Library Love

"Google can bring you back 100,000 answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one."

-Neil Gaiman, Author

April 8-14th is National Library Week, and April 10th is National Library Workers Day. If you have a favorite library worker, nominate them to be included in the "Galaxy of Stars" on the National Library Worker site (read some of the submissions if you have time!)

Go visit your library! Check out a book, read a magazine, use the internet, or take your kid to storytime. All of those things are FREE at the library.

Remind your elected officials to keep investing in libraries here>>

Tax Time!

As we calculate our taxes, many of us wonder where exactly our money goes. Recording artist Cardi B's Instagram post where she asked the government that very question went viral last week. 

The video inspired replies from major media outlets like the Washington Post who answered her questions with some great infographics.

We are in favor of taxes because taxes pay for services that make our communities and our country better–schools, transportation, veterans services, healthcare, military. We also understand why there is a spike in curiosity about where exactly the money goes right around the time many of us are writing checks to our state and federal governments. 

Good news! There are tools you can use to answer that question for yourself thanks to the Digital Accountability and Transparency Act of 2014. Known as the “DATA Act,” this law is intended to make it easier for the public to follow the federal money trail. 

Follow the federal money–thanks to the DATA Act–right here>>

Get your taxes in by April 17th, or file an extension!

Learn About Fair Housing in Oregon

There are a number of lectures hosted by the Oregon Historical Society around the state (and a handful right here in Portland) in honor of the 50th Anniversary of the Fair Housing Act. 

Learn about the impact of the FHA in Portland and how it influences our housing market now. Although the lecture with author Richard Rothstein about his book "The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America" is SOLD OUT, you can still pick up a copy of the book. It made it onto the New York Times 100 Most Notable Books of 2017 list.

Learn more about the FHA Anniversary Lecture Series>>

Read more about Richard Rothstein's book>>

Fair Housing Council of Oregon

FHCO is a non-profit civil rights organization focused entirely on eliminating illegal housing discrimination through enforcement of and education about federal, state, and local fair housing laws.

These laws apply to every type of housing you could imagine from single-family homes to retirement homes and homeless shelters, and also to all aspects of offering, acquiring, and inhabiting housing–rentals, lending, appraisals, zoning, and harassment.  

Support the FHCO for a better Oregon for all>>

Fair Housing Act 50th Anniversary

This month marks the 50th Anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, a landmark piece of civil rights legislation prohibiting discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion and national origin. Progress in the arena of Civil Rights in America often does not look like an upward trajectory; it resembles a meandering creek that ultimately makes its way forward but sometimes appears to go backward in order to do so. The Fair Housing Act is no exception and, similar to the overall Civil Rights Movement, it has been called out both for accomplishing so much and not nearly enough in the same breath. 

The Fair Housing Act was presented to Congress at least twice before it was finally passed in April of 1968. President Lyndon B Johnson encouraged Congress to pass the legislation–when it was presented to them for the third time–to honor the groundbreaking work of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior who had been assassinated one week prior. Over the next twenty years, the Fair Housing Act was amended twice to include protections against additional types of discrimination in the housing market; sex was included in 1974 and disabilities and family status were included in 1988.  

I've said this before but it is worth restating; homeownership is one of the most powerful paths toward financial security. The Fair Housing Act is not a silver bullet but it is an important set of protections and it is up against decades of systemic bias and inequality in housing practices–zoning, construction, sales, lending, and rentals–in our country. This legislation is an important part of our history as a nation and also as a state considering Oregon's track record on issues like segregation, red-lining, and constitutional exclusions.  

Lest you think we can relax and trust that at the fifty-year mark the FHA is established and safe, read the New York Times coverage of recent actions by the Director of Housing and Urban Development that threaten to destabilize the FHA.

Under Ben Carson, HUD Scales Back Fair Housing Enforcement>>