08 11 2021

VOL. 18 ISSUE 28

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AUG. 11 - 17, 2021

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EVENTS

// 3

NEWS IN BRIEF Ward 2 residents fight attempt to displace encampment near Safeway

PHOTO BY GORDON CHAFFIN

DC Back to School Party Saturday, Aug. 14, 12 p.m. - 3 p.m.

5100 Southern Avenue SE Mayor Muriel Bowser presents DC Back to School Block Party. Join community members from across the city for food, fun, and music as we get ready for the first day of school. Get ready for school with on-site COVID-19 vaccines. #TaketheShotDC REGISTER: tinyurl.com/back-to-school-block-party SATURDAY, AUG. 14

Soul of the City Farmers Market 12 - 3 p.m.

St. Elizabeth’s Hospital East Campus Horse Stable - The Barn (2700 MLK Jr. Ave. SE) Fresh produce, vegan options, greens, and other home-style dishes.

DC native-owned retailers will be selling products. There will be live performances from various art forms.

UPDATES ONLINE AT ICH.DC.GOV

D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness Meetings Strategic Planning Committee Aug. 24, 2:30 p.m. // Webex Housing Solutions Committee Aug. 24, 2:00 p.m. // Webex ***For call-in information, as well as meeting info for unlisted working groups, contact: ich.dmhhs@dc.gov

WEEKLY

Beyond the Table Meals 5 - 6 p.m.

Parkland Middle School 4610 West Frankfort Drive Aspen Hill, MD Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Shepherd’s Table is giving out free prepared meals in to-go boxes.

REGISTER: tinyurl.com/soul-of-city-farmers-market

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On Tuesday, Aug. 3, wooden planters appeared in front of the Safeway at Corcoran and 17th Streets NW after a scheduled encampment cleanup took place, reported Washington City Paper. Such temporary evictions of people living in tents or otherwise encamped in public space with their belongings are organized by the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS) can “clean-up” the area. Under its encampment engagement policy, DMHHS is not allowed to place any barriers that prevent unhoused residents from returning to the space. Any other entity would have required a permit to do so. The action constituted illegal dumping of bulk items.

According to Washington City Paper, many advocates and Ward 2 residents saw the planters as an “oppressive play to keep unhoused people from moving back,” and they were reported to the 311 city-services hotline by ANC2B07 Commissioner Michael Scott McKernan.

The planters were removed two days later, Thursday, but returned Friday — this time adhered to the sidewalk. That day, the planters were removed again by people who said they were sent by the city and have not been put back.

A GoFundMe was also started on Friday to “Help keep our Safeway safe,” citing littering, noise, alcohol, and drug use in the encampments as threats to public safety. The GoFundMe is no longer accepting donations.

Amidst discussion and pushback about the planters, ANC2B03 Commissioner Robin Nunn called DMHHS to confirm their engagement policy had not changed to make the dumping legal. When DMHHS staff said the office was not involved, she went to the Safeway and talked to the store manager, who told Nunn she was unaware she had to obtain a permit to place the planters.

Nunn told Washington City Paper the store manager said she was “trying to keep the homeless people away” and that she “felt it was a public health problem to have unhoused people sleeping in front of the store, and thought the planters would help keep the area safe.”

In August 2020, a couple living in a tent on the same corner had their belongings stolen in the middle of the night while they were staying at an AirBnB that had been given to them for the weekend. Security camera footage recorded two people drive up in a minivan at approximately 5:30 a.m., stop to load the tent and other items into the van, and drive off.

MPD offers a reward of up to $1,000 to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest and indictment of the person or persons responsible.

Nunn and other advocates for unhoused residents rights, such as Jesse Rabinowitz of Miriam’s Kitchen, brought up the racism present in the placing of these planters, as well as other encampment cleanups. “We just have to be honest — this is racism, this is gentrification, and displacement … I thought we were on the same page that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect,” Rabinowitz told Washington City Paper.

—Natalie Chen, Intern

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NEWS

How the Democrats’ infrastructure plans could change Medicare

Joe Biden speaking with supporters at a town hall hosted by the Iowa Asian and Latino Coalition in Des Moines, Iowa in August 2019. PHOTO COURTESY OF GAGE SKIDMORE / FLICKR

BY JOHN WOOLLEY Editorial Intern

Medicare reform may be on the horizon, potentially improving coverage for nearly 60 million enrolled Americans.

Senate Democrats took a major step in advancing their infrastructure agenda on Aug. 9, releasing a budget resolution that, alongside many other progressive priorities, invests heavily in the nation’s largest federal health insurance program. Most notably, the proposal includes money to broaden Medicare coverage, expanding its services to include vision, hearing, and dental care for beneficiaries.

The planned Medicare reforms, like the rest of President Joe Biden’s infrastructure agenda, are bifurcated across two distinct Senate bills: one bipartisan agreement that was negotiated by a group of 10 moderate Democrats and Republicans over the summer, and one more expansive spending bill that is likely to face unanimous Republican opposition.

The bipartisan Senate bill, formally known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, passed the chamber 69-30 on Aug. 10 after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) delayed lawmakers’ vacation for a vote. The larger Democratic bill, for which the resolution was released Monday morning, is expected to be taken up this fall.

Though the bipartisan bill is focused primarily on physical infrastructure like transportation, energy and broadband internet, it also contains some notable public health measures. The $1 trillion agreement requires an increase in domestic personal protective equipment (PPE) production and allocates $15 billion to replace lead water pipes in low-income and rural communities.

Changes in the bipartisan bill that affect Medicare are limited to smaller-scope reforms. For instance, the bipartisan bill requires drug manufacturers to reimburse Medicare when providers discard certain single-use package drugs. The change is intended to recoup financial losses associated with those treatments; single-use medicines that are administered by weight, like many cancer therapies, can have leftover material in vials if a patient’s dosage is smaller than the uniform manufacturer size. That unused medicine cannot be recovered, and discarding it has an estimated annual cost of around $3 billion.

The reforms most relevant to Medicare beneficiaries, however, are found in Democrats’ larger spending bill, which is still being negotiated within the party. Though details are in flux, the Aug. 9 budget resolution indicates the bill’s scope: the $3.5 trillion plan will invest in health care, child care and pre-K schooling, higher education, elder care, and measures to combat the climate crisis. Sen. Schumer, in a letter to his caucus that morning, indicated

the Senate would take on the new resolution once the bipartisan package was through.

The resolution itself is subject to change, and the bill may shrink in an effort to court moderate senators, but it gives Democrats a path to include most of their agenda in the upcoming federal budget.

Most likely to remain intact are the bill’s provisions to expand the kinds of treatment Medicare covers.

Under current rules, outpatient medical coverage under Medicare Part B does not include vision, hearing, or dental care — some private Medicare Advantage plans cover these areas, but they are not required by Medicare to do so. That means Medicare beneficiaries, who are elderly and/or disabled, do not have guaranteed coverage for hearing aids, eyeglasses, or dental work like fillings and dentures.

Should Democrats succeed in passing their plan, both Part B beneficiaries and Advantage plan subscribers would have vision, hearing and dental coverage.

The change would likely come with a small price increase for enrollees — most Medicare beneficiaries pay 25% of the standard Part B premium, or $148.50 per month, while the federal government pays the remaining 75%. Topline numbers for the expansion’s cost are not yet available, but Congressional Budget Office analysis of a comparable House bill from 2019 had the price tag at $358 billion over the next decade.

Other Medicare reforms supported by Democratic leadership are less likely to be included. President Biden campaigned on lowering the age of Medicare eligibility down from 65 to 60, but the current $3.5 trillion budget framework does not include the provision. Similarly, it is not known whether legislation to lower Medicare drug costs will be included in the final bill. While the bipartisan legislation that passed Tuesday recoups some drug costs, separate Democratic proposals could raise revenue by upwards of $600 billion through price renegotiations.

The 2019 House bill would have given Medicare the authority to negotiate drug prices directly with manufacturers in order to lower costs. The current law prevents the program from negotiating for itself; instead, Medicare Part D, which covers beneficiaries’ retail prescription drugs, must contract with private insurers to provide prescription drug benefits. That process leaves Medicare drug costs uniquely high compared to other federal programs like Medicaid and the Military

Health System, especially for drugs for which there are no competitors. The 2019 bill was passed in the House when it was introduced that year, but the vote was largely symbolic, given Republican control of both the Senate and White House. The bill was reintroduced this April, but stalled after 10 centrist Democrats who had previously voted in its favor announced their opposition.

In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the opposition group objected on the grounds that taking back the funding by renegotiating drug prices with private companies could stifle pharmaceutical innovation. “There’s a balance between innovation and affordability,” they wrote.

All of Democrats’ infrastructure negotiations are operating on incredibly thin margins. The party has only an eight seat majority in the House, while the Senate is split between 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans. Though Senate bills typically require a 60 vote majority in order to overcome the filibuster and receive a vote, Democrats plan to use the budget reconciliation process in order to pass their larger $3.5 trillion package with only a simple 51 vote majority.

Given unanimous opposition is expected from Republicans in the Senate, Democrats will require every single one of their caucus’s votes, plus the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris, to see their reforms enacted.

Further complicating matters, some progressive Democrats in the House have threatened to vote against the current bipartisan bill and sink the legislation, should moderate senators choose not to also pass the larger spending bill. Hoping to circumvent defections from the left, Speaker Pelosi signaled she will not allow the House to take up one bill without a guarantee of the other.

President Biden has said he supports both infrastructure packages, irrespective of the order they arrive on his desk.

Even without all the provisions President Biden campaigned on, Democrats’ proposal is one of the largest domestic spending initiatives since President Lyndon Johnson first introduced Medicare and Medicaid in the 1960s. That also makes the policy a very heavy lift to get through Congress.

Senate debate on the Democratic reconciliation bill began Tuesday afternoon after the bipartisan bill passed, with a vote coming later this fall.

Medicare beneficiaries, who are elderly and/or disabled, do not have guaranteed coverage for hearing aids, eyeglasses, or dental work like fillings and dentures.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

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City program employs homeless people to help promote vaccinations in shelters and on the streets

BY SARAH WATSON

T

he D.C. government hired 55 shelter residents this spring and summer to help promote COVID-19 vaccines among people experiencing homelessness and dispel misinformation surrounding the coronavirus. Similar to national trends, D.C. vaccination rates in the homeless community have plateaued. The District is hoping for a second push now to increase that rate.

D.C.’s Department of Human Services hired the first peer educator cohort of 26 to work for six weeks from early February through mid-April. After the program’s initial success, DHS commissioned a second round from June to September, with 29 peers hired. The peers are distributed across five men’s and women’s low-barrier emergency shelters: Adam’s Place, New York Ave, 801 East, Patricia Handy Place for Women, and Harriet Tubman.

Dana Relue, who is a resident at the Harriet Tubman Women’s shelter, is a member of the program’s current cohort. When DHS employees first came to the shelter to interview potential candidates for the program, she was not sure what the peer educator program would entail.

After being hired, Delue explained the peers go through a five day training with medical professionals to learn about COVID19, vaccinations, and ways to inform against common misconceptions. “The idea is that sometimes hearing this information comes better from peers, someone who you are living with on a daily basis, rather than a doctor or nurse or who comes in once,” Delue said.

Now, outreach in shelters involves one-onone peer engagement, with each peer educator assigned a number of shelter residents to speak with. The program also runs group activities, where educators run programs, like COVID-19 bingo, to inform residents about how to stay safe and encourage them to get vaccinated.

While the educators encourage mask wearing and social distancing, Delue pointed out that vaccinations are especially important for a congregate living environment. “I feel that every person’s life matters,” she said. “You can make everyone wear a mask, but you still don’t get the safety you would get if you were living on your own. If people are vaccinated, that takes some of that worry away.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control, individuals experiencing homelessness are at an increased risk for severe illness from COVID-19 because the population skews older and is more likely to have underlying medical conditions. One in four unhoused

Editorial Intern

D.C. residents have a chronic physical health condition and 37.8% are over the age of 55, according to a recent District survey.

COVID-19 initially spread quickly though D.C.’s congregate shelters. To offer housing for immunocompromised individuals particularly susceptible to the coronavirus, the city took advantage of federal emergency funds. Those funds helped D.C. launch the Pandemic Emergency Program for Medically Vulnerable Individuals (PEP-V) to shelter people experiencing homelessness across four hotels in non-congregate settings. PEP-V offered housing for up to 800 residents at its height. The program was scheduled to end in September despite currently housing over 500 people.

Earlier this month, the federal government extended financial support for programs like PEP-V through Nov. 30. DHS said in an Aug. 10 email to Street Sense Media that it “will operate PEP-V beyond September 30.

However, as people who are currently staying in PEP-V exit to housing, the District may consolidate some of the locations … The recent influx of emergency housing vouchers, combined with local resources allocated to end homelessness in D.C., will provide permanent housing solutions for over 70% of current PEP-V residents.”

In its initial vaccination rollout plan last November, city officials classified D.C.’s unhoused residents as one of its highest priority groups once vaccines became available, following health care workers in hospital, outpatient, and group living settings, plus fire and EMS. As a “Phase 1B” demographic, unhoused and transitional housing individuals were targeted alongside nursing home residents, childcare providers, law enforcement, and educators. The report originally estimated 6,500 District residents were unhoused or in transitional housing, though a January point-in-time homelessness survey revised that count downward to approximately 5,100 residents total.

Approximately 39% of in-shelter residents took the shot when vaccinations became available in March and April, according to Delue. The vaccination rate has increased since then but plateaued, with approximately 47% of D.C.’s unsheltered population fully fully vaccinated as of July 27, according to Madeleine Solan, a policy analyst at DHS. The reported vaccination rate comes from DHS vaccination events as well as clinics with Unity Health Care. 55% of District residents as a whole are fully vaccinated as of August 9, according to coronavirus.dc.gov.

After the spring cohort, 70% of the peer

educators did an assessment to gauge future employment opportunities with trainers, and 5 out of 26 reported a job interview or new job following their vaccination work. D.C. compensates the peer educators with a stipend and prepaid cell phones. At the end of the program, they keep the phones but must pay for their own plan thereafter. According to Delue, the program has also paired her with employment opportunities and having a phone is extremely helpful for applying to jobs and getting in contact with social workers.

In addition to vaccine encouragement within shelters, the peer educators program includes street outreach, with groups of educators going to tent encampments to offer transportation to vaccination sites.

Kirk “Scooby” Ellis, who previously experienced homelessness, helps lead the DHS outreach team. “We aren’t going to beat you over the head with the vaccine and say you have to get in this van, because that never works. We just give as much information as possible.”

In order to vaccinate residents experiencing homelessness, the DHS partnered with the nonprofit Unity Health Care to host mobile pop-up vaccination clinics in locations such as Miriam’s Kitchen, Marvin Gaye Park, and So Others May Eat. According to a Unity press release in March, its clinical staff had hosted two educational town halls and vaccinated more than 1,200 unhoused residents.

According to Ellis, the outreach team transports people to vaccination sites, waits for them, and takes them back to their tents.

“That way they don’t have to worry about bringing stuff with them because they are walking around with their whole lives with them,” he said.

Ellis and Delue explained common questions and misconceptions people have about vaccinations.

Media reports about the Johnson and Johnson vaccine being dangerous, as well as stories about “breakthrough cases” of people who got vaccinated but still got COVID-19, create misconceptions about the vaccines.

“There are different news stories about the virus every single day, scary stories about Johnson and Johsnon or someone dying,” Delue said. “That has been one big issue, trying to combat misinformation.”

D.C.’s coronavirus website estimates that only 0.18% of vaccinated residents contracted COVID-19 and only 2.38% of those cases resulted in hospitalization. Taking both shots of COVID-19 vaccines makes you less likely to have severe symptoms, require a hospital stay, or die, according to the CDC. The

vaccines available in D.C. are free and help protect you against new variants of COVID19, as stated in research cited by that same disease research center. Deciding to get a vaccine doesn’t just protect yourself, or affect you, as multiple studies collected by the CDC last month show that a vaccinated person is less likely to transmit their “breakthrough case” to others — or, if they do, it will spread to fewer people.

Delue also attributes apathy to delays in the vaccination rate within D.C. shelters.

According to her, if people haven’t gotten sick so far, some might think they do not need the vaccine. Others prefer not to discuss their vaccination status with the peer educators.

For the outreach program, Ellis explained that the DHS team is often asked to come back on a different day for transport to sites, but it can be difficult to locate people. “We will go back three or four times. When working with homelessness, a lot of people are having a bad day. It’s like going to someone at their work. They are trying to scrape up money or get settled into a location, so they ask, ‘Can you come back?’” Ellis said.

And when people do agree to be transported to vaccination sites, long delays make it harder.

Ellis said some pop-up sites do not open up until noon, or will open up after advertised, meaning that people will need to wait for hours in the heat before getting their vaccination.

Despite challenges to the program, the peer educators are seeing success. The first cohort is estimated to have engaged with 400 people, based on final evaluations when their employment concluded. It held 29 listening sessions across shelters, and 100% of participating shelter manager’s reported that vaccination rates increased following the first cohort.

That success has continued with the second cohort.

“I am feeling optimistic,” Delue said. “We had our first listening session at the shelter and had a lot more people than I expected to come, and a lot of people interested in talking about COVID-19 and vaccination.” While she says that there are still many people distrustful of the vaccines, there has been a positive change.

Both Delue and Ellis said the peer educators participate in the program because they genuinely want to inform their fellow residents or people experiencing homelessness.

“Everybody in the cohort — it’s about caring about people,” Ellis said. “It’s because they really, really, really want to help.”

John Woolley contributed to this report

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NEWS

Wards 7 and 8 residents comment on COVID-19 vaccinations

BY DEE DWYER AND JENNY GATHRIGHT // DCist

This collection was first published by DCist on Aug. 2.

Vernice Puryear, who lives in Ward 7, is supportive of the COVID-19 vaccine. But she says she understands why some other Black D.C. residents, particularly those living in wards 7 and 8, are skeptical about it.

“I’m living in a food desert right now,” says Puryear. “People say, ‘You should do

this because it’s for the betterment of you’ — but…it’s a contradiction. How can you establish trust when there’s contradiction?”

Vaccination rates in the District and its suburbs are higher than the national average.

However, a significant number of locals remain unvaccinated. And vaccination rates correspond with resources: parts of the city where poverty rates are highest have the lowest percentages of fully vaccinated residents.

Just 36% of Ward 7 residents over 12 are fully vaccinated, and 31% of Ward 8 residents over 12 are fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, in every other ward of the city, the percentage of fully vaccinated residents is at least 47%. The disparities in vaccinations are smaller when you look just at D.C.’s seniors — but they are stark for kids and teens: In majority-white and wealthy Ward 3, about 56% of residents aged 12 to 17 have been fully vaccinated. In wards 7 and 8, the percentages are hovering around 10% and 7%, respectively.

Rhea Boyd, a pediatrician and public health advocate, told The Atlantic recently that the gap in vaccinations is not an individual problem. Instead, she says, it’s a systemic issue that “illustrates preexisting fault lines in our health-care system, where resources — including credible information — don’t get to everyone.”

Epidemiologists and infectious disease experts say that getting a COVID-19 vaccine

is the best way to protect yourself and your community from the coronavirus. In recent weeks, calls for Americans to get vaccinated have taken on even more urgency as the highly-contagious delta variant has begun rapidly spreading across the country — and the D.C. region.

So DCist spoke with residents of wards 7 and 8 about their thoughts on the COVID vaccine. Some had gotten the shot, while others had not. Some were more firm in their positions, while others were more on the fence. But what many of them shared was a critique of the broader power structure in this city, which routinely supports the health of white residents in wealthy neighborhoods over the well-being of Black residents in neighborhoods that have been deprived of investment and health care access.

Here’s what ward 7 and 8 residents had to say about the vaccine. Responses have been edited for length and clarity:

Luvie Lenore’ EDUCATOR IN WARD 8

I have not been vaccinated but I do not judge those who have are. I choose not, I’d rather go the holistic route. I feel like it should have taken a little more time to roll out the vaccine and not rush things.

When you rush, you begin to have those hiccups. I believe some vaccinations may save a life, but as for me I just chose the natural way. I feel like the pandemic challenged a lot of people and brung a lot of people together as a community and as a village. We need to stick together.

Bill Reddick I WORK IN WARD 8

I’m vaccinated [and] that’s a statement right there. I feel that it’s important for everyone to go get vaccinated for us to get through this catastrophe that we’ve had. Unfortunately, the prior administration, and the continuing holdover from that, has a lot of people misunderstanding ... about getting vaccinations. When I run across someone who is not vaccinated, most reasons don’t make sense to me: the excuses of ‘I’ll wait to see’ or ‘I don’t trust the government.’ My major in college was mathematics, I deal with logic and facts. And most people, if you listen to what they say for not getting the vaccine, it’s emotional or irrational, in my view. You have family members or church members that you’re putting at risk if you don’t get a vaccination. They say, ‘Well, you know the vaccine may hurt me.’ Well, you know, the chances of you getting hurt by a vaccination are way less than the chances of you getting COVID-19. If you look at the percentages, it’s a no-brainer decision. That goes back to my reasoning and math background doing analysis. I make a decision based on the facts. I pray that everyone gets vaccinated so that they can protect theirselves and their loved ones. The sooner we can get everyone vaccinated, we can get back to having more events and kids can go to school without wearing their mask.We need to stick together.

Jamie Monroe

I CREATE ART IN WARD 8 I feel like people are afraid to get the vaccine because of prior things that happened in history. We were told to trust certain processes and over time it affected us in a different way. I think it’s important to get the vaccine to prevent things from happening in the future before things get out of hand. I got vaccinated, I’ll do anything to prevent things from getting worse. If I have to be the guinea pig for the people, I’ll do it. I feel people should get it instead of trying to take the risk of getting sick.

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Elvera Patrick

BROTHERS PL. WARD 8

Since the pandemic arrived and looking at the senior citizens, one of the reasons people are hesitant in getting their vaccinations is due to our forefathers. Going back many many years, our population were preyed on … Everyone is fearful of the vaccination. The numbers are low east of the river with the COVID-19 vaccinations because people are uncertain and afraid. It’s been so many stories and myths about the vaccination that many don’t know what’s the truth.

If I had a solution, I’d say we’d have to keep having these talks.

Once I got more educated about the vaccine I said, ‘Ok I’ll go ahead and get the shot.’ As for the government building trust with communities, I feel they just need to be more honest with the people.

My last words are that people should have faith and go get vaccinated.

// 7

AT A GLANCE

Rochelle Walker

Artist/Vendor Rochelle Walker stars in a new “behind the scenes” video about writing and publishing with SSM. StreetSenseMedia.org/ssm-TBS

Vernice Puryear BROTHERS PL. WARD 8

I feel like the COVID-19 vaccinations are necessary but I don’t feel like it will work with our Black communities in wards 7 and 8. We don’t trust the people giving us the information. When there’s no trust, how can you take something that they’re telling you for facts, especially when the world is showing you it ain’t always like that? When we look at the history of Black people in medicine and vaccinations, for example the Tuskeegee experiment ... I think those things, the historical part, we’re just naturally marginalized. I’m living in a food desert right now. People say you should do this because it’s for the betterment of you, but yet you’re looking around for better [and it’s not there]. It’s a contradiction, in which how can you establish trust when there’s contradiction? I studied biotechnology. One thing I was taught was whenever there are vaccines going around there are normally five to 10 years for it to roll out. In this case it has taken a little under a year. I think we should start there with educating people about the vaccine process. The COVID-19 vaccinations may have been accelerated. Educating people about viruses and vaccines also, having these conversations, incentivizing them to get different perspectives and ideas that can hopefully awaken new ideas instead of it just coming from the government telling you that you have to do something. In theory we don’t have to do anything.

Reginia Summers & Jamylah Summers RESIDENTS OF WARD 8

I have mixed emotions about the vaccinations. I have no clue on how to feel about it. I’ve been hearing good and bad things. Right now I’m just not sure. I understand that to get vaccinated it’s 12 and up. My daughter is 11, if my daughter had to get it then yes we would [all] have to get it.

My daughter and I both haven’t been vaccinated as of yet.

We get daily COVID-19 tests. The [pause in] the Johnson and Johnson vaccine makes me not sure. I hope they get the tweaks and everything out. I hope that they get the vaccine together. I feel it’ll be mandatory.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS Sheila White and Reginald Black

Debuting the documentary short film “Street Reporter” Watch: streetreporterfilm.com ARTISTS/VENDORS

VENDOR PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENTS • Tributes remembering Anthony Crawford are being collected for publication and a memorial service is being planned.

• The next Vendor Meeting will be Friday, August 27, 2 - 3 pm.

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

8 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A / / A U G . 11 - 1 7 , 2021

NEWS

Local teen’s message on poverty:

Believe in yourself but don’t leave others behind

BY WILL SCHICK // will@streetsensemedia.org

At 15, Miguel Coppedge, a sophomore at the Templeton Academy college preparatory school in Ward 6, has done more than most who are twice his age. Like LeBron James, the iconic basketball player and his idol, Coppedge has published several children’s books and even starred in his own film: a short seven-minute amateur movie on YouTube based on a book the Northeast D.C. resident published when he was 9 titled “The Adventures of FireMan.” Last year, Coppedge did something else uncommon for someone his age. He started an online fundraiser he calls the “I Care Comfort Foundation,” which collects money to buy toiletries and assemble care bags that benefit children in foster care as well as young people experiencing homelessness. So far, he’s collected $450 toward the $2,500 goal on his GoFundMe page.

Coppedge uses the proceeds to buy items he sends to the St. Ann’s Center for Youth, Children and Families, where he was adopted at age 2. His efforts recently won him recognition — plus a year of free ice cream — from the Baskin-Robbins Joy in Childhood Foundation, which tagged him as one of its “Pint-Size Heroes” and pledged to donate $5,000 to St. Ann’s in his honor.

Now based in Hyattsville, Maryland, directly across from D.C., the center was founded just before the Civil War in 1860 as an orphanage and refuge for pregnant women with no place to go. St. Ann’s phased out its care facility for young children in 2013 as part of a larger national trend of favoring foster care over institutionalized settings like orphanages.

Today, the nonprofit supports single teen mothers, provides vulnerable women with supportive transitional housing, and connects clients with the mental health and emotional services they need.

For Sister Mary Bader, president and CEO of St. Ann’s, the service changes have been driven largely by a growing demand to support people experiencing homelessness.

“I think some people associate homelessness as literally living on the streets, which it certainly is. That’s one form of homelessness.

But there’s also the housing and security,” Bader said.

She went on to explain that homelessness encompasses people experiencing housing

insecurity, to include those who spend much of their time “couch surfing.”

When Coppedge’s parents first took him on a visit to St. Ann’s about five years ago, he did not know what to expect. Now he visits every year.

“He must have been no more than 10 years of age and he came to St. Ann’s with his mother to deliver some books that he had written,” Bader said. “And so we sat down, and he wanted to read to the kids.”

Bader — whose personal office now features several photos of the young man well known for his volunteer work there — recalled leading Coppedge on a tour of the facility and pointing out the area of the building where he spent the first years of his life. He also met some of the staff who knew him when he was an infant.

Though Coppedge doesn’t remember his time as a baby at St. Ann’s, what happened on that first visit has motivated him to return every year since to help distribute donations and read to children.

“It just makes my heart blow up,” Coppedge said after taking a reflective moment to think about what it was exactly that inspired him to start a fundraiser and keep returning to St. Ann’s in order to help the children of families in its supportive transitional housing.

“I want them to feel like they’re at home, you know? And I want them to, umm, have the same stuff I have,” he said.

Even at 15, Coppedge is acutely aware of the harsh social inequities that divide his life’s experience from those around him.

“A lot of people out on the streets … in general don’t have toiletries, blankets, none of that,” he said.

Bader — who first began spending time at St. Ann’s in the early 1980s while teaching at the now defunct Our Lady Queen of Peace school in Southeast D.C. — has battled these social inequities as she watched the city and the region evolve over the years.

“A lot of great things [have happened],” Bader said, “but I think the poverty and the

PHOTO COURTESY OF JENNIFER CULLEN

lack of affordable housing has not gone away.”

In her view, poverty has long been an issue not only in the District but across the region.

Today, Bader said, she sees more people struggling with finding homes, a problem exacerbated by the soaring cost of housing.

The value of single-family houses in the District has climbed over 520% since 1990, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which tracks changes in housing costs nationally.

The typical cost of a single-family home or condo in D.C. in August 2011 was $420,000, according to Zillow. By June 2021, the typical value had climbed to $692,000.

But simply putting families into housing is not always enough, Bader said.

“Accompanying that need [for housing] are services to support families, particularly younger families who are quite vulnerable and who have sometimes grown up in the foster care system or just not had resources available to them,” Bader said.

Historically, a significant number of adults experiencing homelessness went through foster care as children. In January, 11.7% of single adults and 9.3% of adults in families

who responded to a census of the D.C. homeless community said they had been in foster care. Notably, nearby Loudoun County highlighted that it was the first time in three years that no individuals included in the count had any history in foster care.

The families served by St. Ann’s may require additional help to find employment and learn life skills to become fully independent, Bader said. In one of its programs, single teen mothers who are either pregnant or have young children live together in a large group home where they get around-the-clock care, and benefit from structured programming that teaches life skills and helps participants pursue their academic goals.

As for Coppedge, his long-term goals include finding ways to assist St. Ann’s in the full range of services it offers.

Coppedge dreams of one day becoming a pro basketball player — like his idol — and of opening his own fashion store in Manhattan.

He hopes to donate a portion of his earnings to St. Ann’s.

“I love seeing people in need shine,” he said.

This article was co-published with The DC Line.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

Mama and Baby Bus: Bringing care to wards 7 and 8

BY KAELA ROEDER kaelaroeder.com

I

n what’s known as a hot spot for maternal mortality in the United States, Mallory Mpare is seeking to make a difference for pregnant people of color in the District through a mobile health clinic that brings comprehensive care to parents and babies in wards 7 and 8.

The “Mama and Baby Bus” provides free services including prenatal, postpartum, and general reproductive care.

Mpare, 34, is the D.C. mission lead for the Better Starts for All program of March of Dimes. The national nonprofit aims to bring on-the-ground maternal health resources and programs to maternity care deserts — regions where few, if any, hospitals are providing access to obstetric care, birth centers, or practicing OB-GYNs or midwives.

The Mama and Baby Bus also offers STD screenings, birth control consultations, breast exams, and Pap smears.

“Anything that you could do in a stationary clinic, you should be able to do in our mobile health clinic,” said Mpare, who has lived in the District for more than 10 years.

The bus itself is led by midwives, a choice intended to encourage patients to develop individualized relationships with their providers, according to Mpare.

“We want to make sure that we have a community focus,” she said of that and other decisions about the program’s operations.

No hospital east of North Capitol Street provides obstetrics care, which is “heartbreaking” for Monique Stevens, a 39-yearold nurse practitioner and midwife with nine years of maternal health experience.

“There’s a great chance that [the patient] may not follow through because she cannot make it to that other location to get that ultrasound, or to have that procedure done,” Stevens said while making referrals for patients. “It can cause sleepless nights.”

The bus operates every other Friday and rotates among the Marshall Heights Community Development Organization in Ward 7, Far Southeast Family Strengthening Collaborative in Ward 8, and University of Maryland Capital Region Health Medical Group in Laurel, Maryland. The mobile clinic is available by appointment only, with some leeway if an emergency occurs. (To make an appointment, call 301-4375788 on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.)

Insurance is not required, which allows people who don’t qualify for Medicaid, including non-U.S. citizens, to receive care. Immigrants are one of the main recipients of services at the bus, Stevens said.

“A lot of women feel, when they move to a country, they don’t have any care or any help,” Stevens added. “And that’s what this bus is there for, is trying to help them.”

Stevens began her career in the military, where she worked

in labor and delivery. She was stationed across the world, including Japan, Iraq, Germany, and California.

“I fell in love with women and women’s health,” Stevens said of the route to her focus on getting families of color access to quality care. “And so that drove me to become the intersectional practitioner I am today. It warms my heart to be able to care for women.”

In her role with March of Dimes, Mpare works with local community partners, hospitals, and organizations to expand the group’s programming and ensure families have access to quality care.

Originally from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Mpare previously worked in women’s health policy and outreach roles for about a decade. In the District and cities around the world, Mpare has seen firsthand how racism fuels negative outcomes in birthing and maternal care, she added.

“Seeing how stark the differences are … for Black women and other women of color and non-Black women was really what drove me to want to do something actionable towards improving those outcomes,” Mpare said. “We know what indicates what a person’s health outcome might be is their race, ethnicity. … It is really racism that shapes those folks’ outcomes.”

According to data from the nonprofit United Health Foundation, the maternal mortality rate in the District in 2019 was 35.6 per 100,000 live births, compared with a national rate of 29.6. The rates for Black women are about twice as high: 71 deaths per 100,000 live births, compared with 63.8 nationally.

The “Mama and Baby Bus” provides services including pre-natal, post-partum and general reproductive care. PHOTO BY KAELA ROEDER

// 9

PHOTO BY KAELA ROEDER

Throughout the country, more than 7 million women of child-bearing age live in an area where there is no or limited access to maternity care, according to a 2020 report by the March of Dimes. In D.C., the level of access depends on whether one looks at the city as a whole or at specific wards or neighborhoods.

“What we know in D.C. is that it is a very resource-rich area,” Mpare said. “There are many hospitals and universities that have access to world-class doctors. But that distribution of providers is not evenly distributed across the city.”

Medical racism has affected Black women in a variety of ways since the beginning of modern health care in the United States. J. Marion Sims, known as the father of gynecology, spent years in the 1840s conducting experiments without consent on Black women who were enslaved.

In the 1990s, state legislators introduced bills that, if passed, would have given women convicted of drug use during pregnancy or child abuse a choice between using the birth control Norplant — a contraceptive implant proved to have severe side effects — or serving time in jail. Women of color and those in poverty were targeted by this proposed legislation in what one article deemed an effort to “reduce the underclass.”

Similar abuse still occurs today. In December 2020, more than 30 current and former detainees in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Georgia received unwanted or unnecessary gynecological procedures.

As these harsh realities persist, there’s an effort by D.C. lawmakers to bring comprehensive maternal care to wards 7 and 8: Earlier this year, first-term At-Large Councilmember Christina Henderson proposed the Maternal Health Resources and Access Act, a bill seeking to address the maternal care gaps through transportation subsidies and a reimbursement program for doulas through Medicaid.

At the recommendation of the Committee on Health, the D.C. Council allocated funds for the legislation in its version of the fiscal year 2022 budget, which won final approval last week but still needs the mayor’s signature and to go through congressional review. Meanwhile, the budget support act includes authorizing language to establish doulas as a profession regulated by the Board of Medicine.

In funding the legislation, the council’s budget provides $480,000 annually to cover travel costs for commuting to and from appointments starting in October 2021. Reallocated funds from the American Rescue Plan will also be used for Medicaid reimbursement for doula and midwife services from fiscal years 2022 to 2024.

Legislation like Henderson’s is new, and there’s no model for how the proposed services would look in practice, according to Mpare. But programs like doula reimbursements appear to be a “promising practice” to expand access to care, she said.

“It’s really exciting,” she said.

This article was co-published with The DC Line.

1 0 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A // A U G U S T 11 - 17, 2021

OPINION

‘Crystal Clear’: STAY DC rental assistance offers residents a limited-time opportunity for a financial fresh start to recover from COVID-19

BY GORDON CHAFFIN gordon@streetsensemedia.org

I

could not afford to pay my rent for five months last year. Money didn’t come in from side jobs when I was counting on it. So, thanks to the federal ban on evictions, I was able to keep living in my apartment until my lease was up in November. I still owe for those months and I don’t have the money to pay it back. I requested approximately $5,000 from STAY D.C., a COVID-era rental assistance program that pays my landlord for the rent I still owe.

The federal government gave D.C. $352 million to help tenants like me who apply, but if the District doesn’t give much more of it out over the next two months, the feds may take it back.

Many residents don’t know about this opportunity to make a financial fresh start post-pandemic. STAY D.C. includes payments to tenants and landlords for rent and utilities from April 2020 through this summer. You apply to the D.C. government — stay.dc.gov — and your landlord gets a check for what you owe. In some cases, like mine, your landlord may not want to participate in the program. In that case, the government sends you a check and you pay your landlord back with the money. Landlords can apply and receive payment directly after tenants confirm details.

Be prepared for the difficult application, which requires computer and internet access, plus digital copies of lease agreements, bills, and other documents. Also, be aware of the long delays. D.C. residents are waiting months for the help they need within days. Please share this information widely, and with people who don’t seem like they need help: a friend, a neighbor, a follower on social media. It can be terribly embarrassing to admit that you couldn’t pay the rent and other basic expenses. You’re an adult! It’s hard to abandon the facade of self-sufficiency. And what if you have a family you can’t support?

In a pandemic, it’s easy to stay silent about how you hurt when you see others hurting even more. But, I believe we can be grateful and vulnerable, we can embody grace and work toward justice for ourselves and others.

My experience with DC rental assistance: a slow success When I couldn’t pay rent in summer 2020, before I worked for Street Sense Media, I was proactive in securing signed letters from my clients proving that they would have agreed to contracts paying me until COVID-19 hurt their businesses.

I was in regular contact with my landlord about the eviction moratorium, utility bills, and when I would not be paying rent.

I applied for STAY D.C. relief on May 19, 2021. The form took about 90 minutes to complete even though I had all my documents available: copies of that landlord correspondence, proof of my financial distress, and access to all of my accounts to download PDFs proving income eligibility and my identity.

I checked my application status every few days at the STAY D.C. website. After you apply, there’s a five-day period when D.C. reaches out to your landlord to see if they want to participate. During that time, the website says your application is “Pending Housing Provider.” My landlord did not respond

to the government, so my application eventually moved to “In Review” as a tenant-only submission.

D.C. government didn’t move to review my application until well after it was supposed to — 54 days later instead of five. I followed up on a weekly basis with the government’s STAY D.C. help channels — stay@dc.gov and 833-478-2932. STAY D.C. officials usually responded that a large number of applications meant that my application was “pending” or “in review.”

I was frustrated by all these delays and made sure to copy my elected representatives — my D.C. councilmember and Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner. I don’t know whether they intervened.

But, I’m grateful D.C. approved my full rental assistance request on July 27. Hopefully, they’ll send me a check next month and I can get square with my landlord.

STAY DC is helping too few, too slowly, with too many strings attached My approval took 69 days, a very long time to wait for money intended to help neighbors who need emergency cash to keep roofs over their heads next month.

D.C. government claims that it can’t deliver funds in a matter of weeks, but that — as long as you are patient — you won’t lose your home or investment property. “If people need this help with their rent, the help is there,” said Laura Zeilinger, director of the District Department of Human Services, told me.

Zeilinger was adamant that such delays would not cause eligible STAY D.C. applicants to be evicted or displaced because of recent D.C. council legislation for eviction diversion this fall and her department’s work with legal advocates. But, the DHS head says that a tenant’s application has to be air-tight: “What I’m saying to folks is, make sure you complete your application. We would love to see everyone who can provide the evidence that they have their lease, the proof of income.”

That’s a whole lot of paperwork to get the money you need to pay off the electricity bill that runs your air conditioning through a D.C. summer — and your internet bill so you can submit

job applications when employment offices are still working virtually. It’s clear that Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration is not implementing STAY D.C. with the speed and generosity intended by the feds when they sent hundreds of millions of dollars to the Wilson Building for COVID-era rental assistance.

At the second of two eviction-prevention hearings held by the White House, COVID rescue plan czar Gene Sperling was firm: States and local governments should use federal money to do as much as possible to prevent renter displacement and landlord foreclosure.

While the White House and U.S. Treasury Department have emphasized speed, flexibility, and giving benefit of the doubt to applicants for rental assistance, D.C. officials seem focused on possible fraud. In what affordable housing advocates have called “a five-alarm fire,” Mayor Bowser’s top lieutenants are parsing the water pressure of a garden hose. They use the same language — “crystal clear” — to describe entirely opposite motives and priorities. It’s as if D.C.’s executive branch is deliberately misinterpreting what the president and Congress want.

Rarely does the physical, mental, and financial health of so many people depend on the government executing a coherent human assistance strategy from the Oval Office to the state agencies and down to county and city authorities. These are not normal times and it’s interesting that a self-proclaimed liberal mayor overseeing an unprecedented emergency chooses this moment to be parsimonious with the government checkbook.

“I see it as like, not trusting people, and not believing people, and assuming that people are going to lie to get benefits or game the system. Those are some of the myths that I think haunt programs for low-income people … and really sort of strangle attempts to efficiently spend money on urgent needs,” Amber Harding, staff attorney at Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, told me. “It’s frustrating that you can have the White House make all these statements, and then you can have a local, supposedly progressive jurisdiction that is still like, ‘No, we still want to put up barriers. And we still don’t trust people, even though the federal government is explicitly telling us to.’”

Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George echoed those

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

sentiments when I talked to her. The mayor’s administration, Lewis George says, has “come from a standpoint of preventing fraud versus getting people the money that they need to be able to pay their rent and survive.”

Besides, there is always time later to audit if necessary. “The immediate need is for this money to get out the door,” Lewis George says. “And we need to be focused on getting that to happen and not this fraud-focused way.”

More outreach needed about rental assistance D.C. councilmembers have taken an active role to promote STAY D.C. by hosting their own pop-up events for application assistance. Lewis George believes that witnessing aid challenges directly is essential for the council to understand where the mayor’s office disserves residents.

On July 13, Lewis George joined six of her council colleagues to send a letter to the mayor urging better community outreach. It notes that D.C. agencies have improved the STAY D.C. website, but that doesn’t do much good if not many people know about the program. Councilmembers asked for Bowser to “significantly increase targeted outreach to residents who are likely eligible for STAY D.C. assistance,” including those enrolled in a District public health program. That is more in tune with the creativity and proactivity White House officials have asked for to maximize the number of Americans who get help.

Inaccurate resources on the STAY D.C. website have hindered strong outreach efforts. One problem, according to a July 29 letter from the Council for Court Excellence, is the insufficient online translation tool for people with limited English skills. Another problem? The digital calendar is populated with incomplete or incorrect information about outreach events.

D.C. officials contest criticism that they aren’t doing outreach well, citing that same online calendar and schedule of events at libraries and Metro stops, plus canvassing and door-knocking. According to DHCD Director Polly Donaldson, the D.C. government is trying to send resources to community organizations where residents can get information and complete a STAY D.C. application on a computer, with access to a scanner for paper documents, in an air-conditioned room.

Yet efforts by Street Sense Media reporter Claudia Levens to attend an outreach event listed on the website were unsuccessful.

She went to Kingman Park to attend a July 27 event hosted by the Office of the Tenant Advocate (OTA). The website only listed an address: 1501 Maryland Avenue NE, Starburst Plaza. Levens could not find any D.C. government tables, tents, or signage. She did not see any residents similarly lost and looking for application help.

OTA later told Street Sense Media that the event began operations at the advertised location, and later relocated up the street, and that “OTA was able to speak with several tenants who came to the event about eviction prevention and postPublic Health Emergency tenant rights.”

OTA’s response included a picture of their help table, from the agency’s Twitter post that day, in the shaded corner of a sidewalk several hundred feet from the plaza itself. But a resident unfamiliar with that area, who does not use social media, using only an address from the STAY D.C. website, and with no way to know OTA ran part of the event or their contact information, would struggle to find this location.

In light of these outreach struggles, it may be up to community organizations and residents to volunteer their time to prevent an eviction crisis.

“We want [STAY D.C. applicants] to let others in their community and their families — who they know are also struggling — to share the information and get their applications in,” DHS Director Zeilinger said. “And that’s going to be the thing that is critical and supporting a process that will allow us to avoid an eviction crisis in our community.”

Let’s not return to ‘normal’ The federal government gave hundreds of millions of dollars to D.C. to set up an emergency rental assistance program, making it one of nearly 500 such programs, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

By Sept. 30, $130 million of D.C.’s first $200 million must be distributed. If the District doesn’t spend that chunk, the COVID emergency bills allow the Treasury to take the rest of the money back and redistribute it to other jurisdictions that are getting money out the door. There’s some flexibility with that deadline — a 90-day window — but D.C. is on track to miss it or barely meet it.

D.C. has distributed $74.3 million this year to renters and landlords in the form of rent and utility assistance, combining data collected by the U.S. Treasury with the latest STAY D.C. dashboard information. D.C. has to increase the pace of approving those help requests, and sending the checks out, for the rest of the money to be available when increased outreach and marketing efforts pay dividends this fall in the form of more applications.

With the clock ticking, the D.C. Council recently passed legislation to ensure a gradual phase-out of the eviction moratorium that includes protections for tenants who have pending STAY D.C. applications, according to At-Large Councilmember Robert White. “We also included language requiring landlords to provide tenants information on how to access rental assistance and legal help,” he said.

Even as these urgent concerns persist, some experts are taking a longer view.

“The District had an eviction crisis before the pandemic,” said Amanda Korber, supervising attorney at Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia.

“There is an affordable housing crisis. Low-income tenants have not been able to afford their rent forever and have been in crisis for years. Years and years.”

A return to that pre-pandemic “normal” is not good enough, Korber believes.

“I am incredibly alarmed and concerned about the folks who have been in this position for years and decades,” she said. “And I hope that the District and its leaders are thinking about how we can do better than getting back to the 35,000 cases per year that were filed against tenants for eviction? How do we not just get back that number? How do we decrease that number? How do we make it so no one ever faces eviction?”

Poverty assistance should not be a series of applications I wrote this story because a lot of people need help, including me, but I’m in a privileged position. I haven’t been threatened with eviction during COVID. I’m a local journalist paid to keep up with these support programs. When I couldn’t pay rent, my family took me in for nine months. I don’t have kids to support and my work is remote. I speak and write English very well and have the time to persistently advocate for myself with email and phone calls. I was able to find a new job here at Street Sense Media, so I could afford to move back to D.C. Please apply for STAY D.C., spread the word about it, and contact your elected officials to raise hell about its failings. But, don’t mistake even an idealized version of this process for a well-performing system. Street Sense Media provides “low-barrier” work for enterprising vendors of its paper, and all methods of social uplift should have minimal barriers to participation. The research is very clear: Onerous compliance requirements

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do more to discourage deserving applicants than to detect fraud in paperwork thickets.

There’s this phrase — “it’s expensive to be poor” — where additional costs of time, attention, and mental stress are placed on people trying to access the safety net. Our least privileged neighbors are expected to spend their lives applying for things, filling out forms and traveling to locations to prove they need help. Of course, they likely don’t have that free time, or reliable, affordable transportation, or access to technology, if they need the help. Helping poor people shouldn’t require them to be good at applications. We don’t get very far in fixing actual problems if we operate with selective suspicion about who needs help and how. It’s a damn pandemic. If we can’t fix these acute problems, what of the chronic ills?

The National Low Income Housing Coalition created a public spreadsheet to track how much money D.C. and other states are getting out for emergency rental assistance. Access it here: tinyurl.com/NLIHCRentAssistChart Claudia Levens, Eliza Schloss, and Jarrod Wardwell contributed to this reporting.

1 2 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A / / A U G . 11 - 1 7 , 2021

ART

BY CARLOS CAROLINA Artist/Vendor

BY MICHELE E. ROCHON Artist/Vendor

Dreams to me Flow as long as the eye can see, And eyes can see I can be anything that my mind believes.

“My mind believes.”

When love is in harmony with other things That's when the energy is full of peace Dreams are like chemistry.

I refuse to allow hope to die!

A deferred dream will never ever be a denial to me!

I refuse to accept "defeat" like Joseph (in the Bible), "I am a dreamer/visionary" I see what others don't see and have thoughts that others don't think, Stay away from dream killers today!

Spray them with the "pesticide" of not getting in your space!

Tumbleweed kills real "grass" but it looks the same!

Live life, Love, Continue to dream, and make ‘em as long as they seem I dedicate this poem to my daughter, Armani Renee: Never stop dreaming. Follow your dreams. And let your Dreams go as far as streams flow, Baby Girl.

BY DARLESHA JOYNER Artist/Vendor

I was always a different child, I had goals for my life.

I used to cut out magazines of where I am going to live, what car I am going to drive, where I am getting married at, and how many children I am going to have.

I look back at my goals at the age of 30 now, I have mostly accomplished my goals.

I did not get married on Miami beach, but I did get married at the courthouse.

I have kids, I want 10.

I have a good place to live.

Dreams

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREW WEIBERT ON UNSPLASH.COM

STOP STEALING:

Honor among thieves

BY LATICIA BROCK, a.k.a. “PWEZZY VILLAGE” Artist/Vendor

Cell phone bandit, you took my contacts.

How do you expect me to get my memories back?

Get your weight up to get your own phone.

Stop stealing people's cell phones and leave mine alone.

Thou shall not steal, it's in the Bible.

It's no honor among thieves in this world, it's about survival I’m not gonna house a thief, you’ll be left alone, So homeless you be and in the streets you shall roam.

Your guilt by association to hang with that thief, Walk around D.C. streets and be labeled as a creep.

So just remember, Pwezzy Village told you, believe Is no honor among you thieves

Vacation at the Zoo

BY BRIANNA BUTLER // Artist/Vendor

Years ago we had a fascinating experience in the zoo.

First thing that we saw running quickly across one pathway was this cute adorable chipmunk trying to forage food. Then there was a tall yellowish-orange giraffe that ate hay. I wonder, how can an animal that tall be a vegan?

We saw a happy elephant walking, eating fruit in ice. There were hippos, too, walking in water, which is exciting. We were eating many snack foods while strolling through the trails. The reptiles there have many teeth to catch prey and eat. We saw some pandas trying to mate. At least the male was trying, but the female was giving him a hard time. At the end of our trip we saw groups of lemurs on a mountain top with a waterfall flowing through it. They were making calls to each other.

Orangutans were put to the test to see how intellectual they are. As we were exiting, we ran into the part of the zoo where we could pet cows, goats, and rabbits. The transportation went smoothly on Metro; there were no mess ups this time.

How Long?

BY QUEENIE FEATHERSTONE Artist/Vendor

How long must I wait!!!

The system says it’s not late Roaming for my home.

Home home home, don’t roam Please help me get a good home Roaming, roaming; Stop.

Landlord, we should talk My sore feet hurt from walking Stop the talkin’; home please.

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// 1 3

Friends

BY MARCUS MCCALL Artist/Vendor

BY ROCHELLE WALKER Artist/Vendor

PH O TO CO

UR TE SY

O F AN DR

EW M O CA

O N UN SP

LA SH .C O

M

One, two, three, I got all my friends with me.

Some go, some stay, some said anyway, I am still your friend.

Friends shall love like a brother, but still, some act like users.

Do I have too many friends?

Friends shall encourage you Friends shall accept you the way you are, not the way they want you to be.

And because of that I believe a friend is there, alive or dead, through thick and thin.

Life or death.

Hello, reader! Today I'm talking about friends, although since childhood I could never understand the meaning of "friends.”

Since the age of eight, I've felt strange about having someone around me who I know nothing about — not even their favorite color. My mother told me, no one loves you like mom or your family. Your friends will come and go. Some will even betray your friendship, because God has a different path for you to walk. Your friends will join you for parts of that path, but they can’t stay forever.

I grew up trusting nothing because of the streets and the foster care system that put me in a position to see things from my point of view. That is part of the reason I don't have friends, just associates who talk about life and how we can benefit off each other. A friend is someone who does not pass judgment, who helps when they can, and can offer great advice on whatever the situation is. It is also someone who can lend a helping hand when needed, is a compassionate soul and a genuine person. Sorry, I have not met one, but I know they exist.

Please email me: marcus.mccall16@gmail.com

BY JEMEL FLEMMING Artist/Vendor

BY DANIEL BALL Artist/Vendor

Friends are people we can depend on. Friends are also people you can make amends.

Sometimes your friends come from a partner you are affiliated with, a group, or an association. These can be friendships that have been particularly trying due to the professionalism involved. There doesn’t necessarily have to be a close friendships because you are joined by a goal you pursue with those people.

You are affiliated with them because you know there is trust there and any negativity isn’t there.

For any type of friendship, there should be no fault or dispute that can’t be settled by respect.

Friends — my very best friend is Sybil Taylor. Why? Because we been good friends for nine years.

Another of my best friends is Thomas, we been friends for two years here at Street Sense Media.

Now my other best friend is Queenie. Why? Because she cares about everybody who works at Street Sense, and that is not a lie.

Now, do you know who is your best friend in the world today?

Is it Daniel Ball? Yes or no?

BY ANTHONY CARNEY Artist/Vendor

A friend is someone every person needs A friend to talk to And walk with down The road of life There all kinds Of friendship So remember A friend gives encouragement.

Spread love.

9 7 3

14

4 5 1 6 8 2 8 6 7 5 4 1 3 9 2 4 6 7 5 1 2 8 3 9 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A / / 1 5 8 3 4 9 2 6 7

FUN &#4 Sudoku 3 7 GAMES 6 5 9 2

4

A U G . 11 - 1 7 , 2021

This is the Daily Crossword Puzzle #1 for Aug 10, 2021

1. Piece of paper

8

1 9 5 6 3 4 Challenging 2 8 Sudoku by KrazyDad, Volume 17, Book 49 2 1 3 7 9 6 7 3 7 5 1 2 6 8 4 9 4 3 6 5 8 2 9 4 5 7 8 1

Sudoku #1

1 6

7 3 9 6 9 7 Sudoku 8#6 4 3 9

1

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

2

6

2

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Fill in the blank squares so that each row, each column and each Sudoku #8 all of the digits 1 thru 9.

3-by-3 block contain If you guesswork.

7 use 5 logic 3 you 6 can 8 solve 9 the 1 puzzle 4 without 2

Need help?4 The order to solve the puzzle.

7 hints 5 page 8 9a logical>> 2 a 6little1 3 shows This crossword Use it to identify the next square you should solve. Or use the answers page puzzle’s answers: if you really get stuck.

4 8 9 3 2 1 7 5 6

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

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

https://tinyurl. com/SSMcross-08-11-2021

<< LAST EDITION’S PUZZLE SOLUTION

1. Piece of paper 6. Red Riding Hood's fear 6. Red10.

Riding Hood’s fear Annoy 10. Annoy 14. West Indies destination 14. West 15. Indies Field ofdestination study 15. Field of study 16. Home of the Taj Mahal 17. "Politically 16. Home of the Taj Incorrect" Mahal host Bill Incorrect” host Bill 17. “Politically 18. Make an impression?

18. Make an impression?

19.

Folk singer 19. Folk singer Baez Baez 20. Martin's gasp?

20. Martin’s gasp?

23. Tarzan's jungle 23. Tarzan’s jungle companion companion 24. Spot for a stud 24. Spot for a stud 25. Nautical measure measure 25. Nautical 29. Romans predecessor 29. Romans predecessor 31. Where to seeto Nancy Grace 31. Where see Nancy 34. Shakespearean spirit Grace 34. Shakespearean spirit 35. NYPD unit 35.the NYPD unit 36. “On Waterfront” 36. "OnKazan the Waterfront" director director Kazan 37. Chris’s protector?

37. Chris's protector?

40. “Makes sense to me” 40. "Makes sense to me" 41. Special glow 41. Special glow 42. Like many a 42. Like many a Cirque du Cirque Soleil performer Soleildu performer 43. Court divider 43. Court divider 44. Court divider 44. Court divider 45. Doused with water 45. Doused with water 46. Land east ofeast Eden 46. Land of Eden 47. Animate, with "up" 47. Animate, with “up” 48. Gregory's distress?

48. Gregory’s distress?

55. "Pygmalion" playwright 55. “Pygmalion” playwright attitude 56. Uppity 56. Uppity attitude 57. Fruit tree pest 57. Fruit tree pest 59. Scintilla 59. Scintilla 60. Camp beds 60. Camp beds 61. "Groovy!"

61. “Groovy!”

62. Elephants, to an 62. Elephants, an elephant hunter elephanttohunter 63. Oft-injured joint 63. Oft-injured joint 64. Principle 64. Principle

Five is a sufficiently close approximation to infinity.

-- Robert Firth

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

9

Find the solution at https://onlinecrosswords.net/6159

Across Across

1

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

OnlineCrosswords.net

Down 1. Neill of “Jurassic Park” 2. Grumpy sort

3. Industrial region of Germany 33. “___ Lunch” (William Burroughs novel) 4. Busy as ___ 35. Shock 1.Geometric Neill of "Jurassic Comedian Costello 22. Possesses 36. Land of 44.

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26. Respond to reveille 7. Cookie frequently taken apart 39. Impudent 3. Industrial region of 47. Hole in the Wall Gang 27. Highest country in 8.

This falls in fall 44. Comedian Costello Germany pursuers the world 9. voice 45.

Whistle blower 4. Frankie Busy asValli’s ___ 48. Hammer-swinging 28. Roll call response 10.

Captain’s superior “Forget about 5. Geometric curve Norse it!” god 29. Hip to, with46. "of" 11.

Composer Stravinsky 30. "Fame" singer 47. Hole pursuers 6. Wishy-___ 49. Wall $200Gang per hour, e.g.

Irene in the 12.

Sigma frequently Nu, for short 48. Hammer-swinging Norse god 7. Cookie 50. Motown gridder 31. Lumps taken apart Harper's 13.

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8. This fallsSeaver in fall 33. "___ Lunch"50.

(William 21.

Pitcher Motownillustrator gridder 9. Frankie Valli's voice Fencing rapier S. Burroughs novel) 22.

Possesses 51. Harper’s52.

Bazaar illustrator 10.Dickens Captain's superior Movie detective 35. Shock 25. villain 52. Fencing 53. rapier Charlie 11. Composer 36. Land of leprechauns 26.

Respond to reveille 53. Movie detective Charlie 54. Toy attached to a Stravinsky 38. Mellow 27. Highest country in the world 54. Toy attached to a string string 12. Sigma Nu, for short 39. Impudent 28.

Roll call response 55.

Enjoy a brewski 55. Enjoy a brewski 13. Strike out a batter 29. to, with “of” 58. On the ___ Model 58. (precisely)55.

On the ___ (precisely) 21.Hip Pitcher Seaver 30. “Fame” singer Irene 57. Herd of whales 31. Lumps 59. Belief 32. Vocation

Down

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

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Unity Health Care 3020 14th St., NW // unityhealthcare.org - Healthcare for the Homeless Health Center: 202-508-0500 - Community Health Centers: 202-469-4699

Lot Associate Home Depot // 901 Rhode Island Ave. NE Full-time Assist customers with the loading of their vehicles and monitoring and maintaining the entrance of the store, such as ensuring there is a sufficient quantity of carts near the entrance of the store.

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

APPLY: tinyurl.com/lot-associate-home-depot

Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless 1200 U St., NW // 202-328-5500 legalclinic.org

REQUIRED: High school degree or equivalent, minimum one-year cleaning hotel rooms.

Room Attendant Rosewood Hotels & Resorts // 1050 31st St NE] Full-time // $1,000 signing bonus Room attendants will clean guest rooms, transport carts with cleaning supplies, inspect the furniture, and answer guest questions if needed.

APPLY: tinyurl.com/rosewood-room-attendant The Welcome Table // 202-347-2635 1317 G St., NW. epiphanydc.org/thewelcometable

Night Auditor Moxy Hotels // 1011 K Street NW] Part-Time // Night Shift

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

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My buddy, my boss: The unforgettable Jackie Mason

BY FREDERIC JOHN Artist/Vendor

Emmy-winning actor, comedian, Broadway performer, and rabbi Jackie Mason died on July 24 at the age of 93. His career really unspooled over several decades. He had a lot of talent and it wasn’t always recognized until later in life.

Ah, where to begin? Let’s just say, in 1982, this “artiste” was more comic aspirant than the writer-musician he soon was to become. And if you were filing headshots for would-be actors behind a billboard-hidden office on Times Square — as I was for an ancient talent agent — well, all roads lead to Joe Franklin and his pony circus of a talk show at 42nd and Broadway.

Well, “doing research” for Mr. Franklin’s Niagara of old showbiz trivia led me to a guest slot on his local broadcast. I found myself plopped into a studio seat next to New York’s most famous and underrated stand-up comedian, Jackie Mason!

And while we were on air, I made some wisecrack about orcas on roller skates and Mr. Mason promptly immortalized me forever by jabbing his right thumb my way and saying, “Hey, this kid is funny!”

Flash forward one month and I was running contracts for

Jackie up and down Park, Madison, and Fifth Avenues in Manhattan, not far from my tiny walk-up. He was running his shop out of his kitchen and I was his errand boy. Jackie was strongly suggesting to producers that they give him a big Broadway show.

“I realize you’re broke, kid — so am I. Ed Sullivan did me no favors,” he told me. This last refers to Jackie allegedly displaying a middle digit at the less-than-good-humored CBS variety host. The upshot was Jackie had to pay me in units of not gold ducats but cans of StarKist tuna. Which I needed! I could pay my rent, but my cupboards were bare.

Shortly afterwards, my mom died and I had to take extended leave back to D.C. I had to leave New York and a lot of what I had been enjoying.

Right before I grabbed my grip* to board the train, with a tear in my eye, Jackie gruffly intoned, “We know you’re leaving town. And we want you over at the Four Seasons Pool Room.” He and his manager Jyll wanted to see me off at the most famous corporate dining room in NYC — and the entrée was not StarKist!

Jackie got his first one-man show on Broadway right after that. I was thrilled.

The man had a lot of depth, in no small part due to studying the rabbinical texts. He struggled but he was worth the

Jackie Mason displayed on a TV screen during an ABC News broadcast about his death.

PHOTO BY FREDERIC JOHN

recognition. I admire him because he kept trying and he kept at it and he had humanity. Yes, he wanted someone to laugh at his jokes, but he also wanted to reach out and open some hearts. *A grip, short suitcase. The when on the

for gripsack, refers to a traveling bag or old blues guys used to say “grab my grip” move.

PHOTO COURTESY OF KACHEN ON UNSPLASH.COM

Thank you for reading Street Sense!

Story of my father: Missing you, Dad

From your vendor,

STORY & COLLAGE BY SYBIL TAYLOR Artist/Vendor

AUG. 11 - 17, 2021 | VOLUME 18 ISSUE 28 NO CASH? NO PROBLEM. WE HAVE AN APP! SEARCH “STREET SENSE” IN THE APP STORE

Words cannot express how much we all miss you, Dad. It has been six years without you, six years not seeing and enjoying your smiling face. I miss you planting your seeds in the garden, growing lots of veggies and fruit, spending hours out in the yard, cooking spaghetti and meatballs. My dad loved canning his pickles and cucumbers and tomatoes.

He was very good at what he did, like grilling hotdogs and hamburgers and steaks and corn - it all smelled so good.

Fresh cut watermelon. Our favorite soda was root beer. I enjoy lots of memories of Dad. He loved his sports and his news. He loved reading his morning paper every day. He loved doing people's taxes. He loved saving up his money.

My dad started out at 7-years-old when he got his first job, working for the Washington Daily News as a paperboy.

He was very hard working. He helped his family. He was very smart and gifted and could save without spending. My Dad was at his best when he graduated from Cardozo Senior High School, where he met my mother and fell in love with her. He later joined the Army, which he wanted to do. He

and Marvin Gaye went in together. They went to the same school and were friends. He came home from the Army on leave and got engaged to my mom and later they got married. "Dream Come True," the song by the Temptations, was how he saw my mother. He was the best Father and Grandfather and best Husband to my mom. He treated her like pure gold. He took her to all the Motown shows during the 1960's, brought her nice outfits and a Diana Ross wig, and she always got her hair done, too. He was the best dad.

He would walk us to school and pick us up from school, we would go shopping with him for groceries. We all traveled together downtown to shop at the old five-and-ten store on 7th Street N.W. Dad, you are missed by us all. When you left to go home with Jesus it broke our hearts. To see you pass away at home in the bed brought sadness to us. Even to visit your grave is sad but joy comes in the morning, peace at night. You are in a new home in your “Mansion in Heaven." Dad, we all love you. Keep smiling down from heaven. I Love you, Dad. Love always.

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