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Thread | It is important for more of us to know what the C3PO camp villages in @pdx actually are — to counter the reckless lies launched in a video (I’m not going to give it any more oxygen by linking to it). I’ll do my best to lay out some of what I know:
These three camp villages were set up in April through a grassroots coalition working with the city of #pdx. As services receded like the tide in the pandemic, many unhoused people were left, standing on barren land — no libraries or day spaces & few services.
The camps addressed public health needs — the need to shelter in place, the need to access hygiene support such as sinks and toilets, the need to physically distance, the need to have safety from violence, and the need so many of us have for both autonomy and community.
This is the early account I wrote in my @StreetRoots column, trying to get some of the facts down when the C3PO camps were first erected. https://www.streetroots.org/news/2020/04/10/3-temporary-campsites-open-next-week-more-unhoused-people-shelter-place
And here’s how @_jlevinson described the C3PO camp villages for @OPB https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.opb.org/news/article/portland-oregon-coronavirus-covid-19-temporary-emergency-outdoor-shelters/%3foutputType=amp
Here is an account by @AaronMesh in @wweek: https://www.wweek.com/news/city/2020/04/10/portland-is-opening-three-tent-villages-for-homeless-people-during-the-pandemic/
And here is an account of C3PO by @MollyHarbarger for @Oregonian https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.oregonlive.com/coronavirus/2020/04/portland-opens-three-outdoor-homeless-camps-to-try-to-contain-spread-of-coronavirus.html%3FoutputType%3Damp
They have been run as a village model, with councils by the residents. People who live there help run them and govern them. Some unhoused people staff them, earning badly needed wages, thanks to the work of @pdxjoin in partnership with the city.
And supporters pitch in, like artist and Gather:Make:Shelter Director Dana Louis, who created an art-scrim to create on the outside of the two camps on S.E. Water Avenues. @orartswatch https://www.orartswatch.org/artful-solutions-to-foster-community/
In the two S.E. Water Avenue camps targeted in the video, priority is give to people who are trans, gender non-conforming and queer, as well as priority for folks who areBlack, Indigenous & POC— populations disproportionately impacted by homelessness and underserved in responses.
The name C3PO is an acronym for Creating Conscious Communities with People Outside, but it is also playful, extending the Star Wars theme of the safe-sleep space in #PDX called R2DToo, an acronym for Right 2 Dream Too.
There are as many stories as campers — villagers — but I carry three in my heart, all @StreetRoots vendors. The man who barely survived on the Old Town sidewalk for years who is thriving now that he has both autonomy and community. Both are important.
The woman who was repeatedly violently attacked on the streets, often sleeping on bare grass on the water front, brought wild flowers wrapped in butcher paper 
into @StreetRoots to celebrate the safety she found in a C3PO camp.
into @StreetRoots to celebrate the safety she found in a C3PO camp.
The man who remarkably manages his mental illness as best he can with medication while on the streets but who, he tells me, has so much more mental calm 
now that he has a steady place to return, day after day, without fear of attack. The voices he hears are quieter.
now that he has a steady place to return, day after day, without fear of attack. The voices he hears are quieter.
Without fear of attack. That is why this focus on these blue-tarped camps near the Hawthorne Bridge is particularly insidious. Given little by society, at least unhoused people should have safety.
Olivia Wolf wrote this @ORHumanities profile of C3P0 campers, beautifully titled, “The Family You Choose.” Here are more stories to help you counter the lies. http://oregonhumanities.org/rll/beyond-the-margins/the-family-you-choose/
Counter the lies with facts. Counter the dehumanization with stories. Much effort for much love. 
Here is a photo essay that @extracelestial published in @StreetRoots on one of the camps that's targeted with misinformation. https://www.streetroots.org/news/2020/04/18/photos-lgbtq-camp-opens-portland-response-covid-19
Another story. @StreetRoots often called for the @RadioCab wheelchair transport van to help people move to the C3PO camps because so many unhoused people rely on wheelchairs & walkers. The same driver showed up again & again, loving, patient, contributing to this Herculean effort
