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.”

JOVAN YOUNGAge 38 African American Married with 4 children ages 10-17 Lives in Gresham

IN OREGON, THERE ARE 45,500 SINGLE- OR TWO-PARENT HOUSEHOLDS (CARING FOR 54,000 CHILDREN) IN POVERTY WITHAT LEAST ONE PARENT WHO IS A FIRST-GENERATION IMMIGRANT.

There are about 164,900 Oregonians in single- or two-parent households in poverty with children aged 0-4. More than half of these individuals are children or teens.

46%WHITE

40%HISPANIC

5%BLACK

1%ASIAN

1%OTHER

5%TWO ORMORE RACES

2%AMERICAN INDIAN / ALASKA NATIVE

39% IMMIGRANT

69% URBAN

31% RURAL 61% NON-IMMIGRANT

THERE ARE ABOUT 164,900 OREGONIANS IN SINGLE- OR TWO-PARENT HOUSEHOLDS IN POVERTY WITH CHILDREN AGES 0-4. MORE THAN HALF OF THESE INDIVIDUALS ARE CHILDREN OR TEENS.

20%

2%

78% TWO PARENTS

MALE SINGLE PARENT

FEMALE SINGLE PARENT

80%ABLE BODIED

10%COGNITIVE DISABILITY

11%OTHERDISABILITY

HOUSEHOLD COMPOSITION RACIAL DEMOGRAPHICS

DISABILITY STATUS OF ADULTS

LIVING IN OREGON WHERE THEY ARE FROM

38%

14%

48%EMPLOYED

UNEMPLOYED

NOT IN LABORFORCE

EMPLOYMENT STATUS OF ADULTS

FAMILIES WITH YOUNG CHILDREN IN POVERTY

SOURCE: ECONORTHWEST ANALYSIS OF AMERICAN COMMUNITY SURVEY 1-YEAR ESTIMATES, 2012