Portland's Community Transitional School

I consider myself to be fairly well-informed when it comes to homelessness and hunger. It's a topic that I spend a lot of time reading up on and discussing with other folks. However, I came across a service that even I had never heard of when I went to the Project Homelessness Connect at Memorial Coliseum. The Community Transitional School, over on SE Belmont. It's a private school that serves children of families that are in transition, meaning homeless children (whether they are in shelters, staying on a friend's floor, barely int/about to lose housing. etc.). I checked out their website and I am amazed at what they offer. Things like transportation, two meals a day, supplies, clothing, field trips, food boxes...all for free. I was really impressed with the transportation. Here is how the school describes their system philosophy:

One challenge faced by homeless students is their inability to get to and from school each day. Bus services to neighborhood schools are not designed to handle the students' last-minute route changes due to frequent and sudden moves between shelters, cheap motels, friends' homes and even the family car. Even with free Tri-Met passes, public transportation can be a confusing prospect for children trying to get to school from so many different locations.

One challenge faced by homeless students is their inability to get to and from school each day. Bus services to neighborhood schools are not designed to handle the students' last-minute route changes due to frequent and sudden moves between shelters, cheap motels, friends' homes and even the family car. Even with free Tri-Met passes, public transportation can be a confusing prospect for children trying to get to school from so many different locations.

In response, we designed a transportation program to accommodate our students' complicated living circumstances. We make every effort to stay in contact with their families as they move around Portland. Many times the children themselves will call us with updates. We restructure our bus routes each day to keep pace with their families' mobility. Fifty-two percent of our students move at least once per school year. Over the past two years, one group of three siblings has moved 29 times. The oldest sibling makes the calls to tell us where they were staying. Our transportation program serves 60-70 children per day. As a result of this approach, our attendance rate hit an all-time high at 86 percent in 2005-06. This rate has steadily increased for the past three school years. Without this flexible program, the majority of our students would simply miss school.

Amazing. No judgements, no excuses, no strict rules of who is responsible for a child being in school. The children need to get to school and the school gets them there.

They don't skimp on quality in the classroom, either:

The foundation of our school is its strong academic program coupled with an emphasis on building student character. Most of our students come to us with gaps in their education. Our classroom goal is to ensure that these children are given the encouragement and tools to raise their social and academic level to that of children with stable homes who attend public schools. We have a kindergarten through 1st grade class, a 2nd through 5th grade class and a 5th through 8th grade class. All are taught by state-certified teachers, and with the help of two instructional assistants. In addition, Title I and special education services are provided on-site by Portland Public Schools. Many of our longtime classroom volunteers are retired teachers. Along with focusing on the "Three Rs," our curriculum weaves important character education lessons into every school day.

They even have the Multnomah County Mobile Medical Van come to the school twice a week for routine health check ups.

You can check out the rest, including ways to help them on their website. Someone told me yesterday that they think that the school is a part of Metropolitan Family Services (another great organization), but I don't see that on the site.

I was just really impressed. And here is the rest of it.

PSU Bomb Threat

Ugghh I was SO over this kind of crap last year at PCC.

Evidently some dufus has decided they didn't want to go to class today and left some kind of bomb threat in a bathroom on the PSU campus. The building has already been cleared and is due to reopen in about an hour.

I'm not on campus today so I guess I can afford to be more ticked than scared, but come on. What is it exactly that makes scaring people and completely disrupting their attempts to get the education that they are PAYING for, a fun and exciting thing for some people to do? Grow up, get a life, and get over it. And here is the rest of it.

America's Second Harvest and Barilla

This is the second year that Harvest has joined with Barilla (pasta maker). There is an online cookbook that you can download (it's not overly large) that features celebrity recipes and ideas. During the month of February, every time the book is downloaded, Barilla will donate $1 to America's Second Harvest, up to $100,000.

It's quick and an easy way to benefit the organization, and the food looks REALLY good!
And here is the rest of it.

We are Not Afraid

I love it. From Crooks and Liars

Economy Downturn is Personal

In the last few months, I've been able to tell that the economy is not doing all that great. My electric bill went through the roof and my grocery bill has become painful. However, I consider myself to be extremely lucky because I am in school and at least have financial aid. I also lucked out and have a part-time job that is convenient for me. I do have to admit that I've had to use my cresdit cards more often over the last six months than before, but I'm at least in a position not to be maxed out, or in default. Things are tight but there is a great deal of security that comes with being in school. It's not perfect, but I know I'm lucky.
Others are not so lucky. Everyone I know is tightening their money belts and working a bit more to make ends meet. However, it wasn't until this week, that the downturn in the economy really hit home. The Columbian newspaper, based in Vancouver, Washington is hurting. Aside from eliminating positions, folks are being laid off. Now, 30 people isn't a huge chunk of folks, I know. But my partner is among those laid off, and so it's really hit home for us. While I am glad that the paper is offering help in filing for unemployment and offering a severance package, that package amounts to about three weeks pay. Fortunately my girlfriend has accumulated a couple of weeks vacation pay, which she will receive, which means that she has close to two months pay coming. Things could be worse, but it's one of those things that just plants this little seed of fear in you (and me) about the future. I know it's the big shut downs and lay offs that make the news, but it's these smaller ones that I think most of us will be affected by, and I don't doubt that more of us will be affected as time goes on.And here is the rest of it.

House grows some cajones too

Ok, if they aren't careful, this could begin to constitute a trend...

The video is Conyers' testimony yesterday on immunity.

And then, from The Gavel:

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. released the following statement to President Bush’s commitment to work on foreign surveillance legislation through the recess:

“The President’s efforts to cast blame on FISA, echoed by his allies in Congress, show an appalling disregard for the facts. He threatened to veto any extension of the Protect America Act and, following his lead, every single Republican in the House voted against the 21 day extension I sponsored in the House. The President and House Republicans cannot have it both ways, simultaneously arguing that the PAA is essential to national security and also engineering the defeat of an extension of it. The consequences for inaction are their responsibility.
“Unfortunately, it is the same old tired rhetoric of fear that the country overwhelmingly rejected in the 2006 elections.

“From what I have seen from the Justice Department documents so far, there is no need to provide amnesty to telecommunication companies who are protected under current law, as long as they and the government are acting accordingly. I have not seen anything that leads me to believe, as the President seems to believe, that providing amnesty to these companies is a more compelling public interest than our Constitutionally protected right to privacy.

Chairman Silvestre Reyes of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence also issued a statement challenging Bush to “put partisanship aside” on the FISA debate:

The proper course is now to conference the House bill with the Senate bill that was passed on Tuesday. There are significant differences between these two bills and a conference, in regular order, is the appropriate mechanism to resolve the differences between these two bills. I urge you, Mr. President, to put partisanship aside and allow Republicans in Congress to arrive at a compromise that will protect America and protect our Constitution.
I, for one, do not intend to back down - not to the terrorists and not to anyone, including a President, who wants Americans to cower in fear.
We are a strong nation. We cannot allow ourselves to be scared into suspending the Constitution. If we do that, we might as well call the terrorists and tell them that they have won.

I could deal with that trend. Read on...

And here is the rest of it.