Take a look at the wide of range of civil rights, legal, and activist groups, along with more than 3000 Portlanders that have endorsed a compassionate response to homelessness. From the ACLU to Portland Assembly, from the Portland National Lawyers Guild to Portland’s Resistance, all of these organizations, plus religious leaders, academics, politicians, and community organizers agree that the current strategy of handling the homeless crisis by arresting people on the streets is not the answer. Instead of lobbing insults at Portland as police union head Daryl Turner has done, or denying that more than half of arrests being of homeless people requires a new strategy, as Mayor Ted Wheeler has suggested, how about listening to the people most affected by this crisis: the homeless. As executive director of Street Roots put it in her recent column, “My fear is that such a moment becomes a heated drama between prominent people wrapped up in defensiveness and blame, when the people who really matter are the people who are homeless. Their voices are not at the center.” With that I mind, I commend to you the excellent reporting in Street Roots that highlights the voices of the homeless. Co-Sponsors: Institutions Portland Civil Rights Law Office Democratic Socialists of America (DSA-Portland) Oregon Justice Resource Center (OJRC) Don't Shoot Portland Village of Hope Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP) Portland's Resistance Portland National Lawyers Guild Enlace American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Portland, Oregon Oregon Poor People's Campaign Street Roots Vendor Political Engagement Committee Portland Assembly Individuals Elliott Young, Professor of History Lewis & Clark College Crystal Maloney, attorney James Ofsink, community organizer Reiko Hillyer, Assistant Professor of History, Lewis & Clark College Kaia Sand, Executive Director of Street Roots Sarah Iannarone, former mayoral candidate Jo Ann Hardesty, NAACP President, Portland Branch (2015-18), candidate for City Council Gregory McKelvey, founder of Portland's Resistance Cameron Whitten, Lead Advocate - Brown Hope Nadya Okamoto, founder of Period Movement Bobbin Singh, Executive Director of Oregon Justice Resource Center (OJRC) Teressa Raiford, candidate for mayor Jules Boykoff, Professor of Political Science, Pacific University Michael Fuller, attorney Ibrahim Mubarak, founder of Right to Dream 2 Margot Black, founder Portland Tenants United Rabbi Ariel Stone, Portland Interfaith Clergy Resistance and Congregation Shir Tikvah Colin Jones