06 23 2021

VOL. 18 ISSUE 22

$2

JUNE 23 - 29, 2021

Real Stories

Residents of camp at NJ and O St ask:

Who are DC’s parks for?

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

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EVENTS

// 3

NEWS IN BRIEF Bowser announces cash, groceries, Metro fare, and a car to encourage residents to get vaccinated

“Feeding our relatives” community service Saturday, June 26 // 11 a.m.

McPherson Square (Vermont Avenue and I Street NW) The Distant Relatives Project holds its “feeding our relatives” project in McPherson Square on the last Saturday of every month, providing food, supplies, medical services and free haircuts to the homeless community.

Learn more and register to volunteer at: tinyurl.com/distant-relatives-project TUESDAY, JUNE 29

UPDATES ONLINE AT ICH.DC.GOV

Stable Housing Is a Critical First Step toward Racial Equity 2:30 - 4:00 p.m. // Online The Urban Institute will host this event exploring the state of housing stability for Black, Indigenous, and Latinx households and the risks they face, based on research by the Renters and Rental Market Crisis Working Group and Housing Crisis Research Collaborative.

Register at: tinyurl.com/urbanrenting-panel

D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness Meetings Emergency Response and Shelter Operations Committee June 23, 1 - 2:30 p.m.

Youth Committee June 24, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Executive Committee July 23, 1:30 - 3 p.m.

Housing Solutions Committee June 19, 3 - 4:30 p.m. ***For call-in information, as well as meeting info for unlisted working groups, contact: ich.dmhhs@dc.gov

SATURDAY, JUNE 26

Building a Sense of Unity: Gardening’s Important Role in Healthy Communities 10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. // Online This installment of the Anacostia Community Museum’s Growing Community Series will explore the ways that green spaces can contribute to a connection to place and strengthen the overall health of communities.

Register at: tinyurl.com/anacostiamuseum-gardening

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

AUDIENCE EXCHANGE Amanda Michelle Gomez @amanduhgomez

Candace Y.A. Montague @urbanbushwoman9

If you haven’t picked up the latest issue of @streetsensedc, correct that immediately. @howisthatlegal is on the cover, and profiles DC’s first drug treatment program for women.

Congratulations to @EricFalquero and his team at @streetsensedc for winning alllllll the awards SPJ DC has. Like there’s nothing left but dust & cicadas. Seriously though I’m super happy for them. #supportlocalnews

9:15 AM · JUNE 16, 2021

10:58 AM · JUNE 16, 2021

Mayor Muriel Bowser announced the “Take the Shot, D.C. Giveaway” over the weekend, where D.C. residents receiving their first or only dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at certain locations can win prizes including a new car, $10,000 to be spent on groceries, or a year of free rides on Metro buses and trains. Additionally, all D.C. residents 12 years and older receiving their first or only dose at those vaccination sites will receive a $51 VISA gift card.

To enter the giveaway, residents must be vaccinated between June 19 and July 17 at the RISE Demonstration Center (1730 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE), Anacostia High School (1601 16th St. SE), or Ron Brown High School (4800 Meade St. NE).

The drawing can only be entered once. Winners will be notified by text or phone if selected and can obtain their prize after completing an authorization form and receiving their second dose (unless they got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine that only requires one dose). There will be one winner per week for the car, two winners per week for the groceries, and multiple winners per week for the transit fare.

To help promote the giveaway, all District residents who got vaccinated at Anacostia High School on June 19 were entered to win two roundtrip American Airlines tickets. In addition, Bowser visited the school that day accompanied by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to encourage more people to get vaccinated.

D.C. is not the only state aiming to promote vaccinations through incentives. Ohio awarded $1 million to five people per week starting in May. California, North Carolina, and others launched similar sweepstakes. And Washington state is temporarily allowing select cannabis retailers to give a free joint to adults receiving their first or second dose, according to the Washington Post.

As of June 21, nearly 50% of District residents are fully vaccinated and the daily COVID-19 case count has steadily declined to less than five new COVID-19 cases per day. There have been 1,141 lives lost in D.C. due to the virus. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the COVID-19 vaccines are both safe and effective, and the federal agency recommends children 12 years and older get vaccinated for free to help stop the spread of the virus. A full list of days and hours of D.C. walk-up sites can be found on coronavirus.dc.gov/vaccinatedc and those who are unable to leave home to get vaccinated can call 1-855-363-0333 to make an appointment for a free at-home vaccination.

—Natalie Chen, Intern

CORRECTION Last edition’s story “Millions in rent and utility relief still available through STAY DC” has been updated online to reflect that all $352 million for STAY D.C. is federal funding and that $13 million (not $1.3 million) had been spent as of June 8. We initially reported that some of the funding came from local tax dollars and would not be lost if the District failed to distribute enough aid by September.

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NEWS

Joel Caston wins Ward 7 ANC representative seat while incarcerated at DC Jail

BY MARTIN AUSTERMUHLE @maustermuhle

This article was first published by DCist on June 16.

There’s a new elected official in D.C. — and he lives inside the D.C. Jail.

Joel Caston won an unprecedented election on Tuesday for a seat on a Ward 7 Advisory Neighborhood Commission, besting four other candidates who are also incarcerated in the jail. Caston received 48 votes, or 33% of the 142 votes that were cast — all but one of them by residents of the jail.

“It’s winning Wednesday,” Caston said during an interview from the jail. “[I feel] like a representative.

It’s a good feeling, but also a sense of responsibility.”

Caston, who has been incarcerated for more than a quarter-century, becomes the first person to fill the ANC 7F07 seat, which represents a district on the east end of Capitol Hill encompassing the jail, a women’s homeless shelter, and a new residential building. Though the seat was created during the last round of redistricting almost a decade ago, it was never filled — largely because of the logistical complications inherent in having people held in the jail participate in the election, either as candidates or voters.

In Caston’s case, he ran as a write-in candidate last November, but was disqualified due to a technical error involving his voter registration. That prompted neighborhood groups and the D.C. Council to push for a new election.

Caston, 44, is also the only elected official in D.C. who is also incarcerated; prison reform advocates said they know of no similar situation anywhere else across the country. But people who know Caston said they’re hardly surprised by his decision to seek the ANC seat.

“As I have come to know Joel over time … I’m reminded every day of how much we waste assets and people who can contribute to our community because they are behind bars for far too long,” said Marc Schindler, the executive director of the Justice Policy Institute, which advocates for alternatives to mass incarceration and grew to knew Caston during his time at the jail. “He grew up essentially in a war zone, but if he had been given the resources and support that my kids get … this would have been a very different story from the beginning.”

Caston, who was born and raised in Washington, was convicted of murder for a killing he committed when he was 18. He served time in federal prisons before coming to the D.C. Jail in 2016; he has since been pursuing early release under the city’s IRAA law, which gives people

Joel Caston cast his ballot in the D.C. Jail on Tuesday for the ANC 7F07 seat. He and four other candidates — all of whom reside at the jail — ran for the seat. D.C. DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

who committed crimes as teenagers a chance to petition for reduced sentences after they’ve served 15 years in prison.

But he has also taken on other pursuits: He helped start a jail newspaper, has taught financial literacy classes, and became a founding mentor of the Young Men Emerging program, which uses older people like himself to provide mentoring and support to younger people serving shorter sentences.

Running for office was a natural next step, Caston said.

And he adds that even though he was disqualified after his first attempt late last year, he was recently reminded of the symbolic value of even trying: An older person who had just arrived at the jail told Caston he had heard about his write-in campaign.

“He said ‘I’m so proud of you.’ There was some younger gentlemen in the holding room [too], and they were like, ‘Oh, you were the guy who ran?’ The conversation started flowing, they were like, ‘I wanna run, I wanna run.’ I’m just listening to them, smiling, but inside my heart was blushing,” Caston recalled. “This is what it’s about. If we can see one of us succeed … then everyone else will follow suit. So we change the narrative. I look at who was running for the ANC seat as changing the narrative.”

The next step for Caston will be adapting to life as an ANC commissioner, the corps of unpaid volunteers across D.C. neighborhoods who weigh in on issues big and small, from public safety and development to liquor licenses and broken sidewalks. And given his status as a resident of the jail, that may be more challenging than for many other commissioners. But city officials said they are working with him to make it possible for him to do his work.

“The [Department of Corrections] has been very supportive thus far and they indicate he will have 24-7 internet access, and they will be providing him with a tablet,” said Gottlieb Simon, director of the Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions. “He’ll be able

to do what lots of us have been doing over the last year, which is interacting virtually. He’ll also be able to host some meetings at the facility with fellow commissioners, with constituents, though DOC may have some screening requirements.”

Caston said his first order of business will be to reach out to his new constituents, which include the roughly 1,400 people at the jail, but also residents of the Harriet Tubman Women’s Shelter and Park Kennedy, a new residential building that’s part of a broader redevelopment of the old D.C. General campus.

“I think my first job is to listen, to listen attentively,” he said. “If I’m going to be a voice for the people I have to hear the people. It’s not so much what I want to do, but what the people want me to do.”

Caston said he also wants to remain a role model for other people incarcerated at the jail.

“My role, my assignment, my purpose is to let people know that while you’re inside, you can think about political science, you can engage in civic matters, you can do these things as incarcerated persons,” he said. “Then what happens is we get an idea inside our brains: ‘Wait a minute, I may be incarcerated, but my voice still matters.’”

Still, Caston admits his tenure may be short: He and his lawyer believe he’s likely to be paroled by the end of the year, though he could be released before that if his IRAA petition is granted. If that happens, he’ll likely be ineligible to stay in the post.

“Part of my mindset is establishing something that can be sustainable,” he said of the seat he now occupies and hopes someone else will eventually claim.

“History was made in the District last night,” Schindler said, referring to Caston becoming the first person in jail to win elected office. “He may make history again, hopefully soon, because hopefully he’ll be released. And if he’s released he’ll lose elected office. He may be the first elected official to be removed from office because he’s released from prison.”

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

// 5

DMHHS completes full cleanup of Q St encampment, city-owned property to become affordable housing facility

BY SARAH WATSON sarah.watson@streetsensemedia.org

T

he Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS) completed a full cleanup of an encampment at 10 Q St NW on June 15. Tents, garbage, and all remaining belongings were thrown away.

The cleanup on the private property comes after 16 years of disuse and a delay to turn the land into an affordable housing complex.

10 Q St NW, just off of Florida Ave in the Truxton Circle neighborhood, was purchased by the city in 2005 but is currently unoccupied and deteriorating. Following proposals for the property, the city awarded the lot to Mi Casa, Inc, a nonprofit affordable housing developer, in 2018. Three years later, however, construction on the low-rent complex has not started.

According to DMHHS deputy chief of staff Jessica Smith, the office received a request from developers to remove three tents huddled near a portable toilet to allow access to the property. City employees visited the encampment to work with residents and offer resources in the weeks and day before the cleanup. The tents were leaning against the property and in an enclosed grassy courtyard next to the building.

Unlike the trash-only cleanups that became common during the COVID-19 pandemic, full engagement of the city’s encampment protocol includes displacing any people in the area and disposal of all property within 200 feet of posted notices. The day before the cleanup, Leroy Farley, a resident of the encampment, called on the city to pay greater attention to people experiencing homelessness.

“Start listening to homeless people,” Farley said. “People turn their nose up to us. At least give us water. We have no bathroom, sometimes we have no clothes.”

Mi Casa is turning the two-story brick building and fenced-in vacant lots on either side into an affordable housing complex with retail space, according to DMHHS. Mi Casa owns nine other buildings across D.C. that provide long-term rental housing for low-income residents. In 2019, Mi Casa provided 213 affordable units and housed 1,445 residents.

“The organization came before the ANC and got support for the project and so it’s been awarded to them,” said advisory neighborhood commissioner Bradley Thomas, who represents the area where the property is located and chairs ANC5E. “They got support from the community generally to develop community housing there and mixed-use space.” According to Thomas, the property is still approximately a year away from being developed.

In 2019, the Urban Institute estimated that the greater Washington metro area, including nearby counties in Virginia and Maryland, would need to build 375,000 affordable homes by 2030 to keep up with housing costs. Some of the goals outlined in their research became official targets, such as the housing objective of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments to build 320,000 affordable housing units by 2030.

Recent studies, however, show that this building goal is impossible at the current rate of affordable housing development in the District. Analysis by the Housing Association of Nonprofit Developers showed that only 12% of the Urban Institute’s target has been met, with the Washington area falling steeply behind its 2030 construction goals.

The city solicited plans for the property through a request for proposals process, according to Smith. In 2018, 10 Q Street NW was awarded to Mi Casa to develop the lot into Barnett-Adan apartments, an affordable housing project.

Mi Casa then received a further $100,000 in funding in 2020 for the complex through the Oramenta Predevelopment Loan fund. The loan fund is an effort of Bowser’s goal to construct 12,000 affordable D.C. units by 2025 and offers money to cover predevelopment costs for affordable housing in wards 5, 7, and 8.

While the city waits for morer affordable housing, the tents and belongings of people experiencing homelessness are routinely thrown away. The D.C. government has conducted 13 full cleanups since April, 65% as many full cleanups and immediate dispositions (where no notice is given due to public health concerns) as it carried out during the first year of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. “I guess I’ll have to find another spot,” Farley said the day before the cleanup.

“Things can be replaced,” he replied when asked what he would do with his belongings.

None of the residents were present when the cleanup started at 10 a.m. According to Smith, one resident left before the cleanup after noting which items were garbage and could be removed.

In addition to the request from developers, the June 15 cleanup followed complaints by Ward 5 residents and business owners near the Q Street NW and Florida Avenue NW intersection against the encampment.

According to Thomas, the ANC commissioner, the encampment has raised complaints from nearby residents and business owners, who want the portable toilet removed in addition to the encampment. “There is a lot of discussion, people are not happy with the encampment and its location,” Thomas said.

“People say it’s growing fast and somewhat out of control, and healthy conditions need to exist. There are possible unhealthy conditions.”

The city placed portable toilets across the District during the COVID-19 pandemic in encampments where 10 or more congregated in line with CDC guidelines. According to DMHHS, the Q Street portable toilet will remain for people in the surrounding area to utilize.

According to Thomas, housed residents of Ward 5 have been asking for an encampment cleanup for a while. People have lived on the otherwise unused property for the last two or three years, he said, but the Q Street encampment has grown larger in recent months.

“Encampment cleanups in the area don’t happen enough in my opinion,” Thomas said. “Things get out of control and people complain. Hopefully it will be a regularly scheduled event.” The last cleanup in the 5E ANC commission occurred in 2019, two blocks away from the Eckington property at North Capitol and O Street NE.

DMHHS completing its cleanup at 10 Q Street. PHOTO BY SARAH WATSON

Thomas explained that while some local residents want the encampment removed, he has also received feedback calling for resources for people experiencing homelessness and living in encampments.

“At the same time, there is the issue of a lack of housing, and people have to go somewhere.

So it’s a mixed bag of opinions,” Thomas said.

“We realize you cannot uproot folks with nowhere else to go, without any provisions.”

Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie is working with District agencies and businesses to find long-term support for residents of the Q Street encampment. In his 2020 budget priorities letter to Bowser, McDuffie emphasized affordable housing and encouraged funding for housing subsidies.

McDuffie’s office attributed challenges in supporting encampment residents. “The pandemic has created significant challenges to effectively support residents experiencing homelessness and our office will continue working with stakeholders to find a solution that ensures everyone in the community gets the services they need,” a spokesperson told Street Sense Media.

The morning after the cleanup, three of the four tents were gone, with the one remaining standing slightly off the property. No residents were at the site. According to DMHHS, residents who had tents in the courtyard next to the property will not be able to return, as the space is private property and a fence to the area is being fixed.

Farley said he just wants a secure place to sleep at night, even if that means moving back to the encampment following the cleanup.

“I’ll move anywhere that I feel safe,” he said. “A lot of places we can’t go to because people are afraid. People just need a safe haven, just a place to lay their head.”

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NEWS

DC begins to improve its central COVID-19 rent relief program, which applicants say is hard to reach and riddled with delays

BY JARROD WARDWELL jarrod.wardwell@streetsensemedia.org

A

pplicants to the District’s new program for tenants struggling to pay rent or utility bills due to the COVID-19 pandemic have waited the last two months for funding that’s on track to go unspent by the millions.

STAY D.C., the Stronger Together By Assisting You program, opened in April with $352 million for local tenants in need of assistance paying off rent and utilities during the COVID-19 health crisis. But many unemployed residents who are bracing for the end of the District’s eviction ban in late September said they have yet to receive any funding from a program riddled with communication issues and reported several failed attempts to contact city officials about the status of their applications.

D.C. has distributed about $19 million as of June 22, just over 5% of the total funds, according to the Department of Human Services.

If the rollout of cash doesn’t accelerate during the summer, hundreds of millions of dollars in D.C.’s rental assistance pool could expire. City officials must assign at least $130 million of the federal relief aid subsidizing STAY D.C. by Sept. 30 or else all unused funds could be returned to the federal government to be redistributed to other states, according to federal guidelines.

D.C.’s challenges are similar to those faced by other local governments. Montgomery County, for instance, had distributed just $400,000 of the $31.4 million it received from the federal government as of June 7, according to the Bethesda Beat.

Stateline reported in June that delays and difficulties applying STAY D.C. with community members and collaborate with for and distributing the federal relief funds are widespread local businesses, places of worship, and nonprofits to increase throughout the country. awareness. He said the campaign will Richard Livingstone, the deputy include in-person “pop-up events” chief of staff and communications with application assistance. director for the Department STAY D.C. received more than of Housing and Community 22,000 applications as of June Development, said city officials 22. While the number of denied are “confident” in their ability to applications has been small so far, meet the federal spending deadline the vast majority of denials have been this fall. due to a missing verification of the He said the department is working person’s income. to start sending application status Yogi Powers, a tenant living in updates every two weeks via email Southeast, said she applied to STAY and planning to hire 50 more staff D.C. shortly after the program’s members to review applications. launch in April in the hopes of Livingstone said it should currently receiving utility assistance after take 30 to 45 days for applicants missing all of her utility payments Downtown landlord to receive STAY D.C. funding since last January. Powers said she depending on what “supplemental has yet to receive the assistance or documents” were submitted and any phone calls, emails, or texts from whether an applicant was matched to a housing provider.

STAY D.C. about her application.

“We are continually working to streamline our process and “If my utilities get cut off, how am I going to cook?” she find efficiencies,” he said in an email. said. “How am I going to do anything?”

Livingstone said DHCD is also developing “a robust Electric, gas, and telecommunications providers are currently communications and outreach plan” involving media and restricted from shutting off utilities for another month until the grassroots outreach work, where staff share information about end of the District’s public health emergency, which the D.C.

“We're going to see a real tremendous problem if the transparency doesn't improve and the applications are not actually processed and paid.”

GRAPHIC BY STAY D.C.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

// 7

AT A GLANCE

August Mallory and James Davis.

PHOTO COURTESY OF JAMES DAVIS

GRAPHIC BY JARROD WARDWELL

Council authorized to extend until July 25. The city’s eviction ban will also lift 60 days after the public health emergency ends, meaning evictions could resume Sep. 25 — five days before the city could lose its unspent STAY D.C. funding.

The program offers housing support for up to 18 months, providing money for unpaid rent dating back to the start of the pandemic last April and for upcoming rent for up to three months at a time. Applications for the program are open to renters and landlords who can help register their tenants for assistance.

To qualify for the program, renters must satisfy criteria in three categories: household income, financial hardship, and housing instability. Tenants’ household income must equal or dip below threshold income levels posted on the STAY D.C. website (https://stay.dc.gov), based on household size and the past two months of earnings.

Applicants must exhibit financial hardship with “significant costs” or a loss of income during the COVID-19 pandemic.

To demonstrate housing instability, renters must report unpaid rent or utilities or prove they spend more than half of their income on rent.

Maurita Burgess said she has called STAY D.C. between 20 and 25 times since applying for utility assistance in April for her unit in Southeast but was never connected with a representative. After realizing that STAY D.C. never sent her a confirmation email after the program’s website stated it had received her application, Burgess said she called the STAY D.C. number posted online and found herself placed on hold, sent to voicemail, disconnected, or blocked from phone lines busy with too many callers.

Her experience with STAY D.C. isn’t the first time Burgess has struggled to get ahold of utility assistance from the city.

She said she never received the utility funding that she applied for last year from the Department of Energy and Environment, which offers utility assistance to low-income residents through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

“You shouldn’t have people waiting for months and almost years to get funding if the funding is there,” Burgess said.

“And I don’t know what their process is once the application is submitted, but y’all should need to have some type of communication with them and with the customer. I mean, it doesn’t make sense.”

When asked about Burgess’s application, DOEE confirmed that it had been submitted but noted the application was incomplete and could still be processed once all required documents have been received.

A landlord who rents property in downtown D.C.,who requested to remain anonymous, said he applied to STAY D.C. in April with a tenant who has been unemployed and has failed to pay rent since getting laid off last summer because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since applying, the landlord said STAY D.C. and the office of Mayor Muriel Bowser have become a “black box” with no updates about when funding could roll in.

The landlord said STAY D.C. representatives told him they didn’t have access to the main database of applications and can’t answer questions about where they stand in the approval process.

He said the offices of Bowser and John Falcicchio — Bowser’s chief of staff and the deputy mayor for planning and economic development — never responded to his concerns and questions about STAY D.C. and the delays in funding distribution, leaving him and other applicants still searching for answers.

Some reforms have already been enacted. DHS announced on June 22 that it was launching a landlord portal to enable large housing providers to submit multiple applications at once and that there would be new status markers in the online portal to make it clear where each application stands.

“We’re going to see a real tremendous problem if the transparency doesn’t improve and the applications are not actually processed and paid,” the landlord said. “We can all see this coming. It’s obvious to anybody who’s looking. I’m not sure if the mayor’s office is.”

Ebony Makel, a tenant living with five children in Takoma, said she was hoping to receive rental assistance from STAY D.C. for a security deposit. Makel has to move units before her housing voucher expires in November and won’t have the money to do so without some form of financial support to cover her security deposit.

Makel said the Virginia Williams Family Resource Center and Catholic Charities, the social services agency that offers her rental assistance, directed her to STAY D.C. when she asked for help paying her security deposit.

After applying earlier this month, Makel hasn’t received any phone calls or emails about her funding and currently doesn’t have anywhere else to go.

“It seems like everybody’s going to send me to STAY D.C., so it’s like I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place right now,” she said.

For more information about STAY D.C., call 833-4-STAYDC (833-478-2932).

August Mallory, vendor #1, visited our offices last week. He is currently living in Boston selling Spare Change, another street newspaper. August is just one of many vendors I introduced as speakers for the National Coalition for the Homeless. He ran for city council in Tennessee several years ago and has now retired to Boston. To all his former customers, he wishes Godspeed and good health.

—JAMES DAVIS, Artist/Vendor

ACCOMPLISHMENTS The People for Fairness Coalition celebrated its 13th year on June 21.

Congratulations!

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

www.StreetSenseMedia.org/connect

8 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A // J U N E 2 3 - 2 9 , 2021

NEWS

What a park redevelopment reveals about a community: Beyond the city’s plans to renovate the park at NJ Ave and O St NW

BY WILL SCHICK will@streetsensemedia.org

A

t a quarter past 3 on a recent weekday afternoon, Alexander, an unsheltered resident who lives in a tent, was trying not to cry.

Alexander, who agreed to an interview under the condition he not be photographed or fully named, has been living without a home for just over 16 years.

The park where Alexander resides is located at the corner of New Jersey Avenue and O Street NW, next to a fire station and not far from Dunbar High School. And it’s the topic of much heated debate.

This fall, the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) will begin renovating the park where Alexander lives. DPR’s plans, which were announced last September and include installation of a playground with a splash pad and climbable sculptures, have sparked community discussion that has little to do with the park’s designs and everything to do about the people who reside in an encampment located at the park.

Surrounded by towering deciduous trees, the park features concrete paths, benches, gaming tables, and a patch of grass. It’s also home to approximately 30 of the city’s unsheltered residents, many of whom moved into the park during the pandemic to carve out a space of their own under the shady canopy.

But the area, which was never designed for sustained living, quickly became overrun with problems within the last year. Garbage overflowed from trash cans. Neighbors complained about drug use. Reports of overdoses, crime, and unsanitary conditions floated about town. Two people who lived in the encampment died, one in March and another in May. There was a fire on May 29 that the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department said lasted less than 10 minutes.

While the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS) led one “encampment protocol engagement” at the park in 2019, the city doubled down in 2020, conducting six cleanups in the area: four where only designated trash was removed, and two where all people were forced to leave and any unclaimed belongings destroyed. So far in 2021, there have been three trash-only cleanups at the park, according to Street Sense Media’s monitoring of the deputy mayor’s website.

D.C. Fire and EMS responded to the New Jersey and O Street NW intersection 41 times from Jan. 1 to June 15 of this year. (The

number excludes traffic accidents but is not specific to the encampment at the location.)

Still, many housed residents in the area became frustrated with what they saw as a lack of government engagement with the people living at the park. Why weren’t these people in a shelter? Why couldn’t the government find them housing? Why can’t someone just go in and clear them all out?

While Alexander was also frustrated about his lack of housing, the poor conditions at the park, and the drugs he has seen being used from time to time — they weren’t the reason for his tears.

In the late spring of 2005, someone threw a firebomb into Alexander’s home in Southeast D.C. The deadly fire that ensued stole all those who were special to him: his mother, his wife, his 5-month-old daughter. Around the same time, District police arrested a serial arsonist for a string of fires he set throughout the Washington area by lighting plastic jugs filled with gasoline. However, years later, living in the park at New Jersey and O, Alexander still is not sure who attacked his family’s home or why.

“Man, I’m trying not to cry. Sometimes, I try not to cry,” he said. “What I mean by that is [sometimes] I’ll go into my tent right there, and just lay down, and just cry. Sometimes, just hoping for another day when I don’t have to see none of this.”

Sometimes expletives don’t fully express the fury of being forcibly removed from one’s home Tiara Maria Bowen, an unsheltered resident who was evicted from her home on Saratoga Avenue NE seven years ago and now lives in a tent under the shade of a large tree, thinks discussing the details of the city’s plans to renovate the park is beside the point.

In her view, the discussion her housed neighbors should be having is about something more fundamental: “Why are we living in tents?” Bowen asked, sweeping her hand around to point at the line of tents staked around the perimeter of the park.

Ever since her eviction, Bowen said, she has been living on the streets. And it has taken its toll on her health and well-being.

“Look at my feet. … I’m tired of being on my f****** feet,” Bowen said, removing her

Tiara Maria Bowen shows her feet. PHOTO BY WILL SCHICK

shoes and showing the many blisters and sores covering her soles.

Bowen’s old neighborhood between Brentwood and Langdon has undergone intense redevelopment in recent years, including the large RIA project that is expected to break ground soon. She blames the city for a long history of housing policies that have harmed Black families — and the statistics back her up.

A report released by the new Council Office of Racial Equity explains how “centuries of government-sanctioned racist policies” have led to the present-day housing inequities that disproportionately affect Black and Latinx households. At present, according to the report, Black and Latinx households in the District have the highest rates of rent burden, with over half spending in excess of 30% of their income on rent. They also have much lower homeownership rates when compared with white residents: 49% of white households in the District own their homes, compared with 35% of Black households and 30% of Latinx households, the report says.

Yet the effects of housing inequity may be most visible in the city’s unhoused

population. The federally mandated Point in Time Count released this year by the Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness showed that 86.5% of the people experiencing homelessness in the District are Black or African American, despite Black people making up just 46% of the total population.

Regardless of statistical evidence, the disparities are obvious to Bowen, who gestured at those living in tents around her. Furious and hurt, she says she’s done having a filter.

“I ain’t racist, but why the f*** is it that we ain’t got s*** yet and we’re the ones [who’ve] got to move?” she asked.

Bowen pointed to another harsh reality: Living outdoors poses particular dangers to young women like her, who face the constant threat of violence.

“They’re attacking our females. They’re raping us, and they’re doing s*** to us,” Bowen said.

According to a 2017 report published by the District’s Interagency Council on Homelessness, over three-quarters of homeless women have experienced violence, including domestic and intimate partner violence.

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A view of the park from the sidewalk. PHOTO BY WILL SCHICK

Sometimes, conversations and meetings fall short of expectations Last September, representatives from four D.C. agencies — the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, the Department of Human Services, the Department of Parks and Recreation, and the Department of General Services — held the first in a series of virtual community meetings to address concerns about the city’s plans to renovate the park at New Jersey Avenue and O Street NW. The elaborate $1.3 million project, scheduled to start later this year, includes installation of a splash park, new landscaping, and a new pavilion — with a future dog park to be developed by others penciled in next to the area.

At the meeting, city officials addressed questions from the public about the planned project and the unsheltered residents living there. Some community members posed questions — later compiled into a Q&A on the DGS website — that betrayed their overriding concerns, which had nothing to do with the climbable sculptures, the fountains, or the new walking paths.

“What action is being taken to make sure that no ADDITIONAL residents move into the park?”

“Why ‘can’t’ DC arrest people for violating the no camping law? And why ‘can’t’ items illegally kept on public park land be impounded and confiscated as a deterrent to

this illegal behavior? Is this DC Law? If so, it can change — why ‘can’t’ we change this?”

“Is there a way that a portion of the funding can be spent to put up a fence in the short term in order to eliminate camping within the park?”

“What is the procedure for when encampment residents refuse housing/services AND refuse to leave?”

When asked, none of the people living at the park interviewed for this article stated that they would refuse permanent housing.

Instead, all of those interviewed said they lived there because they had nowhere else to go. Alexander said he has been on a housing waiting list for years.

Some community members raised similar concerns at a June 2 virtual meeting hosted

by Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen and attended by city officials, residents, and community activists alike. In his public address to attendees, Allen said he organized the meeting to address resident concerns about the encampment.

Speaking at the meeting, local advisory neighborhood commissioner Rachelle Nigro called on all those present to develop a plan that addressed the concerns of both housed and unhoused neighbors.

“This park is dangerous for not only the residents inside the park, but for the surrounding community. And on behalf of the community, especially the residents in the [neighboring] cooperative, something needs to be done to help the people in the park,” said Nigro, who represents the area where the park is located and chairs ANC 6E. Alex Lopez, another member of ANC 6E,

This chart depicts the percentage of households by race/ethnicity who spend more than 30% of their income on rent in the District. DATA DERIVED FROM THE COUNCIL OFFICE OF RACIAL EQUITY. GRAPHIC BY WILL SCHICK

said the encampment is the “No. 1 issue” he hears about from constituents.

For Lopez, his bottom-line concern about the encampment has to do with how the city plans to eventually relocate the people living there. Construction for the park, Lopez pointed out, is set to start by early fall.

“We can’t afford to have an eviction scenario similar to the K Street underpass in NoMa. That’s absolutely what I want to avoid. There needs to be a plan. People need to have opportunities to move into housing,” Lopez said.

Responding to the community’s general questions about D.C. protocol for “clearing” an encampment, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Wayne Turnage said flatly that although he has the authority to order encampment “cleanups,” he does not have the authority to “criminalize homelessness.”

“We cannot permanently evict people from an encampment that is not deemed to be an ongoing public safety or public health hazard,” Turnage said.

Laura Zeilinger, director of the city’s Department of Human Services, added that DHS representatives visit this encampment “multiple times a week” to connect unsheltered residents with opportunities to find them housing and shelter. But, as she pointed out, “It’s a complex process. … Certainly, if there was a very simple solution, we would not be sitting here having this conversation over and over again.”

Some feel the project ought to be something else Elliot Hardesty, who started sleeping on the benches on New Jersey Avenue because he ran into issues drawing his government pension, first came to D.C. in 1976 to study engineering at Howard University.

After finishing his studies at Howard, Hardesty worked for the Tennessee Valley Authority’s nuclear construction program before coming back to D.C. in 1987 for a job in the city’s Department of Public Works. For 10 years, Hardesty worked as an engineer on projects such as the I-395 bridge.

During that time, he watched as the District’s landscape evolved.

“I could see the city changing. Now, at that point, D.C. used to be all Black … then all of a sudden, the whole doggone area started to have tac-cranes going up for construction and housing and stuff,” Hardesty said.

He questioned whether DPR’s goals for the park are misaligned with what the community needs.

For Hardesty, the question of what to do about the park is obvious, evident by the

grouping of tents that surround its perimeter.

“They could knock all of this down and find these people a place to live somewhere, and build a shelter here for the homeless,” he said.

Hardesty used to sleep on the benches near Metro stations, and the Metro Transit Police would often help him find a place to sleep at local shelters.

“But the shelters are so lousy trying to house everybody, so I’m just living on the benches day by day,” Hardesty said.

Hardesty does not quite understand the logic behind spending over $1 million on a project he does not think is needed. In his view, what the city needs more than another splash pad or climbable sculpture is a new shelter.

“They have running water out there, sewer out there, electricity, so why can’t they bring in a construction company, tear everything down … and get to work?” Hardesty asked.

The answer to Hardesty’s question lies with the publicly stated goals for the park’s renovation project. According to a DPR presentation from April, the new design for the park is intended to encourage activities such as “water-play” for neighborhood children and “space to host concerts, summer cinema,” as well as to foster opportunities for “community gathering.” Most of the community quotes provided within the document highlight the desire from residents to maintain the large flexible green space and add lighting to make it feel safer at night.

The presentation also shows the results of a community survey conducted by DPR to inform its plans for redesigning the park.

The survey asked participants to respond to a series of questions that combined the onset of COVID-19 and the encampment as the primary dividing line to consider their experiences at the park: “How often did you visit NJ & O Park before COVID-19 and the encampment?”

“What amenities did you and/or your family members use at NJ & O Park before COVID19 and the encampment?”

“What did you and/or your family members like most about NJ & O Park before COVID19 and the encampment?”

Despite multiple requests for comment, DPR, DMHHS, and DHS did not answer questions about the project.

Alexander, who did not know much about the city’s plans to renovate the park before his interview with Street Sense Media and The DC Line, said he could imagine how it will look when complete.

“It can be a lovely park. It can be. It’s just … when they throw us out …,” he said, trailing off.

This article was co-published with The DC Line.

1 0 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A // J U N E 2 3 - 2 9 , 2021

OPINION

A few notes on respect: how to ensure you’re treating a trans person with dignity Poster held during the Trans Day of Action in 2011.

BY PHOENIX OAKS

PHOTO BY WOMEN’S ENEWS

I've noticed that, unfortunately, staff and volunteers who run non-profits that serve poor and houseless folks are often unaware of how to treat transgender community members with basic respect. Some are outright unwilling to use trans people’s correct names or pronouns.

This lack of respect is especially unacceptable given that trans people make up a disproportionate percentage of houseless folks. We face very high rates of discrimination, violence, family and community rejection, harassment and suicide attempts because of transphobia. The last thing struggling trans folks need is to be mistreated in places like shelters, service centers, offices, medical clinics and places where they get food and use restrooms.

I’ve experienced incessant misgendering and other forms of transphobia by a few people in some of these places. I’ve also seen trans people get harassed, discriminated against and misgendered by staff and other residents in shelters. I’ve been told by an employee at a shelter service that trans men can just go to the women’s shelter after I raised concerns about trans men and nonbinary people’s safety in shelters.

As a trans man, I’d feel extremely uncomfortable and out of place going into a women’s shelter (especially since I pass as male and am legally male). At the same time, I’d unfortunately feel unsafe in a men’s shelter, too, given the high risk of sexual assault. Many people in this community first met me before I started transitioning.

Don’t get me wrong: Trans men and women should definitely be able to stay in men’s and women’s shelters respectively according to their correct genders, just as they should be able to use the correct restrooms. At the same time, given the current social climate, I believe that trans, nonbinary and gender nonconforming people need their own shelter or shelter beds that they can go to if they feel safer there. As things stand now, the places that serve folks who are struggling the most are often not safe or welcoming to us.

That was my reason for putting together the following tips.

• • •

•

Respect everyone’s right to self-identify and express however they wish at any time and in any situation.

Once known, use ONLY a person’s chosen name and pronouns, unless they explicitly want you to

•

• •

Actions, questions and statements to avoid •

• •

•

•

The importance of names and pronouns •

do otherwise. This can be the case when a person is still in the process of coming out.

Don’t justify deadnaming (using a person’s former name) or misgendering. Apologize and correct yourself if you slip.

Legal names and genders are often NOT preferred and are not to be considered people’s “real” names or genders.

Don’t out anyone without permission.

•

Unequal, stigmatizing, dehumanizing or awkward treatment such as staring, ceasing communication, deliberate deadnaming or misgendering, sharing medical/anatomical information, old photos or birth names without the trans person’s consent, transphobic jokes or stereotyping, or using mocking or condescending tones with chosen name or pronouns.

Anything invasive or objectifying about body, presentation, old or new name or appearance, or transition process.

Pressure to do anything that feels unsafe or dysphoria-inducing such as calling police, going to a place that doesn’t feel welcoming, or presenting as assigned gender for school or a family gathering.

Invalidating trans kids’ or youths’ needs or identities by claiming that they’re too young to know, that trans pre-teens shouldn’t go on puberty blockers, or that trans teens shouldn’t have hormone therapy, etc.

Anything that treats trans men as if they’re not real men or trans women as if they’re not real women.

For example, treating trans women like they’re men invading women’s spaces is inherently toxic.

Putting “We welcome women and trans people” on signs would do that, as would surveys that have “male,” “female,” “trans male,” and “trans female” as distinct options instead of “cis male,” “cis female,” “trans male,” and “trans female.”

Regarding non-binary genders as less real or unreal; refusing to use gender-neutral pronouns or the Mx. honorific; or saying that they/them for

• •

•

one person is grammatically incorrect.

Falsely claiming that being trans is a mental illness, a trend or a personal choice; falsely claiming that science supports transphobia; or saying that being trans is against one’s culture, religion, feminism or beliefs.

Performative allyship, tokenism and inappropriate parading of trans identities.

Accusing trans people of being unreasonable or overly sensitive in response to their trauma, dysphoria, or unwillingness to take transphobia, blaming trans people’s unrelated issues on them transitioning, gaslighting, or saying “not all cis people” when they process their experiences.

Treating transphobia like a lower-priority problem to address or a less serious/real oppression.

Arguing that trans people shouldn’t be allowed in certain jobs, roles or places for their correct genders, such as sports teams, restrooms, the military, teaching, raising kids, religious/spiritual leadership and political office.

Arguing that trans prisoners or poor people shouldn’t be able to have surgery.

Phoenix Oaks is a vendor with Street Roots in Portland. This opinion piece was reprinted courtesy of Street Roots and the International Network of Street Papers.

Join the conversation, share your views - Have an opinion about how homelessness is being addressed in our community?

- Want to share firsthand experience?

- Interested in responding to what someone else has written?

Street Sense Media has maintained an open submission policy since our founding.

We aim to elevate voices from across the housing spectrum and foster healthy debate.

Please send submissions to opinion@ streetsensemedia.org.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

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ART

Let’s be friends

What is needed

BY JEFFREY CARTER Artist/Vendor

Friends are the most important necessity in life.

You cannot evolve or get ahead in life without them. A true friend is one you can count on in times of need or trouble. Having friends gives you the balance you need to move ahead in life and open doors of opportunity.

I got a true friend, close friend, who served in the Marine Corps for life. But I lost contact with him. His name is James McCoy, and I believe he

was a sergeant or lieutenant in the Marine Corps.

I met James McCoy in high school at Oxon Hill Senior High, Oxon Hill, Maryland, where he graduated and went into the Marines. I last seen him when he came home on leave in Clinton, Maryland, to my mom’s house. That was the last time I saw him. It was 1991. I really miss him. May peace and blessing be with him.

How I stopped smoking

BY MARCELLUS PHILLIPS Artist/Vendor

When I was younger I was always around people that smoked so as an adult, I didn’t frown upon it, but I knew it wasn’t right. Even after losing family members, I still chose to smoke. I feel like cigarettes were the gateway drug that led me to marijuana. Luckily I was blessed to have enough sense to stop at marijuana while others started smoking dippers and popping pills.

One of the worst habits to have is a cigarette habit because it affects your health and wallet.

My habit was so bad I would walk just to buy

singles if I couldn’t afford a pack, and it also made me have a terrible attitude which was very unhealthy.

Being homeless in the past made me want to smoke because I felt it was a relief instead of a silent killer. Once I got comfortable at my new place, I could no longer afford cigarettes because of the price and my income. Living alone and the change in price, as well as having to walk a long distance to get them, was the combination I used to stop.

BY AYUB ABDUL Artist/Vendor

Allow me a moment to say a few kind words.

When things seem to be bleak and dark, this is the time to stop and consider your feelings.

Only you can go inside your soul to find the positive.

You would not be by yourself. There are other people that feel the same way you do. Find them. It may be hard at first, but if you thirst for knowledge, it will be worth it.

Now relax and find a friend or just think of a happy place and remember the secret of love so deep in your heart.

And that is what is needed. Let’s start and never be defeated.

Cicada haiku

BY QUEENIE FEATHERSTONE Artist/Vendor

Where are you, my bugs?

I must see more cicadas.

Do not disappear!

My Thanks To You

BY VENNIE HILL Artist/Vendor

I’d like to take the time to thank my Street Sense Media customers for all their help and support. It’s greatly appreciated.

Us vendors have all different types of customers that help support and provide for us in more ways than one.

There’s the customer that doesn’t have much to give but will give what they can just to help out.

There’s the customer that doesn’t have nothing to give but is always pleasant to you.

There’s the Spanish mami that always scrapes up a dollar or two even though she can not read English.

There’s the hustler that gives up twenties because he likes to help others.

The Spanish papi who gives because he just has a big heart for people.

The lady that drops off the bagged lunches to those who need them.

The white dude that gives every cent because he cares about the cause and would like to see homelessness go

away.

The older lady that’s on a fixed income. She gives because she knows that we have no income.

The younguns that go into their ashtray and give you all their change.

The father that gives because he’s teaching his kid how to care about others.

The construction workers that pull out each one of their pockets to share a gift to give.

The trucker that sits high up but bends down to give anything he can.

The husband and wife that give because they know they are blessed because they have each other.

The ones that just got paid and want to help someone else.

The one that has paid all their bills and has a few dollars to spare.

The friend that remembers you from school and realizes everybody needs a helping hand sometimes.

The cousins that come through just to make sure you’re doing okay and give also.

The people that see you and hear your voice from across the street as they walk through and just cross over to give.

The ones that are too busy to stop but always come back to give.

The ones that know it’s too hot and drop you off a bottle of ice cold water.

The ones that aren’t too afraid to give pennies because they know that they add up, too. That’s right, we can spend those, too.

The ones that buy the paper because they enjoy reading Street Sense.

The lady that drops off the care packages.

Anyone that I left out or forgot to mention: you too.

I truly thank you. If it wasn’t for you, some of us just would not make it. I know I wouldn’t. Thank you and I love all of you. Till next time, stay safe and stay clean.

1 2 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A // J U N E 2 3 - 2 9 , 2021

What we need

BY KYM PARKER Artist/Vendor

All we need is understanding Things that make us move For the better day We need To hunger for more What we need Is love of others Real peace of mind What’s needed is to understand That we’re all in this together

After Covid

BY MARCUS MCCALL Artist/Vendor

The pandemic has left me in a state of uncertainty! Meaning I don’t know who is trying to help or trying to hurt. Covid has shown me that if you don’t have support you will die in a pandemic. I also seen friends turn around like no one is there.

So when the city opens back up I want to act just the same way: not answer the phone, don’t go to the door when someone’s knocking, and never reply to email. I can’t do it, The person I am won’t let me be spiteful.

There are some people like that. Even my cousin’s side of the family, they act like I gave them a curse or something.

After Covid I will be more productive in the community, helping where there is need. I am a very respectful young man. I love writing and helping those in need. I enjoy reading, strategy games, working out, and getting active with the youth this summer.

Getting introduced with the human side of the world

BY JACKIE TURNER Artist/Vendor

There are so many things going wrong nowadays in the world. The COVID-19 pandemic everywhere, people dying, racism, children raising themselves. All kinds of drug abuse, and a lot of haters.

I implore and beg people to understand that we are all humans and are valuable in the same ways.

Hurt people sometimes hurt others unknowingly. This don’t meant that you have to divide us into our own people and sections There is no division in God’s eyes. All people are the same way. We get hurt, feel pain, live, and die.

I’m not saying that people haven’t shown compassion in this time of trouble on Earth. In fact, they have joined and helped one another.

I am saying material things don’t equal to life. We as a whole could do more than feed and shelter. We can save lives!

Look outside today. Take time to think, if it was me, what would I want, or what could help me?

Millions of people have died in the past few years because of COVID and its effects.

People remember when Ebola hit the world. Africa was devastated. In some countries the people were banned and not allowed to leave, sick or not. These people were sentenced to death. How sad is that?

Now I pray for the love of life that the same sentence don’t happen to the people of India that have no medicine and no hope. Can we help somehow? Don’t let them die away because of money or hate.

Try to be human. Love and care, not just food and shelter.

This/S**** just Not Right... I Was Being Polite!~

BY LEVESTER GREEN Artist/Vendor

The kid with the slight overbite trying 2 kindly send a “come over” invite & I’m like, she must be psyched.

Knowing damn well she ain’t even my type, not even if she was 2 keep it out of sight.

It’d be my insight all having me not feeling right, like I’m texting it in & still ain’t get my night.

Fluke fake rich grounded my flight 2 get heights.

Deflated My Hype.

This/S**** just Not Right!

Trying 2 Put Me in a Plight As if I ain’t used 2 like 2 fight.

I was being Polite!~

Just one more time

BY ROCHELLE WALKER Artist/Vendor

He allowed us to come together one more time.

He allowed us to pray for COVID-19 shots one more time.

He allowed us to wear a mask just one more time.

He allowed us to get a vaccine that saved our lives.

Tell us what more could be done.

He allowed us to reopen our world system, to pray together, to eat together one more time.

He allowed us to go back to work.

Let’s be grateful to be able to do all of these things because it’s been so long since we could do them.

Just one more time, lord.

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Friends

BY DANIEL BALL Artist/Vendor

Friends are people who can show you love. For example, your friends are people who would love to see you graduate some day.

I’ll be so glad to see my long-time good friends when we reopen my corner at 19th Street NW. My friendship with Thomas, Street Sense’s director of vendor employment, always makes life worth living here at Street Sense Media.

PHOTO BY RONALD WOAN / FLICKR

My experience with the carnival

BY DARLESHA JOYNER Artist/Vendor

I once took an opportunity to join the carnival. I had the chance to travel to Newport News and Colonial Heights, Virginia, and a couple of parts in Pennsylvania. It was fun to see different things in other states. We would stay in a location for two weeks before traveling somewhere different. I did games where I exchanged bills into quarters for something similar to a slot machine. It was me and my ex-husband on the road in a tent. The ride jocks put the rides together and put the lights and bolts on rides. I just wanted to get off the street and do something different.

Appreciation

BY ABEL PUTU Artist/Vendor

I got new vouchers for the City Market at O Street apartments. It’s a new place.

I’m so happy. I can’t wait to move. I appreciate my social worker, Ms. Aiesha, and I appreciate my other social worker, Ms. Wise. She is a good person.

I appreciate my brother-in-law, Francis Coffee and my sister, Veria Coffee-Sai. I appreciate my caregiver that works with me. She’s a good person. I appreciate her coming in this pandemic and cooking for me and doing my laundry, making appointments, and all that.

I appreciate being a Street Sense vendor and everywhere I go people recognize me for Street Sense and the wheelchair basketball. I pray that the pandemic will be over soon, that we can start activities for all wheelchair basketball athletes. I pray that I’ll be able to open my own wheelchair basketball business. My customers want us to have a league in the District. I hope that one day pretty soon it will blow up to be like the NBA. And women’s wheelchair basketball players will play against us.

I’m glad that everywhere I go people say I’m one of the good athletes of wheelchair basketball. And I appreciate that my story can be told in the Street Sense paper, and not only my story but the stories of all the vendors.

Peace with myself

BY AMIA WALKER Artist/Vendor

What I take pleasure in is reading my Bible and listening to my relaxation music. It makes me feel a sense of serenity. Reading the Bible is like reading a guide to occurrences in the world. When I feel alone and saddened, not having the closeness of family, I try meditation to calm myself. I have always felt my family was distant since I was a little girl. I didn’t grow up with my father nor my mother. But I manage to become a responsible adult living a healthy and prosperous life.

Philippians 4:13: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

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 open vulnerability, or 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 a life you have to live.

OnlineCrosswords.net

1 4 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A // J U N E 2 3 - 2 9, 2021

This is the Daily Crossword Puzzle #7 for May 27, 2021

Find the solution at https://onlinecrosswords.net/71419

FUN & GAMES

Across Across 1. Mold 1. Mold 6. Gorillas Gorillasup 10.6.Brought 14.10.

More wan up Brought Novice Sudoku by KrazyDad, Volume 2, Book 1 15.14.

Former More wan 16.15.

Great affection Former 17.16.

Absolute Great affection 18.17.

Division word Absolute 19.18.

Portent Division word 20.19.

Unsealed Portent again 22.20.

Surly Unsealed again 24.22.

ArtSurly ____ 25.24.

Cushion Art ____ 26.25.

Slipped Cushion 30.26.

Part of speech Slipped 32.30.

Comes close Part of speech 36.32.

Fiesta item Comes close 38.36.

Positive Fiesta votes item 40. Feather scarf 38. Positive votes 41. With ice cream (3 wds.)

40. Feather scarf 43. Eating away 41. With ice cream (3 wds.)

45. Basker's desire 43. Eating away 46. Girl 45. Basker's desire 48. Among 46. Girl 49. Play part 48. Among 51. Cooking vessels 49. Play part 53. Alpha's follower 51. Cooking vessels 54. Peculiar 53. Alpha's follower 56. Pare 54. Peculiar © 2013 KrazyDad.com 58. Not wide Novice Sudoku by KrazyDad, Volume 2, Book 1 Pare 61.56.

Brightness Fill in the blank squares so that each row, each column and each 58.

Not wide 66.

Customer Sudoku #1 all of the digits 1 thru 9.

Sudoku #2 3-by-3 block contain Brightness Find this crossword 67.61.

Distinct times 8 66.

2 use 3 logic 8 you 1 can9 solve 6 the5 puzzle 4 without 7 3 Customer 9 5 If you guesswork. puzzle’s answers at: 2 4 1 6 7 69.

Honolulu greeting 6 3 5 9 2 70.

4 67.

1 Distinct 7length 8 times 6 shows 8 3a logicaltinyurl.com/06-02Need little 7 help?4 The2 hints order to solve the puzzle.

9 a1 5 page Skirt Use it to identify the next square you should solve.crossword-solution Or use the answers page 69.

Honolulu 71. ____ wolf if you 7 8 9 1 3 5 4 2 6 greeting 5 get 6 really 4 stuck.

3 7 8 9 2 1 Skirtuser length 72.70.

Lariat 5 2 4 7 8 73.

9 ____ 1 fish 3 1 7 6 2 8 9 4 3 5 6 71. wolf Game 72.

Lariat 8 1 6 2 9 74.

3 Deuces 4 2 3 6 5 1 7 9 8 7 5 4user 73.

75.

Severe 9 7 3 4 5 1 6 Game 8 2fish 5 8 9 7 4 3 2 1 6

Sudoku #2

6 7 2

3 9

Quit when you're still behind.

-- Pierre Salinger

3 8 9 4 2 6 4 7 8 6 6 7 4 5 1 6 3 9 2 5 4 1 3 5 8 4 9

Answers

4 1 5 3 2 8 6 9 8 6 5 9 1 4 3 7 2 3 9 2 8 6 7 1 5 4 7

Sudoku #3 4 7 9 2 3 2 1 6 6 5 8 7 2 1 3 5 5 8 7 4 9 4 6 1 1 3 2 8 7 9 5 3 8 6 4 9 Sudoku #5 6 9 1 5 2 4 5 7 7 3 8 9 9 5 7 3 3 8 6 1 4 1 2 8 5 7 3 6 1 2 9 4 8 6 4 2

1 3 6 8 5 4 4 9 2 9 6 7 3 2 1 7 8 3 5 4 9 6 1 8 2 7 5

2

8

4

1 3 6 4 6 1 6 4 2 9 2 7 5 7 3 8 1 9 3 5 8 7 9 5

Sudoku #7 2 5 8 7 4 3 1 7 1 9 5 6 2 3

<< LAST EDITION’S PUZZLE SOLUTION

9

2

1. Prod

1

Sudoku #4 2 3 7 4 6 5 1 9 9 8 4 5 1 4 8 2 3 9 6 8 5 7 2 1 8 1 9 7 7 6 5 3 4 2 3 6

7 9 8 5 2 8 1 4 5 6 9 2 4 7 6 1 3

Sudoku #6 7 5 1 4 3 6 4 1 8 9 2 7 2 8 5 9 6 7 9 5 4 1 3 6 9 4 7 8 5 2 8 3 1 3 6 2

5 8 7 9 1 3 8

4

9 6 2 5 6 7 4 2 3

3

9 4

6 8

74. Deuces

8 6 7 75.5 Severe 4 1 4 6 7 5 1 2 Down 8 3 9 1 5 8 3 4 9 2 6 7 3

8

7 6 5 4 3 2 1 9

1 9 5 6 3 4 2 8 2 1 3 7 9 6 7 3 7 5 1 2 6 8 4 9 4 3 6 5 8 2 9 4 5 7 8 1

6 8 3 9 9 8 7 5 2 5 3 4 1 6 3 1 6 4 7 4 2 3 8 1 8 7 9 2 5 1 5 2 6 3 6 9 1 7 4 7 4 5 9 8 2

Sudoku #8 7 5 3 6 8 9 2 6 1 4 7 5

1 3

4 2 8 9

2. Dislike strongly Down 3. Chorus voice Prod 4.1.Chick’s sound 2. Dislike strongly 5. Miscalculated 3. Chorus voice 6. Each 4. Chick's sound 7. Curious woman of myth 5. Miscalculated 8. Superlative ending 6. Each 9. Small porch 7. Curious woman of 10.

Fair-haired myth 11.

Italian city 8. Superlative ending 12.

Constantly 9. Small porch 13.

10.Refuse Fair-haired 21.

Vegas’s 11.Las Italian city state 23.

Kidnapper’s 12. Constantly demand 26. disagreements 13.Minor Refuse 27.

Pale purple 21. Las Vegas's state 28. Ridiculous 29. Beaver project 31. Farewell!

33. Remain

34. Bird’s perch 35. Mr. Claus 23. Kidnapper's demand 50. Martial artist Chuck 37. Ohio port ____ 26. Minor 39. Deleted 52. Taunts disagreements 42. Psychic ability (abbr.)

55. Resided 27. Pale purple 44. Bro or sis 57. Those who fib 28. Ridiculous 47. High voice 58. Without feeling 29. Beaver project 50. Martial artist Chuck ____ 59. China's continent 31. Farewell!

52.

Taunts 60. Cincinnati baseballe 33. Remain 55. Resided 62. Very much (2 wds.)

34. Bird's perch 57. Those who fib 63. Negative reply 35. Mr. Claus 58. Without feeling64. "Moonstruck" actres 37. Ohio port 59. China’s continent 65. Deserve 39. Deleted 60.ability Cincinnati baseballers 68. Line 42. Psychic (abbr.) 62. Very much (2 wds.)

44. Bro or63. sisNegative reply 64. “Moonstruck” actress 47. High voice 65. Deserve 68. Line

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

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

COMMUNITY SERVICES

SHELTER HOTLINE Línea directa de alojamiento

(202) 399-7093

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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)

Look at This a

podcast

Listen NOW at streetsensedc.podbean.com "Look at This," a new weekly podcast series, debuted this month. Vendor/artists share their stories, struggles, and triumphs in their own words and voices. In the first episode, Brian Carome, Street Sense Media's chief executive officer, said a valuable resource the newspaper provides for its vendors is an opportunity for self-expression. "Look at This" is also your opportunity to hear directly from our vendors about their lives.

"I call it street slamming...

They'll see what I see but they'll hear what I'm feeling.”

– Carlton Johnson, Episode 3

"I used to walk around and see people ... and, I would ask them, 'Would you like a tent?' So that’s how I started off buying tents.”

– Rita Sauls, Episode 4

“My HIV is not what makes me as a person. That’s not what defines me as a person.

I’m still a human being at the end of the day.”

– Darleesha Joyner, Episode 3

"It's a very horrible feeling.

It's a feeling that makes you feel like no tomorrow, depressing, demotivating."

– Marcellus Phillips, Episode 1

"I now am writing poetry for Street Sense, and I’m so, it’s just so mind-boggling to me."

– Queenie Featherstone, Episode 1

"I think I found myself traumatized more than anything. I just found myself out of a home. I found myself wandering the streets."

– Shelia White, Episode 2

“I’m out there and I’m in the street. I’m connecting with people and I have the people read my poem to me.”

– Ayub Abdul, Episode 3

Thank you for reading Street Sense!

From your vendor