Social Justice at JOIN

By: Colleen Sinsky

JOIN was a little short-staffed on the House this weekend while four of our full-time volunteers were on retreat. Three of us were on the Jesuit Volunteer Northwest retreat, held in St. Helens, WA and spent the weekend talking about social justice. Keith, our House Coordinator was in Texas for a United Church of Christ retreat, coincidentally held on the same weekend.

On his way to get a blanket from the donation closet for a visitor to the House just now, Keith was kind enough to stop by my desk and ride his razor scooter around in circles while he told me about his retreat. In San Antonio, TX, Keith met many UCC volunteers who are serving throughout the US, most of whom were foreign. Keith learned many German phrases. Each of the volunteers gave presentations about their service sites and what they do, and it was interesting to learn about what the other volunteers were doing in their capacity to better the world. Keith showed me a project that two UCC volunteers are doing to raise awareness about various placements. The duo will be coming to Portland this month to film Keith and include his work at JOIN as part of their project. Check out www.TwinMaps.com

On the Jesuit Volunteer Corps retreat we joined the 75 other JVs who have placements in Oregon and Washington and spent a weekend focused on how social justice is part of our various jobs. Going to a Jesuit college, “social justice” was one of those buzzwords that I heard often but didn’t realize the impact of until I began work at a place that consciously embodies the value. By operating through a relationship based, empowerment model, JOIN brings the idea of social justice to life every day in a way that I might have written off as idealistic. It’s hard to put into words, and I’m underqualified to try to explain it anyways, but being part of this JOIN community has reminded me that there’s still space for hope, no matter how overwhelming injustice can seem.

The retreat leader teaches Social Justice at Portland’s Jesuit High School and introduced us to the idea of the “two feet of social action.” Essentially, in order to move forward towards a just and humane world, we need both charity (immediate, direct help) and justice (actions that foster lasting change). A balance between the two ensures that people’s most basic needs are being met, and that we’re moving towards a place of self-sufficiency and freedom for everyone.

Maybe this is all obvious to you. Of course we can’t expect to bring about positive change by only operating in one of the two realms. But it was helpful for me to see this diagrammed out in a tangible way. And in a way that I could so easily apply to what JOIN does. I understood the distinct “feet” as the services that JOIN offers. Upstairs, the House provides creature comforts; showers, laundry, coffee, internet, etc. and most importantly a safe place for community. It’s very direct, and the benefits are immediate. Downstairs and on the streets, Outreach and Retention treat getting folks into long-term sustainable housing as a means towards social justice. Much of the beauty is in the overlap between the two, and it has been incredible to watch people I’ve met make the dramatic transition from accepting direct services to self sufficiency and long-term empowerment.

"Keys to my new future"

Today I’m excited to introduce our guest blogger, my friend Rod. Rod’s optimism and friendly nature have made a big impact on me and Lio, and we both feel so lucky to get to spend time with this wonderful guy. Rod loves JOIN and wanted to share his story and perspectives after having moved out from under the bridge and into an apartment last week.

-Colleen

Hi friends and supporters of JOIN, my name is Rod and I have been rescued from the madness of homelessness.

Some of the ones on the street regret or deny not needing a rescue from their situation. In my case I had a friend while I was living under the Burnside Bridge, officer Burleigh, who recognized my worthiness and assisted me by helping me out of my madness by referring me to JOIN and my new buddy Lio.

I need only to mention my adventures under the Burnside Bridge for anyone to realize that I needed help. One of my main pitfalls was that I did not recognize my own need because I was too busy scraping out a meager survival. Survival isn’t enough and I found myself in a deeper quagmire of the madness and basically had to extricate myself from the lifestyle. Sometimes easier said than done. But lo and behold, there was Lio.

A few years ago I found myself in Portland, after coming down from Seattle to try to help my brother, only to find out that he needed more help than I could give alone. I soon found out that I had to shift focus to Rodriguez, and my own priorities, the number one issue was housing.

The population under the Burnside Bridge is the homeless and the forgotten. I know them well and I am them. I don’t go over there any more, I don’t think of them anymore. I don’t think of that lifestyle at all. The one thing that I hold dear now and have to continue is my education. I have to look forward. I want to go back to school soon. That chapter of my life is closed, but what I learned through that survival in that madness is something I’ll never forget. I’m reminded every day when I see fellows sleeping in doorways in America in 2011. It’s frustrating, and I try to think that they’ve chosen that lifestyle in the same way that I chose to.

I learned a lot in that chapter of my life. I learned to recognize the strength I had under the bridge, of having to go into survival mode, though I never felt that I really had my back against the wall. Some people out there seem so drained, like they have nothing left. I never felt that like. I woke up every day glad that I had “24 more” (that was my expression outside) I knew where to go for a meal. I just never got way down and that has to be because of my optimism, a basic concept of mine that not everyone has. Some of the fellows in the street frowned on that. Said “why is he so up?” I wish them well. All I can say is that I’ve been through it and it takes self-strength. It has nothing to do with having to box someone. It’s all inner strength.

Of the numbers of those who police society’s down and out, my total thanks to one Officer Burleigh, who tapped me on the shoulder more than once about being a better man than what I was displaying. Thanks Officer Burleigh. You saw strength in me that I had let wilt. But when you brought it to my attention I had to reenergize and choose a better path- one that I continue to navigate thanks to the help of JOIN, and individuals like Lio Alaalatoa and Colleen Sinsky.

Now I’m a regular guy. The future is an open pathway I’m about to embark on and I’m excited to see what happens. When I moved into my own place, I was presented with keys to my new future, and it’s an incredible feeling that only those who have had their autonomy taken from them would recognize.

-Rod

Street Count Week

By Colleen Sinsky

From the outside, last week’s meeting with the outreach team looked more like a military operation plan, than our usual monthly planning meeting. We were huddled around zoned maps of Multnomah county while Marc deployed teams to cover various spots over the next week. We each claimed different areas, both urban and out in the woods to survey for the biennial county Homeless Street Count.

A portion of our federal funding requires that JOIN, along with a number of other social service agencies participate in this comprehensive “census” to count the number of people sleeping outside on a given night in January. Portland Online has more info here, including data from previous years’ counts. While it would be impossible to get perfect numbers, the Street Count is a helpful tool for the government to get a better idea of the existing need. Yesterday Quinn and I spent most of the day hiking (yes, literally hiking. I love this job) around an undeveloped butte and looking for tucked away camps to interview the people staying there.

Conversation in the office has revolved a lot around what our experiences have been with the count so far, and most of our normal work has been put on hold while we shift focus for a week. Last night Lio and I took a reporter from The Oregonian along with us to the northwest. You can check out Molly’s story about it here.

Little Bear Gets A Bed

By Colleen Sinsky

I’m starting to learn that there are few things in the world that make me happier than seeing someone who I care about finally getting to transition from the streets into an apartment of their own. This week, my friend I’ll call June finally left her camping spot under a bridge in the Northwest Industrial area and spent her birthday weekend in her new apartment in a quiet suburb. I met June on one of my first nights doing outreach with Lio. I remember being terrified of her dog, who was barking and snarling at us from the end of a taut leash in the dark. I was surprised Lio didn’t just turn around at that point, but the three of us eventually sat down around Styrofoam cups of hot chocolate and started talking. Turns out that her dog was actually a terrified but adorable chocolate lab puppy named Little Bear who was thrilled to snuggle with a friendly stranger. From that initial meeting it took Quinn a few weeks of contacting landlords and submitting applications with June to finally find a safe place that she could afford on her limited social security income. During that time Quinn or I would spend an afternoon driving around trying to secure June and Little Bear an apartment in one of the buildings we’ve worked with. June and I bonded over our love of dogs and coffee, and how we both “escaped” from Southern California and love living in Portland- as different as our experiences have been here. June’s history blew me away, and I feel so lucky to have gotten to know her as well as I do. On Friday, Quinn and I took June and her puppy to sign her lease, pick up her key, and unload furniture and a brand new plush doggie bed I bought from Costco. I was happy that night knowing that June and Little Bear were sleeping in a safe place for the first time in years. I feel so privileged to get to play a small role in these success stories, and people like June help me stay optimistic and focused in the face of what sometimes seems like overwhelming need.

In honor of this being Martin Luther King Jr. Day (and why I get to write this from a trendy café on Alberta Street instead of the JOIN office) some words of wisdom from Dr. King:

“An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.” (..and Little Bears!)

Lift With Your Legs!

By Colleen Sinsky

After a long day of moving furniture in and out of our box truck, I heard one JOIN employee jokingly call JOIN a “glorified moving company.” It’s true that I didn’t expect to get quite as good at moving couches as I am now, but I also had no idea how much work is required in the process of getting people into housing, and helping them stay there. Once the funding source is secured and the paperwork done, the real manual labor of a move begins. We have a fantastic partnership with Community Warehouse, and through them we’re able to acquire the necessary furniture, bedding, and kitchen gadgets to turn a bare apartment into a home for our friends. We try as hard as we can to set our folks up for success, and that relationship doesn’t end when we hand them the keys. I’m constantly amazed at how much each outreach and retention worker at JOIN cares about their folks, and how they’ll bend over backwards, drive well-loved but less-than-perfect vans and spend hours loading and unloading just about anything you can think of. I helped out with five moves last week, and it’s not unusual to go home physically as well as emotionally spent, but still buoyant with hope for the families that we’ve helped out. I’m lucky to often have the company of one or a few volunteers- people from the homeless community who want to give back with their time and spend their day chatting and lifting furniture with me. I love the time I get to spend with them, and working side by side gives me a unique opportunity to chat in a friendly, peer-to-peer environment.

All of the outreach workers have had some remarkable stories of success lately, and I’ve gotten to be part of a number of Lio’s. There’s a funny rumor going around that Lio actually DOES the work.. but here’s photographic evidence of what really goes on while the rest of us are doing heavy lifting. :)

I also wanted to share one of the most meaningful and poignant compliments I've ever heard. One of my roommates had an out of state friend visiting for the weekend, and I took him along with me to work on Friday because he was looking for something to do and wanted to get involved. So Matt spent the morning with Lio and I emptying a storage unit and filling a three bedroom apartment in East Portland. When the woman whose family we were moving found out that not only was Matt not a JOIN employee, but that he was on vacation she exclaimed "You're doing this for me and you're not even from here? And you're not being paid? Wow, that's like something Lio would do!"

Ringing In The New Year

By Colleen Sinsky

You probably couldn’t avoid noticing Portland’s below freezing temperatures this weekend. As a recent transplant from San Diego I definitely spent the weekend more or less amazed at how Northwesterners manage to run errands, walk around downtown, and more or less carry on normal lives despite the frigid conditions. Outreach, and what we call “snow patrol” played a big part of many JOIN worker’s weekends. Because the temperature was expected to drop below 22 degrees, the county issued a Severe Weather Alert, and a few emergency warming centers were temporarily opened by The Red Cross. We went out to check on the folks we know outside and be sure that they were aware of the additional spaces available indoors for the night. I spent Saturday night driving around downtown with a roommate and we passed out a trunk-load of donated blankets, hats and socks. Sometimes what affects me the most at the end of the night when I’m ruminating on my ride home is just the tone that folks have when I ask “have enough blankets for tonight?” Not all of the time, but often enough to really challenge me, the response I hear is a desperate “YES. please. I’m freezing!” On the other hand though, sometimes someone will say "Oh, I'm fine thanks. But that other guy over there only has a tarp! You should go throw some blankets on him."

I know that a blanket doesn’t solve any problems, and that whatever positive change I can affect that night won’t be enough. But every conversation that a JOIN worker has with someone sleeping outside is a step towards what will hopefully become a long-term relationship and eventual transition to a stable place.

A walk through JOIN at the Holidays

JOIN is nothing if not bustling at this time of year. Walk in the door and you'll find a crowd of folks--old friends and new--checking their mail, getting a pair of socks, waiting for a shower, browsing job openings on the computer, or just enjoying a cup of coffee and a conversation while their canine companion sleeps under a table.

Round the corner and you'll see that one of JOIN's partner offices has been appropriated for donations--piles 6 feet high of blankets and sleeping bags in all shapes and sizes for the outreach team to take to folks outside. Just as one pile starts to dwindle, another generous community member walks through the door with a few bags she has collected from her neighbors. And the piles are high again.

Continue down the stairs and you'll find yourself in a forest of artificial Christmas trees, donated by Target to bring a little holiday cheer to JOIN households. In every nook and cranny of our offices you'll find piles of donated sweaters and socks, presents wrapped and ready to be delivered to newly housed families, and Christmas music coming from a Pandora station in what we lovingly refer to as "the admin core."

JOIN staff members' job descriptions are flexible and ever-changing at this time of year. Everyone pitches in and works longer hours to pick up donations, deliver food boxes, provide blankets at night when the temperatures drop--all while continuing to do the real work of JOIN: getting people into permanent, stable housing and helping them stay there.

For those of us in the fundraising office, this time of year helps us feel more connected to our donors and our volunteers--they rally to organize item drives, put together move-in boxes, host house parties, and make generous financial contributions to help us continue to do our work. The generosity is overwhelming and impressive, and we can't say thank you enough.

None of us on the staff make it through the month of December without feeling a little more exhausted, and a little more rejuvenated, than we did before. Thank you for sharing this crazy, chaotic, and beautiful time of year with us!

-the JOIN Development Office