ISRAEL BAYER | The organization has successfully stood up for the civil rights of people in our community
Street Roots advocacy is a brand of activism you’d have a hard time finding a definition for. Using a fusion of different strategies and political tactics, the organization has helped transform the way Portland thinks, not just about homelessness and poverty, but the larger social justice movement on a whole.
The independent investigative journalism speaks for itself. The relationships between hundreds of vendors selling the newspaper and thousands of readers creates a unique community across class and cultural lines — a community that has always been ready and willing to spring into action on issues that affect our larger community.
Our advocacy over the years has taken on many forms, sort of a social justice cocktail, that has participated in and led countless campaigns to make the world we live in a better place. Sometimes taking on the lead role in the fight for social justice, while other times playing the role of the collaborator and/or the antagonist. Sometimes popular, sometimes not. Never afraid to speak truth to power, yet always striving to be professional, diplomatic and sincere in our approach.
At a baseline, Street Roots advocacy has always worked intentionally to move the issues of homelessness and housing forward — helping inform readers, the media, the business community and government to better understand the issue. Street Roots has always worked to the best of our ability to deliver tangible perspectives, solutions and outcomes to oftentimes complex situations and problems.
During the past 20 years, Street Roots has successfully advocated against budget cuts to housing and homeless services, supported Portland’s first tent cities, and fought for the civil rights of people living on the streets.
The organization has successfully stood up against anti-panhandling campaigns made up of powerful business interests, politicians and other social-service providers. We’ve taken on private security companies and the chamber of commerce, which worked to advocate and enforce laws against people experiencing homelessness in public spaces. We’ve advocated for countless affordable housing projects, nonprofits and organizations working to give people a safe place to call home. We continue to support safe consumption sites for drug users in our city.
The list goes on.
Street Roots spearheaded a partnership with Multnomah County and the Medical Examiner’s Office to create an annual report about how many people experiencing homelessness were dying on our streets, and the reasons why. The goal is to both honor people who have died homeless and to work to understand how to deter the future number of homeless deaths that occur annually in our community.
The organization was an original founder of the Welcome Home Coalition, a coalition that would go on to pass the city’s first affordable housing public ballot initiative in 2016 and help lay the groundwork for the Metro-wide housing bond in 2018. These are just two efforts that are now resulting in the creation of thousands of new affordable housing units being built for the region’s most vulnerable residents.
It’s not just homelessness and housing. Street Roots is proud to have played an active role in the fight for marriage equality. We helped support the campaign to legalize marijuana in Oregon. We’ve supported countless immigrant rights efforts through the years, and continue to do so today. We refused to bow to the Catholic Church when the archdiocese pulled critical funding for Street Roots’ Rose City Resource after we rejected their demands to exclude listings of abortion clinics in Portland.
At the end of the day, the history of Street Roots advocacy is about the future of Street Roots advocacy. It’s about coming together and improving the lives of people on the streets, readers like you and people facing injustice everywhere. It’s about being a force for good, never giving up, and working collectively to make the world we live a better place.
Israel Bayer was the executive director of Street Roots from 2007 to 2017.
Street Roots is an award-winning, nonprofit, weekly newspaper focusing on economic, environmental and social justice issues. Our newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity. Learn more about Street Roots. Support your community newspaper by making a one-time or recurring gift today.
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