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Stop the fines! R2DToo is not a “recreational campground”.
What: Rally and hearing about R2DToo and R2S lawsuit against the City of Portland.
When: Thursday July 11… rally outside at 8:15am and then in the courtroom starting at 9:00am.
Where: Multnomah County Courthouse
Right to Dream Too:
Since its inception in October of 2011, Right To Dream Too’s (R2DToo) primary mission has been:
1. “…provide emergency shelter facilities for otherwise homeless individuals, using temporary and/or mobile structures to provide the conditions and environment for safe, uninterrupted sleep for up to twelve hours.” and;
2. “…to create a safe, clean, self-governed community environment for economically distressed residents of the State of Oregon, through establishment of an open-air place where people living on the streets can have their basic needs met in a stable, sanitary environment, until they are able to access another form of housing more in keeping with said resident’s personal goals and aspirations.”
In order to attain these goals, R2DToo has created a model of self governance and accountability that has provided much more than a traditional shelter normally does. This model incorporates some of the following guidelines:
1. People [Dreamers] can stay for one night or as long as it takes to find housing.
2. Dreamers agree to honor the rest area as a drug and alcohol free zone.
3. Among other rules of the rest area, Dreamers are asked to:
a. Keep each other safe.
b. Maintain cleanliness in the rest area including regular cleaning of bedding.
c. Redistribute extra food and clothing.
d. Support each other in navigating the social service maze.
e. See to the safety and security of the rest area’s perimeter.
f. Become active in advocating for their own rights and the rights of other underserved or exploited members of the community.
There are volunteers who assist R2DToo in providing peer-based support services with regard to housing, education and work, and to enter into collaborative partnerships with certain private, religious, and professional agencies or groups in the furtherance of these ends. However, these efforts are not charity, but instead are support for Dreamers in attaining a healthy self confidence that will provide the tools for independence that will lead to a transition to regular housing, jobs and other goals for their personal success. The following statistics confirm that
this model works:
Total number served since October 2011- 25,000
Number of people that found housing- 49
Number of people who found jobs- 55
Number of people who have maintained housing- 48
Number of people who have maintained jobs- 53
Number of people going to school- 5
Number of incidents requiring police intervention- 0
It is important to recognize that these successes have been accomplished on a shoestring budget that is based on mostly small donations and grants. Even with city and privately funded shelters and other homeless services, every night there is an average of almost 1900 individuals in Portland without a safe and relatively comfortable place to sleep. The city has made it clear that it does not have the funding to deal with what has become an epidemic problem. Until there are sufficient resources available to eliminate houselessness, the R2DToo model is an essential part of the responses to homelessness in Portland.
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