07 14 2021

VOL. 18 ISSUE 25

$2

JULY 14 - 20, 2021

Real Stories

Real People

How will Bowser’s $400 million for housing be spent?

Who will it help?

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The Cover

The Street Sense Media Story, #MoreThanANewspaper

Using mostly federal relief funding related to the pandemic, Mayor Bowser has proposed $400 million be budgeted for the Housing Production Trust Fund in FY21 and FY22.

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

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

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

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EVENTS

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NEWS IN BRIEF DC passes emergency bill to delay evictions and protect consumers from unfair debt collection

Memorial for a neighbor who died without housing Sunday, July 18 // 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm // Foundry United Methodist Church, 1500 16th St. NW “On the morning of June 18, staff and volunteers setting up for Foundry’s ID Ministry were informed by a neighbor that an unhoused individual staying on the church’s steps was found unconscious and pronounced dead at the scene the day before. Many nights, Foundry’s steps are utilized by unhoused neighbors because they see it as the safest place for overnight refuge. While we welcome our neighbors on our steps, we know that the ultimate solution to homelessness is housing.” Vigil advertised at tinyurl.com/foundry-vigil-july18.

SATURDAY, JULY 17

UPDATES ONLINE AT ICH.DC.GOV

Black Wall Street Festival 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm 2500 Pennsylvania Ave. NW The Black Wall Street Festival by Legally Black LLC seeks to elevate and amplify black businesses.

“This festival exists to extend our legacy into the future, empowering future generations to learn and ground themselves in the story where they came from.” MORE NFO: tinyurl.com/black-wall-street-festival

D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness Meetings Housing Solutions Committee July 19, 3 - 4:30 pm // WebEx Strategic Planning Committee July 27, 2:30 - 4 pm // WebEx ***For call-in information, as well as meeting info for unlisted working groups, contact: ich.info@dc.gov.

Food Distributions July 15 // 11 am - 1 pm 14500 Layhill Road, Silver Spring The Oak Chapel Church is offering free food distribution drive-thrus every Thursday. Walkers welcome.

July 18 // 1 - 4 pm 12917 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring The Guru Nanak Foundation of America is offering a free grocery drive-thru every Sunday.

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With the District’s public health emergency due to expire soon, the D.C. Council voted on July 13 to approve legislation aimed at avoiding a sudden end to the consumer and tenant protections in effect in the District since the pandemic began. The measures — passed on an emergency and temporary basis — include a proposed update to a 50-year-old debt collection law and a bill aimed in part at avoiding or at least delaying evictions.

Under the modified version of the District’s debt collection law, protections will extend to various types of consumer debt, including medical, credit card, and student loan bills. These protections did not exist prior to the D.C. Council’s coronavirus response measures, and they are aimed at protecting some of the city’s most vulnerable residents.

Nearly a third of District residents carry debt that’s in collection, and a disproportionate number of those affected are people of color, according to an Urban Institute study last updated in March.

The law’s prohibition on aggressive debt collection practices would bar companies from making more than three calls per day to debtors or making false threats; the law would also ban the practice of jailing people who fail to pay on their debts. Another provision in the bill sets financial penalties of up to $4,000 if a debt collector violates the law.

The bill — introduced by Council Chairman Phil Mendelson in consultation with D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine — was well-received among consumer advocates with several civil legal aid organizations speaking out to support it. The council will hold a public hearing this fall before taking action on a permanent version.

The other bill, a broad measure to specify how long various protections will continue beyond the public health emergency, also passed unanimously on Tuesday as emergency and temporary legislation expected to remain in effect through early February.

Under the bill’s provisions, landlords will be able to commence eviction proceedings for non-payment of rent as early as October under certain circumstances.

The filings are allowed, for instance, as long as the landlord has applied for help under the city’s emergency rental assistance program, STAY D.C. Since its launch in April, the federally funded rental assistance program has spawned complaints about a complicated application process, inadequate public awareness, and a lack of legally required language support. The emergency legislation would allow for landlords to apply for STAY D.C. on behalf of their tenants, with the person’s consent.

The current eviction moratorium is tied to the public health emergency, which is currently set to expire on July 25. After the end of the moratorium, eviction filings would be allowed to resume starting as early as September — before some STAY D.C. applicants receive the financial support they need.

At-large Councilmember Elissa Silverman said that while the bill is not “perfect,” it will prevent “a tsunami of evictions” from happening in September.

With this legislation, prohibition on rent increases would expire Dec. 31 and the utility disconnection moratorium would end on Nov. 5.

—will@streetsensemedia.org

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NEWS

Bowser’s $400 million for housing could be a gamechanger, but the program typically doesn’t produce for those most in need

BY CLAUDIA LEVENS claudia.levens@streetsensemedia.org

H

ope and skepticism grip city officials and community members in anticipation of Mayor Muriel Bowser’s historic $400 million investment in affordable housing.

Bowser’s fiscal year 2022 budget proposal — now being revised by the D.C. Council — would invest the $400 million in the Housing Production Trust Fund (HPTF), which distributes loans and subsidies to private developers that incorporate affordable housing into their projects. The Bowser administration promises the funding will produce 2,700 affordable units, 1,100 of which will be for the city’s lowest-income earners. However, though the HPTF is required to spend at least half of its funds on housing for extremely low-income residents, the HPTF’s records show that the District has met this goal only once in the HPTF’s existence.

As a result, advocates and some officials are questioning whether this influx of cash to stem the housing crisis will benefit those who need it most. Consequently, At-Large Councilmember Elissa Silverman has initiated discussions to consider legislation that would address the HPTF’s transparency and accountability issues.

How does this investment align with the District’s housing goals?

The budget plan divides the $400 million HPTF funds: $150 million for the HPTF in the supplemental fiscal year 2021 budget to be spent before Sept. 30, and another $250 million for FY22. The plan uses funding from last year’s budget surplus as well as federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, meant to stimulate recovery after the economic and health toll of the COVID-19 pandemic.

There is a backlog of project proposals submitted to the HPTF that a portion of the new funds would help put into motion, D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development Director Polly Donaldson testified during a June 22 hearing. In many cases, HPTF funds allow developers to acquire property and begin construction before other loans and financing can be obtained, which is especially important for developing low-income housing, which is not expected to generate as much of a profit.

The total investment would be four times as much as Bowser’s already historic annual allocation of $100 million to the HPTF since taking office. The funding expansion is supplemented by changes to the program written into the Council’s annual budget instructions, called the Budget Support Act, which proposes pairing the HPTF directly with the Local Rent Supplement Program (LRSP), a local subsidy program modeled after federal housing vouchers that provides monthly rental subsidies that cover the difference between the rents that extremely lowincome families can afford and the actual monthly cost of rent for the unit, according to a fact sheet from the Coalition For Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development. D.C. Council’s draft budget infuses $42 million in FY21 and FY22 (though, like all HPTF funds, they are spread out until the funds expire in 2025) to spend on new LRSP vouchers and create a proposed 1,100 “deeply affordable” housing units.

“Extremely low-income” families in these housing support programs earn less than 30% of the Area Median Income (AMI) in D.C. (MFI is used interchangeably with Median Family Income or MFI.) The intended effect of pairing LRSP with HPTF is to use government funds to support the construction and remodeling of affordable housing — and to apply additional public support to place D.C.’s most vulnerable families into those units. Owners of HPTF buildings can receive LRSP subsidy and then must charge lower rents to tenants, who pay based on income level.

So far, the D.C. Housing Authority has been solely in charge of the program, separate from the affordable housing construction and capital cost support in HPTF. The Council hopes to improve results by combining funding and administrative work for affordable housing projects into one government agency, rather than having one agency dealing with developers and building facilities and a separate department dealing with low-income housing applicants on the rent support side.

D.C. Council’s Committee on Housing and Executive Administration held a series of hearings last month to evaluate the funding proposal and consider how to maximize the funds for affordable housing in D.C. Officials and activists commended the proposed funding increase for demonstrating the District’s commitment to affordable housing, as conditions for low income residents to rent and purchase units get worse. However, many of those stakeholders expressed skepticism about the wisdom of infusing unprecedented levels of funding into a program with a record of limited accountability and transparency.

At the start of her second term in 2019, Mayor Bowser set the bold goal of delivering an additional 36,000 units of housing – including at least 12,000 units of affordable housing – by 2025.

Since setting this goal in 2019, the HPTF’s public project data shows the completion of five new housing projects with loans that closed in 2019, which produced a total of 168 units, 18 of which are deeply affordable. There are 25 projects under construction with loan closings in 2019, 2020, and 2021 that are projected to produce a total of 2,245 units, 407 of which should be deeply affordable. Another 30 projects in the underwriting pipelines have estimated loan closings between 2021Q4- 2022Q3 and are projected to produce a total of 3,432 units, 524 of which should be deeply affordable.

Altogether, DHCD would be on track to finance 5,843 housing units between 2019 and the third quarter of 2022: 5,405 will qualify as affordable but only 949 will be deeply affordable. This would be 45% of the way to Bowser’s goal of 12,000 units of affordable housing by 2025 with only 2 years left. According to these projections, the total production of deeply affordable housing would constitute 16% of total production.

DHCD’s and Bowser’s prediction for this investment, released in the May 24 announcement, is that the $400 million will produce 2,700 affordable units — with up to 1,100 of them being deeply affordable — over the next 2 to 3 years. This would put the District 68% of the way to Bowser’s affordable housing goal.

Even if D.C. achieves 12,000 affordable housing units by 2025 it would not meet even half of the need identified by a recent Urban Institute report. D.C. needs to add 55,600 units by 2030 renting for less than $800/month to help existing extremely low-income residents and to house people currently experiencing homelessness, the report concluded.

“It’s a really significant investment, so I think we have reason to be optimistic, but cautiously optimistic,” said Eliana Golding, a policy analyst for D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, a progressive think tank.

According to Golding, the gap between the existing need for affordable housing and the projected performance of the HPTF is especially evident in the DHCD’s existing track record of meeting the statutory requirement for producing units that serve extremely low income residents.

A 2018 D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute report found that it would take $2.6 billion over 10 years in construction costs alone to meet the District’s affordable housing goals — more than double the mayor’s annual investment.

“We know that in order to actually meet the need for affordability, we’d need to direct $250 million in the trust fund per year,” Golding said. The report also showed these construction costs would need to be paired with an additional $762 million per year for maintaining the units and keeping the rent affordable once they are built. If such investments were made each year, housing would be the biggest line item in the city’s budget, $200 million more per year than even the Metropolitan Police Department.

No accountability for extremely low-income residents The requirement Golding referred to is a stipulation in the HPTF law that “at least 50% of the money disbursed from the fund during a fiscal year shall be for the purpose of assisting in the provision of housing opportunities for extremely lowincome households, including maximizing the possibility of home ownership.” This statute requires half of the HPTF’s money to go towards households that make 0-30% of the AMI—the extremely low-income level. It previously required 40% of all funding go toward these households but was updated in 2019 to respond to the growing housing crisis.

In practice, however, despite Mayor Bowser’s repeated commitments to affordable housing since taking office in 2015 — and the over $1 billion invested in affordable housing since then — the previous 40% requirement was only met once (according to a D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute analysis) and the 50% mark has never been met since its addition.

A 2018 audit found that only 19% of rental units produced or preserved by the Trust Fund between 2001 and 2016 were affordable to families making 30% or less of the AMI. In written responses to oversight questions from D.C. Council earlier this year, DHCD said only 18% of funds for FY20 went to projects that would house extremely low-income families, and the agency projects only 27% of funds for FY21 will fund deeply-affordable units. “[The extremely low-income’ bucket] is where the highest, most acute need for affordable housing is,” said Beth Mellen, supervising attorney at Legal Aid Society of D.C. where she heads the Housing Law unit of the Eviction Defense Project.

“Those are the residents who are most likely to be spending half or more of their income on rent and are being crushed by the rent burden they live with.”

People living on minimum wage often need deeply affordable housing, according to Christy Respress, the executive director of Pathways to Housing D.C. The 0-30% of AMI category is not exclusive to people on zero income or who rely on benefits such as SSI (Supplemental Security Income). “We are not producing anywhere near enough deeply affordable housing to end homelessness in the city unless we take advantage of these opportunities right now to leverage these federal funds,” Respress said.

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Over the past several years, while DHCD has struggled to meet the HPTF’s statutory spending requirements for the 0-30% AMI level, it has consistently spent a disproportionate amount on housing at the 31-50% AMI and 51-80% AMI level, typically significantly exceeding the law’s requirements for both.

While the percentage of HPTF funds allocated for deeply affordable units has been ticking upwards, many members of the public who testified at various D.C. Council budget hearings this summer noted DHCD’s failure to meet its own priorities for those between the 0-30% AMI and called for transparency as to why the promise of affordable housing in the District is not being fulfilled.

DHCD Director Donaldson said at a June 22 hearing that it is difficult to direct HPTF funds to deeply affordable housing in part because DHCD has had trouble in the past ascertaining how much of the budgeted funds are available for each income bracket.

Since LRSP, the local voucher program targeted at the same group, has been fully administered by the D.C. Housing Authority, the department has never had a specified amount of LRSP funding to pair with its development projects and guarantee they remain affordable. Donaldson expressed certainty that the proposed shift of LRSP funds to DHCD in the Budget Support Act would help them better support residents who earn 0-30% AMI.

Lack of transparency: What projects receive funding?

Even with DHCD’s improved ability to ascertain operating funds for affordable housing, uncertainty remains as to whether the agency will meet its goals for 0-30% AMI households, according to Maya Brennen, housing advisor to At-Large Councilmember Elissa Silverman. She said DHCD struggles both with these challenges unique to the LRSP and HPTF programs, as well as larger systemic issues in affordable housing production.

Brennen said it is unclear whether LRSP subsidies to landlords are adequate to cover upkeep normally paid for by rent from tenants or whether the rents currently covered by the subsidy set tenants up for subpar living conditions over time and make partnering with the program attractive to private landlords.

“The real question to us is whether there’s enough money baked into this budget proposal for LRSP operating subsidies,” said Mellen from Legal Aid Society of D.C., “since it is the crucial element in making HPTF properties accessible to extremely low-income residents.” According to Mellen, this question is not answerable based on the information DHCD has reported.

On the HPTF side, Brennan questioned if the funding is competitive: whether the D.C. government is receiving highquality applications from many developers of deeply-affordable units or if there are very few private sector groups willing to put together plans in which most of the new units would be deeply-affordable. It is important to know if these programs deal with constraints beyond program structure that drive costs up with subsidies not keeping pace, such as zoning rules and extremely expensive land and materials.

Golding of the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute pointed out that the public does not have the necessary information to answer those questions. “There isn’t a lot of transparency surrounding the process that DHCD uses to select the projects that it gives funding to,” Golding said, referring to the scoring process that DHCD uses to select HPTF projects from a host of proposals.

After the projects are scored, the DHCD director has ultimate discretion over which projects are selected, meaning that projects that are scored highest are not always chosen for funding. This unstructured process is not a major concern for Golding, who said flexibility can be beneficial in preventing all accepted projects from being geographically concentrated in one single area.

DHCD publishes publicly available quarterly reports on

the selections they make. “What these reports don’t provide,” Golding said, “is justification for those decisions or specification on which projects weren’t funded.” Without this information, assessment of the HPTF’s operation is difficult.

Council considers transparency and accountability legislation In 2019, Councilmember Silverman proposed legislation to improve access to information about the types and locations of proposals that are seeking or have received HPTF resources.

“In the hearings, we heard from folks that it’s one thing to know about what’s getting resources, but it’s just as important to get information about the projects that don’t get resources — and why,” said Brennan, the councilmember’s housing advisor.

The bill did not make it out of D.C. Council’s housing committee, but Silverman’s office is optimistic about future consideration. “We were working to get it prepared to go to markup, and then the clock ran out, while trying to work on all the other housing needs during the pandemic,” Brennan said.

The “clock” she referred to was the end of the previous D.C. Council term in December 2020. The legislation would need to be re-introduced to move forward, which Silverman’s office has been preparing for through conversations with constituents, other councilmembers, and DHCD. The legislation would mostly be a copy and paste of the original Housing Production Trust Fund Transparency Amendment Act from 2019, modified to address concerns expressed during the original hearings over the necessity of requiring justifications for why each proposal is or is not selected to receive funding. Brennan said having this information publicly available would help determine what’s being done and what still needs to be done to provide housing for extremely low-income residents.

“The $400 million is a tremendous amount of money, and to not have any information about how the RFP decisions are being made and why projects are being selected is not in the best interest of the District,” said Golding, the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute analyst.

Silverman is also considering separate legislation to enforce accountability to income targeting requirements. “Each year that DHCD did not fulfill the HPTF requirement to target 50% of funds for families with incomes of 0-30% AMI, Mayor Bowser waived the targeting requirement.” This new legislation would instead require DHCD to request a waiver from D.C. Council, a process that would include public testimony to justify themselves, and receive the council’s explicit approval.

“If the council determines they haven’t given a good reason for not meeting the income-targeting requirement, they would need to make changes,” Brennan said. “In the meantime, folks can contact our office with feedback, questions, and concerns about these pieces of legislation.”

Racial equity is needed During the June 22 hearing, Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George said DHCD must infuse a racial equity lens in HPTF administration, since the District’s housing crisis “disproportionately affects Black and brown communities.”

According to a 2018 D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute report, the District’s severely cost-burdened and extremely low-income renters — those who would qualify for an LRSP subsidy and HPTF housing units in the 0-30% AMI category — are overwhelmingly people of color. Ninety-one percent of residents in such households are African American, and 10% are Latinx (of any race).

Director Donaldson said in her testimony at the same hearing that DHCD would hopefully meet the needs of this group by

// 5

intentionally scaling the amount of money in LRSP to reach the income requirements for the 0-30% AMI, which they did for the first time in this proposed budget. Now that DHCD has their own money for LRSP allocations to pair with the HPTF, they have been able to ascertain the necessary amount of funding supposedly needed to target those areas.

Donaldson provided a table at the hearing to show the breakdown of LRSP investment for the next few years, supposedly scaled to meet the HPTF’s statutory requirements by intentionally calculating the necessary funds to operate those affordable units after they are constructed.

Golding, the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute policy analyst, said the LRSP funding is an improvement for the program but the information for its budget plan still lacks transparency. “DHCD has not put out a robust explanation of how these calculations [were made] and what numbers they’ve used to reach these estimates,” she said. “I trust they did them, but I think they should be made public so the council has the ability to analyze them and ask questions.”

What does all this mean for the $400 million?

Considering the potential impact this drastic increase in funding could have on making affordable housing more accessible, many stakeholders throughout the budget hearings wondered about the timeline for spending it.

Every bill gets two votes in D.C. Council before being sent to the mayor for her signature and then going through Congress — since D.C. is not a state — for what is usually passive approval. The final vote on the Local Budget Act for FY22, which determines how much money the HPTF and other programs receive, is Aug. 3. The final vote on the Budget Support Act, which includes the changes to the rules about the Local Rent Supplement Program and DCHA, is Aug.10.

At the June 22 hearing, At-Large Councilmember Anita Bonds, who chairs the housing committee, noted that most of this expanded investment in the HPTF is composed of federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

She asked whether DHCD would be able to sustain this level of investment past fiscal year 2022.

Donaldson said in her June 22 testimony that a lot of the federal funds being used for this expansion have expiration dates as far as 2025. While it is all allocated in the FY21 and FY22 budgets, the HPTF money will be dispersed throughout FY23, FY24, and FY25. D.C. Council’s current draft budget would allow DHCD to spend $8 million, $16 million, and $37 million on LRSP in those same fiscal years, respectively.

The reason the HPTF was deemed the appropriate vessel for these funds has to do with the requirements of the American Rescue Plan Act. According to Brennan, the housing advisor for Councilmember Silverman, members of the council who are trying to find money to end homelessness generally fight for greater LRSP funding or permanent supportive housing funding.

But the federal relief money cannot go towards a solution with a “consistent need,” such as a housing voucher. Unsupported funding for LRSP would put voucher recipients at risk after the federal money runs out in 2025. According to Brennan, it is a question of raising revenue. With the additional funds spent on producing and preserving affordable housing, it will be up to the mayor and the council to invest more LRSP funds to match what the HPTF supports in FY23-FY25, and beyond.

It is still unclear whether the District will work to maintain this higher HPTF budget long-term.

“The question is whether the District will pivot to make these historic levels of investment ongoing,” Golding said. “I think we’ll need to raise more revenue for that to happen. If we’re going to sustain this level of investment in the future, we’ll need to raise some more revenue.”

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NEWS

Little Free Library wants to diversify its books

BY WILL SCHICK // will@streetsensemedia.org

B

uilt of wood and featuring a distinctive A-frame construction, the new Little Free Library at CentroNía, a bilingual and multicultural early childhood education provider in Columbia Heights, looks much the same as the existing book-sharing boxes popularized by its eponymous sponsor. But the contents make this one stand out.

In late June, the Wisconsin-based nonprofit Little Free Library brought its new “Read in Color” initiative to D.C. with the blue and white box at 1420 Columbia Road NW. It’s filled with books that provide perspectives on racism and social justice as part of a new initiative to expand and diversify the group’s network of “take-a-book, share-a-book” free exchange libraries.

The group behind book-sharing boxes found in neighborhoods throughout the District and nationwide made this push in response to last year’s calls for action on systemic racism and social inequality. D.C. is one of nine cities slated for the diversity initiative’s expansion this year.

In total, Little Free Library plans to provide 5,000 books to 21 new locations scattered throughout the District. These locations have not all been identified yet, but the group’s local partner hopes to have them all in operation by the end of September.

Featured books incorporate the experiences of people from all identities and celebrate the voices of people who are Black, Indigenous, LGBTQ+ or from other diverse backgrounds.

The initiative — which launched late last year in Minneapolis and St. Paul — seeks not only to diversify the kinds of books that are in the Little Free Library system, but also to help expand book access for communities in need. The majority of Little Free Library’s existing book-sharing boxes in D.C. are located west of the Anacostia River with a large concentration on Capitol Hill.

Shelby King, the director of programs at Little Free Library, said that while the organization has always helped connect people through books, this new initiative incorporates more “intentionality” into its programming.

According to King, the Read in Color initiative is shaped in large part by a social theory called “windows and mirrors” that examines book diversity from two angles.

With the former, “we want people to be able to look into others’ experiences to learn from them. But we also want mirrors where [the] books are reflective of [people] who are in the community they are found in,” King said.

Part of the challenge of ensuring access to this kind of literature is finding enough books that feature non-white characters. While the

initiative involves all ages and includes titles by bestselling authors such as Colson Whitehead, Claudia Rankine, and Ta-Nahisi Coates, locations such as the one at CentroNía focus on children’s books — a matter of particular concern to the sponsoring organization.

A study conducted in 2020 by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center based at the University of Wisconsin found that “books about white children, talking bears, trucks, monsters, potatoes, etc. represent nearly three quarters (71%) of children’s and young adult books published” in the preceding year. By contrast, the same study found that 11.9% of books published in 2019 featured Black characters and 5.3% featured characters with Latinx backgrounds.

Exacerbating this problem, King said, is the fact that disparities in book access continue to be a serious issue in the United States.

Research conducted by the U.S. Department of Education showed that socioeconomically disadvantaged children are less likely to read at home or to have books there. Data collected by the department also show that 28% of D.C. children live in poverty and likely do not have the same kind of access to literature as children who live in higher-income households.

Through a partnership established with Harper Collins, Scholastic, and Six Degrees Publishing, Little Free Library plans to provide the selected cities across the country with just over 20,000 books that highlight diversity, inclusion, and social justice. The initiative will also add a little more than 100 new boxes by the end of this year to its nationwide network of libraries.

The nonprofit plans to work with local partners in the selected cities to develop and implement localized distribution strategies.

“We are doing a lot of listening to the people who are in the communities that we’re hoping to bring these books and libraries to,” King said, stressing the importance of responding to the individual needs of different communities.

Julian Gross, the communications and outreach manager for Everybody Wins D.C., a local literacy nonprofit that partnered with Little Free Library on this project, said that steady access to books remains an issue in underserved D.C. communities hit hardest by the pandemic.

Everybody Wins D.C. has identified sites for three new boxes — at Highland Dwellings in Ward 8, Plaza West in Ward 6, and Thomas Elementary School in Ward 7 — and is in the process of figuring out where an additional 17 Little Free Libraries will go.

“A lot [of books] are going within Ward 7 or 8 [but] we are going to spread the wealth to other wards as well,” Gross said.

Gross said Everybody Wins D.C. is

Read in Color ribbon-cutting at CentroNía.

PHOTO COURTESY OF LITTLE FREE LIBRARY

working closely with the D.C. Housing Authority to help find places for the remaining Little Free Libraries.

According to Gross, it’s not only access to literary resources that is critical, but also guidance from literary mentors.

“In my own life, talking to my elementary school librarian, she knew everything about books. I could tell her all my interests and she could find the exact book for me, and it really helped me develop that level of reading,” Gross said.

But not everyone has the same level of access to literary resources as Gross did in elementary school.

For the upcoming school year, a disproportionate share of the D.C. Public Schools campuses in wards 7 and 8 won’t have a full-time librarian unless the D.C. Council acts on calls to make the position a requirement at every school, rather than discretionary. According to the council, 37 schools have decided not to have a full-time librarian, with nearly half of those located in wards 7 and 8. That’s down from 40 this year, however, amid increasing focus on the issue, including a unanimous vote by the D.C. State Board of Education in favor of staffing a library at every school.

Speaking at a budget work session last week, Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh said she was “disappointed” that the council so far hasn’t identified funding “to ensure that every DCPS school has a full-time librarian.”

Cheh went on to say that “many, many studies have shown a tremendous effect that a library can have on student learning and academic outcomes.”

For Derrick Jefferson, a librarian at American University, the pandemic has highlighted just how severe the problem of limited literary access is for some communities. Throughout the pandemic, Jefferson said, libraries everywhere had to adapt to working online.

“And that in many ways shows the strength of online access and online capabilities while clearly displaying this gulf … [called] the

digital divide between haves and have-nots,” Jefferson said, referring to those with access to computers and the internet and those without.

A widely disseminated tweet from a local police department in Minnesota about responding to alleged “thefts” of books from Little Free Libraries called into question the intent behind the book-sharing system, with some users claiming the network is not meant for everyone.

In an email statement released to Street Sense Media and The DC Line, Little Free Library said it could not comment on this specific situation but said, “Our stance has always been that Little Free Libraries are free book exchanges where anyone may take books or leave books. The books are freely exchanged. The purpose of a little library is to share books — and if people are taking books, that’s a good thing!”

The issue of books disappearing in large quantities, however, has long been a subject book stewards across the country have sought to address.

In a webinar held by Little Free Library in April, some people who managed the book-sharing boxes talked about using moments where books disappear en masse as opportunities to reflect on the purpose of their system.

Several participants said to avoid using “loaded words” such as “theft” to describe these moments, and to instead celebrate these occurrences as successes. Another steward said these moments had given him cause to reflect on just how much some people need books, and how under-resourced some families are.

To Jefferson, the librarian at American University, the Read in Color initiative and additional book boxes it brings with it is a positive but small step toward addressing the need for representation in and access to literature. Putting up a box and filling it with diverse books is great — but it doesn’t resolve the issue that publishers aren’t publishing enough books by people of color, he said.

This article was co-published with The DC Line.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

// 7

AT A GLANCE

Local cashless businesses are booming despite vote to prohibit refusal of cash

BY WILL SCHICK will@streetsensemedia.org

A law meant to protect consumers by prohibiting businesses from refusing to accept cash took effect on April 4. There’s just one problem — it’s unenforceable. Or, rather, D.C. officials put off enforcement during the public health emergency, and they haven’t allocated the $750,000 over four years that the city’s chief financial officer says is needed to pay for its enforcement.

“Banning the use of cash is a discriminatory practice,” thenCouncilmember David Grosso said in 2019 when he introduced the measure. Such a policy “disproportionately impacts the 10% of D.C. residents who are unbanked, and an additional 25% of residents who are underbanked and may not have access to a credit card.

The council approved the bill unanimously in December 2019.

Mayor Muriel Bowser did not include funding to enforce this protection in her budget proposal for fiscal year 2022, and the D.C. Council did not bring up the issue at last week’s budget work session. Without enforcement of the law, businesses in the District are dropping cash payment options more rapidly than anywhere else in the country, according to one recent study.

The share of Square clients in D.C. that are completely cashless expanded from 15% in 2019 to nearly 40% this year, according to the company’s data, which analyzed transactions processed by its software and card-reading equipment. Square’s analysis excluded businesses that had prolonged closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. So, of the D.C. businesses using Square that stayed active during the health crisis, two-fifths didn’t accept cash.

Several D.C. legislators introduced the Cashless Retailers Prohibition Amendment Act in early 2019 — well before the pandemic — in response to a growing number of restaurants, stores, and shops eliminating cash from their business models, opting instead to accept only credit cards or other electronic forms of payment.

“This has been a nationwide trend, backed in some instances by credit card companies like Visa, which have provided shortterm funding to businesses that agree to stop accepting cash from their customers,” Grosso said.

Poor Americans and people of color are more-likely to depend on cash The cashless trend is influenced in part by a shift in consumer habits. Roughly one-third of Americans say they don’t normally use cash for purchases they make during the week, according to a 2018 survey by the Pew Research Center. But even as consumers and businesses across the country became more comfortable without cash, many people faced difficulties because they lacked access to cashless forms of payment.

People who are most affected by businesses going cashless are generally lower-income, elderly, and people of color.

Citing data published by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., advocates testifying at a February 2020 council hearing on the new legislation noted that roughly 8% of residents in D.C. do not have a bank account. Also, 21% of District residents are underbanked — which means that, while they have bank accounts, they do not have ready access to a card for financial transactions. The same data also found that Black and Hispanic households across the country were far more likely to be unbanked than white and Asian households.

Speaking before a D.C. Council vote on the cashless prohibition rule last December, Grosso said that cashless businesses are inherently discriminatory toward specific

populations. “By denying patrons the ability to use cash as a form of payment, businesses are effectively telling lowerincome, undocumented young patrons that they are not welcome in their establishments,” Grosso said.

Grosso’s statement echoed the concerns of other advocates who testified earlier in the year in support of the new law.

Cash may protect consumer privacy but present a hazard to businesses In an interview with Street Sense Media and The DC Line, Meryl Chertoff, director of the Georgetown Project on State and Local Government Policy and Law, gave a number of reasons that most retail businesses should be prohibited from being completely cashless.

These reasons, she stated, go beyond racial disparities: Protecting a consumer’s right to use cash as an option is also a matter of privacy.

“Every time you use a card, you leave a fact about yourself, you leave a piece of data. Every time you buy a pack of cigarettes, there’s a record you bought those cigarettes,” Chertoff said.

Even as councilmembers showed broad support for the ban on cashless retail, some expressed concerns about how the legislation might impact local businesses. Then-Ward 4 Councilmember Brandon Todd was careful to note that he did not think cashless businesses were intentionally trying to discriminate.

“Some small-business owners value the additional safety that comes with not having cash on hand,” Todd said, alluding to robbery and employee theft.

Todd, who ultimately voted in favor of the bill, successfully offered an amendment to clarify the ability of cashless businesses to install devices that would allow patrons to load cash onto prepaid cards they could use for purchases there.

Under the law, customers who load cash onto these cards cannot be required to pay any extra fees.

DC businesses adapted to cashless during COVID. Will cash come back?

By the time the pay-with-cash protection became a reality, the world had changed. D.C. Council meetings were no longer in-person and people no longer freely visited businesses. Drawing on guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shoppers and stores more frequently opted for touchless and cashless payments to avoid direct physical interactions.

The pandemic also changed the way the council viewed the issue.

Given public health guidance, legislators wrote a public health exemption into the law, leaving implementation and enforcement of the ban for a time when things return to normal. The law is not in effect during a public health emergency declared by the mayor.

Even without any certainty or timetable on enforcement, some businesses are making adjustments as they plan for post-pandemic operations. A Georgetown University campus co-op will include a pay-with-cash option for staff and students this fall, according to a report by The Georgetown Voice. The store, which had been cashless since February 2018, decided to make the forthcoming change in response to the law, operators told the Voice.

None of the councilmembers contacted for this article offered to provide comments about the status of funding for this legislation. A spokesperson for the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs confirmed there is currently no plan to fund enforcement of this law.

This article was co-published with The DC Line.

Amia Walker.

BADGE PHOTO

BIRTHDAYS Amia Walker July 17 ARTIST/VENDOR

Michael Warner July 18 ARTIST/VENDOR

VENDOR PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENTS • Vendors can bring in a complete CDC vaccination card for 15 free papers.

• New poetry workshop every Monday, from 10:30 - 11:30am.

• The next Vendor Meeting will be Friday, July 23, 2pm - 3pm.

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 LY 1 4 - J U LY 20, 2021

NEWS

Playtime Project expands, bringing fun and support to families experiencing homelessness in Prince George’s County

BY SARAH WATSON sarah.watson@streetsensemedia.org

I

t’s 6:30 p.m. on a Wednesday night and children come running through a classroom door. It looks like a scene from a summer camp, with children jumping into the arms of volunteers, or playing with toys in a bucket of soapy water. The kids are some of the youngest residents of one of the Washingtonarea’s emergency shelters — and it’s playtime.

The Homeless Children’s Playtime Project offers playtime for children experiencing homelessness and support for parents, who can use the time to go to classes, meet with mental health professionals, do chores, or take an uninterrupted nap. After moving online during the COVID-19 pandemic, the D.C.-based nonprofit organization is back in person. It’s launching a new program in Maryland’s Prince George’s County, expanding out of the District for the first time.

Play is often overlooked as a need for children — a critical part of healthy brain development — and taken for granted when conceiving of the challenges that underserved families face. It can also be restricted by socioeconomic situations and housing status. Children in families experiencing homelessness often undergo frequent transitions into shelters, shifts between schools, and the hurdles of living among strangers.

The Playtime Project aims to address just those challenges, through the unconventional relief of play. “We call it traumainformed play, because what we’re trying to do is give them that opportunity to de-stress,” LaKenya Turner, a case manager at Shepherd’s Cove Emergency Shelter, said. “Being in a

shelter is a traumatic experience for little kids. The program “We are so excited to be here. Getting that opportunity to creates some sort of normalcy for them.” broaden that reach and expand to more children and bring play Challenges to children experiencing homelessness only to another shelter is such an exciting opportunity for us,” said compounded during the pandemic. Playtime Project’s Melanie Hatter, Playtime’s Communications Director. programming was canceled as shelters fought to stop the A typical playtime session involves volunteers setting up a spread of COVID-19. Organizers room with different play stations. continued communicating with When children come in, they start Play hours give kids choices families, sending activity bags together at a table and then choose to moms and bringing in virtual an activity. Volunteers pair up with between structured activities guests, such as D.C.-based musician children, especially toddlers, and Uncle Devin. The number of and free play. One goal is to give spend time playing with toys. children attending Playtime is still Play hours give kids choices kids the chance to demonstrate between down, but participation is on the structured activities and rise as volunteers return in-person autonomy where they might not free play. Hatter said one goal is to this summer. Playtime partners give kids the chance to demonstrate have choices in their daily lives. autonomy where they might not with family shelters throughout the District, including The Brooks, have choices in their daily lives.

District Alliance for Safe Housing, “Something as small as deciding My Sister’s Place, the Rita Bright whether to sit and read with this Family and Youth Center, and the volunteer or build blocks or do Turning Point Center for Women and Children. Volunteers balloons outside, getting that opportunity to decide instills that travel to locations to offer play sessions on site. sense of empowerment for the kids,” Turner said.

Starting last month, Playtime extended its services outside Hatter added that many volunteers quickly become mentors D.C. to set up a program at Shepherd’s Cove Emergency to returning children.

Shelter in Prince George’s County, Maryland. Shepherd’s Kieaira Lucas, a site manager for Playtime, is one such Cove offers short-term housing, between 30 to 90 days, to mentor. She started as an intern during the COVID-19 pandemic women and their children. and returned after completing a masters degree in social work.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

Lucas observes the main benefits of the program on children’s social and emotional development.

“People don’t think about playtime in the social emotional skills of children. They don’t think about the other things that you can gain from playtime and having playtime, especially that homeless children miss out on oftentimes,” Lucas said, calling play an important “job” for children.

Volunteers also work with children with the understanding that homelessness may not be the only thing they are experiencing, especially in domestic violence emergency shelters. “They essentially meet the kids where they are,” Hatter said.

Playtime Project’s impact does not stop at working with children. In addition to providing parents extra time, according to Lucas, the program offers family therapy and works to get moms connected to housing or legal services. “It’s not just playtime — it’s holistic care and providing assistance for parents too,” she said.

Justice Manyinginya is a resident of Turning Point, a center for women and children in D.C. She began taking her son, also named Justice, to Playtime sessions so that she could attend classes offered by the center on budgeting, parenting, and housekeeping. “They’ve been great,” Manyinginya said. “It was a few hours to give us moms some time — if we needed to clean, to shower, or just sleep.”

Originally, Manyinginya admits that she was not entirely comfortable leaving her child at Playtime programming. “I’m an overprotective mom, I didn’t want to take him to daycare let alone other strangers,” she said. “But I got to know the team and build a rapport with them and they are trustworthy.”

Now, Manyinginya trusts the volunteers and benefits from the time to herself. “After a long day, a peaceful shower when you don’t have to check on your kid, I open up my laptop and apply for jobs or do classwork

// 9

for the program,” Manyinginya said.

Her son, Justice, loves it too, and automatically knocks on the Playtime classroom door everytime he walks into the building. “I have to tell him ‘later’ or ‘not right now’ or ‘not today.’ He is so excited to see the ladies and the team,” Manyinginya said.

According to the 2020 Point-in-Time Count of people experiencing homelessness, 11 unaccompanied children and 1,420 children in families were experiencing homelessness throughout D.C. Included in that count were 485 youths between the ages of 18 and 24. Rates of family homelessness have fallen since 2016, when 4,667 people or 1,491 families were accounted for.

In 2015, the District Department of Human Services began offering year-round shelter access to families experiencing homelessness.

It is, however, hard to predict where rates of family homelessness may stand month to month. According to an August 2020 report by the Aspen Institute, 51,000 to 57,000 D.C. households, representative of 118,000 to 131,000 people, were at risk of eviction. Families are unable to seek shelter in emergency centers that accept men and women, but reside in women- and family-specific shelters.

Hatter of the Playtime Project acknowledges that family homelessness in D.C. is always changing and facing new challenges, such as the pandemic. That means the program must adapt, too. “We go to where the children are and where the need is,” Hatter said.

“The landscape of homelessness moves and changes.”

And whether family homelessness is in D.C. or a nearby part of the DMV like Prince George’s County, Hatter said, the Playtime Project is committed to bringing children at least a temporary sense of normalcy and freedom from homelessness. “No matter where children live, they deserve to play,” she said.

A playground (LEFT, ABOVE) and playroom (BELOW) at Shepherd’s Cove Emergency Shelter in Prince George’s County, Maryland. . PHOTOS BY SARAH WATSON

TOP OF PAGE and ABOVE: Children participate in Playtime Project sessions. PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE PLAYTIME PROJECT

1 0 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A // J U LY 1 4 - 2 0 , 2021

OPINION

Let’s get vaccinated

BY SYBIL TAYLOR

I just got my vaccine shot today. I am happy that I did it to keep me safe and others safe and protected, because I care. To everybody who is fearful of the shot — or just needles in general — it is very simple and easy.

I was very nervous and scared, with so many people saying “Don’t get it, you don’t know what's in it, people can die from it.” I listened to all that, but it’s not true. The vaccine keeps you safe by fighting off Covid-19 germs that are in the air we breathe.

Just last year, millions of people died all over the world. Each day was so sad, and we’re lucky to have a vaccine that can keep us from the same fate.

Now that we have Joe Biden as our president, he also advises us all to please get vaccinated. Since he took office, the vaccine has been working. Very few vaccinated people have died from Covid19, and we are returning to a world free of masks.

After getting the vaccine, I feel great. I had no allergic reactions, just a sore arm for one day, and I was able to follow my normal routine, doing things I normally do. Don’t believe the hype about a few people who have died — many people have underlying conditions and would have died anyway. Meanwhile, the virus has gotten more contagious. The more you put it off, the more likely you are to contract Covid-19 and be hospitalized and die.

Please, America, get the vaccine. It works. It is saving your life as well as the lives of others out there. A lot of places are offering gift cards, food, gas money, and lots of nice things in order to encourage people to get vaccinated so we don’t go through last year’s strategy again. Please do the right thing America, we can all be mask free again, it feels good. Please talk it over with a doctor or friend. You will be safe.

Sybil Taylor is an artist and vendor with Street Sense Media.

Getting my shot on June 30. PHOTO COURTESY OF SYBIL TAYLOR

Protestors demonstrate against systemic racism on June 1, 2020. PHOTO BY ERIC FALQUERO

Critical Race Theory is divisive and regressive

BY JEFFERY MCNEIL

I try to avoid negative people. They are like a dark cloud on a sunny day. Hurt people like hurting people, and the miserable seem to glee making others upset and angry. I don’t want conflict and I am easy to get along with. If you don’t bother me, try to shove your ideology in my face, or keep pushing what I don’t want, you'll never hear a complaint from me.

Critical Race Theory is not designed to unify the nations, but to drive a wedge between different groups and creeds. America is a melting pot, but proponents of this ideology want to label and separate people into tribes and groups. Critical Race Theory is nothing new. Its intent is to revert the world back to ethno-tribalism in the guise of being morally self-righteous. Those not in the tribe are irredeemable reprobates whose stain should be rubbed from society.

While proponents of Critical Race Theory

claim to progressive, they are ultra regressive.

Always ranting about past slavery. They are always reliving battles already won.

You can’t make me hate America. Our nation is not perfect. However, our nation evolved. We freed slaves, became a melting pot, and provided opportunities. We reward those who work hard and contribute. I don’t need to keep rehashing Juneteenth, Freedom Riders, or the Tulsa massacre. I’m American — not hyphenated or African. If you’re not happy about America, don’t let the door hit you in the behind. I will personally buy you a ticket and drive you to the airport.

Please take your miserable self somewhere else. I feel your pain, but I’m not the cause of your misery.

Jeffrey McNeil is an artist and vendor with Street Sense Media.

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

// 11

ART

Treading the Waters, Part 38

Reopening

BY GERALD ANDERSON Artist/Vendor

BY CARLOS CAROLINA

When we were last with Gerald in New Orleans he was maneuvering the social circles of the streets with Greg and Minew, his two closest friends, together at his side...

Minew had a car like a Batman car. Pure steel. When we come in the project, go anywhere, Minew was driving. We riding around. Everybody hollerin’, lookin’ gansgterly.

We wearing our Kangol hats, Coca-cola outfits, Damage. It was the 90s, Guess, Zodiac, all them kinda clothes. The hustler clothes. That what we call it.

And Valley. Valley was the worst shoe they could ever put out in the market. They used to call them Valley 1, Valley 2. When I mention Valleys, it kinda shake me cause a lot of my friends got killed over them Valley shoes.

But the Ace! I got a pair. My brother was in the military and before I knew it he brought a pair home and he give ‘em to me. I didn’t even know what they was.

I’m standing at the bus stop. Me, Greg and Minew.

We kickin’ it. One night they say we goin’ out. So I get up, I gather myself together.

We bust out, what I mean by “bust out”, we bust out to go out to the club.

Everybody holler, “Damn, those some bad mothaf***as you got on!”

I say, “What?”

“Ace.” I say, “Ace??”

They say, “Man, n***as gonna get you out of ‘em.

They like 4, 5 hundred dollars. They glow.”

Th e y g l o w. I ’ m s i t t i n g t h e r e t h i n k i n ’ , “F*** ‘em.”

We bust all over this club they call Spade. Everybody like, “Whoa! What’s up, Third?”

Everybody lookin’! They look at me like, “What the f***? Didn’t you just get out?”

Minew say, “I told you. This mothaf***a is on fire!”

Everybody talking to Greg and s***. Girls, kickin’ the bobo. Most of the girls in the club gettin’ ingnant, talkin’ s***.

I always drink gin and juice, that’s what I drink. Greg and they drink the same s*** when we kickin’ the bobo.

When we go into the club this shady, even the owner gets scared. They know we be totin’ guns or whatever.

Sometimes we gamble in the back. We play poker, we shoot pool. I am a pool shark. I’m all about the hustle.

Dice, so-so. I play a little cards. But, pool was my thing.

All us sit back in the gambling shack. We all get chips and s***, we play.

Every time Minew lose, he always wanna stick it up.

“I gotta get my money back!”

Greg be like, “Man, f*** it, you lost.”

But he’s a robber. He is like, “Man, y’all lay on the floor like you just playin’.”

Now, he don’t want to stick us up, he wanna stick the whole house up. He gonna take our money but he gonna give us some money back.

I’m like, “Man, we can’t do this.”

Still can’t stop Minew.

Artist/Vendor

I think it would be really cool if the city could open up one of those new development apartments/condominiums for low-income housing and a floor strictly for the homeless.

This way, people can work together to, Uplift each other Motivate each other And help each other Each one teaches one, from the rooftop of one of those new apartments.

“Yep”

To be continued. Gerald's first book, "Still Standing: How an ex-con found salvation in the floodwaters of Katrina," is available on Amazon.com.

A happy chance meeting

BY ABEL PUTU // Artist/Vendor

Sunday, I met my niece, Chapi, for the first time since 2002. I met her by the club, an all African American club on 14th.

I was going home when I ran into her, when I just came from selling Street Sense. She was happy, she was like, “Oh my God! I haven’t seen you for a while!” She said they — the whole family, cousins from all over the states — have been calling my old number.

She was with her three female friends. I told her she and her friends need to come to see the wheelchair basketball.

She said, “I got an uncle, his name is A, he plays wheelchair basketball.”

I took off the mask and she recognized me.

She and her friends were so happy!

She told her friends then, “Yeah, my uncle really play ball!” They were very glad and happy. She asked for the webpage of the wheelchair basketball, my old team, the NRH Punishers at Medstar.

I gave it to her. I hope to see her and her friends, all the people that I know,and many faces at the wheelchair basketball practices and games. We used to practice at the East County Community Center. They haven’t reopened yet from the pandemic, but will soon.

Dear Street Sense Media...

BY WARREN STEVENS Artist/Vendor

I have been selling papers for fifteen years.

Customers offer to buy papers on the app on their phones and give donations. Street Sense papers are education to read. I enjoy reading the articles in Street Sense papers.

I hope things get back to normal soon. I miss working out, riding my bike, and blues nights and jazz Friday nights. We are here to fight COVID-19 together. Keep safe with your mask on. Summer is here, stay safe.

1 2 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A // J U LY 1 4 - 2 0 , 2021

ART

PHOTO COURTESY OF TIM MOSSHOLDER VIA UNSPLASH.COM

Joy (Raptisting)

B Y ROCHELLE WALKER // Artist/Vendor

J is for Joy O is for on Y is for you Who got that JOY on you I got that JOY is ours True happiness True blessing True success It’s a real joy in me Do you have it, do want it Can you catch it, it’s all over me.

JOY Joy is not a toy = Who gave it to me here we can make a change If I focus on my goals, ideas, beliefs all boy I got that JOY Who gave me JOY I said do you know let me know when it come, go and use your joy (JOY)

The joy of being a mom

What does joy mean to you?

BY ANTHONY CARNEY

Artist/Vendor

BY DARLESHA JOYNER Artist/Vendor

I love my blessings from heaven above.

I would not trade it for anything in the world. I enjoy waking to see your handsome smile each and every day. I am glad I was chosen by God to be your mom. It’s been an awesome three years with you little guy.

Momma loves you guys.

If you should happen to be reading my article, I will ask you, what does joy mean to you?

Here is my list of joys:

2. Peace of mind 3. Happiness 4. Good health 5. Falling in love 6. Get married 7. Hitting the lottery But I have a number one joy that I will write about in my next article!

The joy of love

BY BROTHER JEFFERY CARTER Artist/Vendor

I enjoy listening to gospel music, which I meditate on. And I enjoy breathing exercises which leads me to go to Google, where I find meditation music for listeing. It helps me get relaxed and become more focused.

It helps me get my priorities in perspective and clear my mind of all the world’s cloudiness. It gives me inner peace.

The joy of love gives me inner peace.

Helping people like me who are homeless, and my volunteer work feeding the hungry through the Breadcoin program -- coins bought by neighbors, donated to the homeless, that can be used to pay for food.

More information about Breadcoin is available at BreadCoin.org.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

// 1 3

Housed

BY QUEENIE FEATHERSTONE Artist/Vendor

Why do people make fun of people who cannot speak English very well?

A home.

Please help me find a home.

BY PATRICIA DONALDSON Artist/vendor

Immigrant shamed for her English. You should never be ashamed of who you are.

"You know I don’t wanna hear it, okay?" *** “In other news, Los Angeles high school—” “Alright, cut. Clean that. The word is ‘school,’ it’s not that difficult.”

“I’m sorry.”

“From the top, everybody, no problem.

Sound speeding, camera rolling, and... Action!”

“In other news Los Angeles high school is—” “Now cut. Olivia, will you just get in there and show her how it's done?”

“Please, just... Sometimes I don’t understand.”

“Why don’t you go work in a nice Latin kitchen? OK, from the top again everybody.”

***

***

“The ratings are bad enough already. Do you want them to tank even more?

Blah ,you know what I don’t have time for?

This. Get them in please."

"Sorry."

"OK, you're out. Come on, hurry up, chop, chop ... Ladies, sit down, are you ready?”

People should not make fun, it is bad to make fun of people and laugh at their weaknesses. You should never make fun of someone else.

I said do you know let me know when it come, go and use your joy (JOY)

“I’m not gonna let them do this to me anymore.”

“Exactly! I’m so proud of you. So what were you saying about that plan?”

“Well, even though I’m not a reporter anymore, I still wanna be in front of the camera.

find a room.

But, even

***

“You haven’t even touched your food.”

“I know, I know — just not hungry.”

“Come on, forget what that producer said.”

“It was humiliating and I can’t focus. Not all our viewers have perfect English.

I mean, they probably like her accent.”

***

Please help me

So I found some open casting calls for an acting job. I wish I spoke better English.”

“Stop, your accent is what makes you special. You should never be ashamed of who you are.”

“Here’s your change. Was there something wrong with your food?”

“No, the shrimp was fine. I’m not hungry.”

“OK, great. Wait, I’m sorry. Can you say that word again?”

“Um, 'shrimp?'”

[Laughter] “Did you hear how she said that 'shrimp?'”

[Laughter] “Andrea, wait. Slow down, that was really mean.”

“Should never have even come to this country.”

“Hey, buddy. Don’t say that.”

“Can you wait in the car for me?

“Just so people can make fun of me because of my accent. It's not my fault I grew up poor. Only rich kids learn English in my school. Uch— 'school.'

This is so embarrassing."

“No. It’s not. Please don’t let anyone make you ashamed of who you are, you are special.”

***

A room.

Graphic courtesy of Clker-Free-Vector-Images via Pixabay.com.

without either, I will not gloom.

Fourth of July

BY MARCUS MCCALL Artist/Vendor

Hey, reader. Since the day I was born, I have felt very uneasy about the Fourth of July. It’s a day of independence. What is independence? It is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which its residents and population --or some portion thereof -- exercise self-government. Independence usually means sovereignty over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of a dependent territory.

I never receive gifts for my birthday on July 3 because my family buys fireworks for the kids. I’m left with debris of the Holiday, never a dime of left to have fun. Fire is not fun to me. It's a weapon! So, the Fourth of July to me is a time to express myself to my loved ones on life topics. But, everyone is paying attention to the fireworks this year. I turned thirty two and I’m looking to move to my second place. I will accept my new place as my birthday gift and enjoy life as we live!

Thank you reader. If you have any questions or topics please email me at marcusmccall16@gmail.com.

7/13/2021

1 4 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A // J U LY 1 4 - 2 0, 2021

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© 2013 KrazyDad.com

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

Sudoku 3-by-3 block #4 contain all of the digits 1 thru 9.

7 you 4 can 8 solve 1 the 9 puzzle 5 6without guesswork.

If 2you 3 use logic Need 6 a5little1help?

9 The 7 hints 4 shows 3 page 2 8 a logical order to solve the puzzle.

Use it to identify the next square you should solve. Or use the answers page if 9 you really get stuck.

8 4 5 6 2 1 3 7 >> This crossword puzzle’s answers: 1 4 8 2 5 9 6 7 3 tinyurl.com/SSM3 9 6 8 4 7 5 1 2 cross-07-14-2021 5 7 2 1 3 6 8 4 9 << LAST 8 1 9 7 2 4 3 6 5 EDITION’S 7 6 5 3 1 8 2 9 4 PUZZLE SOLUTION 4 2 3 6 9 5 7 8 1 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

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

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

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

This is the Daily Crossword Puzzle #1 for Jul 13, 2021 Across Across 1. Derisive sounds 1. Like Derisive sounds 8. some exercise 8.

Like some exercise 15. Issue forth 15. Issue forth 16.

Grade-school project 16. Grade-school project 17.

Extension 17. Extension 18.

Romance, for 14 Down 18. Romance, forPrize 14 Down 19.

1987 Peace winner 19.

1987 Peace Prize 20. Relax, with "out" winner 20. Relax, with "out" 22.

Bart's mother 22.

Bart's mother 23. Object to 23. Object to 24. Craze 24. Craze 26. Roulette bet 26. Roulette bet 27. Islanders' surface 27. Islanders' surface 28. Great numbers 28. Great numbers 30. Name in Beatles history 30. Name in Beatles history 31. Tumbled down 31. Tumbled down 33. Flower part 33. Flower part 35. At __ (conflicting) 35. At __ (conflicting) 36. Hit the water 36. Hit the water 37. Mole's work 37. Mole's work 40.

Oater heroes heroes 40. Oater 44.

"Femenino" suffix 44. "Femenino" suffix 45.

Some pro golfers 45. Some pro golfers 47.

Edge 47. Edge 48.

TelejournalistCosby Cosby 48. Telejournalist 50.

Overindulges 50. Overindulges 51.

News follower follower 51. News Down 52.

Vibrant 52. Vibrant 5. Passed bills 1. Like terra cotta 54.

Poodle pro pro 54. Poodle 6. Depot info 2. "Ventura Highway" band 55.

Triumphal outburst outburst 55. Triumphal 7. Fabric edges 3. Four teeth 56.

Branch off off 56. Branch 8. Ballet duet 4. Work clay 58. unrest 58. Major unrest 9. Austrian article 5. Passed bills 60.

Ceaseless 60. Ceaseless 10. Travel far and wide 6. Depot info 61.

Inherentquality quality 61. Inherent 11. Bach instrument 7. Fabric edges 62.

Organized ways ways 62. Organized 12. Saloon 8. Ballet duet 63.

Came out out 63. Came 13. Think of 9. Austrian article 14. "Terminator 2" director 10. Travel far and wide 21. Camelot lady Down 11. Bach instrument 24. Interfered 12.

Saloon 1. Like terra cotta 25. What some keys have

2. "Ventura Highway" band 3. Four teeth 4. Work clay

28. Takes on cargo 29. Moves a bit 32. Bilk

2

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

3

7

5

1

4

Find the solution at https://onlinecrosswords.net/6386

Keep your sense of humor about your position.

-- Donald Rumsfeld

2 4 3 5 1 3 3 8 6 2 Novice Sudoku by KrazyDad, Volume 2, Book 1 Sudoku 9 #2 4 1 2 4 1 8 5 7 5 63 5 9 6 4 1 7 8 7 1 3 5 89 1 3 9 54 2 85 1 2 9 36 5 4 9 2 9 7 3 8 2 8 6 74 3 1 8 4 6 7 5 2 8 9 6 3 4 2 67 7 1 1 6

Free Printable Crossword Puzzle #1

Novice Sudoku by KrazyDad, Volume 2, Book 1

Sudoku #5

Free Daily Printable Crossword Puzzles

13.

14.

21.

24.

25.

28.

29.

32.

34.

36.

37.

38.

34. End of Jack's boast

Think of 39. You find them in your 36. Closet item "Terminator 2" director travels 37. Diatribes 40. Place Camelot lady 38. Public service 41. On the lam Interfered 39. You find them in your travels 42. Get behind What some keys have 40. Place 43. Freeloaded Takes on cargo 41. On the lam 46. Long stories Moves a bit 42. Get behind 49. Head off Bilk 43. Freeloaded 51. After a while End of Jack's boast 46. Long stories 53. Bird of prey Closet item 49. Head off 55. Model Diatribes 51. After a while 57. Herd of whales Public service 53. Bird of prey 59. Belief

55. Model 57. Herd of whales 59. Belief

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.

https://www.onlinecrosswords.net/printable-daily-crosswords-1.php

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

// 1 5

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH HOTLINE Línea de salud del comportamiento

1-888-793-4357

Laundry Lavandería

samaritanministry.org

JOB BOARD Host Lyle Hotel // 1731 New Hampshire Ave NW

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

Full-Time Welcome guests, receive calls and book reservations for guests, help recommend activities to do in the city for guests, collaborate and communicate with departments for guest satisfaction, perform other duties for restaurant manager.

APPLY: tinyurl.com/host-lyle-hotel

Stockers and Backroom Receiving Associates Walmart // 99 H Street NW Full-Time and Part-Time

Thrive DC // 202-737-9311 1525 Newton St., NW thrivedc.org

Stocking supplies, working in the backroom, moving inventory, unloading trucks, and helping customers while stocking shelves.

Job can be physically demanding.

APPLY: tinyurl.com/walmart-stocking-unloading

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

Pharmacy Technician CVS Pharmacy // 675 K Street NW Full-Time and Part-Time New technicians complete an extensive training program (all skill levels welcomed).

Pharmacy technicians are the first point of contact for patients and caregivers and will help customers get their medication, along with other pharmacy duties.

REQUIRED: High school diploma or equivalent, 16+ or older, adequate near vision, ability to move quickly APPLY: tinyurl.com/pharmacy-technician-cvs

Giant Service Clerk Giant Food // 1400 7th St NW Full-Time Service clerks stock shelves, create displays, and ensure the stores stay neat.

Share knowledge with customers about the bakery, floral, and deli departments. Also can package orders and prepare products products for customers.

APPLY: tinyurl.com/giant-service-clerk

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

Freight and Receiving Associates The Home Depot // 901 Rhode Island Ave NE Full-Time and Part-Time Load and unload trucks, move material from the receiving area throughout the store, may have to operate forklifts. Interact with customers.

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

APPLY: tinyurl.com/home-depot-freight-receiving Father McKenna Center // 202-842-1112 19 Eye St., NW fathermckennacenter.org Food and Friends // 202-269-2277 (home delivery for those suffering from HIV,

Samaritan Inns // 202-667-8831 2523 14th St., NW samaritaninns.org Samaritan Ministry 202-722-2280 // 1516 Hamilton St., NW 202-889-7702 // 1345 U St., SE

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

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

A picture of hopefulness

BY ANGIE WHITEHURST // Artist/Vendor

Looking through my photo gallery I found a wonderful memory and surprise photo I took.

Who knew, two years ago, that the Lady Senator would keep standing, smiling, orating non stop in insulated conversational tennis shoes, not passing the baton —but catching it mid-air Not to win, but to defeat a rolling backward back/who Ditch switch; timed to a rewind toward the past times of non-colored elitist jaded hate.

Rising to the bursting voices of freedom and democracy in the face of civil unrest challenging the very root of America’s existence, regardless of race, color, creed and gender.

It’s that creed that is murky Swollen by the sun baked heat of fear.

A checkmate of curdled sour milk resentful of equity, empathy, kindness, fairness, and justice.

Fire stoked from the one sidedness of powerful political parties doused with intersectionalized faiths The pulpit marbled in propagandized, deceitful brain washing without reason. An unpaved dirt road to nowhere anyone needed to go.

Never ever at all.

An arson most fierce, intentionally splitting the earth in half.

Tindered with the dry rot of what was meant to be just that, an organic compost fertilizing, nourishing and raising of a better world.

One repurposed by the living experiment of a continuing developmental, yet more perfect union.

And the Lady Senator’s retort was unity, consensus, and healing.

That freedom of speech is a powerful stage and has withstood the test of a serious attempted abusive breach.

Survive we did, rebuild the broken hearts and U.S. Senator Kamala Harris speaking with attendees at the 2019 National Forum on Wages and Working People hosted by the Center for spirits, we will. the American Progress Action Fund and the SEIU at the Enclave in Las Vegas, Nevada. PHOTO COURTESY OF GAGE SKIDMORE, GAGESKIDMORE.COM There is a hope for all.

A thanks goes to The CWA (Communications Workers of America.) Bravo, for giving voices to freedom’s democracy.

And congratulations to the President of the United States Joseph R. Biden and the Vice President Kamala Harris.

Congratulations to the people of the United States of America With hope, peace, and a chance.

Thank you for reading Street Sense!

A Gift BY

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