04 05 2017

Volume 14: Issue 11 April 5 - 18, 2017

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TRAYON WHITE CELEBRATES ‘INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT’ ACROSS THE ANACOSTIA pg 8

WHERE CAN UNDOCUMENTED HOMELESS PEOPLE TURN? pg 5 SO CLOSE, BUT...

SYSTEMS CHANGE NEEDED TO HOUSE VETERANS pg 6-7

Street Sense is the street media center of our nation’s capital. We aim 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 facing homelessness in our community.

ONLINE EXCLUSIVES www.StreetSense.org Bathesda-based developer JBG Companies moves to sell Alexandria affordable housing project Beauregard Apartments and focus instead on high-end real estate. The buyer will be required by city plan to preserve affordability.

Mark Rose has the full story at StreetSense.org!

COVER ART Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White at Anacostia Playhouse.

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OUR STORY Street Sense began in August 2003 after Laura Thompson Osuri and Ted Henson approached the National Coalition for the Homeless on separate occasions with the idea to start a street paper in Washington, D.C. Through the work of dedicated volunteers, Street Sense published its first issue in November 2003. In 2005, Street Sense achieved 501 ( c ) 3 status as a nonprofit organization, formed a board of directors and hired a full-time executive director.

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS Jeremy Bratt, Max Gaujean, Margaret Jenny, Jennifer Park, Reed Sandridge, Dan Schwartz, Jeremy Scott, John Senn, Kate Sheppard, Annika Toenniessen, Martin Totaro EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Brian Carome EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Eric Falquero COMMUNICATIONS & SALES MANAGER Jeff Gray VENDOR PROGRAM MANAGER Mysa Elsarag EVENTS & ADMINISTRATION MANAGER Dani Gilmour INTERNS Ashley Clarke, Bryan Gallion, Ariel Gomez, Ji Kim, Jeanine Santucci WRITERS GROUP LEADERS (VOLUNTEER) Donna Daniels, Willie Schatz OPINION EDITORS (VOLUNTEER) Rachel Brody, Arthur Delaney, Britt Peterson EDITORIAL VOLUNTEERS Lenika Cruz, Roberta Haber, Jesse Helfrich, Laura Osuri, Andrew Siddons, Jackie Thompson, Marian Wiseman VENDORS Shuhratjon Ahamadjonov, Gerald Anderson, Charles Armstrong, Lawrence Autry, Daniel Ball, Aida Basnight, Phillip Black, Reginald Black, Melanie Black, Phillip Black Jr., Maryann Blackmon, Viktor Blokhine, Debora Brantley, Andre Brinson, Donald Brown, Joan Bryant, Elizabeth Bryant, Brianna Butler, Melody Byrd, Conrad Cheek, Aaron Colbert, Anthony Crawford, Walter Crawley, Kwayera Dakari, James Davis, Clifton Davis, Charles Davis, David Denny, James DeVaughn, Ricardo Dickerson, Dennis Diggs, Alvin Dixon-El, Ronald Dudley, Charles Eatmon, Deana Elder, Julie Ellis, Jemel Fleming, Chon Gotti, Marcus Green, Barron Hall, Tyrone Hall, Richard Hart Lorrie Hayes, Patricia Henry, Jerry Hickerson, Ray Hicks, Sol Hicks, Rachel Higdon, Ibn Hipps, Leonard Hyater, Joseph Jackson, Carlton Johnson, Donald Johnson, Harold Johnson, Allen Jones, Mark Jones, Morgan Jones, Linda Jones, Darlesha Joyner, Juliene Kengnie, Kathlene Kilpatrick, Hope Lassiter, John Littlejohn, James Lott, Scott Lovell, Michael Lyons, Jimmy M. Ken Martin, Joseph Martin, Kina Mathis, Michael Lee Matthew, Authertimer Matthews, Charlie Mayfield, Jermale McKnight, Jeffery McNeil, Ricardo Meriedy, Cynthia Mewborn, Kenneth Middleton, Cecil More, L. Morrow, Evelyn Nnam, Moyo Onibuje, Earl Parkin, Lucifer Potter, Ash-Shaheed Rabil, Henrieese Roberts, Anthony Robinson, Doris Robinson, Raquel Rodriquez, Lawrence Rogers, Joseph Sam, Chris Shaw, Patty Smith, Smith Smith, Gwynette Smith, Ronald Smoot, Franklin Sterling, Warren Stevens James Stewart, Beverly Sutton, Sybil Taylor, Archie Thomas, Shernell Thomas, Craig Thompson, Eric Thompson-Bey, Sarah Turley-Colin, Carl Turner, Jacqueline Turner, Leon Valentine, Grayla Vereen, Ron Verquer, Martin Walker, Michael Warner, Robert Warren, Angelyn Whitehurst, William Whitsett, Wendell Williams, Sasha Williams, Judson Williams III, Ivory Wilson, Denise Wilson, Charles Woods

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STREET SENSE April 5 - 18, 2017

Insufficient Shelter Capacity for Women

By Reginald Black Artist/Vendor As hypothermia season ends — Nov. 1 through March 31 — the city will begin to reduce its winter shelter capacity.

Women’s issues are an underrepresented concern among homeless advocates.

According to reports that the Shelter Capacity Monitoring Work Group for the D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness has been working, there are 218 beds for single women throughout the homeless services system year-round. For context, a 2 0 1 6 s n a p s h o t o f t h e D i s t r i c t ’s homeless community found 3,673 single adults sleeping outside, in hypothermia season beds, in emergency shelter or in transitional housing. Yet shelter capacity for women is only a problem on nights when the temperature does not reach below 32 degrees or above 95 degrees.

A brand new women’s shelter was opened in May 2016, however two other women’s shelters were closed and the beds moved. John L. Young Women’s Shelter had 85 year-round beds for women and Open Door Shelter had 108 year-round beds for women for a total of 193. The

Patricia Handy Place for Women provides 98 low-barrier beds for women, as well as 14 others split between medical respite and transitional shelter designations.

If a hypothermia or hyperthermia alert is not called, the city does not have extra beds nor transportation, which may leave some women in precarious situations. For example, in February 2017, 78 women were turned away from Patricia Handy and only 25 of them received transportation to an alternate facility, according to the Monthly Turnaway Totals tracked by the Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness. The new facility averaged 3 turnaways per night in February, down from the previous month but a consistent issues since the shelter’s opening.

“It took me three days to get in here. I was living in Laurel, Maryland and my funds ran out in August of 2016,” said Janice, an elderly shelter resident who relies on a walker. “I went to Bread for the City, they gave me a letter [and] I came over early and gave them the letter. They said ‘we don’t do it like that.’ That night I was turned away.”

This was Janice’s first time going there to seek shelter for shelter and there was no guidance from staff on how to obtain

emergency shelter for a single woman.

“I came back the next day and I didn’t get in. One night a college girl got in late and they gave her my bed,” Janice said.

She described attempting to obtain shelter at another location. “A policeman told me to walk up to that Emery [Rec Center] thing, but it was closed,” she said. “So I walked back down to the police station. They tell some of the women to go to Union Station or sit at the bus stop and act like you are waiting for a ride somewhere.”

City low-barrier shelters operate with limited capacity and limited 7 p.m. - 7 a.m. hours except when legally bound to shelter people from extreme temperatures.

However, Janice noted that the shelter stayed open for three days straight during President Trump’s inauguration. “They even fed us,” she said.

Another woman who had been turned away from the same shelter said, “I think that we should provide a bed for everyone.” She spoke under the condition of anonymity because she is homeless due to a violent relationship.

Several women who have been turned away from one particular shelter sleep right in front of it. Activist Eric Sheptock said that

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he was asked to leave by shelter security on March 30 while trying to investigate if anyone was being turned away on non-hypothermia alert nights. He described letting one woman in a wheelchair who was just turned away, Ms. Patricia, use his cell phone in front of the shelter when a security guard said that Sheptock would have to leave. A shelter resident had complained that there were men outside. Sheptock told the guard he couldn’t leave until Ms. Patricia was finished using his phone and the guard told him she would let the police talk to him.

Women are already resort ing t o sleeping outdoors and rely on dangerous temperatures for access to safe shelter.

The Department of Human Services is aware of the capacity issue and has been working hard to find appropriate space to add additional beds, according to Kate Coventry, a policy analyst from the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute and appointed voting member of the D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

There will be 20-25 more non-seasonal low-barrier shelter beds available for single women by April 10, according to Coventry.

The beds will all be added to one shelter that is already connected to the shelter transport van system. ■

Housing Highlights in Mayor’s State of the District Address

By Andrew Siddons, Volunteer

The District will invest an additional $10 million for housing preservation on top of the $100 million trust fund for affordable housing, Mayor Muriel Bowser said in her March 30 State of the District Address.

The $10 million will launch a new “Housing Preservation Fund” that Bowser said would help spur private investors to put a total of $40 million to preserve existing affordable housing units.

She also said that the city plans to establish regulations under the District Opportunity to Purchase Act that would allow city government the right to purchase units or buildings to keep them affordable, an act that has never been funded or used since it passed D.C. Council in 2008. Bowser said that the city’s investment of $100 million in the Housing Production Trust Fund would assist the preservation effort and result in new units.

“For every $100 million we invest, we are constructing and preserving more than 1,000 affordable housing units in all 8 wards,” she said.

She also said that the city has inspected all buildings owned by Sanford Capital, which is facing more than half a million dollars in fines for allowing the buildings it owns to fall into disrepair. The landlord is facing a lawsuit from the city, which the Washington City Paper estimated spent $3.7 million a year on housing assistance for tenants of Sanford-owned buildings. Despite the problems, Bowser was able to point to one silverlining of the city’s actions so far.

“The good news is it doesn’t look like any buildings have to be shuttered and people made homeless,” she said.

Bowser called on President Trump and Congress to preserve Community Development Block Grants. D.C. receives around $13 million annually from this federal program which

can be used for housing and other forms of economic development.

The city is also planning to propose a new program for District residents returning from federal prison in other states. Under the proposal, they would come back to D.C. a year before their prison term ended and serve the end of the term in the District, where they city would provide “intense re-entry services,” Bowser said.

Bowser also reaffirmed her desire to bring the unemployment rate down among AfricanAmericans, which is as high as 12.5 percent in Ward 8. She committed to expanding training programs for residents and said the city would use funding under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families to help get people back to work.

As part of the overall employment goals, she described a new “District of Columbia Infrastructure Academy,” which would partner with local institutions to help train local workers for essential public works jobs. The partners include the University of the District of Columbia, Metro, D.C. Water, Washington Gas, and Pepco.

“Unless we actively find ways to address the unique challenges that our underserved communities face, we’ll never realize our true potential,” Bowser said.

Still, the mayor’s promises related to homelessness and housing probably won’t be enough to satisfy the city’s critics, who see the District’s spending priorities as misguided. A small protest during Bowser’s address was meant to highlight the persistent lack of affordable housing.

Protestors reportedly held signs in front of the stage saying “D.C. spends three times more on jails and police than on affordable housing,” according to a press release from the Right2DC campaign, which organized the protest. ■

CALL FOR ENTRIES! 8TH ANNUAL STREET SENSE

EXCELLENCE IN JOURNALISM AWARDS Entries must: address the causes, consequences, and/or solutions to homelessness. relate to the D.C. metro region or national policy on homelessness. have been published between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2016.

Print, web, television, and radio pieces will all be considered.

You may submit more than one article in each category.

Categories

News/feature reporting Opinion and commentary Photography

Please send submissions and questions to AWARDS@STREETSENSE.ORG Anyone can nominate a story. Please submit a link or PDF of the article.

Please also indicate the category and provide your email and phone number.

The DEADLINE HAS BEEN EXTENDED until April 28, 2017 You may view past winners at http://streetsense.org/awards

Public Calls for Workforce Investment Oversight

By Bryan Gallion bryan.gallion@streetsense.org

D

.C.’s Committee on Labor and Workforce Development held a performance oversight hearing on March 15 where public and government witnesses testified on the work of D.C.’s Deputy Mayor for Greater Economic Opportunity, the Workforce Investment Council and the Department of Employment Services. Much of the dialogue centered on the District’s implementation of the Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act, a 2014 federal law that seeks to help job seekers and employers find each other efficiently.

The act calls for better access to employment, education, training and support services to help job seekers succeed in the labor market. It also intends to match employers with skilled workers.

WIOA went into effect in July 2015, and several witnesses mentioned successes and areas of improvement they observed since D.C. enacted policies outlined by the act. The WIC serves as D.C.’s workforce development board, tasked with advising the mayor, city council and the District government on the public workforce system.

This law serves as the first legislative reform of the public workforce system in 15 years. Reforms include requiring states to improve the American Job Center system and provide access to high quality training.

Every state must submit a four-year strategy for implementing WIOA. “We are making significant strides in developing the infrastructure necessary to create a comprehensive, integrated, world-class workforce system that works for the residents of the District of Columbia,” Deputy Mayor Courtney Snowden said in her March 15 testimony.

The District’s WIOA 2016-2020 Unified State Plan addresses the city’s employment challenges by focusing on five key areas: system alignment (coordination of D.C. government agencies to provide services to job seekers), access to services for all D.C. residents, business alignment (providing services consistent with needs of business sectors), performance (standardized and evidence-based evaluation) and youth services (support for postsecondary success, including education, training and competitive employment). Implementation will take place in phases over four years.

“In a city as prosperous as ours, everyone deserves a fair shot,” Mayor Bowser wrote in her introductory letter to the District plan. “That is why my Administration has fought to ensure that all of our residents – whether they have been here for five generations or five minutes – have a pathway to the middle class.”

D.C.’s plan includes core workforce and education programs as defined under the law. It highlights workforce programs at the Department of Human Services and accentuates the District’s partnership with the University of the District of Columbia Community College.

So far, headway on the plan has included approval of

the state plan, implementation of a One-Stop Operator Procurement Plan and assembly of a full 34-seat WIOAcompliant WIC board, according to dcworks.dc.gov. WIOA working group meetings have been held and the Eligible Training Provider List was streamlined.

OSOs provide employment services and connect patrons to work-related education and training, in accordance with WIOA. The act stresses strategies and partnerships needed for OSOs to function. One-stop services are supposed to be offered at D.C.’s AJCs, but it is not clear that barriers to employment have been removed.

Greg Lomax, a public witness who testified March 15, recalled being rejected after submitting numerous applications in fields including office work, fitness training and Metro transit services. The AJCs did not follow up after Lomax submitted his resume, he said.

“Most times when I went and tried to obtain employment,” Lomax said in his testimony, “I was always told you need a certain amount of experience or certain amount of hours of training to qualify for the job.”

The ETPL is a list of training providers and training programs permitted to receive WIOA funding through Individual Training Accounts. AJC workforce specialists aid customers in selecting programs that will aid them in obtaining a job, according to the WIC. Ten out of the 12 listed D.C. providers are currently on probation for inadequate performance, D.C. Council Committee on Labor & Workforce Development Chairperson Elissa Silverman said at the hearing.

The D.C. Alliance of Youth Advocates, represented

by Policy Analyst Amy Dudas, commended DOES for diversifying its services available under WIOA for special populations of youth, including those with disabilities.

Dudas suggested training agency staff members to ensure maximized accessibility and proper handling of youth disclosure considerations.

“Additionally, the WIC should be leveraged in its oversight and coordination role, to ensure this more diverse youth portfolio is streamlined ... across federal and local funding streams in the coming year,” Dudas said in her March 15 testimony.

Ed Lazere, executive director of the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, suggested at the hearing that the District government create a specific implementation timeline for its key WIOA goals “to turn the broad goals of that plan into

action as a matter of transparency and accountability, and we hope that the community stakeholders will be included in that process.”

A March report titled “Maximizing WIOA’s Potential: A Regional Analysis of the State Plans of Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.” echoed this need for an implementation plan. The report was authored by the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, D.C. Appleseed, the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, the Job Opportunities Task Force and the Maryland Center on Economic Policy.

Other suggestions from the report include lessening gaps in the D.C. career pathways strategy, outlining the roles of sector partnerships and specifying how the District should align WIOA funding with the WIC’s five high-demand sectors: business and information technology, construction, healthcare, hospitality, and security and law.

In her testimony, Judy Berman, deputy director of D.C. Appleseed, a nonprofit dedicated to addressing public policy concerns, suggested WIOA-related legislation be enacted. Legislation would formally implement the act and empower WIC to carry out its new functions under WIOA. Berman also called for the creation of a process for reports to the city council and mayor’s office regarding the District’s performance under WIOA. When questioned by Silverman on whether the council should pass such legislation, DOES Acting Director Odie Donald advised against it.

“We are both a state and local area, so part of our oversight comes directly from the federal government,” Donald said.

WIOA legislation is more beneficial in larger states with multiple local areas that each have individual ETPLs, Donald said, adding that legislation can “almost cripple some of the things we put in place.”

Many public witnesses called for greater transparency in the WIOA implementation process, and the WIC’s Interim Executive Director Diane Pabich noted that Workforce Implementation Guidance Letters will function as a source of information prior to the WIC’s policy guide’s becoming effective.

Nine WIGLs have been posted online since Nov. 10, 2016.

Community advocate Eric Sheptock said DOES made significant progress concerning homeless employment and WIOA implementation under its former director, Deborah Carroll.

“I hope that all that work isn’t trashed,” Sheptock said.

Progress has been made in the District’s WIOA implementation efforts, and further work must be completed to address the goals outlined in the unified state plan.

“While many hurdles remain, we are encouraged that the District is committed to ensuring that the workforce system will serve all residents, including the hardest to serve, for what is a long and multi-year process,” said Evette Banfield of the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development. ■

Hate Crime at Casa Ruby: ‘You learn to pick up the pieces and move on.’

Casa Ruby, an LGBTQ youth community center and shelter in Washington, D.C., fell victim to a hate crime last month. The perpetrator was a familiar face at Casa Ruby, and on the afternoon of March 12, he assaulted a staff member, threw a brick, shattered the glass door and threatened to return and kill someone. He began yelling at a staff member before verbally and physically assaulting her. This was the third act of violence toward the center in two weeks. “Homeless people face so much violence in D.C. because in many cases people see them as disposable. You learn to pick up the pieces and move on. [Casa Ruby] has moved on,” said Ruby Corado, a Salvadoran transgender woman,

LGBTQ advocate in Washington, D.C., and founder and executive director of the shelter for vulnerable youth. “I have been homeless before and people saw me as something of little significance. When you are seen like that, in order to survive, you learn to leave the pieces behind. The broken glass, the ripped clothes, the scars — you shed that off and you move on, that is what we did.” The assailant was arrested and charged the very next day. When Street Sense went to press, a GoFundMe started by community members to benefit Casa Ruby had raised over $14,300.

—Ariel Gomez, Editorial Intern

“Invisible” Homelessness: A reality for many undocumented immigrants in the District

D.C. Doors staff with Founder and Executive Director Janethe Peña (second from right).

PHOTO COURTESY OF D.C. DOORS.

By Ariel Gomez ariel.gomez@streetsense.org

T

hey have no documentation, no stable home, and no support. Often unnoticed, their struggle is hidden within the walls of overcrowded apartments and in the shadows of government agencies.

These immigrants are what Janethe Peña, executive director of D.C. Doors, calls the city’s “invisible” homeless.

Peña knows the story all too well.

As a third-generation immigrant from Nicaragua, she came to the U.S. with her mother when she was 18 months old. Fleeing the civil war in their home country, they came to D.C. and moved into a three-bedroom home with 14 of their family members.

“Undocumented homelessness is a major issue in D.C.,” Peña said. “You just can’t find it. Because there is no data.”

Unlike other groups comprising the homeless community, no precise national figures exist on the number of undocumented homeless people. According to Peña, a major reason for this lack od data is that an undocumented individual experiencing homelessness is very rarely going to identify as undocumented or homeless for fear of deportation.

“The biggest fear is falling into the system. Because falling into the system means they come out of the shadows.

And a lot of individuals prefer to go from place to place — to overcrowded and unsafe situations — than to be brought out of the shadows, especially with the new [Trump] administration,” Peña said.

“You will not see someone go to an office and publicly say they need assistance with their housing. Maybe before, but certainly not now.”

It is Peña’s own experience with urban poverty and migrating to a new country that led her to commit her life to education about and advocacy for homeless immigrants. It’s what led her to found D.C. Doors.

Originally called the Latino Transitional Housing Partnership (LTHP), D.C. Doors was created as a program to fill the gap in transitional and permanent housing needs for Latinos living in the District. Today, the nonprofit provides comprehensive assistance to immigrant Latino families and single Latina women facing housing crises.

The organization strives to help homeless families and low-income families break the cycles of poverty and homelessness.

The individuals they help usually fall under the umbrella of the “invisible” homeless.

Eva Maria Chavez, a former policy intern at D.C. Doors now working at the Downtown Women’s Center in Los Angeles, described this community as the people “you ride the metro with, you buy food from, but you have no idea that they don’t have a place to call home because they are invisible to you.”

Juana Perdomo, who migrated to the United States from El Salvador, lost her apartment in 2015 after her building complex changed owners and the cost of living increased. After working in the U.S. for seven years, seven days a week, she found herself without a place to sleep.

“I had nowhere to live. I had to go from place to place, rent rooms here and there,” Perdomo said. “So, my social worker connected me to Janethe [of D.C. Doors] and I qualified for their program and began to live there...but I still don’t have a place of my own, I still don’t know where I will go from here.”

Perdomo, who came to the U.S. to be able to financially support her daughter in El Salvador, is one of many that D.C. Doors has helped. However, according to Chavez, the funds and resources needed to fully help undocumented homeless people in D.C. are simply not there.

This is largely because undocumented immigrants are explicitly prohibited from federal programs due to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, a major

federal overhaul that restricted immigrant access to welfare programs, among other federal public benefits.

Even the biggest funder of homeless individuals and families, the Department of Housing and Urban Development(HUD), is not permitted to support aid to undocumented individuals.

This restriction puts nongovernmental organizations like D.C. Doors in a tough position because of the myriad of barriers created by federal regulation.

Escalating the current climate surrounding this community, the Trump administration has threatened to take away federal funding from “sanctuary cities,” a blanket term which refers to various policies that prevent local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement, such as asking about immigration status during routine stops or cooperating with detainment orders.

The District has implemented sanctuary policies since 1984, and Mayor Muriel Bowser reaffirmed this status in November 2016 before going as far as to setup a legal services fund for immigrant justice in January.

“It’s a waiting game,” Peña said. “We haven’t had a raid yet, but they are happening right outside our borders. If you start seeing them in D.C., then that is something to worry about because that means that we are not really a sanctuary city.”

D.C. has approximately 70,000 immigrants, of which roughly 25,000 are undocumented.

And they face yet another obstacle when you look at the technical definition of homelessness under HUD. The HUD definition for homelessness, that is also used at the local level, is limited to chronic homelessness. Overcrowding is not one of the reasons why an individual or family can be considered to be experiencing homelessness. So, even if an individual is living in a one-bedroom apartment in the Columbia Heights area with 10 other individuals, they are not considered homeless and eligible for assistance under the HUD definition.

“This population needs to have their specific needs addressed. Just like youth and veterans have their specific homeless resources, undocumented homeless should have their own,” Chavez said. “The experience is different. This population usually finds the most hidden places.

They are scared. I think this needs to come to light and more people need to start demanding these resources. We need to protect these individuals that are too often treated like animals. These are just people who are fleeing countries in warfare and in extreme poverty.” ■

STREET SENSE April 5 - 18, 2017

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STUDY: Higher Frequency of Food Desertsy in D.C. Food-insecure areas make up about 11 percent of the total area of the District and exist in areas of poverty, according to a new report by D.C. Policy Center.

The report, released March 13, aimed to measure food deserts in the city using a broader definition of “food desert” that takes into account transportation and income.

A food desert is a low-income region where residents have little access to affordable fresh foods and produce because there are few grocery stores in that area.

Food deserts are typically measured based on access to full-service grocery stores and do not include supermarkets like Wal-Mart and Target, which sell items other than groceries. The D.C. Policy Center study used criteria that specified distance from sources of healthy food, access to transportation and median household income.

A food desert encompassed an area where the walking distance to a supermarket or grocery store was over half a mile, where an average of over 40 percent of households did not have access to a vehicle and where the median income was below 185 percent of the federal poverty level.

When residents do not have easy access to grocery stores, obtaining healthy food requires an unreasonable amount of time and money. People living in food deserts may turn to quick marts, gas stations, convenience stores and fast-food restaurants.

These become the primary source of food intake and is typically less healthy than fresh produce. A lack of healthy, nutritious food is linked to numerous health problems, high incidence of early death and worse educational outcomes.

In the District, low-income wards, especially east of the Anacostia River, account for the highest concentration of food deserts. According to the report, Wards 7 and 8 contain three-quarters of D.C.’s food deserts. A comparison of a D.C. Hunger Solutions’ report from 2010 and its 2016 data as reported by Washington City Paper also shows that the number of full-service grocery stores in Wards 7 and 8 combined went down from seven to three.

Efforts in D.C. to combat the effects of food deserts include D.C. Central Kitchen’s Healthy Corners initiative, which brings more affordable produce to corner stores of low-income neighborhoods. Additionally, Joyful Food Markets offers free healthy foods in pop-up markets in Wards 7 and 8.

—Jeanine Santucci, Editorial Intern

D.C. Council Bathroom Bill Revised to Expedite Action A public forum on the Downtown D.C. Public Restroom Initiative sponsored by Ward 1 Councilmember Nadeau was held on March 20 by the People for Fairness Coalition. PFFC has been advocating for free, 24/7 public restrooms in the District for the past three years.

Councilmember Nadeau and her staff are currently revising the bill she introduced this past January along with Councilmembers Grosso, Silverman, R. White, Allen and Bonds. Initially, the bill asked for a task force to study how and where D.C. could install public restrooms.

In the coming weeks, Nadeau will introduce a revised version that definitively calls for public restrooms and sets up the task force committee to work closely with communities in order to plan specific installation sites.

The forum featured Greg Madden, the founder and engineer behind the Portland Loo, flush toilet public restrooms especially designed for cities to easily install and maintain.

Madden spoke of the Portland Loo’s success in 20 U.S. cities and three other countries so far due to efficient engineering and carefully planned locations working together to make for cost-effective, durable, safe, clean and accessible restrooms.

Testimonies were given by PFFC members and supporters including Leonard Greenberger, Partner at Potomac Communications Group, and Tim Krepp who wrote in the Washington City Paper about people urinating in his back alley due to the lack of any nearby public restrooms.

The public followed up with questions about restroom maintenance, access fees, handicapped accessibility and obstacles with the U.S. Department of the Interior and National Park Service.

Madden responded that the restrooms meet ADA requirements and are designed to be made “as easy as possible to be implemented and sustained.” All cleaning supplies are kept in a back compartment of the Loo, and all components are easily repairable and replaceable. Cities can opt for extra features such as a baby changing table, water fountain and handwashing station.

While a micropayment system could be engineered and installed, no city so far has opted to introduce any payment system in order to access the restrooms, according to Madden.

Members of the forum looked forward to working with the National Park Service despite the agency’s resistance to public restroom installations on its property.

Krepp pointed to how Capital Bikeshare was initially rejected by the National Park Service before the federal agency approved the now widely accepted bicycle sharing program.

—Ji Kim, Editorial Intern

Urban Centers are Contested Territory

By Ji Kim ji.kim@streetsense.org

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providers known as the Veterans NOW! coalition reports that D.C. is “very close” to ending veteran homelessness, but is still working through challenges of systemic inefficiencies along with housing affordability and availability.

eteran homelessness in D.C. is lower than it has ever been for the past decade. However — limited by space, housing affordability and benefit programs that draw more veterans to the Why is D.C. not there yet? region — the District has not been able to join the neighboring state of Virginia or Organizations from Montgomery County, Montgomery County, Maryland in sustaining Virginia and D.C. all recognized that the “functional zero” for homeless vets.

District is in a much tougher position, with The amount of veteran homelessness in significantly higher rates of homelessness D.C. has nearly halved from 667 people and in-flow of new homeless veterans in 2008 to 350 people in 2016, based on than its neighbors. annual Point-in-Time counts compiled by In comparing January 2016 PIT the United States Department of Housing counts, Maryland counted 7,689 total and Urban Development. This parallels the homeless individuals at the time of the 50 percent decline in veteran homelesscount (Montgomery County counted for ness nationwide since 2010, as reported 981 of that), Virginia had 6,268 and by the Obama administration last year.

D.C. had 8,350.

D.C.’s neighbors were recognized Looking at the 2016 veterans in 2015 by the United States breakdown, Maryland had 555 Interagency Council on (Montgomery County: 17), Homelessness for having Virginia had 515 and D.C. achieved the federal had 350. benchmarks for ending In context, the veteran homelessness: homelessness rate The community must in D.C. per capita, end chronic homelessness based on the 2016 PIT among veterans, snapshot, is about 10 permanently house homeless times that of Maryland veterans within 90 days, sustain and nearly 18 times that of enough permanent Virginia. Geographihousing resources, and According to the 2016 Point- cally, the District has keep use of service- i n -T i m e C o u n t , t h e r e w e r e 170 times more homeintensive transitional 350 homeless veterans in the less people per square housing lower than the District and 8,000 other people m i l e t h a n M a r y l a n d number of veterans experiencing homelessness. and 814 times more DATA ANALYSIS BY IAN ERASMUS entering homelessness. than Virginia.

At the state More recently, the level, the data analyzed by USICH is D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessaggregated rather than independently ness surveyed the last permanent address collected and reviewed. zip codes of first-time low-barrier shelter Montgomery County met the slightly stayers in August 2016. Forty-two percent more rigorous guidelines of Community reported the District as their home origin, Solutions’ Built for Zero campaign 21 percent reported a zip code outside of (formerly Zero: 2016): “At any point D.C., 11 percent reported not to know and i n t i m e , t h e n u m b e r o f Ve t e r a n s 27 percent were calculated as “missing” experiencing sheltered and unsheltered and unreported. homelessness will be no greater than The noticeably high “missing” the current monthly housing placement percentage is due to the nature of r a t e f o r Ve t e r a n s e x p e r i e n c i n g low-barrier shelters, D.C. ICH Director homelessness.” One of the key service Kristy Greenwalt wrote in an email p r o v i d e r s i n M o n t g o m e r y C o u n t y, to Street Sense. The shelter beds Bethesda Cares, went on to report that are all locally funded and intended they have seen an “absolute zero” of to serve District residents, however, any new homeless veterans in downtown documentation is not required for anyone Bethesda since January 2016. trying to access the low-barrier shelter.

The Montgomery County Coalition for There may also be a high chance of the Homeless has been corresponding many non-District residents among the with Maryland’s Interagency Council “missing” and “don’t know” percentages on Homelessness about what strategies because of fears of being turned away they found successful. Montgomery from D.C. shelters, Greenwalt suggested.

County has been using these strategies The ICH also analyzed the home origins to build a similar model to end chronic for people using Grant and Per Diem beds homelessness in the county by the end and shelter and transitional housing. of this year.

The Homeless Providers Grant and Per Meanwhile, in the District, a team of Diem Program is the U.S. Department government agencies and community of Veterans Affairs’ largest transitional

housing program. It awards grants to community-based agencies to create transitional housing programs, and it offers per diem payments — daily maximum allowances — currently at $45.79 per day.

This analysis found that 48 percent of veterans resided in D.C. before entering GPD programs, 37 percent resided outside of D.C. and 16 percent did not respond.

While these resources are intended to serve the whole metropolitan region, all of the region’s per diem beds are in the District and thus, those individuals have historically been counted in D.C.’s PIT count, according to Greenwalt.

The GPD program compounds D.C.’s challenges, confirmed Susie Sinclair-Smith, executive director of the Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless.

S i n c l a i r - S m i t h c o m p a r e d D . C . ’s struggles to those of Maryland, where the Baltimore city area accounts for over a quarter of the state’s total homeless population, based on the 2016 PIT count.

“There is a significant number of veterans in the per diem program, it’s harder to move that population,” she said, explaining the difficulty in finding permanent housing solutions when GPD only funds transitional housing.

In order to ease the strain on D.C., the ICH has recently been working with its regional partners to track GPD veterans coming from outside the District, connect them back to their originating jurisdiction for help with permanent housing and enable more accurate PIT counts.

During the federal review process, USICH works to verify if a community may have met federal guidelines only by sending their veterans into another jurisdiction, according to regional coordinator Joe Savage.

While there is not a formal follow-up process yet, Savage said USICH checks in with communities approximately twice a year to collect case studies and see how localities are maintaining federal benchmarks. The USICH recommends that communities reassess benchmarks every 90 days.

Path to Achievement At the moment, the Veterans NOW! coalition has decided not to set another definite target date for ending veteran homelessness in D.C. “They tend to get misinterpreted as a deadline rather than as an ambitious goal,” said Adam Rocap, member of Veterans NOW! and deputy director at the service provider Miriam’s Kitchen.

The ICH initially created a plan to end veteran homelessness by 2015 as a part of Homeward D.C., the ICH 5-year strategic plan that aims to make homelessness across the board be a “rare, brief, and non-recurring experience” by 2020.

“We’ve come a

in Fight to End Veteran Homelessness long way and we’re very close to reaching a functional zero. Setting the initial [2015] goal date accomplished that, so now we’re setting the goal to keep continuing the work,” Rocap said.

D.C. has one remaining criteria to meet: a working Housing Plan for every veteran to have access to safe shelters and/or permanent housing.

“We’re staying on top of in-flow with our regular meetings and outreach, but the housing market is really tough,” said Kally Canfield, division director of veteran services at Friendship Place and now co-chair of the Veterans NOW! coalition.

“It is what it is. We just have to work around it,” Canfield said with a slight, tired frustration at the tremendous task of tackling an issue that has always been looming over the District: affordable housing.

“I wish it was just one obvious system issue such as not finding enough landlords, that’s much easier to solve,” Rocap said, “But for good and for bad, it’s four, five, six medium-sized interconnected system barriers such as regional in-flow, landlords, coordinating, case managing, outreach — how do we work on it at the same time — it’s a mixture of time and continuous system improvement.”

With the District’s building height limitation laws from 1910 still in effect, the small area of the capitol itself and a multitude of other issues roiling together to form the now commonplace phrase “D.C’s lack of affordable and available housing, ”the coalition still sees an end to veteran homelessness in sight.

“It’s been incredible to see the change, the collaboration to make this happen. At first there were many people just in their own world and now it’s very, very targeted,” Canfield said. “We know who is homeless and how to get them the help that they need.”

Canfield is referring to a by-name list of every homeless veteran in the District that is reviewed and updated weekly.

The John and Jill Ker Conway Residence at North Capitol Commons is one of D.C.’s recent successes in creating affordable housing for residents and homeless veterans. “That filled a gap that wasn’t there yet and is a great community solution to use as a model,” Rocap said.

What spurred progress?

Thorough data management and analysis has been essential for communities to track individuals and

effectively regulate resources such as federal and local funding.

Pulling data and getting a better idea of where the homeless veterans were staying is what began Virginia’s start toward ending veteran homelessness, said Matt Leslie, housing development director for Veterans Services in Virginia.

“In the beginning it was really a lack of communication and understanding of what’s out there for veterans ... people would kick them over to the VA without knowing what they were doing,” Leslie said. “Oftentimes, they weren’t eligible for VA services.”

Strong political and public support drove Virginia’s momentum — Governor Terry McAuliffe comes from a family of veterans and in the state of Virginia, one out of ten citizens is a veteran, according to Leslie.

Veterans in Virginia also benefited from ready access to much more affordable housing and sustainable employment than is available in D.C. or Maryland. Leslie gave examples of strong employment partnerships with the state’s power company and how the governor’s leadership brought many stakeholders on board.

As of now, there are 42 communities and three states that have met federal benchmarks, and there are five communities that have met Built for Zero guidelines.

Both campaigns work together to emphasize a Housing First model using the new coordinated entry process that HUD introduced in the nation’s first comprehensive federal strategy to prevent and end homelessness, Opening Doors.

The strategy was released in 2010 and amended in 2015. D.C. has been using the new coordinated entry system since August 2013 with growing progress.

However, criticism of the assessment process is not far behind.

Social worker and activist Julie Turner criticized that

system, while beginning successfully, started to lag after a few years once more providers vied for funding.

In particular, Turner said that the coordinated entry system only addresses the needs of people considered to be homeless by its funder, HUD, whose definition is narrower than that of the U.S. Departments of Education or Health and Human Services. She estimates that the system only serves one third of the District’s homeless community.

John Mendez, director of outreach and special projects at Bethesda Cares, candidly addressed this issue: “If you have 10 family members who need an apartment and you only have one apartment to give — who’s it going to be?

It’s a tough decision but necessary — you need to give it to the one who needs it the most. That’s what coordinated entry is, and then you go from there.”

Mendez also spoke to the greater issues that Turner discussed in an editorial piece for Street Sense: the need for gainful, permanent employment and affordable housing. The need for a larger systemic solution.

“Neighborhoods need to think about how when you want to go to the Starbucks just a few blocks down the street from your condo, your barista at that Starbucks may

STREET SENSE April 5 - 18, 2017

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NEWS

need to travel miles out of town just to get to work everyday,” Mendez illustrated.

One needed change identified by Sinclair-Smith from Montgomery County is that systems of care often do not coordinate. She described people discharged from psychiatric institutions and jails as feeding into homelessness if they do not have a support network.

Yet it was collaboration and data sharing that Matt Leslie of Virginia’s Department of Veteran Services cited as propelling the state to reach functional zero. “We’re not fixing poverty, we’re fixing homelessness,” Leslie said. “[But] you can’t do one without the other … it’s not a bubble you live in.”

When crafting systemic solutions, Mendez of Bethesda Cares warned that you can’t “get into the business of judging someone — of ‘they don’t deserve this or deserve that.’ All of those healthy antipoverty measures have to be in place,” Mendez said. “If we don’t have a healthy educational system, community mental health system — in some ways the system will fail that person. Note how I said that.

The system fails the person.” ■ You may contact the The Washington D.C. Veterans Affairs Community Resource and Referral Center for all concerns and questions at 202-636-7660.

O

n April 1, the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) organized advocates, many of which were homeless or formerly homeless, to gather between the White House and the Wilson Building for a “National Day of Action on Housing.” This was one of 20 such events held across the country, largely in response to President Trump’s proposed budget, which would cut $6 billion from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to NCH Director Megan Hustings. That loss of funds would would shrink public housing support and put an end to programs that provide meal assistance and clean-ups in low-income neighborhoods.

In D.C., the day included a rally, group discussions about the needs of the local homeless community and demonstration tents to be displayed overnight in Freedom Plaza. Attendees reached the consensus that homeless advocacy groups needed more of the the people that made it out of homelessness to return to do advocacy for those who are not yet off of the streets. One speaker said that community members needed to continue to be vigilant and outspoken — not silent, citing the 14 percent increase in homelessness in the District recorded between January 2015 and January 2016.

PHOTOS BY BENJAMIN BURGESS / KSTREETPHOTOGRAPHYDC.COM

COVER: Trayon White on $250,000 for Bridge Park

By Rodney Choice Volunteer

A

PHOTOS BY CHOICEPHOTOGRAPHY.COM

$250,000 investment from JPMorgan Chase to create the Bridge Park Community Land Trust was announced on March 29. The 11th Street Bridge Park, which began with a series of public meetings in 2012, will connect Wards 6 and 8 by simultaneously fording the Anacostia River and a considerable wealth and neighborhood amenities gap.

As the project has grown, so have housing costs in the surrounding neighborhoods. This new investment, to be administered by City First Enterprises, will be used to establish community control of housing costs surrounding the planned park site and ensure current residents can remain to benefit from the new development.

The Bridge Park’s hallmark Equitable Development Plan has been a bulwark against gentrification that founder Scott Kratz hopes will be a model for others.

“The goal of Bridge Park’s Equitable Development Plan is to ensure that the park is a driver of inclusive development — development that provides opportunities for all residents regardless of income and demography,” Kratz, who is grateful for JPMorgan Chase’s investment, wrote in an email to Street Sense.

“By following a community-driven and vetted process, it is our hope that other cities can look to the Bridge

Park as a prime example of how the public and private sectors can invest in and create world-class public space in an equitable manner.”

City First has been using models similar to community land trusts since 2006 to preserve more than 700 units of affordable housing — 240 of which were made permanently affordable — in response to disappearing housing that is affordable for workforce and middle class District residents, according to Development Manager Eugene Kim. At an Anacostia Playhouse celebration of this milestone for the Bridge Park, Street Sense caught up with Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White: SS: What does this mean to your community?

TW: This project is about community land trusts and it’s showing that people of low economics can stay in this community. For far too long, we’ve seen the price of living go up, but wages don’t. Ward 8’s got one of the highest unemployment rates per capita in the country. And unfortunately, it’s getting more and more expensive to live in Washington, D.C. The area median income in D.C. right now is about $109,000 per year, on average. And as a result, people in Ward 8 are experiencing more joblessness or not just unemployment, but underemployment. So you’ve got to have 2, 3, 5 people living in your house just to be able to afford to live here. So what this [model] does is transfers ownership and ensures we have a stable community, that we have a growing community and we explore our options when it comes to dealing with the housing crisis we face in Washington, D.C. How much has this project reached out to you?

I’ve had several conversations with the 11th Street Bridge Project and other organizations to figure out how we can address the homelessness

in D.C., the affordability in D.C. and to make sure we’ve exhausted all options to make sure people can live and stay and grow here in the city.

You’ve said that other projects that have been overambitious and broken promises to the community.

What’s your level of optimism for this project?

Well, I grew up as a community activist. And I always wanted to hold the government accountable.

Now I’m councilmember here in Ward 8, so I am the government. So it’s my job to hold the government accountable —the other councilmembers, the mayor — and create good policy that’s really about people.

And what have you shared with contituents?

I’m just learning about the project itself. I’ve been researching community land trusts for quite some time. It’s an excellent concept, where you can just transfer ownership and keep it affordable.

D.C. hasn’t adopted it yet and I hope they do adopt it. This is a good concept to keep people in their communities, because once you start building up a lot of construction… in fact, on this very block behind us we’re going to have five cranes in the sky at one time. And when that happens, you know, the price of living goes up. The taxes go up, the rent goes up and people get pushed out.

So this is a project you can convince some of your constituents to participate with?

This is an easy sell. They see the rent going up.

I was talking to some young people the other day at the apartment where I used to live and rent was $550 a month. That same exact apartment was selling for $1100 a month now and nothing has changed but the cabinets and they put new carpet in — that’s it. And that’s considered cheap in D.C. The average 2-bedroom right now is about $2000 easy. So people understand that language. ■

Born an artist: Barbara Pollard

STREET SENSE April 5 - 18, 2017

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FEATURES

Pollard modeling some of her clothing designs during her interview at Street Sense (left) and in a fashion show at a local hotel (right).

PHOTO BY ASHLEY CLARKE (LEFT), PHOTO COURTESY OF BARBARA POLLARD (RIGHT)

PHOTO COURTESY OF BARBARA POLLARD

By Ashley Clarke ashley.clarke@streetsense.org

I

was born an artist,” said Street Sense vendor and contributor, Barbara Pollard.

Pollard is fairly new to the paper. She found out about Street Sense through her close friend Michael Craig, who also writes for the paper. Pollard has never suffered from homelessness, but said she has opened her home to many relatives and friends going through it over the years.

Craig used the words “gentle, loving and respectful” to describe her.

Pollard illustrates his short stories, mostly allegories involving animal characters. She is passionate for all things art. She not only draws; she also writes, sings and makes and designs clothes.

“I have my own line of fashion, I design evening wear, casual and sports,” Pollard said. She creates all of her pieces from scratch. “When I was a little 12-year-old girl, I took home economics and it inspired me to be a designer,” she said.

Many of the garments she wears, she designed and made herself.

Around the same time that Pollard started exploring fashion, she began to sing.

“I do gospel and I have Rhythm and Blues songs too,” said Pollard, who recorded a gospel album two years ago.

Her musical talent has allowed her to perform at many places in and around the District, mostly in churches and at talent shows. She has also performed at the State Department where she worked for nearly 45 years as an administrative assistant.

Pollard retired in January. She said she is enjoying her retirement and taking this time to focus on her art.

“I said, I’m going to retire and get this music and fashion on the road,” Pollard said.

“It’s been past time, but I thank God that I am still alive to be able to do this.”

Pollard’s faith in God is what inspires her to keep working and making her art that she hopes serves as an inspiration to others.

She sells the paper to promote her work and support Street Sense. Pollard also said that selling the paper helps her financially.

“Keep on loving God and put your gifts out there,” Pollard said as advice to all artist and writers who work with Street Sense who may be battling with issues such as homelessness. “I know it’s hard to be happy, especially if you don’t have any money, but money is not the ruler of the world. God is.” ■

Stringing in the Snow: Mark Francis Nickens

By Amin Massey Artist/Vendor

Mark Francis Nickens performing.

PHOTO BY AMIN MASSEY

Good things come to those who wait, and persistence is a quality trait. Now if you are persistently patient, you may luck up once in awhile. Well, that is exactly what happened when I bumped into one of my favorite buskers, Mark Francis Nickens.

On a cold afternoon, right before the biggest snowstorm of the year, I had a chance to talk to the well-known street musician.

Nickens had just finished helping out and working on some new music at the Electric

Maid Community Exchange.

The Electric Maid is a performance arts venue that also provides resources for musicians and those who like live music and entertainment or who are looking to give back.

Nickens is known to play the harmonica, flute, guitar, bass and piano around the city for commuters outside Metro stations, or for patrons of the Takoma Park Farmer’s Market. His music has also been featured in a McDonald’s commercial. As he simply put it, “I do what I do and strive to get better by any means

I can do so.”

Despite the cold temperature and constant snowflakes that day, Nickens’s upbeat attitude was reflected in his performance and fan interaction. “This is one of those days where it is just barely, barely warm enough to play music outside,” he explained.

I left our conversation with a feeling of admiration for his consistency and dedication to his craft. He summed up his work ethic perfectly: “I’m still a student of the game.” As are we all.

Mark’s music can be found on YouTube and Facebook

OPINION

Have an opinion about how homelessness is being handled in our community? We maintains an open submission policy and pride ourselves as a newspaper that elevates community voices and fosters healthy debate. Send your thoughts to opinion@streetsense.org.

Join The Homeless Stairway Networking Cooperative

By Craig Thompson As a volunteer who helps man The William Thomas Memorial Anti-nuclear Peace Vigil, the more than 35-year-old silent protest that sits across from the White House, I aim to be an active part of saving this world.

I’m not an “A” student. I was in high school, a long time ago. I am a work in progress, with the Holy Spirit changing me for the better. But in our eternal now, help is needed.

I am homeless. I live at CCNV shelter and I volunteer at the 24-hour tent demonstration. I recently began to wonder: how else could I help better our world?

Well, I spend much time on the internet and I admire the local homeless advocacy efforts of Eric Sheptock, another CCNV resident, and the national homeless advocacy efforts of Mark Horvath of InvisiblePeople.tv, who I worked with and was homeless with in L.A. It got me thinking that there is a lot of good advocacy work being done and that

there are a lot of good-hearted people that would like to get involved. But there is no clear next step for those people to take. InvisiblePeople.tv, for instance, gives homeless individuals a minute of fame and then they are forgotten. But that individual is still struggling.

So I started an online community on Facebook and LinkedIn that I hope will fill the gap. I even pitched it to my senator, John Thune (R-S.D.), when visiting his office to thank him for my inauguration ticket. (I spent half my adult life in South Dakota.)

I call this community the Homeless Stairway Networking Cooperative (HSNCoop). And at the moment, I see it as a simple chat forum of peers and good Samaritans where, after Mark Horvath features someone on InvisiblePeople. tv, for instance, we can post their story in the forum and talk about how to help that person. Where are they located and what do they need? How can we help

them climb up that stairway to a better position in life? Are they looking for work?

Skills training? Someone to pay cheap rent to for six months? Post their needs and respond if you can help.

If someone ends up homeless, then it means they have exhausted their personal network. They have no more couches to surf, no more personal loans to take or good words to be put in. I want this co-op to provide a new network of people that understand this reality and want to help move individuals beyond it. You only have to offer what you can: your time and your unique skills, insight and resources.

Almost like a less complex timebank.

I must be realistic. What can one person do? We homeless understand our needs better. If one of you joins and posts a topic of need that others might have contacts to fill, this could work out really well. For instance, I just met a man and woman in Dupont Circle who hand out things like clothes, shoes, and fingernail clippers.

When he hears a need, he reaches out into his community to fill the need. May HSNCoop fill such a global need.

Please help me build this network.

Active supporters are the key to success.

Let’s build a community.

Let HSNCoop be a continued discussion on how to help the likes of us. Homelessness is a global crisis.

InvisiblePeople.tv features people from England, to Canada, to L.A., to upstate New York. So, I hope the broad reach of the internet, of my new Facebook and LInkedIn pages, will reach people willing to help in just as many places.

If you have an interest in assisting the homeless community in D.C., or anywhere, now would be a good time to join me in this fight.

Craig Thompson is an activist and occasional contributor to Street Sense.

Perception or Reality: Your Choice

By Robert Williams, USMC Debates, disagreements, misconceptions and controversies take place daily. Are they beneficial or to no avail? Could it be by design? Maybe the powers that be plan to keep society divided on issues, topics or even reality itself.

There is definitely a systemic problem within our nation and within society.

Yet, I also believe there is still hope for us collectively as a people. But it will take the changing of one’s mindset and

MPD police cars lined up outside of Trump Pavillion on March 28. Who’s protecting us? Or is this a secret service?

PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN

Running Away from Metro

By Phillip Black, a.k.a. “The Cat in the Hat” Every day, people are running away from Metro. Ridership is down more than 16 percent since its peak in 2009. And on top of that, the agency is increasing the fares again.

They are charging more and giving less.

Metro is cutting 500 jobs and planning to cut 1,000 more. Where is all that money going?

Plus, on top of that, single-tracking goes on more and more during rush hour.

It’s amazing how Metro stays in business. Run, run, people! Run! Phillip Black is an artist and Street Sense vendor.

At least, let’s all have equal access for advancement through achievement.

We a ll pa rt ici pa t e e i t h e r i n t h e advancement or the decline of the human race — it’s your choice. Whether passive or active, you are contributing to one of those paths. Don’t allow the system to force you to silently support the status quo, a never-ending spiral of decline and destruction.

Perception or Reality?

“Growth as a society must take place holistically and be inclusive.” unification of our mindsets to become ONE people. ONE race. The human race.

We are all uniquely, magnificently and individually created. All equal.

I am no better than you, you’re no better than they, they are no better than them. In other words, no individual is better than the next. Let’s work toward gain, even in ourselves, to experience the joy and contentment that comes with being contributors to the whole. Growth as a society must take place holistically and be inclusive.

This article, this call to action, requires no verbal response. Start your participation now, especially if you believe that we are more than our superficial selves. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the systemic problem.

Peace and love. Be blessed and do the right thing.

Robert Williams is a vendor for Street Sense.

No Matter How Hard Things Get, Times Can Change

By Gerald Anderson Artist/Vendor The last time I was in the recoverin’ house out in Arlington, VA, I let things get in my way.

I left it after bein’ there 30 months. I had ups and downs with my roommates.

But also I left to go stay with a lady friend.

I regretted that. After a while she had a new friend and she wanted me out of the house. I was paying her to stay there and the police told her she couldn’t remove me without getting 30-days eviction order.

That’s when she went to a judge and lied and say I put a hand on her, so she could get a stay-away order, which could have sent me back to prison for six months.

So after that I had to find a place to stay. I thought about it in my mind.

I didn’t want to go to a shelter. So I networked with friends from the old recovering house. I asked them: Did they have any room for me to come back there?

They say yeah they have room.

Then a guy from another house say, “We have opening where I’m at.”

He say they have single rooms.

My eye popped open like a bowling ball. I say, “Damn, single room? How can I get that?”

He say he would put the word out for

me. So I called my editor and say, “Hey I think I got a ace in the hole.” Meaning I think I got a place to go to.

She was excited.

I said, “I don’t know for sure if I have it, but you know me. I’m gonna put in some footwork,” meaning I gotta get to the house for Tuesday, the night they have meetings and also do interviews.

So I call the house and tell them I be there at 5 o’clock. I was so excited I got there at 3:30. I knew it was a good house by sittin’ back. They offered me coffee, talked to me. I knew they was real mens because I deal with a lot of real mens in life, comin’ from prison and also on the street.

For the interview they ask me, “If you see someone from the house in the liquor store or buyin’ beer at Harris Teeter, would you come back and tell us?”

I say, “I’d talk to the guy first.”

They say anybody that buying alcohol or drugs, they contagion to you and the others in the house.

After I sit in the meetin’ they told me to step out for 3 or 4 minutes. Then they call me back in and tell me I am accepted in the house.

They ask me how soon can I bring my stuff in. I got back with my editor and told her everything that went down. She asked me, “You sure you like that sober house better than the other one?”

I OF THE STORM AN OFF-BROADWAY SOLO PERFORMANCE AT STREET SENSE

A Better World

By Marcus Green, Artist/Vendor

Are you down for the struggle? A bullying, homeless, gay-bashing, racist and fat-shaming world? This is to name a few.

Everyone in this world has a duty to make it a better place. Sometimes people will let you down, when really you

Free Tickets: bit.ly/IoftheStorm ($10 Suggested

By Michael Craig Artist/Vendor

RSVP: events@streetsense.org

So the president say for my new business, I believe that me and the other guy I got in to it with should be evicted from the house. So we all stood up. We made a vote on it. The guys all voted that they agree with the president that the two of them should leave the house.

So they packed they stuff, call they people to come get them.

We give t hem 45 minutes to get they stuff out. Or most of it. That’s the rule.

The guy to do the treasure, say we gotta get another president.

So everybody lookin’ a r o u n d , l i k e Wo w, who gonna be the president?

One of the guys in the house, who was in the old house I was at, he say, “Hey, Gerald would make a good president.”

I said, “Man why you say that?”

He say, “You got a lotta experience.

You got a lot to talk about.”

So he ask, “Who all like to see Gerald president?” Nine of the guys raise they hand up.

On Tuesday, March 14 at the 7:30 house meeting, they voted me to become the new president of the house.

Just imagine bein’ out all day on your feet, knowin’ you got a place to go to, kick back, get some good rest. It so good there, now look what happen next.

The Monkey and the Toe

MAY 5 Acting Workshop with Richard Hoeh1er: 1-3 PM

11

VENDOR WRITING

I say, “Yeah they got single rooms.”

She say, good, that’s what you been lookin’ for.

So I moved in. And first chance, I went out with gift cards from customers to Bed Bath & Beyond and bought some blanket, pillows, shower shoes, stuff like that.

As days was passin’ by, I started likin’ it a lot, feeling real comfortable. It feel so good getting’ up, goin’ to work, comin’ home, knowin’ no one gonna be puttin’ me out.

Just imagine bein’ out all day on your feet, knowin’ you got a place to go to, kick back, get some good rest. It so good there, now look what happen next.

After sittin’ there with these guys for less than six months, it’s a big step I made.

At the weekly meeting, after talkin’ about old business the old president announced now we will talk about “new business.”

He been havin’ trouble with another guy in the house. He say, “We put our hands on each other. The guy called the police.”

A lot of us was makin’ faces like shock to hear what goin’ on.

MAY 4 Performance: Doors at 6:30, Show at 7 PM Location: 1317 G St. NW, 20005 Donation at Door)

STREET SENSE April 5 - 18, 2017

thought they had your back.

There is a spiritual power, that is in us, that praises God when something good happens to us, when everything is going our way.

But, can you praise him when you’re going through the struggle’?

Somebody paid for the homeless Monkey’s pedicure. Because its toenails were hoofs — long and strong! While chopping those bad boys off, they missed a nail and took a off a whole toe!

The Monkey took off running, in pain. Through the wilderness, the forest and the jungle.

Sleeping under trees and praying on its knees.

It sought all the trials and tribulations society had to offer, just trying to replace its toe. It took decades, but the Monkey never gave up.

Eventually, over the course of time, it evolved, and the toe grew back on its own!

The Monkey began singing and dancing.

It came back to the pedicurist and stuck its foot out.

The Street Sense Writers’ Group is led by writing professionals and meets every Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. The group’s goal is to develop ideas and collaborate on the next great issue of Street Sense.

My Customers

By Gwynette Smith Artist/Vendor Many of my customers have asked me where I have been. I was away for a while working as a temporary office worker. Now I am back and happy to see all my customers again. It made me feel good to know that you looked for me while I was gone. I missed you too.

The work was interesting, but at my age it took a little while for me to get used to.

I did not train to be a typist, clerk typist or a general gopher. I went to school to teach school when I was younger.

The people at the job were personable and encouraged me. Their attitude helped me get used to the routine which required a lot of energy from me. They made me feel good while I was there.

I hope that all has gone well for you. I really appreciate your support. Please stop by when you can, even just to say hello.

Suicidal Thought

By Ronald Dudley, a.k.a. “Pookanu” Artist/Vendor I was a young man dating a married women with five kids. It was Christmas time and I had no money to get anyone a gift.The kids’ father was in jail and I was in love with his wife.

I was confused and didn't know what to do.

I tried and tried to do everything I could to do get the kids a Christmas gift, but in reality I just couldn't afford anything. It hurt because I really loved the kids like my own and I just wanted to see them happy. I knew what it's like to wake up as a child with nothing under the Christmas tree.

I prayed and I prayed, but nothing seemed to work. Christmas was in two days and I didn't know what to do. That's when I decided that life wasn't worth all this pain. I decided to kill myself.

I had it all planned out. I was going to jump in front of a Metro bus.

Christmas Eve came and I was going to play with the kids. We laughed and listened to Christmas carols. Little did they know that I was hurting inside and truly ready to die. “Santa Claus is coming to town” is the last thing I heard before I left out the door.

As I'm walking and talking to myself, I'm getting closer to my destination and closer to death. From a distance, I can see the Metro buses and how fast they were moving. I had been worrying about what if I live and end up handicapped or in a wheelchair. I wanted to make there was no chance of that.

As soon as I decided it was time, I started running as fast as I could. But before I could get to the bus, I fell in a hole — literally fell in a hole — twisted my ankle and bumped my head.

I was embarrassed, but I was still alive. I thought to myself, “Wow, life ain't easy. But death is harder than I thought.”

STREET SENSE April 5 - 18, 2017

13

VENDOR WRITING

Around in Circles

By Angel Pounds Artist/Vendor

What Brings Me Joy!

We go around in circles.

We fly high like the bird in the sky.

Let go. Let God in your heart.

Let the Lord guide you in the right direction.

By Evelyn Nnam, Artist/Vendor

My name is Angela Marie Pounds Bennett.

I have been homeless for 4 years, living On the street.

HE is the ONE that brings me joy.

The ONE that sits on the throne.

The ONE that created the heavens and the earth.

The ONE that made possible for me to be here.

The joy of the Lord is my strength every day.

HE strengthens me whenever I am weak, What fills my joy is HE. HE fills my joy down deep in my soul.

What brings me joy is the world making peace.

Street Sense has helped me a lot.

It has enabled me to sell the paper.

I am blessed with the Holy Ghost and the Spirit.

Making peace, so people can (truly) live.

My joy is when children grow to become something in life, Only those that work hard will become the best.

What brings me joy is my God, being on my side, Guiding me and believing in me, Letting me know that everything will be all right, Whispering in my ear the depth of who HE is.

What brings me joy is my Lord and Savior, Being with me from the beginning till the very end.

That is what and who brings me joy.

As you read this poem think about who and what Brings you joy, because even if you are not the Richest or the smartest, everyone on Earth, Even the lowest creatures that crawl on this Earth Can receive joy.

Thank you and God bless you.

What Brings Me Joy!

By Kyla Brown Artist/Vendor I hate it when others insult my intelligence. Maybe if you took as much time focusing on yourself as you do focusing on me, you wouldn’t be so miserable. God (the Father of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel) made us all unique. So, unfortunately, you cannot be me nor have what I have. What you can have is the love of Jesus Christ! He loves you with an unconditional love and will forgive all your sins, if you repent.

Knowing this has always given me joy!!

Staying Clean

Changing my Ways

By Ricardo Mereidy, Artist/Vendor Let's start with my drug of choice: Heroin. For 14 years.

Yes, I thought it was ALL good because it made me feel relaxed.

Unfortunately, I never knew the consequences of using it because no one ever told me. So, I learned the hard way.

I became very sick after only three days. I vomited frequently. I could not eat. I didn't sleep. If I could turn back the hands of time, I would. I never would have touched heroin. The drug abuses your mind and your body. It is

By Charles Davis, Artist/Vendor a monster. So much for "relaxing" me.

Thank goodness for the Psychiatric Institute of Washington's detox center, where I went to get clean.

The process was agonizing and scary.

But, I did it. And I've stayed that way for six years.

So, if you want to get clean, you may have to change the people around you and the places where you used to hang out. Avoid the "friends" who could cause you trouble. Go to church. Pray every day. And take a day at a time.

I have come a long way since April of last year when I entered the Houisng Choice Voucher Program and moved into my apartment. A home at last. I have been homeless for 28 ½ years and never had my own place. I always lived with someone else, helping them with the rent and paying my own bills.

But now I have be more responsible, the way my parents taught me. My loving father was especially influential in my life. He made sure there was always food on the table and clothes on our backs. Another thing he did was to make sure that we went to church and kept our faith in God. As I got older, it really

started to grow on me spiritually and I thank my father for showing me the way.

As I move on with my life in Christ, I hope and pray that I will do better in my education and my health. My back is due for surgery soon and for the apartment, things are going in the right direction with the help of my case worker. We keep in touch and go through major things that must be done so that I will not mess up with the voucher system.

God has been good to me and is giving me every chance to better myself. I’m thankful to Him for that. May the power of the Kingdom and the Glory be with us, now and forever. Amen!

Brown Burned Blossoms

By Frederic John Artist/Vendor Within icy bud Lieth sweet bloss’m Browned, burned to crisp?

Why then is it What we so love— Must [early] die — Ah! Sakura.

Discrepency #1 | By Justin Benedict, former Artist/Vendor

STREET SENSE April 5 - 18, 2017

15

COMMUNITY SERVICES Housing/Shelter

Food

Clothing

Showers

Case Management

Health Care

Transportation

Laundry

Education

Employment Assistance

Legal Assistance

Vivienda/alojamiento

Ropa

Comida

Coordinación de Servicios

Seguro

Educación

Assitencia con Empleo

Academy of Hope Public Charter School: 269-6623 | 601 Edgewood St, NE aohdc.org

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

Calvary Women’s Services: 678-2341 1217 Good Hope Road, SE calvaryservices.org

SHELTER HOTLINE: (202) 399-7093 Línea directa de alojamiento YOUTH HOTLINE: (202) 547-7777

Duchas

Transportación

Lavandería

Covenant House Washington: 610-9600 2001 Mississippi Avenue, SE covenanthousedc.org

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

Línea directa de Violencia doméstica

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH HOTLINE: 1-888-793-4357

Assistencia Legal

Community of Hope: 232-7356 communityofhopedc.org

Línea de juventud

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE: (202) 749-8000 Línea de Salud del Comportamiento

Jubilee Jobs: 667-8970 2712 Ontario Rd NW | 2419 Minnesota Ave SE jubileejobs.org

Samaritan Ministry: 1516 Hamilton Street NW | 722-2280 1345 U Street SE | 889-7702 samaritanministry.org

Loaves & Fishes: 232-0900 1525 Newton St. NW loavesandfishesdc.org

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

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

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

Catholic Charities: 772-4300 catholiccharitiesdc.org/gethelp

Central Union Mission: 745-7118 65 Massachusetts Avenue, NW missiondc.org

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

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

Church of the Pilgrims: 387-6612 2201 P St, NW churchofthepilgrims.org/outreach food (1 - 1:30 on Sundays only) Community Family Life Services: 347-0511 | 305 E St, NW cflsdc.org

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

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

St. Luke’s Mission Center: 333-4949 3655 Calvert St. NW stlukesmissioncenter.org

Food and Friends: 269-2277 219 Riggs Rd, NE foodandfriends.org

My Sister’s Place: 529-5991 (24-hour hotline) mysistersplacedc.org

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

Foundry Methodist Church: 332-4010 1500 16th St, NW foundryumc.org/ministry-opportunities

N Street Village: 939-2060 1333 N Street, NW nstreetvillage.org

Unity Health Care: 745-4300 3020 14th St, NW unityhealthcare.org

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

New York Ave Shelter: 832-2359 1355-57 New York Ave, NE

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

Patricia Handy Place for Women: 810 5th Street, NW, NW | 733-5378

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

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

Jobs Have Priority: 544-9128 425 Snd St, NW jobshavepriority.org

D.C. Low-Income Tax Clinics

IRS.gov: The filing deadline to submit 2016 tax returns is Tuesday, April 18, 2017, rather than the traditional April 15 date. In 2017, April 15 falls on a Saturday, and this would usually move the filing deadline to the following Monday — April 17. However, Emancipation Day — a legal holiday in D.C. — will be observed on that Monday, which pushes the nation’s filing deadline to Tuesday.

Community Tax Aid and the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program both identify $54,000 or less as qualifying household income for free assistance. ($35,000 for individuals, via CTA)

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

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

PREPARATION (WALK-IN ONLY)

PREPARATION (APPOINTMENT)

Edgewood Terrace 601 Edgewood Street NE Sundays, 1pm-3pm Family Strengthening Collaborative 3917 Minnesota Ave NE Saturdays, 9am-3pm Wardman Court, 350 Clifton St NW Thursdays, 6pm-7:30pm SE Community Credit Center 2831 Alabama Ave SE Wed. 6-7:30pm, Sat. 9am-3pm Anacostia Neighborhood Library Tues. 11am, Thurs. 1:30pm Bellevue Neighborhood Library Saturdays, 10am

CentroNía ... (202) 332-4200 Gallaudet University ... (202) 651-5312 Howard University ... (202) 684-8228 Jubilee Jobs ... (202) 830-1480 MLK Library Replacement ... (202) 869-2999 UPO Petey Greene Center ... 202-231-7903

Deanwood Neighborhood Library Mondays & Wednesdays, 10am Georgetown Neighborhood Library Tuesdays & Wednesdays, 1pm Lamond-Riggs Neighborhood Library Mon. 10am & Thurs. 1pm Petworth Neighborhood Library Mondays & Fridays, 12pm Shaw Neighborhood Library Saturdays, 10am Southwest Neighborhood Library Mon. 2:30pm, Wed. 1:30pm Woodridge Neighborhood Library Tuesdays & Fridays, 10am

REPRESENTATION UDC ... (202) 274-5073 American Univserity ... (202) 274-4144 ***The D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue walk-in center, 1101 4th Street SW #W270, will prepare District individual income tax returns free for anyone 8:15 am to 5:30 pm, Mon.-Fri.

April 5 - 18, 2017 • Volume 14 • Issue 11

Street Sense 1317 G Street, NW

Washington, DC 20005

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Nonprofit Org US Postage Paid Washington, DC Permit #568

Thank you for reading Street Sense!

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