Hey People!

This just in - the Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP) will be running the #Right2Rest Act in Oregon again this year!!

Earlier this month, WRAP (a coalition of organizations that includes Right 2 Survive, Sisters of the Road and Street Roots in Oregon) discussed the criminalization of poor and homeless communities to politicians in the Senate and the Assembly in Salem. We had a great response and left the building with new allies and supporters; excited to help us move this legislation for the second year.

The #Right2Rest Act decriminalizes sitting, sleeping, lying down, eating and resting in public space for people who have nowhere else to go to do these life-sustaining activities. While it seems that honoring everyone’s right to exist in public should be an easy win, we know from our experience moving similar legislation in Colorado and California that this will not be a simple fight.

Thank you for standing with us. Together we will continue to build our power to overturn anti-homeless laws and create a world where we can all thrive.

In the next few months we will be holding community forums, talking to folks on the streets about the ways they are being harassed, ticketed and jailed for existing while poor and teaching each other about the legislative process.

We need your help to push the state legislature to invest in poor and homeless communities by ending criminalization now. Here is how you can help!

• Invite Oregon organizers to come to your community and hold a forum to talk about criminalization and the Homeless Bill of Rights campaign.

• Participate in WRAP’s street outreach (English Street Outreach Form - Spanish Street Outreach Form)to people on the streets in your neighborhood to hear their experiences and build a collective voice around criminalization.

• Provide connections with universities who want to do research on criminalization or others who want to support moving the Right2Rest in 2017.

• Donate to WRAP or the 3 core members of WRAP (Right 2 Survive, Sisters of the Road and Street Roots)

• Provide connections with artists who want to make art to support this organizing work.

Stay tuned for updates!
In solidarity,
Oregon Homeless Bill of Rights organizers