“It works!” says Lina Robinson, watching water run from the faucet
she has just turned on in the upstairs bathroom at 10412 SE
Schiller.
After a few moments of tentative consideration, Ryan Hanke decides
to try flushing the toilet.
“I’m kind of blown away right now,” he says, watching as water
swirls in the bowl.
Paola Vasquez is looking at the molding on the bathroom door.
“I’m noticing a few mistakes,” she smiles. “But they’re very, very
minor. And nobody else is going to see them. Just me.”
If the trio seem unusually fascinated by the quotidian details of
this bathroom in Lents, it’s because they actually built the
four-bedroom house, along with fellow members of Portland
YouthBuilders—a nonprofit program that serves 150 young people
each year, those between the ages of 17 and 24 who have not completed
high school. Today, December 10, marks the completion of the house,
which was started in March. It’s already been sold to a low-income
family . It’s a privilege for this reporter to share in the kids’
obvious sense of accomplishment on the day, even if we do seem to be
experiencing it most intensely in the bathroom, of all places.
Robinson, Hanke, and Vasquez are all part of YouthBuilders’ yearlong
construction program, and have spent every alternate fortnight working
on the house since they enrolled, in between completing their academic
studies.
Each came to the program for a different reason. Robinson left
Hawaii and came alone to Portland via San Diego, where her father and
brother died in gang-related deaths. “I came here to get away from my
friends and family,” she says, in a confident tone that trails off
slightly at the end, leaving the Mercury in the rare position of
deciding not to ask more questions out of sensitivity. Despite her
troubles, Robinson does seem to be thriving here, working part time at
Nike Town in the women’s apparel section, as well as moving toward
completion of the YouthBuilders program. She hopes for a career in
construction.
Hanke dropped out of Parkrose High School 10 weeks before
graduating, and was heavily into drugs. “I was going down a really bad
path,” he admits. Now, as a member of the program, Hanke has to pass
periodic drug tests, and says, “It’s not worth it to get high for three
hours when I have my whole future ahead of me.” He now works part time
at the Oregonian, doing advertising inserts, and has replaced
his drug habit with a more positive addiction: snowboarding.
Vasquez spent a year at Gresham High School, and two years at
Lincoln High School in Portland, but says she lacked the confidence to
make a go of either experience. She ended up enrolling in YouthBuilders
to make her mother happy after she had spent a year at home, struggling
to find direction. “But I actually ended up liking it,” she says. “It’s
changed me.” Vasquez now plans to go to college.
One key aim of YouthBuilders, says construction trainer Daniel
Stinchfield, is to encourage students to see the impact of their
immediate decisions on their long-term goals. “It’s heartbreaking,”
says Associate Development Director Tonia Kovtunovich, “when a student
drops out of the program after six months to take a job at Burger King
because they’re in need of the short-term income.”
Nevertheless, it happens. But at least for these three students,
there’s an uplifting sense that their time at YouthBuilders may well be
enough to dissuade them from letting their lives slip down the toilet
(if you’ll forgive the heavy-handed symbolism).