The Importance of Community and Mentorship

 

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hide-and-seek/201212/our-hierarchy-needs

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs argues that an individual cannot begin to prioritize their social needs before feeling secure in their ability to procure the basics of survival. Without base of sustenance, shelter, and safety, it is not impossible but very difficult to to work on fully making the connections that humans need in order to maintain their mental health. Furthermore, these relationships are incredibly important to the development of young people both to aid their brains in socially maturing as well to model healthy relationships in the future. However, if an individual—or family unit—is preoccupied with taking care of their physiological and safety needs, then they may have less energy to put towards taking part in a community. This can take a toll on long-term mental health. 

This demonstrates the importance of programs that emphasize in community building and establishing meaningful relationships among houseless youth. Providing an area where there is access to resources such as food and hygienic products(addressing the first tier of the hierarchy) coupled with an understanding team and opportunity to interact with their peers(second and third tier) is a crucial combination in creating a ‘safe space’. 

One of these programs offered in Portland, Oregon is Friends of the Children. Full time employed staff, known as “friends” are assigned to individual children and meet with them on a regular basis to aid in their education as well as establishing a mentor connection with them. As long as the youth is enrolled in the program, they are guaranteed their “friend” for 12.5 years (the duration of the K-12 education track). They have a fantastic success rate and have been established for around 25 years. Programs such as Friends of the Children are a great example of acknowledging the importance of basic needs when also working on community building.

Learn more about Friends of the Children

More PDX youth programs and shelters

Providing a Space for the Arts

https://www.facebook.com/artworksgallerypdx/photos/a.108810844084295/130047691960610

At this point it is a fairly well-known concept ago introduce avenues for creative work early in youth education. Providing classes and in class time for artistic learning from Pre-K all the way through high school has a great deal of benefits to students who are able to participate. Early involvement in the arts is a fantastic source of creative expression for young people, but it also can help with self-confidence, stress relief, and overall problem solving. 

However, many public schools suffer lack of funding that result in under-funded arts programs, and at times classes may require fees from their students for supplies. Some programs even require time to meet outside of school. While these obstacles aren’t put in place specifically to make students lives particularly difficult, they can prevent opportunities to those who might not be in the position to pay fees or coordinate transportation despite their interest in the program. In fact, the ability to make it to school for access to such programs might not even be attainable in some cases. 

Creative expression is too often an unattainable privilege for houseless youth because of these barriers. This demonstrates the importance of projects like p:ear, who hold classes and workshops in the arts specifically for houseless youth. Some of their subjects include graphic design and screen printing. Participants also have the chance to display and sell their completed work in p:ear’s own gallery, which is refreshed every month for Portland’s monthly art walk. P:ear does not require fees of their students; instead they rely on donations from the public (this includes art supplies, but ranges from snacks to hygienic products as well). 

Donate supplies to p:ear here

See artwork at the p:ear gallery

More about p:ear

Free Food For Students in Need

A colorful diet 

It's always heartening to see people stepping up where help is needed. With the exorbitant costs of textbooks, rent in Portland, and tuition, more and more students are needing assistance to just get by. Despite working a part-time or even full-time job, most college students take free food anywhere they can get it. It's unfortunate that being a college student these days generally means being broke all the time. At Portland State University, however, there is a great resource for students who need food. 

Every week day from 12:30-2:30 pm, the Portland State University Food Pantry is open to students in need. Students can pick out what food they need from a large selection of free items. The PSU Food Pantry buys up to 5,000 pounds of food each week from the Oregon Food Bank, giving students many options to pick from. PSU has also partnered with Harvest Share to provide the Free Food Market, a program that meets every second Monday of the month that is welcome to all PSU students, faculty, staff and community members. 

Homelessness and poverty are big issues that we all we all see daily, but these events can really help folks get back on their feet and provide a great resource for free food. 

If you or a student you know is in need, follow the links below for more details. 

Food Assistance through PSU

Additional Resources through PSU

Monthly Free Food Market

How to Navigate Portland’s Food Deserts

Food Deserts by census tract in Portland, Oregon. 

Source: United States Dept. of Agriculture food desert locator. 

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines food deserts as: “parts of the country vapid of fresh fruits, vegetables, and other healthful whole foods, usually found in impoverished areas. This is largely due to a lack of grocery stores, farmers’ markets, and healthy food providers.”

The above map from the USDA’s interactive Food Desert Locator shows that large portions of the Portland metropolitan area (when measured by census tract) meet Food Desert criteria as they have low access and low income where “a significant number of share of residents are more than a half mile from the nearest supermarket.”

If you reside in a Portland area food desert what can you do?

The Oregon Food Bank and ride sharing service Lyft have partnered to offer subsidized rides to grocery stores for the cost of a bus ticket, or up to $15. The Lyft Grocery Access Program seeks to “reduce the time, transportation, and financial barriers to healthy food access,” according to Lyft.

For information on how to access the Lyft GAP program visit:

https://www.oregonfoodbank.org/

or,

https://blog.lyft.com/posts/2019/4/25/removing-transportation-barriers-to-healthy-food

To learn more about Food Deserts and access the USDA’s interactive Food Desert Locator visit:

https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/go-to-the-atlas/