02 06 2019

VOL. 16 ISSUE 7

$2

FEB. 6 - 19, 2019

Real Stories

Real People

suggested donation goes directly to your vendor

Real Change

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BUSINESS MODEL

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AVAI LABL E

VENDOR CODE OF CONDUCT

As self-employed contractors, our vendors follow a code of conduct.

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Street Sense will be distributed for a voluntary donation of $2.00. I agree not to ask for more than $2.00 or solicit donations for Street Sense Media by any other means.

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Mary Coller Albert, Jeremy Bratt, Margaret Jenny, Brian Leonard, Jennifer Park, Reed Sandridge, Dan Schwartz, John Senn, Kate Sheppard, Aaron Stetter, Annika Toenniessen, Daniel Webber, Shari Wilson

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The Cover

The Street Sense Media Story, #MoreThanANewspaper

Hundreds of homeless and at-risk veterans attended the Winterhaven Stand Down event to access housing, employment, medical care and supplies.

Originally founded as a street newspaper in 2003, Street Sense Media has evolved into a multimedia center using a range of creative platforms to spotlight solutions to homelessness and empower people in need. The men and women who work with us do much more than sell this paper: They use film, photography, theatre, illustration, and more to share their stories with our community.

Our media channels elevate voices, our newspaper vendor and digital marketing programs provide economic independence. And our in-house casemanagement services move people forward along the path toward permanent supportive housing.

At Street Sense Media, we define ourselves through our work, talents, and character, not through our housing situation.

jordan.tobias@streetsensemedia.org

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

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INTERESTED IN BEING A VENDOR? New vendor training: every Tuesday and Thursday // 2 p.m. // 1317 G St., NW

PHOTOS BY JORDAN TOBIAS

VENDORS Shuhratjon Ahamadjonov, Dele Akerejah, Wanda Alexander, Gerald Anderson, Charles Armstrong, Katrina Arninge, Lawrence Autry, Charlton Battle, Lester Benjamin, Reginald Black, Rashawn Bowser, Clarence Branch, Debora Brantley, Andre Brinson, Laticia Brock, Donald Brown, Lawrence Brown, Elizabeth Bryant, Brianna Butler, Dwayne Butler, Melody Byrd, Antoinette Calloway, Anthony Carney, Alice Carter, Conrad Cheek, Anthony Crawford, Kwayera Dakari, Michael Daniels, Louise Davenport, James Davis, David Denny, Reginald Denny, Ricardo Dickerson, Patricia Donaldson, Nathaniel Donaldson, Ron Dudley, Jet Flegette, Jemel Fleming, Duane Foster, James Gatrell, Kidest Girma, Chon Gotti, Latishia Graham, Marcus Green, Barron Hall, Mildred Hall, Dwight Harris, Lorrie Hayes, Patricia Henry, Jerry Hickerson, Ray Hicks, Vennie Hill, James Hughes, Joseph Jackson, Chad Jackson, Fredrick Jewell, Henry Johnson, Mark Jones, Morgan Jones, Linda Jones, Reggie Jones, Darlesha Joyner, Jewel Lewis, John Littlejohn, Scott Lovell, Michael Lyons, William Mack, Marcus McCall, Jermale McKnight, Jennifer McLaughlin, Jeffery McNeil, Angela Meeks, Ricardo Meriedy, Kenneth Middleton, Amy Modica, Richard Mooney, L. Morrow, Collins Mukasa, Evelyn Nnam, Moyo Onibuje, Earl Parker, Aida Peery, Hubert Pegues, Marcellus Phillips, Jacquelyn Portee, Angela Pounds, Henrieese Roberts, Anthony Robinson, Chris Shaw, Gwynette Smith, Patty Smith, David Snyder, Franklin Sterling, Warren Stevens, Beverly Sutton, Sybil Taylor, Archie Thomas, Shernell Thomas, Eric Thompson-Bey, Harold Tisdale, Joseph Walker, Michael Warner, Robert Warren, Sheila White, Angie Whitehurst, Sasha Williams, Robert Williams, Clarence Williams, Wendell Williams, Susan Wilshusen, Ivory Wilson

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF COMMUNICATIONS & SALES MANAGER VENDOR MANAGER EVENTS & WORKSHOP MANAGER Leila Drici

CASE MANAGER Colleen Cosgriff

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OPINION EDITORS (VOLUNTEER)

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ADVISORY BOARD John McGlasson

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EVENTS

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NEWS IN BRIEF Affordable housing advocates prepare for more competitive housing market

BY NOAH TELERSKI noah.telerski@streetsensemedia.org

International Network of Street Papers #VendorWeek

The Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance (NVAHA) released a new report outlining policy recommendations to expand and protect existing low-income housing from being squeezed out as property values continue to rise in the area. The group specifically mentioned the announcement of Amazon’s “HQ2” in Crystal City as a reason these problems could continue to worsen.

“How we move forward with appropriate growth that ensures economic vitality and extends opportunities to those who have not benefited in the past will be our challenge,” NVAHA says.

The report, called Building Northern Virginia’s Future: Policies to Create a More Affordable, Equitable Housing Supply, says the growth of high-wage households has caused an increasingly expensive and competitive housing market.

Selling the Street Sense Media newspaper is our vendors’ job. And publishing in the paper is each artist’s opportunity to share their truth and their talent with you and remember that their story matters. With more than 40 similar street papers in the United States, in a network of more than 100 papers around the world, 9,000+ vendors are selling street papers at any one time. Each one of these men and women – in 35 countries – is using their local street paper as a way to work themselves out of poverty. Help us and the International Network of Street Papers pay tribute to our vendors’ hard work: Get to know your vendor, share the paper with a friend, and follow the #VendorWeek hashtag on Twitter.

Free Film Screenings Saturday, Feb. 9 // 12-4 p.m.

St. Stephen and the Incarnation 1525 Newton St. NW The Organization of United People is hosting a double-feature, showing “The Black Klansman” and “Sorry to Bother You.” Wednesday, Feb. 13 // 7-10 p.m.

Brentwood Arts Exchange 3901 Rhode Island Avenue “Slam,” the story of a young man from Southeast D.C. with an innate skill for poetry and rap.

UPDATES ONLINE AT ICH.DC.GOV

MONDAY, FEB. 11

D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness Meetings

Friends of Crummell School rally

Housing Solutions Committee Feb. 6, 1:30 PM // Location TBD, Likely at 1800 MLK Ave SE

6 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Bethesda Baptist Church, D.C. 1808 Capitol Ave, NE

Executive Committee Feb. 12, 1:30 PM // Location TBD, Likely at 441 4th Street NW

Ward 5 Councilman Kenyan McDuffie will hold a community meeting on the proposed development of the Crummell School site. Friends of Crummell School, along with Empower DC, would like to pack the meeting.

*Committee schedules only.

For issue-focused working groups, contact ich.info@dc.gov.

MORE INFO: (202) 234-9119 x 100

Submit your event for publication by e-mailing editor@streetsensemedia.org

AUDIENCE EXCHANGE Kate Hill

@clickpopclick

Thank you @streetsensedc for making such an easy-to-use app! I never carry cash around, and it’s awesome to be able to still get the paper when chatting with the vendors.

3:03 PM - 25 JAN 2019

Urban Institute data shows household growth in middleincome categories lags in Washington, D.C., region.

COURTESY OF THE NORTHERN VIRGINIA AFFORDABLE HOUSING ALLIANCE

The proposals put forward in the report focus on rezoning neighborhoods and making new construction easier. They point to restrictive zoning laws, and their historical use for racial segregation, as the cause of the price barrier to these neighborhoods. The report says opening these neighborhoods to multi-family homes or accessory buildings is a means of increasing the number of affordable options in these areas.

The report also points out the need to improve transportation infrastructure alongside new housing. “To build public trust and prevent a deterioration in quality of life, jurisdictions must demonstrate that they can effectively accommodate growth,” the report says. This includes increased bus service, improved public transit, and ways to handle larger numbers of students in area schools that come with increased development and housing density.

Ryan Johnson @Neo_Globe

One of the highlights of seeing the government come back to work today was the @streetsensedc guy singing the “Welcome Back Kotter” theme song in Dupont Circle.

A reminder of how many people depend on government workers’ salary flowing to the local economy.

12:38 PM - 28 JAN 2019

Follow more headlines at StreetSenseMedia.org/news

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NEWS

A rare warm evening leads volunteers to count many homeless people without shelter Community members volunteer at the PIT Count Event.

BY HARRY FREY Editorial Volunteer

V

olunteers with the 2019 Point-In-Time (PIT) count to determine the size and character of the city’s homeless population met Johnny Queen, a 60-year-old street minister, sleeping in the portico of St John’s Episcopal Church on Lafayette Square. He agreed to answer their questions and summarize his life story, happy to act as witness for the homeless individuals sleeping outside during the coldest part of the year.

“Sir? Sir? We’re with outreach. Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?” one volunteer asked.

Queen’s head, kept warm by a hat, emerged from below several thick blankets into the cold January night air.

“Hmmm? Oh yes, go right ahead,” he said.

One volunteer asked Queen about himself: age, ethnicity, sexual orientation. About his history: addiction, abuse, health issues. And about his future: what plans does he have for moving past homelessness? They took down the details of his life on a form, offered him a gift card for a couple of Subway sandwiches, and wished him a good night. Queen pulled his blankets back over his head and returned to sleep beneath the columns of the church.

Similar scenes played out thousands of times on Jan. 23, as local volunteers canvassed the District while across the country, others did the same. The PIT count

Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks at the PIT Count Event.

PHOTO BY REGINALD BLACK

PHOTO BY REGINALD BLACK

serves as an annual snapshot of people experiencing homelessness on a single night in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development jurisdictions known as Continuums of Care. The survey is conducted in January because the expectation is that on a cold night shelters will operate at high capacity. Since counting people inside shelters is more straightforward than finding them on the street, having PIT on a cold night increases the accuracy of the count.

Accuracy is important because PIT provides crucial information for policymakers on the demographics, needs and size of the homeless community.

Volunteers assigned to the McPherson Square area encountered many men sleeping near subway exits, in narrow arcades, and in practically any other enclosed space. Willy Walker, with his head poking out of a tattered sleeping bag, said he had tried shelters, but found them too violent. Walker has been homeless for seven or eight years and would be termed ‘chronically homeless’ by the survey.

When asked his age, he answered “59,” before adding with some disbelief, “I’m going to be 60 this year.” Russell Melvin, who was lying a few feet from Walker, was optimistic because he would be moving into a subsidized apartment soon. The volunteers cheered and congratulated him and made note of his situation.

Melvin is a beneficiary of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s collaboration with Pathways to Housing to implement a housing-first strategy that provides housing to homeless individuals without first requiring strict behavioral changes. Previous programs have required consistent sobriety and steady employment from homeless individuals before tentatively extending them subsidized housing. Housing First reverses this proposition, banking on the dignity and convenience of a private home to enable individuals to achieve and maintain their health, rather than asking them to stay clean while still living on the street.

So far, the plan is working, although slowly. Information for 2019’s PIT count will not become available until May, but other reports have shown a decline in the number of homeless people in the District over the last three years. Since 2016, overall homelessness has decreased 17 percent and

family homelessness has decreased by nearly 40 percent. The 2018 PIT count reported 6,904 total persons experiencing homelessness in D.C., down from 7,473 in 2017. The most dramatic drop in surveyed groups came in the 1,210 adults in families counted, down nearly 25 percent from 1,609 the year before.

However, in the same period the number of single homeless adults increased slightly, from 3,583 to 3,770. All of those counted

by volunteers this year in the vicinity of McPherson Square were in this category.

When asked how they planned to cope with freezing temperatures, respondents to the survey had similar answers. “Hope,” “Prayer,” and “A few more of these blankets” all came up more than once. Mr. Queen summed up the risk, stating, “To make it out here in the cold, you need to be prepared. You can’t come out here with nothing.”

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

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25th annual resource fair strives to compensate for the high rate of denials for veterans’ benefits The registration table for the Winterhaven Stand Down event. PHOTO BY JORDAN TOBIAS

BY JORDAN TOBIAS jordan.tobias@streetsensemedia.org

I

n front of the Washington D.C. Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Sgt. Timothy Harper and Antonio Pinchback sat happily together as they discussed the much-needed services they received at the center’s annual Winterhaven Homeless Veterans Stand Down on Saturday, Jan. 26.

“This event is very important because it’s providing a lot of resources in one spot without having to go through the hierarchy [of the organization] and red tape,” Pinchback said. “It’s about getting direct contact with the people who actually run these programs.”

The VA brings together services from each level of government as well as from community nonprofits to address the challenges faced by veterans who are struggling with homelessness in the D.C. area. Starting at 9 a.m., more than 70 organizations were in the lobby of the VA medical center to provide on-site assistance and information.

At the registration table, more than 500 participating veterans received a checklist of designated areas to ensure each received the care he or she needed.

Primary care, housing counseling, substance abuse rehabilitation and legal assistance were just a few of the services offered.

A pro-bono legal clinic that consists of The Veterans Consortium, the Neighborhood Legal Services Program and the VA, had five attorneys on-hand to discuss issues and provide legal referrals in military discharge upgrade matters, landlord and tenant law and benefits claims.

“A lot of veterans are denied their benefits through the VA,” said Claudia Daley, a manager at The Veterans Consortium. “Therefore, they need legal representation in court to help them rectify that to get their benefits.”

That’s why Sgt. Harper attended Winterhaven. He needed to make contact with the Disabled American Veterans to get help with a benefit appeal.

The Veterans Benefits Administration pays out more than $78 billion each year to nearly 5 million beneficiaries. However, more than 470,000 veterans have experienced a denial of benefits and have appealed since the administration began operating in 1930, according to a New York Times report.

Daley suggested the denials were caused by the sheer number of beneficiaries, coupled with mistakes in paperwork that veterans turn in.

According to the Times, a flaw in the Veterans Affairs system for sorting cases in need of attention that combined appeals with minor errors such as typos, into a backlog of cases with complex errors awaiting review.

Representatives from The Legal Counsel for the

Elderly were also present at the event to give veterans information on its legal and social work assistance.

Blood pressure, diabetes, vision and dental health assessments were all required.

“Because we’re concerned about sexually transmitted diseases, we have an HIV assessment for persons that want to get assessed voluntarily,” said VA nurse Henry Jackson.

After stopping by the mandatory stations on the checklist, each veteran had free lunch available to them and a comfort kit that included winter clothing and perishable goods. In a 2015 study published in the Public Health Nutrition journal found that veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars suffer from food insecurity at more than double the national rate of 12 percent.

Outreach events such as Winterhaven align with the center’s focus on preventing homelessness among veterans. According to the annual Point-in-Time Count, 306 veterans experienced homelessness in the district.

The VA also provided free transportation from local shelters to all eligible attendees.

“It’s better today because [the service providers] are all in one place.” Harper said. “When you’re homeless, transportation is a huge issue and having to go all over the city to these different agencies uses up whatever the money you got. To have them all in one place is a big help.”

Henry Jackson, a nurse with for the VA.

Sgt. Timothy Harper sits with his bags in front of the VA medical center. PHOTO BY JORDAN TOBIAS

PHOTO BY JORDAN TOBIAS

Sara Alderson helped distribute supplies for Aid Our Veterans at the Winterhaven event. PHOTO BY JORDAN TOBIAS

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NEWS

With D.C. General closed, this organization is bringing playtime to children in overflow family shelters

BY ZACHARY HEADINGS Zachary.headings@streetsensemedia.org

O

n a weekday evening in December, families crowded at the door of the Quality Inn ballroom, waiting to sign in their children. Scattered across the floral-print carpet, kids were playing. Some played with other kids, some with toys, and others with their adult supervisors. They had to make the most of a short hour-and-a-half because they only get to do this twice a week.

This is what playtime looks like for children of families in temporary shelters in Washington, D.C. For these children, playtime is an event, not an abstract concept of fun. It has a place and time.

Playing is an undeniably important part of childhood.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, it is essential to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development and well-being of children. But children from families experiencing homelessness may not have the opportunity to play. The Homeless Children’s Playtime Project has been changing that for families in temporary shelter.

Back when it operated out of the now-shuttered D.C. General family shelter, Playtime Project had rooms for separate age groups and enough space and toys that all children that attended could be accommodated. The Playtime Project began working in the city’s family overflow shelters — hotel rooms rented in bulk — in 2017.

In the overflow shelters, lack of space is a primary concern.

Jamila Larson, executive director and co-founder of the Playtime Project, remembers when she saw two children fighting over a limited number of building toys. It culminated when one of the kids tried to stab the other with a toy. Something like that would not have happened at D.C. General, where the program had enough space to provide for the children that needed it, Larson said.

Playtime Project fully supported the closure of the dilapidated D.C. General family shelter. The organization must now adapt and figure out how to fund more programs at a smaller scale in order to serve approximately the same number of children.

Space challenges notwithstanding, the nonprofit has been making do. Their new “pop-up playtime” model being used in the overflow shelters is working, according to the organization’s communications coordinator, Melanie Hatter. “We’re figuring out how to recreate playtime to continue serving the children.

Ultimately, we’ll always go where the children need us.”

Larson emphasized that the kind of service Playtime Project provides should be integral to any program that tries to help children. “You’d never dream of starting a program for homeless veterans that ignores PTSD,” Larson said. “Aren’t these children just as deserving of services as a homeless man or woman?”

New short-term family shelters have opened in Wards 4, 7 and 8, with sites in Wards 3, 5 and 6 expected to open in late 2019 and 2020. “We have our fingers crossed that we will be able to work with the new shelters,” Hatter said. But the shelters in Wards 4 and 8 do not have adequate space to accommodate a standard playtime event.

Larson said Playtime Project is in talks with personnel at the Ward 7 shelter to begin a playtime at that facility. “When the future [shelters] open,” Larson said, “we’ll visit and see if any of them are good fits as well.”

A Playtime Project volunteer entertains a toddler in the Quality Inn ballroom in 2018. PHOTO COURTESY OF PLAYTIME PROJECT

At any given playtime event in the hotels that serve as overflow shelters, 20 kids may be running around the room, alternating between playing with toys and pretending to fly with the help of Playtime Project volunteers. They laugh and scream. At the same time, their parents are taking care of things that would be difficult to do with young children around.

Whether they need to catch up on rest or attend an important meeting with a case worker, Playtime Project lets adults have a chance to breathe.

The organization was founded in 2003 by Larson and an attorney, Regina Kline. Larson toured the Community for Creative Nonviolence shelter at 2nd and D Streets NW and saw children in the facility living in poor conditions: “rows of metal bunk beds, sheets for doors, rat holes, no bathroom soaps, and not a single toy in sight,” according to the Playtime Project’s website. “I asked, ‘Doesn’t anyone donate toys?’”

Larson recalled. “They said, ‘Yeah, sometimes, but we keep them locked in a closet so the kids don’t make a mess.’”

That was when Larson and Kline realized it wasn’t going to be enough to donate toys. “We literally needed to donate ourselves and advocate for child-friendly spaces in shelters,” Larson said.

Since then, the Playtime Project has operated in 12 locations.

The nonprofit currently hosts events twice a week in two transitional housing programs and three city overflow shelters, located at a Quality Inn, a Days Inn and the Hotel Arboretum.

The children the Playtime Project serves have faced many traumatic situations. “Being able to see these kids, knowing all the stuff they are dealing with, come into the room and just let go of that and play is huge,” Hatter said.

The group’s experience at different overflow shelter sites has varied. At the Hotel Arboretum, staff members were able to negotiate the use of a second room so children ages 3-7 could have “free play” in one space while the bigger pre-teens, ages 8 - 12, participated in more structured activities. The organization was also given room for a baby-specific program on another floor.

A second space for children under three was also recently added at the Days Inn overflow shelter.

However, at Quality Inn, kids of all ages are relegated to the hotel ballroom. While the space is large, shelter residents haven’t been allowed access to the nearby restroom since August, 2018. Playtime Project began hosting twice-weekly

A young girl plays doctor in the Quality Inn ballroom with a Playtime Project volunteer. PHOTO COURTESY OF PLAYTIME PROJECT

playtimes at Quality Inn in 2017 and made a request for more space — similar to the arrangements made at Hotel Arboretum — to accommodate the different age groups of attendees.

“What hasn’t worked is serving toddlers learning to walk with rambunctious preteens all in the same room,” Larson wrote of the situation in a July blog post.

Axar Management, which runs Quality Inn, offered to make the additional space available for the nonprofit rate of $500.

Shortly afterward, the bathrooms near the hotel ballroom were locked, according to Hatter, and Playtime staff members were told the bathrooms needed maintenance. However, over the next several months Playtime personnel found the doors occasionally unlocked and the facilities in working order. Yet they were still off limits to Playtime participants in the last week of January.

Street Sense Media observed the locked bathroom doors during a site visit in November but has not independently verified the condition of the facilities within.

“These families are disrespected in so many ways. And the children, specifically, are often left behind,” Hatter said. “We do what we can to fill the void of their unmet needs, and something as simple as having access to a bathroom becomes a stumbling block. There’s still no bathroom access for Playtime.”

Playtime Project uses trauma-informed programs that “seek to restore normalcy by providing opportunities for children to learn and heal through play, as well as empowering them to make choices, express themselves, relate to others, and find support,” according to its website.

The children get the opportunity to choose what they engage in. Homeless kids don’t have the same autonomy as other kids, according to Hatter. They are often pulled this way and that based on what their parents must do to meet the family’s basic needs. By exploring the roles of astronaut, cashier, or princess, they learn who they are. They develop self-awareness, learn how to control their behavior and understand their emotions.

Through all those other outcomes, Larson holds one as the most important. “We never want to lose sight of joy,” she said..

Homeless Children’s Playtime Project is always in need of more volunteers. Each “Play Ranger” has a specific weekly event they go to and commits to at least six months of service in order to become a familiar face and build relationships with the children. The organization is also in search of groups to sponsor and host birthday parties throughout the year. Learn more at www.playtimeproject.org

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

// 7

AT A GLANCE

Souvenirs from the many political campaigns Michael Warner worked for in 2018.

PHOTO BY ERIC FALQUERO

Catherine Crosland, right, of Unity Health Care, interacting with a patient PHOTO KAITE BEM

How street outreach meets homeless people where they are

BY KATIE BEMB // katie.bemb@streetsense.org

When the human brain experiences trauma, it changes.

As the brain develops over time, the intensity of childhood trauma can lead to a range of mental health and behavioral problems, including addiction, domestic violence and medical issues, according to the Adverse Childhood Experiences study conducted by Kaiser Permanente and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the 1990s.

Since that study was published, experts have investigated how the brain changes in response to trauma. When the brain is exposed to traumatic experiences, the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for decision-making, may be smaller than normal. The amygdala, the part of the brain responsible for decoding emotion, may be larger than normal. Rational decision-making processes are stunted while emotions are unchecked, often leading to what might seem like unreasonable distrust.

According to Matt Bennett, an author and expert in traumainformed care, street outreach has proven to be one of the most effective ways to exercise trauma-informed care with the homeless population. “Once we understand the neurobiology, it helps us understand why some of our historical solutions haven’t worked,” he said.

When Catherine Crosland, a physician with Unity Health Care, approaches a homeless individual on the street, she typically starts out by asking how they are and whether they would be amenable to a blood pressure test. If they comply, Crosland proceeds with the test while asking the patient questions about their health care. “We approach people to build relationships, check on folks who haven’t seen doctors in years... we try to meet them where they are,” said Crosland.

“Trust me man, you’re a great deal, you’re the real deal,” said a patient as Crosland examined his foot injury.

While street outreach specialists may develop some semblance of trust with clients, it is often difficult to connect homeless individuals with resources they need.

“Many clients will refuse medical treatment on non lifethreatening conditions,” said Tanner Reel, a street outreach specialist with Pathways to Housing D.C., “and part of our job is to accept that and continue engaging them until, hopefully, they’re comfortable enough to engage with us on moving forward towards housing and treatment.”

Before street outreach specialists with Pathways to Housing can begin their work, they must complete a one-month training to learn how to meet clients where they are and move at the client’s pace.

“We’re told to keep a respectful, but friendly, distance, employ active listening, and, most importantly, engage on what they’re wanting to talk about, even if it means having to push back the agenda,” Reel said. “While it can be frustrating at times, an important note to keep in mind is that we are working with our clients to hopefully improve their futures.”

But street outreach is not a method limited to a few D.C. nonprofits. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends and implements street outreach programs to connect with homeless clientele.

SAMHSA launched the National Child Traumatic Stress Network in 2001 and the National Center for Trauma-Informed Care in 2005 to assist with individual traumatic events.

“When I was homeless, there wasn’t a lot of street outreach, [none] that I knew of anyway,” said Waldon Adams, now an employee with Pathways to Housing. “There were drop-in centers, but if you didn’t go to them, they wouldn’t come to you. I love that we bring services to people where they are, develop relationships with people on the street that can make someone feel that they really matter, that they have a friend to say hi to, and help them navigate through barriers.”

Trauma-informed care should be exercised at all levels of development, Bennett said. Through his programming and advocacy efforts, he said he encourages people to shift from asking “What is wrong with this child?” to “What is happening to this child?”

“Whether we’re a medical provider, policy maker, teacher, police officer,if we understand the people were working with,” Bennett said, “we need to start making system and policy changes to craft interventions around the science behind trauma.”

Michael Warner returned to vending our newspaper after being employed by four political campaigns throughout 2018.

BIRTHDAYS Jennifer McLauglin Feb. 16 ARTIST/VENDOR

Sasha Williams Feb. 18 ARTIST/VENDOR

ACCOMPLISHMENTS Floyd Carter A.K.A “DC Young Brody”

Released a music video Feb. 1 www.tinyurl.com/floyd-new-music ARTIST/VENDOR

Our stories, straight to your inbox Street Sense Media provides a vehicle through which all of us can learn about homelessness from those who have experienced it. Sign up for our newsletter to get our vendors' stories in your inbox.

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ART

Random Acts of Kindness:

A Valentine for Valerie

BY WENDELL WILLIAMS Artist/Vendor

I

am in the process of putting together a book to chronicle the random acts of kindness I've been the recipient of over the years. Many kind acts were performed by perfect strangers that literally saved my life or got me through some of the most difficult personal challenges imaginable.

Others were performed by a core of longtime friends who have stuck by me over the years when I sincerely reached out for their help. This valentine is for my most special friend.

Valerie and I were introduced by a college friend in the spring of 1975. She was 21 and I was 25 and we connected right away and had a great time together. My summer plans were already set when we hooked up and they couldn’t be changed. I had gone to California the previous summer and made plans to spend the entire upcoming summer in L.A. I had even sent money ahead for a summer rental and I had high school, college and close family friends living out there. It was the ‘70s, when things were free and loose and everybody was "California Dreaming." I’d be staying right down the street from where the movie “Car Wash” was filmed.

So we made the most of it. She was a breath of fresh air, then I was gone. But we never forgot our time together or our attraction to one another. When the fall came we dated and hung out whenever we could. We were in different schools but I can remember her always being willing to come to my games and enthusiastically support me from the stands wherever I played. We literally had a secret love affair unbeknownst to most of our friends.

I knew then she was special.

I was interested in radio and records as a career and Valerie would share with me stories of her experiences performing summers on the recreation department's concert circuit. So many of D.C.'s future entertainers started out touring inner-city playgrounds with her as part of the mayor's summer jobs program. She was a member a local rock/funk band Cummings Electric Sound. Valerie was tall, pretty, sweet and just a down to earth uptown girl. But it was her gentle, kind, and easy going spirit that won me over back then and again 30 years later.

Valerie with Cummings Electric Sound, early ‘70s PHOTO COURTESY OF WENDELL WILLIAMS

Soon I was off to my first job in broadcasting. We lost to a fault. She would give anybody literally the shirt touch as I moved around the country losing phone books off her back and time after time I was blown away by and didn't reunite until I returned to work at a local radio her unselfishness. It would be nothing for her to give station in 1983. She was now with the U.S. Park Service something to every person asking for money when we after the National Council of Negro Women turned over were out. She paid no attention to my warnings of what the Frederick Douglass home where she'd been working people might do with the funds, telling me in a nice way when we met due to the lack of funding necessary for to mind my business. That was Val. its upkeep and survival. She would give me up close and We would eat and split the check and would argue personal tours. We renewed our arrangement. But now over how big of a tip to leave. Val would leave a great tip we were both in other relationships and couldn't cleanly even if the service was lousy, which I had great difficulty break free of them. Then I was gone again to Hampton understanding. I think the tip should match the level of Roads for five years or so for a gig. With the problems service. But she didn't feel that way. She always asked mounting in my life we lost touch again. me, “What if that waitress or waiter is taking care of two It may be hard to conceive of this in the age of cell or three children and needs the tip money?” phones and the internet, but long distance calls were very Valerie was a big Street Sense Media supporter after expensive during those times. Trying to have a watching what the paper had done for me. I would long distance romance could cost hundreds of visit her and notice copies of the same edition dollars a month. We used to say “nobody of the paper. When I questioned why wins but the phone company.” she did not ask me for one she would It was 30 years before we would lay respond "I wanted to support all those eyes on each other again. Even though vendors because I knew what the I worked back in D.C. on several paper had done for you." That was occasions somehow we never ran my beautiful-spirited Val. into each other.

One day I had the chance to see Our journey was like one of my her generosity first hand. It was favorite stories the nuns would early in my return to recovery and read to us, the saga of Evangeline.

I was working hard on a less-thanIn that epic poem two star-crossed lucrative paying job. When I was lovers became separated during the able to put together about $1,000 to forced removal of the Acadian people buy a recovery car I was so excited to from Nova Scotia during the French and have a car that I was ripe for the taking.

Indian War. They looked for one another I went out and test drove a car that was all their lives. At times during their life-long unbelievable and turns out a deal too good to Valerie, 1975. search they had even been on the same riverboat, be true. I even went against the advice of a friend one boarding while the other was getting off, unable who drove me that day who told me, “Don't buy that to know it because of the crowds. They never reunited car I've got a bad feeling about that guy selling it.” But until they were both older she had become a nun and the price was right and I drove off in a very clean used Evangeline’s lover died in her arms.

Camry with low miles thousands of dollars under the In late 2012, I tried Facebook for the first time and I Blue Book value. almost never checked my page and in fact I had nothing I proudly walked into DMV and they gave me the but bad things to say about it. I felt it was a tremendous customary 30-day tags to get the car inspected and waste of time. Then one day out of the blue there she was. through emissions. And then things went south. I drove We talked for hours during that first conversation, my car to the inspection station and was so excited to catching up on the missing years of our lives. We both be able to get my permanent tags when the gentleman had been through a lot and been changed forever by inspecting my car approached me with a very disturbed bad marriages, bad relationships, all kinds of abuse and look on his face and delivered the bad news. “Sir, this poor choices. But there was no judgement. She told me car will never pass inspection and it's actually unsafe for about having to raise others family members’ kids, about you to drive it away.” The undercarriage was rusting out. sacrifices she made to keep her extended family together So was the floorboard and most of the front suspension. and about the personal toll it had taken. But she was open When I test drove the car I had noticed a strange noise and honest with her situation and I with mine. We both but the guy selling the car said it was just something that had baggage and after we met again face-to-face every needed to be tightened or adjusted. And being hot-to-trot following moment was like it was 1975 again. to get the car I wanted to believe him and never got on We were 40+ years older and didn't look the same. But the ground to take a look myself. in our hearts and minds we acted like we were in ‘75.

The mechanic told me whoever sold me the car knew From that day on even when we were taking a "break" it had been in a flood. I couldn't believe it. As you can we talked every day no matter where I was, traveling or imagine, there was not an aspirin large enough to relieve who I was with. We averaged about 5-to-10 calls and the pain I was feeling. I had spent every dime I had. And texts each day over the last six years. We agreed we then in rode Val. A few days later she just stopped by and would always be. out of the blue handed me an envelope and said, “Go buy One of the things about Valerie is she was generous a car.” Pay me back when you can.

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my craft since I joined this fight against the opioid epidemic I couldn't believe it. I said, “Where'd you get this money in 2013. Another Random Act of Kindness by my Valerie. from?” And, of course she told me in her way that was none And as time has gone by I have found so many others she has of my business. I can’t remember how long it took but I am performed without her even mentioning them. Her whole life proud to say I paid her back every penny. was filled with them.

The second Random Acts of Kindness story I published, After about two months on my new job l began to allow back in 2017 was about one of my supporters who helped fix myself to dream of a possible future for us together, taking her that Camry I had been making “Band-Aid” repairs on. Now places and doing things she never could because she focused you know how I got the car to begin with: a Random Act of so much of her resources on helping others.

Kindness from my friend Val. On Dec. 29, after a few days together, she told me how Over the next few years Valerie and I continued to hang happy and hopeful she was and that spending time with me was tough, she stuck by me even after the failed engagement and the reason and she was alright with a arrangement that most I considered her my one and only go-to person. I wanted very people would not understand. We hugged long and tight and much to treat her like the special person she was. She had got in our cars and we both drove away shared with me that she had never been in opposite directions as we talked on the on an airplane, even on a vacation or phone all the way to our destinations. We cruise — and I wanted to be the person texted back and forth throughout the rest to take her. She more than deserved it. of the day. At 10:23 p.m.we had what At home she struggled just to have ended up being our last conversation a quiet moment alone. Our day trips by text. She told me her prediction for became what she looked forward to. my next day’s paper sales income as she From Norfolk to Baltimore to Frederick always does and we said good night. to Southern Maryland we rode. If I had Then at 2:45 a.m. life as l knew it was an out of town training she came. Our forever changed. I got a call from Valerie’s last one was to the mountains to see oldest daughter saying she had passed away the leaves changing colors and she was of a massive stroke. I found out later she so happy for it to be just me and her. was probably dead when she hit the floor. I We had also made plans for a trip to screamed at the top of my lungs and crying Atlantic City this month because she out to God in hopes that this was not true. I was secretly afraid to fly. wanted so badly for somebody to call back I mentioned the toll that trying to Wendell prepares to take Valerie’s granddaughter to the UniverSoul Circus. and say she was revived and at a local take care of so many people had on PHOTO COURTESY OF WENDELL WILLIAMS hospital. That was possible, right? She had Val. She was worn thin with stress from already survived a heart attack and drove herself to the E.R. constantly being underwater financially and robbing Peter to I don't know how I did it but I got dressed and drove from pay Paul. She had started to make some legal preparations to Oxon Hill to Takoma Park in what seemed like 10 minutes. get some relief from those worries and the pressures those When I got there police and paramedics were just leaving, obligations were causing and we were actually making plans to she was laying on the floor with a blanket covering her. I laid move in together in a apartment that we both could afford with down beside her and hugged her, she felt just like my Val. She our anticipated retirements. And when her children and others was warm as if she'd get up if I asked her to. But the look in she was responsible for had moved on and finally were on their her eyes told me she was gone. And just like that so, too, were feet she would be free to live her life with me. So I waited. my dreams, hopes and promises for our brighter tomorrow. I At times upwards of eight or nine people would be living at was crushed. I kissed her for the last time, said goodbye and her two bedroom apartment. She even moved in her ex-husband closed her eyes. It was said it’s better to have loved and lost with his daughter and granddaughter at the end of his life. That than not loved at all, the way I feel I am not sure about that. was Val — selfless to a fault. I came to accept who she was and It's been weeks now and I am still devastated. Friends stopped trying to get her to change. She once said I just selfishly have said the sun will shine again for me, I say to them ok wanted her all to myself (and I did) and said doing things for but never as bright. My insides feel like someone has kicked others gave her purpose in life. It was her mission. I made the them out. I hurt to the core of my decision that day to always be there being wondering what do I do now. to help her any way I could.

Everyday I struggle just trying to In late October I began to make sense of life. Some days I'm receive weird emails from places very accepting and others I am angry I had never contacted about with her for leaving me this way, I employment. I had given up on feel cheated. Try listening to the finding satisfying employment words of Michael McDonald's song in my field of substance abuse “You can let go now.” treatment when l got a weird But I know what she would email trying to confirm an say. “Get it together and help appointment for an interview. I someone else.” never replied because of my fear Her service was Jan. 26 and it it was a phishing scheme or virus. was joyous to hear so many people That's when I called and she told share such great stories about their me I had an interview at such Valerie, who worked for the U.S. Department of Justice, experiences with Val's generosity. and such date, time, and place poses with Congresswoman Elizabeth Holmes Norton.

One young mother described living — which I knew nothing about. PHOTO COURTESY OF WENDELL WILLIAMS in Howard County, working in D.C. It turns out that Val, always my and having her car break down. She was at her wits’ end and biggest supporter of whatever my latest idea was, had posted Val just gave her her car to use, saying “I can take the bus.” my resume, even filled out applications on my behalf for That was Val. Another young women shared about being a several employment sites. That was Val. runaway as a teenager and Val taking her in, even giving her I was hired and started Nov 1. and it turns out that this job an allowance, which made her feel part of the family. is the best opportunity I've had to grow, learn, and practice

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Valerie and Wendall on their last day trip together.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WENDELL WILLIAMS

Of all the kind things said, the one that brought the house down was the toilet paper story. Val saw a lady she knew in line at a store and noticed she was buying a two-roll pack of toilet paper. After Val and the lady got to talking in line the woman shared that she was taking care of all her grandchildren as well as herself and things were tight. As the woman was loading up her car outside here comes Val with a shopping cart full of the largest containers of toilet paper that she had ever seen! Now she says every time she wipes herself or runs out of toilet paper she thinks about Val's kind heart. That was my Val. She was a card sharp too. That’s one way I’ve been able to keep her with me. We stayed engaged in a battle of who could surprise the other with the nicest most clever greeting cards.

Needless to say I was in over my head and no match for Val's kind sentiments and creative writing. Once I went on a mission to discover where she was getting these cards and never found out. But almost every day now as I go through my house I find another card that she most cleverly left hidden somewhere in drawers and cabinets or in the books or wherever. I have gathered all the cards and still may find new ones. I put them in plastic Ziploc bags and have pulled them out from time to time these last few days to read them to get me through.

PHOTO BY WENDELL WILLIAMS

The card that means the most to me is the one found the day after her death. What she wrote inside ends like this: "I want you to set this card aside and remember it when you feeling happy and thankful and wonderful so you can remind yourself that that's how you make me feel.”

“I hope you will put this someplace where you'll see it when you are down and need a little uplifting or cheering up so you will remember that I'll always be here to help chase the clouds away.

"I want you to remember that every time you see this card sitting on a shelf and all the days to come you're one of the most special people in all the world to me and you always will be."

In death she was still performing Random Acts of Kindness.

That's my Val. I hope what they say about an afterlife is true and our souls really do get to meet again somewhere in the Cosmos. Until that time I am waiting in vain.

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OPINION

Andrew Trueblood (right) addresses the D.C. Grassroots Planning Coalition. PHOTO BY REGINALD BLACK

The city should use its land for its people

BY REGINALD BLACK

The D.C. Grassroots Planning Coalition recently met with Andrew Trueblood, the new interim director of the Office of Planning.

He’s a new leader, taking on a job this group of advocates has been following since 2016: setting rules and goals for how the city uses its land for years to come. As a member of the coalition, and a native Washingtonian who has experienced homelessness on and off since 2008, I think this is a prime opportunity for the District to live up to its status as a “Human Rights City” and provide enough adequate housing for its people.

Trueblood laid out his direction for the Office of Planning and seems to be more receptive to community input.

But while he was wordy, but he really didn't say too much.

“My goal is to meet everyone who thinks about planning," Trueblood said. “Trust is something earned and developed.”

What is the director's role? “The office of planning director is not like other directors in the city, Their job is to think beyond," he said. "We have to think about our children and our grandchildren."

Trueblood said the public sent in over 3,000 responses to the city's "comprehensive plan." The Office of Planning has submitted only 60 pages of a revised plan — the “framework” chapter — to be considered by D.C. Council. The first hearing ran for more than eight hours, led by Council Chairman Phil Mendelson in March of 2018. Trueblood stated that the office of planning is continuing to go through the amendments.

I asked Mr. Trueblood if he would be incorporating data from the D.C Interagency Council on Homelessness into the framework. I’m a voting member of the ICH and serve as a “consumer representative.”

"I’m pretty sure those numbers have to be incorporated," he said.

The community at large, regular people like you and me, needs to have this kind of conversation with city officials. If the city is going to have continued dialogue it needs to, directors like Trueblood need to be up front and held accountable by the citizens of the District for this things we care about.

This is a prime opportunity for the District to live up to its status as a “Human Rights City.”

Reginald Black is a Street Sense Media artist and vendor.

Product of Progression:

Struggling to rebuild

ILLUSTRATION BY CARLTON “INKFLOW” JOHNSON

BY TYRONE CHISHOLM

As we try to find a path out of the way poverty has forced us to live, we have to endure poor living conditions, coupled with job scarcity.

These are tremendous reasons why we may fail.

I have been at my job since March of 2018, and it’s a struggle to hold on. And affordable housing seems not to exist. I’ve been searching for nearly two years, since before I received rapid rehousing assistance. Since before that assistance ran out.

I am looking for a second job, just to be financially qualified to find a place of my own.

Between the shelter and my car, there are no other options. Going for rapid rehousing again is still an option, but if my income situation doesn’t change, I will probably still not be able to maintain the full rent after that assistance ends.

Renting a room or space from someone who is subletting is not allowed in the rapid rehousing program, I learned at a Ward 8 DEMS meeting, so that’s not an option. Either I am outgrowing the van that I live in, or I am outgrowing the stressful circumstances that keeps me confined to it. I pay bills, I vote, I pay taxes, I attend community meetings, I am a part of community organizations. How is it that I am not benefiting from these networks?

I am working hard to be an asset in my networks, a productive member of them. I am

adhering to the ethical norms of society. I am becoming a product of the progress I have made.

Yet here I remain, homeless.

The way I see it, there are three steps do dealing with a natural disaster: Prepare before the storm hits, regroup when you are in the eye of the storm, after you have witnessed the struggle it wrought and rebuild after the devastation caused by the storm, after your shaken and bruised soul heals.

But for the trials and tribulations of life, we are often not given the opportunity to prepare.

It’s a struggle to get to step 2, to see the beauty of what could come if we can make it to the end and have the resources and opportunities to rebuild.

We who are struggling must continue to strive to thrive, with diligence, understanding and power. And we must all do what we can to support each other, as a community.

Tyrone Chisholm is a volunteer contributor to Street Sense Media. He writes the ongoing series “Product of Progression” to show what opportunities and barriers exist for people experiencing homelessness and answer questions about the challenges he has faced, homeless, employed and enrolled in higher education in our nation’s capital. He is also willing to answer questions, which may be sent to editor@ streetsensemedia.org

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We needed peaceful deterrence at the March for Life

BY ANGIE WHITEHURST

The news said that a white Catholic student committed an atrocious racist offense on Jan. 18 against an American Indian Nathan Phillips. The boy smirked and laughed right up in Phillips’ face, and his red-hat-wearing classmates chanted slogans. The public scolded and condemned the boy. He later stated that he was fearful and, out of respect, had not wanted to offend Phillips.

But the footage of the smirk was enough to seal the perceived truth. Witnesses stood everywhere with smart phones and cameras. There was nothing else to say. I call this being STEEL: Smarter Than Everyone Else Living.

Your truth. My truth. The real truth is harmful biases.

Getting the facts straight is important, as we all learned that day at the March for Life and Indigenous Peoples March. The presence of curious bystanders and Black Israelites added to the confusion of the day.

I accompanied a photographer and Street Sense Media volunteer to the marches. On the metro, we met and talked to a woman leading a group of indigenous women to the march. She said that she and her group had already encountered some harassment from counter-protestors.

I wished then that the group had asked the DC Peacekeepers team to be present. As a member of that team, we are trained to perform bystander interventions.

The bottom line is to prevent the use of violence and to diffuse potential and occurring crisis. If I’d been there, with the Covington Catholic boys, I might have tried to converse with the young man peacefully.

The antagonizing groups were the MAGA-hat-wearing Covington Catholic high school students and the Black Hebrews, well known by those of us who frequent the Gallery Place metro station. They are hateful—

ILLUSTRATION

BY CARLTON “INKFLOW” JOHNSON CONCEPT BY SHEILA WHITE

provoking, instigating and verbally targeting pedestrians in their purview. They have weaponized words.

Phillips took a peaceful action to diffuse the potential violence by playing his drum and chanting. The Catholic student also did not engage in violence, but the smirk and laughing were provoking not diffusing.

All parties acted and reacted to their own truth about what happened. The white student and his classmates became privileged racist harassers; Phillips was a provoker and not a peacemaker; and the Black Hebrews, the root culprits and instigator of the entire crisis, got away without blame.

We all have implicit biases, beliefs, rituals and practices. We all can suffer the hypnotic trance of obedience to group think, without thinking: Again, this is what I call STEEL. That is dangerous, and we must practice deterrence in the form of peaceful words and peaceful actions.

Participants must take the time to check the facts and get it right. We are all innocent until proven guilty.

Angie Whitehurst is a vendor/artist for Street Sense Media.

ILLUSTRATION BY CARLTON “INKFLOW” JOHNSON

How the government shutdown affected me

BY DWAYNE BUTLER

During the shutdown my profits fell 75 percent. I didn't see many of my usual customers because a lot are government workers and the shutdown meant they were using money they normally spend buying Street Sense from me to pay for necessities such as food and utilities.

Consequently, I'm having a hard time feeding myself.

I'm also having a hard time finding work because I can't travel on the bus or the subway to look for other jobs. The shutdown hurt government programs that help homeless people with health problems. I couldn’t wait for it to end.

I know other vendors went through the same thing, so I kept the faith because I didn't want to be angry at President Trump. But I am very mad at him. Let’s hope he doesn’t make this happen again in a couple weeks.

Dwayne Butler is an artist and vendor with Street Sense Media.

Putting Trump's presidency into historical context

BY JEFFERY MCNEIL

When people claim this may be the worst period in history, I beg to differ. I believe the period from 1929 to 1945 when we had a Great Depression, dustbowls and a World War that killed tens of millions is not comparable to today. Shutting down the government or losing your food stamps are not equivalent to being sent to a concentration camp or the gas chamber.

Derangements are nothing new. Whenever Republicans get elected, from Richard Nixon to Donald Trump, liberals go apocalyptic, with mass protests, mob violence, and prolonged hissy fits and temper tantrums. The Radical Left hasn't changed. These are the same people that spit on soldiers coming home from Vietnam and couldn't side with Americans when America was attacked on 9/11. Social media has given them a bigger platform to spout their hate and propaganda.

But it used to be worse.

While the vitriol for Trump and his

bankers and industrialists that detested him. His supporters sometimes can be frightening, it enemies were the who's who of the privileged pales in comparison to what Franklin Delano class, such as the Rockefellers, Henry Ford and Roosevelt received. Roosevelt was so reviled George H.W. Bush’s father Prescott Bush. by his enemies, one month before being Not to mention Hitler, Stalin and sworn into office an Italian immigrant Mussolini. named Giuseppe Zangara fired The 2016 election was five shots at the future president, a cultural war between missing him and killing Chicago Americans clinging to the Mayor Anton Cermak and traditions and norms that wounding four people. In 1933, made America great and Major General Smedley Butler leftists who believe all the planned an attempted coup to things Americans love are overthrow Roosevelt. And he TION BY inherently racist. Roosevelt's was being challenged from his party ILLUSTRA BRANTLEY H DEBORA 1932 election wasn’t a cultural

by Louisiana Governor Huey Long, a revolution, but an economic and class one. charismatic speaker who was Bernie Sanders Both the Right and Left believed in the before Bernie Sanders, railing against the Constitution and Judeo-Christian principles. millionaires and billionaires.

The arguments weren't whether to destroy what Where President Trump has NeverTrump works in America but how can we preserve and Republicans and the Radical Left, Roosevelt had improve on the American system. a unique blend of Southern Dixiecrats, wealthy

While the anti-Trump sentiment is a threat to American stability, our nation has been through worse. We are nowhere near the Great Depression where unemployment was at thirty percent. However, during the Great Depression, despite abject poverty, people weren't homeless, families stayed together and didn’t starve to death. Today in Washington, D.C. the minimum wage is $13 an hour and many work multiple jobs and still don't have enough money when the average rent $2,265.

I consider myself a New Deal Democrat, but I'm like Howard Schultz. We don’t need a big government agenda soaking the rich. Congress should do their job and go after corruption.

The government should be getting out the way and deregulating industries and creating competition, so costs get lower and cheaper.

Jeffery McNeil is a Street Sense Media vendor who also contributes to the Washington Examiner.

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ART Stranger Danger:

Shelley, Sarah McLachlan, and Me

BY JET FLEGETTE Artist/Vendor

I

will start this story by pointing out some obvious facts. First, no one plans or sets out to be homeless. Second, a lot of homeless people do not like to panhandle. In fact some fellow homeless people have said to me “I don’t know how you do it,” or, “I couldn’t ask people for money.” All homeless people are not the same, of course, and carry their experience with homelessness differently. For those of you reading this story who can't imagine yourself in the homeless position, just take a few minutes to think about what you would do to survive if you suddenly became homeless.

I last wrote about Bob, the man whose offer I accepted to skip a frigid night outside and take shelter in his home, with “no funny business.” His promise didn’t hold true, but neither did my integrity to resist taking money from his unwatched billfold after fending off his advances. Bob was not the end of me going into a stranger’s home to survive, but the beginning.

March of 2018 proved to be the weirdest part of the homeless experience so far. For the purpose of eating a decent meal, I decided to get a second flu shot. (The first was offered with a $25 dollar gift card). Nevertheless, I managed to catch the flu or deep flu-like symptoms.

I could not afford to be sick because I was staying in a toxic and insensitive shelter environment. I was at my wit's end and getting sicker and sicker, on top of carrying around all of my belongings in very heavy bags and looking after my service dog, Bella.

I did not want to take medicine that made me sleep deep because I would be at risk of theft in the shelter. My cell phone had already been stolen while I was too relaxed and naïve. I figured the best thing I could do was sleep sitting up so if anyone tried to steal my stuff I would be on alert. I didn’t want to go to the hospital because, believe it or not, I always got trouble about my service dog.

One night, I almost didn’t make it to the hyperthermia shelter because the shelter van was late. But God had to be looking out for me because it was very cold and I probably would have died out there if the van didn’t come, which has happened before.

I made it to the shelter safe and sound, but it was like 10 p.m. and I still wasn’t feeling too good. I tried to read a book to stay awake but ended up nodding off while sitting up.

It was about 3 a.m. when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I thought I was dreaming when I opened my eyes to see a woman standing over me with this weird confused smile on her face. My first thought was she was trying to steal from me, so I didn’t have the greatest attitude. But she simply asked “Where is the restroom?”

Half asleep and upset, I responded, “Why me, ma’am? The staff is up front.”

But, of course, the staff was sleeping and I’m pretty sure I didn’t help her find the bathroom. I wanted to get some sleep because wake up time was 5 a.m. Later that same morning, as I was preparing to leave the shelter, I encountered her again.

She was no illusion, and she seemed to gravitate toward me.

She introduced herself as Shelley and went on to tell me she was in some sort of accident with her car and it had something to do with Sarah McLachlan, the musician.

The story she told me seemed possible yet bizarre. She said she needed to get in touch with Sarah to straighten everything out. And, if I helped her, Sarah would give me money or help me and my service dog any way she could. I wanted to believe her for the simple fact she had on fairly decent clothes — a leather Harley Davidson jacket that looked brand new and nice shoes and pants — but you can’t always judge a book by the cover.

I told Shelley I have met a lot of people that promise this and that and don’t follow through, so I take whatever you say with a grain of salt. After I said that, she gave me a funny look, but it did not keep her from following me around. She needed cigarettes which I could supply at the time and I had a little money — $25 I was holding onto for dog food and emergencies.

I have to admit, it was nice having help with my heavy bags from a woman who wanted nothing more than a cigarette and friend she could trust in a strange place. After listening to her for a while I started to get bits and pieces of how she ended up in the shelter. She was in some sort of accident with her SUV, lost her memory, and someone had been trying to contact her on her phone but her phone did not work. It turned out all her phone needed was a charge, so we headed to the library where she learned I owned a laptop and other gadgets that I guess she didn’t expect me to have.

I was still feeling the symptoms of the flu shot and was not going to be able to deal with her issues until I had a brandy and headache powder to keep me warm and in less pain. So, off to the liquor store we went. Little did I know that entering this liquor store would give Shelley the opportunity to save my life.

I liked this particular store because the prices were low and the owner understood Bella was my service dog. Every now and then, a customer has freaked out over my dog. Mind you, she is a small Pomeranian, but some people act as if she is a pit bull. This trip to the liquor store would prove to be one of those times.

A customer challenged me and my service dog with violence.

She knocked me to the ground and hit me in the head with a wine bottle. The more I fought back, the more violent she got.

The other customers were stunned. My dog ran to Shelley, who was waiting for me outside, which caused Shelley to look into the store and see me down on the floor with this crazed woman brandishing a wine bottle over me and yelling “I’m going to cut your eye out!”

Shelley shouted that she knew me and had called the police.

Next thing I knew, the girl ran away and Shelley helped me up.

I temporarily lost my memory, that’s how hard that girl hit me.

I forgot who I was, I forgot where I was. I didn’t even know who Shelley was. My life was in her hands.

When she helped me recall who I was, I finally understood what she was going through being in a strange place with a fragmented memory. And I understood what I had to do — or at least I thought I did. This would take me and Bella into the world of the unknown to help a fellow traveler. Both of us lost, both of us strangers.

This leads me to my next and final story, “Stranger Danger, Part 3: The Norfolk Experience.”

I did not want to take medicine that made me sleep deep because I would be at risk of theft in the shelter.

Treading the Waters, Part 13

BY GERALD ANDERSON Artist/Vendor

When we were last with Gerald he had just gotten out of a brief stint in jail to learn that his old crew, including his best friend Greg, were being hunted down by the police in New Orleans for a string of robberies in some of the richest neighborhoods in the cities...

You can hear the sheriff, Harry Lee. He was a Connick. Connick was a big family in New Orleans. Like the instrument player, Harry Connick, Jr. Harry Lee was a dirty son of a gun, a hypocrite. He was on the news every day saying, “They not going to see the street, we get our hands on ‘em.”

I’m like, “D***, man, they gonna take my man down like that.”

I come to find out they want to indict them. Snatching ‘em up off the street— come to your house, come to his house.

The tables started turning. The rats started coming out. My man, Mazio Davis, he was like 18. I’m like, “Man… D***, they got the young n*****.”

I see the news, I see the young boy, they go get him. They got him. They picking up this one, they picking up that one.

Every day you watch the news. The news going to tell you what’s going on, but you gotta read through it. “After we got him, we got him.”

So then when I seen my man Greg— “Gregory Valerie wanted for 100 counts of armed robbery”— I said, “D***.”

He still out there fighting the charge and shit. I was praying for him, but ain’t no mercy. Harry Lee was making sure of that.

After a while the thing gets settled— who took this, one got knifed. Mazio Davis was the youngest one and he got 198 years. Young boy.

I’m like, “D***, 198… Godd***”.

Then my man, Greg, I heard he caught about 75.

Marlin. I heard he got life.

To be continued.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

// 13

Happy Valentine’s Day!

BY EVELYN NNAM

Love Is

Atist/Vendor

Valentine’s Day is almost here and it’s that time when everyone goes all out or all out in a creative way to show how much we all love and appreciate our loved ones and the wonderful people in our lives.

With heart-shaped balloons, lovely cards, heart-shaped boxed candies everywhere and also romantic dinners and movies being a part of this special day makes it beautiful and meaningful for our loved ones because of the thought behind it. The most important

BY PATTY SMITH // Artist/Vendor

part of the day is love. Even though Valentine’s Day is just one day, love is something that is expressed and given daily. This day just allows that love to be even more expressed worldwide.

This day is really just a reminder of the love we have for one another.

So, from me to you all, have a wonderful Valentine’s Day and make sure to spread the love to everyone!

Faces My Face

Trump-ku

BY FREDERIC JOHN // Artist/Vendor

BY ROBERT WARREN Artist/Vendor

The tramp tromps on freedom, joy and grace And he does it with a wicked twist of his face There is no fate in his gate Only heaviness and hate Trump. Tromp. Tramp.

Looking for faces as the winds whistle, calling us into dark places and the rains that make you wonder if they have taken cover, relief from the thought the weatherman's forecast predicts higher temperatures in the Village of the Poor.

If only every home—a home for homeless— had a fireplace to warm the spirits of men along with the feet and hands.

Illustration by Frederic John

War Zone of the Mind

BY KEDIST GIRMA Artist/Vendor

A full moon A woman’s womb That gave birth to clever thoughts That were not to be neglected Weapons of the mind A nuclear destruction Atomic bomb Another womb Harboring clever thoughts The fire of the mind-to-heal And to kill Burning of the War Zone Victory is born in the mind

ILLUSTRATION BY CARLTON JOHNSON

Love is like raindrops Show me the way See me cry I was in the corner You came over to me And you held me I’m a happier person Because of you.

Time Runs Out

BY LATICIA BROCK // Artist/Vendor

Tick tock, look at the clock Why are all my homeless dying?

Tick tock, look at the clock Hear my vision crying Tick tock, look at the clock All the politicians go the money Tick tock, look at the clock You think losing my people is funny?

Tick tock, look at the clock Street Sense was the media Tick tock, look at the clock Gives homelessness the exposure it needia Thick tock, look at the clock Housing is an equal right Tick tock, look at the clock Praying for warmer nights

The night follows the day and we pray this winter's cold will bring back the smiles of those faces of springtime again.

And how do you ask the question when one's face already tells the tale, faces to have an attitude of commitment to end inequality among men?

Today is the day we look for faces and we ask the question of the Poor when they only need a home and an honest day's work and a place to put one's things that have no thoughts.

I thought when I looked at her face I saw the pride of her years.

I heard the soft words she spoke.

For why, in the twilight of her years, does she not have

a home?

The face of that old guy who frowns but is quick to greet you with a toothless smile and a laugh that says I'm still alive!

Oh! When I think about the faces of mothers with children sleeping in cars with no gas for heat and how they hold each other tightly to warm their hearts along with their hands and feet.

The faces of the homeless youths, the thought of what aging out of parental care has brought you to, a city unaffordable to you even with the work you do.

Looking for faces with sad eyes to ask a question: Have you known homelessness, too?

The faces of the unhoused, looking for faces to ask the question: Did the Lord help you, too?

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MLK Day

Backed by Bello

BY JENNIFER MCLAUGHLIN Artist/Vendor

BY LEVESTER GREEN Artist/Vendor

His day reminds me how civil-rights actions have made such a positive difference in African-American communities. It also reminds me of how hard those communities are still fighting for some of the same rights that we were when Martin was alive, like access to voting and job equality.

Today's activists still trying to make a difference are sometimes called the working poor. They still need a place to call home because far too many people are living in tents under bridges and in their cars.

Every activist group has a different cause: clean air, housing the homeless, adequate transportation, and right to health care... the list goes on. AfricanAmerican activists need to work together.

This way one cause will seem as important as another rather than saying education is more important than health care. MLK Day should be advocates coming together to reflect on and learn from Martin's passion for and commitment to racial justice. We also must teach our children to be advocates. Doing that will truly honor Dr. King's legacy.

I’d say by far my most impactful relationship fortified by Street Sense Media would be with Bryan Bello, documentary filmmaker. We happened to meet in Tenleytown over smokes.

He wanted me to try that cigar he gotten from the shop down the block from Friendship Place Day Center. I guess he saw me in need of a cigar as there is always cigarette smoke in the air in that area.

We introduced ourselves and chatted a bit over the smoke break and dug one another’s position! Me as an underground poet and him as an aspiring filmmaker. I could revive my dormant career with renewed interest with some short quick videos of poetry for my YouTube channel. On my return he would score a film subject for his thesis. It was a pretty good agreement.

I had been with Street Sense for about a year when Bryan met some of the other Tenleytown Street Sense Media vendors. Bello’s wheels started to turn and he went for broke. He used his filmmaking platform and background at American University to introduce his Film Co-op Workshop to Street Sense Media’s higher-ups, who loved the idea. They immediately went along with Cinema From The Streets and opening night at the E Street Cinema hosted by American University Professor Dan Kerr. Add a second round of films from the female perspective and we were a huge part of, the brand-new Street Sense Media organization.

Author Gene Weingarten is a college dropout and a nationally syndicated humor columnist for The Washington Post. Author Dan Weingarten is a former college dropout and a current college student majoring in information technology. Many thanks to Gene Weingarten and The Washington Post Writers Group for allowing Street Sense to run Barney & Clyde.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

COMMUNITY SERVICES

SHELTER HOTLINE Línea directa de alojamiento

(202) 399-7093

YOUTH HOTLINE Línea de juventud

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE Línea directa de violencia doméstica

(202) 547-7777

Education Educación

Health Care Seguro

Clothing Ropa

Legal Assistance Assistencia Legal

Case Management Coordinación de Servicios

Food Comida

Employment Assistance Assitencia con Empleo

Transportation Transportación

Showers Duchas

All services listed are referral-free Academy of Hope Public Charter School 202-269-6623 // 2315 18th Place NE aohdc.org

Bread for the City 202-265-2400 (NW) // 561-8587 (SE) 1525 7th St., NW // 1640 Good Hope Rd., SE breadforthecity.org

Calvary Women’s Services // 202-678-2341 1217 Good Hope Rd., SE calvaryservices.org

Catholic Charities // 202-772-4300 catholiccharitiesdc.org/gethelp

Central Union Mission // 202-745-7118 65 Massachusetts Ave., NW missiondc.org

Charlie’s Place // 202-232-3066 1830 Connecticut Ave., NW charliesplacedc.org

Christ House // 202-328-1100 1717 Columbia Rd., NW christhouse.org

Father McKenna Center // 202-842-1112 19 Eye St., NW fathermckennacenter.org

Food and Friends // 202-269-2277 219 Riggs Rd., NE foodandfriends.org (home delivery for those suffering from HIV, cancer, etc)

Foundry Methodist Church // 202-332-4010 1500 16th St., NW ID (Friday 9am–12pm only) foundryumc.org/ministry-opportunities

Friendship Place // 202-364-1419 4713 Wisconsin Ave., NW friendshipplace.org

Georgetown Ministry Center // 202-338-8301 1041 Wisconsin Ave., NW georgetownministrycenter.org

Jobs Have Priority // 202-544-9128 425 2nd St., NW jobshavepriority.org

Loaves & Fishes // 202-232-0900 1525 Newton St., NW loavesandfishesdc.org

Church of the Pilgrims // 202-387-6612 2201 P St., NW food (1-1:30 on Sundays only) churchofthepilgrims.org/outreach

Martha’s Table // 202-328-6608 2114 14th St., NW marthastable.org

Community Family Life Services 202-347-0511 // 305 E St., NW cflsdc.org

Miriam’s Kitchen // 202-452-8926 2401 Virginia Ave., NW miriamskitchen.org

Community of Hope // 202-232-7356 communityofhopedc.org

Covenant House Washington 202-610-9600 // 2001 Mississippi Ave., SE covenanthousedc.org

D.C. Coalition for the Homeless 202-347-8870 // 1234 Massachusetts Ave., NW dccfh.org

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH HOTLINE Línea de salud del comportamiento

1-800-799-7233

Housing/Shelter Vivienda/alojamiento

1-888-793-4357 Laundry Lavandería

Patricia Handy Place for Women 202-733-5378 // 810 5th St., NW

Samaritan Inns // 202-667-8831 2523 14th St., NW samaritaninns.org

Samaritan Ministry 202-722-2280 // 1516 Hamilton St., NW // 202-889-7702 // 1345 U St., SE samaritanministry.org

Sasha Bruce Youthwork // 202-675-9340 741 8th St., SE sashabruce.org

So Others Might Eat (SOME) // 202-797-8806 71 O St., NW some.org

St. Luke’s Mission Center // 202-333-4949 3655 Calvert St., NW stlukesmissioncenter.org

Thrive DC // 202-737-9311 1525 Newton St., NW thrivedc.org

New York Avenue Shelter // 202-832-2359 1355-57 New York Ave., NE

JOB BOARD Retail Cashier

Bed Bath and Beyond // 709 7th Street NW This position is responsible for processing customer transactions at the register, bagging and packaging customer items, and returning misplaced items to their proper location in the store. BENEFITS: In-store discounts, ongoing training, and potential advancement to higher position. REQUIRED: Communication Skills, Flexible Schedule APPLY: https://tinyurl.com/cashier-bbb

Receptionist Stewart Tile Guaranty Company //

1707 L Street NW This position answers and places telephone calls, operates the company switchboard, greets clients and customers as they enter the building, sorts mail and other correspondence, and coordinates meetings. REQUIRED: Ability to read, write, and perform simple math, Communication Skills, Attention to Detail, Knowledge of phone systems and etiquette APPLY: https://tinyurl.com/stewart-tile

Banquet Support Wait Staff Sodexo Inc. // Washington, DC

This position greets customers, presents customers with menus, makes menu recommendations, relays customer orders to the kitchen, clean and sanitizes workstations and resets tables for other customers REQUIRED: Ability to use a computer, Can communicate effectively and courteously with customers, Physical ability to stand for up to 8 hours at a time, Ability to work nights and weekends.

APPLY: https://tinyurl.com/banquet-waiter

Resident Monitor Unity Health Care // 202-745-4300 3020 14th St., NW unityhealthcare.org

Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless 1200 U St., NW // 202-328-5500 legalclinic.org

The Welcome Table // 202-347-2635 1317 G St., NW epiphanydc.org/thewelcometable

My Sister’s Place // 202-529-5991 (24-hr hotline) mysistersplacedc.org

N Street Village // 202-939-2060 1333 N St., NW nstreetvillage.org

// 15

Whitman-Walker Health 1701 14th St., NW // 202-745-7000 2301 MLK Jr. Ave., SE // 202-797-3567 whitman-walker.org

For further information and listings, visit our online service guide at StreetSenseMedia.org/service-guide

Community of Hope // Washington, DC This position ensures building safety by conducting hourly walkthroughs of the building, signing in visitors and monitoring the front desk, and enforcing rules among residents. People in this position are also required to respond to resident requests and assist them as needed. Works with members of the homeless community. REQUIRED: Good communication skills, Knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, and Gmail, Ability to remain calm under pressure. BENEFITS: Medical, Dental and Vision Insurance, Life insurance, short- and long-term disability insurance, Transportation payroll reduction for DC metro, Paid Vacation and sick leave APPLY: https://tinyurl.com/comm-of-hope

Fountain/Dishwasher/Runner (FDR)

Johnny Rockets // Washington, DC This position will create a lively and enjoyable dining experience at the Johnny Rockets franchise. Responsibilities include maintaining restaurant cleanliness, making shakes, drinks, and/or fries, and ensuring guests have a pleasant and fun time dining at the restaurant.

REQUIRED: Basic Math Ability, High School Diploma/GED or one to three months of similar experience/training APPLY: https://tinyurl.com/FDR-rockets

Snowe-flakes Fealds of nu snaw, tu, are floral; scher ices, siox-fold; te press glistenend withth hues. Wind preues t’ dress this vues in the stress off squareness to! Thick depth-hoar, the crystallyn sort ov fealds…

Que Fare Yo I found mesel’ all oon, by syd the line.

You made yt mine

Thanck You Attire skin-deep wriȝels ov sleep.

Platytera!

PHOTO BY JANE CAVE

A style all his own Franklin Sterling on his life and poems

Beuteus

BY NOAH TELERSKI noah.telerski@streetsensemedoa.org

I

Fromm spoila brihte with feries long beth evere dawn, Pound tries onn his gurth. Thys moon ys te first ... so soon forenoon, noon then spece, hies

t was alongside the protests and social unrest that surrounded the Vietnam War when Franklin Sterling first began writing poetry. “I think the volatile nature of being in those times, like from ’65 up to ’69, started getting kind of jiggity,” he says.

Now 65, Sterling has been writing poetry ever since those days as a teenager in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. In the last 10 years, as an artist and vendor for Street Sense Media, he has had nearly 50 of his poems published in the paper, which he always sells on the same block in Dupont Circle.

Sterling dropped out of high school and was involved in war protests, living in a commune that was focused on the movement for a short time. Eventually, he earned his GED and began studying philosophy, literature, and other interests on his own.

His writing style, based in medieval English and sometimes mixed with other languages, is unique for a 21st century poet.

While what he writes can challenge readers’ sense of sound and structure, hearing Sterling recite his works reveals deeper levels of rhyme and rhythm.

“The modern lexicon isn’t all there is to what we speak,” Sterling says. Some of his fascination with older verse stems from his self-directed learning, as well as the few semesters he spent studying at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado.

Sterling’s work is also influenced by writers like Ezra Pound, who emphasized clarity and wrote with meter and syntax reminiscent of older English, and Allen Ginsberg, who Sterling was friendly with.

He knew Ginsberg during his time in the anti-war

movement, and then crossed paths with him at Naropa and in San Fransisco. Sterling says this caused, “a beatnik influence, or a hippie influence.” It was also during this time that Sterling was hitchhiking around the country, traveling as far as Alaska.

In contrast with his time on the road and travels across the country, Sterling has been firmly in the District for most of his life. His family moved to the area from his birthplace of Cocoa Beach, Florida, when he was young. “It’s a good place to read and write and study,” Sterling says.

During his time in the city, he has been through some tough situations, sometimes sleeping outside or relying on a patron to cover his housing costs.

Today, he rents a room in the Adams Morgan neighborhood, not far from where he sells papers in Dupont Circle. Sterling always feels a little more motivated to sell an edition when one of his poems is published in it, and likes being able to show his customers his work.

Writing takes up most of his time when he is not selling papers, and he can be working on more than 100 different poems at once. Not only is Sterling always writing, he is always revising. Even the pieces he has published in Street Sense are not always complete — his writing process never really stops. “It’s so nebulous I could never describe it,” he says.

While the turbulent times Sterling grew up in ultimately sparked his desire to write, he was always interested in poems. One of his motivations for writing was reading the works of others and wanting to learn them by heart, but he said he still needed something more. “I decided, well, I’m going to have to write my own poems if I want poems fine enough to be in my head.”

Not only is Sterling always writing, he is always revising.

Don’t tu feel al oon uor versis I made, who mayest lade

Thank you for reading Street Sense!

From your vendor FEB. 6 - 19, 2019 VOLUME 16 | ISSUE 7

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