05 26 2021

VOL. 18 ISSUE 19

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The Street Sense Media Story, #MoreThanANewspaper

Volunteers and employees of nonprofit homeless services organizations help encampment residents move their belongings.

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

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

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

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EVENTS

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NEWS IN BRIEF

DC flagship rally for the National Day of Solidarity Against AAPI Hate Monday, May 31 // 1 p.m. - 6 p.m.

The National Mall between 7th & 9th Street NW Washington, DC 1:00 – 4:00 PM: Sign making and pre-rally activities and entertainment to cap off AAPI Heritage Month and honor Americans soldiers who sacrificed their lives while serving our country. 4:00 – 6:00 PM MAIN EVENT: Rally with notable speakers and performers. For a full line-up and more info: www.solidarityagainstaapihate.org/dc.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2

UPDATES ONLINE AT ICH.DC.GOV

Public briefing on the Mayor’s Fiscal Year 2022 proposed budget

D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness Meetings

12 p.m.

Virtual Meeting

Emergency Response and Shelter Operations Committee May 26, 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. // Online

The D.C. Council Committee of the Whole will hold a budget oversight hearing on the mayor’s budget proposal. For links to watch and to review the upcoming schedule of budget oversight hearings, visit tinyurl.com/fy22-budget-briefing

Executive Committee June 8, 1 30 p.m. - 3 p.m. // Online ***For call-in information, as well as meeting info for unlisted working groups, contact: ich.dmhhs@dc.gov.

THURSDAY, MAY 27

Climate Justice and Social Equity webinar 6:30 - 8 p.m.

Online, ticketed Leading up to its 2021 Honor Award event, the National Building Museum is hosting a series of expert-led webinars discussing climate change.

MORE INFO & REGISTRATION: nbmvirtual.org/learn-more

Submit your event for publication by emailing editor@streetsensemedia.org

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8:59 AM · MAY 19, 2021

A rally participant at Freedom Plaza.

PHOTO BY AYUB ABDUL

DC residents join nationwide rally to stop violence against Asian Americans

BY AYUB ABDUL Artist/Vendor

Mid-morning on Saturday, May 15, a group of citizens assembled at Freedom Plaza in D.C. to address the problem of violent hate crimes against Asian Americans. Recently, the Asian American community has been traumatized with violence rooted in lies and misconceptions of the previous presidential administration. Former President Donald Trump has falsely blamed Asian people for starting the COVID-19 pandemic and there’s been a rise in hate crimes against them over the past year because of this.

There were yellow whistles distributed at the rally to symbolize that Asian Americans have a long history in this country. They said “WE BELONG” on the side. The crowd would blow their whistles to show the unity of the Asian community.

The Unity Against Hate rally was part of a group of rallies held simultaneously in locations across the country to protest violence against Asian Americans. The event was hosted by groups such as the Taiwanese American ProfessionalsWashington D.C. chapter, the Yellow Whistle Campaign, the Korean American Political Association and more. Speakers included state legislators from Maryland and Virginia and U.S. Representative Kai Kahele from Hawaii.

Not all Asians are Chinese, and none of them should be traumatized or beaten up because they are Asian. The Asian community has contributed to the growth of this country and they continue to contribute to the GNP and taxes with billions of dollars.

We are the United State of America. All lives do matter. We have got to unify against violence.

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NEWS

PHOTO BY JAKE MAHER

DC region saw homelessness figures decline in 2021, but effects of COVID remain to be seen

BY JAKE MAHER jake@streetsensemedia.org

D.

C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is expected to release her fiscal year 2022 budget proposal on May 27; although the D.C. Council will amend it before it becomes law, Bowser’s proposed budget will be an influential starting point in deciding the future of funding for homeless services in D.C. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has touched nearly every element of D.C.’s and the region’s homeless services systems. The mayor’s budget proposal will likely reflect the unique challenges — and opportunities, like increased federal support — brought on by the pandemic.

In the background of the debate on the budget, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments released a report on May 12 on the number and demographic information of all people experiencing homelessness in the region, showing sustained progress in reducing many forms of homelessness.

The report packages data collected during this year’s Point-In-Time count, a HUD-mandated, volunteer-driven attempt to count every person in the

region experiencing homelessness on Jan. 27, 2021.

Across COG’s jurisdictions, which include D.C. and surrounding counties in Virginia and Maryland, there were 1,454 fewer people experiencing homelessness in 2021 than in 2020, a 15% decrease. D.C. alone accounted for 1,269 of those fewer people, representing a 20% decrease.

The region has seen a 25% decrease in people experiencing homelessness since 2017. D.C. saw a 32% decline in that period. The number of people experiencing homelessness was the lowest it has been since COG began coordinating counts in 2001.

Much of this progress was driven by a sharp reduction in family homelessness, which has fallen by 57% in the region since 2017.

Hilary Chapman, the report’s author, and Kristy Greenwalt, co-chair of the COG Homeless Services Committee, agreed that the federal and local eviction moratoriums were a major factor in reducing family homelessness.

“No doubt the eviction moratorium played a role in that [decrease],”

Greenwalt said while presenting the report to the COG board of directors.

There is a moratorium on evictions in D.C. until Sept. 22 — 60 days after the mayor’s health emergency order expires on July 25 — and until June 30 in Virginia. Maryland’s pause on evictions expired on July 25, 2020 but the state is still covered by the federal eviction ban, in place until June 30.

Greenwalt also credited investments made by the D.C. government that target family homelessness specifically, including elements of the Homeward D.C. plan like funding for more supportive housing and for the new Short-Term Family Housing shelters that have replaced the D.C. General shelter.

Beyond the moratorium, more help is on the way, according to Greenwalt. Federal funding provided by the December 2020 and the March 2021 stimulus bills is just starting to reach agencies, Greenwalt said, who are now developing the plans and infrastructure to use that money.

Veteran homelessness also declined in the 2021 count. The decrease was modest (in the region, 12 fewer veterans experienced homelessness in 2021 than

in 2020), but it continued the downward trend of a 16% decrease since 2017 and represented the lowest number ever recorded by COG. The number of formerly homeless people who are in housing broke 25,000 in 2021, up from just over 19,000 in 2017.

However, data collected in the PIT count showed the ongoing challenges of addressing homelessness comprehensively in the region. The number of individuals experiencing chronic homelessness increased by 4% since 2017 in the region and 10% in D.C. A chronically homeless person is someone who has a disability; sleeps unsheltered or in shelter; and has been homeless consistently for a year or more, or has had four separate episodes of homelessness within the last three years.

“The number one reason [for the rise in chronic homelessness] comes down to the fact that the scale of need relative to the amount of housing resources that we all have available to help people means we don’t have the ability to help someone with housing the second they experience our homeless services system and a lot of people end up timing into this chronic definition,” Greenwalt said

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

// 5

in her presentation. “We are sort of creating chronic homelessness because we don’t have the resources to help quickly enough.”

High housing costs are partially responsible for an increase in chronic homelessness nationwide, according to Hilary Chapman, a housing manager at COG and one of the report’s authors. But the report on the PIT count data also noted other causes of chronic homelessness, including the fact that virtual operations may have slowed the ability to place people from shelters into housing resulting in them being homeless so long that they meet HUD’s definition of “chronic homelessness.”

The city of Frederick, MD, and Frederick County are components of the DMV that did not collect information on chronically homeless people, both single adults and those in families, so the real number of chronically homeless people in 2021 is likely to be higher than reported.

Still, at a more granular level the report showed hidden successes in reducing chronic homelessness. For example, between 2017 and 2021 the city of Alexandria and Montgomery County saw rates of chronic homelessness decrease by 51% and 68%, respectively.

Presentation participants discuss veteran homelessness: COG Board Chair and D.C. At-Large Councilmember Robert White, COG Execuitve Director Chuck The report demonstrated persistent racial Bean, and COG Homeless Services Planning and Coordinating Committee co-chairs Tom Barnett of Fairfax County’s Office to Prevent and End Homelessness, and Kristy Greenwalt, director of the D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness. SCREENSHOT COUTESY OF THE METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON COUNTIL OF GOVERNMENTS disparities in homelessness. Black people continue to be heavily overrepresented among HUD’s PIT count has faced criticism for people experiencing homelessness in the region. presenting incomplete information about the Eighty-two percent of people experiencing homeless community. homelessness in families Critics have argued and 75% of single that because it is only individuals experiencing a snapshot of homeless homelessness were people that volunteers Black, but Black people are able to individually only make up 25% count on a single of the COG region’s night, it leaves out combined population. important context and “It is important to understates the scale of note that a root cause the homelessness crisis. of the disproportionate For instance, the representation of PIT count does not people of color is a include people who legacy of institutional are “doubled up,” or and systemic racism living with friends that impacts our or relatives because communities to they have nowhere this day,” said Tom SCREENSHOT COUTESY OF THE METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON COUNTIL OF GOVERNMENTS Tom Barnett, Fairfax County’s Office else to stay, but who Barnett, director of to Prevent and End Homelessness are not technically F a i r f a x C o u n t y ’s heavily influenced by the impending end of the total number of people who have had “homeless” by HUD’s Office to Prevent and the eviction moratoriums in place across the contact with the homeless services system definition.

End Homelessness, region, according to Chapman and Greenwalt. over the course of a given year.

Greenwalt acknowledged the count’s limitations presenting the report to the COG board of Municipalities within the COG are planning In her testimony, Greenwalt said that figure in her testimony. “There are inflows and outflows directors. He added that COG has contracted for that in their own ways. is often two to three times higher than the every single night of the year. New people with a consulting firm to find solutions to A foreshadow of the political fights that number of people experiencing homelessness experience homelessness, other people leave the reduce racial inequity and anticipates those the end of the moratorium might bring was on just one night. Nationwide, in 2018, it was homeless services system to housing,” Greenwalt results by next year. on display at the D.C. Council last week: three times larger. said, “so in some ways the point-in-time count Greenwalt also said that in spite of Council Chair Phil Mendelson proposed Coventry said the PIT count data came out minimizes the scope of the problem and the what some people expected, an increase in ending the moratorium to incentivize tenants too late in the year to play a direct role in challenge that we all face.” homelessness as a result of the pandemic and landlords to apply for federal relief determining where Bowser will recommend Kate Coventry, a senior policy analyst with probably won’t be measurable until next funding that will go to waste if not used, allocating funding. But the PIT count process as the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, said that despite winter, in time for the 2022 PIT count. but tenant advocate organizations strongly a whole plays an important role in establishing advocates’ claims that the PIT count is not Eviction cases will need time to work their opposed the measure and councilmembers a profile of homelessness in the region, which perfect, “no one thinks it is. But it is a measure.” way through landlord-tenant court and people voted it down, saying that the city was not in turn informs funding decisions.

She added that policymakers in D.C. generally exhaust all other financial options ready for evictions to resume. The question Ultimately, regardless of the PIT count’s have access to supplementary reports and before leaving their homes, so there may be of how to use the federal funding in time has findings or the mayor’s budget proposal, the information on homeless demographics to months of lag time before the effect of the still not been resolved. future of homelessness policy is going to be inform their decisions, including, for example, pandemic on homelessness is truly felt.

“It is important to note that a root cause of the disproportionate representation of people of color is a legacy of institutional and systemic racism that impacts our communities to this day.”

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NEWS

DC Council rejects allowing landlords to pressure tenants to apply for rental assistance under threat of eviction

BY ALLY SCHWEITZER DCist

This article was first published by DCist on May 18.

The D.C. Council voted down a controversial measure last week that would have allowed landlords to resume sending eviction notices during the pandemic, opting instead to revisit the proposal at a later date.

During two meetings on May 18, several councilmembers expressed reservations about an amendment from Chairman Phil Mendelson that would have provided an exception to the strict moratorium put in place early in the COVID-19 crisis.

Under the moratorium, landlords cannot evict tenants for nonpayment during the health emergency and 60 days afterward.

But under an amendment he offered as part of a bill extending the public health emergency until July 25, eviction filings could have resumed July 1, with the goal of encouraging more renters to take advantage of STAY D.C., the city’s new federally funded rent assistance program. Landlords would have been able to file for an eviction only if they’d applied for federal assistance on the tenant’s behalf in the previous 60 days, informed the tenant about the availability of rent relief, and served sufficient written notice. Renters could request a 15-day extension if they weren’t able to access funds due to reasons beyond their control. A similar law has been in effect in Virginia since Jan. 1.

Mendelson also called to undo the city’s ban on utility shut-offs, another effort to compel residents to pay what they owe. Residents receiving certain public benefits — such as Medicaid, unemployment, rent or utility assistance, SNAP, and TANF — would have continued to be protected.

The chairman said his eviction moratorium amendment had two important justifications. First, landlords have complained that many renters aren’t taking advantage of relief funds even though they’re eligible, and they believe sending eviction notices would pressure renters to seek assistance. Second, the city must spend at least 65% of its first half of federal aid by the end of September, or it will have to forfeit the rest of the money to the U.S. Treasury.

The clock is ticking, Councilmember Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) said during a Council breakfast meeting ahead of the vote. The STAY D.C. program has received roughly 10,000 applications since it launched April 12, equivalent to about $30 million of the total $352 million in funds. Roughly another $100 million must be spent by Sept. 30.

“Every week that we wait makes it much less likely that we utilize all this funding by September,” Pinto said.

But other lawmakers said there’s nothing stopping the city from getting assistance to more residents now, and allowing landlords to pressure tenants with eviction notices is not the only way to speed things up. Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen led a successful effort to undo Mendelson’s amendment, urging his colleagues to push the discussion to a hearing at the end of the week focused on an equitable end to safety net protections put in place during the pandemic.

Tenant advocates say the STAY D.C. application process must be refined before tenants are forced to depend on it.

“This proposal comes at a time when these rental assistance programs are not working, and a lot of changes need to be made to get them working,” said Beth Mellen with D.C. Legal

federal moratorium.

This is not the case for the to all tenants by default. lies sign this declaration t app mus ium r ator orde ’s mor er the CDC D.C.’s eviction of eviction protection und ge cdc-tenant-form. anta adv om/ url.c take to .tiny g at www Tenants intendin y of the form is available cop A . lord land r thei to ON form and present it CON TROL AND PREV ENTI ERS FOR DISE ASE COU RTES Y OF THE CENT

Aid. “We really want to see those changes made first.”

Activists with the group Stomp Out Slumlords placed fake coffins in front of Mendelson’s front door Tuesday, saying that loosening the moratorium would kill vulnerable tenants who are forced out of their homes.

Response to the debate was similarly intense on the other side. In response to Allen’s amendment, the CEO of the Small Multifamily Owners Association — which has lobbied the council for months to loosen the eviction moratorium — accused

the councilmember of “playing games” with landlords’ lives.

“He is leading the effort to block an amendment that will help landlords get federal rent assistance,” wrote Dean Hunter, the group’s founder, in an all-caps email to members. He “acts like this is a law review exercise or some other game. He has no regard for how the moratorium is impacting your life.”

Debate over the eviction moratorium is expected to continue in the weeks ahead, with councilmembers reconvening in June to consider any changes to the protections.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

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AT A GLANCE

PHOTO BY JANE CAVE

Memorial service for David Denny Ami (left) and Diamond (right) of The h3 Project at a May 13 “full cleanup” of the L and M Street underpasses in NoMa. PHOTO BY JAKE MAHER

Q&A with the founder of The h3 Project

BY MARCUS MCCALL Artist/Vendor

During my time being homeless during this pandemic, I witnessed one organization that was always hard at work to help people while COVID-19 raged on. Everywhere I went, The h3 Project was there helping people on the street with their basic needs. I’ve seen Founder and CEO Ami Angell giving out socks and hand warmers when it was cold. I’ve seen her take the time to really get to know people like me, enough so that we can trust each other and work together on more serious things. I’ve even seen her help some people with petty cash for transportation.

She gets it. In an old Street Sense article, she said “It’s about listening to the needs of the people instead of assuming we’ve already got the answers. Every person is different. One size doesn’t fit all.” And when the city was preparing to evict everyone from the K Street underpass, she volunteered The h3 Project to conduct housing assessments for anyone interested.

Why should readers care about what Ami Angell has to say?

Because she is out here in D.C. connecting people with mental health services and housing. I've been matched with a housing voucher after being homeless for 11 years. So, please read!

This interview was conducted via text message. It has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Street Sense Media: During this pandemic, I witnessed you helping the homeless with hand warmers, sweaters, socks, and more. Can you tell me more about h3?

Ami Angell: The h3 Project works daily in the NoMa Business Improvement District and Union Station area of Washington, D.C., to mobilize people to end homelessness and human trafficking. We aims to create a future in which all individuals — regardless of gender, age, race, religion, or sexual orientation — experiencing homelessness and/or human trafficking are given opportunities to transform themselves by living meaningful and self-directed lives, in a home of their choice, with support and services they need for success. The h3 Project will embrace the spirit of recovery and an attitude of self-directed hope, partnering with each individual to help shape their personal journey and realize their potential.

Since the pandemic, The h3 Project has worked tirelessly to continue services to those experiencing homelessness. Services provided include obtaining vital documents, applying for SNAP/ Medicaid Benefits, referrals for medical and mental assessments, referrals for detox treatment centers, providing basic needs (such as hand warmers, Emergen-C immunity boosting packets, socks, gloves, hats, blankets, long johns, etc), Employment application assistance, and many others — all with the intended goal of getting each individual experiencing homelessness off the streets and into housing. We customize our approach to each individual in hopes of empowering him/her on their own journey to get where they will benefit the most.

SSM: How did The h3 project get started?

Angell: I have wanted to start a 501(c)3 non-profit for years.

And, after working for a couple other service providers working to end homelessness in D.C., I recognized a need for a more creative approach to the problem.

Obviously, what has been done for years is not working.

There are still too many people living on the streets and in shelters. We need to do something different, if we want a different outcome. That's why I started The h3 Project, an organization to think outside the box and come up with creative solutions in helping to design individual roadmaps for success.

SSM: Does The h3 Project offer health counseling?

Angell: The h3 Project is equipped with staff who understand the fragility of mental and physical well being. While we are well versed in helping empower individuals on the path of good physical health (this includes good diet and exercise), we understand that mental health is also just as important.

We work with other specialized counterpart organizations in addressing more intensive mental health counseling. The h3 Project believes that wrap around services tailored to meet each individual's unique needs — often from a couple different organizations — is the most effective way to help an individual achieve his/her goals.

The three H’s our name refers to are home, health, and happiness.

• Thursday, June 3 at 11 a.m.

• Church of the Epiphany (1317 G Street NW) A light lunch will follow. A moment will also be set aside to remember Shernell Thomas and Dan Hooks, who passed away before we could safely gather.

BIRTHDAYS Carlton Johnson May 15 ARTIST/VENDOR

Abraham Aly May 29 ARTIST/VENDOR

Ron “Pookanu” Dudley May 30 ARTIST/VENDOR

VENDOR PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENTS • Vaccinated vendors can receive 15 free papers for showing their CDC card indicating full vaccination.

• The Street Sense Media offices will be closed on Monday, May 31, in observation of Memorial Day.

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NEWS

PHOTO BY BEN BURGESS, KSTREETPHOTOGRAPHYDC.COM

DC encampment rely on free labor move residents’ PHOTO BY BEN BURGESS, KSTREETPHOTOGRAPHYDC.COM

PHOTO BY BEN BURGESS, KSTREETPHOTOGRAPHYDC.COM

BY JAKE MAHER jake@streetsensemedia.org

M ABOVE: Rat poison was injected into the ground.

BELOW: The sidewalks were powerwashed after all belongings had been moved. PHOTOS BY JAKE MAHER

ayor Muriel Bowser’s administration cleared residents out of two tent encampments at the M Street and L Street underpasses near Union Station on May 13.

Garbage trucks, a skid-steer loader, and a mobile power washing machine, along with a crew of sanitation workers, gathered at the underpass on a cool afternoon for the “full cleanup.”

While the effort coordinated by the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services was scheduled to begin at noon, volunteers and employees from various nonprofit homeless services organizations arrived several hours beforehand to help the encampment residents move.

Some volunteers also provided coffee and breakfast food to the people being displaced.

Residents of each underpass temporarily moved their tents and belongings out, storing them on the adjacent street. Some people had accumulated furniture and larger items to help organize their temporary abodes into a home, such as shelving and a minifridge. Once one side of the underpass was vacated, city workers came in to remove and discard all unclaimed belongings, sweep garbage, and powerwash the sidewalk. A pesticide to target rats, in the form of a large pellet, was shot into holes near the encampments where the rodents were known to nest. The holes were then closed. This is the most effective strategy for targeting rats, according to a D.C. Rodent Control

Division employee on the scene, who said the poison would not affect squirrels, birds, or other animals.

The north side of L Street NE was cleaned first. Residents began returning their tents while the process began at the M Street underpass around the corner, after which the government returned for the second side of L Street. All parties involved — government workers, the approximately 60 people living in the tents in the two underpasses, and people volunteering to help them move their tents — worked methodically and without incidents, suggesting a process that all are accustomed to. The mutual aid volunteers and nonprofit employees who were present from start to finish put in 8-hour shifts to ensure residents were able to move and retain their belongings.

Cleanups like this were for a time a common occurrence at this location.There were 23 “engagements” of the city’s encampment protocol at the NoMa underpassess in 2019, when people were also encamped in the K Street NE underpass. Most were full cleanups, where residents are forced to move their tents outside of the cleanup zone and where anything left behind is thrown out, as opposed to “trash-only” engagements, where only things identified as garbage are thrown out and residents can stay where they are.

The pace slowed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

CDC guidelines issued in May, 2020, recommended that local governments not clear out encampments while the pandemic went on. “Clearing encampments can cause

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

// 9

PHOTO BY BEN BURGESS, KSTREETPHOTOGRAPHYDC.COM

‘cleanups’ largely to temporarily belongings LEFT: Construction next to the M Street NE underpass. PHOTO BY JAKE MAHER RIGHT and BELOW: Construction at the corner of L and First streets NE. PHOTOS BY QUEENIE FEATHERSTONE

people to disperse throughout the community and break connections with service providers,” the CDC said. “This increases the potential for infectious disease spread.”

The city engaged its protocol to assess and remove encampments only 11 times over the course of the year.

This included an effort in January, 2020, that resulted in permanent closure of the K Street underpass to tents, a policy suggested by the NoMa Business Improvement District the previous year. The cleanup schedule on the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services website indicated that the May 13, 2021, event would be the second engagement and the first first full cleanup scheduled for either underpass so far in 2021. Of the seven engagements scheduled throughout the District in May, five were full cleanups; from January through April, less than half of all engagements were full cleanups.

The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services did not answer questions about whether the frequency of full cleanups this month signals a change in the District’s COVID-19 “posture” for encampments before Street Sense went to press. Mayor Bowser has lifted many COVID-related restrictions for businesses and activities and announced that all such restrictions will be lifted by June 11. For now, according to a document published by the deputy mayor’s office last year, “The District maintains the ability to conduct full cleanup engagements when trash-only engagements are insufficient to remove the public health

and safety concerns. Additionally, the District maintains the ability to conduct an immediate disposition at an encampment if an immediate health or safety risk is present.”

As people experiencing homelessness continue to jostle for space that is partially protected from bad weather and is near transit and basic services, more and more housed people have moved to the gentrified area. The population has grown enough to warrant a potential new voting precinct and to influence the redistricting process that will begin this September.

At the end of the block where the L Street underpass cleanup took place, construction site signage on the south side of the street indicates that a 4-star hotel and 500 new apartments will be added there by the time the “NoMaCNTR” development is completed next year. “In 2022, people will converge upon a new DC experience to reside, stay, relax, socialize, dine, shop and more,” according to the project’s website, which also states that the average household income in the area is $133,000.

The development, formerly called Storey Park, has been in the works for 10 years, according to the Washington Business Journal. Last year, the development team signed an agreement to lease one fifth of the planned apartments to Churchill Living, which the company will market as furnished units.

NoMaCNTR is one of 12 residential projects expected to add more than 3,700 apartments or condos to the area in the next two years, according to the NoMa BID website.

Queenie Featherstone and Eric Falquero contributed reporting.

1 0 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A // M AY 2 6 - J U N E 1 , 2 0 2 1

OPINION

DC must spend its federal relief dollars on people who need housing security

BY STEPHANIE SNEED

It is unsurprising that when the COVID-19 pandemic hit D.C., the people who were already struggling were hit the hardest.

For some, sheltering in place, foregoing public interaction, and working from home were mere inconveniences. For others, it was a matter of safety and the ability to survive the economic fallout of the pandemic.

When Mayor Muriel Bowser and the DC Council assess their spending priorities for the American Rescue Plan, those who bore the brunt of the pandemic deserve to be centered.

When D.C. began the first stay-at-home order in March 2020, a clear divide was established between those who could remain safe at home and those who either did not have a safe home, were housing insecure, or did not have a home at all. As the pandemic continues, despite superficial moves to re-open, the inability to be safe at home still exists for far too many District residents. Fair Budget Coalition, along with dozens of organizations, signed on to support a vision of a Just Recovery through the American Rescue Plan.

These recommendations focus specifically on communities whose housing safety are most impacted by the pandemic— renters, public housing residents, returning citizens, families and individuals experiencing homelessness, excluded workers, and voucher holders. As businesses shuttered and economic relief was unevenly distributed, renters in D.C. faced months of back

rent, as well as back utility payments. Fair Budget Coalition is a member of the Cancel Rent DC Coalition and believes that no one should be pushed out of housing due to economic hardship.

While money is allocated through STAY DC, a city rental and assistance program, it is not clear if this funding will be enough or if all residents will have access to these funds.

In addition to families struggling to pay rent, many families are paying rent to stay in subpar public housing units. We continue to call on the mayor and DC Council to support public housing and ensure that families are able to live safely free of vermin, mold, lead, or other toxic materials. When being asked to participate in distance learning, shelter in place, or even work from home, this becomes difficult or impossible when home is not safe.

D.C. should be bold and innovative when using federal funds.

Fair Budget Coalition supports an innovative idea championed

by Councilmember Brianne Nadeau: the purchase of struggling hotels to convert them into temporary non-congregate shelters with the long-term goal of creating affordable housing. This both meets the immediate need of providing residents relief from unsafe congregate housing or from encampments into safe private shelter, as well as a long-term investment in affordable housing throughout all eight wards.

Families who have been enrolled in the Rapid Rehousing Program have been tenuously housed throughout the pandemic with no reassurances of how long they’ll be able to stay housed.

Housing advocates have proposed extending Rapid Rehousing for families and providing permanent housing subsidies to all who are eligible. Right now, 2,900 families are in the program and will face termination unless action is taken to ensure permanent housing.

We fully support the Way Home Campaign’s demand for significant investment to go toward ending family and chronic homelessness. The District should invest at least $120 million to go directly to housing families and individuals using a range of programs including vouchers, targeted affordable housing, permanent supportive housing, and other homeless outreach programs and services.

Lastly, while not specifically an issue of housing, the District must invest at least $200 million for direct cash assistance to support excluded workers, which includes undocumented immigrants, returning citizens, and cash economy workers who did not receive federal stimulus funds. While this does not specifically address housing, we know that housing costs and the ability to live comfortably in a home all rely on having a stable income. For many excluded workers, no relief has been provided or an insufficient amount. These recommendations, along with other recommendations that are included in this letter to the mayor, provide a template of ways that D.C. can prioritize the needs of residents who remain vulnerable to the health, economic, and social consequences of the pandemic.

These investments can be used to create opportunities for

Until we pay the working poor a living wage, they will still need government aid

BY WENDELL WILLIAMS

American politicians of both parties are always finding ways to make the victims of their poor policy decisions into the culprits, when people exercise the best of the rotten choices left to them. It seems that they are always ready to throw the suffering under the bus to gain political favor or as part of some deal in the name of bipartisan compromise.

When America experiences some kind of economic crisis, it's always poor families, women and children last.

All of a sudden, even when it appears that help is on the way for those who are struggling, the old victim-blaming games are afoot once again. Remember the first stimulus checks of $1,200? Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the payouts should last a person 10 weeks. Ask yourself, what family with every avenue to support itself cut off because of a pandemic can make it on that pittance? God knows if you have teenagers they can eat easily double that in a week.

That one check didn’t do enough to move the misery needle for most individuals or families. So after measuring public opinion,

the powers that be decided that another stimulus check was in order to fix ineffective first shot. Lo and behold, after months of back and forth, reluctantly we were given a $600 belated Christmas gift from the outgoing president who made sure to put his name on them. What a crock of shit!

The Biden administration gave out $1,400 per person, which is doing the same thing — only masked with what appears to be more compassion than the last, as it continues to compromise on the cornerstones of its stated mission. The first to go was the effort to obtain a "living wage" of $15 per hour minimum for all Americans. Let me know if that is even still in play, after floating deals that would raise wages to that level over a course of years. In the D.C. area, MIT researchers estimate that a living wage for a single adult is $20.49. Some who cast themselves as champions of the working guy speak so eloquently about this goal, even though it really never allows people who struggle to catch up, let alone get ahead.

Bond investors, hospitals, universities and airlines got their stimulus all at once, some with more supplements down the road. But not John Q Citizen — we'd get ours in unpredictable installments that don't allow for the best planning, just enough to maybe put out one the many fires raging in our financial lives.

No w, s o m e A m e r i c a n governors are cutting off federal unemployment aid because they say it’s keeping people from working. Look at it another way: Some people are for the first time in their lives getting paid enough to live on. They've simply done the math and it's become clear to them the system has pimped them out for generations. Now, businesses are saying that if you pay people that kind of money they won't want to work. Sorry guys, what idiot would?

It's a no-brainer. I can get around $2400 per month on unemployment, or go back to my crappy job when I might bring home half that after taxes. Those payments have educated people about the choices this country makes about who to pay.

The old victim-blaming games are afoot once again.

Voices from the dark side also complain that paying a living wage to the unemployed costs too much. But this country borrows to pay for everything. It's not like every time the Pentagon wants a new toy they just go to Fort Knox and grab some gold. No, we get it from another country, often China. So take out another loan for the people. It's what working people do all the time — rob Peter to pay Paul.

Put it this way: We are always giving the working public too little, too late to make a lasting difference. Again this points out the real problem in America, which is the lack of a livable wage. Who in their right mind would stay on unemployment if it paid less than their job? Companies can afford it, even if it means raising prices. Median CEO compensation rose 15% last year, according to the Wall Street Journal. How did they pay for that?

When is this administration going to stand up to these bullies and stop conducting business as usual?

Wendell Williams is an artist and vendor with Street Sense Media.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

// 11

ART

Spare the rod and spoil the child

BY PIERRE JOHNSON Artist/Vendor \

A

n inner city police department responded to a 911 call from a local citizen about a West Indian woman named Ms. Rose, who had been spanking her teenage son, Leroy. He had just started high school and unfortunately had hooked up with a ridiculous rabble of ruthless ruffians who dropped out of school.

Out of adolescent peer pressure, he began to fall prey to the self-destructive web of their sway. Yea, the kid wanted to be a bad boy: skipping school, smoking dope, spray-painting vulgarities on community walls, joyriding in stolen cars, the works... Worst of all: deceiving his mother about his school attendance.

"Something's has to be done before he ends up in juvenile hall or worse," Ms. Rose told Leroy's teacher, Mrs. Kriske.The boy had become off the chain over the past year and was heading nowhere fast. "Time out" and "go to your room" had gotten old and just weren't cutting it any more for his mother. That boy needed his @## whooped!

Ms. Rose came up in the slums of Jamaica back in the 1960s with 13 other siblings. Her family later moved to America to seek opportunity. They moved down south with her great-grandpappy, Mutt, Pete Jenkins (a retired bootlegger), and her grand-ma Beulah May Brown, a.k.a.

“Big Mama.” They all lived on a corn farm deep in the hollers of "Shoofly County" in Rotgut, Mississippi. Times were so hard that Big Mama once saw a worm pull a bird to the ground.

Everyone in the family had to work. No one in her family had ever graduated high school, and even to this day; she was working two jobs and struggling through night school to make a better life for her and her son. As a young mother, Mrs. Rose was exceptionally acquainted with the easier-said-than-done existence of the present world. And with little or no education, the prospect of survival was full of twists and turns. She wasn't about to let her only child waste the best years of his life by reacting impulsively to his own ill-advised behavior patterns rather than being guided by common sense.

It soon became visible that once he started stomping with the big dogs and chasing those fast little wayward kittens, Leroy’s hormones would unfortunately impair his intellect and replace it with unsuitable judgments and idiocies. "Oh, so now all of a sudden he thinks he's grown huh?" Mrs. Rose muttered to herself. "Lord I tell you, dees' cher'en' today: Some'uv'em just have to learn stuff the hard way — but the ball stops today!"

“I'm not losing my baby to them d@#% streets,” she thought to herself as she put a 45 record on the old hi-fi that sat in the corner. “I love the boy but he is going to experience the sting of corporal punishment today.” She

PHOTO COURTESY OF PXHERE.COM

then prayed to the Lord for guidance. "Lord, why must that hard-headed boy persist in learning things the hard way? I hate having to resort to spanking that boy, but by the threat of conflagration I'm 'bout to lash on his tailseem to get it right! O Lord, what's a poor mother to do?"

“THY SHALL WHOOP DAT BUT!” The Lord revealed in response to her prayer. “ONE DAY THAT BOY WILL THANK YOU FOR IT! WHY ELSE DO YOU THINK I CREATED THE TREES, WITH SO MANY SWITCHES?” Mrs. Rose snapped back to earthly matters when she perceived the sound of Leroy creeping into the house.

"The Party's Over" was playing on the old hi-fi. He was stunned that his mother had the day off, but he did grasp, by the look in her eyes, (and the song that was playing on the old record player) that there would be inquiries about his hoodlum hunger.

"Hi, Ma," Leroy said, shaken that she was home.

"You're home early."

"Hi," she retorted.

The room filled with music. “THE PARTY'S O-VER,” crooned the old hi-fi.“TIME TO CAAALL-IT-A-DAY.” "How was school today, Son?" "Huh?" "Don't ‘huh’ me, boy. If you can ‘huh’ you can hear."

"Oh-school, amah'- sc-sc-school was just g-g-g-groovy today Mama," he stumbled through a lie.

“Uh-oh,” he then thought to himself, “I wonder if she knows?”

“School was just g-g-g-groovy today, Mama,” Mrs Rose mimicked. Yea, she was goin’ tear his @## up.

"So, school was just g-g-g-groovy today, huh? Are you sure? Think before you answer, boy."

“Yea, Ma. School was dope."

"Oh, school was dope, huh?"

"Yes ma'am.I mean, no ma'am! I mean..."

"What you mean is, you don't know what the #@* % you mean, do you, boy? But you're gonna know."

"Yes ma'am, I mean— no ma'am. I mean..."

"Shut up, Lying Boy," Big Mama cut in, sharing a knowing look with her daughter. "We got a call from your teacher today."

"W-w-w-what'd she say?" Leroy nervously asked.

"G-g-g-g-go outside and p-p-p-pick Mama a l-l-l-long switch so I can t-t-tell you," Mrs. Rose whispered, icily mimicking her son’s nervous voice.

"Huh?" "Boy, if you ‘huh’ me onemo-gin, 'I'm' a 'knock you into the middle of next week."

"Well, make sure you book me for Saturday nights,” he said, uncovering an ounce of angsty courage. “I'm a man now and I think it's about time I start speaking my mind and going on dates with my new—" ::SMACK::

The conversation was ended. Mrs. Rose caught him right upside the jogger-knot! Like a bolt of lightning and a streak of white heat, that boy was knocked clean off of his feet.

"Happy. National. Hind-pots. Whipping. Day, son," she roared as she didn't spare the rod.

“Ouch! But Ma, what happened to ‘time out?!’” he wailed as she hit his hind pots. “I'm your son! I'm your son! Remember? Remember?"

"Oh'nooooo, baby. You was a maa'aan a second ago!

Remember? Remember?"

"Ouch! Mama," he cried as he experienced the cobralike sting of a backyard switch. "M-m-m-mama, I-I I-don't wanna be a man no more! I want to go back to b-b-b-being your little boy again!"

"Too late, baby we can't go back. We have to move forward."

"If-y-y-y-you r-r-r-r-really love me y-y-y-y you'll re-think this, Mama!"

"I have, baby. I even took it up with the Lord. I do love you, baby" "Mama you know they got laws against whipping your children!"

As if on cue, there was a knock at the door. "Just a minute!" Mrs. Rose yelled towards it. "Stay put," she told Leroy.

When she answered the door, there stood a big Irish cop. "Yes, how may I help you officer?"

“Ma'am, we got a call at the precinct about loud cries coming from this house."

"Yes, that is correct officer."

"Ma'am, are you in here beating your child?"

"Yes, sir, officer. Didn't your mother beat you when you were a child?"

"Well, yes ma'am but the—" "Let me tell you something right now Officer Friendly," she snarled as she cut him off. "You see that night stick, and that gun that you wear on your utility belt?"

"Well, yes ma'am," he replied in a pompous manner.

"Well I'm beating my teenage son today so that he can survive you — or better yet, avoid you entirely — tomorrow! So, I want you to stand right here and watch me while I finish beating his @##!"

"I understand ma'am. Have a nice day," the officer replied as he left.

"Boy, go out back and pick me another switch!"

"But, Ma!" "Don't ‘but’ me, boy!" she retorted. "I don’t want to do this either. But one day, maybe you’ll thank me for it — I don’t know what else to do. Now go!"

THE END

1 2 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A // M AY 2 6 - J U N E 1 , 2 0 2 1

ART

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDY FELICIOTTI ON UNSPLASH.COM

My DC childhood

God’s little angel

BY DARLESHA JOYNER Artist/Vendor

BY DANIEL BALL// Artist/Vendor

I grew up on Penn Street. Then my mother moved to Prince George’s County in Maryland. From there I continued my education. I made it to the 11th grade, but I started hanging with the wrong people. I never went to college to further my education. I worked at Wendy's for 9 and a half years. My position was on the grill, and sometimes I made sandwiches, too. I was on the grill for a long time. Sometimes people didn't come to work, but I always kept a positive attitude.

DC General’s legacy

BY CARLOS CAROLINA // Artist/Vendor

I have seen the hospital where I was born go through many changes over the years and decades. Some of D.C.’s finest were born there, at D.C. General.

Then it was transformed from an actual-factual medical facility, where baby deliveries and life-saving procedures were performed, into a shelter for families experiencing homelessness.

I can understand providing shelter for the homeless, the underclass, and the “have-nots.” I love helping people and I love helping my community, which is why I agree that housing homeless people at a hospital was a great idea.

Helping people in the community is not only great but grateful.

The hospital stopped being used for family shelter in 2018 when the mayor’s seven small replacement family facilities began to open. As of now, my

understanding is that certain parts of D.C. General are still open for “family services” and some parts are being used for inmate visits since the D.C. Jail is on the same campus.

I am proud to see the hospital I was born in still standing and being used in service to the community.

Can we do better? Yes we can.

But how?

If you were born at D.C. General, too, please share using the hashtag #DCGeneralBabies. If you want to see this land repurposed for more community services, please share using the hashtag #DCGeneralAct. The land where the hospital is located is slated for redevelopment.

And the D.C. government has received plenty of proposals for what to do with the land.

My power and strength is helping and caring for other people. The homeless. People outside in general.

I take them to DHS to apply for benefits.

I take them to Friendship Place to get ID. I take them to the food pantries. I give people resources to learn to go to get other things that

are in the community such as free food, free clothing, etc. I do it ‘cause I have a caring heart. I like to help others.

You never know when somebody can help you. After you have helped them, they can be a helping hand to you. And just tell you “Thank you” in general.

Attitude of Gratitude

BY FAITH PEACE // Artist/Vendor

Each day the men, women, and children pass me by shopping at the store.

They are not talking, hearing, or speaking.

They are filled with worries, cares, and burdens too great!

Where are they heading in life? Who are they going to meet? What do they want in life?

It seems some days and nights, that doubts, pain, and fears overwhelm us.

Our cries for help, hope, encouragement, love, and prayer are only answered One Way! These people have to understand the open vulnerability, of transparency, and open their hearts.

Is it wrong to be humble, contrite, and meek as they seek for answers to their problems?

No, Through their hearts we can feel empathy, kindness, and care.

Yes, let’s talk, walk, hear, and see each other more.

Being grateful is the only answer to men, women, and children complaining about life.

Count your many blessings, and you will be reminded of how good you have life to live.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

// 1 3

Six Asian women were killed in March

BY ANGIE WHITEHURST // Artist/Vendor

Coincidence of race or color or gender, it must be said:

Street Sense

BY KYM PARKER // Artist/Vendor

In all things knowledge is beauty In all things wisdom is power Love, all of us are God’s children Showing us Teaching our children to understand To know Her Love Street Sense, pure power, pure joy Street Sense, the way to know one’s sense is to open yourself up To the wonder of Her Love The Sense

It is not the color of my skin or hair, nor the unique features of the lips and eyes, nails, shoes, tattoos, birthmarks, moles, acne, or the thickness of skin, tautness and stretch of muscle; Nor the longitudes or latitudes that man made, renamed, or conquered on which one’s feet stand; Nor the stereotypes of entombed hearsay in the mind: given, absorbed echoed with dead dreaded reckoning that one got it from someone, probably author unknown; Racism is not science.

It too is a man made noose, too easily swallowed It can’t be natural It is learned, copied , parroted, emulated, and passed on faster than a contagious epidemic, or slip of the tongue.

It is a manmade tool as dangerous as an axe, pistol knife or gun.

It kills, the felt-yet-unseen healthy heart, the open forgiving mind, and the passionate spirit of human kindness, mercy and love.

Can the murderers of peace tell you why they kill another’s spirit?

If they ask you, they cannot tell you, except all of them, without any exception, are bad.

Staying strong on the streets

BY CARLTON “INKFLOW” JOHNSON Artist/Vendor

I will build a system to doctor the times of homelessness for the patients dealing with times on the streets. This way, all can know what to do with hard times.

The coronavirus has upended the economy, healthcare systems, and global order. Whereas I had to reinvent my entrepreneur’s skill within the industries for the homeless, you can now call me the agent of change inside the zoom of the streets.

Praised for the past. Now raised for the future, for hope. Searching for the cure, the breakthrough.

Who has the hope to conjure up what no one has dreamed of? No matter the magnitude of the dreams of despair, now to find the answer for change and inspiration. Now to find the innovation that secures your future with the support necessary to create new beginnings for the homeless.

Chance is always powerful. That’s why I’m so passionate about expanding awareness of the trials of being on the streets.

Did you shoot the nurse, doctor, farmer, babysitter, who served your family and community?

Can you sensibly tell your story and justification to emotionally and physically maim and expire the last earthly breathe from someone you know not at all?

If they look like, does not mean, that they are.

There is no right to tag a color, or another difference between one another.

There is no right to deny the individual their rights.

There is no right to be ignorant or act indignantly by one's sense of things collected from nowhere.

No one can justify the elimination, by any means, of a person because of their suspected race, country, or continent of origin.

Human life is a right, just as housing, education and healthcare are ... to live.

And so, I say, do not raise a blinded fury tide, to get rid of, scare, harm or commit genocide, as another mean, evil, hateful form, of perpetuating homelessness.

Don’t spread this dread. This must stop here.

PHOTO COURTESY OF VIVIANA RISHE ON UNSPLASH.COM

1 4 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A // M AY 2 6 - J U N E 1 , 2 0 2 1

Answers

FUN & GAMES

Sudoku #6 6

Intermediate Sudoku by KrazyDad, Volume 10, Book 6

Sudoku #1 6 4 1 5 7 8 2 9 3 2 Intermediate 9 4 by 6KrazyDad, 7 5Volume 1 10, Book 6 3 8 Sudoku 5 9 7 1 2 3 6 4 8 1 6 4 2 3 7 9 8 5 9 7 5 8 6 1 3 2 4 3 8 2 4 9 5 1 7 6 4 1 6 7 8 9 5 3 2 7 2 3 6 5 4 8 1 9 8 5 9 3 1 2 4 6 7

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BY RITA SAULS 1 2 7 4 5 9 8 3 6 Artist/Vendor 9 8 4 1 3 6 7 5 2 God reigns and always will 7 always 6 3be 9observed 8 4 1 2 5 His presence should 2 see, 1 6or touch 7 3 Him 9 4 8 5 hear, Even when you can’t 8 4 9 5 1 2 6 7 3 Some think when they wake up each day, but it’s God 6 1 God 5 3 4 7 2 8 9 When they’re healed, it’s 3 God 7 2 8 9 1 5 6 4 When they marry it’s Who put them together 6 5 3 1 7 4 9in Holy 8 2Matro?

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Disappearing Disappointments

BY LEVESTER GREEN Artist/Vendor

Crown me king! Due 2 my anointments. I'm appointed.

You shouldn't’ve showned it! You told it. Wanted 2 hole it. Knowing, the way I roll, is 2 legit 2 quit!

All that still, & I ain't participated. I dozed. So you can say I waited, but not hesitated, when front & center I was reinstated as the greatest.

I state this as I pay this bill after bill. How I feel?

Underrepresentated but overly taxated, for my already overburdening "Can't pay s***!" & After that I got 2 go get, all the rest of it, like a bandit I can't quit! Wait a minute,

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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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Food Comida

Employment Assistance Assitencia con Empleo

Transportation Transportación

Showers Duchas

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

Bread for the City - 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

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

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

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

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

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

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH HOTLINE Línea de salud del comportamiento

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

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

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

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

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

// 1 5

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

HELP! WE’RE LOOKING FOR

volunteers Become a Street Sense Media volunteer and help further our mission to empower people experiencing homelessness.

Get to know the vendors and make a difference in their lives and yours!

You’ll support hard-working newspaper vendors by volunteering your time, four hours a week, distributing newspapers at the Street Sense Media office.

If interested, please contact Thomas Ratliff thomas@streetsensemedia.org 202-347-2006 (x103)

COVID-19

BY REGGIE JONES // Artist/Vendor

I believe that D.C. responded quite well to the COVID-19 pandemic. I saw a lot of people follow protocol throughout the city. And now here we are easing up on restrictions because people stayed the course to look out for each other and are also getting vaccinated.

You know, you have your risk takers and daredevils.

Plenty of those people were acting ignorant towards the situation as far as wanting to get too close to one another.

And it affected me as far as trying to make paper sales. But it is what it is.

I know one thing: it’s been a lot of people that have died due to this pandemic, and that’s sad for all of the people that have lost their loved ones. They have my deepest sympathy and respect.

Hopefully, people can continue to stay strong, keep them in their heart, and carry on with life.

We’ve been through a lot

BY DORIS ROBINSON // Artist/Vendor

For a long time now, we’ve been wearing masks and staying six feet apart from one another in stores and markets.

Do you remember when we could only ride in the back portion of the bus? Or when indoor restaurants were completely closed other than serving people at the door or through delivery?

Our society has been pushing you to use the computer more and more for a while, but when the pandemic hit, it became necessary overnight to use computers to do everything you used to do in person: shop, communicate, schedule appointments, go to school. For a long time, it left our city feeling almost like a small town. No one was out unless they had nowhere else to go.

And if you relied on asking other people for help, there were

not too many people left to ask. They were all inside.

Do you remember when the armed forces came to town to enforce quarantining and distancing — watching how many people went into the store?

It’s hard to believe some of these situations were not that long ago. Many people are still struggling from lost jobs and slow business. If you have to pay bills through stimulus checks and unemployment checks, the money runs out fast. I hope we’re moving toward better days.

from Olympia XII No man cann take fro the gods thatt certainty hof success, by will ounly; nor set what has to be.

Whoere ys fallen to mens minds, unknown, neren uthyres ho shal qwyk face down an enemy and exchaunge suddenly sorow for joy!

Lik the cock ov the walk be the sun ov Philanor.

After Pindarus

BY FRANKLIN STERLING Artist/Vendor PHOTO COURTESY OF EGISTO SANI ON FLICKR.COM

PHOTO COURTESY OF KAYLA SPEID ON UNSPLASH.COM

Thank you for reading Street Sense!

From your vendor MAY 26 - JUNE 1, 2021 | VOLUME 18 ISSUE 19

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