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Vote : Reaching out to young people’
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throughourt California to increase voter
turnout,” said Jennifer Fernandez Ancona,
the communications director for Vote
Hope. :
“We are ruachu'i out to young people,
people of color, online community,
young professionals and nontraditional vot
ers at peer-to-peer meetings and happy
hours — byinging the message to them
rather than them coming to us.”
“Vote Hope chairman, Steve Phillips, has
a team of at least 10 activists who collec
tively are committed to improving society
on the issues of poverty, race, education and
5.
il ha ke in San Franciso ol
itis for more than 20 years in various
capadities as an elected official, attorney and
education reformer.
In May, Vote Hope organized a group of
40 Black pastors from throughout
Northern California to address issues
important to thousands of churchgoers.
The discussion varied from the viability of
ending poverty to the popular effort of pro
viding health care to everyone.
Vote Hope is currendy organizing a sim
ilar event with church hdas@‘:ngSmxdun
ing demographics of California, Vote Hope
Legislative Black Caucus (LBC) chair
man Mervyn Dymally (D-Los Angeles)
Guilford
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a painting and achieve the same
affects as in watercolors. Therefore,
I get a more translucent, ethereal
eflgct in a shorter period of time,”
he explained.
Guilford is passionate about
teaching, evangelizing, and working
with at-risk children. “It is so’
important that we take time to
inspire, motivate, and validate our
children. We have a responsibility to
give back to our future because we
are our brother’s keeper,” he advo
cated. Guilford also enjoys song
writing and singing.
Samuel Guilaf.ord attributes his
finesse to artisans who were trail
blazers and non-conformists. His
lists as his mentors, “Henry O.
says there are no mdre so-called “Black
Seats.” He frequendy tells hopefuls that
candidates must campaign on issues other
than race.
Jealous agrees with Dymally’s assessment.
As an example of what he alls nontradi
tional candidates focusing on issues, he rat
tes off names like Assemblymember Karen
Bass (D-Los Angeles), Congresswoman
Barbara Lee (D-CA), Los Angeles Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa, Assembly Speaker
Fabian Nunez (D-Los Angeles), San
Frandisco City assessor Phil Ting and San
Frandisco district attorney Kamala Harris.
M:s. Bass has carved out a niche as a cru
sader among foster care advocates and
community organizing for self-sufficiency,
yet she was elected in a district where the
Black vote is diluted by the community’s
ethnic diversity with Whites and Latinos
dominating the polls in most of her district.
And in the Bay Area, voters sport bumpers
stickers that read, “Barbara Lee Speaks For
Me,” mostly referring to her stance against
for quality social services. Yet, the voting
majority of her district come from the
“Others should have opportunities to
compete in politics,” Jealous says, referring
to Vote Hope's effort to develop non-tradi
tional elected officials.
“More competition should create better
leadership,” he said. “The question is, how
do we get these different groups on the
same agenda?””
Tanner, the first recognized black
artist in America. His paintings of
family inspired me. Two in particu
lar were: The Banjo Player where the
father is teaching his son to play the
banjo, and Daniel in the Lion’s Den.
I found myself connected to his
work spiritually. Paul Cézanne, a
French Impressionist. I admired that
he did not conform to society but
stayed true to himself as a strong
colorist and presented the ordinary
in an extraordinary way. James Van
Der Zee, African American photog
rapher; he catalogued the Harlem
Renaissance in the north and gave
blacks hope in the Promised Land,
he concluded.faith, by leaning on the
AUGUSTA FOCUS
Custody
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tion makes it a priority to place children
with relatives. Graf is legally unable to
discuss the specifics of Smith’s case, but
says childrens extended families often
make the best caregivers for a child in
the foster care system. She also says offi
cials are doing more to connect children
with relatives.
“We are not happy with the number
of children placed with relatives,” she
says. “Wed like to have more of them.”
Graf says foster children placed with rel
atives are less likely to be disruptive or
move out; and more likely to be suc
cessful. And new studies say displaced
children are safer in the homes of rela
tives than with foster parents, she says.
To increase the number of foster chil
dren living with blood relatives,
Oregon’s Child Welfare Department
sends foster parent recruiters to court
hearings, where relatives often accompa
ny parents, to identify possible care
givers. The Commission on Children
and Families also provides training for
department supervisors to help reach
out to relatives.
But it’s hard to make a foster parent
out of someone who isn’t prepared to
take on young children. In addition to
their own lives, relatives often have chil
dren of their own and are not paid by
the state ~ as a normal foster parent
would be. However, a law recently
passed by the Legislature this year
should fix that problem by providing
payments to all foster parents, begin
ning Jan. 1, 2008.
They must also complete foster parent
certification training and pass a criminal
background check — most violent crimes
completely exclude a person from
becoming a foster parent, but many
other crimes, including drug convic
tions, are judged on a case-by-case basis
— and be approved for the foster parent
application.
Age, says Graf, is never used as a fac
tor in the application process, and says
having grandparents take care of chil
dren is quite common. There are adult
to children ratios that affect a relative’s
chance of gaining temporary custody;
m w. one P‘r‘
ent can mm children or two
parents can care for seven children.
The size of a house is also an issue,
July 19, 2007
although Graf says the department gen
erally just wants to make sure every
child has a room, even if they have to
share one.
Helping Smith deal with her case is an
organization called Mother Interrupted,
which takes a very critical look at child
welfare agencies in Oregon and across
the United States. Susan Detlefsen, the
organization’s president, said she’s sad
dened that someone willing to fight to
provide a home for their grandchildren
has been denied custody.
“She is unlike a lot of grandmothers
because she’s willing to do whatever it
takes,” Detlefsen says of Smith.
She said she helps parents, grandpar
ents and other relatives fight for custody
of their children in a system she believes
judges a mother or father guilty until
proven innocent. Detlefson’s daughter
was taken from her when she was 13,
after the girl overdosed on aspirin.
Detlefsen says she felt powerless to chal
lenge her case, and only after a year and
a half of fighting the state did her
daughter returned home.
Unfortunately, she says, her personal
story and Smith’s are not isolated indi
dents. -
“I hear from people everyday like
Carollyn Smith,” Detlefsen says. “What
state workers fear most is public expo
sure.”
Smith has retained a lawyer to help
her through the appeals process.
According to Graf, a person who has
been denied foster eligibility can take
their case to a hearings officer. That offi
cer is an administrative law judge in the
Office of Administrative Hearings,
which is under the Employment
Department. For foster applicants, the
formal appeals process ends there.
“People can complain to us anytime,”
she said. “Sometimes, where situations
look marginal, it is hard to make deci
sions. We encourage people (and chil
dren) to give us feedback. ... What you
really have to do is figure out what’s best
for the children.”
Carollyn Smith says she knows what's
best for her grandchildren — staying
together with their grandmother. Until
that happens, Smith says, she’ll come
back each Thursday to tell her story, and
keep up her one-woman vigil.
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