A Benefit Dinner and Silent Auction For The Houseless

Saturday, May 12, 6 p.m. at SEIU Banquet Hall 6401 SE Foster Rd, Portland, OR 97026
 
Portland, OR-Featuring the first-ever live performance of Tom Waits’ epic poem ‘SEEDS ON HARD GROUND’ by celebrated Portland Actors: Ebbe Roe Smith, Mary McDonald-Lewis, Robert Projansky, Brynn Baron, Karen Wennstrom, Penuel Corbin, Brian MacEwan and Valerie Martinka. As well as musical entertainment by activist-rapper Mic Crenshaw, who the Portland Mercury called (with the Lifesavas) “two of the very best hip-hop acts in PDX”.  Come and meet some amazing unhoused individuals who are making a difference not only in their lives but in the lives of their neighbors and community. Come enjoy a buffet style dinner, auction items, and educational materials raising awareness about the houseless community in Portland.
 
Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at Right 2 Dream Too on NW 4th and W. Burnside or online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/243993
For More Info or Tickets, Please Contact Sophia K. at (971) 409-0275 or kinhnarathsophia@gmail.com
Proceeds will be used to pay the fines of Right 2 Dream Too and to fund Right 2 Survive projects.
 
Right to Survive (R2S) is an organization of homeless people of circumstances, the formerly homeless, and their allies. R2S is working to ensure that everyone has the right to sleep, the right to shelter, the right to self support, the right to safety, the right to simple living, the right to sustainability, the right to sit and lie, the right to share and barter and the right say so!
 
Right 2 Dream Too (affectionately called R2D2), is a nonprofit organization operating a space where people can rest or sleep safely and undisturbed. It’s mission is to provide refuge for Portland’s unhoused community who cannot access affordable housing or shelter space.
 
Right 2 Dream Too exists to awaken social and political groups to the importance of safe and undisturbed sleep. Our purpose is to create a place where unhoused people can rest or sleep without being rousted by police or private security and without being under the constant threat of violence. We hope to create a cost-effective, self-sustaining model that can be replicated elsewhere.
 
 

For Immediate Release

Ibrahim Mubarak

503-839-9992

or

Leo Rhodes

503-936-2665

Email: r2spdx@gmail.com

Right 2 Survive and Right 2 Dream Too protest opening of community court in multi-million dollar homeless facility

 “You shouldn’t have to plead guilty in order to get housing or services.” says Leo Rhodes.  “There is funding attached to criminalizing the houseless.”

 PORTLAND, OR – May 4th, 2012- Members of Right 2 Survive and the Right 2 Dream Too rest area, will protest the opening of a community court in the Bud Clark Commons at 1pm on Friday, May 4th.

 “People are being told that there is no funding for housing, but they are making people think that if they go into court and plead guilty there is a possibility of getting housing.” says Rhodes, a homeless advocate who has been cited for sleeping outside.

Over the past year, the Western Regional Advocacy Project has led a survey effort with its grassroots members and allies in Portland, OR, Berkeley, San Francisco, Los Angeles, CA, Seattle, WA, Denver, CO, Houston, TX, and Worcester, MA documenting homeless people’s experiences with the criminal justice system for survival-related “crimes.” More than three-quarters of survey respondents (78 percent) reported being harassed, cited or arrested by police officers for sleeping outside. Seventy-five percent reported the same for sitting or lying down, and 76 percent for loitering or simply “hanging out.” These were by far the top crimes for which homeless people were charged. A sad corresponding fact is that only one quarter of respondents (25 percent) believed that they knew of safe, legal places to sleep.

 “What they’re doing with this homeless court is taking away a population’s right to due process, which is unconstitutional”, says Amber Dunks of Right 2 Dream Too.  “What’s worse is that agencies that are supposed to be supporting the unhoused are behind this.”

 

###

 

Right 2 Survive is an organization led by unhoused, and formerly unhoused individuals.  R2S is dedicated to educating houseless people and their allies about their human, civil, and constitutional rights.  R2S works to empower unhoused people and their allies to take action against laws, policies and practices that criminalize people for survival activities

Right 2 Dream Too exists to awaken social and political groups to the importance of safe and undisturbed sleep. Our purpose is to create a place where unhoused people can rest or sleep without being rousted by police or private security and without being under the constant threat of violence. We hope to create a cost-effective, self-sustaining model that can be replicated elsewhere.

 

April 9-15 – Call to Action

The 99% Spring is coming.

Groups from every corner of our movement—inspired by the everyday heroes of Occupy Wall Street and Madison —are planning a massive campaign of bold nonviolent direct actions to make the voices of the 99% impossible to ignore.

The key is making the 99% Spring as big as possible. That’s why during the week of April 9-15, in small towns and big cities all across America, 100,000 people will come together for an unprecedented national movement-wide nonviolent direct action training. We’ll learn to tell the story of our economy and what went wrong, we’ll learn the history of nonviolent direct action, and we’ll learn how we can take action and create great change in this country.

Will you join the 99% Spring? Click here to find the event closest to you:

     http://www.the99spring.com/route.php?type=participant&code=99USSF

Local organizations and volunteers are running more than 750 trainings in living rooms, union halls, churches, and community centers nationwide. All we need now is to get as many people as possible to join in – people like YOU.

Our nation’s greatest steps forward have come when everyday people stood up and took courageous, visionary, morally compelling direct action—from the struggle to secure the vote for women, to the strikes that built power for workers and unions, to the civil rights movement.

Now we need to create that kind of change again in America.

Last year, from the Wisconsin workers who took over their state capitol to Occupy Wall Street, we saw a new movement in America using direct action to highlight the massive inequality that’s destroying our country.

The 99% Spring is our chance to maintain and broaden that changemaking energy, and learn how we can take action to challenge corporate power, end tax giveaways to the 1%, fight the influence of money in politics, and create an economy that works for all of us.

Our movement is uniting, and this is a chance for all of us to come together to shift the political landscape in America. Will you join in?

Click here to sign up for a 99% Spring action training in your area:

     http://www.the99spring.com/route.php?type=participant&code=99USSF

Thank you for all you do to make this movement real.

April 19 – Call to Action

National Day of Action to Stop Mass Incarceration

     https://A19Action.wordpress.com

On April 19th everyone who is concerned about injustice will join in saying — NO TO MASS INCARCERATION!  There will be rallies and demonstrations in cities across the country from New York to Houston, to Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.  College and high school students will hold teach ins and other actions on their campuses.  There will be cultural events held on that day.  And the architects and enforcers of mass incarceration will be challenged over the inhumanity of the policies they are inflicting on society.  Why?  Because,

    * More than 2.4 million people, most of them Black or Latino, remain warehoused in prisons across the country;
    * Black and Latino youth are treated like criminals by the police and the criminal justice system, guilty until proven innocent, if they can survive their encounters with police to prove their innocence;
    * Former prisoners wear badges of shame and dishonor even after they serve their sentences — discriminated against when applying for jobs, denied access to government assistance, not allowed in public housing, denied the right to vote.

“It is time and way past time to stand up and say NO MORE!  Our youth are being treated like criminals—guilty until proven innocent, if they can survive to prove their innocence.  The vigilante murder of Trayvon Martin concentrates the racial profiling that leads into more than 2.4 million people being warehoused in prison and the millions more who are treated like second-class citizens even after they’ve served their sentences.  April 19th must be a day of standing up and saying NO MORE to all of this.  Join us to organize a day of teach ins and rallies in high schools and colleges; a day of youth, tired of being demonized, taking to the streets—joined by many others from different backgrounds, races and nationalities who stand with them; a day of speaking bitterness to the way the whole criminal justice system abuses millions of people. All saying in a powerful voice: NO to mass incarceration and all its consequences.”

April 24 – Call to Action

The 99% Take Over the Wells Fargo Annual Shareholders Meeting, San Francisco
Non-Violent Protest and Direct Action

     https://www.facebook.com/events/203308649774621/

Wanted! Wells Fargo. Profits at the expense of our communities: America’s biggest tax dodger / leads in foreclosures / predatory lender / corrupts our democracy / student loan shark / prison & immigrant detention center profiteer.

We are a coalition of homeowners, clergy, immigrant rights advocates, unions, tenant rights groups and residents who represent some of the hardest hit communities across the country, where families and communities are being destabilized because of the outrageous practices of big Wall Street banks

In 2012 our coalition of organizations and individuals plans to continue our pursuit to engage Banks like Wells Fargo to demand that they endorse across the board and responsible principal reduction of both loans they own and loans they service. In addition, we are demanding the following:

* Responsible lending
* Transparency and accountability
* Paying what you owe
* Protecting Tenants
* Respecting Human Rights
* An End to Predatory Payday Lending

May 1 – Calls to Action

National Mobilization For Immigrant Workers Rights!

 
     http://ImmigrantSolidarity.org
 
We are calling A national day of multi-ethnic unity with youth, labor, peace and justice communities in solidarity with immigrant workers and building new immigrant rights & civil rights movement! Wear White T-Shirt; organize local actions to support immigrant worker rights!

1. No to anti-immigrant legislation, police surveillance and the criminalization of the immigrant communities.
2. No to militarization of the border.
3. No to the private prison, immigrant detention and deportation.
4. No to the guest worker program.
5. No to the NDAA.
6. Yes to a path to legalization without condition for undocumented immigrants NOW.
7. Yes to speedy family reunification.
8. Yes to civil rights and humane immigration law.
9. Yes to labor rights and living wages for all workers.
10. Yes to the education and LGBTQ immigrant legislation.

We encourages everyone to actively linking our issues with different struggles: wars in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine & Korea with sweatshops exploitation in Asia as well as in Los Angeles, New York; international arm sales and WTO, FTAA, NAFTA & CAFTA with AIDS, hunger, child labors and child solider; as well as multinational corporations and economic exploitation with racism and poverty at home—in order we can win the struggle together at this May Day 2012!

 

Occupy May 1st, General Strike

     http://OccupyMay1st.org

Worldwide, May 1st is traditionally a ‘Workers’ day – a day of Labor Solidarity, and a public holiday. It’s a day to celebrate and march in support of im/migrant rights. In protest against the corruption of the worldwide marketplace, which has led to illegal foreclosures, mass unemployment, low wages, high taxes and a penalization of all those who do not own the ‘99%’ of the world’s resources, and in solidarity with the im/migrant movements of May 1st, we decided to declare May 1st, 2012 a People’s General Strike. Instead of calling upon unionized Labor to make a specific demand (illegal under Taft-Hartley), we are calling upon the people of the world to take this day away from school and the workplace, so that their absence makes their displeasure with this corrupt system be known.

No work! No school! No shopping! No more!
     https://www.facebook.com/occupym1

May 10 – Call to Action

World Courts of Women on Poverty in the U.S. – Western Region

http://weap.org/calendar/21/209-World-Courts-of-Women-on-Poverty-in-the-US-Oakland-.htm

We seek to break the silence! We seek to expose the violence and the high cost poverty has reaped unchecked on our community’s poor women, men and children. Four days of events will unearth solutions to eliminate poverty at its roots. Thirty-seven courts have been held around the world. Help us build a transformational movement! Coordinated by WEAP.

May 12-13 and May 20 – Calls to Action

People’s Summit and Protest NATO/G8 Summit in Chicago

     http://CANG8.org

Saturday-Sunday, May 12-13: People’s Summit. 
Sunday, May 20: Rally and March:

At the invitation of the White House, military and civilian representatives of the 28-nation US-commanded and largely US-financed North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) are meeting in Chicago, May 20-21, 2012.  We say…

    * Jobs, Healthcare, Education, Pensions, Housing and the Environment, Not War!
    * No to NATO/G-8 Warmakers!
    * No to War and Austerity!

On May 6, the White House announced that the G8 summit, scheduled for Chicago on May 19-20, will be moved to Camp David, although the NATO summit will still take place in Chicago May 20-21. To endorse the NATO/G8 protest, send an email to CANGATE2012@gmail.com with contact information.

May 12: Global Evolution Day – Rise up on May 12th, 2012

     http://May12.net
     http://InterOccupy.org/GlobalSpring

Throughout this period of civil disobedience, from Iceland to the latest uprisings in Russia and Hungary, it has become clear that not only have political systems reached advanced levels of disintegration, so have their methods of representation (they do not represent us!), and their subservience to the demands of the current crony capitalist system (rescue the people, not the banks!).

In 2011 we took to the streets, we regained our voice in public spaces, got together, opened up dialogues and shared our dreams. We came together to make it clear that we are not commodities at the behest of politicians and bankers who instate austerity policies making our lives precarious. Instead, we declare, as our fellow Greeks have already declared, that “We owe nothing, we will not pay and will not sell ourselves!”

However, what is far more important is that we also share a desire to re-appropriate our lives and the common good by means of direct participation, joint management, and ultimately the desire for a true democracy in the service of everyone.

After international forums, as well as online and face-to-face discussions, it has been decided that May 12th should be the next Global Day of Action, and May 15th a new Transnational Day of Mobilization.

Saturday 12M has been proposed as a global day of action in which we will once again take to the streets, to the squares, or wherever we can in order to carry out specific actions that will empower mass demonstrations.

Instead, 15M is intended as a global day of action, to intervene in capital flows and mobility, while simultaneously coordinating actions in order to bring awareness to the world so that it moves in a new direction. It is about building a new imaginary in order to define new human, economic and social relationships and will provide us with that transformation of power relations between governments, capitalist rule and societies. Join us.

June 8-12 – Call to Action

Ruckus 2012 Action Camp for Migrant Rights

Applications due April 10th!

     http://Ruckus.org/article.php?id=808
     Para español, vaya a http://Ruckus.org/article.php?id=823

As the economic crisis escalates, haters like ALEC and the Tea Party are fanning the flames of racism by scapegoating the poor and working class. We know that migrants — especially “undocumented” migrants — bare the brunt of this injustice through anti-migrant legislation like SB1070 in Arizona and its copycats and so-called “secure communities” policies that are spreading like crazy throughout the U.S.

But we know we can Stop the Hate! That’s why we’re teaming up with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) to train this generation’s up and coming hell-raisers on the front lines of human rights and migrant justice. AND its taking place at the historic Highlander Center!

Five full days of training with curriculum spanning:

    * Nonviolent Direct Action Theory
    * Action Strategy, Design & Planning
    * Action Climbing
    * Scouting & Action Preparation Skills
    * Blockades & Occupations for multiple applications
    * Action Communications & Tech
    * Media & Messaging
    * Creative Action Arts

Action Camp costs Ruckus approximately $1,000 per participant.  Participants are asked to contribute what they can along a sliding scale.  Scholarships are available, and no one turned away for lack of funds.

ON-GOING PEOPLES MOVEMENT ASSEMBLY ACTIVITY

East Bay Social Forum

     http://EastBaySocialForum.org

Planning for an EBSF in July 2012. Another East Bay is happening, and YOUR input is needed!

National Health Healing Justice PMA

Stacy Erenberg peachtree522@yahoo.com or Cara Page cpkindred@gmail.com

We will work together regionally and nationally to use alternative economies to provide access to healing services that will create safe spaces for wellness in our personal, communal and organizational spheres. We will build a national/regional health healing justice network that will (1) Develop multimedia approaches to document and raise awareness on the impact of wellness and healing strategies in our communities and movements; (2) Build regional convergences that cross-pollinate and leverage resources for safety and wellness nationally; and (3) Create dialogues to transfer information and traditions of resiliency and healing practices between generations.

REPORT FROM THE PMA ASSEMBLY OF ASSEMBLIES GATHERING

March 23-25, 2012 – Atlanta

The Peoples Movement Assembly has been growing and testing large-scale grassroots democratic practices in frontline communities across the country since 2006. Over 200 assemblies have happened, and the Assembly of Assemblies represents the launch of a new plan of action to grow social movements at this moment in history.

What We Did Together and How:

The Assembly of Assemblies used the tools and mechanisms of the PMA to practice & share how to facilitate assemblies. We worked from the guiding assumptions that we are in a significant movement building moment that calls for innovation in organizing efforts that are not wedded to specific ideologies or partisan stances. We affirmed that the PMAs are not neutral or liberal, and that the purpose of coming together at the Assembly of Assemblies is to build the PMA organizing process in this new period. We have successfully completed the Before/During/After process that led up to and through the second US Social Forum, and we are assessing the situation to build a new plan of action for 2012.

    * Through the Life Maps exercise, we built relationships and practiced the synthesis process.
    * Through a historical timeline of the PMA/USSF, we reviewed our collective accomplishments.
    * Through a Situational Analysis, we named the critical elements of the present moment and where movement power lies.
    * Using the fronts of struggle, we named opportunities over the next two years.
    * We discussed how assemblies have opened up opportunities and also what challenges need to be addressed within the process.
    * Based on the current moment, movement strengths, and opportunities over the next two years, we developed cohesion in the areas of coordination, education, communication, movement response, and resource development.
    * A core group met on Sunday to discuss the ideas, capacity, and implementation of the plans. 

Affirmations & Agreements:

1) The Assembly of Assemblies represents the PMA organizing efforts as well as a significant cross-section of movement building groups in the U.S.
2) The Peoples Movement Assemblies’ purpose and mission is to grow strong social movements for people’s collective liberation.
3) The Peoples Movement Assembly process ensures that our movements and organized efforts have tools and methods to accomplish that. 
4) A Core Group of organizations will coordinate the proposals and agreements from the Assembly of Assemblies to move forward a Plan of Action for 2012. (Co-facilitation of the overall process will remain with Ruben Solis and Stephanie Guilloud as co-chairs.)

Agreement on the Situation

What we face, forces in motion, and strategic opportunities:

Economic Shifts: market & state alignment / corporate capitalism reconfigures / war economy.
Militarization, State Repression, & Intervention: attacks on Black, immigrant communities / control of women’s bodies / public space militarized, surveillance, mass incarceration.
Public Infrastructure Dismantled & Human needs neglected: privatization & attacks on human needs, including but not limited to healthcare, transportation, education, food, water, and more.
Crisis in Political Leadership: public consciousness needs to be developed / media distracts / divisions, isolation, & competition undermine / power brokers and NGOs buffer between state and grassroots movements / underdevelopment in collective leadership & education re: analysis, process, action, imagination.

The above represents a preliminary synthesis of the full situational analysis developed at the Assembly. We will send out a finalized Declaration in the next few weeks. 

Relationship to the US Social Forum

    * As the national planning committee re-organizes, the Peoples Movement Assembly process will continue to build strong, informed, grassroots bases that will connect to and support the building of a third US Social Forum.
    * More detail will be worked out throughout the transition process established at the January Planning Committee meeting in Detroit.

What happens next:

    * The Core Group will produce a comprehensive framework and Plan of Action for 2012 and submit that to the representatives for approval. 
    * PMAs move forward on key fronts! – Education justice, health justice, Palestinian movement, economic alternatives, queer liberation, Southern movement, and more.
    * A synthesis of the full notes will be developed and distributed as a set of Declarations.
    * Based on the work at the assemblies smaller teams will continue to advance the education tools and content (including more on orientation, connection, etc.), develop a plan for external and internal communications, and develop a budget and resource plan.

Thanks to everyone who participated, shared, and committed to an exciting movement building process!

WHAT ARE PEOPLES MOVEMENT ASSEMBLIES?

Communities are using the Peoples Movement Assemblies (PMAs) process to gather and converge our forces, create long-term visions for our communities, integrate our movements, and make collective commitments for action.

The Peoples Movement Assembly has been an organized process integrated into the open space of the US Social Forum to provide clear mechanisms to establish political positions, integrate our work, and coordinate our local, regional, and national action plans. The PMA offers the ‘bottom-up’ opportunity to build our social movement power and advance a shared economic and social agenda. Go to www.peoplesmovementassemblies.org to download the PMA Organizing Kit to organize assemblies in your community. Plus, check out some cool short videos and other movement building information.

We will keep you posted on how to add your statewide, regional, national or international Call for Action to the next PMA Movement Action List email.

In solidarity,

PMA Coordination Team

In consultation with members of the USSF National Planning Committee

This bi-monthly Movement Action List is a no-reply list and will be moderated. You can unsubscribe from the list below.
 

     
   
 
 

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Right 2 Survive, Right 2 Survive is a homeless advocacy group made up of houseless, formally houseless folks, and their supporters.

 

R2S goes out into the community organizing people to stand up for their human, civil, and constitutional rights.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What we have found in this country And maybe were more aware of it now is one problem that were had even in the best of times and that is people who are sleeping on the grates the homeless you might say by choice 

                                                By Ronald Reagan            

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some of the things R2S is working on:

 

> Radio Show April 11th, 2012

> National Day of Action for Right to Exist April 1st, 2012

> Fundraiser April 1st, 2012

> Waive the Fines “on going action”

> Lucy’s birthday party March 22nd, 2012

> Right 2 Survive Meeting Thursday March       22nd, 2012

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By Amber Dunks

“Purpose”

 

I’ve been thinking a lot about what the purpose of Right 2 Dream Too is. Our primary goal is safe uninterrupted sleep for the houseless. However that’s not all we do. We also provide food for the hungry (when available), clothing, extra blankets (for those sleeping in doorways) and a listening ear when needed. To put it simply, we help our fellow human being. So my question is, why are we been fined and criminalized for not turning a blind eye to human suffering?

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“I have a dream” speech, August 28th, 1963

           

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of character.

            MLK

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By Ibrahim M.

                                “The Cost of Living”   

Inflation’s on a nation: can’t buy a car, to ride the bus is not cheap, and in the food department you can’t pay those prices with Jabbar’s sky hook.

                Rent is affordable to whom? the cost of living wages take home pay, won’t take you home. A one bed room apartment at least is averaging $709.00 – 1167.00 a month in Portland plus the 1st and last month’s rent and deposit. Again, I ask Affordable to Whom

What does it cost you to live in this city? As we used to say when I was growing up , “it

costs you two arms and a leg”.

Somehow the rich get richer and the poor, well, just don’t have a chance.

                Downtown on 4th and Burnside, the Right 2 Dream too Rest Area is for the houseless community, where you can sleep in tents for 12hrs plus with your partner, your pet, or by yourself, is being hit by the cost of living in the streets. The city officials are charging us an outrageous amount of money where houseless people who can’t afford to rent apartments, who can’t get a decent job, who had trouble in the past, who just can’t find a safe place to rest at night. 

                The charge is 641.00 for two months then it doubles every two months after that and it continues to double every two months and continues If we had the money  to pay the fines we wouldn’t be in tents we would be in a vacant lot. 

                There you don’t have to worry about the police fining you for trespassing, or a group walking pass you while you sleep on the side walk and do prank jokes on you like urinate on you, or being the victim of a hate crime, or being molested. That is the real cost of living on the streets.

                Have you ever wondered where will the money go that they take from the houseless people? Will it go into the affordable housing plan hum! Somebody got the terrible twos, you know two houses two cars two bank accounts, and this is old fashion down right GREED. It’s “The COST of LIVING” 

~~~~~~~~~~

By Keith Johnson 

“Top of the Stairs”

Top of the stairs at Hollywood Transit Center. “Hey Keith wait up please“. I turn around and see the that one of the youth I was talking to at the outreach center last night was running up to me. I ask him why he had stopped me. He said that he needed help to get clean. I said ok let’s go to Hooper. We went to treatment and were able to get him in. The real reason I help these youth is to show them that someone is always here to help. The Teddy Bear is there to lend a helping hand, or an ear to listen.

 UPCOMING MEETINGS

 

MEETINGS FOR R2S & R2DTOO- ARE ON THURSDAYS @ SISTERS OF THE ROAD CAFÉ FROM 5-7PM, WE’LL HAVE FOOD AND AN ACTION PACKED AGENDA! ALL ARE WELCOME

~~~~~~~~~

 

DOROTHY DAY COMMUNITY SCHOOL STARTS UP MARCH 10, 2012, FROM 1-5PM

APRIL 7-8, 2012 WILL BE A 2 DAY RETREAT. CONTACT LUCY AT SORC

Lucy@sistersoftheroad.org

~~~~~~~~~~

R2S RADIO LISTENING PARTY- KBOO 90.7AM FROM 5:30 TO 7:30

“New to the Streets’

AT SORC ON April 11th, 2012

SNACKS AND DRINKS WILL BE PROVIDED

                                ~~~~~~~~~

Fundraiser April 1st at the Red and Black café from 7pm to 10pm come join us it will be a blast

 

National Day of Action: Right to Exist April 1st at Pioneer Square from 2-4pm. Please come be part of this action. We will also be having a Right 2 Dream Too action there as well.

 

Lucy’s birthday is 3/22/12.  It’s being held at Andrea’s Cha Cha club. Donations are going to Right 2 Dream Too. So come enjoy food and dancing.

 

By Art Rios Sr.

“Beyond the Streets”

It was cold outside, nowhere to go to get out of the rain. It stormed that night and I was soaked to the bone. My tent my blankets as well as my backpack with all my important papers. What was I to do? Coming to my wits end I could not take it anymore. The next day i went and signed up for CCC housing. They said it would be awhile before they could help me. I was not ok with that. One month, 6 months, then 2 years, then again another year. They called me and told me that I would need my ID, Birth Certificate, Pay Stubs, or income. I told them I was staying at the Clarke Center. It was very hard staying there. During all this I had about a $100 addiction. I was in and out of jail, court, and sometime a lot of treatment centers.  Did my best and finally graduated out of Stop Court. 667 days in the program. Yes now I have housing and moved into my own apartment. Started working with Sisters of the Road. I’m an Advocate for the Houseless. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. You just have to find it in your heart and soul.

Art

                                                                                                

Contact us: R2SPDX@GMAIL.COM

FACEBOOK: Right to survive

PHONE: 503-839-9992

WWW.RIGHT2SURVIVE.WORDPRESS.COM Image

PRESS RELEASE
3/8/12
For Immediate Release
Ibrahim Mubarak

503-839-9992

or

Mamie Gathard

503-453-5090

Email: r2spdx@gmail.com

Candlelight Vigil under the Morrison Bridge Saturday evening to honor two houseless men who were shot there
 

Right 2 Survive calls for show of solidarity after hate crime


PORTLAND, OR -March 8, 2012- Members of Right 2 Survive will hold a candlelight vigil under the southeast side of the Morrison Bridge Saturday to honor two men who were shot while sleeping there. Right 2 Survive, a group of houseless and formerly houseless people working to defend the rights of those who are experiencing homelessness, is asking people of the houseless community and supporters to show solidarity with Carter Hickman and Albert Dean who were shot early in the morning of February 22. Both men survived the shootings, but one remains hospitalized.

 

“Even through this hate crime, we are sticking together,” says Mamie Gathard, a Right 2 Survive member. “We want to show people that those of us in the houseless community are human beings.”

 

Right to Survive members ask that people wear black to the event which will take place under the southeast side of the bridge near Belmont and SE Water Avenue. The vigil will include a period of silence to show respect to the two men who were shot. Representatives from the houseless community will address the issues of violence against those living on the streets and the importance of standing together in the face of attacks like this one.

 

Candlelight Vigil

Saturday March 10

8-9pm

Under the Morrison Bridge-SE Belmont and SE Water Avenue

 

 

 

Right 2 Survive is a group of houseless and formerly houseless individuals dedicated to teaching about and defending the human civil and constitutional rights of people experiencing homelessness.
http://right2survive.wordpress.com/

 

# # #

PORTLAND, ORE February 24, 2012–

Shortly after the horrifying shooting of two sleeping, unhoused men on Wednesday morning, the people of Right 2 Dream Too learned that at least one of the men had recently been an overnight guest at our rest area on NW 4th & Burnside. That man attempted to secure a safe place to sleep at R2DToo on Tuesday evening, but all spaces were taken by the time he arrived. Instead, he walked over the river to sleep on Belmont Street, under the Morrison Bridge, where he and his friend found shelter from the rain.

All of us at Right 2 Dream Too are grateful that both men survived the attack and hope for a speedy recovery for the man still hospitalized. People living on Portland’s streets un-sheltered are no strangers to so-called “random” acts of violence perpetrated by others who stereotype them and see them as less than human. But the degree of viciousness and inhumanity in these attacks have left have left people in our community shaken and frightened.

We support local and national efforts to include the unhoused as a protected class in existing hate crime legislation, like Oregon House Bill 2964, sponsored by Representative Michael Dembrow. The National Coalition for the Homeless, in their campaign to pass similar Federal legislation, notes that: “Hate crimes may effectively intimidate other members of the community, leaving them feeling isolated, vulnerable and unprotected by the law.” Today, that is the state Portland’s unhoused find themselves in.

We call upon Portland’s City Council to recognize that dehumanization of people experiencing homelessness exists on a continuum that begins with its own policies that target the unhoused. The Sidewalk Management Ordinance literally shoves people without shelter to the curb. The anti-camping ordinances that apply on public and private property expressly prevent the unhoused from gathering together to keep each other safe and build community.

Right 2 Survive, a group dedicated to defending the rights of people experiencing homelessness, started Right 2 Dream Too as an alternative to these dehumanizing practices, to demonstrate that those of us who are or have been unhoused can organize solutions that provide safety and shelter at no cost to taxpayers. Our project is a not a complete solution to homelessness, but we have in a few short months provided a safe place to sleep for hundreds of people who would have been on the street and provided a base for several people who have obtained permanent housing. In the face of insufficient funding for traditional shelter space, the most severe housing crisis since the Great Depression, and the overburdened and inadequate social safety net, we think it is past time for City Council to acknowledge that immediate and affordable alternatives must exist side-by-side with Portland’s long-term efforts to end homelessness. Not doing so exposes the people who Right 2 Dream Too must turn away every night for lack of space to the types of violence perpetrated against these two men last Wednesday morning. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Right 2 Dream Too provides refuge and a safe space to sleep undisturbed for Portland’s unhoused community who cannot access affordable housing or shelter. R2DToo was established on World Homeless Action Day, October 10, 2011.

Right 2 Survive is a group of houseless and formerly houseless individuals dedicated to teaching about and defending the human civil and constitutional rights of people experiencing homelessness. # # #

Dear Commissioner Saltzman,

I’m writing to ask you to take the necessary steps to support the Right 2 Dream Too, a group of homeless individuals who are currently sleeping in tents on the corner of 4th and Burnside.  I am concerned that the city is approaching this group as if they were a non-profit with a huge budget or even worse, a private developer attempting to set up a tourist facility.

In reality, Right 2 Dream Too is an organization made up of the most vulnerable citizens of Portland, who are assisting each other in getting the services they need – the most basic of which is a place to sleep.  The location makes it possible for people to access the other services in the area, including food, showers, health care, clothing, AA meetings and more.  A number of “Dreamers” have found jobs and housing, during the past 3 months.  Not only that, those who continue to struggle with unemployment, houselessness, and addiction recovery, are part of a community of support.  At R2Dtoo, people have the basics they need to lift themselves up, instead of focusing on basic survival, as they are chased out of doorways and from under bridges.

You know as well as I do that zoning violations can be addressed in many ways.  Recently, the council passed an ordinance instructing BDS to ignore code violations for a pilot program which allows a small number of people to camp in their vehicles on church property.  In Seattle, an ordinance was passed last year that allows groups of up to one hundred people to camp on church property.  Why don’t you and the other commissioners put your heads together and come up with an ordinance to support the activities of Right 2 Dream Too?  Even better, why not talk to Right 2 Dream Too as equals, instead of telling them what they need to do.  Listen to the people who know the reality of being homeless in Portland, and thank them for coming up with solutions that work.  Then give them the administrative and financial support necessary for implementing programs that benefit the entire community.

When you say that fines are being assessed against the property owner, it obscures the issue, which is that the tenants, a group of homeless individuals, are the responsible party as the lease holders.  These fines punish homeless people for trying to find a safe and legal means of survival.

There is a great deal of support for Right 2 Dream Too.  It is growing every day.  The “Dreamers” have even won over many members of the Old Town China Town community who initially were concerned about their presence.  Surely the city government can take the lead from these visionaries, and come to the table with concrete support.  It does not benefit the city, or the downtown businesses, to displace people back into the doorways, and under bridges.

Let’s work on a win-win solution.

Sincerely,

Trillium Shannon

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Thank you for your email regarding the Right 2 Dream Too site.

I share your view that ending homelessness in our community is a top priority. Everyone deserves a safe place to call home.

The Portland Housing Bureau, which I oversee, invests in proven strategies to help people find affordable homes, access services, and escape the weather in local shelters.

I recognize the service R2D2 provides to those who use the site. At the same time, there are state and City regulations that govern how sites can be used and what development standards must be met. These rules apply to everyone, without exception.

My understanding is that there are a small number of building standard violations that the property owner will need to meet to comply with the City’s code. I also understand that R2D2 organizers have had a number of meetings with Commissioner Saltzman, who oversees the Bureau of Development Services, and City staff, who have explained the rules that apply and what the site will need to do to become legal.

As with other sites that are out of compliance with City code, the R2D2 site will continue to accrue fines until it the violations are addressed.

Thanks again for sharing your views with me.

Sincerely,

Nick Fish

www.portlandonline.com/fish