01 07 2009

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January 7, 2009 - January 20, 2009

Where the poor and homeless January 7 - January 20, 2009

earn and give their two cents

D STE GE ON G S U N AT I DO

Volumbe 6 Issue 5

Dear Mr. President, Pages 4 & 5

o ot t ing n u y nd k yo axpa I as the t eless a ho w et om forg zens, h meless, his t citi erly ho you in er form ed put great help tion of y. posi sibilit is spon mie Dav -Ja

Page 6

New Vendor Demographics page 14

I believe due to a lack of understanding and the stereotypes associated with the homeless, many people and organizations do not believe they are worth saving.

-Jesse Smith

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January 7, 2009 - January 20, 2009

Our Mission

1317 G Street, NW Washington, DC 20005 Phone: (202) 347–2006 Fax: (202) 347–2166 info@streetsense.org www.streetsense.org

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Kristal DeKleer Ted Henson Mary Lynn Jones Sommer Mathis Brad Scriber John Snellgrove Michael Stoops David Walker Kathy Whelpley EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Laura Thompson Osuri EDITOR–IN–CHIEF Mary Otto VENDOR MANAGER Lisa Gillispie and Carol Cummings ASSOCIATE EDITOR David S. Hammond (volunteer)

VOLUNTEERS/WRITERS Sherry Antoine, Laura Arico, Robert Basler, Robert Blair, Cliff Carle, Jane Cave, Rebecca Curry, RickDahnke, Jessia Gaitan, Cassandra Good, Joanne Goodwin, Roberta Haber, Carol Hannaford, Justin Herman, Annie Hill, Dan Horner, Phillip Hoying, Kayne Karnbach, Michael Kelly, MauriceKing, Geof Koss, Brenda K. Lee-Wilson, Gregory Martin, Starlett McNeill, Kim O’Connor, Gabriel Okolski, Robert Orifici, Swinitha Osuri, Michael O’Neill, Jon Pattee, Katinka Podmankzy, Sarah Pope, Cara Schmidt, Jamie Schuman, Jesse Smith, Matthew Taylor, Robert Trautman, Francine Triplett, Eugene Versluysen, Jerry W., Linda Wang, Denise Wilkins, Marian Wiseman, Corrine Yu VENDORS Willie Alexander, Jake Ashford, Kenneth Belkowskly, Tommy Bennett, Reginald Black, Corey Bridges, Bobby Buggs, Cliff Carle, Conrad Cheek Jr., Louise Davenport, James Davis, Bernard Dean, Muriel Dixon, Patrick Ebitit, Alvin Dixon El, Randy Evans, Tanya Franklin, Barron Hall, David Harris, Patricia Henry, Phillip Howard, Jo Ann Jackson, Michael Jefferson, Patricia Jefferson, Carlton Johnson, Jewell Johnson, Allen Jones, Mark Jones, Brenda Karyl LeeWilson, James Lott, Robert McCray, August Mallory, Gregory Martin, Charles Mayfield, Lee Mayse, Jennifer Mclaughlin, Jeffery McNeil, L. Morrow, Charles Nelson, Sammy Ngatiri, Moyo Onibuje, Thomas Queen, Raymond Ragland, Kevin Robinson, Tyrone Rogers,, Franklin Sterling, Sybil Taylor, Eric Thompson, Francine Triplett, Carl Turner, Jerry W., Martin Walker, LawlessWatson, Wendell Williams, Ivory Wison

Street Sense aims to serve as a vehicle for elevating voices and public debate on issues relating to poverty while also creating economic opportunities for people who are experiencing homelessness in our community.

The Story of Street Sense Street Sense began in August 2003 after two volunteers, Laura Thompson Osuri and Ted Henson, approached the National Coalition for the Homeless on separate occasions about starting a street newspaper in Washington, D.C. A street paper is defined as a newspaper about poverty, homelessness and other social issues that provides an income to the homeless individuals who sell it. About 25 street papers operate in the United States and Canada in places like Seattle, Chicago, Montreal and Boston, and dozens more exist throughout the world.

After bringing together a core of dedicated volunteers and vendors, Street Sense came out with its first issue in November 2003, printing 5,000 copies.For the next three years the paper published consistently on a monthly basis and greatly expanded its circulation and vendor network.

For the first year, Street Sense operated as a

project of the National Coalition for the Homeless, but in October 2004, the organization incorporated and moved into its own office space.

In March 2005, Street Sense received 501(c)3 status, becoming an independent nonprofit organization.

In October 2005 Street Sense formed a full board of directors, and in November the organization hired its first employee, a fulltime executive director.

A year later in November 2006 , the organization hired its first vendor coordinator, and began partnering with several service providers.

In February 2007, the paper started publishing twice a month and to support the increased production, Street Sense brought on its first fulltime editor–in–chief in April.

As of November 2008 the paper has 80 active vendors and prints more than 30,000 issues each month.

Do you want to continue to support Street Sense throughout the year?

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Not only will you receive 26 issues packed with all our latest news, poetry and photography, you will also help raise awareness about poverty in the D.C. area. ___ YES! I want to subscribe to Street Sense for just $40 a year for 26 issues. ___ YES! I want to give half of the cost of a subscription to my favorite vendor: ________________________________ Name: _______________________________ Address: ______________________________ _____________________________________ City:__________________________________ State:__________________ Zip: __________ Phone: _______________________________ E-mail: _______________________________

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Street Sense will be distributed for a voluntary donation of $1. I agree not to ask for more than a dollar or solicit donations for Street Sense by any other means.

I will only purchase the paper from Street Sense staff and will not sell papers to other vendors (outside of the office volunteers).

I agree to treat all others – customers, staff, other vendors – respectfully, and I will not “hard sell,” threaten or pressure customers.

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I understand that I am not a legal employee of Street Sense but a contracted worker responsible for my own well–being and income.

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I agree to stay a block away from each another vendor and respect the space of all vendors.

I understand that my badge is the property of Street Sense and will not deface it. I will present my badge when purchasing the papers and display my badge when selling papers.

I understand that Street Sense strives to be a paper that covers homelessness and poverty issues while providing a source of income for the homeless. I will try to help in this effort and spread the word.

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S treetS ense.org

January 7, 2009 - January 20, 2009

In Other News

By Jon Pattee

Parisians Seize Gym to Escape Deadly Cold Some 100 homeless people, including families with children, took over a Paris gymnasium on December 28 to take refuge from the cold, according to an Associated Press article published the same day in Australia’s The Age newspaper.

Spokespeople for the activists demanded “asylum,” stating that several people had died while sleeping outside in sub-zero weather. Mayor Bertrand Delanoe agreed to let the group stay in the city gym until it reopens after the New Year’s holidays.

The homeless activists were organized by the group Right to Housing, which has gained attention throughout France for its actions to defend the homeless.

Hard Times Hit US Cities’ Fight Against Homelessness The recession has caught many large U.S. cities in the middle of pioneering 10-year plans to slash the number of chronically homeless by channeling them into apartments with on-site caseworkers. Hardhit Wall Street donors are increasingly reluctant to give to charities, and budget cuts have stifled state support, according to a Dec. 29 Associated Press article by Dionne Walker.

Foreclosures, meanwhile, are taking a further toll.

“Despite the good work a lot of these communities have done with their 10-year plans, we’re probably going to have a time when there’s more pressure on homelessness,” said Steve Berg of the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

Despite the good work a lot of these communities have done with their 10year plans, we’re probably going to have a time when there’s more pressure on homelessness.

Homeless People Raise Skills, Food in UK Garden The UK nonprofit Churches Action for the Homeless is using a one-acre garden to help homeless people gain workplace skills, while also producing food for vulnerable populations. When the group took over its walled garden early in 2008, it was overgrown, fences were collapsing, and an abandoned greenhouse had to

be razed, according to a Dec. 29 BBC article. Volunteers, most of them homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, have been hard at work since then. The garden now produces leeks, beets, apples, and pears. About 100 people a week are fed at the group’s center.

California Students Living in Cars, Campgrounds California’s Folsom Cordova Unified School District counted 680 homeless students last school year, a 31% increase year-on-year. The district enrolls about 19,000 students, according to a Dec. 29 Sacramento Bee article by Walter Yost. The district’s homeless liaison reports pupils living “in a ravine,” “sleeping in a school hallway,” and finding refuge in cars, parks, campgrounds, motels, and friends’ couches. Vince Neel, 18, who has spent most of his youth homeless, told Yost he expected to graduate from high school in May and enlist in the Army.

The military, with three meals, barracks, and a bunk, looks pretty attractive to Neel.

“In the Army I’ll be covered for life,” he said.

In the Army, I’ll be covered for life.

Activists Win Settlement in Toronto Protest Advocates for Canada’s homeless people scored a victory Dec. 29 when Toronto and its police force agreed to pay over $83,000 to settle a lawsuit launched by three activists who were thrown out of a park during a 1999 protest. According to Kirk Makin, writing in The Globe and Mail, the trio was thrown out of the downtown park and charged with various offenses. After the charges were dismissed in court, the activists decided to sue the city and police for harassment and violation of their constitutional right to security of the person. The advocates plan to channel the settlement money back into fighting homelessness.

Homeless Native Americans Look to Straw-Bale Solution Of the two million Native Americans in the U.S,. about 300,000 are homeless, according to activists who are working on a unique solution: straw-bale homes.

According to a Dec. 19 article on The Daily Green by Brian Clark Howard, the Bozeman, Montana-based Red Feather Development Group has been assisting Native communities in building their own housing with eco-friendly, inexpensive, straw-bale construction. Red Feather promotes straw-bale building because it uses very affordable, fire-repellent, insulating materials that are readily available near western Native communities. It also requires less skilled labor than other materials, and the technique is easily taught and shared among communities.

Help Us Reach 1,000,000 After five years, 84 issues, hundreds of vendors, and thousands of eye opening news stories and thoughtful editorials, Street Sense is just a few short months away from publishing its one millionth newspaper. One million newspapers - this also means at least $1 million in the pockets of homeless vendors!

This is an exciting milestone, indeed. But we aren’t there yet. Right now we have printed about 900,000 newspapers, but to print the next 100,000 we need the support of very reader. To help Street Sense continue being the place where “the Washington area’s poor and homeless give and earn their two cents” we are looking to raise 1,000,000 cents for each year of Street Sense.

I will donate:

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Sense would cover.

Please make checks payable to Street Sense.

Mail to: Street Sense, 1317 G St. NW, Washington, DC 20005.

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Street Sense is a 501(c)(3), nonprofit organization.

All donations are tax deductible.

You can also donate via credit card and set up reoccurring donations at www.streetsense.org

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S treetS ense.org

January 7, 2009 - January 20, 2009

Street Sense vendors and friends have shared these open letters to President Obama as a way of highlighting their hopes and concerns for the future. Below are their thoughts. t our firs – t n e d i a. es , 44th pr ates of Americ a r u m o a b g ecomin arack O ited St s to Hello B tulations for b nt – of the Un ing open arm . lov ama Congra erican preside ily with e love you Ob hat m a f m r A u t o W African e you and y House. rning changes e t i h m W co conce to the We wel on a letter n, D.C., o u t o g y n they so i g l h l n i i t w i r , Was s w . erica versea , I am be at Obama ade here in Am erican troops o ved ones and e erdu be m eir lo r Am need to oncerning ou eunite with th r term long ov them i r C e nd 1. me and have served th ing you to se o h e m o s k c s ur troop we are a peace? O lease Obama . e g a, chan .P Americ n i in Iraq e and make a h g i h ple f e – it is en cut off, peo v i s home sa n e p ave be in od is ex st of fo is high, jobs h lower the cost o c e h t o r e s o s l o a p e A l 2. for the n you p housing g laid off. Ca in are gett nses? pe ssed. these ex e addre b ur o t s d t and o nee u t c u t c e g x a d o the t the bu 3. Als change o t o d ou can what y ops. e e S .

4 an tro Americ You, Thank aylor Sybil T

A letter to the 44th oath taker; to the President of the USA, When you take this oath of office you are taking the oath for 3.5 million homeless Americans; you are taking the oath for 1 million Americans who sleep on the streets after dark across America.

By the way, your new home is surrounded across America by 154,000 homeless veterans plus 1.35 million or more homeless children. When you turn out your lights at night, their lights will already be out, on the other side of the Iron Gate that surrounds your new home.

Mr. President, when I was about six years old, that Iron Gate was not there. When the USSR took down their Iron Gate, we put up our own Iron Gate around your new home! That Iron Gates keeps the voices of the homeless out, those voices that are crying out for help across America.

When you take your oath on January 20, 2009, think of the homeless.

This is my oath: Where I Lay My Head I lay my mind, body and soul under God’s kingdom.

My bed is the Earth, that He once walked among us.

My TV is always on.

I see many things as I look up at Heaven’s Gates.

My MP3 player is always on.

I hear the drums of the Rodent running around my bed.

Then the sound of foot traffic walking up and down.

My MP3 player has a mix sound to it.

I hear the autos, doors opening and closing, Buses that stop at my front door all morning long.

It’s that time; the TV turns off automatically, God’s Kingdom is opening its gates.

He is letting the Ray of Hope shine over his Kingdom on Earth.

Well, let me walk this Earth, until God’s Kingdom opens its gates once again.

Bless you all.

Sincerely, By L. Morrow

Dear President Barack Hussein Obama,

I would like to remind you of a former effort of yours that you seem to have been all but forgotten. On Oct. 25, 2006, you sent two men from your senatorial office in the Hart Building to the Franklin School Shelter so that they could tour the facility and be informed on the issue of homelessness. Their names were Ian Solomon and Nicholas Colvin. The tour was led by the Committee To Save Franklin Shelter (CSFS), a group that was later incorporated as Until We’re Home, Inc (www.untilwerehome.org), a nonprofit that spoke up for the rights of homeless people and advocated for solutions to homelessness. I was the field marshal/public relations specialist for the group, which has now been dissolved. After the tour, we never heard back from either man. We were left to assume that they were just part of an exploratory mission to see what platform you would run your campaign on.

Nonetheless, homelessness remains a major problem in this and other nations. With the worsening economic crisis, many more people are becoming homeless. The headlines are full of stories of tent cities popping up all over the nation and municipal governments putting people up in hotels. I’m sure that you’re aware of the housing and employment crises.

That’s not to mention mental illnesses, prolonged physical illnesses, domestic violence and chemical dependencies that often lead to homelessness. As it turns out, the homeless shelters are the collect-alls for the various problems and societal ills with which society is plagued. It therefore behooves you and your administration to address homelessness as you address the economic fallout that we hear so much about these days. I’d dare to say that it should be first and foremost among your economic concerns.

I look forward to working with your administration to effectively combat homelessness.

Yours Ever So Truly, Eric Jonathan Sheptock Homeless Homeless Advocate

Dear President Obama, I am a young man 20 years your junior, and I have seen more than the average 23-year-old old should. I am currently experiencing homelessness, something that I heard you yourself have experienced, even though only for a day or two.

I am sure you have an everyday picture of what I and many, not just in the District of Columbia but in the rest of the country, and the rest of the world, go through.

To me the solution is simple options: give those who want to live on the outside a place to go and at least have some normalcy, maybe adopt a vacant lot for old abandoned trailers, trains and other mobile structures with hygiene facilities available. Also mandate that all hotels and motels in the area reserve six rooms a night.

Those steps will ultimately reduce not only the number of people on the streets but the hypothermia deaths as well. If these things can be implemented then I’m sure the end of homelessness will be next.

Yours Truly, Reginald Black

S treetS ense.org

January 7, 2009 - January 20, 2009

To President Obama, Let me begin by expressing my profound congratulations for your election to the office as President of the United States of America.

The outpouring of people who voted you into office shows the diversity of this nation. Despite ethnicity, economic and social status, we can come together to select an individual through acclamation, based on the merits and the potential of an individual.

One group concerns me, and is often neglected. In many cases, this group is shunned by society.

In fact, they are considered a burden. The group I am referring to is the homeless community. I believe due to a lack of understanding and the stereotypes associated with the homeless, many people and organizations do not believe they are worth saving. I say to you a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. If a weak link is not attended to, then it will compromise the integrity of the entire structure.

We are all aware of the economic hard times, and we have a tough road to travel ahead of us. We understand sacrifices must be made and accepted by all the people. Let us make smart budget cuts, concentrating on the efficiency of programs, and add a degree of transparency to the explanations of such reductions so those who will suffer will understand and know these sacrifices must be made for the betterment and economic recovery of the entire society.

Finally, Mr. President, it is my sincere wish you display many of the skills you have enacted thus far. You have yet to be officially in office, but you have, in my eyes, conducted yourself as a statesman rather than a politician. Thank you for this opportunity to express my views.

Jesse Smith Jr. jsmithjr2267@yahoo.com

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r. Pr esid ent, I’d f irst toda like y but . Man to say, y they y very drea men w ou’ve m a you proud o m on w nt wh ade a c a h f and will do you, s ithout t t you h ange i n v i a a c r gran ountry ery wel . I’m ju king a ve acco histor y l m , s d s on J paren the Un in ma t one o tep for plishe k anu ts a d w f i i , ted ng ma ard n ar and in t y 20, 2 d paren States a chan ny, but . I’m g heir o t hear 009. I c s were h f Amer e to our I think Sin i a t e ca. nat s n r . e c ima Phil erely, gin to see th I wish m ion e th lip A e joy e histo y ndr on t ry ma ew H heir d owa face e rd s

“The Audacity of Shoes” Dear Mr. President, Mr. Obama, if you walked a mile in my shoes you would see a man sleeping near a dumpster as rats scurry around his bags looking for food, food he probably collected from the various soup kitchens and organizations that come to the park.

Walk down 14th St. and you will see a homeless woman shouting broken sentences and obscenities at passersby – just another victim of mental health facilities closing down during the Reagan era.

As I walk several more blocks, I come across abandoned buildings and row houses that could be converted into housing for the homeless for just a fraction of the money the Bush administrations have spent on the Iraq wars.

I pass teenage boys who are jobless and looking for work but cannot find suitable jobs. They resort to selling drugs on the street corner and some will surely become victims of homicide.

Please help them find jobs by creating a job program for teens and youth in the inner cities.

I now pass a clinic that has a long line of people waiting for services. Some have no insurance or cannot afford it due to low paying jobs or immigrant status. Please, Mr. President, institute a national insurance plan.

If you walked a mile in my shoes you might also see black and Spanish men waiting at the day labor center for jobs that are surely underpaid. Please help them find suitable employment to avoid being exploited by such companies.

A famous person once said, “Be the change in the world you want to see.” I don’t think he meant gentrification, as I look around me and see where whole neighborhoods have lost their identities, replaced by luxury high-rises and condos. Mr. President, please help the working class find affordable housing.

On another corner I spot a man with a shopping cart piled high with his belongings and he sits begging for “change” and of course, taped to the side of the shopping cart is the Washington Post’s special collectors’ edition of you and your family at your victory address to the nation. It would be a shame not to have his dreams fulfilled by getting him off the streets.

And if by chance this letter reaches the inner confines of the White House and you come across it on your desk in the Oval Office, I ask you not to forget the taxpaying citizens, homeless and formerly homeless, who helped put you in this position of great responsibility. Their hopes and dreams are part of the change you talked about, and the “hope” you mention in your book, “The Audacity of Hope,” and if you can indeed change their situation for the better, than we will feel safe knowing that as a people the world can be changed. This is something we can believe in.

Yes, we can.

Sincerely, James Davis Sherri Watts photo

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S treetS ense.org

January 7 - January 20, 2009

Police Search for Links in Homeless Attacks Friends Mourn Homeless Man Murdered on Christmas Eve

By Mary Otto Bill McNeal’s attacker slashed his face while he slept in a doorway at 21st and K streets, NW. He awoke to a kick, in a pool of his own blood, and desperately felt for his cell phone. Luckily, it had not been stolen. He called 911.

Raw scars still run across McNeal’s face. But he lived to tell the tale of his brush with death in the early morning hours of Dec. 7.

Less than three weeks later, before dawn on Christmas Eve, another homeless man sleeping a few blocks away was not so lucky.

Yoshio Nakada, a slight, fragile Japanese man beloved for his singing voice and sweet nature, was found lying dead of head injuries on Virginia Avenue near the Watergate complex.

It was at least the third attack on a homeless man sleeping alone in the Foggy Bottom area in the past three months, police say. They are offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of whoever killed Nakada. And they wonder if a single person is preying on the homeless.

“We’re looking at two other incidents to see if the same person is committing these assaults,” said D.C. Police Detec-

tive Anthony Paci. But so far, police say they have found “nothing concrete” to link the crimes. They are also investigating reports of two additional attacks on homeless men in the same area earlier last year.

Salvation Army outreach worker Paula Dyan said she has worked with the victims of all five of the assaults.

“It seems like each attack has been more vicious than the last,” she said.

“You wish there was some way they could catch this person. I feel it is the same person.”

In the meantime, she is warning the homeless people she works with on the streets not to sleep alone. And she is grieving for her friend Nakada.

“Of all the people, Nakada was the sweetest,” she said. “He was childlike.”

She joined others who reflected upon Nakada’s death with shock and sadness.

“With Yoshio, it was like destroying a piece of art,” said Gunther Stern, executive director of the Georgetown Ministry Center, which offers counseling and other services at offices located at Grace Episcopal Church on Wisconsin Avenue.

“I really think he was a gift to humanity,” Stern said. While Nakada clearly suffered from mental illness, he formed deep connections with many at the center. He was a particular favorite of Stern’s daughter, who called him “the man who sang to the birds.”

Nakada had slept at an emergency shelter at Grace Church the week before he died. He felt at home at Grace Church and attended services there.

But when the shelter, which is hosted by different churches on a rotating

Photo Courtesy of Georgetown ministry center

Yoshio Nakada stands between two friends, Georgetown Ministry Center outreach director Roy Witherspoon (left) and Grace Episcopal Church Rector the Rev. John Graham.

schedule, moved on to another location, Nakada refused to go, Stern said.

“He didn’t follow,” Stern said. “We couldn’t find him.”

Nakada did not talk about his past in Japan or how he came to America or how he became homeless, said Adam Rocap, director of social services at Miriam’s Kitchen, a meal and outreach program Nakada often visited, located around the corner from the place he died.

“He was always a bit of a mystery,” said Rocap. Yet the small man with his songs and smiles was a life-affirming presence there.

“It was really magical what he brought out of people,” said Rocap.

“He really created a community wherever he went.”

Miriam’s Kitchen deputy director Catherine Crum called the death of Nakada “an urgent call to action for The attack of Bill McNeal left large gashes on his face. our community to provide housing, safe places of refuge, accessible shelters and necessary supports to all who are without homes.”

The homeless are vulnerable to violence, according to a recent survey of 2,859 homeless people by the District of Columbia Department of Human Services. More than 34% said that they had been the victim of a violent crime since becoming homeless.

And while many of the crimes are believed to go unreported, serious attacks against the homeless are believed to be on the rise nationwide, according to Michael Stoops, acting execu- bashing, or something else – remains tive director of the National Coalition a mystery.

But his death starkly illustrates the for the Homeless, which has compiled statistics nationwide on such crimes challenges of life on the street. Homeless people report that petty theft, street since 1999.

Nationally, according to NCH find- hassles, and the possibility of someings, fatal attacks increased from 20 in thing worse are constant concerns in lives lacking the privacy and security 2006 to 28 in 2007.

Of the people accused and convicted of a home.

Police and homeless advocates, of crimes against the homeless in 2007, 86% were 25 and under, with many working with the Japanese Embassy, saying they committed the crimes for have been able to locate Nakada’s sisthe “thrill” or the “fun” of it, the report ter in Japan, said the Rev. John Graham of Grace Episcopal Church, who said.

NCH has backed legislation that is helping to plan a memorial service would add the homeless to the classes for Nakada.

“We hope to be in touch with Yoshof people protected under District and io’s sister, and ask her to send a refederal hate crime laws.

“It would send a symbolic and prac- membrance of Yoshio’s life in Japan for tical message that attacks against the reading at the service,” Graham said. homeless won’t be tolerated,”Stoops The service is scheduled for Jan. 10, 1 said..

Who took Nakada’s life, or why – p.m. at Grace Episcopal Church, which whether it was a random crime, a is located at 1041 Wisconsin Ave. Photo By Amanda Powell

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It seems like each attack has been more vicious than the last.

You wish there was some way they could catch this person. I feel it is the same person.

Nationwide, fatal attacks of homeless individuals increased from 20 in 2006 to 28 in 2007.

Source: National Coalition for the Homeless

S treetS ense.org

January 7, 2009 - January 20, 2009

Book review

Sweet Land of Liberty: The Forgotten Struggle in the North

By Robert Trautman The fight to end racial discrimination in the South has been told often and well, from North Carolina’s lunch counter sit-ins to Rosa Parks to Selma and Birmingham, but fights against the more subtle bigotry in the North have gone largely unsung – until now, that is.

In his sweeping Sweet Land of Liberty, The Forgotten Struggle for Civil Rights in the North, University of Pennsylvania historian Thomas J. Sugrue recounts the battles to end racial discrimination in jobs, public accommodations, education and housing in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and other northern cities and their suburbs.

He brings to light in great detail and thoroughly readable prose the long and not always successful fights by outraged church women, local educators, housing activists, union organizers and radicals of every stripe. National organizations battling with them were, among others, the Urban League, the AFL-CIO and the YMCA. How e v e r, m a n y of these northern efforts came with widespread rioting that both promoted some antidiscrimination moves and, at the same time, set some back.

But the North was different from the South. The South had its laws mandating separation, but the bigotry in the North, if more subtle, was just as pervasive.

Sugrue writes that most northern communities did not put up signs to mark separate drinking fountains, restaurants or swimming pools. In fact, only a few northern communities had legally segregated facilities. It was the private and community behavior that created and enforced discrimination.

He continues, “Northern blacks lived as secondclass citizens, unencumbered by the most blatant of southern-style Jim Crow laws, but still trapped in an economic, political and legal regime that seldom recognized them as equals. In nearly every arena, blacks and whites lived separate, unequal lives.”

A seminal effort in the struggle to end racial bigotry in the North and the South, was the 1963 March on Washington that brought together a quarter million people to hear the nation’s civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., put out a call for jobs and freedom.

The call highlighted the longtime effort to end discrimination in the hiring and promotion of blacks, an effort led for years by socialists and religious leftists. This national effort for job equality

Northern blacks lived as second-class citizens, unencumbered by the most blatant of southern-style Jim Crow laws, but still trapped in an economic, political and legal regime that seldom recognized them as equals.

was waged most effectively in northern state legislatures and city halls, where there were large black populations.

Public accommodations was another battle. The fight to open these, Sugrue says, was fought in great part by community organizers through sit-ins and legislative lobbying. He writes that “Activists chipped away at the customs that separated the races until the sight of blacks at northern lunch counters, hotel lobbies, theaters and amusement parks was not unusual – at least in big cities.”

The battles in education and housing were far different, Sugrue explains, with the separations due in large part to where blacks lived. Brown v.

Board of Education was a sea change, of course, but, in most cases, blacks lived apart from whites, and this spurred activism on both sides of the issue.

Busing followed, but so did “white flight” to the suburbs.

“The inadequacies and possibilities of Brown sparked an extraordinary wave of grassroots protest, school boycotts and litigation,” Sugrue writes.

In housing, the fight was also fierce, and local. To meet the growing demand for housing, new communities sprouted up, including the “Levittowns,” mass-produced suburban communities planned and built by William Levitt. But by Levitt’s orders, there would be no blacks in them.

The result was a massive gap between supply and demand, and blacks paying more for housing than whites, with newcomers from the South crammed into old and rundown housing, mainly in the dense central neighborhoods left behind by fleeing whites.

Langston Hughes described these black neighborhoods as the “land of rats and roaches, where a nickel costs a dime.”

But this would change, if gradually, again through community action and legal action, until there were growing arguments in social psychology journals, general interest magazines and in church newsletters that such bias was not in the public interest.

Protest politics followed.

Sugrue writes that postwar efforts to change the hearts and minds of Americans worked to a degree; what feelings they might have had were not expressed publicly, but the softening of overt comment had not ended racial inequality. “The stark disparities between blacks and whites by every measure – economic attainment, health, education and employment – are the results.” And these great inequities continue today.

As Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society and the March on Washington brought about far-reaching changes in American racial attitudes, there is similar hope among many that Barack Obama’s election might bring about a further reconciliation of the races.

A c t i v i s t s chipped away at the customs that separated the races.

FOUNDRY A Reconciling Congregation Invites you to join us in worship on Sundays at 9:30 and 11:00 AM Homeless Outreach Hospitality: Fridays 9:00 AM

Foundry United Methodist Church 1500 16th Street, NW Washington, DC 20036 (202) 332-4010

www.foundryumc.org

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January 7 - January 20, 2009

My Room I wake in my room to the sight of my ceiling painted pink: a signal to rise As the hours wash across my room my ceiling's hue changes to white-streaked sapphire, then to faded gray then to spark-flecked velvet blue I gaze at the ever-changing artwork on my walls: portraits of a million faces whose eyes never look back at me Majestic swollen rivers and hectic highways flow across my room; outside my window, fiercely plumaged birds soar over jagged snow-capped peaks Trees fill my windowboxes: oak, magnolia, & twisted dogwood.

In the evenings, I sweep their fallen leaves from my earthen carpet By day, I use my loom to weave a tapestry.

Its images take shape over months & years; they show the jumbled array of rooms where I've livedwalls with cracked plaster & peeling paint, floors thick with snowdrifts of scattered clothing, chairs & lamps & beds that I see only because I'm an artist cursed by memory At night, I sit at my writing desk (weeds bristle at my feet), my pages illuminated by a streetlight.

A friend stops to chat; she doesn't knock; there is no door, and the lavishly furnished room I meant to write about is forgotten.

To a House of Her Own This poem is dedicated to the elderly who I visited for a short while during my hospice care experiences. The poem is detailed to a woman who was very feeble with age and wanted her own home. I hope to have a poetry book dedicated to my experiences, research, and life matters.

From all the running noises With a calendar marked And hands over eyes And so we hope.

Then hands off eyes And a huge gasp in Anticipation of, “Yes Yes, you will be in your own home, we’ve found a cure for you.”

She thus gives a happy Smile and one can’t but Help but hope everything works out for her and in It so we hope All will go well.

by Elexia Arbuckle

Yoshio Nakada, 12/24/08

By Iware Pond As on the streets of DC Song’s no protection For an emperor’s son, or A gentle sutra chanter - R.B.

Dream # 524

I dream of seeing my words sold in bookstores, quoted in classrooms, read on beaches, or in bed on wintry nights; I dream of my words being shared by lovers.

I dream of living in a house built by my own words.

It will have four bedrooms and eighteen windows with shutters painted baby blue; it'll have colorful toys scattered on its green, green lawn.

And when I go to bed in my house of dreams, I'll drift to sleep along with a thousand others in warm beds of their own, their bedside lamps illuminating my own words.

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January 7 - January 20, 2009

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Below, Sybil does a little shopping on her rounds.

Right, Sybil rides the Metro.

A Day in the Life of Sybil Taylor & Danny Ball

Above, Sybil thanks God for her blessings.

Left, Sybil stops for a snack at McDonalds.

Above, Danny stops at a souvenir stand.

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SimplyObama find the following words in theOath grid below.

January in D.C. S

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DECEMBER CHRISTMAS

Street Sense vendor January

Gregory Martin loves creating puzzles.

Aquarius

gREGORY’S gREAT gAME

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S treetS ense.org

Gregory’s Great Game

January 7 - January 20, 2009

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SANTA CLAUS WINTER

Winter Inauguration KWANZAA SNOW YEARS EVE COAT NewNEW Year's (Day) Snow HANUKKAH CLOVES ML GIFTS King Jr. (Day) Cold BOOTS Resolutions Ice TREE TOYS DECORATIONS BIKE Showers Parade LIGHTS KITES History Rain ANGEL LOVE Wind

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street suduko

3 4

7 8 1

8 9 1 4 7 9 3 7 5 5 2 1 1 2 9 2 6 7 1 3 9 4 2 7 3 5 9

Help Bring the Homeless in from the Cold

Puzzle by websudoku.com

Last Issues Answers

5 6 1 8 2 9 7 4 3

7 9 3 6 4 5 2 8 1

2 4 8 7 3 1 5 9 6

6 8 4 5 1 2 3 7 9

3 2 9 4 7 6 1 5 8

1 5 7 9 8 3 6 2 4

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8 7 5 1 6 4 9 3 2

4 3 6 2 9 7 8 1 5

Puzzle by websudoku.com

CALL THE

Shelter Hotline 1 800 535-7252 Adrian M. Fenty, Mayor, Government of the District of Columbia

Will write for food: Writer’s Group

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January 7 - January 20, 2009

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Writer’s Group meets Wednesdays 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. at the Street Sense office. A poetry after party is 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Inaugural Writing

Reggie’s writing prompt simply said “DRIVE.” When David wrote this he was thinking about the year our country has had, and how sometime you just have to keep driving.

Back in October, not yet sick of the election press, it dawned upon some in the WG that we were writers and might want to rewrite history if we were elected. Here is some of our creativity... Jerry W., Cara and Crew...

“DRIVE”

by David Hammond

I drive a stick shift that is old enough to vote for change or join the Marine Corps and go to Fallujah.

The gaskets are crumbling, and the trunk leaks, a little, but she still starts fine, and the times that she hasn’t were all in good places and were all in warm weather not raining, not snowing.

And since May she’s been parked on the banks of the river behind my friend’s place up there in New England.

And I’m hopeful the freshet might solve my dilemma, might make the decision about my old car (which runs fine but is old enough that sometimes I worry) by floating her off to the sea, like a raft or a sailboat, slow-spinning, and not hardly bubbling, so I think she could make it to Long Island Sound where she’d sink, there to serve as a home for the fishes, and then I could get one without such high mileage, but the Spring, with its floods, is still five months from now, so unless the world ends, or the oil runs out, when I next take the train there, I’ll drive.

Short and Direct by Patty Smith Colin Powell and Martin Luther King were my inspiration. I would make this an equal society. Thank you for electing me. Let’s get to work.

Patty Smith is a long time vendor who has been with WG since the beginning, appearing when not doing school work and helping create exercises. We are sure that the standing crowds in likely freezing weather would appreciate a quick speech...

If Cara Were President by Cara J. Schmidt The desk chair in the Oval Office may still be warm. The carpet may still smell of beer and Texas BBQ. The security guards may still have a pit of fear in the bottom of their stomachs that any day their post could be bombed by the newest enemy. But believe me, this is a new White House.

The old stench is going to be wiped clean with a fresh face, my face. I will work to repair our country, our image, and the world in that order. I’ll be a president who works for you all the time.

Cara has been volunteering with WG for about nine months, bringing food and good cheer to the community during her lunch break.

Inaugural Speech by Reginald Black My fellow Americans, I am pleased you chose me as your president. Currently our nation is facing trouble, but together we can make a difference. First, we must become energy independent. Second, we must improve our standing with the world. We do this by opening up dialogue with the world, but first and foremost we must address the problems here at home. In the nation’s capitol alone a third of the population is struggling to make ends meet. I plan to evoke new housing support for those who cannot live otherwise. I will require that all hotels, no matter how prestigious they are, to house at least six homeless people a night. With changes like this we will be able to move forward from the neglect and discrimination of the past. I thank you all for your votes. With your wings I will be able to make our county soar.

David Hammond helped create the WG and does one-on-one coaching of writers.

Reggie absconded with the Poetry After Party when Michelle left for Spanish immersion. See also his “Drive” poetry prompt and Reggie’s Reflections series.

Thankful by Jerry W. In the current economic times, I am thankful to still have housing and my disability renewed despite a stressful year-long review. This writer’s group has helped me through several holidays last year and winter. Printing the sunset Photo Finish helped get through a difficult time by seeing some beauty and accomplishing something.

While I don’t always get along with everyone all the time, I can usually calm down, recenter and reconnect.

Learning to run a drop-in writer’s group with people coming and going, talking and interrupting has been a challenge, but also a growth experience.

And for the company, I usually bring food to share and it means not isolating, which can be deadly with depression and other stuff.

Improving my writing, learning some production, taking a first photo assignment that went to the front page and coincidentally the auction photos and Carrie Fisher’s “Wishful Drinking” running at the same time.

There are difficult times coming up for states and localities and I’d really like to see Obama and Fenty turn around the trend of just closing a 300-person shelter and DMH autocratically privatizing Mental Health Centers without considering the relationships formed. That would make a lot of people thankful and may keep some alive to see the holidays and survive to spring.

Jerry, a formerly homeless disabled person, volunteers with WG by playing the role of a Jewish Mother and enforces unreasonable deadlines with guilt for editing and laying out the WG page. When not dreaming up bio blurbs, he hopes to escape on a bike to far away warm and sunny places

Little Poems

by Jerry W. Greed Corrupts Some can take a mission, And once was a friend, But with the success, It gets ugly, for the purpose was friendly.

W’it Cheesy poetry, if you please, It’s better than sleeze, Or was that a sneeze, For we are on our knees, Geez...

Jerry learns what he can from the Poetry 101: Poetry After Party.

Reggie’s Reflections: Messages

by Reginald Black I was still without my one. It was crazy to see what was going on. I was a flirt all over the message board. I used my forum to greet people. I guess my plan was to find someone who I could hustle into letting me stay with them. I was at my lowest then. I despised waking up in the morning. Good thing was that I was working that paid fairly well. I kept to my mobile dating instead of trying to impress someone on the street. I was almost always online waiting for her to show.

I told others yes when I shouldn’t have. But she was telling me no by ignoring me. I indulged myself more into being the dog sort of speak. But something happened that made me slow down. Someone was calling me. She had left messages, a blast from the past. Maybe this was my chance, I thought.

I quickly returned her call. As the phone rang I wondered, when I first told her (the new but old her) she didn’t contact me this whole time I had been truthful with her also. She answered and we talked briefly. She seemed happy to know I was still around. But what did this mean? Was I to give up my first interest for one from my past, who acted as if I was the scum of the universe? Or was there a hidden message in the messages she left me? Though I was puzzled, I endeavored to find out if this was real--or was it all just one bad dream?

Reggie sells papers and camps out in Street Sense helping with layout of WG page and the new spin on Sara Jessica Parker’this side of the Anacostia. email: roninworrior@yahoo.com

PRODUCTION HOSTING LAYOUT AND SUPPORT: Cara Schmidt, Carlton Johnson, David Hammond, Jerry W., Michelle Cappuccio, Patty Smith, Reginald Black

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January 7 - January 20, 2009

Homeless, White Female

By Christina Ferguson

A

lot of people come up to me when I am selling Street Sense and question why a young white female would be out on the street selling these papers. I would like all who read this paper to know that at any time and for any reason people could lose their job, not be able to pay their rent and become homeless. There are not many options for homeless women who need a place to stay.

I have called around to all the shelters in the D.C. area and have been told that they are overcrowded and space is given on a first come, first serve basis.

Women on the street have only a few options.

One: try to get to a shelter early. Two: sleep on the street. Three: sell their bodies to stay with someone night to night.

Street Sense has given me the ability to go out, sell papers, be able to take care of myself and not have to resort to things that could make my self esteem go down and make me feel worthless. I have also run into men who told me they had a job for me; I would give them my number, they would call me and it would turn into a trick situation. It made me feel like crap. Just because I am down and out, I refuse to use the only body God gave me to make money.

How did I end up in this situation? I broke my arm, lost my job, was unable to pay rent and ended up homeless.

I am grateful for Street Sense because the people who work there are so positive and go out of their way to help me in any way possible. When I feel down they lift me up. Another great thing is that some of the other vendors, in passing, give me hugs and smiles, and I have learned that a smile and a hug can change a person’s day and make her feel happy.

Just because I am down and out, I refuse to use the only body God gave me to make money.

Christina has been a vendor for Street Sense for two months and this is her first editorial for Street Sense

Your thoughts and editorials are welcome.

Please e–mail content to editor@streetsense.org or mail to 1317 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005.

My Survival Story

By Garrett Acker

H

omeless was not a word that I ever thought of. I never thought that one day I would be living in a doorway at New York Avenue and 13th Street. It did happen, though. My name is Garrett Acker and I have no problem stating it here because since I came to Street Sense, my life has made a 180-degree change.

My life started in Chicago, Ill., where they have a paper called Street Wise, similar to Street Sense. I never paid them no mind at all. I grew up in an extremely rich family. My dad owned about five businesses and worked 20 hours a day, 7 days a week. He never spent any time with me. I used to wait on the stairs for him to come pick me up every weekend after my parents divorced. From that time, I became a very rambunctious kid.

Moving forward quickly gets me to the age of 12. That is when I started smoking cigarettes and pot. By the time I was 14, I was doing heroin on a daily basis.

That is when life became a whole new game. I tried to think I was a functioning addict, but really, I was just the worst person you could meet.

With my family being rich, I was given $200 a day to support my habit. It also showed how much they cared about me. They didn’t care what I did. I did graduate high school, and had some college. I decided to go touring with the Grateful Dead and just went from city to city, which also gave me great street sense, mainly because in every city I went to I had to find heroin. If not, I would be sick as a dog.

Finally I settled down in Chicago and worked as a brick mason for years. I made really good money. I was able to pay my bills and also do heroin. Eventually I couldn’t do it anymore, so I called my mom in Virginia and right away, she came and got me. It was January 1, 2000.

I stayed clean for 6 months when I got here. But eventually, I started looking for heroin and I found it. That is when the cycle began again. This time I was in and out of rehab, but nothing worked. I was living on the street when my family finally disowned me.

That is how I got to New York and 13th Street. In between, I did some prison time in federal prisons throughout the United States. My mom ended up getting me involved with church. That is what did it for me. After that, I started to stay clean and began seeing a psychiatrist once a month. With that, I overcame issues with family and drug abuse.

Today, I have a wonderful family and I love them dearly. I have been clean for four and one-half years now and love every minute of it. I am on disability for psychological reasons. It just pays my rent and that’s about it.

Street Sense gave me the chance to help the homeless by buying papers and selling them. That gives me the extra income I need to survive and keep my place. The main thing is that Street Sense helped me so much and lifted my spirits again. I was getting depressed because I wasn’t working and was just being a couch potato. I don’t care if it rains, sleets, or snows – it makes me feel good to have a sense of working again. At the same time, I’m giving back and helping Street Sense, an organization that helps so many homeless people.

Being homeless is horrible. I’ve been beat up while sleeping. People would pee on my stuff. I was so addicted to heroin that I didn’t care. Now I am working on getting my Certified Addictions Counselor License, and also a bachelor’s degree in Architectural Engineering at UDC. To end this, all I can do is give praise to God and thank him for all the gifts He has given to me.

God bless everyone who reads this and always remember there is hope.

That is what Street Sense and God have shown me. Everyone can start with Hebrews 11. Read it every day for a year so you can get a grip on FAITH!!!

Thanks for reading and you will hear more from me. This is my first article and there are more to come with more detail. God bless everyone!!!!

I never thought that one day I would be living in a doorway at New York Avenue and 13th Street. It did happen, though.

Garrett has been a vendor for Street Sense for three months and plans to go back to school in 2009.

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January 7 - January 20, 2009

The Ugly “Doggie” Duckling

By Brenda Karyl Lee-Wilson

Brenda poses with her first dog Rowdy who passed away in November 2005.

M

y grandfather, General William L. Lee, taught me the importance of loving and caring for dogs. He was a gifted pilot in the United States Air Force, and during his second tour of duty in the Philippines his pit bull Mickey would often accompany him on his duties. Jerry, a nickname given to him by his father, was also an adamant supporter of the Humane Society in Amarillo, Texas, where he served as president and remained on the board until his death on February 26, 1976.

He never failed to tell anyone “If you take on the responsibility of owning a dog you must provide until the day God takes the breath of life from it, and if you die first by God you’d better have left provisions to provide for YOUR dog until that day!” He was a man of great convictions about animals, our earth and humanity.

Long ago he cut out a poem from an Ama-

rillo newspaper which I keep on me at all times.

I have laminated the aged yellowed paper and keep it next to the Bible he and my grandmother gave me. It is a poem everyone should read at least once.

TO MY BOY

by Martin Hale I want my boy to have a dog or maybe two or three; He’ll learn from them much easier than he will learn from me.

A dog will teach him how to love, and bear no grudge or hate; I’m not so good at that myself, but a dog will do it straight.

I want my boy to have a dog to be his pal and friend; So he will learn that friendship is faithful to the end.

There never yet has been a dog that learned to double-cross, Nor catered to you when you won, then dropped you when you lost.

Three weeks ago, an organization called Dogs in Danger delivered to me a lovable mutt. She looks nothing like the photos, nor was her description accurate. But Ruby, what I have named her, is what God has blessed me with, and following my grandfather’s advice I will provide for her. I will pray for her to grow up to be “The Ugly Duckling.”

Brenda is a longtime vendor and volunteer for Street Sense. She loves to tidy up the office.

Thanks to the Dozens of December Donors!!

Fahad Ashraf Elizabeth Amory In honor of Ruth Anderson Dina Bear Lee F Berger and Linsey Silver Judith Bernardi Margaret and Robert Blair Lee Blatstein Thomas Block Lauren Brownstein Sylvia cabus Carrie Calaghan Teresa A. Cahalan Florentine M. Calabria Kimberly Cannon James Cassaberry, Timothy J. Carlton Steve Cickay Hope Childs Winnifred E. Clarke Bridget and Thomas Collin Nicholas H. Cobbs Margaret M. Conlin Sarah Davis Robert J.Davis Teresa Pineda Davidson Sarah DeGrandpre

Kathryn Denton Theresa E. De Silva Dean DiDomenico Jane Holmes Dixon Mariann Durante George Eaton Robert Fehrenbach Joseph Francis Ann H. Franke Caroline D. Gabel Kate Gersh Ted and Kathy Gest Christina Gignac Eric Glitzenstein Nicholas Andrew Glass Joann Goodwin Christopher E. Goldthwait Robin Goracke Linda Greenhouse Lara Thornely Hall Susan Harmon Leon Harris Sebastian E. Heath Joan Henel Christopher Hertz David A. and Roberta A. Hertzfeldt Michael and Marilyn Hickey Ingeborg Holt Homeless

Leadership Network of Pinellas Amy Hubbard Elizabeth Huergo Paul R. Jett Harrison John Imani Johnson J. Johnson Jason Johnston Mary Lynn Jones Barbara Kagan JJ Kang Susan Kassell and Lee Schwab Anna Karavangelos John Killpack Alan Kline Erica Kraus Jarroda Kelsaw Eileen Kelly Patricia G. Kenworthy Lynne Myers Klimmer Danielle Kutch Danielle Kwateng Marcel C LaFolette Jessica Long Christen Loper Mary Lynch Nicole I. Manly Gisela Marcuse David Martin

Michael Mavretic Melani McAlister Deb McKeeman Noreen Meagher Catherine Y Meals Samuel D. Meals Caroline Ramsey Merriam David Murray Wendy Norwood Heather O`Donnell Gabriel Okolski David Orlin Christina Ott Richard Parker Donna Patroulis Arne C. Paulson Adam Rich Perry Agnes Petrisin Leroy Pingho Anna Katinka Podmaniczky Mark Porter Sarah Randolph Lynn Reddy Thomas Reilly Shelia Reines Elaine Reuben Leigh A. Rollins Tracy Roman Jessica Rudman Heather Salko Jesse S. Sanders

Brad Scriber Janet Sharp Lynn Sheridan Deede Snowhite Dolly A. Sparkman Mark & Lynn Spates Lisa M. Sprague Alan Steinberg and Patricia Mooney Jean M. Sutherland Allison Succa Vertiz Wendy Taylor Ann Marie Terlizzi Jane E. Thompson Barbara Ucko Fritz and Ruth von Fleckenstein Richard J Wallat Pamela Walsh Kate Waters Celia Wexler Elizabeth Wilcox Barbara Worth Sandra Yarrington Aloysuis Yoon Corrine Yu

And a special thanks to: Rick and Sylvia Impett (in memory of Matthew Impett)

Someone Is Missing

By Muriel Dixon

Matesha Thompson

Although there were many trying times throughout our friendship,there were also many happy times within our kinship.

From the beginning I knew she was someone special – always a warm smile and a big hug to anyone that had the time to listen.

Because she threw caution to the wind, I often worried about her but deep down I also envied the way she took on life with no conditions,never afraid to challenge or ask questions.

Having been sheltered from a lot of things all of us take for granted, she gave the proverbial kid in the candy store a lot of merit.

I am sure I speak for everyone that had the pleasure of her presence – I surely know that I am not speaking out of sequence – when I say that although someone’s missing, I know that she’s still here.

I also know that she knows at times I still shed tears.

So join me in celebrating her liberty from all the earthly pains and know that with the angels everlasting peace she gains.

Muriel is a longtime Street Sense vendor. She wrote this poem in memory of her dear friend Matesha Thompson, also a Street Sense vendor, who passed away a little over a year ago.

Muriel said she missed Matesha at the holidays, but kept busy by cooking a Christmas dinner for several homeless guests.

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January 7 - January 20, 2009

Age

Education

30 or younger 8%

61 or older 10%

College degree 12%

31 to 40 12%

out

51 to 60 41%

Gender

41 to 50 29%

Homelessness

(or former homelessness)

2 to 4 years 20%

In the shelter 25% My own place 32%

6 months to 1 year 20%

More than 4 years 29%

HS diploma 24%

Sleeping Place

Male 71%

6 months or less 7%

Didn't graduate HS 22%

Some college 40%

Female 29%

Never homeless 4%

Graduate studies 2%

On the street 9% Another person's home 34%

1 year to 2 years 20%

**All numbers are based on a survey of 50 vendors from December 2008

13%

moved into their own housing since selling Street Sense

ll e s u ? o y e o s , d n boss n y e w yo lps Wh reet S me m and it he my s e k It ma friends, and help St ke yself I ma eed me f y. famil

18%

started other jobs since selling Street Sense

I really like Str ee cause they ha t Sense bev e helpe a hell o d f a lot.

The mo me make h ney I elps m e clothe myself to eat and .

m

I have an hon es nity to make a t opportuliv providin g a nee ing while nity se ded co rvice. mmu-

people and I get to meet for myself. It earn a career e from panhas helped m trying to get a handling and for myself. career going

al a ividu ce, d n i e n es th ende It giv of indep om. It d e sens orth, free to help t self-w you wan help. It s d e mak who nee higher a rs ief in othe l e b s . make a reality r powe The wor encour d a and s from ging lo t the o dail he pas ks and y in sers com by e.

The average vendors works 15 hours a week, earning $100 each week.

S treetS ense.org WASHINGTON, D.C. SHELTER Calvary Women’s Services 928 5th Street, NW (202) 783–6651 www.calvaryservices.org Central Union Mission (Men) 1350 R Street, NW (202) 745–7118 www.missiondc.org CCNV (Men and Women) 425 2nd Street, NW (202) 393–1909 users.erols.com/ccnv/ Community of Hope (Family) 1413 Girard Street, NW (202) 232–7356 www.communityofhopedc.org Covenant House Washington (Youth) 2001 Mississippi Ave SE (202) 610–9600 www.covenanthousedc.org Housing, education, job development Gospel Rescue Ministries (Men) 810 5th Street, NW (202) 842–1731 www.grm.org John Young Center (Women) 117 D Street, NW (202) 639–8469 www,catholiccharitiesdc.org My Sister’s Place

PO Box 29596 Washington, DC 20017 office (202) 529-5261 24-hour hotline (202)-529-5991 shelter and other services for domestic violence victims N Street Village (Women) 1333 N Street, NW (202) 939–2060 www.nstreetvillage.org 801 East, St. Elizabeths Hospital (Men) 2700 MLK Avenue, SE (202) 561–4014 New York Ave Shelter (Men) 1355–57 New York Avenue, NE (202) 832–2359 Open Door Shelter (Women) 425 Mitch Snyder Place, NW (202) 639–8093

FOOD Charlie’s Place 1830 Connecticut Avenue, NW (202) 232–3066 www.stmargaretsdc.org/charliesplace Church of the Pilgrims 2201 P Street, NW (202) 387–6612 www.churchofthepilgrims.org Dinner Program for Homeless Women AND the “9:30 Club” Breakfast 309 E Street, NW (202) 737–9311 www.dphw.org Father McKenna Center 19 Eye Street, NW

December 24, 2008 - January 6, 2009 (202) 842–1112

child and family services

Food and Friends 219 Riggs Road, NE (202) 269–2277 www.foodandfriends.org

Rachel’s Women’s Center 1222 11th Street, NW (202) 682–1005 http://www.ccdsd.org/howorwc.php hygiene, laundry, lunch, phone and mail, clothing, social activities

Miriam’s Kitchen 2401 Virginia Avenue, NW (202) 452–8926 www.miriamskitchen.org The Welcome Table Church of the Epiphany 1317 G Street, NW (202) 347–2635 http://www.epiphanydc.org/ministry/ welcometbl.htm

MEDICAL RESOURCES Christ House 1717 Columbia Road, NW (202) 328–1100 www.christhouse.org Unity Health Care, Inc. 3020 14th Street, NW (202) 745–4300 www.unityhealthcare.org Whitman–Walker Clinic 1407 S Street, NW (202) 797–3500; www.wwc.org

OUTREACH CENTERS Bread for the City 1525 Seventh Street, NW (202) 265–2400 AND 1640 Good Hope Road, SE (202) 561–8587 www.breadforthecity.org food pantry, clothing, legal and social services, medical clinic Community Council for the Homeless at Friendship Place 4713 Wisconsin Avenue NW (202) 364–1419; www.cchfp.org housing, medical and psych care, substance abuse and job counseling Bethany Women’s Center 1333 N Street, NW (202) 939–2060 http://www.nstreetvillage.org meals, hygiene, laundry, social activities, substance abuse treatment Green Door (202) 464–9200 1221 Taylor Street NW www.greendoor.org housing, job training, supportive mental health services Friendship House 619 D Street, SE (202) 675–9050 www.friendshiphouse.net counseling, mentoring, education, youth services, clothing Georgetown Ministry Center 1041 Wisconsin Avenue, NW (202) 338–8301 www.georgetownministrycenter.org laundry, counseling, psych care Martha’s Table 2114 14th Street, NW (202) 328–6608 www.marthastable.org dinner, education, recreation, clothing,

Sasha Bruce Youthwork 741 8th Street, SE (202) 675–9340 www.sashabruce.org counseling, housing, family services So Others Might Eat (SOME) 71 “O” Street, NW (202) 797–8806; www.some.org lunch, medical and dental, job and housing counseling

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Academy of Hope GED Center 601 Edgewood St NE 202-269-6623 www.aohdc.org Bright Beginnings Inc. 128 M Street NW, Suite 150 Washington DC 20001 (202) 842–9090 www.brightbeginningsinc.org Child care, family services Catholic Community Services of D.C. 924 G Street, NW (202) 772–4300 www.ccs–dc.org umbrella for a variety of services D.C. Coalition for the Homeless 1234 Massachusetts Avenue, NW (202) 347–8870; www.dccfh.org housing, substance abuse treatment, employment assistance DC Food Finder Interactive online map of free and low cost food resources. www.dcfoodfinder.org Community Family Life Services 305 E Street, NW (202) 347–0511 www.cflsdc.org housing, job and substance abuse counseling, clothes closet Foundry Methodist Church 1500 16th Street, NW (202) 332–4010 www.foundryumc.org ESL, lunch, clothing, IDs Hermano Pedro Day Center 3211 Sacred Heart Way, NW (202) 332–2874 http://www.ccs–dc.org/find/services/ meals, hygiene, laundry, clothing JHP, Inc. 1526 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE (202) 544–9126 www.jobshavepriority.org training and employment Jubilee Jobs 1640 Columbia Road, NW (202) 667–8970 www.jubileejobs.org job preparation and placement National Coalition for the Homeless

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2201 P Street, NW (202) 462–4822 www.nationalhomeless.org activists, speakers bureau available

Mobile Medical Care, Inc. 9309 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda (301) 493–8553 www.mobilemedicalcare.org

National Student Partnerships (NSP) 128 M Street NW, Suite 320 (202) 289–2525 washingtondc@nspnet.org Job resource and referral agency

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Samaritan Ministry 1345 U Street, SE , AND 1516 Hamilton Street, NW (202)889–7702 www.samaritanministry.org HIV support, employment, drug/alcohol addiction, healthcare St. Luke’s Episcopal Church 1514 15th Street, NW (202) 667–4394 http://stlukesdc.edow.org food, counseling St. Matthew’s Cathedral 1725 Rhode Island Avenue, NW (202) 347–3215 ext. 552 breakfast, clothing, hygiene Travelers Aid, Union Station 50 Mass. Avenue, NE (202) 371–1937 www.travelersaid.org/ta/dc.html national emergency travel assistance Wash. Legal Clinic for the Homeless 1200 U Street, NW (202) 328–5500 www.legalclinic.org

MARYLAND SHELTER Comm. Ministry of Montgomery Co. 114 W. Montgomery Avenue, Rockville (301) 762–8682 www.communityministrymc.org The Samaritan Group P.O. Box 934, Chestertown (443) 480–3564 Warm Night Shelter 311 68th Place, Seat Pleasant (301) 499–2319 www.cmpgc.org

FOOD Bethesda Cares 7728 Woodmont Church, Bethesda (301) 907–9244 www.bethesdacares.com Community Place Café 311 68th Place, Seat Pleasant (301) 499–2319 www.cmpgc.org Manna Food Center 614–618 Lofstrand Lane, Rockville (301) 424–1130 www.mannafood.org

MEDICAL RESOURCES Community Clinic, Inc. 8210 Colonial Lane, Silver Spring (301) 585–1250 www.cciweb.org

Catholic Charities, Maryland 12247 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring (301) 942–1790 www.catholiccharitiesdc.org shelter, substance abuse treatment, variety of other services Mission of Love 6180 Old Central Avenue Capitol Heights (301)333–4440 www.molinc.org life skills classes, clothing, housewares Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless 600–B East Gude Drive, Rockville (301) 217–0314; www.mcch.net emergency shelter, transitional housing, and supportiveservices

VIRGINIA SHELTER Alexandria Community Shelter 2355 B Mill Road, Alexandria (703) 838–4239 Carpenter’s Shelter 930 N. Henry Street, Alexandria (703) 548–7500 www.carpentersshelter.org Arlington–Alexandria Coalition for the Homeless 3103 Ninth Road North, Arlington (703) 525–7177 www.aachhomeless.org

FOOD Alive, Inc. 2723 King Street, Alexandria (703) 836–2723; www.alive–inc.org Our Daily Bread 10777 Main Street, Ste. 320, Fairfax (703) 273–8829 www.our–daily–bread.org

MEDICAL RESOURCES Arlington Free Clinic 3833 N Fairfax Drive, #400, Arlington (703) 979–1400 www.arlingtonfreeclinic.org

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Abundant Life Christian Outreach, 5154 Eisenhower Avenue, Alexandria (703) 823–4100 www.anchor–of–hope.net food, clothing, youth development, and medicines David’s Place Day Shelter 930 North Henry Street, Alexandria (703) 548–7500 www.carpentersshelter.org laundry, shower, workshops, hypothermia shelter Legal Services of Northern Virginia 6066 Leesburg Pike, Ste. 500

Shelter Hotline: 1–800–535–7252

S treetS ense.org

January 7 - January 20, 2009

Chino Dean

Vendor Profile THe Last Word

By Roberta Haber

Laura Thompson Osuri

Street Sense Angel “Believe me, it will all work out in the end.”

That’s a phrase I have often uttered to many a Street Sense staff member, intern and volunteer. And most of the time I get a roll-ofthe-eyes kind of a response as the person continues to worry.

But after being at Street Sense for a long time you really do come to truly believe in the above quote. You continue to work your hardest, but simply stop stressing so much.

Ever since the beginning of Street Sense, things have always worked out, even if the breakthrough comes sometimes just a few hours from deadline. Sometimes the challenge is not having enough articles to fill the pages. Then a random volunteer comes through with a first-class article. Other times there is barely enough money to make payroll. Then the next day a hefty check for unsolicited grant comes in the mail. Things just work out.

Co-founder Ted Henson and I like to refer to these last minute mini-miracles as the work of the “Street Sense Angel.”

Yes, if you are wondering, I am religious, and I do abide by a saying at my church: “Work like it depends on you, and pray like it depends on God.” And while I do think that God has a hand in these inexplicable events, I do not think of a higher power when I refer to the “Street Sense Angel.”

This Angel is not a single being but the commitment and passion from many angels that make up all of the supporters of Street Sense.

It’s the volunteer who randomly appears the day before the new issue to gracefully layout out two pages It’s the donor who decided to contribute 10% of her last paycheck to Street Sense.

It’s the intern who shows up on her day off to help get subscriptions out on time.

It’s the board member who adopts, at the last minute, several vendors for Christmas to make sure everyone gets a gift It’s the reader who tracked down a vendor’s family to turn the vendor’s Christmas Eve into the best one ever.

You are the Street Sense Angel. And without you there would be a whole lot more worry and stress and far fewer newspapers and vendors at Street Sense.

So if you feel prompted to write a large check for Street Sense in the middle of your regular work day or you are prompted to volunteer some amazing talent to Street Sense for no particular reason or if you simply just feel prompted to write a kind email about a vendor, please do not resist. It’s the Street Sense Angel calling you, and whatever you have to offer is filling some great need you probably don’t even know about but will be crucial in making it “all work out in the end.”

Bernard Dean, who often goes by the name Chino, was born and raised in New Jersey. He joined the Navy after high school and was a corpsman on the USS Camden in Washington State. When his Navy tour was done he spent a few years on the west coast, before eventually making his way back east and arriving in Washington D.C. in the spring of 2007. Chino likes D.C. for a lot of reasons, including the diversity of people, which reminds him of New Jersey and New York.

About three months ago he got a job in the kitchen at Brasserie Beck, where he is dishwasher manager (pit boss). He now has a place to live and likes the security that comes with regular employment.

Chino enjoys playing soccer and played in last year’s Homeless USA Cup Soccer Tournament, scoring nine goals throughout the tournament, including five goals in one game.

Favorite food?

Meatloaf.

Favorite movies?

Incredible Hulk, Bee Movie, Cars. Bee Movie was funny and it has a teaching pitch that’s good for kids.

Why do you sell Street Sense?

For extra money. The money I make selling Street Sense helps cover my transportation costs.

How long were you homeless?

About 8 months or maybe a year.

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