Vendor Profiles
Street Roots vendor profile | Eager to get back to normal post-pandemic
Longtime vendor Jason Scheer first connected to Street Roots almost a decade ago because he needed the work and it beat working at a bar. He saw that Street Roots was hiring vendors, and he jumped at the opportunity to earn an income. “(My income from) Street Roots pays for my trips to California to…
News
One of the nation’s few Black falconers educates young people beyond the classroom
Raised in Southeast Washington, D.C., during the crack epidemic, Rodney Stotts, now 50, became involved in illegal activities as a young person. But that was another lifetime for Stotts. Now, he is a licensed master falconer — the highest level in the sport — and one of the few Black falconers in the country. Stotts…
Portland organizations aim to diversify birding and other nature activities
May 30 to June 5 is Black Birders Week, aimed at increasing recognition of Black birders, the racism they experience and the importance of diversity in outdoor activities. The idea of a “birder” conjures up a specific image, and often people of color don’t see themselves in it, but there are several organizations in the…
Block 14 at Portland’s Lone Fir Cemetery will finally get its due
Sixteen years ago, officials discovered what some people had long suspected: a neglected corner of Southeast Portland’s Lone Fir Cemetery still held human remains. Now, after more than a decade of community advocacy, hundreds of Chinese immigrants and psychiatric patients will finally be honored with a memorial garden. The Lone Fir — named for a…
Environment
Portland organizations aim to diversify birding and other nature activities
May 30 to June 5 is Black Birders Week, aimed at increasing recognition of Black birders, the racism they experience and the importance of diversity in outdoor activities. The idea of a “birder” conjures up a specific image, and often people of color don’t see themselves in it, but there are several organizations in the…
Oregon bill might protect structures from tsunami, but residents’ safety is paper thin
Back when Oregon’s positive cases of COVID-19 could still be counted on two hands, Jay Wilson, the former chair of Oregon’s Seismic Safety Policy Advisory Commission (the earthquake commission), sat in a Sellwood pub as he described to Street Roots a haunting premonition of a different disaster to come. “After returning from Japan in 2011,…
Opinion
Opinion | Black Lives Matter protests have saved lives, study finds
Considerable research shows that oppressive economic and social conditions are bad for one’s mental and physical health. A number of studies have also shown that protesting is good for one’s mental and physical health. Martin Hart-Landsberg is a professor emeritus of economics at Lewis and Clark College. Now we have a study that finds that…
Opinion | American Rescue Plan money must support housing stability
Samm McCrary is a housing advocate who advocates with Residents Organizing for Change, Here Together, REACH and Central City Concern. The best time for legislators to act on behalf of our unhoused and those at risk for becoming homeless due to the pandemic is right now. Oregon had the dubious distinction of having the highest…
Opinion | Marginalization of AAPI communities is evident in America’s health care crisis
An Do serves as executive director for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon. This month, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Oregon celebrates Asian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, which honors the histories, cultures and contributions of East, Southeast, South and West Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander people in the United States. As the daughter of…
Kaia Sand | Camp sweeps solve nothing — but upcoming budgets could help
How could the city of Portland possibly sweep unhoused people when there’s nowhere to go? And about those places to go — where and what should they be? Apartments? Shelters? Camps? Villages? When there are nominally enough places to go — is the city then going to sweep everyone who’s not within the designated walls,…
Street Roots Podcast | Kim McCarty: Government needs to step up to protect renters
On this episode of the Street Roots Podcast, Kim McCarty, the executive director of the Community Alliance of Tenants, joins host DeVon Pouncey to discuss how the Rent and Mortgage Cancellation Act affects Oregonians. “We’re very worried that in the next six weeks, how are we going to prepare Oregonians for the fact that they…
Street Roots Podcast | Escalation of sweeps rattles Portland’s unhoused community
On this episode of the Street Roots podcast, host DeVon Pouncey is joined by Lauren (Sisters of the Road), Mo (Defense Fund PDX), J-Mo (Defense Fund PDX), Lou (Defense Fund PDX), and Coast to discuss the uptick in sweeps in Portland as the economy attempts to reopen. “During the COVID quarantine and lockdown, there was…
Housing
Opinion | American Rescue Plan money must support housing stability
Samm McCrary is a housing advocate who advocates with Residents Organizing for Change, Here Together, REACH and Central City Concern. The best time for legislators to act on behalf of our unhoused and those at risk for becoming homeless due to the pandemic is right now. Oregon had the dubious distinction of having the highest…
Kaia Sand | Camp sweeps solve nothing — but upcoming budgets could help
How could the city of Portland possibly sweep unhoused people when there’s nowhere to go? And about those places to go — where and what should they be? Apartments? Shelters? Camps? Villages? When there are nominally enough places to go — is the city then going to sweep everyone who’s not within the designated walls,…
Street Roots Podcast | Kim McCarty: Government needs to step up to protect renters
On this episode of the Street Roots Podcast, Kim McCarty, the executive director of the Community Alliance of Tenants, joins host DeVon Pouncey to discuss how the Rent and Mortgage Cancellation Act affects Oregonians. “We’re very worried that in the next six weeks, how are we going to prepare Oregonians for the fact that they…
Street Roots Podcast | Escalation of sweeps rattles Portland’s unhoused community
On this episode of the Street Roots podcast, host DeVon Pouncey is joined by Lauren (Sisters of the Road), Mo (Defense Fund PDX), J-Mo (Defense Fund PDX), Lou (Defense Fund PDX), and Coast to discuss the uptick in sweeps in Portland as the economy attempts to reopen. “During the COVID quarantine and lockdown, there was…
Podcast
Street Roots Podcast | Kim McCarty: Government needs to step up to protect renters
On this episode of the Street Roots Podcast, Kim McCarty, the executive director of the Community Alliance of Tenants, joins host DeVon Pouncey to discuss how the Rent and Mortgage Cancellation Act affects Oregonians. “We’re very worried that in the next six weeks, how are we going to prepare Oregonians for the fact that they…
Street Roots Podcast | Escalation of sweeps rattles Portland’s unhoused community
On this episode of the Street Roots podcast, host DeVon Pouncey is joined by Lauren (Sisters of the Road), Mo (Defense Fund PDX), J-Mo (Defense Fund PDX), Lou (Defense Fund PDX), and Coast to discuss the uptick in sweeps in Portland as the economy attempts to reopen. “During the COVID quarantine and lockdown, there was…
