jovan young - Oregon Business Council

JOVAN YOUNG
Age 38
African American
Married with 4 children
ages 10-17
Lives in Gresham
Jovan Young grew up in NE Portland, the daughter of an
interracial couple. In the 1970s, she felt like she was straddling two
worlds. “There was the outside world where I spoke in the street
vernacular. Then there was the inside world where my mother
only allowed proper English. We lived in a black neighborhood. My
mother was the only white woman.”
Jovan’s father worked in a steel mill but it wasn’t enough to support
a family of five. He grew marijuana in the house to supplement
their income; adding to the feeling that the world inside her home
was a secret. Her parents fought frequently.
“When it got bad, my mom would take us away. She pawned family
jewelry until the money ran out. Then we’d move back in with my
dad.”
When Jovan was in seventh grade, she and her mother and sisters
moved out for good. Her mother cleaned houses while Jovan took
care of the kids. When there wasn’t food for dinner her mother
served popcorn because it “expands in your stomach and will make
you full all night.”
Jovan’s mother eventually got a job traveling around the state to
preform hearing tests for OSHA. She was away a lot. Over time a
rift developed between Jovan and her mother. Jovan dropped out of
high school sophomore year and moved out.
“I was desperate. I went to the Green House for Homeless Youth.
That’s where I heard about Job Corps. I went to a program in Idaho
where I learned a trade and skills to be self-sufficient. Ten months
later I came back to Portland as a Certified Nursing Assistant.”
Jovan’s success was short lived. That year, at 18, she was caught
stealing and lost her CNA license. With no income she applied for
transitional housing with Outside In. She lived in the Danmoore
Hotel in downtown Portland and became pregnant with her first
child.
“I managed to get a job but motherhood just does something to
you. I wanted to be with my baby so I quit and applied for rental
assistance, then TANF. I was on welfare for about two years and
during that time I had a second child.”
Jovan tried beauty school before landing a job in phone sales at
US West. She worked long days and a quarter of her income went
to daycare. She hated that her kids spent more time in daycare
than they did with her. When she was 23 Jovan met Edwin Young.
Ed grew up in north Portland the son of steelworkers. After high
school he went to work at a steel foundry. Not long after they met,
he and Jovan got married, got an apartment with her two children
and had a child together. Jovan left her job.
“Times were tough. We had no assistance and were just slightly
above the range for food stamps. We shared a winter coat and a bus
pass. And then we got evicted.”
Jovan and Ed qualified for Section 8 housing. Ed worked as a day
laborer and Jovan got a job as a cashier at Dollar Tree. “But I knew I
wanted something more.”
With the help of housing assistance, Jovan could
finally afford to go to school. She got her AA
from PCC, BA from PSU and plans to go on for a
master’s degree in community development.
She is working to pay off her student loans and Ed continues to
seek better, living wage employment. They are determined to
provide the kind of life for their children they didn’t have growing
up.
Jovan is gregarious, outspoken and politically active. She’s a
manager at a residential treatment home, serves on the Centennial
school board and is involved in the Committee for Sustainable
Portland. “I’m there to give a voice to those least heard. Right now
I feel more stable than I ever have, but we’re still teetering on the
threshold. I’ll feel stable when I can pay my bills, save some money
and not worry about spending. The boat is tippy but I can see the
dock.”
FAMILIES WITH YOUNG CHILDREN IN POVERTY
THERE ARE ABOUT 164,900 OREGONIANS IN SINGLE- OR TWOPARENT HOUSEHOLDS IN POVERTY WITH CHILDREN AGES 0-4.
MORE THAN HALF OF THESE INDIVIDUALS ARE CHILDREN OR TEENS.
HOUSEHOLD COMPOSITION
78% TWO PARENTS
20% FEMALE
SINGLE PARENT
2% MALE
SINGLE PARENT
DISABILITY STATUS OF ADULTS
ABLE BODIED
RACIAL DEMOGRAPHICS
HISPANIC
40%
5%
TWO OR
MORE RACES 5%
AMERICAN INDIAN /
ALASKA NATIVE 2%
ASIAN
1%
OTHER 1%
BLACK
46%
WHITE
EMPLOYMENT STATUS OF ADULTS
EMPLOYED
80%
NOT IN LABOR
FORCE
10%
OTHER
DISABILITY 11%
48%
38%
COGNITIVE
DISABILITY
LIVING IN OREGON
31% RURAL
UNEMPLOYED
14%
WHERE THEY ARE FROM
61% NON-IMMIGRANT
69% URBAN
SOURCE: ECONORTHWEST ANALYSIS OF AMERICAN COMMUNITY SURVEY 1-YEAR ESTIMATES, 2012
39% IMMIGRANT