DIRECTOR’S DESK | Learning from Eugene's CAHOOTS program, Portland must make it clear that a non-police response is available Just under three hours south by train and I was in Eugene, there to witness their mobile crisis support program, CAHOOTS. I ...
15 Mar 2019 - Kaia Sand
DIRECTOR’S DESK | If there's no funding for a compassionate response to crises on the streets, then support of the plan goes nowhere We’ve heard a tremendous response to the Portland Street Response plan published in our March 15 edition. The grounds ...
29 Mar 2019 - Kaia Sand
DIRECTOR’S DESK | While Portland Police Response addresses problems upstream, we're also tackling the barriers downstream I intend to write about hope, but to do that, I’ll start with some bleak moments. Bear with me. Kaia Sand is the executive di ...
26 Apr 2019 - Kaia Sand
DIRECTOR’S DESK | As the city explores how to pilot Portland Street Response, it’s reaching out to unhoused residents A snoring dog lay at the feet of Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty as she leaned back against a table, nodding. A woman described how when she ...
12 Jul 2019 - Kaia Sand
DIRECTOR’S DESK | It’s only appropriate that the people who have a key stake in the new Portland Street Response are asked to participate in the process of designing it Clipboards in hand, the teams dispatched to survey people on the streets about their e ...
26 Jul 2019 - Kaia Sand
REPORT | Portland Street Response survey, conducted with and for unhoused people There’s plenty of Trumpian cruelty toward the poorest people in our nation in the news. While it is tempting to challenge that wrong-headedness head-on, I will challenge it i ...
19 Sep 2019 - Kaia Sand
We want to change the criminal justice system – and we want you to design a logo Street Roots’ office bustles with the leadership and talents of people on the streets. On one recent day, Street Roots vendors circled around Haven Wheelock of Outside In to ...
25 Oct 2019 - Kaia Sand
DIRECTOR’S DESK | Mark says that if you want to help him, you can support a just and compassionate system Mark Rodriguez’s plight with a TriMet citation struck a chord with readers. On Friday, Nov. 8, Mark told us how he’d been served a $175 citation for ...
15 Nov 2019 - Kaia Sand
A compassionate approach to first response is popular, and we need that compassion to spill over to more areas The Portland Street Response pilot is a reality. This is a big opportunity, Portland. Now, let us take this will toward compassion, and extend i ...
22 Nov 2019 - Kaia Sand
DIRECTOR’S DESK | It was a meaningful conversation, touching on struggle, empathy and understanding Around the Street Roots office, we referred to it as the “calendar incident,” and it caused us to pause. Last week, The Oregonian reported that a firefight ...
31 Jan 2020 - Kaia Sand