Kaia Sand | How Portland Street Response became a reality

OPINION | It took a lot of ‘yes, and’ to build a brand-new first responder system

by Kaia Sand | 6 Apr 2022

Plenty of civic dialogue focuses on what doesn’t work. Goodness knows I devote column inches to describing system failures.

But the fact Portland Street Response is up and running city-wide is a system success. It’s a whole new first-responder system built during a global pandemic.

Portland Street Response happened because people across the city demanded it.

It happened because of journalism.


        Kaia Sand is the executive director of Street Roots. This column represents her views.

And it happened because leadership in city hall — in particular, Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty — sought out input from people on the streets, and continues to do so through ongoing evaluation of Portland Street Response.

Improvisational comics describe creating a skit as “yes, and” because they collaborate and build on each other’s efforts. Likewise, civic imagination that is gripping enough to translate into action involves a great deal of “yes, and.” While Portland Street Response faced plenty of obstacles over the past three years, it succeeded because of the “yes, and” moments.

In 2018, Hardesty advocated for non-police first responders for street crises, based on years of talking with people on the streets.

After Rebecca Woolington and Melissa Lewis issued a startling report in The Oregonian finding more than half of all arrests targeted unhoused people in 2017, we began many conversations at Street Roots about how to bring these arrests down, and with that, legal entanglements preventing people on the streets from getting housing and employment.

Hardesty’s idea dovetailed with this. I wondered whether such an audacious idea could take root in our city, and mentioned it in a Lund Report forum on homelessness. Could we, as Hardesty had suggested, reimagine public safety? I was hopeful, particularly because Eugene had a decades-old model, CAHOOTS.

Street Roots continued the push. Former Street Roots editorial staff members Emily Green and Joanne Zuhl, along with freelance reporter John Emschwiller, interviewed then-Portland Police Chief Danielle Outlaw in November 2018, getting her support of a new system on record, and then we ran an editorial in December.

I had conversations with Tremaine Clayton of Portland Fire and Rescue, who both saw the need, as well as a blueprint for a solution, based on volunteering at White Bird Clinic in Eugene, which runs CAHOOTS.

In January 2019, Katie Shepherd rolled out another key article in Willamette Week (Shepherd now reports for the Washington Post). She evaluated the 911 call data, revealing people called every 15 minutes about a so-called “unwanted person.” 911 operators were besieged with calls for which they had no good options.

Street Roots published its special edition outlining a plan for Portland Street Response, based on Green’s reporting, on March 15, 2019. I remember one moment in early March when Green spread out a draft on her desk in our Old Town office. She’d been crunching numbers, figuring out what a program like this could cost the city, and she was calling it “Portland Street Response” – a name we all thought was a placeholder.

It stuck. Hardesty seized the moment with “yes, and” gusto.

She appointed staff from the budget office and people with community organizing experience, and that combination proved effective for the laborious groundwork of building a new system.

Street Roots vendors showed up with handmade signs at a city budget hearing at the Immigrant and Refugee Community Organization. Vendor Mark Rodriguez addressed city council about the urgent need for Portland Street Response. The first budget allotment — a half-million dollars in 2019 — established the roots of a city commitment.

That summer, the Mayor’s office worked with Hardesty to convene a work group. Street Roots staff and vendors began working regularly with the Commissioner's staff getting feedback from unhoused people. She traveled out to Sisters of the Road, JOIN and Transition Projects to listen to unhoused people talk about what they needed from first responders.

A moment from JOIN listening session stands out as an example of the kind of commitment it took, and takes, to work constructively in an often abusive atmosphere. A man pulled his car over to scream violently at Hardesty about homelessness. Hardesty had to collect herself, walk inside to the JOIN day center, and focus on hearing solutions driven by the most impacted people — which she did.

That focus never waned. As her office led the effort to create uniforms and a logo for Portland Street Response, they convened groups of Street Roots vendors, aware how first responders present themselves impacts how support is received.

Fast forward over the next two-and-a-half years, and here’s what I can attest: “yes, and” determination has abounded – from a Fire Department that, under Chief Sara Boone, is ready to redefine itself to contemporary challenges, to a Bureau of Emergency Communications that redesigned its office to place Portland Street Response in the center of its 911 call center.

When obstacles arise, there are enough 'yes, and' folks to see it through. Collaborate and build.

I’ve written so much about Portland Street Response over the past few years that my columns can be measured in feet, not inches. Most of the time I’ve been pushing for more resources, more support, more of something. I will continue to do so. After all, we can only demand this program be as good as it possibly can be through community pressure. It needs to be big enough so calls have prompt responses and responders have the time to listen. Our community must continue to push for it to get the resources to expand, demanding this spring that the city budget for the program to operate around the clock.

It will also need to be nimble enough for teams to meet people where they are at. My advocacy for Portland Street Response has been informed by how people have been failed by rigid rules around services that require police accompaniment.

It needs to be separate from the police, and it must not be pushed in a de facto police role, an implication of the People for Portland December poll which serves as a basis for a proposed ballot measure. This is a threat to the future of Portland Street Response. Keep an eye on this.

We also need to make sure the program serves communities of color that are disproportionately arrested, prioritizing cultural adeptness and bilingual services.

People from impacted communities must be hired.

The work is never done. But it’s worth noting we got to this moment through constructive determination. It took political imagination and leadership that simply did not give up on those who most needed the new system.

Street Roots is an award-winning weekly publication focusing on economic, environmental and social justice issues. The newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity. Street Roots newspaper operates independently of Street Roots advocacy and is a part of the Street Roots organization. Learn more about Street Roots. Support your community newspaper by making a one-time or recurring gift today.

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