04 07 2021

VOL. 18 ISSUE 12

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2 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A // A P R I L 7 - 1 3 , 2021

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The Street Sense Media Story, #MoreThanANewspaper

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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.

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

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EVENTS

// 3

NEWS IN BRIEF DHS expands PEP-V hotels but caps waitlist for medically vulnerable

ADDITIONAL LOCATIONS 1st St. NW and E St. NW The above pop-up vaccination site for people experiencing homelessness is provided by D.C. government in partnership with the h3 project, POWER (Prevention, Outreach, Wellness, Education, Risk Reduction), Friendship Place, The Father McKenna Center, and the NoMa Business Improvement District.

THURSDAY, APRIL 8 and FRIDAY, APRIL 9

MORE INFO: (202) 671-4200

FRIDAY, APRIL 9

9 a.m. - 12 p.m.

1 p.m. - 4 p.m.

Marvin Gaye Park, 5200 Foote St. SE

9 a.m. - 12 p.m.

1 p.m. - 4 p.m.

THURSDAY, APRIL 8

UPDATES ONLINE AT ICH.DC.GOV

SATURDAY, APRIL 10

The Enslaved Community At Woodlawn virtual presentation

D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness Meetings

Poetry reading with 3 area poets laureate

12:00 p.m. - 1 p.m. / Online This event is a discussion with author and researcher Cassandra Good about the names and stories of the enslaved men and women who labored at the Woodlawn Plantation in Alexandria, Virginia, originally part of Mount Vernon.

Register at: tinyurl.com/woodlawn-seminar

7 - 8 p.m. / Online Executive Committee April 13, 1:30 pm ***For call-in information, as well as meeting info for unlisted working groups, contact: ich.info@dc.gov.

Bring your poetry and win a $250 open mic prize judged by Arlington Poet Laureate Holly Karapetkova, Prince William County Poet Laureate Kim B Miller, and Maryland Poet Laureate Grace Cavalieri. Select open mic readers will be invited to compete in the culminating D.C. Poet Project event for a $1000 book contract.

Register: tinyurl.com/dc-poet-project

On April 2, the D.C. Department of Human Services announced that the District will be expanding the Pandemic Emergency Program for Medically Vulnerable Individuals (PEP-V), opening a fourth PEP-V site that will accommodate up to an additional 200 eligible residents. With this expansion, the PEP-V program will provide noncongregate housing to a total of 800 individuals experiencing homelessness who have underlying medical conditions that put them at high risk of COVID-19.

DHS further stated that once the fourth PEP-V site is full, DHS will cease to maintain a waitlist for PEP-V. As of March 26, there were 656 eligible people on the waiting list for PEP-V, equaling the total number of people served by the program.

Of these 656 waitlisted, 35% are currently in shelter and 38% are unsheltered. Advocates from the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless are calling for further expansion of PEP-V, as an additional site will only serve a third of those waiting. “Closing the waitlist only hides the need — it doesn’t meet it,” said Amber Harding, a staff attorney for the clinic.

This announcement comes in the wake of President Biden’s executive order on Feb. 2 that expanded the Federal Emergency Management Administration funding to cover 100% of the costs of the program. Prior to this executive order, DHS was paying 25% of the costs to run PEP-V, and was being reimbursed by FEMA for the other 75%.

Initially, DHS stated that they had no plans to expand the program despite the increased funding, citing non-reimbursable costs, such as behavioral health services, case management services and general administrative costs, as a barrier to expansion. FEMA confirmed that these support services are not eligible for reimbursement, as they do not fall under “necessary work that lessens immediate threat to lives, public health or safety.”

In a Freedom of Information Act request, Street Sense Media obtained data from DHS showing that less than 4% of the total cost for the past six months of non-congregate shelter placements was not reimbursable by FEMA. The nonreimbursable expense, $1.5 million, went toward behavioral health support and was paid for with contingency cash and money from the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund.

On March 26, Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau and all but two other D.C. councilmembers sent a letter to Mayor Muriel Bowser asking that her administration “take full advantage” of federal funds to “expand non-congregate shelter capacity in the PEP-V program.” Council Chair Phil Mendelson and Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White did not co-sign the letter.

“The District’s residents cannot wait any longer for action. We know that FEMA will reimburse 100% of the eligible PEP-V costs,” the letter states.

—kate.santaliz@streetsensemedia.org

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4 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A // A P R I L 7 - 1 3 , 2021

NEWS

Residents urge DC Health to expand resources for homeless community

BY KAELA ROEDER // kaela.roeder@streetsensemedia.org

D

istrict residents, government officials, and health professionals gathered virtually last month for the D.C. Department of Health’s oversight budget hearings for fiscal year 2020 and the first half of fiscal year 2021, where several requests were made to better support those experiencing homelessness and poverty.

The hearings took place on March 4 and 19 and were led by Ward 7 Councilmember Vincent Gray, the chair of the D.C. Council Committee on Health. Public and governmental witnesses offered testimony on a variety of topics, including expanding health care accessibility, increasing resources for people experiencing homelessness, and bolstering communication between agencies and local, nonprofit groups and service agencies. Government officials also highlighted the new hospital at St. Elizabeths East and urgent care centers in wards 7 and 8 and the District’s coronavirus pandemic response.

The Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services and the directors of the Department of Health Care Finance, the United Medical Center and D.C. Health served as governmental witnesses, presenting programming successes and failures. Gray began the March 19 hearing by addressing the more than 1,000 deaths caused by COVID-19 in the District.

“A year ago at the performance oversight hearing for the Department of Health, we were just learning about COVID-19,” Gray said. “It seems surreal now that in a matter of weeks from that hearing that our whole lives would be a little bit turned upside down.”

Resources for people experiencing homelessness Jesse Rabinowitz, the advocacy and campaign manager at Miriam’s Kitchen, asked the council to increase health resources for those experiencing homelessness.

He suggested more sanitation stations for unhoused residents not in shelters, heating options for encampments similar to outdoor-dining tents, ending encampment evictions, and improving permanent-housing accessibility for unhoused residents.

Rabinowitz urged the council to invest $100 million to end chronic homelessness, the Way Home Campaign’s FY22 budget proposal. The campaign, supported by a coalition of organizations, is organized by

Miriam’s Kitchen. Rabinowitz said funds currently being used to close encampments should instead be reinvested to fund a portion of the $100 million suggestion, as well.

[Disclosure: Street Sense Media, our publisher, is a member of the Way Home Campaign. The organization’s advocacy efforts do not influence our reporting or infringe on our editorial independence.]

“People experiencing homelessness suffer stark, deadly, and often preventable or manageable health dilemmas,” Rabinowitz said. “With housing, people thrive. We must take an expensive and expansive view of health.”

Rabinowitz presented after James Williams, a Ward 4 resident and member of the Petworth Get Wise coalition who testified because of “lack of communication” with Ward 4 residents as it relates to encampments.

“I want to make clear that the purpose of my testimony is not to debate whether city officials should remove the homeless from their encampments during the pandemic,” Williams said, “but instead to highlight the importance of city officials communicating with the surrounding and impacted communities.”

Trash pickup and general sanitation are now the responsibility of the community, Wi l l i a m s s a i d , d u e t o t h e l a c k o f transparency to who’s responsible for maintenance and cleanup.

This is largely due to gaps in communication between government agencies, Williams said.

A couple experiencing homelessness recently stacked unwanted items on a street corner in Petworth including sofa cushions and grocery carts. These items were never picked up, he said, due to a lack of action by the Department of Health and Human Services.

“As you know, Mr. Chairman, 311 will not pick up trash if it’s not associated with a physical address,” Williams said. “And the night sanitation crews do not pick up such trash. Therefore, the responsibility fell upon the community members.”

Williams was also told by the Department of Health and Human Services that the cleanup of needles and biowaste was to be directed to ANC commissioners.

“The directive to not contact them about this matter was unacceptable, dismissive and disrespectful to our community,” Williams said.

Rabinowitz noted in his testimony that encampments should not be cleared unless “absolutely necessary from a public health perspective — not when neighbors complain

about being forced to see the reality of D.C.’s respond to Black’s testimony. homelessness crisis,” he said.

Black also said concrete action to address Kirk Ellis, a longtime District resident racial inequality in the area has been slim. who formerly experienced homelessness, “Recently, the District of Columbia has also supported increased resources for advanced racial equity in language,” Black those who are unhoused. He suggested the said at the March 4 hearing. “It is safe to say council set aside funds for city-sanctioned that we have yet to really put these words to storage containers that people experiencing use or act.” homelessness could use to protect personal The People for Fairness Coalition has items from weather or routine cleanups. been providing personal care items like toilet Ellis also serves as a self-employed outreach paper, hand sanitizer and masks to people worker. For example, in January 2020, Ellis experiencing homelessness. Black said D.C. created a GoFundMe fundraiser “Sleep Warm Health should be taking on this responsibility.

Tonight” to distribute 1,000 sleeping bags to Black also urged the council to streamline people experiencing homelessness in D.C. the process of obtaining identification Through such outreach work, Ellis documents to remove barriers for those who t e s t i f i e d t h a t h e ’s s e e n i n e ff i c i e n t do not have permanent housing. information sharing with multiple different government departments and non-profit Expanding hospital care service providers and partners. He and telemedicine suggested increased town halls and better communication between organizations about changing policies and resources.

The president of the board of the Medical Society “After all, it takes a village,” Ellis said. “We of D.C., Dr. E.W. Emanuel, requested to expand could better umbrella the already provided the use of telemedicine post-pandemic. This will services ... into a better collaboration.” improve access to care and allow physicians to Reginald Black, a longtime D.C. resident practice in medically underserved areas, he said, who formerly experienced homelessness such as wards 7 and 8. also presented to the council the need for Flexibility in treating local patients across increased collaboration and transparency state lines with telemedicine would also between agencies and improve access, he said. local organizations.

Specifically, Emanuel Black is the advocacy said, the District’s director for the People health system should for Fairness Coalition, permit the freedom to a grassroots organizing treat patients in D.C. group of homeless and via telemedicine if the formerly homeless health care provider people who aim to is located across state end housing instability lines and there is a through advocacy and pre-existing treatment peer mentoring. Black relationship. is also a constituent Turnage focused representative on the much of his testimony D.C. Interagency Council and presentation on on Homelessness and an March 4 to discuss artist and vendor with the new hospital and Reginald Black Street Sense Media. urgent care centers in He directly criticized wards 7 and 8.

District agency leaders at the hearings for a The new hospital is set to open in late 2024, lack of participation in events and meetings and the urgent care center in Ward 7 will open related to people experiencing homelessness, in late 2021, said Kimberly Russo, the chief including D.C. Health Director Dr. LaQuandra executive officer at the George Washington Nesbitt and Wayne Turnage, who serves as University Hospital. The urgent care in Ward both the director of the Department of Health 8 will open in 2022, she said.

Care Finance and the deputy mayor for health The new hospital will be built on the existing and human services that oversees both offices.

801 East Men’s Shelter, said Ben Stutz, the chief Black specifically claimed Turnage did not of staff at the Office of the City Administrator attend public sessions before the permanent and at the St. Elizabeths East Hospital. A new removal of encampments on K Street NE shelter is currently being built at a different when the underpass there was designated as location and will open late this year. a “pedestrian passageway.”

“Based on everything that has happened “Deputy Turnage, I don’t see you at over the past year, it is more evident than ever meetings,” Black said. “You and I don’t have that there is a need for health care east of the a working relationship. And I’m an appointed Anacostia River,” Stutz said. “Unfortunately, member [of the ICH] with lived experience the region of the city, as you have heard, has [of homelessness].” been harder hit in this pandemic than other Turnage and Nesbitt did not respond to regions in the district and reflects all that we requests for comment and the councilmembers must do to improve healthcare access, equity conducting the hearing did not ask them to and outcomes.”

“Recently, the District of Columbia has advanced racial equity in language. It is safe to say that we have yet to really put these words to use or act.”

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

// 5

OBITUARY: William Maggi of Washington, DC, dies at 58

BY ATHIYAH AZEEM athiyah.azeem@streetsensemedia.org

F

or three years, Chelsea Maggi would walk down a foot trail from the Fletcher’s Cove Boathouse to visit her father.

Her father, William “Bill” Maggi, lived in a tent by the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal in Washington, D.C., close to the 9th mile marker on the Capital Crescent Trail. While experiencing homelessness, his daughters say he liked to be well dressed and as clean and hygienic as possible. He would frequently visit his eldest daughter Nicole’s house to get a haircut.

Maggi passed away in his tent on the morning of Jan. 19.

He was 58 years old.

A loving, complicated man His daughters described Maggi as a force of personality: an intelligent and resourceful man who was extremely fond of them. Having begun experiencing homelessness since he was 14, he would travel from Washington, D.C., to other parts of the country, last playing poker in Las Vegas before returning to the District.

“My dad was warm. He was friendly, he was hilarious, a great storyteller, he would draw you in with great magnetics,” Chelsea said. At the same time, she said he could be fierce. “He was a maverick, a vagabond, you didn’t want to mess with him.”

Chelsea saw him twice a week these past three years, when she started to work more frequently in the D.C. Area. She talked to him by the canal and helped him decorate his tent. He would also sometimes come into her workplace to hang out and talk.

All three adult sisters noted that Maggi was well-read and constantly sought to learn more information about anything.

“He always had an answer to any question I wanted to ask,” Nicole said.

Maggi began living on the streets when he was 14. The daughters cite his intensely abusive father and neglectful mother, and his family’s lack of understanding of his bipolar disorder, as reasons that led him to get kicked out of the house that young.

Maggi made a significant impression on the Dupont Circle community as well. Carolyn Fischer worked in the area as a legal editor for the Environmental Law Institute in the ‘90s and would hang out with bike messengers at the park within the traffic circle. On an average night during this decade, Fischer said about 150 bike messengers would hang out at this spot, talking, eating and entertaining themselves. They were especially friendly with Maggi, who enraptured their attention with his personality.

She recalled that she was throwing a baseball while wearing a sun dress one day and Maggi, who was there, was surprised at her form. He approached Fischer to compliment how well she threw.

Fischer continued to hang out with the bike messengers, one of whom she married. She and her husband, then her boyfriend, continued to hang out with Maggi at the park and by the river whenever he lived there periodically for the past 30 years. She felt like he was her big brother.

“He was the kind of guy who could sell you the Brooklyn Bridge,” Fischer said. “It was like he was always performing.

He was a great entertainer.” She said Maggi was a great singer, and he and Fischer’s husband would come up with lyrics on the spot.

She also witnessed his boldness. Once when they were at a concert and a drunk man came on stage and began badly singing, Maggi climbed up and punched him. “It’s actually video-taped, and you can hear the crowd cheering ‘Bill! Bill!’,” Fischer said fondly.

“And from day one, he talked about his daughters,” Fischer said. “Oh my god, he was just in love with his daughters.”.

Maggi separated from his daughters’ mother while they were young. When Nicole was 14, Maggi became more and more present in their lives. His second daughter from the same mother, Brooke, was insistent throughout her childhood on staying connected with Maggi, despite his wandering.

“I would constantly track him down and force him to be in my life, because I wanted a dad so bad,” Brooke said.

She described a more contentious, push-and-pull relationship with Maggi than the rest of her sisters. They would be close for a few years, then an incident would occur and Maggi would be physically violent toward her. Brooke said she was the only daughter he was violent toward. She said he was also violent toward her mother. The father and daughter would not speak for a few years, then one or the other would reach out and they would always re-establish their relationship.

The last time they were in good graces with one another, Brooke hosted Maggi in her home in Baltimore for six months in 2017. That was right before the last three years he spent in a tent in the District. Brooke said she managed to have a Christmas with Maggi, her mother, and her sisters that year — something she said was “magical,” as she had never experienced that before.

“But unfortunately my dad, when things were too comfortable for him, he always found a way to sabotage it,” Brooke said.

At the time, she was helping Maggi get a job and housing.

But he got increasingly agitated and found ways to show his frustration. In March 2018, an incident escalated to the point that she called the police on him. “I did not want that kind of behavior in front of my kid,” Brooke said. Maggi was escorted out of her home.

Brooke hadn’t seen Maggi since. He refused to talk to her.

“I hate that this is the memory I have of him now that he’s dead,” Brooke said. She believes his violence was a product of being “institutionalized to the streets,” needing to be brutal to survive.

Brooke and Nicole said part of the reason Maggi continued to experience homelessness was because any wages he earned were garnished for child support. He took all kinds of odd jobs as a limousine driver, a cook and more, and began pursuing a possible career as a poker player.

“Between prisons and hospitals and trying to find work and trying to find a place to live, he wasn’t always accepted,” Nicole said. The sisters approached their mother to stop requesting child support, but she refused.

Even with all his troubles, all three daughters and Fischer praised Maggi’s intellect, resourcefulness, and ingenuity. Chelsea proudly pointed out that he was an extra in “Forrest Gump.”

“He should have done so much better at life than he did,” Fischer said.

Disputed cause of death In the summer of 2020 Maggi had a heart attack.

After the event Maggi told his daughters Nicole and Chelsea and swore them to secrecy. Six months later he passed away

UNDATED PHOTO COURTESY OF CAROLYN FISCHER

in his tent. Before his death, Maggi started taking care of a kid, Franco, who suffered from schizophrenia and had a badly broken leg. Both Maggi and Franco shared a tent on Jan. 19. In the morning, Franco woke up and briefly left the tent.

“He came back and saw that my dad was still asleep. He tried to wake him up and realized he passed away. He then called the police,” Chelsea said.

At the time, not knowing about his heart attack, rumors circulated among the community that he likely died from propane inhalation from a heater inside the tent. Nicole, Brooke and Chelsea all vehemently deny that as a possibility.

“My father was the ultimate survivalist. I tell you, there is no way, after a lifetime on the street, he died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a little heater in his tent,” Chelsea said. The sisters also point out that Franco slept in the tent as well throughout the night, and did not die. Nothing in the police report related to Maggi’s death mentions propane.

The sisters believe it might have been a heart attack that took Maggi. They are looking into foul play and natural causes of death other than propane inhalation, and are still waiting for a toxicology report. MPD declined Street Sense Media’s request for more information, as it is still an active investigation.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner told Street Sense Media that the cause and manner of Maggi’s death are not yet determined. His case is still pending.

All three sisters interviewed for this article believe MPD did not care about their father’s death and were offended that a criminal investigation was not immediately opened.

“The fact that my dad passed away and they immediately write it off without any cause of death, that they’re just gonna immediately assume it was natural causes...you’re allowing people to slip through your fingers,” Nicole said.

Because of the pandemic, the three daughters could not visit their father’s body at the coroner’s office. Nicole said they had to pay extra money to send his body to a funeral home to see him one more time.

Maggi was working with a case manager with Miriam’s Kitchen and had received a housing subsidy. He was matched with an apartment a week before his death, waiting to get his keys. Chelsea said he was due to move in a few weeks.

Nicole points at the lack of resources and slow processing of housing applications that made it harder for Maggi to get through hypothermia season, even during a pandemic.

“He didn’t have access to the medical care that he needed, or a stable living environment,” Nicole said. “He got shortchanged either way.”

“It would have been the first time in his life where I’d see him with a roof over his head,” Chelsea said.

Nicole believes that if there were more medical and psychological institutions in place to care for people experiencing homelessness, her father would still be here.

“Regardless of whether somebody did it to him or he died on his own, the system failed him,” she said.

6 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A // A P R I L 7 - 1 3 , 2021

NEWS

Homeless lives matter mural at the CCNV property. PHOTO BY KATE SANTALIZ

Federal government attempts to dispossess CCNV from their property: The shelter’s lawsuit parallels the past

BY KATE SANTALIZ kate.santaliz@streetsensemedia.org

S

tarting off as an anti-war and peace movement in the 1970s, the Community for Creative Non-Violence (CCNV) transformed the rights of the homeless community across the country. Through grass-roots activism, hunger strikes, and working to have policymakers and Hollywood come together to fight for their movement, CCNV brought homelessness to the forefront of American politics in the ‘80s.

For over 40 years, CCNV has served thousands of guests.

It is the largest shelter in the District, with beds for just over 1,300 people, and one of the largest in the country. Shelter, food, medical services, laundry, and educational programs are all available on-site. The organization was once described as a “model shelter” by the Reagan administration for other cities to look to their success and follow in their footsteps. Though the nonprofit faces complaints similar to D.C.’s city-run shelters: bedbugs, theft, violence, and staff abuse.

However, CCNV finds itself at a crossroads today, suing the federal government over the rights to the property. On Jan. 3, 2021, CCNV filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services and the General Service Administration, claiming that the agencies had violated their 1993 deed agreement that conditionally gave the property to CCNV and failed to act in good-faith with their commitments outlined in the deed agreement. The suit seeks to have the property title granted to the CCNV and monetary compensation of at least $100,000 for damages in the form of lost opportunities and increased development costs, as well as damage to CCNV’s title.

In 1986, the federal government deeded the building to the District of Columbia for a limited time to be used as a

homeless shelter and allocated funds for repair and renovation.

Ownership of a much smaller building and 0.84 acres of land located immediately behind what is now the shelter was transferred to CCNV in 1993. The time-limited deed is set to expire in July 2021, sparking conflict between CCNV and the government on what will happen to the property.

Until the expiration of the deed agreement in July, the District will maintain some control over the shelter, through the conditions in the deed. When the deed expires, the CCNV will outright own the property, leaving the federal government with no legal claims to the land.

Broken promises Conflict with the government is no new burden to CCNV. Throughout the 1980s, CCNV was in an ongoing battle with the Reagan administration over renovating what was once a decrepit building, and fighting for the rights to their property to keep their essential services running.

The building was formerly a downtown campus of the University of the District of Columbia but had sat vacant since 1980 when the college relocated to its current campus in Van Ness.

“CCNV was given permission to start the shelter at that building in 1983, so for the winters of ‘83 and ‘84, CCNV began operating the Second and E shelter,” said Jerry Jones, a former CCNV employee who is now the national field director for the National Alliance to End Homelessness. “In 1984, they realized that the building itself was pretty much uninhabitable.”

Mitch Snyder, the leader of CCNV at the time, began a campaign to improve the conditions of the property, arguing

that it was the government’s responsibility to renovate the building. In the summer of 1984, Snyder along with 11 other CCNV activists embarked on a hunger strike, with Snyder fasting for 51 days, nearing death. On Snyder’s last day of fasting and the eve of election night, President Reagan agreed to refurbish the building, committing to build a kitchen area, lockers, a laundry room, a first-aid station and to repair the sprinkler system in order to make the building fire safe.

Despite promises from the Reagan administration, months went by and no improvements had been made. After months of negotiations over what the renovations would look like and with no compromise in sight, the federal government withdrew their agreement with CCNV and made plans to close the shelter.

CCNV immediately filed suit in the District court to keep the shelter open but the court reaffirmed the decision to close CCNV. In an attempt to find alternative housing for CCNV residents, the government had agreed to fund the D.C. Coalition for the Homeless to operate a new shelter in Anacostia, 10 miles away from CCNV. “The dynamic in the 1980s very much was about the sense that this was prime real estate. The shelter is in probably one of the most densely populated areas of downtown, and this is true even today,” Jones said.

Controversy stirred among both CCNV advocates and Anacostia residents over the site of the new shelter, sparking protests against its opening. In December 1985, CCNV was sent a U.S. Marshal Service eviction notice, but 600 residents refused to leave. Eventually, the Reagan administration decided against the eviction of CCNV. In November of 1986, members of CCNV lived outside on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol during a five-month campaign

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

// 7

AT A GLANCE for passage of the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance that they will be moving to a new facility, located in the Buzzard Act, which authorized the use of underutilized public buildings Point neighborhood along the Southwest Waterfront. In a press and real property to assist the homeless and to make surplus release, D.C. Central kitchen stated that the new facility will personal property available to nonprofit agencies. The law allow them to triple their capacity. “I don’t know exactly why was passed in April of 1987, providing $1 billion in aid to they’re moving,” said Sheptock. “I would imagine that maybe unsheltered individuals. the maintenance issues inside “During the 1980s people of the shelter building, where were not accustomed to the kitchen is located, might be seeing folks sleeping on the reason that they’re moving. the grates and the scale of I’m sure that these plumbing folks in utter destitution, problems have probably made panhandling in public things hard on the kitchen.” spaces,” Jones said. “Mitch D.C. Central Kitchen declined to and CCNV were really in comment on the suit, but stated the center of what became a that “D.C. Central Kitchen is not very consequential counter involved in any way with this movement to budget cuts lawsuit.” The organization added and ultimately the rejection that they have “long-standing of what was Reaganomics in partnerships with both CCNV Jerry Jones the 1980s and a recognition and the Department of Human that we do need a safety net Services” and that they “hope to and that we do need to invest in programs and then sort of build see a productive, positive resolution that addresses the root back into the budgets for affordable housing and spending on causes of homelessness in our community.” homelessness. That legacy continues today.”

On March 29, 2021, HHS filed a response to CCNV’s lawsuit, In an attempt to push the government to finally renovate stating that CCNV had breached the deed agreement, that the the shelter, Mitch and other activists began another hungerUnited States is entitled to the property, and CCNV should strike in the fall of 1988. In 1988, renovations finally occurred, be ejected from the property. The response further indicates costing $14 million and creating the largest shelter in the U.S. that HHS denies that CCNV is entitled to the requested relief at the time. or any relief, and included a suggested order for the judge to dismiss the case.

Envisioning a new “The fight for space at 2nd and D continues as it has for three and half decades,” Jones said. “And the history of that building homeless services center has been this attempt to hold on to a little bit of land for those In 2018, 30 years after the last renovation, CCNV approached who have virtually nothing to call their own” HHS regarding the deteriorating physical conditions of the In CCNV’s suit, the organization argues that it has had the shelter, seeking financing for a redevelopment project. “There stability of its operations jeopardized, threatening the safety are some ongoing maintenance issues,” said Eric Sheptock, an and wellbeing of the 1,000 residents they host nightly. If advocate for people experiencing homelessness and resident HHS and GSA are successful in dispossessing CCNV from of CCNV. “The plumbing here is the main one, I see the light the property, the city will have to make plans for all of the spots in the ceiling tile, when there’s a leak above the ceiling residents that call this shelter home. tiles it turns the ceiling tile brown.”

“There’s been this sort of epic struggle over this small “If you look outside and you’ll see a bunch of rats and I amount of space less than two acres total for the building and mean generations, generations and generations, all kinds of the rear of the site,” Jones said, “that’s the only place for up great, great, great great rats all out here, and it is nasty,” said to 1,000 people on any given night who have nowhere else to Aeshia Allen, former resident of CCNV. lay their heads.”

With the upcoming expiration of the deed agreement that would result in CCNV owning the property, CCNV sought approval to convert the property for the creation of a new homeless-services center to address the condition of the building. Instead of agreeing to improve the conditions of the building, HHS claimed that the property was being used in an “unapproved” manner.

HHS claims that D.C. Central Kitchen, an organization that provides culinary job training for individuals facing high barriers to employment and provides meals for CCNV residents, is using CCNV’s parking lot. “D.C. Central Kitchen has used the parking lot where they’ve loaded the food up,” said Sheptock. “For the entirety of the 30 years, the rule was that if the property is not in use for health purposes for more than 12 months, the federal government can take it back” HHS and CCNV have been debating over the use of the property since March 2019, with HHS using the alleged misuse of the property by D.C. Central Kitchen as leverage in their claim to the property. In October, the HHS, working with GSA, took action to reclaim the property through a “notice of revert,” arguing that CCNV was violating its terms of use outlined in the 1993 deed agreement, citing that some of D.C. Central Kitchen’s services were not eligible programs in accordance The Mitch Snyder Art & Education Center for the Homeless with conditions of the deed. located on 2nd and E Street. PHOTO BY KATE SANTALIZ However, on Dec. 16, 2020, D.C. Central Kitchen announced

“The dynamic in the 1980’s very much was about the sense that this was prime real estate. The shelter is in probably one of the most densely populated areas of downtown, and this is true even today.”

Darlesha Joyner

ACCOMPLISHMENTS Darlesha Joyner

Completed the interviewing and hiring process at Six Flags and is waiting to start her new job.

Congratulations Darlesha!

ARTIST/VENDOR

BIRTHDAYS Marcus Green April 7 AUTHOR/VENDOR

COUNTDOWN TO WEEKLY! The Street Sense Media newspaper will soon be published twice as often. A new edition will begin circulating every Wednesday, starting April 14.

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8 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A // A P R I L 7 - 1 3 , 2021

Pregnant women with no children are shut out of family shelter spaces until their third trimester Taylar Nuevelle (left) and two mutual aid volunteers stand across the street from the Harriet Tubman emergency shelter for women. PHOTO BY CANDACE Y.A. MONTAGUE

BY CANDACE Y.A. MONTAGUE candaceyamontague.contently.com

T

aylar Nuevelle is not a social worker. She is not a representative working on behalf of a government agency. She is not a wealthy philanthropist feeling charitable. She’s a disrupter with a very specific cause: helping unhoused women get back on their feet. Nuevelle runs Who Speaks for Me?, a D.C.based advocacy nonprofit organization.

On many Saturday afternoons, you can find Nuevelle and a couple of dedicated volunteers outside of the Harriet Tubman Women’s Shelter, located in Ward 6 just behind the D.C. Jail on the former D.C. General Hospital campus. During the pandemic, the dilapidated building has provided up to 130 beds for single women. It’s a pretty bleak landscape; abandoned buildings and torn-up side roads surround the shelter. But like clockwork, when the women living there notice Nuevelle’s car pull up to the parking lot across the street, they line up to receive coats, boots, toiletries, socks, hand sanitizer and, perhaps, some hope.

Nuevelle has had run-ins with security and staff at the shelters when she has come to give away items. She questions the rules about donations and visitors. She challenges the staff to do more to help residents find permanent housing and get the personal items they need.

She’s no longer allowed on the same side of the street as the shelter, she explained on a recent Saturday as women approached her tables individually. “They had security come out and physically move my tables off their property,” she said with a laugh. Yet she perseveres.

Crowded, low-barrier shelters like Tubman are the only D.C. Department of Human Services spaces available to unhoused pregnant women in their first or second trimester who do not have minor children already. They cannot access a private space in a family shelter just yet because D.C.’s Homeless Services Reform Act has, since 2005, defined a “family” as someone with a minor or dependent child, or “a pregnant woman in her third trimester.” Nuevelle challenges the wisdom of the law, explaining that it doesn’t sufficiently address the needs of expectant mothers.

Research shows that adverse environmental conditions, like being unhoused or living through a pandemic, can have a negative effect on mothers and their babies. Despite the city’s various efforts to prevent homelessness, the obstacle presented to single, pregnant women seeking adequate shelter during their first two trimesters has yet to be formally addressed. Even an estimate of how many women experience this each year is hard to come by.

Housing is prenatal health care As reported by Street Sense Media in 2019, housing for pregnant women is critical to maternal and infant health. According to the United Health Foundation, the maternal mortality rate in D.C. was 35.6 per 100,000 live births in 2019, compared with 29.6 nationally. The rate for Black women is 71 deaths per 100,000 live births in D.C., compared with 63.8 nationally.

The D.C. Primary Care Association’s 2018 maternal health outcomes report shows the city’s infant mortality rate was 7.1 per 1,000 births, compared with 5.9 per 1,000 births nationally.

All applicants for family shelter, including these women, apply through the Virginia Williams Family Resource Center in Northeast, the central intake for D.C.’s coordinated homelessness assistance system for families with children.

From April to December 2020, there were 467 women in their third trimester without minor children who presented at Virginia Williams for housing assistance, according to DHS data. So far in 2021, there have been 133 women in their third trimester without minor children. Combined, those 600 women represent 51% of expectant mothers in their third trimester seen by the resource center in that time frame.

The correlation between housing and good prenatal care is substantial. Dr. Siobhan Burke, OB-GYN at Unity Health Care, D.C.’s largest health care provider for people experiencing homelessness, said stress and a lack of healthy food access can take a serious toll.

“Homelessness and constantly worrying about where you’re going to stay the next night is going to have effects on your health whether you’re pregnant or not,” Burke said. “We already know that extra stress can lead to problems with fetal growth. There can be problems with food insecurity and the way the baby grows, being too small. Or, conversely, if they don’t have access to high-quality food, they can be at a higher risk for diabetes, and that is another set of complications.”

Burke further explained the repercussions of homelessness and poor nutrition on pregnant women: Eating too many sugary or processed foods can lead to gestational diabetes and infants born with heart defects. And a lack of access to fresh fruits and vegetables is one of the causes of below-average gestational size and low birth weight, she said.

According to a 2018 report, the District’s Child Fatality Review Committee reviewed the records of 33 infant deaths by natural causes in 2017 and found that all had been born prematurely (in the second trimester) and weighed less than the expected birth weight for their gestational age. Homelessness was identified as a common “environmental risk factor” for the

mothers whose infants died in 2017. The other three factors identified by the committee were histories of domestic violence, abuse or neglect, and mental health issues. In the 2019 report, the city’s Infant Mortality Review Team acknowledged that the stress of housing insecurity can impact family functioning.

While it recognizes the general negative impact of a mother’s housing insecurity on infants, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said it does not keep track of a mother’s housing status when assessing infant deaths.

A history of macro- and microaggressions The D.C. Council on March 1 held an oversight hearing of DHS. Susan Gallucci, executive director of The Northwest Center — a nonprofit organization in Lanier Heights that helps pregnant mothers and families prepare for childbirth, including those who are unhoused — expressed grave concern about the treatment of expectant mothers at the Virginia Williams Family Resource Center as well as at low-barrier shelters.

“From what I’ve been told by the women that we serve, the intake process has become more like an interrogation and less like questions for an intake,” Gallucci told the council. “There has been an increase in complaints about the way in which a woman has been treated. Their requirements appear to have become more and more stringent and create additional barriers for pregnant women and families experiencing homelessness to find a safe, stable shelter.”

The Homeless Services Reform Act was amended in 2017, growing in length from 26 to 85 pages. The detailed update included increased scrutiny to keep families who were last housed outside of the District from entering D.C.’s family shelters. Every family applying for shelter is also required to be screened first for eligibility for the Homeless Prevention Program, which provides limited cash assistance and counseling to help stabilize homeless families so they can stay with other family members or friends instead of entering the family shelter system.

In her testimony, Gallucci spoke about how pregnant women are pressed to present current D.C. identification — even if it’s a lease from whichever friend whose couch they were staying on, or a copy of a deceased grandmother’s lease — as proof that they are eligible for low-barrier shelter.

Nuevelle seconds the concern about a lack of respect and aggressive treatment of pregnant women at Virginia Williams and women’s shelters. “When I was dealing with a pregnant woman in the summer, they were patting the women down, checking their bags without gloves or masks,” Nuevelle said.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

“It was almost like they were incarcerated. Even at the lowbarrier shelters, they pat women down.”

In April 2020, Nuevelle helped Ikea (pronounced Ah-Keeya) — a 25-year-old woman who was pregnant — get a private room in the family shelter system. Leaving the emergency shelter at King Greenleaf Recreation Center in Southwest made a world of difference, Ikea said in a video Nuevelle recorded soon after the move. “We had to pee and poop outside. I guess the staff was afraid of the corona. They put us all outside from 8 a.m. until about 4 or 5 p.m.,” she said.

Harriet Tubman residents complained about the same kind of treatment in an October 2020 Street Sense Media article.

Even if they get to a family shelter in their third trimester, Nuevelle said, women may not get the services — or respect — that they need and deserve.

“No one really cares,” she said. “Once the women get to the family shelter, there’s this push like they’ve overstayed their welcome as opposed to, ‘Take your time. It’s a pandemic.’ And when they go from low-barrier shelters to family shelters, they have a lot of catching up to do. They need help with making sure they have their WIC [food stamps for Women, Infants, and Children] and housing. Most of these women don’t have jobs.

And if they do, they have to pay for child care, baby clothes, and they have to pay for cell phones. That’s why many of them don’t have phones.

“There’s a lack of respect for the trauma of being homeless and pregnant,” Nuevelle added.

According to DHS, its Office of Program Review, Monitoring and Investigation received 51 complaints from across the District’s shelter system between Oct. 1, 2019, and March 8, 2021. At least 73% of those complaints came from women clients at the low-barrier shelters, said Rachel Pierre, who heads the agency’s Family Services Administration. According to DHS data, the majority of complaints across all low-barrier shelter locations fell into the categories of “maintenance” and “issue/violation.” The department would not disclose what types of complaints were filed from which individual shelters.

Type

Number

Threat ADA/Reasonable Accommodation Complaint (Referral to DHS ADA Coordinator)

4 7

Assault

3

Bullying

3

Client’s Bed Given Away

1

Discrimination

2

Food Mishandling

1

Furniture Taken By Other Client

1

Harassment Health/Sanitation

2 1

Injury/Staff Nonfeasance

1

Issue/Violation

13

Maintenance

15

Pests Program Rule Violation Property Damage During Bed Bug Treatment Request for Case Management Room Key Non-Functional

1 6 1

1 1

Staff Misconduct

1

Staff Policy Violation

2

Visitation Policy Complaint

2

A Department of Human Services chart categorizes complaints on file about its low-barrier shelters between Oct. 1, 2019, and March 8, 2021. DHS said it would take a Freedom of Information Act request to see which complaints corresponded to which locations.

TABLE PROVIDED BY THE D.C. DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES

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Maternal enviornmental risk factors identified in an analysis of infant deaths due to natural causes that occurred in the mothers’ second trimester 2017. GRAPH AND DATA COURTESY OF THE D.C. OFFICE OF THE CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER

DHS caseworkers and providers are expected to treat customers with respect, and the agency treats complaints seriously, according to Pierre. “Unfortunately, anything can happen where their interaction is less favorable,” she said.

“That’s when we want it brought to the supervisor so they can address the behavior and so we can address the expectation. We have an expectation that our families are treated with dignity.”

Sheltering in place during a pandemic COVID-19 shut down city operations in March 2020, people were told to stay at home. Modes of communication swiftly changed from in-person contact to emails, conference calls and video conferencing. That transition wasn’t easy for people on the wrong side of the digital divide. Lack of access to phones and the internet created new challenges for people experiencing homelessness.

Unity Health Care’s Burke said telehealth can be helpful but only when the moms are equipped to participate. “Telehealth has been key to getting through this pandemic. And we’ve been trying to do our care through telehealth, but not too much because some of them don’t have phones,” she said. “Even if we get them into care, we sometimes lose them for a while because we don’t have a contact for them.”

Sheltering in place at a low-barrier shelter is not appropriate for an expectant mother in any trimester, advocates say. It’s hard to maintain 6 feet of distance. You can’t control how much other people will clean or whether they will wear masks. Most of all, there is very little privacy for things like telehealth prenatal visits.

“We’re being told in the pandemic to stay in your home, don’t interact with strangers, limit your exposure with others,” said Amber Harding, staff attorney with the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. “But the family shelter process forces people to stay with others and have contact with strangers or they won’t be found eligible.”

Preparing for childbirth takes a lot of work that’s difficult to accomplish when restrictions are in place all around the city.

The stress to get ready for the baby is exasperated by COVID guidelines, Harding added. “There’s a lot of pressure about what you’re going to do when you have the baby. I can imagine that for women who are homeless and pregnant that pressure is amplified. There’s no assurance that you’re going to have a safe place to go when you leave the hospital. It’s incredibly stressful.”

Temporary solutions for a temporary situation Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau heads the Committee on Human Services, which oversees the operations of DHS. She is focused on early interventions to prevent homelessness but also has been working on possible policy changes that would provide solutions for unhoused pregnant women, including access to family shelters.

As reported by Street Sense Media in 2019, a homeless mother

who testified during Nadeau’s DHS oversight hearing that year said she was denied family shelter access three times during hypothermia season in spite of having a 5-year-old son with her. She was only allowed access on her fourth attempt because she was also accompanied by a lawyer. She said the treatment grew worse at the private shelter. “I was constantly harassed by staff and told that I was going to be terminated because …

I wasn’t in my third trimester. And also because my doctor had pen-wrote-in my due date and put the signature beside there.”

At Nadeau’s DHS oversight hearing last month, The Northwest Center’s Gallucci testified about the poor treatment expectant mothers receive at the Virginia Williams Family Resource Center and the “stringent” requirements that she believes are intended to discourage women from applying for shelter. “I spoke with a pregnant woman who had been living with her grandmother and then went to Virginia Williams when her grandmother passed away — and then was told that she had to obtain a copy of her deceased grandmother’s lease in order to receive services.”

Gallucci also explained how the third trimester requirement endangers infants and mothers. “This policy works against D.C.’s efforts to improve infant maternal health outcomes.

According to a May 2018 report by the DC Department of Health entitled ‘Perinatal Health and Infant Mortality,’ lowincome and minority women suffer maternal and infant complications during and directly after their pregnancies at a far higher rate than their more affluent and non-minority peers. … In 2016, the Black infant mortality rate in D.C. was 9 times higher than that of white infants.”

Nadeau, who gave birth to her second child last summer, indicated that she’s on board with enacting changes but did not give a timeline of when she would introduce legislation. “Our pregnant mothers need as much support as we can get them here in the District. So if that means that we need to reexamine the policy when they’re eligible for family shelter, I’m happy to do it. But I also just want to be mostly focused on how we’re getting them the right services,” Nadeau said in an interview.

“Ideally you can help them permanently before they give birth,” she added. “You want that mom to not be worrying about her housing when she has a newborn.”

Pierre echoed Nadeau’s sentiments about the value of getting women access to interventions earlier in their pregnancies. She pointed to programs such as Project Connect through Catholic Charities and the Homeless Prevention Program through Community of Hope as services available to pregnant women experiencing homelessness in the District.

Ultimately, the scope of the problem is not adequately understood and therefore cannot yet be adequately addressed.

The annual “Point-in-Time Count” of people experiencing homelessness does not report how many women surveyed were pregnant, and DHS did not respond in time for publication to questions about how pregnancy among low-barrier shelter residents is tracked. The only data point currently available to assess how many expectant mothers are in need is the number of people who receive services from the Virginia Williams Family Resource Center, which does not include anyone in their first or second trimester.

This story was co-published with TheDCLine.org.

1 0 // S T REET SENSE ME DI A / / A P RI L 7 - 1 3 , 2 021

OPINION

Many bathrooms have been closed for a year during the pandemic. Who suffers?

BY JONATHAN PAUL KATZ

This article was first published by Greater Greater Washington (GGWash.org) on March 17.

In the past year of the pandemic, we have seen many businesses, institutions, and parks shut their restrooms.

Many have noted this inconvenience. However, the impact of these closures on our movements has not been equally distributed. People who depend on public restrooms — including essential workers, people experiencing homelessness, and people with disabilities — have been especially impacted. And this lack of access can have long-term consequences.

Can essential workers have their essential needs met?

Essential workers have been heralded as heroes through the pandemic, but they often have trouble accessing restroom facilities. Businesses often do not allow delivery workers or even customers into their restrooms. Many workers, especially gig workers, also are not given time to take bathroom breaks during their shifts. Taking their time can affect their future work, which is linked to delivery time.

Meanwhile, bus drivers and other transport workers often have to drive different routes with less reliable bathroom access than before. And, of course, many restrooms have capacity limitations — which reduces the number of toilets and sinks available at all. What is a worker to do?

Many resort to memorizing where bathrooms can reliably be accessed. A friend who has occasionally done gig work regaled me with stories of urinating into a bottle during their work shift. “I felt super-duper gross,” they said. If Reddit threads, social media, and other stories readily available online are any indication, these issues and experiences are common, as they are around the country.

Share your voice!

BY AYUB ABDUL

I want to get you, the community, involved because this is your city. And you need a voice. This is our voice, like the Village Voice.

We want your voice to be heard. We want you to come to us and tell us your opinions, how you feel, the issues that are going on in your city. People have always been quiet and this is your opportunity. So we want to connect with you, the community and have your community start letting us know how you feel, what do you think, and what you feel that’s really needed for the city.

And you can talk to the vendors and to the writers and let them know what it is, what you want. And we look forward to hearing from you the community and we thank you for your business and support.

Ayub Abdul is an artist and vendor with Street Sense Media.

Some people cannot wait to go home – if they have a home Many people who have needed a restroom have been told to “hold it in until they get home.” But what if you do not have a home? Many people in Greater Washington and beyond who rely on public restrooms are unhoused. When bathrooms closed, many lost access to basic sanitation — adding yet another trauma to the daily injustices people experiencing homelessness face. Despite efforts by the D.C. government to provide facilities, the lack of access is still a challenge. Furthermore, many new public restrooms or restroom policies are designed to keep people experiencing homelessness out — be it through setups that do not allow for washing, customeronly policies, or police presence at places with restrooms.

The lack of access to restrooms for people experiencing homelessness is connected to various health impacts. The lack of restrooms also keeps many people with homes out of public space. Disabled people and older adults often avoid going out more than is necessary, because of the lack of usable restrooms or fear of not being able to find a bathroom.

Many trans and non-binary people also avoid areas where the availability of safe bathrooms is unclear. Each usable, accessible bathroom closed during the pandemic is another barrier to access for someone who needs rapid access to a bathroom or someone who cannot safely use gendered restrooms. Phlush, a restroom availability organization, noted that for economic recovery and public space use to include people, bathrooms need to be accessible.

The impacts go beyond COVID-19 Repeatedly waiting to use a restroom for a long time is not just a temporary inconvenience — it can have serious health impacts. Waiting to use the bathroom can weaken the bladder wall, leading to long-term incontinence and a higher risk of urinary tract infections. Similarly, holding feces in can lead to digestive tract problems and incontinence.

The inability to wash one’s hands puts one at greater risk not only of COVID-19, but for food-borne and waterborne illnesses and bacteria, which can be fatal. So too are the infections and complications that can result from inadequate elimination facilities. People experiencing homelessness often face those risks. And that is before the trauma caused by accidents, the anxiety of waiting to go, and repeated pain and denials of access — not to mention the trauma of bad sanitary conditions for people experiencing homelessness. Recent research has linked a lack of restroom access to risks for suicide for trans and non-binary youth, for example.

One could argue that preventing COVID-19, at all costs, is a noble goal. But as the epidemiologist Dr. Julia Marcus noted, “health is not just the absence of disease.” A society in which people are unable to meet basic needs of elimination safely and with dignity is not a healthy society.

So what can be done?

We can push for WMATA to fully reopen its station restrooms, which have been limited in access since at least 2004. We can also ask local businesses if they will allow delivery workers and other essential workers — especially gig workers — to use their restrooms. We can find ways to incentivize businesses to do so.

We can call on our state legislatures, county and city councils, and our members of Congress to mandate restroom provisions for essential workers, expand sanitation access for people experiencing homelessness, and expand facilities that are accessible for everyone.

We can advocate for parks and other public facilities to reopen their restrooms, as parks in Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties have already done. And, of course, we should educate our neighbors about why public restrooms are so important. Everyone needs to go sometime, after all.

Jonathan Paul Katz is a community planning student at the University of Maryland-College Park, and lives in Hyattsville.

Join the conversation, share your views - Have an opinion about how homelessness or other issues of equity and social justice are being addressed in our community?

- Want to share firsthand experience?

- Interested in responding to what someone else has written?

Please send submissions to opinion@streetsensemedia.org

Street Sense Media has maintained an open submission policy since our founding. We aim to elevate voices from across the housing spectrum and foster healthy debate.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

/ / 11

ART

Breadcoin: The token that empowers and feeds underserved communities

BY BROTHER JEFFREY CARTER Artist/Vendor

Breadcoin collaborates with local food vendors who provide hot meals to the hungry with the dignity of choice.

The tokens are accepted as cash at more than 40 locations in D.C., including restaurants, food trucks, farmers markets, and a hospital cafe.

Before the pandemic, the owner of a participating hot dog stand said 20% of their business came from Breadcoin. Schools even use it to reward students and support families.

I’ve been volunteering with Breadcoin since 2015.

I pass out tokens and flyers to people in need. I also work to recruit more food vendors and members, telling them about how the program helps to feed the community.

I do this as a ministry unto God. It’s what motivates me and inspires me to live. It’s also what inspired me to be a writer at Street Sense, so I could tell everybody about what we’re doing.

We need your support and prayers because the operation is growing.

Breadcoin relies on our members, who pay $25 monthly to the organization. Partner nonprofits and volunteers like me give the tokens away for free, and Breadcoin reimburses the food vendors for every token they accept.

My dear friends and readers, together we can conquer hunger. Thank you! May peace and blessings be with you.

More information about Breadcoin is available at www.breadcoin.org.

Mural on plywood used to board up a downtown D.C. business in July 2020.

PAINTING BY FALVOFINEARTS.COM

Love thy neighbor

BY ANTHONY CARNEY // Artist/Vendor

The question is, will America unite and become one nation under God? There has been so much hate and division lately.

What do you think will bring Americans together again? I think the only way forward is to stop judging your brother and sister. Treat everyone as equal.

Together we stand or divided we fall. Stop hating one another. I am my brother’s and my sister’s keeper. Let's do away with hate and violence.

Spread love.

How poker developed me as a human being

BY JEFFERY MCNEIL // Artist/Vendor

Some people find religion, others find poker. Poker is an emotional game, it’s seductive. The lure of throwing $50 in an online account and bankrolling it into thousands of dollars lures people in. That’s what happened to me in 2017.

I turned 50 and suffered from depression. I felt washed up, out of shape, and suicidal. I should have been happy: I lived in Washington, D.C.; I had no problems earning income and working a job where I was treated like family.

Nobody knew I used to play poker at a high level and dreamed of playing at that level again.

I’m not saying I’m Phil Ivey, but when I have my A-game, I’m unbeatable. Back in the 2000s, I played poker at a world-class level. One year, I was so successful I made over $100,000 in Atlantic City and lived like a rock star.

But I was too stubborn to adjust to today’s game. By 2007, I ended up homeless selling Street Sense. By 2010, I got so disgusted that I quit the game, vowing never to play poker again.

I was a victim; I blamed everyone for my losses. I was old school; I hated online poker and the young guns that played it. (Though that also meant I was fortunate to not have any money invested in online poker in 2011 when top executives at Full Tilt and other online companies were indicted for bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling.)

PHOTOS BY JEFF MCNEIL

I made my return at Maryland Live and Horseshoe Casino in 2017. The players were awful, and my return was spectacular because they played like whales dumping fortunes on the table. I was off to the races; I was doing better playing poker than writing for and selling Street Sense.

But my poker was predictable. I worked and didn’t have the luxury of playing every day such as online players. In the ‘90s, poker literature was rare. I was a Doyle Brunson guy. His book “Super System: A Course In Power Poker” was the Bible of poker. I also read Mike Caro’s “Book of Poker Tells” and Phil Hellmuth’s “Bad Beats and Lucky Draws.” But things have changed.

I hated the concept of online poker, so to tell you the truth I don’t know how I got started playing online.

There are restrictions in D.C., so you're limited to two sites: America’s Card Room and Ignition, also known as RIgnition. I started off with $50 and within three days I won a $600 tourney on a $5 investment. I cashed out, and they sent me a check, so I’m comfortable playing on their site online. It is far from being the best site to play online because the players are anonymous and you can’t get stats on players as you can on other sites. But I know they’ll send me my winnings.

Even though playing on Ignition gave me fits, it also began my journey from being a hot head who reacted to

every setback in every game into being a more patient and generous human being. My psyche is no longer measured by my winning or losing. If I lose, I can take a step back and review my mistakes during that session. If I win, I journal the positive. I no longer enjoy the winning. Now I enjoy the training, preparation, and studying.

I used to treat poker like gambling and I got results like a gambler. Today, I treat it like a sport and a business. In any competition, training is a must. Poker has developed a sense of professionalism in my sales and writing, too.

The same research and organization skills have allowed me to become self-employed and not worry about what happens on Capitol Hill.

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Me & My Recovery: The statistics

BY VENNIE HILL // Artist/Vendor

Day by day, one by one, we came into a place where our lives would change forever.

First there was Natasha, who was the flirter.

Then there was Anne, the joker. Then me, the dedicated and married one. Followed by Tonya, the spiritual one.

We each entered the program on different dates but basically days apart from one another. After introducing ourselves, we somehow formed a bond. We became friends and supported each other every day. We sat with each other in meetings, we sat at the same table while eating, and we spent our free time together.

All of us had different problems. One was a pill popper, two were alcoholics, and one did dope. For the 30-something days we were in this program, we worked hard and concentrated on better things for ourselves in life. We wanted change, which is very hard to do when you are an addict.

Some days we wanted to go home, some days we would miss our families, and some days would just be sad. But all four of us stuck it out until each of us graduated one at a time.

I remember a speaker at one of the meetings told us that one out of three people will succeed with their sobriety. Of course, I thought it would be me. And boy was I wrong, It was Tonya.

This was three years ago. And today, she has a little over three years clean and sober.

I'm very proud of her. She went back to school and graduated college and she has a great job, loving what she does. She was always carrying that Bible around and reading it.

Way to go T! I guess we all was thinking the same thing when the speaker told us about those statistics.

Hoping it would be us, that is.

The last time I heard from Natasha, she was still going strong, not even giving it a second

thought. T says she sees Nay on Facebook every now and again and she still not straight.

I saw Ms. Anne in another program — she didn't even know who I was. She looked like she had been through hell and back. Even though she hardly recognized me, I did what I could for her during the last few weeks I was there and then I came home.

And me? I'm still keeping my head above water. I relapsed a time or more but I don't give up. I keep getting back on that horse and ride him again. I'm on him today again, thank God. Some of us give up and think that it's not worth fighting for. But not me. This is my life and I know I'm worth fi ghting for. My family and friends seem to think so too. That's why I have great support with my sobriety.

A cco r d i n g t o t h e National Institute on Drug Abuse, relapse rates for people who go through treatment for substance use disorders are similar to those of people who have received treatment for other chronic illnesses like asthma or hypertension.

Forty to sixty percent of people relapse. And that doesn’t mean treatment failed, it just means you need to get back to it or try a

different kind of treatment. I’m here to tell you, the first year is the hardest. But the longer you stay sober, the more you get to know yourself, what coping strategies work for you, and what triggers you.

The general theory is that your chances of relapsing after a long period of abstinence are very low. Of course, it can happen, but it's not nearly as likely as if you're only in the first year of sobriety. The study that speaker told us about — the one that showed one in three people who are sober for less than a year will stay that way — also found that less than half of the people who stay sober for more than a year will relapse. And if you reach the 5 year sobriety mark, your chances of relapsing are less than 15%.

I made it one time to nine months and gave into the power of that beast. Now I'm trying again for my first year clean. I know for a fact it won't be easy. But at least I'm trying and giving it my all. As long as I keep the focus on me and not others, I think I'll be fine. Wish me luck, and until then stay clean and sober.

Some of us give up and think that it's not worth fighting for.

But not me. This is my life and I know I'm worth fighting for.

From one recession to another, we persevere

BY CARLTON “INKFLOW” JOHNSON Artist/Vendor

Power

BY DANIEL BALL // Artist/Vendor

PHOTO COURTESY OF MARC FANELLI-ISLA / UNSPLASH.COM

My beginning experience selling Street Sense, back in 2008, was an eye-opener.

So much was needed to get the news in the hands of the people of Maryland, Virginia, and D.C. I must say, the power and joy in doing so was very uplifting.

Having to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic now is a huge contrast. There are so many new ways we have to do things to stay safe.

It’s something I’ll never forget: the challenge of looking at a ghosttown day-to-day. Sometimes it feels like a Hitchcock movie. Other times, it’s like walking around the stage of an up-and-coming show about hard times.

I feel as if I just want to sit down and write a play about these days we are facing. For now, we must wait to see what becomes of it all and keep the hope for better days to come.

I get my power from learning, from different Black leaders in this world.

Education is another powerful tool, knowledge is real powerful when you use it.

Now, when you read your Holy Bible, and read your scriptures; They give you spiritual power, some people call it our daily bread.

I also get power from selling my Street Sense papers But I don’t sell many papers during the winter time.

So I love the springtime, and welcome it now.

May God bless you all every day.

Finding joy

BY MARCUS GREEN // Artist/Vendor

The mind is a terrible thing to waste.

So you’ve got to find your happy place.

Far as stress level, I always work out, pray, and do things for others to feel better. A kind saying or gesture could always brighten someone's day.

Far as negativity, there's no way around it. It's everywhere you look: from the internet to up close and personal. But each of us has the power to put positivity back out to those we meet.

My ideal happy place is playing with my dog and training him to do his job around the house. He must take charge when I'm not home! Also, at work helping my mission. Our mission is to change the world.

God Bless.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

The Beautiful Light

Unconditional

BY KYM PARKER // Artist/Vendor

BY ROCHELLE WALKER Artist/Vendor

The light that change the seasons to spring, bring the sunshine through the night — that beautiful light.

Where salvation abound. Where mercy all around me.

Jesus Christ, the light of the world.

The Light that divide you from me. The Light of the world.

Where my sins are confessed and forgiven day by day.

My little light must shine through the night.

What a beautiful light.

Jesus Christ, where life begins, where life don’t end, who died to make it right.

To know is to feel it It is like looking at God’s beauty The colors, the scent of your favorite perfume To understand it is to know one’s soul God loves all her children This is why she gave us her only son He died for our sins My favorite color is purple And I love the scent of lilacs Unconditional love is always there

Hipocrisy

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Power

BY REGGIE JONES // Artist/Vendor

I find power and strength in my life from God the almighty. Reading my Bible has been keeping me going in life without money all the time, because if it was up to people, I would have nothing at all. So all I have is faith in my life.

God favored me!

(Favor ain’t fair)

BY REV. JOHN LITTLEJOHN Artist/Vendor

Few things rankle us more than hypocrisy.

Before casting judgment on others, it is important to remember that the Holy Bible says “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one … For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:10, 23).

But in the story of Judah in Genesis 38, Judah’s hypocritical behavior nearly had deadly consequences.

God killed two of Judah’s three sons for being wicked, one of whom had just married Tamar, leaving her widowed and childless. Judah’s third son was not yet old enough to marry and provide for her, but Judah promised the marriage would occur when his son came of age, sending Tamar back to live with her father until then.

However, when Judah’s son was grown, the marriage did not come. In desperation, Tamar disguised herself by wearing a prostitute’s veil, and Judah slept with her. Yet when Judah learned that his widowed daughter-in-law was pregnant, his reaction was murderous. “Bring her out and have her burned to death,” he demanded.

But Tamar had proof that Judah was the father. Judah could have denied the truth.

Instead he admitted his hypocrisy and also

accepted his responsibility to care for her, saying “she is more righteous than I.” God wove even this dark chapter of Judah and Tamar’s story into a story of redemption.

Their children would become ancestors of Jesus. And as the Bible says, Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. “No man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).

Why is Genesis 38 in the Bible? One reason is because it’s the story of our hypocritical human hearts — and of God’s heart of love, grace, and mercy.

A Biblical definition of the heart is the center not only of spiritual activity, but of all the operation of human life. Did you know it is truly a blessing when you can give cheerfully to those in need, and receive cheerfully from those who just might have more than they need?

God gave his one and only begotten son for us. Amen!

“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:17).

How do you react when you become aware of your hypocrisy? What would happen if we all became truly transparent with each other.

Help me to see, Father, that at the heart of the matter, we’re all hypocrites who need your forgiveness. Amen!

What would happen if we all became truly transparent with each other.

BY REGINALD DENNY Artist/Vendor

Everyday is a day of thanksgiving. God’s been so good to me and he keeps on blessing me, in spite of me. If this is your decree and if you’re liken unto me, you too can say “Still have joy! After all, the things I’ve been through, I still have joy!!!” There have been times in our lives where we have said, “Where is God? Is he on vacation or something? Or has he forgotten about me and what I’m going through?”

Or we may say, “Does he really care?

Does God esteem one person over another?

Is he truly that kind of God, where he would do for one and not the other? What type of creator are we choosing to believe in?”

Some of us have witnessed his powerful handiwork and truly know that, if it had not been for the Lord on our side, just where would we be today? If God had not held back the devastation and atrocities heading in our direction, a lot of our hopes and dreams would have been demolished and pummelled into rubbish!

It truly, truly, truly was God’s grace and his mercy that has kept us safe. Thus he has shown favor, even though many of us were undeserving of anything else but death. For the wages of sin is death. But there it goes: God favoring us again, over and over, time after time.

God always steps in right on time and uplifts us in his loving arms. Ain’t that good news. We can’t beat God’s giving, no matter how hard we try! God has definitely brought me through dangers seen and unseen when we ran out of options.

He paved a way through my parched and barren situation, which gave me hope and joy unspeakable!

Some of us have gotten to the point where we get too engulfed in the foolishness of our naysayers. A lot of times, we take our eyes off God and say to ourselves, “Why do the wicked prosper?” And that should truly be no concern of ours at all. For God reigns among the just and the unjust, the good and the evil. Who are we to question God on why and how and what he does or where and when he does it. We don’t have a heaven or hell to put nobody in or out of.

God made His son to rule on the evil and on the good and allows the rain to fall on the just and the unjust. God gives us all equal chances to prosper, to have long life, and to be in good health until the appointed day and time for the punishment of evil to prevail. God allows sunshine and rain to come into the life of every man or woman, irrespective of this reality.

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A good neighbor is one who will watch your vacation slides all evening without telling you that he has been there.

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No. 13: Just a Jazz Rainbow

BY SAUL TEA Artist/Vendor

This is the final page of the 13-part song book accompanying the “Hell’s Bottom Congress Of Puppets” folk opera, created by Saul Aroha Nui Tea. The song is loosely inspired by “Just a Gigolo” by Louis Prima.

Look for the rest of the opera in future editions of Street Sense and find music videos made with puppets of the characters, along with more information about the project, at congressofpuppets.blogspot.com.

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.

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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 - 1525 7th St., NW // 202-265-2400 - 1640 Good Hope Rd., SE // 202-561-8587 breadforthecity.org

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Martha’s Table // 202-328-6608 marthastable.org

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

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

2375 Elvans Road SE 2204 Martin Luther King Ave. SE

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

My Sister’s Place // 202-529-5991 (24-hr hotline) mysistersplacedc.org Community of Hope // 202-232-7356 communityofhopedc.org

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

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

New York Avenue Shelter // 202-832-2359 1355-57 New York Ave., NE D.C. Coalition for the Homeless 202-347-8870 // 1234 Massachusetts Ave., NW dccfh.org

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

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

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

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH HOTLINE Línea de salud del comportamiento

1-800-799-7233

Housing/Shelter Vivienda/alojamiento

// 15

1-888-793-4357 Laundry Lavandería

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

JOB BOARD Residential aide Friendship Place // Cleveland Park The residential aide will provide 24-hour on site monitoring services to support the safety and wellbeing of participants, staff, and visitors at the Brooks shelter. Residential aides will work cooperatively with program staff at all levels to ensure quality of service by performing hourly inspections of the building and immediate building exterior, and documenting/reporting any incidents.

REQUIRED: High school diploma or equivalent.

APPLY: tinyurl.com/residential-aide-job

Homeless outreach specialist 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

Unity Health Care 3020 14th St., NW // unityhealthcare.org - Healthcare for the Homeless Health Center: 202-508-0500 - Community Health Centers: 202-469-4699 1500 Galen Street SE, 1500 Galen Street SE, 1251-B Saratoga Ave NE, 1660 Columbia Road NW, 4414 Benning Road NE, 3924 Minnesota Avenue NE, 765 Kenilworth Terrace NE, 555 L Street SE, 3240 Stanton Road SE, 3020 14th Street NW, 2700 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE, 1717 Columbia Road NW, 1313 New York Avenue, NW BSMT Suite, 425 2nd Street NW, 4713 Wisconsin Avenue NW, 2100 New York Avenue NE, 2100 New York Avenue NE, 1333 N Street NW, 1355 New York Avenue NE, 828 Evarts Place, NE, 810 5th Street NW

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

The h3 Project // NoMa 10 hours/day, 4 days/week This position’s responsibilities will include: making contact and developing rapport with individuals experiencing homelessness and/or human trafficking at Union Station; conducting street outreach in and around Union Station; identifying and engaging individuals in need of services, assessing needs, and working with a core caseload consistently over time to create a plan to meet needs, particularly with those who may not independently seek services; REQUIRED: High school diploma or equivalent and at least 2-years experience in D.C homeless outreach services required APPLY: tinyurl.com/h3-project-outreach

Food service worker ServiceSource Inc. Part-time The food service worker (early morning) serves as a cafeteria and/or delicatessen/ bakery worker helping in the preparation, presentation and serving of specialty meats, delicacies, preserved foods, cheeses, salads, breads and sweets to patrons.

REQUIRED: None listed.

APPLY: tinyurl.com/service-source-foodworker

Grocery, Food Service, and Kitchen Associate Amazon

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

Full-time or part-time / Nights, weekends and holidays required

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

Amazon is launching a new grocery store in D.C. and is hiring grocery and food service associates. Grocery associates operate the point-of-sale system, handle cash and stock shelves. Food service associates work with food products.

REQUIRED: High school diploma or equivalent.

APPLY: tinyurl.com/amazon-food-associate

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

Hiring? Send your job postings to editor@StreetSenseMedia.org

Hear from the experts:

Watch video interviews with Queenie, Carlton, Aida, Brother Jeffery, and Jeff about what going weekly means to them.

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Since 2003, the street paper of our nation’s capital has been created and sold by people facing homelessness. Now, our media center is doubling its publication frequency to put more information in your hands and more money in our vendors’ bank accounts as we all work to end homelessness in our community.

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APRIL 7 - 13, 2021 | VOLUME 18 ISSUE 12

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