YBR BENEFIT!

The leaves are falling and the smell of woodsmoke is in the air. Autumn is well upon us and winter is soon on the way. For people living outdoors this means it's time to hunker down and try to stay warm with sparse possessions. And YOU can help! Our friends at New Seasons have organized a night of special entertainment to raise awareness of homelessness & poverty in the community. The event takes place Saturday November 7th at Liberty Hall (near Emmanual Hospital in North Portland) and they're asking everyone to bring warm gear to be distributed to the homeless by Yellow Brick Road Street Outreach Teams. We are in need of warm hats, gloves, scarves, and wool socks to help clothe the homeless this cold season. Adult sizes and dark colors are preferred. We invite you to join us for this great event and enjoy the mind-expanding sounds of El and special guests! You can make a difference in the lives of people living outdoors this winter.

Saturday November 7
6pm
Liberty Hall
311 N. Ivy St.

Bring warm hats & gloves for the homeless!

Animal Health Clinic!

Mark your calendars! On Sunday October 18th from 1pm-4pm, the great folks at Portland Animal Welfare will be providing their next Animal Health Clinic for animals living with people experiencing or transitioning from homelessness. Services provided include basic exams, vaccinations, de-worming and flea treatment. This event is first-come-first-served and will take place at Outside In's Tattoo Removal Clinic located at 311 NW Broadway.

P.A.W. Animal Health Clinic
Sunday October 18th
1pm-4pm
311 NW Broadway

ANOTHER AWESOME YBR EVENT THIS FRIDAY!

The Portland Artist Network is proud to present a sock and hygiene supply drive in celebration of Yellow Brick Road’s 25th anniversary! Please join us THIS FRIDAY August 21 at the Ella Street Social Club for what promises to be a very fun evening featuring MC Jeffrey Darling of Sissy Boy, music by The Juan Prophet Organization and DJ Manic, visual art by Petr and Rose Sorfa, spoken word performances by Tommy Gaffney and Davey Mac, film by Alchemystical Workshop and "Random Wonderfulness" with deaf interpretation provided by DHOR through Equal Access ASL. This event also celebrates the 4th anniversary of Portland's Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a 501(C)3 public charitable organization dedicated to the support, education, and development of the GLBT community.

Friday August 21
8pm
Ella Street Social Club (714 SW 20th Place)

$8 at the door or
$5 for those who bring donations for Yellow Brick Road!

YBR event at Holocene THIS WEDNESDAY!

We cordially invite you to attend what promises to be a very exciting evening at Holocene this Wednesday, August 12! Local musician (and all around nice guy) Brian Mumford is guest curating a wonderful muti-media gathering with all proceeds going directly to Yellow Brick Road in honor of our 25 years of service to homeless youth here in Portland! There will be visual art, music, local crafts, independent record labels, and Yellow Brick Road will even be on hand with outreach bags at the ready! Please come by and say, "Hello" this Wednesday at Holocene.

Wednesday August 12
Holocene
1001 SE Morrison
7pm
$6
(all proceeds go to Yellow Brick Road!)

YBR TRAINING OPPORTUNITY!

FREE TRAINING!
Sunday August 23
2pm-5pm

ASSERTIVE ENGAGEMENT! It is my pleasure to welcome Yellow Brick Road founder and Homeless Youth Continuum training consultant Jerry Fest back to YBR for a special Summer Training. Jerry has been instrumental in launching a recent redesign of Portland's Homeless Youth Continuum and he will join us on August 23rd to explain the new conceptual framework for the Assertive Engagement model. Janus Youth Programs and our partners in the Homeless Youth Continuum are the first interagency youth system in the nation to provide this progressive approach to working with street-dependent youth so this is a very exciting time for all of us. Vegetarian food & coffee will be provided!

Please R.S.V.P. for location at dlundberg@janusyouth.org

YBR CELEBRATES 25 YEARS OF STREET OUTREACH!

That's right! August 2009 heralds the Silver Anniversary for Yellow Brick Road, one of the first volunteer-based street outreach programs in the nation! This is a very exciting time for all of us at Janus Youth Programs and we invite YOU to join us in celebrating 25 years of service to Portland’s street-dependent youth & young adults. Since our inception in 1984 Yellow Brick Road has provided eye-to-eye advocacy to young people experiencing homelessness every night of the year. Our trained volunteer teams are on the streets of downtown Portland every night from 5pm until 10pm bringing critical information, service referrals, and crisis intervention directly to homeless youth. Our teams distribute basic medical and hygiene supplies in an effort to reduce harm and engage young people in their own recovery and transition. As the “frontline” for the Homeless Youth Continuum, Yellow Brick Road often serves as the first point-of-contact for runaways and street entrenched youth. Our outreach teams also work to end sexual exploitation of young people by developing consistent supportive relationships on the streets, building trust between service providers and youth. And we need your help!

Every year Yellow Brick Road distributes an average of 2,500 pairs of socks, 8,000 band aids, 10,000 Q-tips, 1,000 toothbrushes, 1,000 travel-size tubes of toothpaste, 200 rolls of dental floss, 3,000 safety pins, 1,000 travel-size deodorants, 2,500 packs of triple antibiotic ointment, 4,000 wound wipes, 300 stretch gauze bandages, and hundreds of other essential items such as warm hats & gloves and sunscreen. Students, churches, small business owners, musicians and artists all across Portland have devoted their time and energy to raising awareness as well as supplies that will be distributed directly to the young people in our community who need them most. Anyone can organize a sock drive or hygiene supply drive. It’s easy and fun! And we'd be glad to help you get started. We are also available to come out and speak to your agency or organziation about youth homelessness and how Janus Youth Programs is working every day of the year to improve the lives of young people. Keep watching this blog in the coming weeks for upcoming trainings, benefit events and YBR birthday celebrations! And thank you for your continued support!
All the best,
~Dennis

Dennis Lundberg
Associate Director/Willamette BRIDGE Programs
Janus Youth Programs
dlundberg@janusyouth.org

Notable Survivors

Here is a fascinating (and by no means complete) list of famous survivors of child abuse, sexual abuse, spousal/dating abuse, and rape taken from the abuse resource site As Waters Passing By.

Alexander Pushkin (poet) abuse, info courtesy of AEST
Alice Walker (author/activist) abuse
Andrea Dworkin (author/activist) rape
Angela Rose (activist) sexual assault (visit Angela's site here )
Angela Shelton (actress/model/director/actvist) incest
Angie Dickenson (actress, etc) emotional abuse
Anne Heche (actress) incest
Anne Sexton (poet) child sexual abuse, info courteousy of AEST
Antwone Fisher (author) emotional abuse/child sexual abuse
Axl Rose (musician) child sexual abuse (according to IMDB.com)
Baby Lyssa Chapman (famous bounty hunter/daughter of Dog) statutory rape
Beethoven (composer) unspecified child abuse
Beth Chapman (famous bail bondswoman/wife of Dog) domestic violence
Bill Clinton (former U.S. President) secondary domestic violence
Billie Holliday (singer) childhood rape
Billy Connoly (comedian) incest
Brett Butler (actress) domestic violence
Carlos Santana (musician) child sexual abuse
Carrie Otis (model) rape
Chester Bennington (musician) child sexual abuse
Christina Aguilera (singer) unspecified child abuse/secondary domestic violence
Christina Applegate (actress) dating violence
Christina Crawford (author) emotional abuse
Cindy Williams (actress) emotional abuse
Clara Bow (actress) incest
Connie Francis (singer) rape
Dave Mustaine (musician) child physical abuse/secondary domestic violence
Dave Pelzer (author) multiple forms of abuse
Derek Luke (actor) child sexual abuse
Desi Arnaz, Jr. (actor) emotional abuse
Dog the Bounty Hunter (famous bounty hunter/reality TV stars) child physical abuse
Dorie VanStone (author) multiple forms of abuse
Drew Barrymore (actress) unspecified child abuse
Eleanor Roosevelt (former First Lady) unspecified child abuse
Elizabeth I (Queen of England) teenage sexual assault, info courteousy of AEST
Elizabeth Barrett Browning (poet) abuse, info courteousy of AEST
Elizabeth Loftus (psychologist) child sexual abuse
Ella Fitzgerald (singer) abuse
Emme (model) emotional abuse
Erin Gray (actress) unspecified child abuse
Eve Ensler (playwright/actress) incest
Fantasia (singer) teenage rape
Farrah Faucett (actress) domestic violence
Fiona Apple (musician) childhood rape
Florence Holway (artist/activist) rape
Fran Drescher (actress) rape
Gabrielle Union (actress) rape
Gavin DeBecker (violent crime expert) psychological abuse
George Orwell (author) unspecified child abuse
Greg Luganis (athlete) abuse
Halle Berry (actress, model) domestic violence
Henry Miller (writer) abuse, info courtesy of AEST
Henry Rollins (musician) child sexual abuse
Janice Dickenson (model) child physical & emotional abuse
Janice Mirikitani (poet) incest, Janice's story is featured on a DVD sold at RAINN's site
Johannes Brahms (composer) child sexual abuse, info courteousy of AEST
Jonathan Davis (musician) child sexual abuse
Joyce Meyer (evangelist, author) child physical abuse & incest
Kirk Hammett (musician) child physical & sexual abuse
Laveraneus Coles (athlete) child sexual abuse
Leslie Triber (author/poet) abuse
Lorena Bobbit - marital rape
Lynn C. Tolson (author) incest/domestic violence/sexual assault
Marie Waldrep (poet/activist) incest/domestic violence
Marilyn Manson (musician) child sexual abuse
Marilyn Monroe (actress) child physical & sexual abuse/childhood attempted rape (according to IMDB.com)/domestic violence
Marilyn VanDerber Atler (former Miss America) incest
Mary J. Blige (singer) emotional abuse/childhood rape/secondary domestic violence
Mary Wollestonecraft (author) child physical abuse
Mata Hari (famous spy) domestic violence
Maya Angelou (author, poet) childhood rape
Maynard James Keenan (musician) child sexual abuse
Meat Loaf (musician) peer abuse/parental physical abuse (?)
Mike Patton (musician) neglect/child sexual abuse
Missy Elliot (rapper, producer) child sexual abuse/secondary domestic violence
Nicole Brown Simpson - domestic violence (very likely murdered by OJ)
Oprah Winfrey (talk show host) child sexual abuse
Ozzy Osbourne (musician) emotional abuse
Pamela Anderson (actress) rape/domestic violence
Patricia Weaver Francisco (author) rape
Patsy Cline (singer) domestic violence
Patty Duke (actress, etc.) multiple forms of abuse, info courtesy of AEST
Paula White (evangelist, author) child sexual abuse
Queen Latifah (rapper/actress/model) child sexual abuse
Rain Pryor (actress) child physical abuse/teenage sexual abuse
Richard Nixon (former U.S. President) unspecified child abuse
Rita Hayworth (actress) incest
Robert Blake (actor) multiple forms of abuse, info courtesy of AEST
Rosanne Arnold (actress) child sexual abuse
Rose McGowan (actress) religious related (SRA?) abuse
Rosie Perez (actress) child sexual abuse
Rudyard Kipling (author) unspecified child abuse
Sandra Dee (actress) incest
Sinead O'Connor (musician) multiple forms of abuse, info courteousy of AEST
Stasi Eldredge (author) rape
Suzanne Somers (actress) emotional abuse
Teri Hatcher (actress) incest
Tina Turner (singer) domestic violence
Tom Arnold (actor, etc) abuse, info courtesy of AEST
Toni Childs (musician) abuse, info courteousy of AEST
Tori Amos (musician) rape
Virginia Woolf (author) incest
Viva (actress) child sexual abuse

* Note about sources - these sources generally come from print/internet interviews, documentaries, biographies and the like. Details available upon request at www.aswaterspassingby.org

* The term "secondary domestic violence" denotes that the well known person grew up in a home where one or both parents were the victim of domestic violence. The term "domestic violence" when applied to the persons denotes that they are the survivor of domestic violence where they were the primary victim.

ROSE CITY RESOURCES!

The Rose City Resource Guide is now available online!
ROSE CITY RESOURCE GUIDE ONLINE

Thanks!

THANK YOU to everyone who applied for the Outreach Specialist and RTA positions. The response was overwhelming and both positions are now closed. We are ALWAYS recruiting dependable volunteers for Yellow Brick Road Street Outreach so please drop a line if you are interested in joining the team:

dlundberg@janusyouth.org

NOW HIRING!

Street Outreach Specialist needed for Janus Youth Programs' Outreach & Engagement to engage and develop trusting relationships with street-entrenched youth, 25 and younger who traditionally do not access services, in order to introduce them to employment or educational opportunities and assist in transitioning them from the streets into safe, stable housing. This position involves making regular, outdoor contact with homeless and street-dependent youth in a wide geographic area within abandoned buildings, schools, service agencies, and other areas where youth camp. Bachelor's degree in counseling or related field is preferred. Requires experience with street youth and/or youth involved in sex work, substance abuse, and multi-diagnosis and experience in counseling/case managing youth who are reluctant to engage in services. Driving is required. Beginning salary is $12.00/hour; excellent benefits.

Submit resume and cover letter to Dennis Lundberg, c/o Janus Youth Programs, Inc., 707 NE Couch Street, Portland, OR 97232
or e-mail to him at dlundberg@janusyouth.org

This position closes Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at 5:00 p.m.

CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS!

Yellow Brick Road Street Outreach Program is currently seeking dedicated, energetic, and dependable volunteers! Our mission is to engage street-dependent youth through non-judgemental outreach on the streets of downtown Portland, meeting basic needs while offering referral information and community resources. Outreach shifts are once a week from 5-10pm. Volunteers are asked to make a six month commitment. No experience is necessary and professional Outreach Specialists will provide safety and engagement training.

Please contact Dennis Lundberg at (503)789-4011 or dlundberg@janusyouth.org

NOW HIRING YOUTH!

Project Metamorphosis is currently accepting applications for the Recovery Transition Advocate (RTA) position. This is a part-time entry-level position. No experience is necessary! Our mission is to engage and encourage youth to exit street life with innovative outreach and customized youth-friendly services integrating alcohol/drug and mental health treatment. As an RTA you will be expected to act as a clean & sober peer role-model for 16-24 year old homeless and street dependent youth, providing support, referrals, and crisis intervention through the Homeless Youth Continuum. We encourage diversity!

Qualifications:

1 year clean and sober time (required)

High school diploma or GED

Experience and/or knowledge of the issues of homelessness and drug and alcohol addiction.

A pre-employment drug screening (required)

Applications are due May 13, 2009.

For an application and more information please contact Brandon Schwanz: brandons@depaultreatmentcenters.org
(503) 535-1181.

Food Front

Yellow Brick Road has once again been selected for participation 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!

Food Front Cooperative Grocery
2375 NW Thurman Street
Portland, Oregon
(503) 222-5658

Yellow Brick Road & Reed College: Reaching Out

One of the great characteristics of Yellow Brick Road is our ability to go into the community and educate potential allies, stakeholders, and concerned citizens on issues related to youth homelessness. This form of outreach is every bit as critical as the kind we provide on the streets directly to the most vulnerable youth. Just in the past 6 months Yellow Brick Road has provided free trainings and presentations to Milwaukee Lutheran Church, Riverdale High School, In Other Words Books, Palisades Elementary School, St. Andrew Presbyterian Church, and Reed College. Through our rigorous engagement with the community Yellow Brick Road has fostered a particularly rewarding relationship with Reed College that has culminated in our recent partnership as a Federal Work Study (FWS) site.

The Reed FWS is an off-campus internship opportunity that allows students on financial aid to earn their required work study by volunteering with non-profit organizations, schools, and government agencies. In August 2007 Yellow Brick Road became a partner organization, actively recruiting Reed students to join our nightly YBR teams in downtown Portland. Since that time YBR has trained nearly 20 Reed students, approximately 5 students per semester, to conduct outreach among homeless young people who are quite often their own age. Currently, Reed students account for nearly half of our nightly volunteer outreach volunteers! At least two of these students have been so impassioned by their work with YBR that they’ve redirected their course of study toward community services. Two other Reed volunteers have since been hired on as substitute workers in the Janus Youth shelter programs, Streetlight and Porchlight. Reed’s Students for Education, Empowerment and Direct Service (S.E.E.D.S.) program has been instrumental in this linkage and coordinate closely with YBR to recruit and support their students in our often difficult but always rewarding work on the streets of downtown Portland.

Beyond financial aid, many of the Reed students who spend time with YBR have stated that their service has empowered them to become meaningfully engaged with the local community and become more broadly educated about "real world" issues. They have also stated that their service with YBR has proven to be a strong community-building influence on campus that also allows them the opportunity to get out of the Reed “bubble” to enjoy positive, educational, and healthy recreation. YBR wishes to thank all of the Reed students who have joined the fold since 2007 and we look forward to a lasting relationship with Reed College in the future. For more information about Reed College’s S.E.E.D.S program visit them online here!

Dennis Lundberg
Associate Director/Willamette Bridge Programs

2009 Street Count results have been released

The results of this year's Street Count survey have been released today by the Portland Bureau of Housing & Community Development. To read the extensive report visit Portland Online. Thank you to everyone who participated in this important survey!

meet the press

Meet Yellow Brick Road supervisor Dennis Lundberg and some of our allies in the struggle against homelessness and poverty at Ultimate Northwest magazine's recent feature on people making a difference in our community!

To Ride, Shoot Straight, & Meet 'Em Where They're At!

2009 marks the 25th Anniversary of Yellow Brick Road! As we gear up to celebrate this milestone it seems like a great opportunity to highlight one of the many folks who make Janus Youth’s Street Outreach Programs so remarkable. Neal Sand is a professional Outreach Specialist with Janus Youth's Outreach & Engagement. "O&E", as it is popularly known on the streets, was conceived nearly 5 years ago as a critical offshoot of our volunteer-based outreach program with the mission of delivering intensive mobile services directly to the young people who need them most but are often the least likely to seek them out on their own. Since he joined the O&E team in 2006 Neal has packed his bag every week and headed out to the streets, bridges, wooded camps, squats, and pretty much anywhere off the beaten path where he might find Portland’s most vulnerable young people. He excels at meeting the “hardest to reach” youth where they’re at and he builds meaningful relationships that make a lasting difference.

Neal’s history with Janus Youth Programs goes back to 1998 when he began as a volunteer with Yellow Brick Road. The amazing part of his story is that Neal stepped into YBR to fill his sister’s shift on the team. His sister had in fact stepped into YBR to fill her then-boyfriend now-husband’s shift. You can safely say that serving the community is a family tradition. Neal far exceeded his minimum 6 month volunteer commitment, remaining on the YBR team for no less than 4 years before he applied and was hired as a substitute line staff for the Willamette Bridge Programs. He was soon hired on full-time, serving the front lines at Bridgehouse, Streetlight, and Porchlight Crisis Shelter before assuming his role as an Intake Worker for both the Access Center and the Road Warrior late night drop-in program. Over the years Neal has honed his skills with young people and left a wake of hilarious epic-length monologues in our staff log books.

Neal is a Journalism major with a gift for wry wit. That’s a nice way of saying he can laugh even in the shadow of life’s darkest ironies. It’s a skill that serves him well in our work downtown where we’ve needed both hands to count the folks we've lost on the streets in the past 8 months. Neal’s passion for laughter and language is a gift he has shared with youth in the form of creative writing and self-expression workshops. I’ve watched him make words come alive for young people with dub reggae and colorful beatnik poetry. I vividly recall the proud smile of a particularly hardened ex-convict after he finished reading his journal aloud to a group of equally hardened peers and beamed, “I never knew poetry doesn’t have to rhyme!” Neal believes in young people so unrelentingly that, eventually, they tend to believe in themselves.

Anyone who spends time with Neal soon comes to appreciate his love for cinema, which is a wonderful coincidence considering he got his start at a program that takes its name from a 1939 musical. Neal doesn’t just casually enjoy movies. He is a walking encyclopedia of obscure film trivia and his enthusiasm is downright contagious. One of his favorites is Django, an old “spaghetti western” that tells the tale of a brooding anti-hero who drags a coffin filled with ammunition through muddy frontier camps meting out justice and classic one-liners. I like to imagine Neal riding into the sunset on outreach like a badlands bandito. Of course, instead of a coffin full of guns he totes an outreach bag full of socks, cough drops, triple antibiotic, and resource guides. Like Django, he chooses his words carefully and delivers one-liners with a twinkle in his eye. Neal is a soft-spoken hero on the streets of Portland and he is one of the dedicated youth advocates who have made the Janus Youth Outreach Programs the acclaimed models they are today. I’m glad to know him. So are the youth.
~Dennis Lundberg


“Neal is an excellent outreach worker. He is very observant out in the field and has the ability to explain what steps people can take to improve their situation without being judgmental." ~Devin Dinihanian (RTA)

“Neal is kind, compassionate, and reliable…but those words always sound so cliché. I guess what I’m saying is I appreciate somebody who can handle any crisis but can also talk about Motorhead and bad zombie movies.” ~Jasmine Pettet (Outside In)

“Neal is so cool, he doesn’t even realize how cool he is!” ~ “Leyla” (Youth)

YBR Training Opportunity!

FREE TRAINING!
Sunday February 22nd
2pm-5pm

UPPERS, DOWNERS, ALL-AROUNDERS! At our last Yellow Brick Road training in November, several of our volunteers suggested that it would be helpful to receive information about street drugs and their effects on behavior and the brain. That seemed like a great idea so I’ve invited Patti Davis of DePaul Youth Treatment Centers and Andrew Gadbois of Outside In to share their expertise in the Alcohol & Drug field. This interactive training will cover the basics of the most prevalent street drugs with a special emphasis on identification, effects, and local treatment options that should prove helpful on outreach. Please feel free to come prepared with questions as Patti & Andrew have a wealth of knowledge to share. As always, lunch & coffee will be provided. Hope to see YOU February 22nd!

Please R.S.V.P. for location at dlundberg@janusyouth.org

Great New Resource For Teens!

We just learned of a great new internet resource for young teens to discuss the dynamics of relationships, dating, and networking online. Sponsored and co-created by the Family Violence Prevention Fund, the Office of Violence Against Women and the Ad Council; this new website is designed to provide a safe place for teens to talk about relationships and decide what's "not cool" for them. This site is geared towards younger teens aged 13-15 that may face unique problems such as cyber bullying, breaking into emails, abusive text messages and other "Digital Infractions." Take a look and share with teens who may benefit from this information:

That's Not Cool

Off The Beaten Path

The following photos were taken last week while Janus Youth Outreach Specialists were in the field conducting the 2009 Multnomah Street Count. The results from this year's Street Count will be published here as soon as the data is collected and made available.

These 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.