the violence.
"The current environment in amerikkka for prostitutes leads to the creation of Green River killers, forced labor, high-risk working conditions, self-hatred, broken families, legal persecution, etc. When women are made to believe hateful things about themselves, it makes them easy prey for abuse. Prostitution does not cause this abuse; abusers do! In order to help we must first recognize what we've been taught about prostitution and why. Who does the hate serve, who benefits, who loses?"
"I never really got out, things just changed," said Bull. "I started trading sex for drugs at age 15. At 20, I turned my first trick for money. I was off drugs at the time and hooked up with an old-school pimp who taught me the basics of the trade. I looked really young and fresh. I worked bars, escort services, and the street. Sometimes I made a lot of money, up to $500 per date.
"I kept working (hoing), mostly alone but sometimes with a pimp, off and on for the next 12 years. I did it all, from high-class call girl to homeless junkie ho, and lots in between. My longest time homeless and working the street was three years. I left the streets at age 32, got my G.E.D., and ended up graduating from PSU. All through college I wrote about being a street ho. I ended up getting my work published by Emi Koyama (www.eminism.org), making a video with Penny Arcade and Ariel Lighteningchild titled, "on being a junkie ho in sex worker world," and performing on two national tours with the "Sex Worker Art Show." For me, along with being employment, hoing is a state of mind I don't feel I will ever leave, or ever want to."
Bull is now lending her experience and advocacy to the Sex Worker Outreach Coalition, a new network of advocates using a harm-reduction model to improve the lives of people in all aspects of the sex industry, formal or otherwise.
Still in its formative stages, the Sex Worker Outreach Coalition's mission is not one of salvation but of service, making sure needs are met without the social prejudices and preaching that can keep sex workers from seeking assistance with such matters as health care or escaping violence.
For Bull, the importance of this coalition can be summed up simply: "To stop the hate."
To date, the coalition boasts members from the Portland Women's Crisis Line, Legal Aid of Portland, Cascade AIDS Project, YWCA of Clark County, Outside In and the Bad Dateline, among other affiliations.
"What we've seen over the years is that there just isn't much in the way of direct programming available to commercial sex workers," said Wayne Centrone, medical director of the Outreach Program for Outside In. "What little programming is available seems to be incongruent. It's not connected and there's no one agency that acts as a bridge building between all of the other agencies."
Liberating Ourselves Through Understanding Sexploitation, or LOTUS, has come and gone, as has Danzine, both groups that worked on behalf of people in the sex trades to access services. The Lola Green Baldwin Foundation is one of the only programs in Portland specifically serving people in the industry, however, it is not a member of the coalition at this time.
For the past year, Outside In has conducted a pilot project with Cascades AIDS Project to deliver health care and other services directly to the hardest to reach populations. The organizations staff a 38-foot mobile van along 82nd Avenue, complete with a physician, medical assistant, social workers, syringe exchange services, and a pharmacy. Clients to the van include sex workers who prostitute along the 82nd Avenue corridor.
"They've been ostracized by society," Centrone said. "We don't' really know what to do with them. It's a criminal activity, so you can't walk into an emergency department and say, 'I'm a sex worker.'"
According to Centrone, workers with this pilot project found overwhelmingly that clients seeking services are looking to make a change in their lives but lack the personal advocacy skills to do it on their own.
As the coalition develops, members hope to incorporate the involvement of people in the industry to identify and address the needs of sex workers from all walks of life.
"Our objective is to find out what the needs of the community are and to let them know we're here should there be any experience of domestic assault or violence," said Melissa, an advocate for victims of sexual assault and outreach worker with the Portland Women's Crisis Line. (Given the nature of her outreach, Melissa did not want her last name used, to protect her safety.) "It's becoming more and more apparent to us that using a harm-reduction philosophy is going to be the best way to make sure that everybody out there is getting services they deserve."
The Portland Women's Crisis Line began as a rape hotline back in 1973, but found it was receiving as many calls related to domestic violence. In 1975, the organization adopted a new mission to serve women and children who were victims of domestic and/or sexual violence and/or sexual violence. The organization also provides direct services to people engaged in, or affected by the commercial sex industry.
The sex industry runs the gamut of occupations and activities, Melissa said, spanning legal striptease acts in a club, to prostitution, escort services and "lingerie modeling." It also includes survival trade, the trading of sexual services for basic needs, such as food and shelter, or alcohol or drugs.
"It's a population that has been historically really marginalized and felt excluded from a lot of those services that are out there," Melissa said. "There is just a history of feeling judged. There are some programs out there that would not be able to continue to support someone in the sex industry if they found out that that is how they support themselves."
That stigma has become a deterrent to seeking assistance, Melissa said.
"What I see is that that is just reducing the chances that people who really need services are going to get them," Melissa said. "Everybody deserves to have the same things available to them, regardless of what their choice in profession is, or what they're life circumstances are."
Melissa emphasizes that experiences in the sex industry are different for everyone. Sex work has become synonymous with abuse and violence, and that has established a sweeping victimization of people in the industry, whether or not it applies to every individual. The violence is absolutely real, she says, and sex industry workers are at a higher risk, but the combined identity of sex worker and victim is pushing people underground and away from the services that can help them.
Bull says she wasn't victimized by prostitution, "I was victimized by rapists, beaters, haters, momos, thieves, and cops, but not by hoing."
Bull said she reserved a special animosity for tricks that wanted to "save" her, and ran from the do-gooders trying to put her out of business.
"As for the do-gooders, they might as well be the police," Bull said. "I wanted nothing to do with them, as their goal was to shame me and starve me out in the name of making me "good." I was "good" if I worked at Wal-Mart or scrubbed floors for minimum wage, but "bad" if I sold sexual favors for 10 times the money. My "badness" could only be cured by the do-gooders and the dreary, menial-labor poverty they wanted to make of my life."
Leslie Peterson, primary trainer for the Portland Bad Date Line, says the industry is driven more by economics and social issues than sex. The Bad Date Line collects reports on violent customers in the sex industry and distributes them in a monthly publication to raise awareness among workers.
"The Sex Worker Outreach Coalition is forming as we speak, so what its goals are and what it's going to accomplish are still unfolding," said Peterson. "I think that having different service agencies being able to communicate and share and build something together is going to really help respond to people's needs. People who are doing this activity are misunderstood, and I think it's going to be helpful for different reasons, to help us better understand how to serve people doing these activities."
Today, the oldest profession is changing with the newest technology. Street walkers who used to advertise and make connections on the streets are now able to line up a week's worth of work by cell phone and Internet. From an outreach worker's perspective, this affordable, ubiquitous technology has actually further isolated the most at-risk workers in the industry.
"You can hop from cab to cab and never be seen by an outreach worker," said Dennis Lundberg, program supervisor of the Yellow Brick Road street outreach program, a project of Janus Youth Programs. "Arranging this work through technology, you're just as vulnerable, but you're now isolated from people and agencies that might be there to serve you."
Lundberg works with homeless youths and people on the streets who are youth-identified, up to 27 years old. Most of the youths are in denial about their work, and many are using drugs to deal with it. As a result, the risk for getting hepatitis, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections runs high. Here again, however, the stigma surrounding their activities prevents many from seeking help on their own.
Lundberg, who attended the initial meeting of the coalition, said he would like to see sex workers involved in setting the agenda.
"I think nobody really understands the needs of sex workers like sex workers," Lundberg said. "There needs to be a place where their voices can be heard, where they can be part of an ongoing dialogue. There really needs to be a safe forum for that dialogue, so that they're not busted every time they speak out."
In the absence of an effective advocacy on behalf of sex workers, the city has followed a misdirected course of penalizing behavior, according to Centrone.
"Creating drug-free zones and prostitution-free zones allows us to not look at them as people," Centrone said. "And the lack of advocacy allows these things to happen. There wasn't anyone continuously monitoring the radar screens. Criminalizing behavior only creates criminals. These are people who deserve just as much an opportunity to gain the skills and create the life they want as any one of us do."
In the end, the problem isn't sex workers, Centrone said. The problem is poverty, exploitation, poorly funded and poorly staffed mental health services, a lack of access to alcohol- and drug-treatment programs, and limited resources to meet the needs of people.
"When a person finds them self on the street, they didn't just wake up and say I'm going to walk downtown and be a sex worker. It's a series of events. When we criminalize something, we negate that series. Life's not an event, it's a process, and little steps in that process are often the key."
Believing that trading sex for money is harmful to women is a morality issue, Bull says, and if someone thinks prostitution is wrong for religious or other reasons, they shouldn't participate. But when people blame prostitution for rape and the mistreatment of women they let the real perpetrators off the hook, she says.
"And if prostitutes are raped more often than other groups of workers, doesn't it stem from the hate; i.e., people believing deep down that prostitution, and by association prostitutes themselves, are wrong, shameful, harmful, and so on, even when this belief takes on a very "liberal" or "progressive" tone. These attitudes end up giving the rapos permission to rape, beaters a reason to beat, the cops a license to brutalize and harass, and the people a justification to turn their eyes from the violence.
"The current environment in amerikkka for prostitutes leads to the creation of Green River killers, forced labor, high-risk working conditions, self-hatred, broken families, legal persecution, etc. When women are made to believe hateful things about themselves, it makes them easy prey for abuse. Prostitution does not cause this abuse; abusers do! In order to help we must first recognize what we've been taught about prostitution and why. Who does the hate serve, who benefits, who loses?"
This article originally appeared in Street Roots April 1, 2006
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
OPEN HOUSE!
Janus Youth Programs is proud to announce the GRAND OPENING of our NEW DOWNTOWN LOCATION! Please join us for a ribbon-cutting ceremony and tour of our Homeless Youth Shelters, Street Outreach programs, and Access Center. For additional information contact us online at:
www.janusyouth.org
OPEN HOUSE
Thursday May 17th
5pm-7pm
1635 SW Alder Street
Downtown Portland
OPEN HOUSE
Thursday May 17th
5pm-7pm
1635 SW Alder Street
Downtown Portland
Friday, April 27, 2007
Yellow Brick Road Training This Sunday!
Yellow Brick Road Street Outreach would like to invite you to our upcoming Volunteer Training this
Sunday April 29th 2pm-5pm.
This training is free and open to all in the community!
Come learn more about us on Sunday April 29th 2pm-5pm.
Please RSVP for location at dlundberg@janusyouth.org
Sunday April 29th 2pm-5pm.
This training is free and open to all in the community!
Come learn more about us on Sunday April 29th 2pm-5pm.
Please RSVP for location at dlundberg@janusyouth.org
Monday, February 05, 2007
STREET COUNT 2007
Janus Youth Programs partnered with other local agencies again this year to conduct Multnomah County's 2007 Street Count. The Street Count collects critical and confidential data about people living on the streets, in abandoned buildings, in vehicles, urban camps, and doorways. The information we collect provides the most accurate approximate number of people living outdoors in our area and enables service providers and funders to meet the needs of these people more effectively. Outreach Specialists and trained volunteers with Yellow Brick Road and PDX-O&E were out in the field night and day surveying people experiencing homelessness where they live.
We invite you to take a photo-tour of some of the sites and locations we visited while conducting the 2007 Street Count.
We invite you to take a photo-tour of some of the sites and locations we visited while conducting the 2007 Street Count.
HOMES UNDER BRIDGES
The following photos were taken with kind permission from people who live there, with the understanding that Janus Youth outreach workers would not disclose exact locations or identities. It is generally disrespectful and unsafe to photograph camps without prior relationships and permission. These photos represent various areas throughout Multnomah County.
HOMES IN THE WOODS
The following photos were taken with kind permission from people who live there, with the understanding that Janus Youth outreach workers would not disclose exact locations or identities. It is generally disrespectful and unsafe to photograph camps without prior relationships and permission. These photos represent various areas throughout Multnomah County.
Into the woods...
Abandoned sheds.
"C's" home.
The "compound"- home of some of the friendliest folks we've met.
Kitchen at the "compound".
"Angel"
The gym.
An Outreach Specialist at work...
Urban camping.
Nighfall in the woods.
HOMES NEAR RIVERS
The following photos were taken with kind permission from people who live there, with the understanding that Janus Youth outreach workers would not disclose exact locations or identities. It is generally disrespectful and unsafe to photograph camps without prior relationships and permission. These photos represent various areas throughout Multnomah County.
The tracks wind their way toward the river and we follow...
passing abandoned camps...
until we find occupied tents.
"T" invites us into his river-front home for a visit.
"T's" kitchen.
An unexpected splash of color.
"TRAMPS MUST DIE"
We were about to call it quits for the night when we noticed this freshly scrawled warning in the dirt.
We were about to call it quits for the night when we noticed this freshly scrawled warning in the dirt.
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