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What’s Holding Back Your Neighbor?

Discrimination pg 4 | Domestic Violence pg 5 | Child Welfare pg 6

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

ONLINE EXCLUSIVES www.StreetSense.org • See more photos from our Cinema on the Street event and read exclusive reflections as the co-op looks forward to their next work! streetsense.org/theatre • NOW celebrate Jazz Appreciation Month with a playlist from vendor Ken Martin! streetsense.org

COVER ART

On April 7 the U.S. Postal Service celebrated a new commemorative stamp honoring Maya Angelou.

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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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STREET SENSE May 6 - 19, 2015

NEWS IN BRIEF Advocates Search for Way Home on Thursday May 7 The Way Home Campaign will host an Advocacy Day event on Thursday, May 7, to urge the D.C. Council to invest in ending chronic homelessness by 2017. This goal is in line with Homeward DC, the District of Columbia Interagency Council on Homelessness’ new 5-year plan to end homelessness.

The Way Home Campaign is a community movement launched in January, 2014, to end chronic homelessness. Homelessness is recognized as “chronic” when an individual or head of household suffers from disabling physical or mental health conditions, and has experienced homelessness for long or repeated periods of time.

As the council reviews Mayor Muriel Bowser’s proposed budget and holds agency oversight hearings, advocacy and special interest groups across the city aim to influence spending in FY2016. The Way Home Campaign is inviting District residents to come to the Wilson Building and encourage their representative to address the issue.

The group will provide lunch at 11 a.m., training at 11:30 a.m., and meetings with city council members at 12:30 p.m.

Advocacy Day attendees will be split into small groups to address each individual council member. The event is open to anyone, and organizers have been collecting RSVPs through Eventbrite.com “Knowing who is attending helps ensure that each council member meeting reflects the broad and diverse membership of the Way Home Campaign,” said Lara Pukatch, advocacy specialist at Miriam’s Kitchen.

-Lillianna Byington

District Accesses Ability to Shelter Families from the Cold On April 22, the District’s Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) evaluated services provided to families during the Fiscal Year 2015 hypothermia season, which was November 1, 2014, to March 31, 2015.

The hypothermia season began with 283 families in Emergency Shelters, down 32 percent from the previous year. During this hypothermia season, nearly 2,000

S!

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families applied for services at the Virginia Williams Family Resource Center and over 50 percent of the families were offered a shelter placement.

A total number of 1,290 families were served this hypothermia season. They were placed in D.C. General Family Shelter, the District’s largest emergency family shelter; temporary apartment-style emergency shelters located in Girard Street, Naylor Road, Park Road; and Spring Road Family Shelters.

When capacity at the designated facilities was reached, the District rented motel rooms, some of which were located in Maryland.

The Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness reports that nearly 50 percent of families that made applications for emergency housing during this past hypothermia season have done so more than once--either during the hypothermia season or at some other time.

For many families, homelessness is cyclical. The Homeless Management Information System determined families that applied 1-2 times had an average of 1.7 years between their applications. Families applying 3-4 times had 1.3 years, and applicants who applied five times or more had 1.1 years between applications.

221 families made more than one application during this hypothermia season, with 87 percent applying twice. According to the District’s Department of Human Services (DHS), all applicants received some form of service.

The families served in emergency shelters during the hypothermia season had an average length of stay of 148 days. Some common characteristics of the families were disabilities, larger family size, and barriers that kept them from attaining housing, such as poor criminal or credit histories, according to the ICH. With emergency shelters coming under fire for safety and health concerns, Mayor Bowser announced a plan to end chronic homelessness, as well as close down D.C. General Family Shelter, opting to replace it with smaller facilities dispersed throughout the city. The DHS has announced that two smaller facilities have been identified as replacements for DC General, providing a total of 84 units.

These facilities will begin functioning in

Fiscal Year 2016. More facilities will be added on a rolling basis to meet the need for emergency family shelter units.

Mayor Bowser’ budget for FY2016 allocates funds for affordable housing units, the city’s rapid re-housing program, transitional housing, permanent supportive housing and prevention programs--including a resource center for the District’s homeless.

As of April 22, 2015, there were 50 families remaining in motels, some of which were in Maryland, according to a DHS representative.

The DHS announced their May 4th opening of a Daytime Center located next to the Adam’s Place Shelter that will provide showers, laundry and VI-SPDAT (Vulnerability Index & Service Prioritization Decision Assistance) assessments. It aims to serve 100 people per day.

-Sabrina Caserta

U.S. Senate Worker Comes Forward About Homelessness Charles Gladden works as a dishwasher and janitor at the cafeterias in the U.S. Senate buildings. He makes $11 an hour and was recently involved in a one-day

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strike protesting for a living wage of $15 an hour. It was during this strike that he revealed his living situation, reported CNN. Gladden spends his nights on the sidewalk outside of the McPherson Square Metro station. Every morning he is shooed away before the commuters arrive. He gets to work early and takes a “birdbath” in a sink at the Capitol in order to stay clean enough to handle food.

Diabetes forces Gladden to sometimes miss work without pay, and he gives much of his salary to his children and grandchildren to help with their own financial hardships.

Gladden argues that politicians cannot ignore that homelessness has happened to him while living on a low wage, and therefore it could happen to others.

When Boyz II Men co-founder Nathan Morris heard about Gladden, he wanted to help. Morris created the Charles Gladden Fund using the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe.com to raise money for Gladden to find housing. Morris himself donated $10,000 from his foundation, Boyz II Men House. When Street Sense went to press on May 5, the fund had raised nearly $24,000.

-Grace Owen

JOIN THE TEAM!

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DROP-IN CENTER VOLUNTEERS... maintain a safe and respectful center from day-to-day and are: mature and compassionate; able to commit to at least one weekly shift Monday-Friday 1:30pm-5pm; and a great team player who would like to take part in our mission to end homelessness!

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Wilson Building, Nation Discuss Equal Rights for Homeless People

By Alex Zielinski Volunteer

New Intiatives and Volunteer Coordinator

Rachael Buck

rachael@streetsense.org (202) 347-2006 x 10

street sense

In Washington D.C., the staging ground for every major civil rights movement, it would be unheard of to deny someone a job based on their race. Or an apartment based on their sexual orientation. Or a cup of coffee based on their religious beliefs.

However, one often-ignored minority can still legally be denied all of these rights, and then some, in the District: the homeless.

“There’s a stigma that this type of discrimination is more acceptable than discrimination against other folks in our society,” said Annie Leomporra, representing the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) at a May 1 legislative briefing on homeless rights at the Wilson Building.

This briefing was the first formal moves by local homeless advocates in a push for anti-discrimination legislation—a step that could set the stage for a national civil rights movement.

“We could be the first city in the U.S. to add the word ‘homeless’ to any sort of anti-discrimination law,” said Michael Stoops, NCH’s Director of Community Organizing.

“What happens in D.C. is likely to have a ripple effect around the country.”

There are two leading legislative options local advocates are rallying for. To Stoops, the “easiest” option would be simply requesting an amendment to D.C.’s Human Rights Act of 1977. Adding “homelessness” as a protected class to the act would make discrimination against people experiencing homelessness illegal.

Stoops, who has worked with homeless communities since the early 70s, began courting this option after a 2014 NCH study found two thirds of local homeless

individuals said they had faced significant discrimination in the community.

The study found that many homeless individuals had been denied jobs, housing, police assistance, social services and medical care—for appearing homeless or not having a private address.

“When I got stabbed, the paramedic stated that nothing was wrong with me…he said I just wanted to get out of the rain,” reported one of the survey respondents.

Instead of piggybacking on a 40-yearold law, NCH and other advocates suggest a second legislative option: drafting a D.C. “Homeless Bill of Rights.” This bill would lay out each circumstance where the homeless should be offered treatment equal to the rest of the population.

“I want to be clear: A homeless bill of rights does not provide any special rights, it simply provides equal rights,” Tristia Bauman, a senior attorney with the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, testified.

Bauman has been tracking the criminalization of homelessness across the country. Connecticut, Illinois, Rhode Island and Puerto Rico have already passed all-inclusive homeless rights bills. In addition to improving the quality of life for hundreds of homeless people, the bills have helped many move into homes. This in turn has alleviated the tax burden homelessness had on the communities, according to Bauman.

“We aren’t advocating for more day centers or shelters, because the point here is that homeless people don’t have to have their own places,” added NCH volunteer David Pirtle. “They should have

equal access to the same public spaces as anyone else.”

To make sure either of these proposals see the light of day, these groups must find a partner within the city council.

Former Councilmember Jim Graham introduced a similar bill in the last session of council, but it died when he left office in January. With a goal of having legislation introduced this spring, many say the biggest hurdle will be broadening the city’s knowledge of the issue.

“No one in the community is very aware of this type of discrimination taking place,” said Albert Townsend, a representative for the People for Fairness Coalition.

Townsend, who had once been homeless himself, is working to record video interviews with homeless individuals to document their experience with discrimination. He sees multimedia as a smart tool in sharing the reality of this issue with the public—both locally and nationally.

“Our job is putting faces to the numbers in NCH’s study. To tell the stories of those unheard people,” Townsend told Street Sense. “Education is a huge piece to solving this problem.”

Along with Stoops and other local homeless advocates, Townsend attended an April meeting in Denver, Colorado where homeless rights advocates from 18 states discussed the possibility of a future national movement.

“Going to Denver really solidified my understanding of the national perspective,” Townsend said. “This isn’t just happening in D.C., it’s the same in every state.”

District advocates for the homeless David Pirtle (second row, far left), Robert Warren (second row, fourth from left) and Albert Townsend (third row, second from left), and Michael Stoops (third row, second from right) met with activists from 18 states in Denver, Colorado to discuss solutions to discrimination against homeless people. | PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL COALITION FOR THE HOMELESS

STREET SENSE May 6 - 19, 2015

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COVER STORY

Domestic Violence Scars Unseen: Financial Insecurity and Homelessness

By Julie Gallagher Editorial Intern Roberta Bear awoke on a mid-October night to her romantic partner screaming about something he had found in her drawer. He beat her, just like he had done countless times throughout their 11 years together. He took all of her money and left. It was in that moment two years ago that Bear went to a neighbor and called the police.

“Finally I got tired of it and I had to say ‘no, you can’t come back here anymore,’” Bear said.

Like many other survivors of domestic violence, Bear was a victim of financial abuse. Her partner used to steal money from her bank account and take any money she had on her person.

“Anytime I came home I had to give him money,” Bear recalled.

That painful night when Bear finally reached out for help, her partner took the $40 she had earned selling Street Sense newspapers that day. Bear was grateful to find a network of support upon leaving the abusive relationship.

Finding housing as a survivor of domestic violence is one of the biggest hurdles, said Erin Hill, the incoming advocacy director of DC SAFE. The 24-hour crisis intervention agency puts survivors of domestic violence in contact with medical care, counseling, lawyers and housing.

Finding housing as a survivor of domestic violence is one of the biggest hurdles.

-Erin Hill Advocacy Director, DC SAFE Although domestic violence can happen to anyone, lower-income survivors may have fewer options when trying to leave.

Victims attempt to leave their abuser a total of eight to ten times before leaving for good. Each time a survivor leaves, they are potentially facing homelessness – but that risk might be worth it to them, according to Hill.

It is impossible to see physical signs of financial abuse, which can look different in every situation. Family and friends should ask questions and look for the red flags if they suspect someone close to them is in an abusive relationship, Hill said.

Several sources of aid exist for survivors, like Bear, who have faced economic

abuse. One source is Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits. Others include shelters and transitional housing.

“Many domestic violence survivors turn to TANF as a temporary economic bridge when leaving abusive relationships,” testified Erin Larkin, policy attorney with the DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

TANF provides funding and employment help to transition families from welfare to work. The program is supported with a mix of federal and local money. Approximately 17,000 families in the D.C. area receive TANF benefits, according to the DC Fiscal Policy Institute.

At an April 17 Committee on Health and Human Services Budget Oversight Hearing, stakeholders urged Chairwoman Yvette Alexander to support Mayor Bowser’s proposal to allocate a one-year extension for beneficiaries of TANF. Recipients typically have a time limit of 60 months, with nearly 6,000 families eligible for termination cut on October 1, 2015. The Department of Human Services (DHS) has no record of how many heads of household are survivors of domestic violence.

“DHS and Mayor Bowser have stated that it is important to extend these benefits for an additional year in order to learn more about these specific families and connect them with services that may help them increase their income,” testified Tomaso Johnson, also a policy attorney with the DC Coalition Against Domestic.

The proposed extension would also help further address a troubled TANF program that has not served families well, according to the DC Fiscal Policy Institute.

Problems such as inadequate access to employment services, dysfunctional computer systems, and a time limit that creates a dead end for parents even if they are working their best to find a job, have been identified by the think tank.

The Health and Human Services Committee works directly with the section of the budget that TANF falls under.

“My ultimate goal is for people to be self-sufficient and TANF is a temporary means for them to get on their feet,” Alexander said in support of the proposed extension. “I am looking for the Department of Human Services to have the ability to give residents all the resources needed to achieve financial independence.”

In the District, one domestic-violence related call was made every 16 minutes in 2013, according to Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) data. The DC Metropolitan Police Department was unable to

provide statistics for the most recent year.

Nationally in 2013, a typical day saw 553 people placed in housing through local domestic violence service providers. However, an average of 52 requests for aid went unfulfilled each day, according to the National Network to End Domestic Violence.

When the police get a call, DC SAFE is contacted to assess the situation and determine what to do in the next 24 hours.

The organization coordinates with other agencies in the District to determine a course of action for the next 20-30 days, sometimes more.

Partner agencies include the Virginia Williams Family Resource Center and shelters like My Sister’s Place and House of Ruth - where Roberta Bear is currently receiving support.

My Sister’s Place, in addition to functioning as a shelter, operates a hotline for domestic violence victims. Hotline staff are available to speak with callers in many languages to put them in contact with the organizations they need.

Economic or financial abuse is often more common than physical abuse. Similar to Bear’s situation, an abuser can take or manipulate their partner’s income, forbid them to work, or steal and corrupt their identity, according to Judy Benitez,

Domestic Violence

By Roberta Bear, Vendor

The more chances you give someone the less respect they start to have for you. They’ll begin to ignore the standards that you set because another chance will be given. They are not afraid to lose you because they know that you will not walk away. They are comfortable with your forgiveness.

I have to tell myself to never let anyone get comfortable in disrespecting me.

the deputy director of transitional housing for the National Network to End Domestic Violence. Victims may not feel financially stable enough to leave their abuser.

“Everywhere they turn, there are these seemingly difficult barriers which drive victims back to their abusers,” Benitez said.

Survivors are often left with a poor credit rating, no bills in their name, no references or no prior employment. These factors can influence a survivor’s ability to secure housing or a job, Benitez told Street Sense.

“It’s not necessarily that the family doesn’t have [money], she might not have access to it,” Benitez said. “People have the idea that domestic violence happens in lower socioeconomic classes, but that’s not necessarily the case.”

Power and control over a victim is the motivating force behind abuse. Controlling a victim’s finances is the ultimate power over their life.

“There’s no one rule in domestic violence –except that it’s the abuser’s fault and not her’s,” Benitez said.

Anyone experiencing domestic violence can call the DC Safe hotline at (202) 879-8740 or the My Sister’s Place Hotline at (202) 529-5991.

Quality Child Care in Short Supply

By Jacquie Lee Editorial Intern

Bright Beginnings, an accredited child and family development center that provides childcare to families that are homeless, held its annual Champions for Children event on April 30. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton and members of the Washington Children’s Foundation were honored at the event for their work to protect homeless children and their families in the District.

When Representative Norton accepted her award she spoke about her grandson and how she does not worry about his future because of the educational and childcare resources available to him.

“The moment he stepped into the world his life was almost destined,” she said. “At the same time, the moment a homeless child is born in this world, her life is often destined.”

Resources are scarce for homeless and low-income families. Bright Beginnings has a waitlist of over 200 people, according to its Executive Director, Betty Jo Gaines.

There are over 26,000 children under the age of 3 in the District, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton was but only 9,403 slots available at honored as a Champion of CHildren at Bright child care facilities, according to Beginnings’ April 30 event. | PHOTO BY JACQUIE LEE a report by DC Action for Children,

a nonprofit that specializes in data analysis on children and youth. That means almost two thirds of District children do not have access to licensed child care.

Low-income and homeless families are hit hard by the dearth of child care, according to Whitney Faison, the volunteer and communications specialist for Bright Beginnings. Getting in the door can be difficult due to waitlists. Transportation can also be a barrier.

“It’s hard to pay to metro across the city to get your child there when you’re trying to work or go to school,” Faison said.

Parents who don’t have networking capabilities are at a disadvantage. “In many cases, only middle and upper class parents know where the best programs are because they're on the neighborhood listservs and talking at playgroups,” Jamila Larson, executive director for Homeless Children’s Playtime Project, said. “Families in shelters don't always have access to that kind of information.”

Possessing a license does not guarantee that a facility will provide quality child care. While searching for daycare in Maryland for her son, Larson visited only facilities that were licensed and found that many of them did not meet her reasonable standards. For example, one facility had a television blaring and did not regulate how much TV the children watched.

“A license does not stipulate how

little or how much screen time you can have, even though any screen time is not good for children under 2,” Larson said. “It’s just crazy to me that you have all these licensed child care facilities with little oversight.”

The “Going for Gold” program is a voluntary system that ranks child care providers who go beyond the minimum requirements for licensing on a scale from bronze to gold. There are currently 92 gold-ranked facilities, 24 silver-ranked facilities and 91 bronze-ranked facilities in the District, according to a Child Care Update report by DC Action for Children.

In 2014 the U.S Department of Health and Human Services awarded D.C. $900,000 to help improve existing child care as well as expand care to infants and toddlers.

D.C. also spent roughly $74 million on child care subsidies last year, according to the Quality Rating and Improvement System Resource Guide for D.C. Parents are eligible for child care subsidies on a sliding scale. In 2014, a family of three making roughly $20,000 a year would pay $44 in copayments a month for childcare.

Children are the ones hurt by low accessibility to high quality childcare, Gaines from Bright Beginnings said.

“It gives them their start,” she said.

“It’s the beginning to the cycle of life that molds them into the person that they’ll eventually be.”

Trinity University Looks for Outrage Over Child Poverty in the District

By Grace Owen Editorial Intern When 8-year-old Relisha Rudd vanished from DC General family shelter over a year ago, her disappearance brought attention to the welfare of homeless children.

Relisha’s story pushed Trinity Washington University’s School of Education to task its graduate students with researching poverty and homelessness among children in the District for the next year.

Their findings were presented at a seminar on Thursday, August 30, preceded by a panel discussion with six professionals in the field.

The panel, aiming to find solutions to child poverty in the District, was framed around the question “Where is the Outrage?”

Nationally, 1 in 30 children experience homelessness. However in the District that number is 1 in 20, according to Dr. Cynthia Greer, Trinity Associate Professor with the Educating for Change program.

When compared to other industrialized nations, the U.S.’s high child poverty rate

is second only to Romania, according to Caroline Fichtenberg, research director for the Children’s Defense Fund.

Almost every homeless child has witnessed at least one incident of violence, Greer said. This can have long-standing psychological effects on children.

Most of the panelists agreed that federal aid for children in poverty could do more. Currently, many federal programs to help people and families living in poverty are not fully funded. If an additional 2 percent of the federal budget were invested in existing aid programs, child poverty in the U.S. would be reduced by 60 percent, according to the Children’s Defense Fund.

This lack of funding is exemplified in the current “welfare lottery,” as described by panelists Dea Lott and LaJuan Brooks.

Three in 4 families that qualify for aid never receive it, according to Lott. She and Brooks have both experienced homelessness, and they shared their experiences to illustrate some of the discussion.

“It deeply impacted our families to be turned down for aid that we needed and

deserved,” Brooks said.

Lott is a lawyer working with the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless to help their clients obtain low-barrier legal services and advocacy. She argued that there was indeed outrage over child homelessness, but not in the necessary places.

“Asking the question as though there is no one angry about this situation is misguided. The people that these situations are affecting are certainly outraged,” Lott said in response to the panel’s theme.

“But their voices are not heard, especially not by policymakers and companies.”

Segregating wealthier people and wealthier neighborhoods from the poor prevents true empathy because communities do not interact, said Lott. The only way to understand where the outrage is and where it needs to be is to listen to the voices of people living in poverty.

“These changes involve more than just improving current systems; it requires taking a critical look at those systems,” Lott said.

The panelists agreed that education and social change are a necessary part of the solution. The combination of activism

and advocacy is essential because without it, the situation cannot truly change.

School should be a source of stability for homeless children, according to Barbara Duffield of the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth. However, according to her research, children living in poverty experience a drastic increase in the rate of school dropout.

“Service is not enough without social justice,” said Jamila Larson, founder and executive director of the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project. “Activists working with the homeless community must move beyond providing shelter to advocate for policy changes.”

Important changes in society and education begin with the young people growing up in poverty right now, according to Larson.

“They are poised to take action and improve their own lives and the lives of those in their communities,” Larson said.

“Our duty as a community is therefore to listen to those voices and help to facilitate that change.”

STREET SENSE May 6 - 19, 2015

NEWS

Homeless Families Need More than Just Affordable Housing

By Sabrina Caserta Editorial Intern Homelessness among families in the District has surged. Since 2010, family homelessness throughout the city has risen 50 percent. Nationally, homeless families comprise one-third of the total U.S. homeless population.

In response to this growing epidemic, Street Sense hosted a panel on Family Homelessness in the District on Tuesday, April 21 at the Church of the Epiphany. AtLarge Councilmember Elissa Silverman gave opening remarks and joined the audience.

The panel opened with the heartwrenching story of 30-year-old Sasha Williams, a Street Sense vendor who left her mother’s home and sought emergency shelter after being sexually assaulted 12 years earlier. Currently, she and her 2-year-old daughter, Eboni, live at DC General, the largest family shelter in the District.

“One representative said that I should sleep on a bus. We need better opportunities, better resources and we have to know our rights,” Williams said.

The panel, moderated by Washington City Paper reporter Aaron Weiner, also included Martha Beresin of the Washington Legal Clinic and Mary Cunningham of the Urban Institute.

Cunningham delved into what she believes to be the greatest catalyst behind family homelessness. “Largely, family homelessness is driven by lack of affordable housing and low incomes. Either increase

people’s incomes or subsidize housing.”

Families may experience homelessness for any number of reasons, including lack of affordable housing, domestic violence, mental disabilities, fractured social supports, unfinished education and lack of employment opportunities.

“We have to stop looking at this as an individual problem, when it’s systemic,” Beresin said. “There’s been a shift away from long term to short term subsidies. So with rapid rehousing, families are guaranteed four months of housing, but with minimum wage, families aren’t able to get their incomes up, and they end up back in our very expensive shelter system.”

This past hypothermia season, beginning on November 1, 2014 and ending on March 31, 2015, the District was left with an overflow of families seeking shelter. In response to the growing crisis, the city took to renting out motel rooms, some of them in Maryland. As of April 22, 50 families remained in motel rooms, according to the Department of Human Services.

“They only shelter them in the winter.

Then for six, or seven months they’re homeless. That’s traumatic for families, especially children, staying post to post, laundromat to emergency room,” Beresin said. “When it comes to children, the needs are much higher and much costlier to meet.”

Many families with a member who is working, don’t earn adequate wages. Food stamps and most other government subsidies do not cover the cost of transportation and other necessities like toilet paper and

In the past two issues, I have explained how credit and background checks affect your ability to rent, and now we will look at how to put everything together to help you find a place to live. The first thing to do is to make sure you are looking at different types of accommodations. Most people aim for an apartment, but that may not be attainable. Apartments are expensive in the District and competition is steep, especially for affordable ones. In fact, many Congressmen have been found to sleep in their offices to save on rent in the District.

Before starting your search, try and make yourself the most attractive rental candidate possible. One way to do that is to save enough from your tax refund to pay the security deposit and a few

months’ rent up front. (This will be in the form of a cashier’s check or money order, not in cash.) This option is especially important if you have bad credit or have had evictions in the past. The more money that you can pay up front, the less your landlord will worry.

One option is to trade on some of your skills. For example, if you have experience in maintenance, particularly as an electrician, carpenter, or plumber, you should be contacting owners of multi-unit rental properties. Maintenance costs are a huge expense for any landlord and if you can save them money by doing the work, you could possibly negotiate to stay in a unit either rent-free or at a reduced rent in exchange for performing maintenance on the property.

To start on the path out of homeless-

7

Eboni Williams and panelists Sasha Williams, Martha Beresin and Mary Cunningham.

PHOTO BY JANE CAVE

cleaning supplies, according to Beresin.

Additionally, The National Center On Family Homelessness projects that some 5.8 million units are needed nationally to fill the gap in affordable housing for lowincome households.

According to the budget proposed by Mayor Bowser, $2.5 million will fund “additional family homeless prevention,” and 80 units of rapid re-housing for families, another $1.2 million will create 110 permanent housing units for families.

The plan also includes funds to begin closing DC General family shelter and replacing it with smaller facilities dispersed throughout the District.

“Veteran and single adult homelessness went down because the government directed resources towards it; the same can be done with family homelessness,” Cunningham said. “Read the D.C. budget and support it. Be vocal about it.”

When the panel opened up to the audience, Reggie Black, a Street Sense vendor, brought the New Communities Initiative (NCI) before the forum to collect their thoughts. NCI, a District initiative that aims to redevelop low-income, subsidized public housing into mixed-income communities has been in the works for over a de-

cade. Some of the communities targeted include Barry Farm, Richardson Dwelling, Northwest One and Park Morton.

“Personally, I think the intentions of the program were good, but the trouble was in the execution,” Weiner responded.

“In the short term we see this loss of affordable housing, but in the long term the plan is that we’ll end up with the same number we started with.”

NCI is based on the premise that there would be “one for one” replacement of existing affordable housing units with new ones. However, those numbers were never achieved. In an April Washington City Paper column, Weiner wrote that the Lincoln Heights redevelopment was supposed to be completed this year, however, at the beginning of 2014, only 32 of the 440 families had been moved into new housing.

“The number [of affordable units] is a lot less now than it was 20 years ago, though,” Street Sense’s Executive Director Brian Carome said. “We need to remember that more public housing was torn down during the presidency of Bill Clinton than any other President in U.S. history and there should be a bipartisan approach to public housing, on the national level as well as the local level.”

ness, I believe that the best option is renting a room. They are much more affordable than apartments. A quick glance at the Washington Post Rentals-Roommates section found 60 listings with reasonable prices. You could pay $625/month in the Alexandria and Arlington area, or pay around $500/month in the Capital Heights and Beltsville areas. In many cases, the landlord lives in the house and rents out the rooms. In that case, you will usually have access to the kitchen, laundry room,possibly even the living room and television.

Single rooms are usually rented by individuals, not property management companies. You can expect to fill out a form and arrange to meet the owner. He or she will ask you some questions, mainly about your job and how much you make. Utilities are

included in most cases and you share a bathroom. Security deposits vary. One unit in Fort Washington has a rent of $170/week with a security deposit of only $100. Most prices listed range between $500-$800 and several are higher than that. Prices seem to be a little bit lower in Maryland than Virginia, but you have to take your transportation needs into account.

Other options include Habitat for Humanity and Section 8 vouchers, which I’ll explore later in the year.

Arthur Johnson is a volunteer columnist focusing on Finance and Economic issues. If you have questions about this article or suggestions for topics you would like to know more about, please email him AJohnson@ streetsense.org.

National Geographic Photo Camp founder Kristen Elstner shows her published photo of the United States Naval Academy graduation ceremony in Annapolis, Maryland to Street Sense vendor Angie Whitehurst.

Street Sense Photo Camp [tour]

PHOTO BY MATAILONG DU

By Samia El Khodary Graphic Design Intern Street Sense vendors and volunteers were invited to the National Geographic Museum on April 22, 2015 for an exclusive tour.

“I took this photo,” said their guide Kristen Elstner, thumbing through a National Geographic magazine to a photo of the United States Naval Academy graduation ceremony in Annapolis, Maryland.

Elstner, executive director of National Geographic Photo Camp: Vision Workshops, founded the program over 12 years ago. The Photo Camp crew travels the world to places such as South Sudan, Haiti, and Mexican border towns to give young people between the ages 13 and 17 a medium of expression. Through this program, youth have a voice and a chance to tell their own stories visually.

68 camps have been held where participating teens were given a camera and encouraged to let their creativity flow.

“Photography can share emotions--a moment, and we rely on the eye of the photographer to capture that,” Street Sense vendor Angie Whitehurst said.

“When each of us look at it, we see something different...and that’s exciting.” Whitehurst said she has been going to the National Geographic museum for many years.

Elstner’s presence and the time she dedicated to the tour gave more meaning to the visit. She attends as many camps as possible, and is invested in sharing their story. Elstner could not identify her favorite trip, as she finds them all good. However, she did say that one of her favorite projects was working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Ocean for Life program.

The project brought together Middle Eastern and American students to tell

their stories regarding ocean conservation through photography.

Elstner and her team also host local camps, where they put their energy into diverse causes such as the communities affected by hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the Refugee Youth Project at Baltimore City Community College.

Elstner believes that it is best to see a community from the perspective of someone who has been born and raised in it.

The crew works closely with a group of about 20 youth for five to six days. They mentor every step of the way. The youth tell the stories of their community. Each is given an assignment. One photo essay may focus on an orphanage, while another documents a refugee camp.

The exhibit is divided by themes such as love, community, self-image, home, survival, and work.

In February, 2015, a weekly photography workshop with similar goals was begun at Street Sense. Through this workshop, Street Sense vendors are given cameras and learn a skill they use to tell their stories and show the world from their point of view. Sue Dorfman and Michael Jordan conduct the workshop; they saw the relevance of the Photo Camp exhibit to the Street Sense workshop and reached out to Kirsten Elstner to coordinate the trip.

According to Whitehurst, “It’s exciting to see people from all over the world, their pain, their agony, their happiness, their serenity, moments we can share…

Coming on this excursion was like starting a brand new day...I had so much in my mind; it was exciting and uplifting just seeing the photographs.”

Street Sense Filmmakers Co-op @ E Street Cinema

Street Sense vendors Angie Whitehurst (left) and Cynthia Mewborn performed in “DC Seven” at the George Washington University on Tuesday April 28.

PHOTOS BY SUE DORFMAN

STREET SENSE May 6 - 19, 2015

9

FEATURE

Local Nonprofits Explore the Transformative Power of Storytelling Clara Lishan Ong Editorial Intern Ten activists from seven organizations in the D.C. metro area performed in a play at the George Washington University (GWU) on April 28.

“DC Seven” presented accounts from survivors and combatants of injustices such as sexual assault, domestic violence, sex trafficking and homelessness. The performance explored the real life stories of how these women became agents of change in the community.

GWU Professor of Theater Leslie Jacobson wrote and directed “DC Seven” with inspiration from the play “Seven,” which was performed at GWU the previous night. “Seven” features real-life stories of seven women’s rights activists from seven countries.

The performances are part of a project to combat violence against women and girls worldwide. “DC Seven” was followed by a panel discussion moderated by Mary Ellsberg, director of the university’s Global Women’s Institute.

Jacobson has spent close to 40 years using theatre to effect social change and give marginalized people a voice. She felt it was necessary for organizations working on similar issues to come together.

“A lot of these organizations didn’t know each other,” Jacobson said. “Somebody’s focused on D.C., but they don’t know that there’s a similar organization in Maryland. Or there could be newer organizations that are less known.”

Jacobson believes in the power of theater and art to spread stories and effect social change in two ways: as self-expression for victims of social injustice and as a way to raise public awareness. A theater is a safe space - people on stage feel safe to show their vulnerabilities, according to Jacobson.

Because theater is performed live, the audience feels the energy from a human being talking to them as opposed to a still image. “It’s about the power to tell my story,” Jacobson said. ”You don’t make assumptions about me, you actually hear it from me.”

Sharing stories makes us more human, allowing us to empathize with complex experiences that are not our own, said Deborah Shore, executive director and founder of the Sasha Bruce Network, one of the largest providers of youth services in D.C. “Young people who remain in circumstances where they are without resources and are in a place where they need their basic needs met are compromised,” Shore said. “Youths can be exploited because they are vulnerable and are often preyed upon.”

For instance, youths who turn to couchsurfing as a way to handle their housing instability may trade sex for a place to stay, become involved in illegal activities,

Read the reflections on StreetSense.org PHOTOS BY THE STREET SENSE SHUTTERBUG CLUB

or be otherwise mistreated, said Shore.

Brian Carome, executive director of Street Sense, said that stories are used to confront myths about homelessness.

Angie Whitehurst, a Street Sense vendor, performed her reading on “How do you tell if someone is homeless?” and said that “homeless people may be in less of a home but are not less of a person or a human being.”

The play also featured Cynthia Mewborn’s close shave with sexual assault.

“Having a voice in print helps me understand my feelings and share what I learn with others,” said Mewborn, speaking of her experience as a Street Sense vendor.

Although everyone on the street is vulnerable, Jacobson said that homeless women have special challenges, such as sexual assault. According to a survey by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, homeless youths also face danger on the streets. More than 60 percent of home-

less youths have been raped, beaten up, robbed or otherwise assaulted.

The panel discussion raised ways in which stories can be used to create tangible change, beyond just creating empathy and raising awareness. Stories need to be used to get policy makers to understand why systems need to change, said Candace Kattar, executive director of Identity, an organization that develops and empowers Latino youth.

“The human aspect [of stories] compels people to act, and equips various lawyers and professionals with the ability to relate,” said Heather Taylor, Greater D.C. Director of the Tahirih Justice Center, which protects immigrant females seeking justice in the United States from genderbased violence.

“The reason that there’s so much evil in the world is that people have stories to tell and other people refuse to listen,” said Jacobson.

COMICS & GAMES

What If Ocho Won [The Derby] ?

By Chris Shaw “The Cowboy Poet” Thrump, Th-rump, Thar-rump!

The Lean Little Colt can truly work the pump His hind parts are a mighty engine Of the sort Short odds players might Scarcely imagine!

The sunglasses guy With mop of snow And the five-horse entry stud Ocho Ocho migh shower with backwash mud!

Should my choice of three Spanish eights

overpower the large field In the Derby Race-Five years from hence I’ll jump off the dreamer's fence Cease chasing bubbles Be free from trouble.

And if I’m able Shall operate my own stable!!!

This poem was written and submitted the week before Derby Day. American Pharoah won the Kentucky Derby, with Ocho Ocho Ocho finishing 14th.

STREET SENSE May 6 - 19, 2015

11

OPINION

Is Your Family Missing?

A Plea to Help Senior Citizens

By Neil Donovan neiljdonovan@comcast.net

By Michael Matthews Vendor

If any one of us researched our extended family tree, chances are we'd discover that members of our family had been homeless. Our homeless family members may not have lived on the street or in a shelter, although often enough they do.

Maybe our family spent a few months in our basement. Maybe they camped out for the summer, and no one mentioned that they didn’t have another choice. Maybe you have offered a couch to a young relative for a week or two. There’s a lot of “getting back on our feet” in everyday life. None of us are more than a few degrees of separation away from some expression of American poverty.

The herded masses of unhoused men, or solitary mother and children, are not in a different world from those family members we’ve helped out ourselves. They’re just like your family members--but they lack someone like you helping them. If we saw the unhoused homeless as part of our family too--rather than as incomprehensible strangers--the world would seem a different place in many ways.

When we discover ourselves in those who are without housing, all the regular ways we respond to the homeless change. We reject our tendency to pity those who are downtrodden. We resist ignoring those who we feel deserve their lot in life. We refuse to only focus our generosity upon those who we perceive as ranking higher on some compassion scale. We resist the luxury of running away and hiding from the truth when we feel frightened or overwhelmed.

Given that all indications point to the fact that homelessness won't be eradicated in our lifetime, perhaps our time would be well spent coming to recognize, know, and understand our homeless brothers and sisters. Maybe building relationships with homeless people is where we’ll find salvation and solutions in the future. Maybe building relationships becomes easier when we think of the homeless as family.

Last week in the New York Times' Upshot section Justin Wolfers, David Leonhardt and Kevin Quealy reported that America has "1.5 Million Missing Black Men", citing crime, health, and prisons.

What the researchers failed to detail as a primary cause and destination of "missing" black men is their disturbing overrepresentation in homeless shelters across America. Because we imagine these men as missing and not misplaced, we relieve ourselves of the responsibility to bring these men back from the lost and nameless confines of poverty. But these men aren’t really missing. They are someone’s brother, someone’s son, someone’s cousin.

Maybe yours.

There would be a hole in your life if your brother was missing. You would feel sick to your stomach if you couldn’t find your daughter and granddaughter. You wouldn’t be able to turn away. Hiding or ignoring the truth about who we are, individually or as a collective, often has crippling consequences for how we exist in the world. If we see people living in conditions that define the radical nature of poverty and destitution, and choose to ignore them and their causes, we deny a critical part of ourselves, our family, and any beliefs that define us. We choose to deny the very essence of who we are.

Before we can imagine our country free of homelessness, we must first recognize ourselves in all those who live among us unhoused. We must resist the urge to see those in need of our care and love as divisible into deserving, less deserving, and undeserving subpopulations. Our best efforts at preventing, reducing and ending homelessness will only truly begin when we see ourselves as members of the same family.

Neil J. Donovan is CEO of the NJD Group and previously served as president of the National Coalition for the Homeless and as senior advisor to the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Street Sense

By Barron Hall, Vendor

By and about the poor and homeless, in the name of God, gracious and merciful. In thanks to my God for another birthday, today I am 67. What makes it so hard to cure homelessness? Nobody wants the slave to rise above the slave master. The only freedom we will have in country will come when the house slave removes the chains from the slaves in the field. When we, as people, keep killing and selling death to each other, will we be free? God says hold on, I will avenge you. Why is the Mayor making sure we have decent housing and decent neighborhoods such a chore? Police have cameras, but we have murder in our streets and unsafe shelters. Some people have bars, but we are still poor and homeless. Some people have prosperous churches, but we are still poor, homeless, and full of drugs, gangs and babies dying down the street from the District Building. Who is failing whom?

Committees on ending homelessness, movements on end homelessness, meetings to end homelessness, reports on ending homelessness....

May God and Jesus truly be with the senior citizen homeless ladies and the low income senior citizens. Some are losing their sight and their hearing. This is crucial and critically important. We must do

more as a city, government, corporation, unions, and academic nonprofits. Please don’t forget the senior citizen homeless ladies or the low income senior citizen ladies and gentleman.

Low Income Senior Citizens definitely need help. They need help today. God be with them. Please help these ladies.

How I Would Advise Hillary Clinton

By Jeffrey McNeil Vendor The name of the game is to win elections and not be ideologically pure. If you don't win, you don't govern, and the last liberal candidate to win an election was over 50 years ago when Lyndon Johnson won in 1964.

In a climate where Americans want less government, not more, Hillary Clinton no longer looks as unbeatable as she did when Barack Obama was reelected in 2012.

While many experts are claiming that Hillary should make overtures toward the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, I believe she needs to steer clear of party activists and make overtures to the working class. The reason the GOP has the biggest majority since 1928 is because Americans have soundly repudiated secular liberalism and free-spending Democrats.

While partisans of the Left will try to force Hillary leftward, Hillary should look to history. The drubbing that Democrats received in 2014 should be a stern warning for her and other Democrats who decide to run in 2016; that the party needs to disentangle itself from divisive issues such as gay marriage and abortion and, instead, focus on pocketbook issues.

After the financial crisis of 2008 and eight years of Bush, Jr., Americans were willing to give progressivism a chance by electing Barack Obama. However, after bailouts, Obamacare, global warming, and prolonged wars, our country feels more like 1979 than the boom years during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.

While pundits try to spin the narrative that conditions have improved under Obama, many Americans feel our country is headed down the wrong track and, whether it's fair or not, they blame President Obama for their misery.

This pessimism about our future doesn't doesnt bode well for Hillary. While many Americans are looking for a leader that has fresh ideas and bold change, Hillary represents what Americans soundly repu-

diated in the midterms: the status quo.

It seems like eons ago that experts were claiming Republicans were going to be extinct if they didn't reach out to Hispanics and minorities. Although they have a long way to go, the GOP has become more diverse. Today's Republican nominees are more reflective of America-there are women such as Carly Fiorina, Hispanics Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, and African Americans such as Dr. Ben Carson.

What works in Hillary’s favor is that Republicans don't have a viable candidate that can win in 2016. Jeb Bush represents the old guard and Scott Walker, Ted Cruz, and Rand Paul have no shot winning the presidency unless Democrats implode more than they already have.

Barack Obama was a once-in-a-lifetime candidate. He was the first person to be elected without the majority of white voters. Hillary doesn't have that luxury, The 1964 election represents the last time a Democratic candidate would win more than 50 percent of the nation's white vote. Hillary needs to have town hall and coffee meetings with white voters who feel alienated in the age of Obama.

Hillary can bring whites back to the party by doing as Bill Clinton did to Sister Souljah and Jesse Jackson. She needs to assure white voters that, if elected, her administration will not give Al Sharpton or other racial opportunists access to the White House the way Obama has done during his presidency. She needs to diminish the role of the black bourgeois, while at the same time aligning herself with moderate African Americans, as Bill Clinton did with Ron Brown and Vernon Jordan.

I hope Hillary heeds my advice and appeals to moderates and independent, and that she will not be swayed by liberals to engage on issues such as race, class, and gender that have polarized the nation and allowed Republicans to gain control of Congress.

A Bright Spot How Old Am I?

By Melanie Black, Vendor

My favorite teacher was Mrs. Armstrong at Jefferson Junior High School in Southwest D.C.. She taught English. I enjoyed her energy and her attitude. She was always so full of life and never seemed to have a bad day. It’s amazing how positive she was. Although we put her through a lot, she never showed it. She always had a smile on her face, even though she got tough with us.

At the time, I didn’t realize or value Mrs. Armstrong’s infectious personality.

After all, she was my teacher. She got on my nerves at times. She made me work when I felt like doing absolutely nothing.

But I always felt uplifted when leaving her class, unlike when I left math. She was a bright spot in my day and I am now grateful she taught me.

I appreciate all the lessons she taught me in English and in life. Now I fondly look back at how she handled our different attitudes and remained enthusiastic, supportive, and encouraging.

What’s Life About?

By Charles Davis, Vendor

When I wake up, I first thank the good Lord for another day of life. Why? Because it is a very precious gift that we should honor as God’s children. When I look at my 52 years here, I think of that long journey to this blessed age, because when I was younger I always wondered whether I would ever see this age.

Now I look at what life is all about, which is keeping the faith in God, the father, and taking good care of myself at all times. I do that because sometimes life can become a very hard journey. I know that because I have been through a series of complications, including being close to death. Since becoming homeless, I have had surgery twice because of bad accidents and being attacked on dangerous streets. Not all places are bad, but in my heart I think life is what you choose.

Since I joined the Street Sense family, things have become more positive. My life guides have also become greater, thanks to some people I have met through my journey with this newspaper. After all the advice they have given me, let me give some back to MY Street Sense people: Always think on what life is about, because sometimes life can be wonderful and scary at the same time. Now, for me, I am very proud to see my 52nd year on God’s great Earth. So, always praise God, the father, and the son every day. Amen!

Sadly

By Moyo Onibuje Vendor

By Robert Warren Vendor

It is how she is. Her tongue perverts the course of the truth and so the years have flown.

But the truth has not prevailed.

Alas, I believe her when she speaks.

Time has spoken its tall order; what to boast about her, I don’t know.

Me and you are similar, it seems.

Must she lie?

And should I follow?

Oh, in what lonely manner is such “adoration and affection” felt?

Yet past elderliness does this romance unfold.

So, reside us both together.

Falling short, we are not defeated.

And now, we are masters in this love’s delight.

Sadly said words today to justify the cruel thoughts of men who say, oh Lord that you know the hearts and souls of those lose to haters hate this day the indifferences to one’s fate in life. his words ring true for many who said, he would mislead you.

To think black lives matter, too?

Is this a truth that we have to renew?

For the old and the young and those who say their thoughts are all done, listen closely and you will hear voices blowing in the wind, filled with thoughts of man’s sins his words roll the tape How can a life mean so much less today than yesterday?

Oh my Lord, I pray, please bring on the

Moyo was born in England and loves to write poetry.

Customers Appreciation Part 2!

By “The Amazing” Chon Gotti Vendor I would like to start by giving my dear customers with a real quick rhyme: “On April 22nd, I was born a Taurus, like a bull running wild, roaming through the forest.”

My Dear Customer, I really do appreciate the wonderful love and support that you guys have given to me. You are the reason why I keep smiling. I know that there are still some amazing people out there in the world.

I need to find more guys like you, so we

can all get together to create a world of greatness because, believe it or not, you guys are the very best customers a vendor could ever ask for or dream of. As I grow and get stronger, I am willing and able to give back to the community, and this all started because of your faith and dedication to me. I thank you for believing in the vision that Street Sense has provided for me, because I know without you as the most beautiful people here on this Earth, a better world would never happen. So I am taking this time to acknowledge you this day, and everyday. Thank you, my true customer.

The Silent Killers

To think black lives matter, too? end to these days.

Oh my Lord, I pray, please bring on the end of these days and hidden tears of the night.

Dreary tears of mothers and child thinking all the while oh Lord say it ain’t so, please say it ain’t so the father son we know why murder for the Lord we don’t know why

By Jackie Turner Vendor Many illnesses suddenly creep up on you. These silent killers are very dangerous because there are no warning signs. Let’s start with glaucoma. Our eyesight is one of our most important senses. But glaucoma steals the sight of thousands of people each year. This disease occurs when the pressure in your eyes becomes unbalanced and the water circulation does not run correctly. That causes dry eyes, nerve damage, and potential loss of your sight.

High blood pressure is another killer that strikes without warning. When untreated, high blood pressure can cause

strokes and heart attacks, each of which take the lives of thousands annually. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease is the leading cause of death among females in the U.S. Diabetes, which occurs when your body makes either too much or too little insulin, also strikes thousands of people each year. The disease can be controlled, but it cannot be cured. Because it is not painful in its early stages, many people do not realize they have it. That’s what makes it a silent menace.

These are three main quiet killers I want people to be aware of. So, remember: Have your doctor check for these diseases and be mindful that good health cannot be bought!

To A Young Writer

By Gabriel Raphael Vendor Seize it now.

Tell “What” and “How.” Life grabs you like a train.

What you see from those windows-You won’t see again.

STREET SENSE May 6 - 19, 2015

13

VENDOR WRITING

NINE YEARS AFTER KATRINA: Judgment Day

By Gerald Anderson, Vendor

By Chris Shaw, “Cowboy Poet” Episode 32 My last ten years was kinda rough. It was a lot of faults I was makin’. But in the past twelve months, things really turn around for me...

May 7, 2014.

You can’t forget the date when you do something bad. I was subpoena to go in front of the judge—not for something good, but for dirty urine.

I was really nervous about going to court. All kind of negative thoughts came to mind—I thought I was getting sent back to prison.

My friend Miss Edrie Irvine and my editor, Susan, came to court that morning.

My eyes tear up, because, I didn’t want these people, who mean a lot to me, to hear I done bad things, like taking drugs.

But now I know they my true friends, they still stay with me.

I was especially mad that day when the judge told me I had to go to a drug treatment program.

The parole officer said I should be in jail till the program get a bed space. But after the lawyer handed the judge 22 pages—all the recommends from my customers and a picture of me and my editor getting interviewed on TV—the judge took a 15-minute break.

She come back and stated that she read over the recommends. I think the judge felt I do something for society and that we all deserve a second chance. She give a ruling for me to stay in society until they got a bed space at the program.

I clapped my hands under the table, because I wanted to be free. I didn’t want to see jail at all.

After court that morning, me and my lawyer talk. I told him I appreciate him for helping me stay out in society until I go in the program. He asked me do I think I could make it through the program without getting in trouble.

I told him, “I ain’t got no other choice because I don’t want to go back in jail.”

And he said, “I hope you do right man, because you got a lot of people pulling for you.”

It like a scale—I knew that more than anything I didn’t want to go back to the prison system. Also, I didn’t want to let the people down who supported me. I never had this many people I can open up with. That’s what I believed would keep me focus, what would give me strength.

They people who accept me for who I be.

It also give me the strength that day in court and made me feel good that I have people to sit in with me. When I used to go to court I didn’t really have no support. That also lets the judge know you have some people that care for you.

I want to thank the judge for the sentence to the program and for helping me get my life back on track.

Next I’ll tell you what happened when I went back to court 11 months later. Then I’ll be telling you my story about all that happened after Katrina, after I was evacuated to D.C. Coming soon on Amazon: My Katrina story for Kindle.

Make Your Stamp - DO IT WELL! In a hay barn on a lush, French Chateau-style ranch estate in Potomac, Maryland, Annie and CF were planning her new “host’s” next live rock and roll bash with Clint Holmes, Carl Anderson and Big Al Downing as the marquee talent. At least the first of Ann’s flannel buttons on her checkered flannel shirt was undone, and Chauncey was leaning over her in order to plant an amorous kiss. Ann feigned disinterest, and briefly drew back. CF mumbled, “Wha--?”

Annie started to say to herself, not audibly, “What’d Billy think?” and then she blurted out, “Aw, What the Hey!!”

Soon after, she and CF went on smooching unabashedly.

The greasy sun climbed higher in the sky, on this Earth Day, 1977. Under a different refraction of the DC Metro-area spectrum, the clouds were whited out by unnaturally warm and humid downtown smog. Billy was evading his pursuer, Ferret Apache Skylum, definitely the hard way. As Ferret rode the open ironwork car of the elaborate and ancient Romanesque cavern of the National Unions, 918 F Street, N.W., Billy, wearing his best kid hand protectors, shimmied up the nasty oiled elevator cable to the glassenclosed wheelhouse.

Gold Fever

By Debbie Brantley, Vendor The White Cliffs of Dover, a falsehood beaker been thoughtfully resolved. Regarding the hitting of a disencumbered drum slave: “An all beer girl,” says the judge of moral standards. Who swiftly denounced her part pardon, a disencumbered joy was to strip her of her title: a beauty queen by depth and also regal in blackest notion.

The “Power State,” as the so called hitting was called by prejudiced, malish subs who fostered engine doubt for proposition of blood in the lungs and collapsed insignia [with an iron, a trope, like an isotope] was mightily denounced and suddenly for the white cliffs of Dover to maneuver a finger to tell the truth. What was the hit?

And how was the hit? were childishly part of the question by these two dorky law-

yers, a boy and a girl. Did you lunge at she Fab-the denounced when you hit her? The trick question said (by the girl lawyer) I said she was in the way. What way? [like blackie, they said, rolling mightily] Harm’s natural progression for the while Cliff’s of Dover: Havershem Pie-Nayto he succinct said I, her Dorcas, or relief by magic.

The white cliffs of Dover relinquished doubt forming a cloud of stage about the public. Where is the Gold by fever. It is a question that only I, Hibbert, know the answer to. She got Gold Fever bragging “Hartia, live got the gold.” Then going on to catch a rabbit in the backyard. She had gold fever in her backyard with the flu and then standing at the top of a mound of dirt to shake in a pan to get the granules of gold. She had found gold in her backyard by panic at the luster of strength of the two fingers she had relaxed on upside Mark- Beth’s head, her mom found of subtle persuasion.

Simultaneously, Sergeant Phil Carlille, and three of his best DC SWAT Commandos-- fresh from the gory Hanafi Muslim siege uptown--had been rather “pre-occupado,” rappelling up the craggy bays of the alley elevation of this rugged1890’s

landmark. Naturally, Skipper Marsh, no shrinking violet she, stood “holding the net” so to speak, on the blue cobbles at the base of the center peaked bay.

Ferret made the last ascent, moments before Billy Luck bashed his way to the wavy roof top of the National Unions. He could scarcely believe the maniac elevator boy was right on his heels--bent toy Samurai sword leading the way!

Billy crouched at the very edge of the center bay, his left foot dangling precariously over 8 ½ stories of sheer drop.

Ferret and the blade came SWOOSHing at him. Carlille, almost comically popped up; head and shoulders over the copper cornice line. Ferret started to scream demonically, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, CRIETH THE LORD FERRET!!!” Billy braced himself upright with a Herculean effort, managing to seize Ferret’s front ankle. He glanced sharply to Phil Carlille, who had his service pistol out and ready.

“You do it, Carlille. It’s only fair--” A single shot roundly pierced the “devil’s diamond” between Ferret’s fiery black brows. He half gasped, half squealed, and plummeted directly to the stones, rocketing straight past Billy’s sprawled form. The tortured little acrobat landed with a crunch, bits of his viscera splattering Skipper’s paisley shawl. Shaken but stirred to immediate response, Skipper cupped her hands and shouted up to her lover, Billy Luck, as her onetime consort the D.C. police sergeant, lowered himself, harnessed at the waist, down to the messy scene in the alley.

“Billy! My rat bastard spouse is at the Museum benefit ball! Time to shut his ass down!!” I’ll help shut that effing book, thought Sergeant Phil Carlille, Billy Luck’s newest ally. But sadly, Mack Daddy Jed Harris wouldn’t be joining the party-- he lay crushed beneath the fallen Ferret, for in his desire to aid Billy, Harris had definitely waited in the absolute WRONG SPOT!! (to be continued)

Shammar Allen and the Underdogs

By Ron Verquer, Vendor

In April of 2013 at the Kennedy Center, I was able to see and hear Mr. Shammar Allen play trumpet. Since he lived in New Orleans, I asked him questions about Hurricane Katrina and what happened. He was very candid in saying that he was in Atlanta when the storm hit, and that it didn’t affect him personally.

However, Harry Connick, Jr. called Mr. Allen and told him to take care of the city

that was so good to him. So Mr. Allen decided to tutor two kids for free once each month. A nice lady came up to me after the Kennedy Center performance to say she liked my question.

Mr. Allen also told me about Fats Domino. I really appreciated being able to talk about music with him.

Shortcomings of the Metro Beauty in a Troubled Land, Part 2: ‘We refuse to be enemies’ Station Names

By Shuhratjon Ahmadjonov Vendor The Washington Metro, since opening in 1976, has grown to include six lines, 91 stations, and 117 miles (188 km) of route.

The Red Line opened in 1976, the Blue Line in 1977, the Orange Line in 1978, the Yellow Line in 1983, the Green Line in 1991, and the Silver Line in 2014.

In urban areas, Metro is one of the most convenient and fastest types of transport.

There are about 800,000 trips per weekday. The Washington Metro is the secondbusiest rapid transit system in the United States in number of passenger trips, only after the New York City Subway.

But the Washington Metro also has shortcomings. Today, I’d like to discuss station names.

I am selling the newspaper Street Sense at a corner of the Farragut Square Metro.

Many people asked me: “Where is the station for Farragut North?” Although the entrance to the station is across the street, people cannot see the name of the Metro station Farragut North. The names of stations are written in a vertical view; that is, letters are arranged from top down.

In the U.S. and in the majority of the countries of the world, words are writ-

By Jordan Wilson Volunteer ten horizontally. It is best for the station name to be written horizontally above the entrance to the Metro. It is better to write the name of the station in an illuminated look that would shine at night time.

What benefits will there be?

Horizontally presenting the station names will create better usability for Americans and guests of Washington, D.C. Illuminated names would help advertise the Metro and the quantity of passengers would increase significantly. This will be beneficial to Metro management and the city authorities. After all, the Washington Metro is financed 57.6% by payment from passengers and 42.4% at the expense of local government subsidies.

Additionally, Washington, D.C. and other areas near the Metro will become lighter and more beautiful in a nighttime setting.

Metro stations are underground palaces of our epoch. More than 800,000 Americans and guests of the capital come daily to these palaces. Therefore, it is necessary to write beautifully the name before an entrance to the underground palace. (to be continued)

METRO MATTERS, METRO MANNERS: Part 5

By The Anti-Apathetic, Vendor

There are several specific, written, enforceable infractions on the Metrorail/bus.

Likewise, there are unwritten rules that are unenforceable: rules that are just common sense, like using your indoor voice while you are … well … indoors. This is about hometraining. After all, there is no constructive use to hollering in an enclosed rail car. But that is not my point. There may be more on the subject in future writings. Stay tuned …

My gripe today is about putting your dirty shoes on the seats. Didn’t anyone tell you to keep your feet on the floor? If they didn’t, I’m telling you now! Think about it. Someone has just had a dark suit or dress dry cleaned and is dressed to kill for an important event.

They’ve paid way too much for passage on Metro. Then they have the good fortune to get a seat and their reward? Wearing your boot print! Gee, thanks!

Metro, Part 6

My Blessings

Two people were assaulted outside Metro’s Congress Heights station at Anacostia Station in April, one of which was a young woman was assaulted. At Fort Ten Station, three school kids were robbed of their cell phones. Metro has been placing police officers on trains, but they should place more officers on outside platforms.

We should be safe riding the trains, as well as getting off the train. Most crimes at Metro’s platforms go unreported.. As we prepare for the summer weather, more and more people hang out at Metro outside platforms. So if you see something, please say something. Our number one goal while riding Metro is our safety.

I’ve been sick for some time. I could walk, though. I went to the hospital, but no one ever told me what was wrong with me.

They finally took x-rays and found some arthritis. I have it in both legs, though my left leg is less painful than my right. I wanted to go to back to school for a while. I was really doing well there, and I miss it. I am joining a water aerobics class, which helps. But I am not giving up on school ’cause God, the holy spirit, and Jesus are really working on me. They are waking up my brain. I didn’t have any food yesterday. But a female angel gave me some. I hope she gives me more when I need it. She blessed me, just as God, the holy spirit, and Jesus are.

By Phillip Black, Vendor, “The Cat in the Hat”

By Elizabeth Bryant, Vendor

On a hilltop in the West Bank, just a few miles from Bethlehem and the security wall that separates Israel from the Palestinian Territories, there is a farm that goes by the name ‘Tent of Nations’. The Nassar’s are a Christian family who have owned this land for generations and they are among the few who can prove it, having gone through the trouble of seeking documentation when this part of the world was still governed by the Ottoman Empire.

Despite the evidence, and their permanent residency on the farm, Daoud Nassar at The Tent of Nations Farm, West this hilltop was claimed by the Is- Bank. PHOTO BY JORDAN WILSON raeli state in 1991, putting the Nassar’s in a legal battle that continues to this have received 13 demolition permits for day. Even though they are well within what construction projects without building is internationally recognized as the Palespermits, which are never accepted when tinian Territory of the West Bank, Israel has applied for, so the Nassar’s have .built built a network of settlements all around into the land, carving small classrooms the Nassar family, leaving the Tent of Naand dormitories (the farm hosts educations as a small Palestinian island in an area tional summer camps for children of all otherwise entirely annexed by Israel. faiths) out of the rock, out of sight from Court battles that have racking up hunIsraeli aerial surveillance. dreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees The Nassar’s example of peace in the are just one way the Nassar’s feel the face of all odds has earned their plight pressure to leave their land. Other means some deserved international attention. are not so civil. Waking up to find their When Israeli settlers destroyed 250 of trees burned or cut down is common, as their olive trees, it was an American Jeware obscure confiscation notices posted on ish organization that came to replant the perimeter of the property that, if not them. Like Elias Chacour, it is a fervent found and responded to in a given number faith that drives the Nassar’s to have such of days, give Israel the legal authority to an extremist approach to peace. When IDF confiscate the land soldiers drove through their gate – literally When we visited the Tent of Nations, through, knocking the gate to the ground our bus dropped us off at a series of boul– Daoud met the officer in charge with an ders that we had to climb over before offer of tea, as custom dictates. “Blessed walking a few hundred yards down a dirt are the peacemakers, not the peace talkroad to get to the property. The rocks ers”, Daoud teaches us. were a gift from the IDF, denying the NasThe Tent of Nations is one of our final sar’s any access to the main road in anstops of the week and, despite all the other statement that life here is not going ‘holy’ sites visited, this feels like the to be easy. Whenever they try to build on most hallowed ground, where nonviolence their property they receive Stop-Work ormeets oppression nearly every day. It’s fitders, and notices denying them the right ting therefore that Daher Nassar, Daoud’s to cultivate their farmland are common. older brother, is leading us in a chorus of Yet, despite such an intimidation cam‘We Shall Overcome’. A rock star, three paign, the words painted on rock at the pastors, and about a dozen other church entrance to the farm are ‘We refuse to leaders singing words we hope will be be enemies.’ This has become the Nassar prophetic for the Nassar family. Our perfamily motto, despite the reality that enformance is far from award winning but emies surround them on all sides. nevertheless, it is a prayer for peace that “Resistance is existence… Nonviolence all would do well to hear. is not a strategy but a way of life”, notes Jordan Wilson is the Worship Arts Dithe mouth of Daoud Nassar, our host for rector at the District Church. He came the afternoon. Here, one can see this in to know Street Sense through his friendaction. Tent of Nations has no access to ship with vendor Patty Smith. Patty running water so they are constantly imtook interest in his recent journey to proving their systems for collecting rain.

Israel and asked him to share the exThey have no access to the electrical grid perience with our readers. jordan@disso solar panels dot the property. They trictchurch.org

15

STREET SENSE May 6 - 19, 2015

COMMUNITY SERVICES Housing/Shelter

Food

Clothing

Showers

Outreach

Medical/Healthcare

Transportation

Laundry

Education

Employment Assistance

Legal Assistance

Academy of Hope: 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

Community of Hope: 232-7356 communityofhopedc.org

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

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

John Young Center: 639-8569 119 D Street, NW

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

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

Catholic Charities: 772-4300 catholiccharitiesdc.org/gethelp

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

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

Community Family Life Services: 347-0511 | 305 E St, NW cflsdc.org

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

Foundry Methodist Church: 332-4010 1500 16th St, NW foundryumc.org/ministry-opportunities ID (FRIDAY 9-12 ONLY)

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

Gospel Rescue Ministries: 842-1731 810 5th St, NW grm.org

CELEBRATING SUCCESS!

Samaritan Ministries: 1516 Hamilton Street NW | 722-2280 1345 U Street SE | 889-7702 samaritanministry.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) 797-8806 71 O St, NW some.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

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

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

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

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

Open Door Shelter: 639-8093 425 2nd St, NW newhopeministriesdc.org/id3.html

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

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

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

A Major League Finish

By Ken Martin, Vendor

• Happy Birthday Barron Hall!

• Viktor Blokhine obtained housing!

• Chris Shaw obtained housing!

Almost home. I am on second base about to steal third. Despite the strikes, foul balls, and errors like: • • • • •

Bronchitis and influenza Domestic issues (and me with no domicile) An unkind winter and less kind case workers Two heart attacks and subsequent surgeries And a cardiology team that broke my heart

Today, I’m sliding into Life Asset to pay off my loan!

My body’s reaction (with added beta blockers) to winter cold took me out of the game. Christmas season

with limited playing time was a nightmare for me as a bench riding parent. I could hardly negotiate my kids’ picks in the Christmas draft. But I am still in the game!

My next phase, running to third base, is to acquire new financing, open a new business account, and visit Atlanta to attend the Annual April Headwear and Accessories Showcase.

As I accomplish this objective, my enterprise will be in position for Mother’s Day, Derby parties, and Memorial Day. When the sales begin, I’ll be knocking it out of the park, rounding out the bases and heading to All Star status!

VENDOR PROFILE: PHILLIP HOWARD

By Jennifer Ortiz, Editorial Intern

Mother’s Day

Mom’s Day is Coming

My mother celebrated every little holiday that came along, Christmas being the largest. Toys, candy, pecans from Mississippi... Our grandparents would send us presents. All our relatives and friends came to our house. Cold weather. Snow on the ground. Happy kids decorating the living room mantelpiece and Christmas tree. Gifts and gift wrapping the whole week of Christmas.

Years later, my mother is in a nursing home. But those times and these times mean a lot to me on Mother’s Day.

Mother’s Day is coming up and everyone has a mom—good, bad, indifferent, dead or alive. There are all kinds of mothers, but to be able to bring life into the world is a gift and should be celebrated.

So Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers of the world!

By Patty Smith, Vendor Since Street Sense’s inception in 2003, Phillip Howard has been “putting a happy spirit” in the people he encounters every day as a vendor. He says that God gives him the strength daily to fulfill all his duties from selling papers, talking to people, and cheering up passersby who may have had rough days.

Howard runs into a lot of students where he sells his papers in the Georgetown area, and those encounters have allowed him to reflect on the decisions he made when he was younger. He tries to encourage young people to stay on the right track and remain in school.

“When I was growing up, I got in trouble. It’s easy to get in, but it’s hard as hell to get out,” he said.

He prides himself in knowing that he has turned his life around since his youth, and he hopes to be a prime example to his 13-year-old daughter.

Howard worked in maintenance at the Washington Convention Center until arthritis put a halt to his active lifestyle in 2004. He said that he wasn’t so worried about having to leave his job because he believed that God always provides for his needs “in a matter of time.”

“All you need is peace of mind, a pure heart, and the spirit of happiness,” Howard says.

Howard tells stories of winning the lottery a few times in the past. Because he understands the value of money, he says he uses any extra cash to pay off his bills in advance. He also likes to buy new clothes when he gets the chance, but

notes that his main priorities are always to be able to feed himself, bathe, and pay off any bills he has Howard recalled his times at Franklin Shelter where he had only a place to stay at night and was forced to leave the premises despite snow or rain. Howard has been housed for six and a half years, and he enjoys being able to have his own personal space where he can come and go as he pleases.

“I thank God for that,” he said. “Only God knows how I made it through that time at the shelter.”

Having a space to himself has allowed Howard to delve more into his interests and hobbies. In his free time he enjoys creative writing and reading books on history and Guinness World Records. One of Howard’s favorite movies is The Little Rascals, and he has an extensive list of classic movies that he enjoys.

He also enjoys listening to all kinds of music—from hip hop to opera, jazz, and rock and roll. Howard said that each genre has its own unique sound, and he is able to appreciate the different forms of artistic expression each one of them has to offer. He thinks that a lot of people may say they don’t like something to hide the fact that they don’t understand it.

Howard trusts that his God works through people, and his time at Street Sense has been a testament to the blessings he believes God can provide.

“You cannot live in this world alone,” said Howard. “People have done things for me that I couldn’t even imagine.”

May 6 - 19, 2015 • Volume 12 • Issue 13

Street Sense 1317 G Street, NW

Mail To:

No You - No Me

By James Daniel Johnson, Vendor As I sit here contemplating life,thought's of you are so dear I wouldn't be in the world if you didn't bring me here From my childhood I cherish memories that can never be erased Oh how miss the priceless affections of your motherly embrace Though often I've let you down,for me you continue to care While others have turned their backs,for me you're always there So to GOD I'm extremely grateful,because the truth is evident to see Mom when the LORD created you, HE was also thinking of me COPYRIGHT 2000 danieldapoet.com

IS THERE A PROFESSIONAL IN THE HOUSE?!

Nonprofit Org US Postage Paid Washington, DC

Washington, DC 20005

By Jacquie Turner. Vendor

Permit #568

Remember, buy only from badged vendors and do not give to those panhandling with one paper.

Interested in a subscription? Go to page 15 for more information.

By Julie Ellis Vendor I think Street Sense would be interested in talking with a financial planner in the D.C. area who would be willing to give "simple" stock tips or other financial planning ideas to publish.

Your picture and column in the paper would of course serve as an advertisement for your business.

For that matter, if you are a lawyer, historian, health professional or other professional who believes you would have something useful or helpful for D.C. readers, please contact us.

Street Sense is read by thousands and would provide wide exposure for you as a contributor. Most important, your input would benefit others in need.

If you are interested in responding to Ms. Ellis’ call, please contact our editorial staff via info@ .