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BOARD OF DIRECTORS Margaret Chapman, Max Gaujean, Margaret Jenny, Robyn Kerr, Jennifer Park, Reed Sandridge, Jeremy Scott, John Senn, Kate Sheppard, Annika Toenniessen, Martin Totaro, Anne Willis EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Brian Carome EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Eric Falquero SALES & COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER Jeffrey Gray VENDOR & SALES MANAGER Josh Maxey COORDINATOR OF EVENTS & AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT Shira Hereld INTERNS Katlyn Alapati, Evan Brown, Khyeria Ferguson, Jacqueline Groskaufmanis, Rokia Hassanein, Anna Riley, Kim Szarmach WRITERS GROUP LEADERS Donna Daniels, Susan Orlins, Willie Schatz EDITORIAL BOARD Rachel Brody, Arthur Delaney, Britt Peterson EDITORIAL & PAPER SALES VOLUNTEERS Jane Cave, Cheryl Chevalier, Nathalia Cibotti, Pat Geiger, Roberta Haber, Mary Henkin, Karen Houston, Erum Jilani, Leonie Peterkin, Hannah Northey, Jesselyn Radack, Andrew Siddons, Jackie Thompson, Marian Wiseman, Eugene Versluysen, Alex Zielinski VENDORS Shuhratjon Ahamadjonov, Gerald Anderson, Charles Armstrong, Lawrence Autry, Daniel Ball, Aida Basnight, Phillip Black, Reginald Black, Melanie Black, Phillip Black Jr., Maryann Blackmon, Viktor Blokhine, Debora Brantley, Andre Brinson, Donald Brown, Joan Bryant, Elizabeth Bryant, Brianna Butler, Melody Byrd, Conrad Cheek, Aaron Colbert, Anthony Crawford, Walter Crawley, Kwayera Dakari, James Davis, Clifton Davis, Charles Davis, David Denny, James DeVaughn, Ricardo Dickerson, Dennis Diggs, Alvin Dixon-El, Ronald Dudley, Charles Eatmon, Deana Elder, Julie Ellis, Jemel Fleming, Chon Gotti, Marcus Green, Barron Hall, Tyrone Hall, Richard Hart Lorrie Hayes, Patricia Henry, Jerry Hickerson, Ray Hicks, Sol Hicks, Rachel Higdon, Ibn Hipps, Leonard Hyater, Joseph Jackson, Carlton Johnson, Donald Johnson, Harold Johnson, Allen Jones, Mark Jones, Morgan Jones, Linda Jones, Darles ha Joyner, Juliene Kengnie, Kathlene Kilpatrick, Hope Lassiter, John Littlejohn, James Lott, Scott Lovell, Michael Lyons, Jimmy M. Ken Martin, Joseph Martin, Kina Mathis, Michael Lee Matthew, Authertimer Matthews, Charlie Mayfield, Jermale McKnight, Jeffery McNeil, Ricardo Meriedy, Cynthia Mewborn, Kenneth Middleton, Cecil More, L. Morrow, Evelyn Nnam, Moyo Onibuje, Earl Parkin, Lucifer Potter, Ash-Shaheed Rabil, Henrieese Roberts, Anthony Robinson, Doris Robinson, Raquel Rodriquez, Lawrence Rogers, Joseph Sam, Chris Shaw, Patty Smith, Smith Smith, Gwynette Smith, Ronald Smoot, Franklin Sterling, Warren Stevens James Stewart, Beverly Sutton, Sybil Taylor, Archie Thomas, Shernell Thomas, Craig Thompson, Eric Thompson-Bey, Sarah Turley-Colin, Carl Turner, Jacqueline Turner, Leon Valentine, Grayla Vereen, Ron Verquer, Martin Walker, Michael Warner, Robert Warren, Angelyn Whitehurst, William Whitsett, Wendell Williams, Sasha Williams, Judson Williams III, Ivory Wilson, Denise Wilson, Charles Woods

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STREET SENSE June 29 - July 12, 2016

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NEWS IN BRIEF Lawyers Promote Equal Access to Justice at D.C. Roundta le Legal experts testified that the current court system is failing to provide equal access to justice, during a roundtable hosted

by Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie on June 22. The panelists, primarily lawyers and equal justice organization leaders, elaborated on the scope of need for legal counsel in D.C. and what steps can be taken toward “civil Gideon” during the roundtable that took place in the Moot Courtroom of the UDC David A. Clark School of Law. The term Civil Gideon is derived from the 1963 landmark court case Gideon v.

Wainwright in which the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously decided that criminal defendants have a right to counsel.

The civil Gideon movement argues that indigent parties should be provided legal representation in civil cases where basic human needs—such as child support, custody and housing—are at stake.

“The promise of Gideon has not been met on the criminal side by any stretch of the imagination,” said Don Saunders, vice president of Civil Legal Services and member of National Legal Aid Defender Association. “So the last thing I would urge is don’t just create the right; you have to create the resources to enforce that right, or it’s very hollow indeed.”

This push for a civil right to counsel comes more than 50 years after the original Gideon case, and nearly 10 years since the American Bar Association officially released their recommendation to legislators to implement some form of Civil Gideon.

Some panelists countered the concern that Civil Gideon would suffer Criminal Gideon’s reputation of scarce resources and poor representation in court; especially if that fear prevents lawmakers from enacting some form of civil right to counsel.

“Criminal Gideon didn’t arise because somebody decided, ‘well, we can now afford it,’” said panelist Steve Pershing, an attorney at Charlson Bredehoft Cohen

Brown, P.C. “ Civil Gideon is required by our sense of what’s right That ought to be enough on some level.”

McDuffie, who also acts as the Chair of the Committee on the Judiciary, said he hopes to use the expert testimony from the roundtable to inform his decision making as a council member moving forward.

—Katlyn Alapati

ICH ocuses on Employment On June 14 the D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness ICH held its second meeting of the year. The council is currently working on its action items for the Homeward DC five year plan to end homelessness. This meeting spotlighted a long-ignored piece of the equation: employment. “We know what a challenge it is for folk,” said ICH Director Kristy Greenwalt. “Our goal is to provide a pipeline of trained and qualified applicants.”

Greenwalt reported that, in the past, 33 percent of individuals and 74 percent of families entered the homeless services system with zero income and left the system still with zero income. Of the 1200 families that utilized the homeless services, only 10 percent of them were employed when they exited it. “There are a lot of unique challenges for people,” Greenwalt said. “Our clients spend too much time traveling between service providers to meet basic needs.”

The ICH has begun working closely with the Department of Employment Services and its new Workforce Investment Council WIC to implement the Workforce Innovation Opportunities Act. “We’re the body that ensures that is charged with ensuring District residents are provided with all the needed resources for workforce development,” said WIC Executive Director Odie Donald II, who also said that WIC had submitted a letter seeking to collaborate with the D.C. Housing Authority. “On March 31 we submitted the District’s plan for workforce development in the homeless community. There

are some areas that need improvement. I don’t think we have been a strong partner to the homeless community.”

A veterans advocate and consumer member of the ICH, Donald Brooks, challenged the WIC director on several points related to employment issues.

“I’ve been to some of the service centers,” Brooks said. “I gotta take off my belt and shoes. ou single people out if they have a lot of bags and those types of things make those that could access service not even want to got to the service center.”

These feeling were summed up by John McDermott, People for Fairness Coalition co-founder and treasurer. “We’re gentrifying the city too much, McDermott said.

“We’re building all over the city for the rich and famous and not doing nothing for the poor. Treat them like human beings and not third class citizens. We gotta make a better system for everybody.” —Reginald Black

N C Steps up or

omen s Health

New ork City passed the nation’s first legislative package to guarantee the ease of access to menstrual products in shelters, correctional facilities and public schools, according to a New ork Times report.

The package sets a momentous precedent for American women’s health rights, adding to the nationwide trend of implementing public policy to make women’s menstrual necessities more affordable.

On June 15, the American Medical Association released a statement calling on states to make menstrual products exempt from sales tax. And out of the 40 states that have a tampon tax intact, 15 sought to change it. For homeless women, this is essential humane treatment.

Lack of access to menstrual products creates even more unsanitary and unhealthy living conditions on top of other obstacles.

Locally, there has been a surge in awareness on this issue with organizations such as ‘No Taboo. Period.’ collecting tampon and pad donations to give to impoverished and home-

less women. The project, started in 2015 by five undergraduate University of Maryland students as a part of the school’s annual ‘Do Good Challenge,’ collected $300 of money donations and more than 2,700 pads and tampons for women’s shelters in D.C. It is yet to be seen if this New ork City initiative will have a domino effect on other major cities to take action and address these health necessities through public policy.

—Rokia Hassanein

Homelessness on the Rise in D.C. The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ 2016 Point in Time PIT count, conducted on January 28 found a 14.4 percent increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness in D.C., according to the report released in May. The number of unhoused people increased from 7,298 in 2015 to 8,350.

While the total unaccompanied individuals without homes decreased by 3.8 percent, a 31.8 percent rise in unhoused families led to the overall increase.

The Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness attributes this increase to growing housing affordability issues in the District and the availability of family shelters year-round. Until 2015, family shelters were mostly only open during hypothermia season. 425 families have been placed in shelters since the policy changed.

On the night of the PIT Count, no families or unaccompanied children were found outside of shelters, but 318 adult individuals were. Forty-two families and 1501 unaccompanied individuals surveyed fell into the category of chronically homeless, which means they were living with disabilities and were homeless for long or repeated periods of time. Fifty-seven percent of individual adults and 21 percent of adults in families had no source of income.

Three hundred and fifty veterans were unhoused during the 2016 PIT count, which is 14 percent less than in 2015.

—Kim Sczarmack

On Wednesday, #June29, Street Sense will be collaborating with other locallybased media outlets to highlight the complexities of homelessness and its solutions in our nation’s capital. We’ll be sharing a bulk of online content—in addition to this newspaper—alongside the 70 media outlets reporting solutions to homelessness throughout the day in San Francisco. Join the national conversation:

@streetsensedc | @thinkprogress | @dcist | @bayareahomeless

The Fight for Museum Square Continues HUD tenants from across the country stood in solidarity with local residents

Protesters at Museum S uare.

By Kim S armach kim.szarmach@streetsense.org

PHOTO BY KIM SZARMACH

More than 100 affordable housing activists, including residents of the Museum Square Apartments, cheered and rallied outside the Mount Vernon complex on June 14 to save their homes. Since 2013, tenants of 401 K Street NW have been fighting against Bush Companies, which owns their building and plans to demolish it to pave the way for new luxury apartments in its place.

The apartments currently house lowincome tenants receiving rent subsidies through the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s HUD Section 8 voucher program. It is also one of the last buildings in D.C.’s Chinatown neighborhood that is primarily occupied by Chinese people.

Tuesday’s rally marked the end of the National Alliance of HUD Tenants’ NAHT fourday conference where people from across the country, like the residents of Museum Square, assembled to share strategies and learn skills to fight for affordable housing.

Each year NAHT picks an issue to highlight during their annual conference. For the past two years, they have chosen to rally with the tenants at Museum Square, according to Ed Lucas, president of NAHT. “We are here to make sure Bush Companies knows y’all are going nowhere!”

Lucas told the cheering crowd on K Street.

In hopes that the residents of Museum Square don’t have to leave, NAHT went to the Court of Appeals to contest the price of the building. According to District law, a building’s owner must give tenants the option to collectively purchase it before it is sold or demolished. Bush Companies set the price at $250 million, which factors out to about $830,000 per unit, according to a source who works in housing counseling services.

NAHT appealed that this was an unfair price for the residents to have to pay and won the case. It has been months since the decision, and residents are still waiting to hear what the new price will be.

In the meantime, many residents worry about where they will go if they can’t afford to buy the building from Bush Com-

panies. Joseph Liggins has been living in Museum Square for 15 years through the Section 8 program and said he has no alternate plans for housing if he is forced out of his apartment. “People who are middle class and below—I don’t know where we’re going to live in Washington anymore,” said Brenda Holliday, another tenant.

Visiting NAHT members said they were experiencing similar issues in their own cities. Stephanie Brandon of San Francisco said the owner of her building tried to sell it without telling the residents. Once they found out, the tenants used knowledge some of them had learned from previous NAHT conferences and won a lawsuit against the owner, allowing them to stay, according to Brandon.

The residents of Museum Square are hoping that their battle against Bush Companies will end similarly.

“Don’t move out,” said Vera Watson, president of the Museum Square Apartments Tenant Association, to the protesters. “We’ve come so far. We need to fight and keep fighting.”

June Housing Bloom Showcases Affordable Housing Efforts

By Khyeria erguson, khyeria.ferguson@streetsense.org Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration orchestrated the “June Housing Bloom” to focus on the affordable housing crisis in the District of Columbia. According to the Department of Housing and Community Development DHCD , this monthlong initiative showcased how the public and private sectors are partnering to produce and preserve affordable housing.

On June 20, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development DMPED and Bible Way Church co-hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for Plaza West Apartments. The Plaza West property, located at 4th and K Streets NW in the Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood, will offer its residents budgetfriendly rent and downtown access. The new development will contain 223 units, with 50 units set aside for grandfamilies whose household income is between 30– 50 percent of the area median income.

Grandfamilies are families in which grandparents are raising their grandchildren. The remaining 173 apartments at Plaza West will be designated for moderate to low-income singles and families.

At the groundbreaking ceremony, vonne L. Williams described the alley dwellings that used to be common in sections of Northwest and Southwest Washington. “These dwellings lacked central plumbing and forced residents

to use outhouses as their toilets,” said Williams, who is the daughter of the late Bishop Smallwood E. Williams, founder of Bible Way Church.

For decades, Bible Way Church has advocated for the poor and made providing affordable housing for low and moderateincome families a priority. Bible Way’s redevelopment of the area around Mount

Vernon Triangle began in 1972 with the Golden Rule Apartments, which provided 183 units of affordable housing for families. Units contained 1-3 bedrooms, a balcony, and access to an on-site playground and community room. Since creating Golden Rule Apartments, Bible Way Church has continued to develop properties for low and moderate income renters.

O cials participated in a ground rea ing ceremony for the Pla a ing comple on June . PHOTO BY KHYERIA FERGUSON

est afforda le hous-

Plaza West will be Bible Way’s fifth property in or near Mount Vernon Triangle.

“It is important that we break the shackles of poverty and address the need for affordable housing!” said Alicia Terry, president of Golden Rule Plaza, Inc., at the groundbreaking ceremony.

The ceremony concluded with acknowledgement of actions taken to create and preserve affordable housing.

“Fellowship, partnership, and friendship. What more could you ask for?” said Edmund Delany, Senior Vice President of Capital One Bank and a financing partner of SeVerna on the K, a nearby Bible Way property completed in 2015.

A number of other events were part of the June Housing Bloom. On June 1, DHCD released five Solicitations for Offers for the construction of 25 Districtowned residential properties in wards 4, 5, 7 and 8. On June 11, DHCD and the Greater Washington Urban League hosted the Eighth Annual Housing Expo at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

In addition, on June 17 an economics roundtable was convened by DMPED and the D.C. Chamber of Commerce to discuss data on health concerns and social behaviors, in order to aid service organizations in providing families with services to meet their needs.

STREET SENSE June 29 - July 12, 2016

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NEWS

Civil Rights Bill for Unhoused to Reach City Council

By Kim S armach kim.szarmach@streetsense.org This July, a bill aiming to add homelessness to the classes protected by D.C.’s Human Rights Act will be brought to the city council’s Judiciary Committee. This measure would be a step towards ending discrimination against unsheltered people and stopping the criminalization of homelessness.

The Human Rights Act of 1977 currently prohibits discrimination based on 19 traits including race, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and source of income.

It was last amended in 2007. “We have one of the most progressive and expansive human rights statutes in the country,” said Stephanie Franklin, Interim Director of Policy and Communications for the D.C. Office of Human Rights OHR .

But the act still allows employers, law

enforcement, private businesses and housing and healthcare providers to legally discriminate against people they perceive as homeless. Ninety-three percent of the unhoused people surveyed in a 2014 study by the National Coalition for the Homeless NCH said they experienced discrimination in the District Many of those surveyed said that employers had told them “I don’t hire homeless people.” Survey respondents who qualified for housing vouchers reported being barred from subsidized housing because they didn’t have a current address.

In a “Homeless Challenge” program where students live on the street for 48 hours, one group was forced to leave a McDonalds after they paid for their orders — just because they appeared homeless, according to David Pirtle from NCH. These are only a few instances of discrimination against unsheltered people

that inspired the movement for an amendment to the Human Rights Act. “Communities are refusing to protect people experiencing homelessness,” Pirtle told Street Sense in an interview.

Local activists initially considered drafting a Homeless Bill of Rights to bring to D.C. Council, but they decided council members would be more open to an amendment to legislation that was already in place. This does not mean a Homeless Bill of Rights is out of the question for the future.

Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie drafted legislation in 2014 that would protect people experiencing homelessness from discrimination and gained the support of Councilmember Anita Bonds. Despite a 2015 protest in support of equal rights for the unhoused, the legislation never made it through the Council.

If the amendment passes this time, OHR

is ready to take on cases of discrimination against people experiencing homelessness that will likely arise. “We will vigorously enforce anything that comes our way,” Franklin said.

Currently, people who experience discrimination because they are unhoused can sometimes win cases by filing under personal appearance or other categories, according to Franklin. However, anti-discrimination laws that protect people experiencing homelessness specifically are still vital, according to Tristia Bauman, a senior attorney at the National Law Center for Homelessness and Poverty.

“Because homeless people experience multiple forms of discrimination based solely on their homelessness, it is important that civil rights laws provide them with the protection that they need,” Bauman said in an interview.

Local Experts Talk LGTBQ Youth Homelessness at Street Sense Forum

Panelists June Crenshaw, Jhane letcher, Darell Gaston, aura Durso moderator Michael avers.

By Kim S armach kim.szarmach@streetsense.org Panelists demanded that D.C. government and all residents of the District act to end LGBT youth homelessness at Street Sense’s Forum, Out of the Closet, Out of a Home, on June 22.

When Darrell Gaston started working as a housing specialist in the Mayor’s Office of LGBT Affairs, there was only one shelter with nine beds for LGBT youth in the city. There are now 30. However, many LGBT youth still don’t get to a shelter that can meet their specific needs.

Forty-four to 50 percent of unhoused youth in D.C. identify as LGBT and the city is only beginning to provide services to accommodate them, according to Gaston.

“The issues don’t always end when LGBT youth go to a shelter,” said Laura Durso, senior director of the LGBT Research and Communications Project at American Progress.

Many homeless youth who identify as LGBT face discrimination from shelter staff and residents. At shelters where boys and girls are separated, they are sometimes forced to live with people whose gender they don’t identify with. Many healthcare providers are not trained in LGBT cultural competency.

Even shelters dedicated to LGBT youth don’t have the resources they need to ensure they won’t end up back on the streets. The Wanda Alston Foundation has eight beds

The forum s audience gathered in The Church of the Epiphany

and provides 18 months of pre-independent living. Despite all of the services the foundation provides, 43 percent of its residents will be homeless again in 12 months, at the end of their stay.

“It’s only 18 months to deal with a whole host of traumatic issues,” said June Crenshaw, the interim executive director at the Wanda Alston Foundation.

These LGBT youth come to shelters with an array of backgrounds. Some become homeless because of family rejection or religious beliefs, but poverty is the main contributing factor. Additionally, 85 percent of LGBT youth experiencing homelessness are African American.

Outside of shelters, LGBT youth who have experienced homelessness rely on their community for support , according to Jhane Fletcher, peer education coordinator at Supporting and Mentoring outh Advocates and Leaders SM AL . This makes it hard for LGBT youth to save money to pay for safe, stable housing.

“I don’t feel like LGTB folk only have to worry about themselves, they have to look out for other people, especially their chosen family,” Fletcher said.

Crenshaw told the audience to ask people experiencing homelessness what they need and give it to them. LGBT youth need well-funded, comprehensive services from the city government and the support of the wider D.C. community. “It is all of our responsibility to know about this issue and really do something about it,” she said.

Common GBT

PHOTOS BY KEN MARTIN

anguage Guide:

Transgender/Trans: Someone whose gender identity differs from the gender or sex they were assigned at birth and or does not conform to conventional notions of male or female.

Cisgender: Someone whose gender identity aliwwgns with the gender and the sex they were assigned at birth. The opposite of trans, often shortened to “cis-.”

Genderqueer: A gender identity that does not fit the binary of “male or female.”

Misgender: To refer to someone, on purpose or accidentally, using different gender pronouns than the one the person identifies with; misgendering is a hurtful erasure of identity.

They/them/their (singular): Gender-neutral pronoun used by some trans and genderqueer individuals as an alternative to binary “she her hers” or “he him his” pronouns.

Heteronormative: An attitude or system that promotes heterosexuality as the only normal and natural sexual orientation and cisgender identity as the only natural gender identity.

In the Closet: To hide one’s sexual orientation or gender identity in order to maintain one’s job, housing situation, friends, family or otherwise survive protects oneself.

Coming out: To publicly declare and affirm one’s nonheterosexuality and or non-cisgender status to others.

Study Reinforces Importance of Healthcare

By Jac ueline Gros aufmanis jacqueline.groskaufmanis@streetsense.org The vulnerability and discomfort of living on the streets, in conjunction with social determinants, has made adequate health care nearly unattainable for people who are homeless. People who experience homelessness are 3-4 times more likely to die prematurely than members of the general population, with an average life expectancy of only 48 years.

While economic barriers and certain policies complicate access to healthcare for the homeless, social determinants— factors such as housing, education, quality of food, access to transportation—are a strong indicator of the type of care that someone receives, said Courtney Plasden, the medical access director at Unity Health Care. The nonprofit operates 29 sites and a mobile unit to provide primary care to homeless people in the District. “Thinking about a person and their whole health status, direct patient care is 10 percent and the other 90 percent is social determinants,” Plasden said.

The United States spends more per capita on health services than any other country in the world. Peer industrialized nations spend more on social service pro-

grams and have better health outcomes with lower spending. “We need to start working further upstream,” Plasden said.

Health care for homeless people is more complicated than access to a clinic or an appointment with a provider. Without a home and all of the amenities that many take for granted, basic health practices can become impossible, particularly when it comes to ostensibly simple issues such as coordination and followup. If you have an appointment in Ward other than where you live, how are you going to get to that appointment? If you need insulin, how will you keep it refrigerated? If you have to take daily medication for HIV and your

bag with that medication is stolen at a shelter, what are you supposed to do? For many of these issues, the answer involves a more global perspective that places the patient’s medical conditions within the context of their life situation.

The Journal of the American Medical Association JAMA conducted a 2001 study that found 62 percent of homeless participants needed ambulatory care visits to the hospital within a single year. The study concluded that these visits were often due to the fact that many subjects didn’t have the insurance to go to the hospital in other capacities.

Twenty-five percent of participants reported

being unable to receive the healthcare they required.

Healthcare is complex and some policies don’t meet every individual’s needs.

For instance, while people are entitled to receive care if they are injured or dying, they are not entitled to stay in hospitals or housing until they have recovered. A person could have an invasive procedure— like heart surgery or a mastectomy—and find themselves discharged from the hospital and prescribed to get “bed rest” with a quick turnaround. This is fine for someone with a safe place to recover, but being discharged onto the street can be a dangerous and painful fate.

This happened to D.C. native Ken Martin, who found himself sleeping outside of a Starbucks after having both a heart attack and heart surgery. Two days after his discharge, still outside of Starbucks, he suffered another heart attack.

Martin is now housed and has spent years working with others experiencing homelessness. According to him, for solutions to be effective, these complexities need to be considered. “Something as simple as finding a bed to rest in, for prescribed bed rest, is impossible,” Martin said in an interview. “That’s crazy.”

A relatively new initiative called Hous-

Montgomery County Brings Father of Housing First to

By Mar Rose Volunteer Sam Tsemberis, a nationally recognized expert on solving homelessness, recently told an auditorium of more than 250 social workers and other homelessness providers at Johns Hopkins University’s Montgomery County campus about the housing model he developed, Housing First, and its effectiveness.

Tsemberis, who teaches psychiatry at Columbia University’s medical school and is founder of Pathways to Housing, told the assembled that all people, including homeless people, are entitled as human beings to housing.

When people are given housing, they are more likely to recover from drinking or drug use problems and be productive, he said. Then a service provider like a psychiatrist or social worker has to establish a relationship with the individual to determine what services they need, so that they can be cared for effectively.

Eighty-five percent of people in Housing First are successful in their first year, according to Tsemberis. “That’s what sells it; it works,” he said. “There is a lot of evidence about Housing First being cost-

effective. Repeated trips to emergency rooms and jail are usually eliminated when housing is provided.”

The all-encompassing “wrap-around” services that social workers and psychiatrists refer to are provided to the housed homeless person to match that person’s needs; if their needs are intensive, the

less are “chronically” homeless. Eighty percent are “transitionally homeless” and 10-15 percent are“episodically” homeless, which means that the vast majority do not stay homeless permanently.

“Most homeless people are safely out of sight,” he said, which keeps them out of mind, allowing the housed public to

“The housing [that’s provided] is a step on the journey to recovery. When [you] do it right, it’s about the people.”

-Sam Tsem eris services have to be intensive. An interdisciplinary team is needed; that caretaking team is like an extension of the homeless person’s family, demonstrating real care. “ ou are their family for a long time; you need to adjust your services to provide that,” Tsemberis said, adding that the goal is not self-sufficiency but support. “All the great social movements of all time are based on collective action; that’s what recovery is.”

The speaker gave some interesting statistics. Only 5—10 percent of the home-

deny it’s happening. Similar to men and women in the prison system; once off the street and out of view they’re too often invisible and forgotten.

He reminded the audience of the common misperception that “if you’re succeeding, you must be doing something better than others.” Homeless people occupy the bottom rung of the social ladder – if they’re at the bottom, the thinking goes, they must not be working hard enough.

Tsemberis noted that the administration of former New ork City Mayor Mi-

chael Bloomberg took an unsuccessful–and unintelligent though well-meaning–stab at reducing homelessness there. They gave homeless people 80 percent of living expenses for a year, thinking that they’d be self-sufficient in five years. It didn’t happen; the program ended in three years.

“How is it that so many smart people can get something so wrong?” Tsemberis asked his audience. The foundational values of the program affected its design.

Tsemberis outlined his contrasting Housing First model, based on developing a relationship with the homeless person. “The housing that’s provided is a step on the journey to recovery. When you do it right, it’s about the people.”

Homeless people do better when they’re provided with an apartment and get regular visits from service providers, according to Tsemberis. Sometimes that initial housing doesn’t work out. “The person will tell you, and you’ve got to find them another; but that’s still better than putting them back out on the street,” he said. Most people do better in the next housing placement than they did in the first.

It takes a lot of affordable housing to make Housing First work. Tsemberis expressed concern that the U.S. Department

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NEWS

Alongside Housing ing First—an approach to combatting homelessness that rapidly resettles people into housing without traditional upfront qualifying requirements—has been commended in terms of its economic efficiency and numeric success. However, unless Housing First initiatives have robust medical programs integrated into them, they are at risk of falling short.

A recent study by the United States National Institute of Health NIH claimed that “mortality rates among Housing First participants are higher than those reported among members of the general homeless population in prior studies.”

The study found that those in Housing First programs are more likely to die due to chronic illness than their counterparts in the general homeless population. This data is, in part, a result of the fact that Housing First targets those in most urgent need, which often translates to the oldest and the most ill. However, conclusions from the study are cited by the NIH as potential indications that these programs are in need of “greater integration of medical and end-of-life care.”

“I actually think Housing First programs could be a good platform from which to deliver high intensity, integrated health care - and I think the ACA has provisions

that can make this happen,” said NIH researcher Benjamin Henwood wrote in an e-mail, “it’s just that most programs are not doing this.”

Housing First offers remedies to some select and overt symptoms of homelessness; however, many argue that it is not a sufficient cure and that viewing it as such can be detrimental to true progress.

The argument is not that housing is a bad thing—housing is a necessity and a human right. In the greater conversation of medical health, it has proven to be extremely important. However, to create a healthy life, housing is simply one element in an increasingly complex equation. “It’s the mentality that is wrong: the thought that a roof over your head is the answer to all of your problems” Martin said.

While housing has repeatedly and reliably been identified as one of the key factors in good health, it is simply one social determinant, albeit a very large and influential one. For healthcare to be effective, issues that intersect with health more subtly—from diet to poverty—need to be addressed. Advocates such as Plasden and Martin are calling for a holistic approach on an individual scale to achieve the goal of a healthier community.

Johns Hopkins Campus of Housing and Urban Development HUD is not increasing the funding for intensive support, and the Veterans Administration has cut back their voucher program.

Responding to a question from a Montgomery County police officer about law enforcement’s role in managing homelessness, Tsemberis said that police officers should meet with other professionals when care providers are determining how best to manage a homeless person’s recovery.

Jennifer Ho, senior advisor for housing and services to HUD Secretary Julian Castro, also spoke to the assembled auditorium crowd. She said the system in place today is driven by better data. Led by Ho, the Obama administration has been able to make serious progress toward ending veteran homelessness by collecting better data and having stronger collaborations.

“We decided we were going to house every vet,” she said, and the process was given an extra sense of urgency by setting a clear deadline to accomplish that goal.

However, she added, you have to keep working to maintain those gains. Ho also noted a national competition for funding from the Obama administration’s Continuum of Care program, which has increased momentum around the country for ending

veteran homelessness. With the Obama administration leaving office next January, “It’s going to be a last push of resources to end chronic homelessness,” Ho said.

Not only are more people provided with health insurance under the Obama health plan, health insurance is paying more attention now to people who weren’t insured before. Also, because a lot of vets have kids, the system can now help treat families.

Ho noted happily that HUD gave her agency new money to work on a pilot system in 10 communities around the country to end youth homelessness. While there is a proposal on the table now that would end family homelessness, she said, more resources would have to be invested wisely for it to work.

“Our goal is not to eliminate the shelter system,” she told the assembled, “but to eliminate the warehousing system shelters have become.”

The federal plan to end homelessness has been adopted by Montgomery County as the local plan.

Children of DC General Given Options for Education

By Anna Riley anna.riley@streetsense.org When the city council voted to close DC General Family Shelter within the next 2-3 years and build seven new shelters across the District, advocates and parents across the housing spectrum voiced concern about how the transition might affect the education of the shelter’s youngest residents.

“OSSE strongly encourages students to remain at the school of origin in order to preserve some stability in the life of the student, ensure continuity of education and services, and avoid the negative impact on educational outcomes that is associated with changing schools mid-year,” according to a spokesperson from the Office of the State Superintendent of Education OSSE for D.C. The McKinney-Vento Education of Homeless Children and outh Assistance Act gives homeless students the option to remain at their school of origin if they are displaced. Families can also choose to transfer their children to the in-boundary school of the shelter where they move to, according to OSSE. Councilmember-at-Large David Grosso, and chairman of the Education Committee, confirmed in an interview that the general trend has been that parents will keep their children at their school of origin when they are displaced.

“We’ve noticed at D.C. General that most people do not move their kid to the in-boundary school,” Grosso said. “We feel like parents are making the right decision, which is to keep their students in their stable environment in their school, so we try to support that. I know some people are scared, that it’s going to overwhelm their schools with homeless kids. That’s just not the truth.”

Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh and Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen previously expressed concerns from their constituents that their alreadyfull schools would be overwhelmed with students from D.C. General after its closing, even though the trend is that parents do not move their children to the in-bound school.

In a letter to her community on June 17, Councilmember Cheh assured her neighborhood that even if this were the case at John Eaton Elementary in Ward 3,

though unlikely, the school has the ability to adapt, and the addition of children from the new shelter could be a benefit.

“Those shelter students who do enroll bring with them at-risk funding dollars, which means they will, in fact, bring more resources to Eaton,” Cheh wrote.

Grosso is confident that students experiencing homelessness at D.C. Public Schools DCPS who have to move farther away after the closing of DC General will receive assistance with transportation to and from school, on top of receiving free bus and metro.

“DCPS has assured to me, I can’t speak for the charter schools here, but, they will provide, and do currently provide, transportation assistance to families that are experiencing homelessness and want to continue to go back to the school where the child is currently enrolled,” Grosso said. The most important thing to him is making sure that children experiencing homelessness have the services they need, regardless of where they attend school.

There is a homeless liaison at each school that ensures students have a uniform, transportation and all other school-related needs that are important to make sure they can seamlessly transition into the new school. “Even then, it’s hard. Some parents don’t want people to know they’re homeless, and the kids don’t want them to know ... So how do you deal with that and identify it?”

Grosso said.

Although there is no way to know exactly how many school-age children will be moved from D.C. General to other shelters when the closing occurs, each of the new shelters will have 50 units, and each unit can have anywhere from 1 to 5 children, according to Grosso.

Regardless of where these families decide to send their children to school after the closing of D.C. General, “we do believe there should be special attention paid to students experiencing homelessness,” Grosso said. “Obviously, because it’s adversity, they need to have the help to succeed.”

Placements will be phased in over two years starting in 2018, and OSSE plans to “meet with stakeholders, liaisons, and parents to discuss the possible impact and ensure that schools are prepared to receive students.”

“I know some people are scared that it’s going to overwhelm their schools with homeless kids; that’s just not the truth.”

THE GREATEST:

Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee

The Day We Met “The Greatest”

By Leonard Hyater Vendor/Artist

By Conrad Cheek Jr., “Vendor #23, The Michael Jordan of selling Street Sense”

Muhammed Ali, dead at 74.

Muhammed Ali was one of the greatest of all time. I can remember growing up as a teenager, I was watching one of his clips against Sonny Listen. Boxing.

However, a young boxer coming into the game and coming with a mouth on him: “if you want to lose your money, go ahead and bet on Sonny.”

Well, that night, February 26, 1964, there was an upset. Cassius Clay knocked out Sonny Listen. A whole lot of people lost their money.

The thing I liked about The Champ, is how he would get into his opponent’s head, and then knock ‘em out. For

example, the fight between George Foreman and Muhammed Ali, The Rumble in the Jungle, which aired on ABC’s Wide World of sports. If you watch the fight, you watch how he strategized by using the “rope-a-dope” and tiring out his opponent. The way he knocked Foreman out was so beautiful. It lived up to his later saying “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee … How can you hit something that you cannot see?!”

His resistance of the Vietnam War made a statement. Ali said, and I quote: “No Viet Cong never called me a N*****.” He said that the real war was here in the United States. He said

that it was against his religion to fight someone in another country.

There were certain places where African Americans were not allowed to go, such as restaurants, movie theaters or stores. After that, they stripped Ali of his title, stripped him of everything. But I remember the Champ standing up for what he believed in as far as humanity. And, he was the only heavyweight champion to reclaimed his title three times.

He had confidence in himself and was a positive influence in my life as an African American male. That’s what I remember about Muhammed Ali.

Back in the early 90’s, I took my wife to the opening day of “Muhammad Ali’s Rotisserie Chicken” restaurant in Silver Spring, Maryland. We hoped to see The Greatest. As we entered the mall, there was a long line outside the restaurant to meet Ali, and a short line to purchase food.

We chose the short line. As we were making our decisions on the entrees, I noticed Ali greeting his fans on the other side of the restaurant. I said to my wife, “there he is.”

“Where?” she asked. The moment that I pointed in his direction, she yelled “Muhammad, Muhammad!” She left me holding the tray and went to the front of the line, standing at the rope, and excitedly began telling him that her uncle had been a professional boxer in Kansas City.

“Let her through,” Ali said with his audible whisper.

Meanwhile, I was still choosing entrees when I heard her call, “Husband!” I knew what that meant: trouble! I put down the tray and went to her aid.

“I said to my wife, there he is.”

Ali was holding her hand as she—being tall, shapely, beautiful and intelligent — introduced me as her husband. He gave me a look and made a growling sound like a pitbull, as though I was the next contender that he was going to meet in the ring!

I puffed my chest, balled up my fists, looked him in the eye and yelled at him assertively, “that’s myyyyyyyyy wife!” He let go of her hand, smiled and welcomed us to his restaurant. My wife and I got the rest of our food, sat down, ate and went shopping.

As we were leaving the mall, we were waiting to cross the street when we noticed that Ali was leaving the mall right behind us. Then someone yelled, “Here comes Joe Frazier!”

Ali yelled, “Joe Frazier?! Joe Frazier!” as he went into his boxing stance and began to throw punches. All of a sudden, there was Joe Frazier, coming through the crowd in his boxing stance, bobbing and weaving, and throwing punches approaching Ali. The two of them sparred for a moment or two, then they hugged each other.

What a show! What an experience! We will remember that day for the rest of our lives.

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FEATURE

Ali: Lifetime Student of Art, Culture, and the Ways of the World

By Angie Whitehurst Vendor/Artist Everyone has a Muhammad Ali Story, including me! Not to belabor, repeat and bore you, I will list what I perceived and recall one story: During the 1980s, as a freelance consultant to a Georgetown-based company, I met and worked with Mr. Ali. I found him to be humble, kind, compassionate; a patriot to the United States of America; a believer in freedom of speech; and, as Thomas Jefferson, a fervent believer in freedom of religion. He was a lifetime student of everything: art, culture, people and the ways of the world.

The people he interacted with were truly representative of all races, colors and creeds. No matter what someone did or said, he was never imposing with his beliefs and never condemning. “That is between themselves and their God,” he said (if they had one or believed).

Giving people second chances and repeat chances was not a problem for Ali. He understood that no human being was perfect and that the temptations of human nature can get the best of people sometimes. Unlike most people, he took any hardship with grace and without anger, retaliation or revenge. He was truly a man of peace and nonviolence, except for his career in the ring. It was this belief that pulled him through some

very difficult and financially restrictive times. He had faith that he would make it through, that he would survive.

And he did.

Mr. Ali, also had a sense of humor.

The team was in the Atlanta airport and I was walking in the front of the entourage to the awaiting cars. I kept flapping and hitting at the side of my chignon-wrapped hair. A fly, gnat or something seemed to be annoying me relentlessly. I kept walking and trying to wave off the unseen annoyance. Then I heard the light laughter behind me. Next I heard Ali say, “That was me.”

Of course I did not believe him, and told I him so. So, he stepped in front of me and walked quickly behind a group of young people heading in the same direction. When he was right behind someone in the other group, he took his index finger and thumb and rubbed them together repeatedly. The young person did the same thing I did. They were hitting quickly and rapidly, at what they thought was a gnat, fly or bee.

They then scurried faster and away. Had they looked back, they would have seen Muhammad Ali! “You didn’t know, as big as I am, that I could tiptoe and you cannot hear me!” he said. Had he not showed me, in person, I would never have believed it!

Also, Ali loved magic and liked to get the staff together at the end of the day for 30 minutes to show off his latest trick.

We were scheduled for a morning flight on the return trip from Atlanta to Washington. Everything was going according to schedule. Then, all of a sudden, someone said “Muhammad Ali, Muhammad Ali!” People stopped, looked and hurried to meet the Champ. To snap pictures and get autographs before rushing to get on their flights. Everyone, made their flights, except for us. This happened

twice more before the airline official told me that after the next flight there would not be another until tomorrow.

I repeated this to Ali. Well, what he said to me I will never forget: “It is okay, if I miss the flights, because without the support of people, and these people, I would not have the successes of all that I have without them. It is because of human beings, that I have what I have and I am what I am today. So, I will stay until every one of them has spoken or seen me and received an autograph.”

I should not say this, but I was relieved when there were very few people around the terminal for that last flight! Being famous is not easy. But Ali never forgot who he was and how he got there. He understood the importance of saying thank you and being appreciative of his fans -- especially young people, whom he understood needed hope, faith and opportunity.

It was interesting to note that the hundreds of the people swarming around the Champ were white. Goodness and greatness has no discriminating hatred or racism, just admiration and respect! Sports is a barrier breaker and peacemaker, sometimes My greatest memory of Ali would be years later, when he lead the way and lit the Olympic torch for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Heart grabbing, it was to me, because Ali had Parkinson’s Disease back when we worked together.

What people did not know is that he would awake at 3 or 4 a.m. to take his meds, which took three to four hours to take effect. He did this so that he could meet with youth across the city and appear before groups and organizations who needed his support. So to see him decades later light that torch was a TKO. He was and still is, forever in our hearts and minds, The Greatest.

Remembering Muhammad Ali: The People’s Champion

By Ken Martin Vendor/Artist My memories begin when he was still Cassius Clay, the Louisville Lip who was taking the sporting world by storm. At that time, the adults around me wanted this uppity Negro to just shut up. On the contrary, we kids couldn’t get enough of his poetic braggadocio. Even cooler, he beat everyone -- just as he predicted he would!

But Ali’s greatest challenges were outside the ring, with the military and in the court of public opinion. He disobeyed the former when he refused to

be drafted because “I ain’t got nothing against them Viet Cong.” He was then vilified, viciously criticized and compared to many of the country’s traitors in the latter. Every boxing commission on the planet wrenched his heavyweight title from him without a whiff of due process.

But he refused to yield, a position the Supreme Court ratified three and half years later when it reversed and vacated his conviction. Sadly “Patriotic ineptness” cost Ali and the world the opportunity to witness the prime years for the greatest pugilist of all time!!!

Fortunately, I got to see Ali fairly up close and in person. He was visiting

relatives of my next door neighbors, the Rowe family. The Rowe’s were of the Muslim faith.Though Ali didn’t come to their house (wow, would I have bragged!), he visited their relatives two blocks away in the 1100 block of Staples Street NE. My best friend lived directly across the street. Though we didn’t have his mom’s permission to go over there, as did many other kids, we still had a bird’s eye view of The Champ. He was larger than life, yet he was more kid than killer.

There really was no way that this man who was courageous and fearless enough to stand up to the United States Army was going to go kill strangers for someone

else’s cause. He was a man of conviction and principle. Yes, he beat everybody by floating like a butterfly and stinging like a bee. But the man was more intelligent than he was athletic. That’s what made him a champion in the ring.

And what made him the people’s champion outside the ropes? He would not back down. When the courts and the commissions and the government couldn’t break him personally, they took away his title and took back his physical crown. But they couldn’t take away HIM. That’s why he remains The Greatest!!!!

OPINION Was Brexit Inevitable?

By Charles McCain

While the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union sent global financial markets into a free fall and will affect trade travel across the continent, the “Brexit” vote was far less a vote against the EU and far more a racially charged vote against immigration.

Anyone can become an American. But, a person of color cannot become English — even if that person swears allegiance to the crown and becomes a British subject.

Why is this? Unlike the United States, the British Isles have little experience with a multiracial democracy. English people are white. Since 84 percent of the population of the UK is English, the aforementioned terms are mostly synonymous.

A black or brown person can legally become an English citizen, but that person will never become culturally English, no matter how much money she acquires or how upper class his accent becomes. It is a subtle difference but a critical one. Does this mean that all English people who are white are racists? No, of course not. But, there are cultural lines that are almost impossible to cross.

In 2001, according the United Kingdom’s Office of National Statistics, the population of Great Britain was 92 percent white. In 2011, white people in the UK comprised 87 percent: a drop of 5 percent. While the overall population has been growing, this is because of immigration and not an increase in the family size of the white English population.

While it is hard for us to imagine now, in

1945, when World War II came to an end, the British Empire still ruled almost a quarter of the globe and almost a quarter of the population of the entire world. Without the massive assistance provided by the Empire, including millions of soldiers, the AngloAmerican alliance would have had a far more difficult time defeating Nazi Germany.

However, there were actually two empires in one: the self-governing white British Dominions such as Australia, Canada et al; and the non-white British colonies which were governed directly or indirectly by the British Crown. Therefore, the British had vast experience in governing people of color, but little experience in accepting them as equals.

Beginning in the late 1950s, men of color were recruited from former English colonies to come to England to work, due to a labor shortage. For instance, black men from the colony of Jamaica were recruited to drive London’s famous bright-red double decker buses. Other “coloured” subjects of the British Crown, including those from the Indian subcontinent, once ruled in its entirety by the British, could relocate to Great Britain and become citizens or permanent residents.

The white population wasn’t diluted very much in the beginning, but it slowly began to shrink as a percentage, more than many British people wanted. In the 1980s, controls on immigration of “coloured” people —defined as any person who wasn’t white, including Asians—were introduced and became more and more

strict as time went on. By 2010, these controls reduced the flow of immigrants from the former Empire to fewer than 25,000 people.

However, these strict measures did not reduce the number of immigrants. In fact, the number increased. In 2004 the EU had expanded to include many of the poorer countries of Europe, especially Eastern Europe. And a citizen of any country that is part of the EU can move to any other country in the EU, settle down and work.

By 2009, more than 1.5 million people, many from Eastern Europe, legally immigrated to the UK under this policy.

Prior to the Brexit, several key events occurred that pushed British voters over the edge: 1) In a 15-month period beginning in January of 2015, more than one million refugees, largely from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, sought asylum in the EU. While Britain only took a handful of refugees, this ignited a fear that a white, Christian Europe was about to be overrun with black and brown people, most of whom were Muslims.

2) On New Year’s Eve of 2015, during a traditional festival in Cologne, hundreds of German women were sexually assaulted in various ways — including being forcibly grabbed, kissed, groped and fondled.

Many of the perpetrators turned out to be North African Muslims. As these men were identified and arrested, police discovered that most of them were refugees who had applied for asylum.

3) In November of 2015, Islamic terrorists murdered 130 French men and women in Paris, leading to further demands by the British public to curb immigration.

4) Great Britain doesn’t have the same historical experience absorbing large numbers of immigrants that the United States does. 47,000 people immigrated to Great Britain in 1997. By 2005 that number had grown to 320,000 immigrants.

Over the 13-year period from 1997 to 2010, 3.6 million foreign migrants moved to Great Britain.

5) By 2011, Great Britain’s total population was 63 million. In 2014, 8.3 million, or 13 percent, of the population of Great Britain was foreign-born.

6) Months before Brexit, the UK government announced that between March 2014 and March 2015, net migration to the UK totaled 330,000 people.

In a country with these historic issues integrating migrants, Brexit feels inevitable.

The only surprise is that people are surprised.

Charles McCain is a volunteer and occasional columnist for Street Sense.

THE LEGAL BEAT: Meet D.C.’s Afforadable Law Firm

By Timothy Farrell

A recent study estimates that 70 percent of people have some kind of a legal issue, but 80 percent of those never address it, much less hire an attorney. The same study found that attorneys can be prohibitively expensive. The median cost to litigate an automobile case, for example, was $43,000. A malpractice lawsuit costs more than $300,000.

Thanks to contingency fees, these kinds of cases are generally paid for after the case is resolved, using the proceeds of the settlement or judgment. But they are indicative of the high cost to bring a matter to our court system, which according to an inscription I saw engraved on the front of the U.S. Supreme Court, is supposed to provide “Equal Justice for All.” No way. Most cannot afford an attorney to get access to justice.

Those who can afford access to justice pay $200 or more per hour for legal assis-

tance. Those who fall below the poverty line can get access through the DC Bar Association and other programs who provide pro bono legal services.

For people in between, there’s the DC Affordable Law Firm. This nonprofit

law firm provides legal services to DC residents whose incomes are too high to qualify for pro bono legal aid, but not high enough to afford a private attorney.

The nonprofit is a partnership between two law firms and the Georgetown Law

School. Appointments can be made by calling (202) 844-5430, or emailing info@ dcaffordablelaw.org. Their offices are located at 1717 K Street NW. The firm has an intake system dependent upon income level. For example, a single working person facing eviction, making between 200 percent and 400 percent of the poverty line —between $23,000 and $48,000 annually—qualifies for an hourly rate of $75.

The firm does not take all cases, but those matters pertaining to landlord/tenant, family law, immigration and issues related to small businesses are all important and underserved. So, this is yet another legal option to explore, particularly if the reader does not qualify for public services.

Timothy Farrell is a volunteer and occasional columnist for Street Sense.

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

STREET SENSE June 29 - July 12, 2016

1#1

OPINION

They Say

Metro Needs a Better Plan

By Ronald Turner

They say a garbage truck that brings a lot of trash is supporting Trump. But, throughout history, there have been a lot of unsavory coalitions, such as the New Deal Democrats. These were Dixiecrats from the south, crusading alongside urban ethnic African American from the North.

The Democrats were a racist party, but Blacks joined forces to shape the party. I became a Republican, but not because I agree with them. I just saw nothing progressive for me by voting Democratic.

I don’t want free lunches and food stamps; I want to be responsible for my decisions. I don’t mind the marketplace. Some of us want the greatest level of difficulty.

By Phillip Black

On June 18, the Metro system began shutting down stations.

From Eastern Market to Largo, many people have been or will be deprived of a way to get to work. And believe me, shuttle busses will NOT do it! Metro should have come up with a better plan to fix these problems, like keeping single tracking until all repairs are done, even though it would have taken a longer time. Another idea would have been to bring some metro specialists from New York to give their professional input from the beginning. All in all, I want to wish everyone good luck as Metro works to improve our transportation system!

Phillip Black, the “Cat in the Hat,” is a vendor and occasional writer with Street Sense

My Experience Meeting “The Greatest”

Ronald Turner is a vendor and writer with Street Sense.

By Jeffrey McNeil

Muhammad Ali’s death impacted me.

However, it’s hard to discuss Muhammad Ali’s life and impact without someone pushing a narrative that serves their own agenda. When I write about Muhumed Ali, I write from my experience meeting him while working at Donald Trump’s Taj Mahal.

While working there, I met many celebrities including Michael Jackson, Don King, Mike Tyson and Smokey Robinson.

Trump treated them as royalty. However, the most authentic of all of them was Muhammad Ali. He had this presence about him; it was as if you had a personal connection with him. It was the same feeling with Trump — people say awful things about him, but when you meet him in person, he can overwhelm you. You know he’s full of bluster, but he makes you feel like you’re the only one in the room.

I see Trump and Ali in the same light.

I don’t know if they liked me, but I sure loved them. I wasn’t around to see Joe Louis and Jackie Robinson, and I was eight months old when Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy were shot. But, Ali and Trump have been in my living room since childhood. The first time I remember Ali was watching ABC’s Wide World of Sports. Howard Cosell was interviewing him. Here was this muscular Black man with a mini afro exuding confidence about what he was going to do to his opponent.

I remember my father hating Ali, but I secretly found him inspiring. He was an alternative to the Civil Rights peaceniks I grew up with. He was against welfare and believed in uplifting African Americans. He was militant, and when he whooped up on white opponents Chuck Wepner and Jerry Quarry, he made us feel not like victims, but victors.

Had African Americans followed his lead, the world would’ve been a better place. When his title was taken unfairly by the establishment, he didn’t cry. He went back into the ring, trained hard, and lost twice to Joe Frazier and Ken Norton.

It took him almost four years before regaining the title from George Foreman.

If anyone had a legitimate grievance, it was Ali. But he never grumbled and complained, he put his nose to the grindstone to overcome past injustices.

Although I’m a great fan of Ali, I find it disturbing that he is a hero of Progressives. Ali wasn’t a leftist in anyway shape or form. Ali was a Republican who supported Ronald Reagan and both Bushes. Ali was against interracial marriage. He believed in free markets and was disgusted by the “Where’s Mine” culture that permeated the black community.

Later, Ali broke away from Elijah Muhammad and became an Orthodox Muslim.

He was a great humanitarian who worked behind the scenes in many diplomatic activities, such as releasing a reporter that was held captive in Iran.

The truth was that Ali was complex; he did good, but also wasn’t perfect. I think of Donald Trump as the white version of Ali: courageous, confident and fearless.

The establishment fears Trump as they did Ali and Malcolm X. They feared them because when you came in contact with them, you were a changed man.

I don’t know if it’s for better or worse, but Donald Trump has that trait. He changes people who listen to him. My opinion was cemented long before he ran for president.

I grew up in the tri-state area when that region of the U.S. was in the gutter. New York City was a mess before Trump arrived.

The city went through multiple bankruptcies, crime and drug abuse were rampant and no one but Trump invested there.

When I hear media pundits say Trump is racist, it’s not true. Trump rebuilt New York for all his citizens, not just the white inhabitants. He promoted women and minorities and did fundraisers and charities for people of all persuasions without any fanfare. I personally saw the generous side of him in Atlantic City.

As with Ali, Trump rankles the feathers of the status quo. People feel uncomfortable when someone rocks the boat. They can’t handle Trump because he brought an Ali spirit and attitude to politics. He is doing to the establishment what Ali did to Liston and Foreman, defeating machines that people thought were invincible.

As during Ali’s period, a new Silent Majority has emerged. People who work for a living are “Mad as Hell” and are tired of the selfish culture that’s permeated our society and politics. Many people who consider themselves enlightened and Democratic are appalled by liberals that claim to be moral and righteous by burning American flags, taunting police officers, and pelting people with rocks and bottles at Trump rallies.

Donald Trump is right: America is like the child that keeps getting his lunch money stolen. We don’t win anymore, we need to bring some sanity back to this country. Like Ali, Trump will make America “The Greatest” again.

Jeffery McNeil is a vendor and regular columnist for Street Sense.

Nervous: a Changing America

By Jacqueline Turner

Most evidence suggests that, because of ISIS and the like, the world is changing. Many people are now afraid of large gatherings of people and public transportation, and are waiting to see if a new attack will happen today, or if it happened the night before.

A lot of Americans think that the United States is strong and can’t be touched, but September 11th changed that!

Lots of respect for the United States is gone. Our citizens are joining terrorist groups. Lots of young people are misinformed.

The latest attack in Orlando ended with 49 people dead, and more people hurt at the club.

These acts of terror are only going to increase unless people watch, act up and start calling the police.

Jacqueline Turner has been selling Street Sense since 2011 and writing occasionally ever-since.

The Street Sense Writers’ Group is led by writing professionals and meets every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m. The group’s goal is to develop ideas and collaborate on the next great issue of Street Sense.

I

n this world of chaos and turmoil, it is surely a blessing to take that first breath in the morning as my eyes fly open. I feel a bit more blessed than most, for I have my own personal angel: the lovely little Lila. I believe God put her here to inspire, encourage and brighten my existence — especially since she was just growing in her mother's womb when I first returned home to D.C. in May 2012.

She reminds me of the presence of God through the wonderment of her peaceful eyes and joyful smile.

Being in the midst of this homeless epidemic, it troubles me to see persons with multiple issues—such as cancer, HIV, obsessive compulsive disorder or arthritis—attempting to

Vote. | ILLUSTRATION BY PATTY

juggle them in the midst of a world where people either don't care or are too caught up in their self-centeredness to express genuine love, respect and compassion for one another. Have you ever stopped to wonder how it might feel to deal with the obvious external challenges of homelessness and simultaneously deal with not-so-obvious challenges such as illness or stress? Take a day's journey in the shoes of someone who does.

Think about the issues you have and what a challenge it is for you to go from day to day.

Now add that you don't know

SMITH

where you're sleeping, eating or performing other natural and necessary functions for living that day. Homelessness is not a joke.

It is quite stressful not to have stable housing. Most illness derives from or is agitated by stress.

I'm blessed to have my stress-reliever in Lila. Find someone to be a blessing to.

Blessings to all.

—Robert Williams, USMC

Church, Love and Housing. | ILLUSTRATION BY CHARLES DAVIS

How Would You End Homelessness?

O

ur goal is to conquer Homelessness wherever it is. To defeat It until It dies. To lay and wait for It until no one sleeps outside. To destroy the billion dollar business of miseries unknown. To give every woman, man and child a home. We will fight and kill Homelessness from the highest of the highs to the lowest of the lows. The hard work may get harder, but we will never let go until Homelessness is no more.

We will teach our children about the Human Rights we promise generations to come: that there will never be one Homeless person to see. Will you join us in this fight? Will you believe that Homelessness can end today?

—Robert Warren

F

H

omelessness has been an epidemic for many years. You can look back to ancient times, people were homeless even then.

It is sad, frustrating and emotional to see people out in the streets, hungry, dirty, looking like they haven’t had a bath in weeks. That is a very touching feeling inside to see someone in that situation. By law, they say, if your name’s not on someone‘s lease then you are homeless. So I consider myself homeless too. I don’t look down on anyone I see on the street struggling to survive. One day I saw a man eating out of the trash can. It was a terrible and hideous moment. I walked over to the man and reached into my jacket. I gave him five dollars and said, “Buy yourself something to eat.” The thing about that situation — it made me feel good helping someone who was hungry and homeless.

If I could buy a lot of land, I’d ask the government to help me help the homeless. I would be happy to do it.

—Ricardo Meriedy

Housing Fund. | ILLUSTRATION BY SOL HICKS

or the homeless sleeping on the street, please make it better.

People are dying out here. Please don’t walk past the homeless.

Talk to us. Because we are human. And if you start a conversation then you can get to know a person better, before you judge them on what you see.

My voice sends a message when I sell the paper. I love everyone in Tenleytown for your help. I am still waiting on my housing and keeping God close.

—Joe Jackson

I

would end or solve homeless in D.C. by giving each citizen facing homelessness a particular curiosity for a job.

For example, a job in the circus, a lowrung job in a nurse’s office, or working for a senator or congressman, but not as a page.

I would not give the homeless a business or a daily grind. It is too important. It would cost the homeless person lots of money. The homeless would be a victim of circumstance.

—Debra Brantley

Wake up the people that are supposed to be helping. | ILLUSTRATION BY DAMON SMITH

STREET SENSE June 29 - July 12, 2016

13

VENDOR WRITING

AFTER KATRINA: e Episod t 2!

6, par

By Ivory Wilson Vendor/Artist

INT. CAPITAL HILL - DAY WILLIE : Larry, we were attacked last night.

LARRY: I know, I saw some of Dean’s goons and I ran for my life.

WILLIE: Needles, man! Many of my crew is sick and I am not feeling so good myself. Thank god that the wife and kids weren’t hit!

MICK: Bad news, WILLIE. You and your crew are infected with AIDS. All the needles were dip in blood.

WILLIE: What?! You mean we’re going to die?!

MICK: Not right now, but in a year or two.

WILLIE: Who’s going to raise my kids?

LARRY: It’s not too late. We can get a doctor. Listen to me! You’re not going to die! We will find help!

cat! He will come through that entrance, so have the crews stay ready!

RAGS: Okay, boss!

DEAN: Good, good. I haven’t had cat stew in a while, at least a year or two ago. We will feast on him!

RAGS: Boss! Bill’s here! The boys just spotted him trying to find a way down.

DEAN: Good! Good! Don’t miss, Rags!

RAGS: I won’t miss, boss!

Bill removes the man hole cover and looks inside. As he does, Dean’s crew releases the AIDS slingshot and the needles slam into his chest.

DEAN (yelling): You will surely die now, Bill! That’s AIDS blood you’ve been stuck with! I want you to know that I had nothing to do with killing your broad. Please tell her that when you see her again! Get my point?

INT. UNION STATION - NIGHT - UNDERGROUND

(to be continued)

DEAN: There is only one way in for that

A Ten-Year Roller Coaster, Part 22

By Gerald Anderson, Vendor/Artist PREVIOUSLY: I’m sittin’ in the cell wonderin’ w h a t ’s g o n n a happen when I go back to court.

How much time I was gonna get?

Would I see the street again? A couple weeks later, me and my co-defenders went back to court. I called it “Let’s Make a Deal Day,” ’cause that was one thing I did know was gonna happen. They say “If you wanna take a deal today we can offer you ten years.

We’ll close up the case and it’ll never be opened again.” My lawyer tell me I ain’t gotta take it. Each of my codefendants had different lawyers and no one took a deal that day. Nobody wanna take nothin’. I asked my lawyer, “What would be the decision if you was wearin’ the shoes I’m wearin’ on my feet?” He said, If I had your shoes on my feet, I wouldn’t want anyone to tell me what I should do. Let me look into the case, maybe I might can beat it, get it dismissed.” But most of the times when the FBI involved, they got some solid concrete against you. He say, “If I can get the judge to agree with me to put you in a rehab program would you go along with that?” I told him, “I’d take it if my codees were ok with it. I wouldn’t let them down in any way...”

At the jail they gave job assignments. You could work in the kitchen, you could work in receiving, work on the paint crew. You write a request and the warden look at it and review your record. He make sure you don’t have capitol offenses, like murder or rape.

So I start working from seven am to seven pm in receiving: passing out

jumpsuits, deordorant, soap, towels, toothpaste to new roll-ins. That give me more chance to keep my mind off what I’m facin’.

One day they brought a guy from up in the jail hollerin’ and screamin’, “My eyes burnin’! I can’t see a thing.”

They maced him—I don’t know what he did. He was cursin’ and sayin’, “Y’all tryin to blind me!”

They took the guy, throw him in the shower, and cut the water on. After that I say to myself, What the hell goin on?

That’s when the guard was telling us, “Go up front and close the door.” I don’t know what happen but it wasn’t nothin’ good. This kinda thing happen a lot. Guys getting maced and brought down to clean ’em up and then they brought them to the hole.

The hole is like a small steel cage that’s underground and right beside the morgue and inhabited also by big rats that run around and where the guards can see you nonstop.

I started to get talkin’ with some guards and correction officers that work in the prison. The ask where I was from, what I was in there for.

I told them I was from New Orleans.

Some of them I trust, some I didn’t. I started to feel like whatever happen, I just gotta face the truth. That’s when I start minglin‘ with some guys; I open up. Some of them been in the feds doin‘ time for the same case like I had.

Some of them said, “Man, you might get ten years. (to be continued) I hope you’ll check out my book, Still Standing: How an Ex-Con Found Salvation in the Floodwaters of Katrina. It’s available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle form.

Claude and Gussie, Part One

By Deborah Brantley, Vendor/Artist

1978: One d a y, w h i l e in town at a large farmer’s market on the poorer side by the river, Claude Jefferson was picking up some prosciutto, grapes, gouda cheese, and red wine for a snack. He was wearing his yellow members-only jacket, an Italian shirt (handmade), a slim tie and Italian loafers.

While looking at the huge legs of prosciutto, which were not long in the making, having taken only two months to cure, he

remembered he had put away $100 in the front pocket of his members-only jacket, which had been his favorite circa 1969.

He said aloud to himself, “Gee, this is my lucky day. I’ll just pay cash for all of this and save my credit card for gas and allergy medicine. Thank God for small miracles.” Then he picked out his prosciutto, the one with the rib bone that is cured so elegantly and lightly with sugar and maple. He wanted about 2 lbs of the thinly-sliced meat, so he walked up to the butcher, Pierre, and placed his order. He paid about $20 dollars for his prosciutto and checked to see if he had all of his other purchases. All totaled, he spent $69.23 on his meal.

As Claude was walking toward the exit, he spotted Gussie, who was stopping at the fruit stand for the children. She was picking out grapefruit and yellow-green apples.

He thought to himself, “What a lovely girl.

She must be here for a good reason. Maybe I should ask her if she needs a job cleaning out my basement. He approached her ever so cautiously and innocently asked, “Hey, Misses-Green-Tree, would you like $900?”

She was paying for her purchase of 6 grapefruits and 12 apples, totalling $19.18. She completed the purchase and turned around to look evenly at Claude.

“Why yes. Certainly. Is it for cleaning purposes. I might ask?” she said, appearing mildly amused.

“Yes and no”, he said. “You are a mighty fine and healthy looking sort. Would you please meet me back at my car so I can tell you what I need and give you $120 dollars for your trouble?”

“Well I have to be home at 6:30 p.m. to start the evening meal. Those children must be mighty hungry by now,” she said.

“Well, it will only take about 9 or 10 minutes, and I can give you a ride home,” he suggested.

“Okay, fine,” she said. It was already 4:45 p.m., and she lived about an hour away by bus. (to be continued)

COMICS & GAMES

Wallagrass

Vincent

Ravendale

Pasadena

Klamath

Graettinger

Bradbury

Indians

Dodgers

Cubs

Brewers

Angels

Ronnie

Orlando

Micheal

Herman

Glenn

Clayton

Bradley

Sol’s Puzzle Corner: Logic & Sudoku

Orioles

Hometowns

Mariners

Teams

Players

2005

Teams 2006

Players

2008 2009

Hometowns

Graettinger

Ravendale Vincent Wallagrass Angels Brewers Cubs Dodgers Indians Mariners Orioles

Teams

Graettinger

Pasadena

Wallagrass

Vincent

Ravendale

Pasadena

Klamath

Graettinger

Bradbury

Klamath

The person who’s now with the Brewers graduated before the person from Klamath.

2. The person from Bradbury isn’t playing for the Indians.

Vincent 3. The player who’s now with the Angels graduated 1 year after the Wallagrass person from Vincent.

Angels 4. The player from Bradbury isn’t playing for the Angels.

5. Of Glenn and Bradley, one is now with the Angels and the other graduated in 2011.

Brewers 6. Of the playerPresented who’s nowbywith the Baron Dodgers and Herman, one graduated in 2006 and the other is Cubs Puzzle from Graettinger.

Dodgers Puzzle ID: U434XH 7. The player who graduated in 2005 isn’t from Wallagrass.

Indians 8. The player from Pasadena graduated before go thetoplayer from Vincent.

For hints, solutions and more puzzles, our website: Mariners 9. Clayton isn’twww.Printable-Puzzles.com from Ravendale.

Orioles 10. Ronnie is either the person who’s now with the Mariners or the player who’s now with the Cubs.

11. The person who’s now with the Mariners graduated 1 year after the person from Pasadena.

12. The player from Pasadena is either the player now w/ the Angels or the person who graduated in 2007.

13. Micheal graduated 1 year after the player who’s now with the Orioles.

Years Players Teams Hometowns 14. Herman graduated 4 years 2005 before the person who’s now with the Dodgers.

Presented 2006 by Puzzle Baron 15. Glenn isn’t from Klamath.

2007 Puzzle ID: U434XH 16. Bradley is either the person 2008 from Bradbury or the player 2009solutions and more puzzles, go to our website: For hints, from Graettinger. www.Printable-Puzzles.com 2010 Pasadena

1.

Ravendale

4x7 Logic Puzzle

Bradbury

Klamath

Orioles

Indians

2011

Mariners

Dodgers

Cubs

Brewers

Ronnie

Orlando

Micheal

Herman

Glenn

Clayton

Bradley

2010

2006

2011

Hometowns

2009

Bradbury

2010

Teams

2008

2005

2007 Years

Angels Years

2007

Curated by Sol Hicks Vendor/Artist >> Solutions on page 15.

Hometowns

4x7 Logic Puzzle

2011

STREET SENSE June 29 - July 12, 2016

15

COMMUNITY SERVICES Housing/Shelter

Food

Clothing

Showers

Outreach

Medical/Healthcare

Transportation

Laundry

Education

Employment Assistance

Legal Assistance

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

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

Community of Hope: 232-7356 communityofhopedc.org

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

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

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

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

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

Catholic Charities: 772-4300 catholiccharitiesdc.org/gethelp

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sol’s Solutions The solutions to the previous logic puzzle featured in Sol’s corner were misprinted. The correct soluiton is featured below. Street Sense regrets this error.

LAST WORD: INVEST IN “OUR HOME”

VENDOR SUCCESS: MARCUS GREEN

By Reginald Black, “Da Street Reportin’ Artist”

By Katlyn Alapati, katlyn.alapati@streetsense.org

Washington, D.C. is a changing city.

The cranes continue to rise, bringing new buildings with them. Whole neighborhoods are transforming. It could be said that this is for the better.

However, for many low-income residents, D.C. is a living nightmare. At the forefront of these income inequality issues stands public housing. Residents from various properties have been advocating and pleading with the city to make simple repairs to their homes, only to be denied by various administrations and told that their homes will be redeveloped into mixed income communities.

In most living situations, residents are usually able to make simple repairs as needed. But Washington’s public housing residents claim the rules governing their homes prevent them from making such efforts. For years, low-income residents have been dealing with what they usually describe as deplorable conditions. Undaunted, however, the residents have been fighting back – most recently through art.

Local music and spiritual group, The Sanctuaries—best known for their anit-poverty anthem “Love Reaches Out”—recently pitched in to help public housing residents in the Barry Farm neighborhood. According to the group’s website “Ten local artists collaborated with residents of Barry Farms

public housing complex in Anacostia to fight gentrification through the arts. They met in resident homes, attended community meetings, and heard both the fear and anger that residents expressed in the face of impending plans for redevelopment, which will displace their families.”

The result was the performance “Our Home,” which was organized as a fundraiser to support the residents. To date, the Barry Farm neighborhood has been ground zero in the battle against gentrification.

“When we are talking about saving Barry Farms, we are not talking about only the houses we are talking about saving the home, the relationships,” said Sanctuaries founder and community organizer Reverend Erik Martínez Resly “When at the performance. “This is a spiritual issue, this is a social issue an external issue that asks each and every one of us to help people find a home in Washington, D.C.” With efforts like these, many will benefit from artistic education that will motivate change. Hopefully decision makers who are looking at neighborhoods like Barry Farm will remember that these are people, and together they are part of what makes Barry Farms each other’s’ home.

Watch an excerpt of the performance soon, on StreetSense.org!

June 29 - July 12, 2016 • Volume 13 • Issue 17

Street Sense 1317 G Street, NW

Nonprofit Org US Postage Paid Washington, DC

Washington, DC 20005

Permit #568

Mail To: Remember, buy only from badged

vendors and do not give to those panhandling with one paper.

Interested in a subscription? Visit StreetSense.org/subscribe

Street Sense vendor Marcus Green graduated June 17 from the Project Empowerment Program, which equips students facing employment barriers with essential job skills.

During the three-week program, Green participated in interview workshops, crafted his resume, and learned professional interpersonal skills, such as pitching his personal brand.

Five days later, the Department of Public Works (DPW) interviewed Green for the final part of Project Empowerment: the opportunity for six months of employment, subsidized by the D.C. Department of Employment Services (DOES).

“I’m excited for the next phase,” Green said of getting on-site work experience, before the interview.

DPW hired him and he can’t wait to start.

Green’s graduation came less than a year after his wife and fellow Street Sense vendor, Roberta Bear, passed away in her sleep.

Green described the months following Bear’s passing as a particularly dark time in his life, but something he eventually drew inspiration from.

“I’m ... dedicating this year to her,” Green said. “In order for me to move forward I gotta do some things to be self-supporting.”

Project Empowerment became a step toward that independence for Green.

“It awakened some goals...that had sort of like slipped between my fingers,” Green said. “So you sort of start back dreaming.”

Green acknowledged that working for the DPW is a “humbling beginning” that he hopes will lead to employment that is stable enough to eventually purchase his own home. He is living with his sister, Trina Mercer, who he describes as his “foundation.”

But alongside this opportunity, he had

an interview for transition housing on the same day as the DOES interview, to take him just another step further in his journey towards self-sufficiency.

“I’ve been blessed,” Green said. “This is a grand and groovy opportunity for me, and I plan on making the best of it.”

Recognizing that he would have to work particularly hard to find emotional balance in his life, Green also began writing, listening to music and feeding birds as part of his “therapy” after his wife’s death.

After nearly seven months without Bear, Green’s writings have culminated in a book that will be self-published in the next three weeks.

“That’s not a lot of time,” Green said, referring to the time since Bear’s death, “So I must be doing some things right spiritually to find a balance; to go on ‘in spite of.’”

Green’s ambitions are high for his book, which describes his emotional and spiritual recovery from adversity throughout his life. He plans to send a copy to Oprah Winfrey to be considered for her famous book club.

“That’s how far I’m trying to go,” he added.

For Green, who is no stranger to hardship, this period of his life — with a job interview lined up, a recent graduation and a new book — has taken a turn for the better.

“Things don’t always happen to us,” Green said. “Things happen for us sometimes. … But it might look tragic at the time, you know?”

Although he credits a lot of his emotional growth to the support of his friends and family, Green’s personal perseverance is perhaps what mainly helped him find balance and success in recent months.

“Never, never, ever give up,” Green said. “That’s a wrap. That’s it.”