News
Give & Give Back: 2017 Street Roots Gift Guide
Make your holiday giving stretch further with purchases that help charity. All Portland businesses and nonprofits in the Street Roots Gift Guide were selected because they offer products or services perfect for holiday gift-giving, with part or all of the proceeds going to a dedicated cause that benefits the community. While many businesses donate periodically to…
Portland adopts equitable building plans
Portland City Council adopted a resolution Wednesday, Nov. 8, to apply equitable contracting agreements to select city construction projects costing more than $10 million. In an effort to develop workforces within disadvantaged communities that public development has historically impacted in a negative way, projects with these plans will be required to meet goals for including women and…
Answering the call in Puerto Rico: ‘The need was immense’
When we landed in San Juan, Puerto Rico, we landed in chaos. Nobody could have predicted the devastation that Hurricane Maria would bring to Puerto Rico. Streets had flooded, and homes and businesses had their roofs ripped off of their walls. Families slept in bedding covered in toxic black mold. Fifty-one hurricane-related deaths have been…
‘Third World conditions’: Many Oregon farmworkers live in substandard housing
To get to the Leary Road labor camp from downtown Woodburn, you have to drive past an expansive strip of “premium” retail outlet stores sitting on the west side of Interstate 5. “We have the Woodburn malls and we have tons of people – it’s the second-most-visited place in Oregon,” Ramón Ramírez said as the…
Director’s Desk: Now is the time to get housing done
Israel Bayer is the executive director of Street Roots. You can reach him at israel@streetroots.org or follow him on Twitter @israelbayer. On the morning of Jan. 31, dozens of people lined up at Catholic Charities in Southeast Portland for the possibility to get a shot at first-come, first-serve affordable-housing units at the St. Francis apartments. …
Culture
Kaia Sand named new executive director of Street Roots
Street Roots is pleased to announce that, after a national search, Kaia Sand has been hired to serve as executive director, effective Dec. 6. Sand has worked with people experiencing homelessness and poverty both as an employee and as a volunteer, applying her artistry and community organizing skills to various projects, including the Oregon Nikkei…
‘Priced Out’: Cornelius Swart laments fallout of Portland gentrification
Update on Jan. 15, 2018: "Priced Out" will be showing at Portland Community College's Cascade Campus on Jan. 16 at 2 p.m. and Jan. 24 at 6 p.m. in the Moriarty Auditorium on the corner of North Albina Avenue and Killingsworth Street. Both showings are free to the public and will be followed with a questions and…
Housing
‘Priced Out’: Cornelius Swart laments fallout of Portland gentrification
Update on Jan. 15, 2018: "Priced Out" will be showing at Portland Community College's Cascade Campus on Jan. 16 at 2 p.m. and Jan. 24 at 6 p.m. in the Moriarty Auditorium on the corner of North Albina Avenue and Killingsworth Street. Both showings are free to the public and will be followed with a questions and…
So long, Sugar Shack: Affordable housing planned at Living Cully Plaza
Hacienda CDC, a nonprofit affordable housing developer, has announced it will build 150 units of affordable housing in the housing-starved Cully neighborhood – all on a site better known for a notorious strip club. On Oct. 27, more than 100 residents of the Cully neighborhood gathered inside the former Sugar Shack building, now called Living…
Director’s Desk: Now is the time to get housing done
Israel Bayer is the executive director of Street Roots. You can reach him at israel@streetroots.org or follow him on Twitter @israelbayer. On the morning of Jan. 31, dozens of people lined up at Catholic Charities in Southeast Portland for the possibility to get a shot at first-come, first-serve affordable-housing units at the St. Francis apartments. …
Opinion
Answering the call in Puerto Rico: ‘The need was immense’
When we landed in San Juan, Puerto Rico, we landed in chaos. Nobody could have predicted the devastation that Hurricane Maria would bring to Puerto Rico. Streets had flooded, and homes and businesses had their roofs ripped off of their walls. Families slept in bedding covered in toxic black mold. Fifty-one hurricane-related deaths have been…
Director’s Desk: Now is the time to get housing done
Israel Bayer is the executive director of Street Roots. You can reach him at israel@streetroots.org or follow him on Twitter @israelbayer. On the morning of Jan. 31, dozens of people lined up at Catholic Charities in Southeast Portland for the possibility to get a shot at first-come, first-serve affordable-housing units at the St. Francis apartments. …
Vendor Profiles
Street Roots vendor profile: Bringing joy to an ugly world
David Avery Samson is a natural leader who makes the world a better place through his art and his activism. “I have healed myself with art,” David said, and he wants to do the same for others. Early on, David studied art at Clackamas Community College and quickly became a de facto teacher’s assistant by…
