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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels October 12, 2004 Living 'off the grid' By Chris Honor� and Andrew Scot Bolsinger Ashland Daily Tidings While most of us will never know true poverty, for an increasing number of Ashlanders, poverty defines their very existence. Their lives are fraught with stress and uncertainty, and many live with an abiding sense of despair. Two men who didn't want to be identified get creative with one of their signs at the corner of Tolman Creek Road and Ashland Street. Andrew Mariman | Ashland Daily Tidings All too often they suffer in silence, seemingly invisible, or glimpsed, however briefly, only in our peripheral vision. "The poor and homeless are among the most unseen segment of our society," says Taylor Kohn, manager of the Ashland Department of Health Services. Cause and effect Clearly, the reasons for falling into poverty are as diverse as those who are affected by its stark reality. The quintessential American Dream, that ideal of simply pulling yourself up by your boot straps through hard work and tenacity is, for some, simply unattainable. But whatever the causes, whatever the circumstances, American society has built into its social fabric a safety net that exists for the sole purpose of catching those among us who find themselves on the precipice of financial or personal ruin. One agency that is part of the safety net is the Ashland Department of Human Services. It is there that a single mother, or a suddenly unemployed father can find temporary aid to needy families (TANF), food stamps (the Oregon Trail Card) and information about how to enroll in Oregon's Health Plan. DHS can also assist with a job search, preparing a resume, help earning a high school degree, instruction on life skills or assistance with finding work. A case manager assists with the sole objective of returning an individual or a family back to being self-sufficient. Agencies like the Ashland Food Bank, ACCESS Inc. and the Interfaith Community Care of Ashland, work together with local churches and service organizations to provide a safety net. But for most, taking a step back from the edge is a long and difficult road. Betty and her husband, Don (not their real names), have a small child and both go to school. Neither works. They are full-time students struggling to get along on student loans and aid from Human Services. Their situation, while not unique, is perhaps difficult, at first, to comprehend. If both Betty and Don chose to work at jobs that pay minimum wage, then one of their salaries would go to child care. The other salary would be what they have to live on, a sum that will not lift them above the threshold of poverty. Betty insists that "If I work 40 hours a week, I can't make enough to support myself and my child. I tried it. I go to work, I pay child care and I fall behind. It's a cycle that is almost impossible to break out of. You need a job with benefits that allows you to go forward. I already have a college degree but all I can find is a job at Denny's. My husband has gotten work as a bartender, but it's seasonal. So we returned to school. I hope I can get an advanced degree that will land me a job that really pays. That's what I am betting on. I didn't know what else to do." The couple's budget, like many in Ashland where housing prices are among the highest in the state, is consumed by their rent payment. "[Rent] is almost half of what we get each month to live on," Betty says. "The choices we have to make each month are hard. We can't afford to do most things that people take for granted." Unlike many living under the threshold of poverty, Betty and Don see a hope for a better future through their education. But for now, poverty defines their existence. "For me, being the person who in the family has to be the one to shop, it's embarrassing," Betty says. "The clerk knows I'm using an Oregon Trail Card. "Luckily we do have some family close by that could help us if things got desperate. But we'd rather not ask. We want to do this on our own and be productive members of society." The end of the continuum Perhaps there is no clearer evidence of the insidious spiral of poverty than those who are called "the homeless." They are as evident in Ashland as the tourists making their way to the theater. One only has to look. After reviewing ADHS case files, Kohn estimates that there are some 450 homeless people in the Ashland-Talent area. They are those individuals who fall through the safety net and exist on the frayed fringes of our society. They are visible yet invisible; their circumstances so dire that to confront their individual situations head on is to be faced with problems of such complexity as to seem overwhelming. Actually, Kohn points out, the term "homelessness" all but defies definition and shatters all stereotypes. It is no longer the hobo-type male who rode the rails or today pushes a shopping cart. The homeless are not "bums" or "tramps." They are instead families, the young and the old, teenagers, women as well as men. Jean Hallinan, House Manager at Ashland's Interfaith Community Care of Ashland, points out that those who are homeless run a complex gamut and represent a "maze of problems." To estimate their true number, she says, is all but impossible until we fashion a new definition of who these people are. But Hallinan insists that by far the largest percentage of those who are homeless "would never choose to be." They are the people who, for myriad reasons, cannot cope with those routines and demands that even moderately successful people take for granted. There are those whose lives have been so damaged by the use of methamphetamine - a growing problem in the Southern Oregon area - that their sole purpose each day is governed by the overriding objective of finding the next hit. Meth is a debilitating, highly addictive drug, easy to manufacture; the costs to agencies and society are staggering. Hallinan says that it's hard to tell whether someone who comes through the door is on meth. She often asks herself if she is enabling the addiction. What she is certain about is its addictive qualities. She gave the example of a young woman who had come to ICCA having just gotten out of jail and shared that she was glad to be incarcerated. It was, she says, her first chance to break free of her addiction to meth. And then there are those for whom events spin out of control: a spouse leaves and the family is without means of support and find themselves suddenly without shelter; a job is lost; an expense, such as medical, or even mechanical, becomes devastating. Finally, there are the mentally ill, those who are dysfunctional because of personality disorders that are not being effectively treated or ignored altogether. Though some might be receiving aid of some kind, it is never enough to pay for shelter, so they drift along the streets, sleep where they can, and make up a significant percentage of the 1,500 people that come through the ICCA door each month. The boot straps For those who are poor or homeless, it is never just a matter of pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. Kohn points out that we must rid ourselves of the idea that everyone in American can succeed if they simply try hard enough. For those that find self-sufficiency a struggle, it is a counterproductive viewpoint that discounts the complexities of the problems faced by those who are caught in the eye of a very personal and buffeting storm. The credo of self-sufficiency, that all you need is the will and desire, runs deeply through our national character, facilitating our harsh judgment of those who are unable to muster the personal resources to prevail. Take Gary (not his real name), 36, a homeless man from the Southwest. He sustained a serious head injury when he was 17 years old and struggles to be articulate. He draws a disability check of $550 each month. He has traveled around the country, staying at missions and hostels. "I get my disability, but that ain't enough to get me in the damn front door for renting a place." When asked why he wasn't back home where he has family, he said it was his family that had kicked him out. "I really need a place to live," he said. "I'm tired of living on the street, not having a place I can call home." Need Help. God Bless. What are the solutions to this most intractable problem we generically refer to as poverty? Perhaps there are no clear answers, no ready programs, no way to cut through the Gordian knot. Still, many continue to try. Kohn of DHS suggests that long term investments in people rather than short term Band-Aids could make all the difference. "Oregon used to have more flexibility in providing the kind of financial and social support services to families in transition. But the gaps in programs that serve low-income people have gotten deeper and left more and more people without a place to turn. State, nonprofit and school budgets have all undergone substantial cuts." A broader long-term view is needed, Kohn says, one that looks at the root causes of poverty. "Cuts in education and social programs will result in more financial and social costs, in child abuse, substance abuse, crime and imprisonment," Kohn says. "As a community we should examine our own assumptions and fears about this issue." Marlene Sadler, also of DHS, pointed toward education as being the great equalizer. Invest heavily in education and that investment will pay untold dividends. "It's the difference between minimum wage and a yearly salary. Many things," Sadler says, "can be taken away from you, but not your education. If only you can stay in school." Hellman School principal Barbara Fields is well aware of the responsibility that falls to the school. Dealing with issues of poverty is no longer a sideline issue, but one that her and her staff view as a central part of their job description. Fields encourages a new mindset regarding the age-old problem of poverty, and the stereotypes that come with it. "We are taking a proactive role in finding out how better to serve those kids," Fields says. "We just get our eyes opened a little bit, about different ways of living and different backgrounds. We need to better reach out to families. As a school, we may mean very well and have very good intentions, but we can also alienate families." Despite the "economic inequities," as Fields calls the growing divide among the affluent and the impoverished kids in schools, the schools can do the most to fight the war on poverty, especially in Ashland schools, where the disparity is often so great. So many problems Dee Anne Everson, executive director of United Way of Jackson County, believes that finding a solution to poverty may be one of our most difficult problems. "Poverty isn't just one thing. One could say solve hunger, housing, provide drug and alcohol treatment and health care. The list is long. The battle epic. I believe the only real way to approach it is to bring together those with various expertise, policy and community norms people, and begin to work collaboratively," Everson says. Yet, Hallinan suggested that it is possible that the poor and the homeless will ever be with us. There will always be those who simply cannot, for multiple, often inexplicable reasons, manage to function in mainstream society. Many are addicted, debilitated by life in some horrible fashion, some have grown up with abuse that defies description, others simply cannot work in the confines of an office, or a building, or for a boss, no matter how benign. Society requires a modicum of punctuality, resourcefulness, and organization. For those who cannot function within those strictures there are few alternatives. Or perhaps their only alternative is to frame their inability to function in society as a personal choice. Hallinan says there are those who insist that homelessness is a choice. They may wander into Ashland, urban nomads, remain for a time, even years, sit in clusters in Lithia Park, gather on city benches. With pride, some refer to their life style as "living off the grid." They don't pay taxes, work very little, and try to remain completely unknown to the U.S. government. Ed Angeletti, chairperson of the Jackson County Homeless Task Force, stated that in a November 2003 survey of 130 homeless people, the number one reason given for being homeless was "by choice" - a startling and unexpected response. But regardless of who the poor are or how we might define them, if we truly look we cannot help but see. They are there. Some wander our streets, others spend their days in the park, a sad few talk endlessly to themselves, carrying on isolated monologues that are strange and incoherent. And there are those solitary figures, looking battered and worn, who stand near shopping centers or at the entrance to the highway, holding up a sign that says, "Need Food. Need Help. God Bless." What must happen to bring an individual to that moment, to that place alongside a road, holding up a cardboard plea, a cry for help, one made to strangers with the abiding hope that someone will stop and hand them something, no questions asked? How they came to be there we simply can't know. Nor can we can comprehend the depth of their despair or despondency. All we can know is that they are there. And we see them. In the words of Jean Hallinan, we can take the measure of any society by examining how they shepherd those who are damaged and those who live on the precipice of poverty. For in the end, it is they - the poorest among us, those most vulnerable - who hold up a mirror, and what we see when we look into their eyes is ourselves. This series of articles was based on the figures taken from the 2000 Census as represented in a recent report, "Jackson County Residents in Need: Indicators of Poverty from the Census 2000," prepared by Rebecca L. Reid, Southern Oregon Regional Services Institute, of Southern Oregon University. The report was prepared in 2003. While the numbers may have changed - Ashland's population has grown by more 20 percent since 2000 - the core data remains reliable and indicative of social and economic trends that are continuing, if not accelerating. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams