09 04 2019

VOL. 16 ISSUE 22

$2

SEPT. 4 - 17, 2019

Real Stories

Real People

suggested donation goes directly to your vendor

Real Change

Are you pregnant enough to take shelter here?

Most homeless services are for individuals or families.

Small organizations try to fill the gap for expecting mothers.

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VENDOR CODE OF CONDUCT

Street Sense will be distributed for a voluntary donation of $2.00. I agree not to ask for more than $2.00 or solicit donations for Street Sense Media by any other means.

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The Cover

The Street Sense Media Story, #MoreThanANewspaper

Stable housing improves the health of pregnant women, mothers, and children. In D.C., pregnant mothers experiencing homelessness must turn to small-scale operations for help.

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 casemanagement 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.

www.joshkramercomics.com

Brian Carome

7.

INTERESTED IN BEING A VENDOR? New vendor training: every Tuesday and Thursday // 2 p.m. // 1317 G St., NW

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Mary Coller Albert, Jeremy Bratt, Brian Leonard, Jennifer Park, Dan Schwartz, John Senn, Aaron Stetter, Daniel Webber, Shari Wilson

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

As self-employed contractors, our vendors follow a code of conduct.

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VENDORS Ayub Abdul, Shuhratjon Ahamadjonov, Gerald Anderson, Charles Armstrong, Katrina Arninge, Lawrence Autry, Daniel Ball, Charlton Battle, Reginald Black, Rashawn Bowser, Debora Brantley, Andre Brinson, Laticia Brock, Brianna Butler, Dwayne Butler, Melody Byrd, Anthony Carney, Alice Carter, Conrad Cheek, Curtis Clark, Michael Craig, Anthony Crawford, Louise Davenport, James Davis, David Denny, Reginald Denny, Ricardo Dickerson, Patricia Donaldson, Nathaniel Donaldson, Ron Dudley, Jet Flegette, Jemel Fleming, Cornell Ford, James Gatrell, Chon Gotti, Marcus Green, Levester Green, Barron Hall, Dwight Harris, Lorrie Hayes, Patricia Henry, Ibn Hipps, James Hughes, Joseph Jackson, Chad Jackson, David James, Fredrick Jewell, Henry Johnson, Mark Jones, Morgan Jones, Reggie Jones, Juliene Kengnie, Jewel Lewis, John Littlejohn, Scott Lovell, Michael Lyons, William Mack, Ken Martin, Authertimer Matthews, Jermale McKnight, Jennifer McLaughlin, Jeffery McNeil, Angela Meeks, Ricardo Meriedy, Kenneth Middleton, Amy Modica, L. Morrow, Collins Mukasa, Evelyn Nnam, Moyo Onibuje, Earl Parker, Terrell Pearson, Aida Peery, Hubert Pegues, Marcellus Phillips, Jacquelyn Portee, Angela Pounds, Abel Putu, Ash-Shaheed Rabil, Robert Reed, Chris Shaw, Gwynette Smith, Patty Smith, Ronald Smoot, David Snyder, Franklin Sterling, Warren Stevens, James Stewart, Beverly Sutton, Sybil Taylor, Archie Thomas, Eric Thompson-Bey, Jacqueline Turner, Joseph Walker, Martin Walker, Michael Warner, Robert Warren, Sheila White, Angie Whitehurst, Judson Williams, Sasha Williams, Wendell Williams, Ivory Wilson, Latishia Wynn, Latishia Wynn

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EVENTS

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NEWS IN BRIEF Another man’s life has been cut short

Metro Center memorial gathering to be held Thursday, Sept. 5

Together We Rise Wednesday, October 2, 2019 // 6 p.m. - 9 p.m.

Church of the Epiphany // 1317 G Street NW Celebrate 16 years of Street Sense Media with stories, artwork, and good company as we recognize those who helped us get here and look forward to the path ahead. The night will include live performances, a silent auction and presentations of awards to founder and Executive Director of Sasha Bruce Youthwork Deborah Shore, and our pro bono legal partner Arent Fox LLP. Your ticket price includes access to an open bar. Food and artwork will be available for purchase. MORE INFO: streetsensemedia.org

SUNDAY, SEPT. 8

UPDATES ONLINE AT ICH.DC.GOV

SATURDAY, SEPT. 14

D.C. State Fair

D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness Meetings

“Streetmarket” in Blagden Alley

11 a.m. - 7 p.m. // Gateway DC at St. Elizabeth’s East 2700 MLK Jr. Ave. SE The 10th D.C. State Fair is at Gateway DC, a short walk from the Congress Heights Metro station with free Circulator shuttles to and from the event.

Admission is FREE. MORE INFO: dcstatefair.org

Full Council Quarterly Meeting September 10, 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

441 4th Street NW One Judiciary Building Old Council Chambers (First Floor) ***List features only committee meetings. For issue-focused working group, contact ich.info@dc.gov.

11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

120 Blagden Alley This free event will showcase local, up-and-coming small businesses.

There will also be kid-friendly activities and a live, custom mural installation by D.C.-based artist Marcella Krieble.

MORE INFO: streetmarket.eventbrite.com

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

AUDIENCE EXCHANGE DCist

@DCist

The DC Line @dclinenews

For the fourth year in a row, DCist is devoting a part of our work today to covering the #DCHomelessCrisis. The initiative is organized by @streetsensedc and you can find all the stories here: www.dchomelesscrisis.press

....You can also take a look at past @dclinenews stories on homelessness and housing issues, some co-published with @streetsensedc, organizer of the #DCHomelessCrisis reporting project. www.thedcline.org/category/news/homelessness

10:28 AM - 29 AUG. 2019

10:46 AM - 29 AUG. 2019

It is with heavy hearts we share news that former Street Sense Media vendor and comic creator Bernard Jamaal Dean, Jr., who went by “Chino,” died in the last week of August.

A local faith community has organized a memorial gathering for Thursday, Sept. 5, at 11:30 a.m., just north of 12th and G streets NW. If you knew Mr. Dean well, please consider being interviewed for his obituary. Standalone memories and tributes may also be submitted for publication.

Contact: editor@streetsensemedia.org.

Arlington residents say new mental health diversion court program was rushed Arlington residents gathered at Arlington Central Library the evening of Aug. 15 to discuss a proposed program to divert people from prison and instead place them into treatment. The public forum – organized by Arlington Mental Health & Disability Alliance – came after officials and Virginia residents asked for more time to review the plan.

Naomi Verdugo, who helped organize the event, said in an email to Street Sense Media that the program, the Behavioral Health Docket, was developed without public comment or input from the public defender. The docket — created in part by the Commonwealth Attorney’s office and Arlington’s Department of Human Services — was first introduced in July.

Juliet Hiznay, a special education attorney based in Arlington and one of the panelists, said the proposed behavioral health docket is only for cases that flow through the general district court, which means it would not help people tried in other systems, such as the juvenile domestic relations court. Hiznay said the program as it stands also excludes developmental disabilities, like autism, in addition to emotional disabilities, like depression and anxiety. “The way that this docket is defined, the eligibility is extremely narrow,” Hiznay said.

The next community meeting will be on Sept 5.

—Leah Potter, Editorial Intern

Read the full Behaviorial Health Docket story at StreetSenseMedia.org/arlington-docket-august

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NEWS

Banners advertising the new development adorn fencing along Sumner Road, SE, in Barry Farm, where all dwellings have been demolished. PHOTO COURTESY OF DANIEL DEL PIELAGO // EMPOWER D.C.

The Barry Farm tenants await a final decision after 20 people testified before the Historic Preservation Review Board two months ago

BY MEENA MORAR Editorial Intern

O

n July 25, Community members from across the District filled the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB)’s courtroom, many wearing stickers that read, “Yes! Barry Farm is historic!”

It was a hearing to consider historic designation for part of the Barry Farm public housing community and more than 20 people testified in favor of the historic designation.

The hearing date, originally scheduled for June 27, had been pushed back twice at the request of the D.C Housing Authority. A month later, at the July 25 hearing, the HPRB did not have a quorum and consequently could not conduct a final vote. A second hearing was scheduled for Aug. 1, but was pushed back until Sept. 26 at the request of the D.C. Housing Authority.

For former residents of the 442-unit public housing community, a historic designation would be confirmation of a truth they already know, according to Detrice Belt, chair of the Barry Farm Tenants and Allies Association.

“We have always believed our homes to be historic,” Belt said in the HPRB hearing. “Declaring Barry Farm as a historical landmark will ensure that our history will be remembered and our stories are told and that we will see our reflections in communities for years to come.”

The debated historic designation would include only the 32 remaining houses left post-demolition of Barry Farm Dwellings, according to the HPRB application. The buildings are located at 1100-1371 Stevens Road, 26772687 Wade Road, and 2652 Firth Sterling Avenue SE and represent roughly fifty percent of the original units of Barry Farm Dwellings before demolition.

The applicants argue that the houses show ample historical significance as they were established by the federal government for the purpose of providing African Americans affordable housing after the Civil War, and historically important figures resided in some of the homes.

The Historic Preservation Office, however, has recommended that the board not designate the remaining Barry Farm Dwellings as a historic site.

“The property no longer possesses sufficient integrity residents have been relocated to smaller houses without to convey, represent or contain the values and qualities for the proper accommodations for storage, according to which it is judged significant,” the office said in a June 27 Belt, who now lives in an apartment. report. “Although the surviving buildings of Barry Farm “I used to be in a house,” Belt said in an interview with Dwellings are directly associated with the development Street Sense Media. “Now, I have to have storage. They of public housing for African Americans during World are offering us storage for one year, but that’s not enough.”

War II … the buildings do not retain sufficient integrity The community has been displaced throughout the to convey the values and qualities city and are unable to keep in for which the property is judged touch with each other, according significant.” to a former resident who lived in DCHA, along with the A&R Barry Farm from approximately companies and Preservation of 1969 to 1981.

Affordable Housing Inc., intends “It’s been years since I’ve seen to turn the public housing [my friends], so everyone’s aged,” community into a mixed-income she said in an interview with Street area. The plan aims to increase Sense Media. “I have to try to the total number of units from reflect on how to approach [them] 444 to 1100, while providing 380 so they can remember who I am. units as public housing, according You need to refresh their memory.” to the Barry Farm Redevelopment Crime and homelessness has website. The project will also increased, according to Belt. include approximately 40,000 “ We ’ r e s e e i n g m o r e square feet of retail space, a homelessness, we’re seeing more Detrice Belt 2.4 acre park, and updates to crime after Barry Farm started Chair of the Barry Farm Tenants infrastructure. being demolished,” Belt said in an and Allies Association The plan calls for one-forinterview with Street Sense Media. one replacement of the existing “They blame Barry Farm for so housing units to ensure there is no much crime, so much negativity net loss of subsidized units, according to the NCI website. placed on our community. They say that we have a choice The plan was stalled last year, however, when the and we are guaranteed to come back, but we’ve seen at other D.C. Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the Tenants properties that that has not happened.” and Allies Association’s petition to reexamine the D.C. Barry Farm was first created out of a purchase by the Zoning Commission’s decision to redevelop the Barry Freedmen’s Bureau in 1867 as a 375-acre plot for refugees Farm neighborhood. from slavery. Barry Farm Dwellings was officially turned DCHA failed to present an updated plan in front of into segregated public housing in 1941, according to the the HPRB. D.C. Policy Center.

There are currently no households remaining in Barry Prominent political figures such as Charles Douglass Farm. Demolition has begun and people have been and Solomon Brown lived in the neighborhood, as relocated to other public housing or given Housing did Justice of the Peace John Moss and the assistant Choice vouchers to use elsewhere. In some instances superintendent of D.C.’s African-American schools,

“Declaring Barry Farm as a historical landmark will ensure that ... we will see our reflections in communities for years to come.”

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

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The Washington Monument and downtown D.C. as seen from Eaton Road, SE, in Barry Farm.

PHOTO COURTESY OF DANIEL DEL PIELAGO // EMPOWER D.C.

Garnet Wilkinson. Civil rights leaders Lillian Wright and Ella Mae Horn, who later founded the National Welfare Rights Organization, also resided at Barry Farm.

Among other efforts to preserve the neighborhood, D.C. Public Library has partnered with the Anacostia Community Museum to bring the “A Right to the City” exhibition to neighborhood libraries across the District. As a part of the series, the Anacostia Neighborhood Library hosted an event in the Barry Farm area on Aug. 5 called, “Ten Strong: Women of Barry Farm/Hillsdale,” focusing on the impact 10 prominent female figures had in the Barry Farm area.

Alcione Amos, an Anacostia Community Museum curator, spoke as an expert witness at the July 25 hearing, telling those gathered in the classroom-like space that when Barry Farm was originally built, there were 359 one-acre lots throughout the area. Between 1867 and 1871, 47 women purchased lots and paid taxes on the property..

In the audience on July 25 were current and former Barry Farm residents, as well as people from across the city. One attendee, Tia Prue Fails, mentioned that her family had lived on Elvans Road for decades. For Amos, hosting informative events about D.C.’s history is crucial to help inspire affected residents.

“I want them to be very proud of their history, and the history that went on before them,” Amos said in an interview with Street Sense Media. “I think it’s very important for people to build their lives knowing that in the past there was a lot of excellence and a lot of great things happening in this community. I think it’s almost a duty of mine to enlighten people about the history of their community.”

Amos’ presentation described figures such as Georgiana Rose Simpson, who was the second African American woman to get a PhD in 1921; Frances Eliza Hall, a white woman who moved to Barry Farm at age 46 as the first teacher; and Emily Edmonton Johnson, one of the fugitives from the nonviolent slave escape of The Pearl.

Barry Farm residents were also involved in Bolling v.

Sharpe, the landmark case that desegregated D.C. public schools, alongside Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. Amos will be presenting on the impacts civil rights activism held in the Barry Farm community at the Anacostia Neighborhood Library on Sept. 9.

At the July 25 hearing, personal testimonies from previous, current, and non-Barry Farm residents highlighted the impact the historical significance has had on community members.

Its multilayered history is one that many D.C. residents do not know of, according to Amber Wiley, assistant professor of art history at Rutgers University.

“Barry Farm represents some of the most powerful moments in national and local history,” Wiley said at the HPRB hearing.

“The stories and lessons embodied in these buildings are

lessons that current Washingtonians, old and new, need to know. They are all lessons central to an American history that has been obscured as of late.”

In other words, many youth growing up in the Barry Farm area do not have access to their history in schools, according to a Ward 8 resident.

“I feel as though there’s not enough tools that’s given to the youth in that neighborhood to know their background and to know how powerful they are coming from the Barry Farm area,” she said at the HPRB hearing.“When you have a sense of where your background is, it drives you to go further, it drives you to be proud of where you’re coming from and to

Detrice Belt stands in front of her old house on Stevens Road.

PHOTO COURTESY OF DANIEL DEL PIELAGO // EMPOWER D.C.

represent your community. If you show the youth that their neighborhood means nothing, that means that they have nothing to fight for.”

Other testimony included community members who were surprised that they had not heard of the Barry Farm history in depth. Many emphasized the need to preserve Black history and contributions in D.C. The historic designation is more than just a debate about building integrity and repair, according to civil rights attorney Courtney Alexander.

“This is more than a cosmetic request,” Alexander said at the HPRB hearing. “The large outdoor community areas, the inclusion of spacious townhomes, and a strategic use of cross streets was intended to avoid blight, help families to remain physically and emotionally healthy, and encourage socialization between neighbors. The culture and significance of Barry Farm is inextricably intertwined with and as a consequence of those design elements. We cannot pretend that this is about buildings, bricks, stucco, or demolishing just another public housing site.”

Regardless of an unclear plan, however, DCHA plans on moving forward with redevelopment because the site is beyond repair, according to Christine Goodman, DCHA supervisory media relations specialist.

“We continue to be concerned about the hundreds of people who planned to return to the redeveloped site in 2020,” Goodman wrote in an email to Street Sense Media.

“The physical condition of the buildings at Barry Farm make rehabilitation impossible, this is why DCHA is redeveloping the community so that the families can return to new homes as soon as possible.”

ANC 8C Commissioner Rhonda Edwards-Hines agrees that historic designation should be rejected because of the state of the buildings.

“I remember when I moved in Barry Farms in May of 1989,” Edwards-Hines wrote in a statement that was read on her behalf at the hearing. “I raised my children in this community – it’s home to us. Living in this community, I know first-hand the units are beyond repair. They are unhealthy, and with the decay of the units, it doesn’t allow for a healthier, safe neighborhood.”

While the next hearing is set to be heard on Sept. 26, the Tenants and Allies Association is willing to negotiate with the Housing Authority if some demands are met, according to Belt.

“We may back out of the historic preservation if they give us some of our demands — if they do agree to give us the museum and still make it so we can preserve it ourselves without going to the board,” Belt said in an interview with Street Sense Media. “It’s still in negotiations, we don’t think they will do that. We think that we will be going ahead with the vote to make it historic.”

Nick Shedd contributed reporting.

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NEWS

There was an 800-person discrepancy between two counts of youth homelessness completed four months apart in DC

Volunteers prepare to conduct a past PIT Count in Washington, D.C. ARCHIVE PHOTO BY SAM BERMAS-DAWES

BY GABRIELLE WANNEH Editorial Intern

O

n Jan. 23, the District conducted its annual Point-In-Time (PIT) count, a survey conducted nationwide to give a “snapshot” of residents experiencing homelessness on a single night.

According to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’s analysis of that data, 489 of the 6,521 people experiencing homelessness in D.C. were “transition-age youth,” young adults age 18-24.

However, the D.C. Homeless Youth Census, a separate annual count of local homeless youth that was conducted only four months prior, found there were 1,328 transition-age youth experiencing homelessness in the District. Other than a small window of time, what separated these surveys was the time taken to complete them and the criteria used to determine who was counted as homeless and who was not.

Regardless of the different demographic sizes, both of these counts are meant to showcase the reality of what homelessness looks like in D.C., and depending on what the numbers suggest, are also how local providers determine how to allocate their services to help alleviate the issue. But when it comes to homeless youth, why don’t the numbers add up?

For Deborah Shore, the director and founder of the homeless services provider Sasha Bruce Youthwork, and other advocates for ending youth homelessness both regionally and nationally, the use of different definitions and methods when conducting these counts is keeping the data from aligning. Because data influences funding, Shore says this discrepancy also restricts the level of care that is available to homeless and unstably housed youth.

Too many definitions, too many methods The PIT count, which began in 1983, uses the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s standards to determine who counts as homeless and who does not. The HUD definition was last modified in 2012 and requires that a person either be (1) literally homeless, (2) at-risk of becoming literally homeless, (3) homeless under federal law, or (4) fleeing or attempting to flee a situation of domestic violence.

There are some youth that meet the criteria of this definition, but it’s geared more towards people who are on the verge of becoming “chronically homeless,” meaning that a person has been continually homeless for over a year, or multiple times within the last 3 years, while struggling with a physical or mental disability.

Most people who fit the HUD definition are older than the ages 18-24.

"Young people are in a transition at these ages," Shore said.

"And they're not in that permanent[ly homeless] status yet, so you don't want them to be defined as that."

The District’s youth census uses a broader definition. In

addition to literal homelessness as accounted for by HUD, it also considers unstable housing arrangements such as “doubling up” and “couch surfing.”

Along with the definitions, the methodology for each of the two counts is also dissimilar.

The PIT Count takes place one night during the last week of January. Local homeless service providers join in as leaders and outreach specialists, and hundreds of volunteers survey the city for people who are outside, staying in shelters and utilizing day programs from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.

The Homeless Youth Census, which was established as part of the 2014 End Youth Homelessness Amendment Act, occurs over the course of nine days in September. Like the PIT count, it also utilizes homeless service providers to distribute the survey to anyone 24 and under who is served by their program or agency.

Shore considers the youth census to be a more extensive and in-depth youth count.

“We really utilize youth workers and people who are trusted in the [youth] community to get in there and do the job of finding where kids are.” Shore said.

There is a third unique definition used by the school system, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987, a federal law passed to provide urgent assistance and funds for the homeless and homeless programs, which defines homeless youth specifically as youth who lack fixed, regular, and nighttime residence, or an individual who’s nighttime residence is primarily at either (a) a supervised or publicly operated shelter, (b) an institution of temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized, or (c) a private or public residence not designed for regular sleeping accommodations for human beings.

Following this definition, D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education conducts its own count of all homeless youth enrolled in the city’s public schools. Like the youth census, the results also tend to be higher than the numbers recorded by the PIT count.

HUD does take note of other definitions and data collected outside of its realm, not excluding them from its Annual Homelessness Assessment Report, which provides Congress nationwide estimates, characteristics, and trends regarding the state of homelessness and the capacity to provide housing.

Part 2 of the 2017 report, for example, details the national estimates regarding specific demographics, including unaccompanied individuals, families, and unaccompanied youth. It also mentions broader perspectives and how HUD does lean on the information of others to better its own approach to addressing homelessness.

Despite this, the National Law Center on Homelessness said in a 2017 report that the HUD Point-in-Time counts “produce a significant undercount of the homeless population at a given point in time.” The nonprofit advocacy group recommended annual data rather than a one-night snapshot to “account for the movement of people in and out of homelessness over time.

An opportunity for government agencies to get on the same page Alongside her work with Sasha Bruce, Shore is also on the board of directors for the National Network 4 Youth, an advocacy organization dedicated to preventing and eradicating youth homelessness across the country. Recently, the organization has been advocating for the Homeless Children and Youth Act of 2019, which would require all federal programs to align their definition of homelessness.

“From a big picture perspective, it’s very hard to tackle homelessness holistically … when the federal programs don’t even define homelessness the same,” said Darla Bardine, executive director for National Network 4 Youth. “And at a local, practical level, it’s very challenging to do systems coordination when the systems have different definitions.”

If passed, the Homeless Children and Youth Act would not only require that HUD change its definition of homelessness, but it would also require that HUD prioritize cost-effective programs that meet the needs of the communities, and improve its data collection on homelessness in order to make children, youth, and families more visible to public and private assistance.

It’s very hard to tackle homelessness holistically … when the federal programs don’t even define homelessness the same,” Darla Bardine

Director of the National Network 4 Youth “Vulnerability isn’t determined solely based on where you sleep at night.” Bardine said. “There are young people and families who are temporarily bouncing from place to place — motels, houses — who are extremely vulnerable.”

From the perspective of Bardine and National Network 4 Youth, it’s important that the act be passed because they feel as long as the HUD definition remains the same, the PIT count will continue to produce numbers that hinder the process of systems coordination and prevent youth from receiving the help they need.

There is hardly universal support for this bipartisan legislation, however. Versions of the bill introduced in 2014, 2015, and 2017 all died in previous sessions of Congress.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

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Transition-Age Youth in DC: Who counts as "homeless"?

PHOTO COURTESY OF DARLESHA JOYNER

Vendor/Artist Darlesha Joyner’s son Markquelle turned 2 last month. And his mom’s birthday is this month.

Survey conducted on a single night, Jan. 23, 2019. DATA COURTESY OF

Survey conducted over 9 days, September 2018. DATA COURTESY OF THE

“I've never quite understood the debate since we’ve acknowledged all definitions.” said Brian Sullivan, a public affairs specialist for HUD. According to Sullivan, HUD and other advocates have historically opposed this and similar laws to protect homelessness assistance programs HUD currently funds.

“It’s about targeting scarce resources to where they’re needed.” Sullivan said.

According to him, if the definition were officially broadened, the increase in needs and priorities could derail from HUD’s mission- to create quality communities and provide affordable homes for all.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness shares a similar sentiment, not favoring the Homeless Children and Youth Act. Vice President of Programs and Policy Steve Berg said the law would serve as a “nonsolution” because it would change eligibility requirements for HUD programs and disrupt how they were meant to work.

“Making [families and youth] eligible for a program they wouldn’t benefit from … distracts from what they’re trying to reach,” Berg said. “The solution for families and youth is to create a program that helps them.”

HUD announced Aug. 29 that it would award $75 million in grants towards ending youth homelessness in 23 local communities, including D.C., through the department’s Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program. These communities will be able to invest more into building local systems and providing a range of programs for rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing, transitional housing, and host homes.

HUD Secretary Ben Carson described the grants as “another critical investment in the futures of our youth, sparing them a life on the streets or in our shelters and placing them on a path to self-sufficiency,” according to the press release.

Church of Christ at 9th and G streets NW. Sasha Bruce Youthwork runs a drop-in center there from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. once a week in partnership with the Downtown D.C. Business Improvement District.

“It’s a great collaboration with the businesses that recognize the need,” said Pam Lieber, director of drop-in services for Sasha Bruce. “And rather than try to sweep away, they sought to actively try and remedy it.”

The center was created three years ago in partnership between the church and Sasha Bruce Youthwork as an off-shoot from the organization’s Barracks Row drop-in center, which is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m..

Programs like these are advancements Sasha Bruce has made due to the success and stability of its other core programs. However, during its many years of operation, the organization has also experienced what it’s like to have government funding moved from your program to other priorities, such as Sullivan suggested could happen if HUD’s definition of homelessness is radically expanded.

In 2013, Sasha Bruce lost more than $1.1 million in funding it had previously counted on from the District government. The loss was so drastic, the organization found itself having to turn away youth from its overnight shelter.

“We went from having 26 beds to 5,” Shore recalled.

While there is debate on how federal systems should assess the homelessness crisis, one thing everyone involved seems to agree on is the decision must be made with its impact on funding for existing programs in mind.

And in the case of youth homelessness specifically, whether the solution is changing what assistance youth qualify for or creating new systems to help them — more resources and services are needed to adequately help some of the youngest people experiencing homelessness in the U.S.

THE WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS.

What’s at stake?

On any given Monday evening in Gallery Place, some of the city’s most vulnerable youth come to relax, eat pizza, and watch movies at the First Congregational United

COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP FOR THE PREVENTION OF HOMELESSNESS.

BIRTHDAYS Levester Green Aug. 27 ARTIST/VENDOR

Louise Davenport Aug. 31 ARTIST/VENDOR

Gerald Anderson Sept. 7 ARTIST/VENDOR

Angie Whitehurst Sept. 7 ARTIST/VENDOR

Franklin Sterling Sept. 14 ARTIST/VENDOR

Toni Calloway Sept. 15 ARTIST/VENDOR

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.

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8 // ST REET SENSE ME DI A / / S E P T. 4 - 1 7 , 2 0 19

With barriers to finding shelter, pregnant women and mothers turn to small-scale operations for housing and shelter in DC

BY LEAH POTTER Editorial Intern

W

hen Jasmine Greene’s daughter was born about three years ago, she was living in an abandoned house.

Greene, a former resident at Clark Inn – a home run by the nonprofit Samaritan Inns that provides treatment to mothers who are struggling with substance abuse – said she had been living in the empty house for about eight or nine months.

But it was on a demolition list, and she said she didn’t know which day it would be torn down.

While she was experiencing homelessness, Greene didn’t know where her next meal would come from. This was especially stressful when she was breast-feeding her daughter because she couldn’t afford milk or baby formula.

“It was hard, I cried every night because I didn’t know if I was going to have money to feed myself, and I needed to feed myself in order to feed her,” she said. “It was a struggle.”

While both being pregnant and giving birth without stable housing was stressful and scary, Greene said she would “do it all over again” if she knew she would be where she is today.

She added that mothers or future mothers who have similar experiences to her own should “pray,” “have faith,” and “never give up.”

“I’ve been shot, stabbed, raped – with all the stuff that happened to me, I wanted to give up, I wanted to give my baby to the system because I couldn’t take care of her,” she said. “But what’s happening today doesn’t have to happen tomorrow – just don’t give up.”

Jeanna Hamilton, a current resident at Clark Inn, said she experienced homelessness in 2005. At the time, she lived in Covenant House International’s D.C. location – a shelter for people age 18 to 24 – until she was able to find more permanent housing. Hamilton added that she was living with the oldest of her four children.

“It was an intense experience for me. It kind of made me stronger, because I realized I had to be independent – no one was going to take care of me,” Hamilton said about experiencing homelessness as a mother. “I did everything that I could then to get my own place.”

Hamilton said through Covenant House, she was able to find an internship and go back to school to receive her high school diploma. Now, she has more stability in her life.

Housing for mothers and pregnant women There are several organizations in the District like Covenant House and Clark Inn that provide support to women with children who are experiencing homelessness. While others may not directly provide shelter, some organizations, such as the Gabriel Network and the Northwest Center, are able to offer temporary housing to several women at a time.

“A lot of times with women who don’t have other children, if they’re pregnant, they’re kind of stuck between the single women’s shelter that doesn’t want them because they’re pregnant and the family shelter that doesn’t want them because the baby’s not here [yet],” Susan Gallucci, the executive director of the Northwest Center, said.

The Northwest Center – founded in 1981 – offers temporary housing for pregnant women and mothers by

A crib in one of the rooms at the Gabriel Network’s Gaithersburg maternal home. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE GABRIEL NETWORK

way of a townhouse it oversees in Adams Morgan. The organization’s pregnancy center operates in the basement of the house and the maternity home is upstairs. Gallucci said the center offers a range of resources, including free pregnancy tests and baby diapers.

“We wanted to provide life-affirming options for women who are facing an unplanned pregnancy,” Gallucci said.

The Northwest Center is a pro-life crisis pregnancy center.

The center’s maternity home is able to house up to four women at a time and provides shelter for between four to seven women each year. Gallucci said the center has housed at least 80 women and 85 children since it opened.

Gallucci said the only criteria to be admitted at the Northwest Center is being pregnant, and women can remain at the Northwest Center up to 18 months after their child is born.

The Gabriel Network has provided housing and resources to mothers in D.C. and Maryland for more than 20 years, according to Sarah Portner, a licensed master social worker and the helpline representative for the organization. She said the organization currently oversees maternity homes in Bowie, Maryland, and Ellicott City, Maryland, and the organization’s maternity home in Gaithersburg, Maryland, is slated to reopen in the fall and will be able to house six mothers and six infants.

The maternity home in Bowie houses up to four mothers and their newborns. Portner said women are eligible to move in at any point in their pregnancy and can live in the organization’s housing until their baby is six months old.

Transitional maternity housing, where a new or expecting mother is able to stay for several months, is “immensely helpful” because it provides something consistent during a time of “huge transition,” Portner said. She added that ensuring women have stable housing after their child is born – even if just for a few months – is especially important when that person does not have the support of her family.

“Things end up being really segmented as far as the resources available to moms,” Portner said. “Because when we look at relationships you have with family, with friends, those can often change with the news of a pregnancy. Oftentimes that can result in losing housing.”

But Portner said even if a woman loses housing while being pregnant, it doesn’t mean that she has nowhere to turn.

“That’s where our organization and many of the others come in to be present for clients in those circumstances and try to,

with as much intentionality as possible, to look for those next steps and help de-escalate the situation a little bit,” she said.

The Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center repeatedly sees teenage mothers who lose their housing after their parents learn of their pregnancy, according to the organization’s executive director, Janet Durig. Teen moms are sometimes rebuffed by their own mothers for having a baby before they are out of high school because they would rather see their daughter finish high school and attend college without the added stressor of child care, Durig said.

“We’ve known of situations where the pending grandmother of the child ends up throwing the daughter out of the house because [her daughter] didn’t abort the baby,” Durig said.

“Suddenly this mother and child are homeless.”

The Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center is also a pro-life crisis pregnancy center.

Durig recalled one instance where after a new mother had gone from friend’s house to friend’s house, she eventually found herself without a home. It was winter, and the woman came into Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center cold and with nowhere to go. Durig said she was able to find the woman an apartment through her church’s housing services.

“She was able to get work and with someone helping her a little bit she was able to get her life together and get a place of her own,” Durig said.

Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center offers parenting and childbirth classes and is able to provide mothers with material items like diapers. The center can help connect women to adoption agencies, helps women prepare for infant care, and can refer them to places to find a bed for the night.

“When you’re going through stressful situations and being homeless and trying to put a roof over your kids’ heads and find food for them, it’s probably one of the most stressful things anybody can go through,” she said.

Some shelters in the District don’t offer services to women unless they are at a certain point in their pregnancy. For example, the Virginia Williams Family Resource Center, the single entry point for D.C.’s family shelter system, will not offer assistance to a pregnant woman unless she is in her third trimester. Other programs, like the Queen of Peace shelter in Congress Heights, will ask a woman to leave just a few weeks after her child is born.

It is important to Street Sense Media to provide organizations

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

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pertinent to our stories adequate time to comment. The D.C. Department of Human Services did not return eight requests for comment, first made in July.

Shorter said at the hearing. “The fourth time that I went, they helped me – only because I had a lawyer. I was there all day on that fourth visit to get help.”

Physical health challenges

A call for housing

Gallucci, the director of the Northwest Center, said women who are experiencing homelessness also experience more stress than most women who may become pregnant. They are frequently worried about where they are going to sleep that night and how they are going to feed themselves. She added that keeping medical appointments during a pregnancy is especially difficult if a woman has limited access to transportation or does not have medical insurance.

“If we’re getting people housed, if we’re getting people stable and connected to prenatal care, it’s more likely they’re going to have better birth outcomes,” she said. “That early time of bonding, of getting nutrition, of getting the mom some rest – these are going to ensure better outcomes long-term.”

Experts in maternal health said women who are pregnant require plenty of rest and a stable, nutritious diet – necessities that are difficult when someone is also experiencing homelessness.

While it is often recommended that women begin planning for their pregnancies at least two years before conceiving, women who are experiencing homelessness have little control over their diet, exercise, and sleep patterns before their child is born.

Securing stable housing is often the first step in ensuring the health of a woman and her child, according to Wendy Chavkin, a professor emerita of population and family health and clinical obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University.

With stable housing, Chavkin said women – especially pregnant women – can focus on getting essential nutrients and minerals in their diet, like iron and folate.

She added that a “major task” for women who are pregnant is to gain weight, which can be difficult without stable housing or a stable diet.

“You need to have all the proper micronutrients on board to grow a fetus properly and to make sure that your own health doesn’t suffer consequentially,” Chavkin said.

Having a small child is often one of the “biggest indicators” of housing vulnerability, according to Leah Garrett, the vice president of development and communications for Community of Hope, a health-focused nonprofit with multiple locations in the District. Depending on the program, between 25 and 33 percent of families served by Community of Hope are single mothers under the age of 24 with small children.

Garrett added that after a woman becomes homeless, the waiting period for housing can be “unsafe, frustrating, and isolating.”

“Pregnant women and new mothers who are experiencing homelessness need access to a stable, safe, and dignified place to live,” Garrett said. “They need access to a supportive care team providing prenatal care and connection to a number of other resources – healthy food, baby items, transportation, community, and childcare.”

When women are experiencing homelessness, they also experience anxiety. This can be passed onto their children either through parenting or while the child is in utero, according to Sandra Jackson, the executive director of House of Ruth, a nonprofit of more than 40 years that helps people experiencing homelessness or fleeing situations of domestic violence.

“We’ve got to start thinking that every family deserves to live in decent housing – that should be absolutely a no brainer,” Jackson said, adding that House of Ruth “starts with housing.”

Jocelyn Maxwell, another resident at Clark Inn, said she was experiencing homelessness before her first child was born.

Maxwell said she also struggled with addiction and is at Clark Inn to “better [herself]” and stop using addictive substances.

“I want to be there for them and have them in a safe, drug-free environment,” Maxwell said about parenting while recovering from substance use disorder.

Maxwell said before she became pregnant with her first child, she was living from “friend to friend.” When she became pregnant, Maxwell was living in a home with several other people who were drug-users. She said she felt compelled to leave the house for the wellbeing of her child, especially after her relationship with the child’s father did not work out.

She went to St. Elizabeths Hospital when she was about three months pregnant. From there, Maxwell was admitted to a mental health institution for 45 days before being placed in temporary housing with roommates through Community Connections – an organization that coordinates health services for marginalized groups in D.C. After Maxwell gave birth, Community Connections helped her secure her first onebedroom apartment.

She stayed in that apartment for about six years and had two more children. Later, Maxwell was able to upgrade to a threebedroom apartment, where her two daughters shared a room and she and her son had their own bedrooms.

Maxwell said she found stability after she found housing and support at Clark Inn. She said having food for her children and herself, stable housing, and assistance with attending doctor’s appointments has helped her focus on parenting and recovering after struggling with substance abuse.

“I feel a sense of stability and hope, I feel like I have a safety net with my addiction,” Maxwell said. “They make me feel confident and independent in being here, they’re getting me ready to be self-sufficient and they haven’t judged me for my mental health conditions or my living situation.”

Maternal and infant health in the District D.C. has some of the highest rates of infant and maternal mortality in the country. Last year, there were nearly eight cases of infant deaths – before the age of one – for every 1,000 live births in the District. This frequency of infant mortality is 32 percent higher than the national average that year.

The highest rate of infant mortality in the past 15 years in D.C. was 12.2 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2009, which was 82 percent higher than the national average for that same year. Elected officials and D.C. residents will discuss strategies to improve the health and well-being of women, infants, and families at Mayor Bowser’s National Maternal and Infant Health Summit on Sept. 10.

Women have also expressed concerns with access to places where they can safely give birth, especially after several hospital closures in the District.

The closure of Providence Hospital and the closure of the maternity ward at United Medical Center – the only hospital east of the Anacostia River – has made it more difficult for women to access places to give birth when they go into labor in the District.

There was one female infant who was “surrendered” last year under the Newborn Safe Haven Amendment Act of 2010, according to the most recent data submitted to the D.C. Council in January.

The law permits a parent living in D.C. to surrender an infant to authorized hospital staff or first responders if the child is less than 14 days old. The parent is not prosecuted so long as there is no evidence of abuse or neglect.

The Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center. COURTESY OF THE ORGANIZATION

Barriers to shelter Amber Harding, a staff attorney for the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, said the family shetler system is a “very high barrier system.” She said pregnant women – who typically are not considered eligible for family shelters until their third trimester – are often denied shelter space because of a lack of documentation.

In order to be admitted into certain shetlers, family members must present proof that they do not have housing for the night they are seeking shelter, according to Harding. Such documentation might include a lease agreement for the person’s last-known address that does not list the person’s name, a recent piece of mail, proof of D.C. residency, and birth certificates.

Harding said some shelters will require families to name every person they know in D.C. and every place they have stayed in the last few years. The shelter will then proceed to call each of the listed contacts to verify that the family applying for shelter has nowhere else to go. Some shelters might even require letters from each of the contacts, she said.

“Imagine going to all of your family and friends and getting them to write you letters saying you can’t stay with them,” Harding said. “Some people that they’ll put on the list, like an ex-partner or family member of an ex, don’t have any connection to them anymore and they don’t have any ability to stay with them, nor would it be safe to reach out.”

When women are in their first or second trimester, they are typically staying in a single women’s shelter which might house at least 100 women and offer very few services. Harding said that because women are often denied family shelter during their third trimester, she has seen many women – including women who had high risk pregnancies – sleep in their car.

One woman testified in March at a Department of Human Services oversight hearing after she was denied shelter during her third trimester because her doctor’s note specifying the status of pregnancy was hand-written as opposed to typed.

“While the law actually has a relatively easy standard to meet, the actual policy is to create a very high standard,” Harding said about the level of documentation required for access to the city’s family shelters.

Shellae Shorter, the woman who testified at the Department of Human Services oversight hearing, was pregnant with twins and had one son when she addressed Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau in March. She explained at the hearing that she had become homeless through a relationship. She said when she went to Virginia Williams Family Resource Center for the first time, she was denied help.

“They said that because I was only in my second trimester of pregnancy, not my third, I could not get any help from them. I went back two or three more times, and was denied help again,”

View the online article to also access a list of more resources for pregnant women: StreetSenseMedia.org/pregnant-enough

1 0 // S T REET SENSE ME DI A / / S E P T. 4 - 1 7 , 2 019

OPINION

Why politics matter

BY JEFF TAYLOR

Two of the biggest problems with people and politics is that too many people either don't realize the extent to which politics affects their everyday lives or they buy into the false "both sides are the same" argument. The simple fact is that politics do affect everyone's daily lives in some way or another (more so than ever in the very near future) and both sides are, most assuredly, not the same.

While it has been said of the past several elections that "this" election or "that" election will be the most consequential in our nation's history, we have finally, without a shred of hyperbole come to the most consequential election in our nation's history, or that of the world for that matter. The 2020 election will determine how we as a nation move forward (or backward depending on one's point of view) on a number of issues; immigration, regulation, gun control to name just a few. But the 2020 elections more than anything will determine the future of the entire planet.

The scientific community had said just a short while ago that we as a civilization had roughly 12 years to enact bold changes in hopes of staving off the worst effects of the global climate crisis.

However, just last month, that same community of scientists is revising their prediction to say we have just a year and a half for bold action. This means one thing: the fossil fuel-loving, climate crisis-denying Republican party must be swept completely out of power in 2020. Democrats must hold their majority in the House of Representatives while retaking the majority in the Senate and getting the orange embarrassment of a *resident out of the White House. And that's just the federal government. State and local elections matter too.

The safest bet when going into the voting booth

in November of 2020 is to vote for a straight Democratic ticket.

If the topic of climate crisis leaves your head spinning a bit there are numerous other instances that draw a stark contrast between Republicans and Democrats. For example, tax cuts and entitlements.

Republicans passed a round of tax cuts benefitting the super wealthy while using the inevitable shortfalls in government income as an excuse to call for cuts to Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid, programs that were passed by Democratic administrations and that Republicans have hated and wanted to gut from their inception. On the issue of civil rights, again, the difference is pretty clear. Democrats want to protect and where appropriate expand civil rights.

Republicans want to hack away at the rights that have been won through so much struggle.

Now, you might say to yourself, "Why does this matter to me? I live in DC. We always vote for the Democrats. How do I make a difference in all this?"

Well, if you've got friends or family in areas of the nation that are not as reliably blue as we are here in DC, then give them a call. Tell them what's at stake.

If they are motivated at all by what you have to say, tell them to make sure they are registered to vote or are able to take whatever steps are necessary to cast their vote and have it count.

Coming up next issue, the evil triumvirate: Donald Trump, Moscow Mitch McConnell, and William Barr. How we got into this mess and how Republicans are covering for Trump and their own complicity.

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

THE EPIPHANY POWER HOUR The Epiphany Power Hour is a weekly series of free lunchtime conversations featuring leaders with actionable ideas for shifting the balance of power in our community. Refreshments provided. The events are free, but goodwill donations are welcome. See you at 12:10 on Thursdays!

SEPTEMBER EVENTS Fall 2019: Gentrification in the District

SEPTEMBER 12: FALL KICKOFF WITH REV. GLENNA HUBER AND REV. LINDA KAUFMAN SEPTEMBER 19: KEN MARTIN, ARTIST & COMMUNITY ACTIVIST SEPTEMBER 26: ARI THERESA, STOOP LAW FIRM THE CHURCH OF THE EPIPHANY • 1317 G ST. NW • EPIPHANYDC.ORG

Why calls to abolish the electoral college are absurd

BY JEFFERY MCNEIL

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently said the Electoral College needs to be abolished, because in her opinion, it’s a racist scam. What's really scandalous, however, is that someone got elected to Congress without having a basic understanding of the Constitution and civics.

Ocasio-Cortez claims the Electoral College favors mostly white and rural states at the expense of those with large minority populations, but she should understand that the purpose of the Electoral College is to protect minority populations from mob rule.

In her short time in Congress, OcasioCortez has made many outrageous statements. The most vocal and telegenic member of what is known as the “Squad” has claimed women shouldn’t have children because of climate change. She’s the leading advocate for a “Green New Deal” which would prohibit driving a car or flying an airplane because "the world will end in 12 years if we don't address climate change."

She also accused President Trump and Immigration, Customs, and Enforcement agents of sexually harassing her and running concentration camps. She said she saw children being forced to drink out of toilets. But she mysteriously voted “no" when it came to giving humanitarian aid to migrant children because, you guessed it, Donald Trump is a racist.

While her past statements could be dismissed as misinformed, naive or childish, Ocasio-Cortez has gone to another level of left-wing insanity in wanting to do away with the Electoral College.

I don’t blame her. I blame people in power not using their knowledge to

educate and inform but to tell people that America is a racist country. The schools have failed these kids!

Many don’t know that before 1930 very few people went to college and had knowledge of the Constitution, finance, agriculture and how our markets work.

Today we have people in office who have no understanding of how to run this country! If we don’t become better educated America is in danger of resembling Europe before World War I or the Middle East when tribal conflicts and 100-year wars ruled the day.

I f r eg r es s iv e s ev e r g o t t h ei r way with abolishing the Electoral College, do they realize the biggest losers would be them? Do they think farmers and ranchers that live in New York or California would want to identify themselves as New Yorkers or Californians if their voices were drowned out by large urban populations?

If Ocasio-Cortez ever took a civics course she would understand the Electoral College was devised to prevent smaller states warring with bigger states over issues such as slavery, water rights and natural resources.

Currently, 15 states are signing on to a pact that would essentially abolish the Electoral College, with Colorado leading the charge in rewarding their electors to the candidate that wins the popular vote instead of the will of the voters in that state.

In the end, if the Electoral College were abolished, we would have a radically different country.

Jeffery McNeil is a Street Sense Media vendor and artist. He also regularly contributes to the Washington Examiner.

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.

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Responses to NoMa businesses calling for purge of homeless

T

he NoMa Business Improvement District wants the city government to move some homeless encampments in order to clear sidewalk space on First Street NE. The BID said on its website that “conditions are worsening at the encampments in the underpasses and on First Street NE, and that people are worried about their ability to safely

traverse these public spaces.” The BID complains of “bloody hypodermic needles” and “human urine and feces” encountered by passersby.

Street Sense Media vendors have some thoughts on the BID’s open letter, as do several social service organizations.

—The Opinion team: Arthur Delaney, Rachel Brody, and Sara Reardon

A simple solution to homeless encampments: End homelessness

BY MIRIAM’S KITCHEN, HIPS AND EVERYONE HOME DC

As social service providers with a combined total of nearly 115 years working to end homelessness in Washington, D.C., we are deeply troubled by the current debate around homelessness encampments in NoMa. While encampments are not ideal, and common-sense strategies should be put in place to protect the health and safety of all of our neighbors, they are a natural byproduct of D.C.’s homelessness crisis. We worry that concentrating on encampments sidetracks D.C. from focusing on proven, humane, and client-centered solutions to end homelessness. As such, we ask the NoMa community, and all D.C. residents, to join us in advocating for the best-known solution to homelessness: housing.

As experts in this field, Miriam’s Kitchen, HIPS, and Everyone Home DC feel it is important to dismantle stereotypes about people experiencing homelessness and shift this conversation to focus on a D.C. where all of our neighbors have the housing they deserve. Here’s what we know: 1. People experiencing homelessness are our neighbors.

Too often, our neighbors experiencing homelessness are ignored and forgotten. We must remember that people living in encampments, on the streets and in shelters are our neighbors.

They are NoMa residents, they are Ward 6 community members, and they are D.C. voters. Only when their needs are met with the same fervor as the needs of other community members will D.C. reach its full potential.

2. Encampments are indicative of larger homelessness crisis.

The continued presence of homeless encampments in NoMa and across D.C. reminds us that we are in the middle of a homelessness crisis. In fact, over 6,500 of our neighbors experience homelessness on a given night. Few places illustrate this crisis more than NoMa, where rapid gentrification and the loss of low-income housing have pushed many long-term D.C. residents, most of whom are people of color, into tents, onto the streets and out of the city. In addition to driving homelessness, the increasing cost of living pushes people experiencing long-term homelessness into more visible locations, such as underpasses.

3. Experiencing homelessness is often unsafe.

In our nation’s capital, 54 people died without housing in 2018.

Living outside exacerbates and causes health complications, makes it hard to rest and store medications, exposes our neighbors to the elements and leaves them vulnerable to violence. We must challenge the stereotype that our neighbors experiencing homelessness are dangerous and remember that people experiencing homelessness are more likely to be the victims of crime than the perpetrators.

The NoMa BID’s letter states that there is “no similar advocacy group devoted to making sure that people can safely pass through public spaces.” However, Collective Action for Safe Spaces does just that, and we are proud that they strongly support our work to focus on housing to end homelessness. True safety will only come when the needs of all of our community members, including housing for our neighbors experiencing homelessness, are met.

4. Homelessness is caused by broken systems.

Encampments, like all forms of homelessness, result from broken systems, not broken people. As visible reminders of homelessness, encampments must serve as a clarion call to focus on proven solutions

to end homelessness. In D.C., people of color are overrepresented among our homeless neighbors. In fact, while 47 percent of DC residents overall are Black, 87 percent of individuals experiencing homelessness are Black. The racialized nature of homelessness proves that oppressive systems, like institutionalized racism, must be disrupted to end homelessness.

The lack of affordable housing—not mental health and substance use—is the leading driver of homelessness. Implying that homelessness is a personal failing is dangerous, harmful and wrong. Our decades of experience and deep relationships with encampment residents continue to teach us that homelessness is not a choice, but rather something that happens to individuals and is propelled by broken systems. One such broken system is D.C.’s severe lack of low-income housing, which affects our neighbors of color the most. In D.C., an average one-bedroom apartment costs $1,454 a month, meaning that somebody earning minimum wage would need to work 80 hours a week to afford rent.

Only by addressing the root causes of homelessness—such as the lack of adequately paying jobs, the dearth of low-income housing, and systemic racism—will D.C. ensure all of our neighbors have the housing they need to thrive.

5. Housing ends homelessness.

D.C. is a national leader in using data-driven and person-centered national best practices to end homelessness. Since the launch of Homeward DC, D.C.’s strategic plan to end homelessness, over 5,000 individuals have moved from streets and shelters into housing.

In DC, 93 percent of individuals who exit homelessness into permanent housing do not return to homelessness within one year.

This proves that housing and comprehensive, client-centered services end homelessness. While D.C.’s progress to end homelessness is going in the right direction, much more is needed. The city’s fiscal year 2020 budget will end homelessness for 615 individuals, meaning that at least 1,300 individuals will continue to experience homelessness during the coming year.

While D.C. works towards our shared goal of ending homelessness, we are also committed to providing services that meet the existing needs of our neighbors living without housing, both in NoMa and around D.C.. Some of the ongoing work to ensure the health and safety of all our neighbors may go unseen, but is nevertheless important. This includes harm reduction (such as needle exchange, overdose prevention, and naloxone distribution); professional outreach teams actively building rapport and engaging with encampment residents; and marked improvements to D.C.’s homeless shelter system.

We must work together to ensure our elected officials double down on these investments in housing and comprehensive services. BIDs have and continue to play a vital role in D.C.’s shared goal of ending homelessness. We implore the NoMa BID and all NoMa residents to join with us, the 102 organizations and over 5,500 individuals who support The Way Home Campaign, to call on our elected officials to invest in proven solutions and end long-term homelessness in D.C. Visit tinyurl.com/way-home-dc to join The Way Home Campaign and ensure D.C. focuses on proven solutions to end homelessness.

Miriam’s Kitchen, HIPS and Everyone Home D.C., are service provider and advocacy organizations who belong to The Way Home Campaign.

Just say no to BIDs

BY WENDELL WILLIAMS

Business Improvement Districts are the Trojan Horses of gentrification in our city. Most people only see them cleaning up and making things look nice.

Now the new people of NoMa are complaining about street encampments. When BIDs show up, hiring neighborhood workers in colored jumpsuits, crime may be reduced but poor people start to disappear en masse.

Just watch the new South Capitol Street, Congress Heights or Anacostia BID situations. It’s the same move used on Native Americans to steal their land.

So if your organization is taking ANY BID assistance whatsoever you’re part of the problem, not the solution.

Wendell Williams is a Street Sense Media artist and vendor.

Stop blaming the homeless

BY AIDA PEERY

I can understand how people feel frustrated walking through that area of six-figure condo buildings. The constant beggars, the tent city that stretches from Union Station, Florida Avenue and First Street NE. As a Street Sense vendor who sells a homeless newspaper, it’s a bit unnerving even for me.

But our energy should go towards Congress and the Wilson Building and the people who gave the green light to push out a lot of residents to build those fancy office buildings and expensive apartments.

I have a few suggestions. Instead of complaining about the homeless encampment, let’s talk about solutions.

Build more housing for low-income families and individuals. All those fancy high prices apartments usually are empty for years anyway, so why not move a small percentage of those families into those apartments?

Build more rehabilitation centers, since NoMa already has one on New York Avenue anyway.

Build more transitional housing for the mentally ill and substance abusers, and hire professional staff to be in those facilities.

The Washington, D.C. city government has a bad habit of shifting blame. Start taking responsibility for low-income residents who paid their taxes. The city helped private developers create those encampments so now it’s up to everyone to do the right thing.

Everyone has hardships. Luxury apartment dwellers might end up homeless too if the market crashes or their employer folds. What are you going to do after deleting all of your savings? Not everyone has a family member to go to.

Homelessness doesn’t discriminate. No homeless person wakes up and decides they want to be homeless and live in a tent!

Aida Peery is a Street Sense Media artist and vendor.

1 2 // S T REET SENSE ME DI A / / S E P T. 4 - 1 7 , 2 019

ART

Treading the Waters, Part 20

BY GERALD ANDERSON // Artist/Vendor

PREVIOUSLY: When we were last with Gerald in his hometown, New Orleans, he was heading back out onto the streets after a stint in juvenile detention. Meanwhile, his crew, including his best friend, Greg, had gotten busted hard and were going away to prison for a long time.

Guns, in New Orleans, it’s like a candy factory. You catch ‘em on the street.

You always catch somebody selling guns for 30, 40 dollars. You might get an AK for $150.

It’s just like if I was home today or tomorrow, I could get a gun just like I was going to order chicken. It’s plain and simple. It’s more open down there than up here.

Then, when you a street guy like me, they know. Even the police know. “He got one. We don’t know where it is, but we know he close to one.” Cause they know how I live.

One day this police they call McNeill…

I never agree with no police officer, but I agree with McNeill. McNeill was a narcotic police. We call him “Mac”.

McNeill was the type a police he’ll see us shooting dice in the project — and the kids, you can tell when McNeill in the project, the kids like “Hey, Mr. McNeill!”

And he come on a dice game, he take all our money, but he don’t take us to jail, he pass it out to the kids. He tell the kids, he say, “Hey! If any one of these guys touch you, you let us know.”

There’s plenty of time, he used to take my money and give it to the kids. I used to holla, “I’m gonna get that little bit right there.” But he was a fair cop.

He was so cool to the game.

And if you go to court with McNeill, this how powerful this dude was, if you go to court with him, you better take whatever they offer you. Cause McNeill don’t walk in the courtroom lying. It’s gonna be the truth, and the judge be knowing that.

I always see him, and he used to always speak to me, “What’s up, Third Ward?”

He say, “Don’t think you’re slick.”

And then when he see me and Minew together, he say, “How you two motherf***as come together?”

I say, “Man... That’s my man.”

So we kicked the bobo. Mac, he might a had a few rats out there, but I thought if he messed with rats, he cracked the team himself. He’s like 48 hours, he’s gonna crack it.

I remember one day, we was out in there. And one of our partners was telling him, “Mac, man, shit.”

Mac told him, “If you with me, wah wah wah, that’s your word.”

If you didn’t really know, you’d think he was black. He had more black in him than white boy.

That’s what I respect about McNeill.

He told a few guys, big dope dealers, “When I get ya, I’m gonna get you right.”

I never forget the day he got up Juan Flower.

He had sold a lot of narcotics to undercover police. But he never did know that they had an indictment and a warrant out for him.

He never did know. They had about 37 counts of distribution of heroin to a police officer, but he didn’t know.

So he wind up with 190 years in the penitentiary for messing with the dude, Rev. He was running with a guy called Rail. Rev, like a preacher. Rail was the big man.

Rev was a good guy, but Juan was running for him. He just was really running for the high, cause Rev was making all the money.

But the Feds already know when they come for him. I seen him that morning when they snatched the dude up. I’m like, “Damn. He got hit hard.”

I told Minew, “Man, you gotta watch the Feds.”

He say, “We know who they after.”

But coming back to the story, my man Minew, he was telling me about this dude…

McNeill come to Juan Flower, and told him. He say, “I’m gonna give you a heads up on it. You know we got you under surveillance.”

Mean they wachin’ him.

“We know who you dealin’ from. I hope you know what you just got. Is any day when they drop the warning to come get you and gettin’ you.”

It was a Thursday or Friday back in the back of the projects, in the Caillou an it’s like you shopping in the Mall back there on Friday. Everybody moving. Dope moving. The hookers moving. It’s like the whole project begin to sell.

So, they dropped it, they must have dropped it, come’ got him. He tried to run.

But matter of fact, McNeill told him, “It’s the same bullshit I told you over 10 days ago. So you couldn’t run from it.”

After they had they case, Juan Flower got 190 years. The girl got a life sentence that was with him. Rev got life.

Everybody got tied down. I don’t know the day that they home, or what’s the situation, but I know that’s a lotta time.

After that, Minew was kicking the bobo to me about, “Man, I don’t know if you know Clayton, Sam Clayton.”

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.

The Beginning of Poverty and Depression

BY JAMES GARTRELL // Artist/Vendor

Hello readers and Street Sense believers: Hopefully, this is your favorite writer, yours truly James Gartrell. Let me introduce to you all a new topic of homelessness struggle and civil rights to be acknowledged of inhumane neglect by some of our citizens.

Perhaps, a little history of what I have learned by participating in GED classes is helpful to understand where I am going with this article.

First, let’s talk about depression. In 1929 we as USA citizens had a great depression. Some of you might not be aware of it but others today will be able to recall it.

Some will not be concerned or care about it at all. It was one of the great depressions that occurred during the beginning of that time and again in 1941. It has been recorded as one of the worst socio-economic disasters in American history.

Only God knows what’s going on in the people’s minds. Millions of people were out of work and probably homeless. Again, different times. However, this mentality still exists in America as a struggle to take care of one’s self and families.

You may be wondering why that happened, how it started. The cause of the struggles developed over a period of many years. Beginning as early as World War I, from 1914-1918 industry had picked up speed to meet

the war demands. The working family members had to go into debt, meaning times were very hard and the economy was no exception. Poverty was set in motion.

Rich people were rich and poor people were poor. It was segregation during that time as it is now! Farmers excluded themselves by staying away from the war and as to donate food to the average citizen. Perhaps they were pushing to grow more food. Widespread claims that the rich were getting richer and the poor were getting poorer, by 65 percent, were rampant. But the working minority class incomes went up to 8 percent, a boom for the minority working class people. This meant wealth became lopsided. Wages weren’t keeping up with inflation and families spent most of their money taking care of debts while trying to provide basic needs.

The economy was suited like a dressed-up clown on a stick by perhaps of speculation. On October 29, 1929, to be known as Black Tuesday, set the United States on a downward slide when the stock market crashed.

I ask, isn’t this funny how things change? How kids growing up and perhaps peoples would change their mind of how they all think and considered of judging homelessness? And every year our laws change for the worst, trying to control our society. I observed for myself that society and the government doesn’t respect

the Constitution, the Bill of Rights as degrading of the US citizens continues. These documents are known as living documents.

Furthermore, how the economy we live with could make people of low income become homeless, in spite of how the government is ruled, is a mystery. Humans are just striving to hold onto a single goal, to survive in this wonderful place they call the ‘promised land’, where they have food for a while.

People have no one to turn to, they ask for help but every time they get turned down. Every time they turn their backs. A silent voice. Which brings me back to the people and these local businesses and offices in our communities in the nation’s capital I can speak highly for one office business that is the 1200 Building. There are good individuals working there that show they are concerned and cared about the homeless. They have shown real love and gratitude towards humanity, especially the Daily Grill that is run

by Mrs. Ebony.

I thank them all for having me come with the surroundings with respect and honor. The way I feel about them warms my heart and gives me peace of mind. I’m so grateful for life and I’ll give my kindness back to them all. May God bless them all in this spontaneous world.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

What's your work life like?

BY IBN HIPPS // Artist/Vendor

Everyone is different: different race, different colors, different dress codes. Black. White. Lovers.

Some work in huge buildings; in the more conservative ones, they wear suits and ties. Others work fast food, coffee shops, food trucks, and convenience stores (your ultimate one-stop shop).

I work for Street Sense Media, on the corner. I say, "God bless you" and "Have a nice day" with a smile. It's a job that doesn't pay well, and sometimes I wish I were paid the same as those with "nicer" jobs. But, it's my job for now, so I would love to have your support.

My Time with Street Sense

BY DANIEL BELL // Artist/Vendor

— In 2014, I joined Street Sense.

— In 2015, I only sold five papers. Can you believe that? ____Yes ____No — In 2016, I sold 20 papers in only one week.

— In 2017, my sales rose to 30 papers in 3 days each week.

— In 2018, I went back home to help my mother.

I came back to Street Sense Media this year. Now they call me Mr. Paper Superstar! God bless all of our vendors.

Today's job

Wipe the Tears Away

BY ROBERT WARREN Artist/Vendor

Dayton, El Paso – a gun shot away.

I thought of the synagogue in Pittsburgh today, as I wipe the tears away.

The same story told in a different way.

One need only ask, “What was his racist tweet of the day?

Has anybody thought of those six children who died while locked away?

And what would Christ Say? Bring the children forward, that we might keep them safe!

For who will I replace?

I was born in this space.

An invasion of Americans, coming this way.

North, Central, South America: humanity’s place.

His words have stained our Earth.

America has always been great, for the freedom seekers to tell their stories.

True to look them in the face.

The face of a nation, once again we wiped the tears away.

I remember Christ Church in New Zealand, and Obama’s tears at Mother Emanuel Church.

He wiped away tears that day.

How does white supremacy work?

Like it always has.

And always has been, then again.

I wipe the tears away, and I think about the NRA, and the young people of Parkland, and what would they say?

BY JOE JACKSON // Artist/Vendor

Street Sense is my job right now. No, that's not quite true: It is my job.

The work is harder than many of you think. You're dealing with all types of people in the heat (now) and the cold (winter). You got to have some type of communication skill to deal with everyone. Some people make it hard for you because they think you're panhandling. We are not. We're saving lives by letting our customers know what's going on with homeless people. And that is a job.

I try to follow these rules; I think you should, too. Don't let no one try to keep you down. If you have an apartment, take really, really good care of it. And keep negative people away from the world you're trying to build for yourself.

// 13

And I listened and wiped the tears away, again.

Do something. Don’t just wipe the tears away.

The thrill is gone

BY LEVESTER JOE GREEN II Artist/Vendor

Life in the voucher lane

BY RONALD SMOOT Artist/Vendor

I qualified for a housing voucher in 2017 because of my mental health. Unfortunately, two weeks before I was scheduled to get my keys, I was locked up for 22 months for violating my parole for a trespassing offense. When I came out last January, I was told I had lost my spot to obtain that voucher. So, I am still homeless.

I stay in a transitional housing program.

I also go to Community Connections’ program for mental health. Case managers

from Community Connections and HIPS are working on my voucher situation. One told me my voucher is on standstill, but I would be discussed at the next housing voucher meeting. So, they are trying to get me reassigned to my voucher. I know they will; I don't know when.

I've been homeless for 33 years. I deserve my voucher back soon so I can move on with my life. My voucher would mean the world to me.

"And this has gone on for too long," as one of my favorite poetry lines exclaims.

Finally, after camping out for about seven years in Tenleytown and idling at the American University Metro station to stay warm in the brutal winters, I may have found a way into a place of my own.

It seems I’m being shown a change of heart by the powers that be. This is after a T-shirt campaign to raise awareness of my homelessness and fending for myself despite having the spotlight of being a founding member of the Street Sense Media Homeless Film Co-op!

Something finally seems to be working: attaining a housing voucher once "the process" is complete. Maybe I won't have to put up any

more with the years-old "Sears Gang" that claims the area.

Additional motivation to vacate my post atop the Tenleytown Metro escalators — a.k.a. "the warmest place in D.C." — was a newcomer in the area who would not get off my back. He even tried to take my now-occupied sleeping space.

Once, things escalated into a near-physical confrontation. But fortunately, I was able to maintain my composure in spite of his testing me. It seems it is essential to remain a nonviolent offender within most of the city's housing programs and I didn’t want to lose this opportunity. I even suspected he was a plant to try and trip me up.

As the story goes on, I’ve been trying to remain strong while "the process" comes to fruition.

1 4 // ST REET SEN S E

FUN & GAMES

Sudoku #8 4

3

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8 1

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4 9 8 2

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

8

6 5 2 6

scratch area

SUDOKU: Fill in the blank squares so that each row, each column and each 3-by-3 block contain all of the digits 1-9.

LAST EDITION’S PUZZLE SOLUTION >>

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

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

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5 1 9 6 3 4 8 6 5 1 8 4 7 2 8 3 7 2 6 9 1 / / S E P T. 4 - 1 7 , 2019 2 4 6 9 8 5 3

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

3

5

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

1 3

6 5 8 7 3 9 1 2 4

9 3

4 2 1 6 8

2 7

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

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Want to help me pay my Internet bill?

You can make a donation at http://krazydad.com Or by mail: Krazydad, P.O. Box 303 Sun Valley, CA 91353 USA Thank you!

7

2 7 9 3 4 5 ME DI A 7 1

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

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

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

Sudoku #6 No Food Stamps 3 2 9 5 7 8 8 7 9 6 1 2 No Cry 6 4 3 2 5 4

5

1

9 1 8

BY RON DUDLEY, A.K.A. “POOKANU” 2 3 5 Artist/Vendor 7 4 6

4

8

5 7 3 1 4 6 2 9 8 4 9 3 7 1 5 I remember when we use to stand 6 8 line1 on3H street 2 4 In the food stamp My cousin would blaze the fi 5 7 2 6 8re, 9 Right in the food stamp line!

2

7 1

6 9 3

Then we would stand for Sudoku #8 three hours, or until we made it through.

6 2 3 7 5 8 4 I got food for my family now, 7 1 2 9 8 I got to push4on 5 through.

1 9 8 4 3 So no food stamps, no cry 5 3 1 8 4 No food stamps, no cry 9 alright, 6 7 8 be Everything's2gonna I just got to push on through.

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

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

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

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

Merry Go-round

BY ALICE CARTER, A.K.A. “BABY ALICE” Artist/Vendor

My life’s like a merry go-round It just goes ‘round and ‘round In an endless circle Making the same mistakes Expecting a different result Is that insanity?

Perception or reality?

The reality of the situation That Baby is facing I keep it a thousand Like my friend in D.C. says, “You don’t run into too many people like me” I do believe in God And Jesus Christ I ain’t here to press my beliefs I go to Foundry On 16th and P streets You want to join me?

Like D.C. said, Perception, or reality?

IMAGE COURTESY OF ESLFUNTAIWAIN / PIXABAY.COM

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

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

COMMUNITY SERVICES

SHELTER HOTLINE Línea directa de alojamiento

(202) 399-7093

YOUTH HOTLINE Línea de juventud

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE Línea directa de violencia doméstica

(202) 547-7777

Education Educación

Health Care Seguro

Clothing Ropa

Legal Assistance Assistencia Legal

Case Management Coordinación de Servicios

Food Comida

Employment Assistance Assitencia con Empleo

Transportation Transportación

Showers Duchas

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

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

Calvary Women’s Services // 202-678-2341 1217 Good Hope Rd., SE calvaryservices.org

Catholic Charities // 202-772-4300 catholiccharitiesdc.org/gethelp

Central Union Mission // 202-745-7118 65 Massachusetts Ave., NW missiondc.org

Charlie’s Place // 202-232-3066 1830 Connecticut Ave., NW charliesplacedc.org

Christ House // 202-328-1100 1717 Columbia Rd., NW christhouse.org

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

Food and Friends // 202-269-2277 219 Riggs Rd., NE foodandfriends.org (home delivery for those suffering from HIV, cancer, etc)

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

Loaves & Fishes // 202-232-0900 1525 Newton St., NW loavesandfishesdc.org

Church of the Pilgrims // 202-387-6612 2201 P St., NW food (1-1:30 on Sundays only) churchofthepilgrims.org/outreach

Martha’s Table // 202-328-6608 2114 14th St., NW marthastable.org

Community Family Life Services 202-347-0511 // 305 E St., NW cflsdc.org

Miriam’s Kitchen // 202-452-8926 2401 Virginia Ave., NW miriamskitchen.org

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

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

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

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH HOTLINE Línea de salud del comportamiento

1-800-799-7233

Housing/Shelter Vivienda/alojamiento

1-888-793-4357 Laundry Lavandería

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

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 samaritanministry.org

Sasha Bruce Youthwork // 202-675-9340 741 8th St., SE sashabruce.org

So Others Might Eat (SOME) // 202-797-8806 71 O St., NW some.org

St. Luke’s Mission Center // 202-333-4949 3655 Calvert St., NW stlukesmissioncenter.org

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

Unity Health Care // 202-745-4300 3020 14th St., NW unityhealthcare.org

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

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

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

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

// 15

HELP! WE’RE LOOKING FOR

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

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

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

If interested, please contact Gladys Robert gladys@streetsensemedia.org 202-347-2006 (x10)

OPINION

In the city

BY HENRY JOHNSON // Artist/Vendor

Franklin Square Park will close for renovations this fall Hot meals and clothing distributed on a Saturday in March 2014 during an event dubbed “PhilanthroFEST.” PHOTO BY JONATHAN COMER

BY REGINALD BLACK, A.K.A. “DA STREET REPORTIN’ ARTIST” Artist/Vendor

Downtown D.C.’s landscape has been changing over the last twenty years. People have been concerned about every development and change to the center of local commerce.

One of these areas of concern regarding development is Franklin Square Park.

Franklin Park lies only blocks from the White House and has a rich history. It first served as a well that brought water to the White House. The area was known as Fountain Square at that time. Over the years the park has been remodeled. The new millennium is no exception to changes being made to this historic site. It also sits across from what will be Planet Word, a literary museum, which was formerly a homeless shelter inside the Franklin School building.

There were two public meetings held earlier this year in which residents could learn what the next steps for Franklin Park are and what is envisioned for the transformation.

David Rubin, who is part of the design team for the development of Franklin Park, presented what the design firm has come up with at the June 20 meeting. ‘‘We want everybody to use the park … The goal of the park is inclusion for all,” Rubin said. He noted that the plans include a children’s play area, five new water fountains, a cafe, and changes to stormwater drainage.

The park renovation is a partnership between the Downtown D.C. Business Improvement District, the National Park Service, and the District government. On hand to represent the government during the June meeting was Sharrod Gormon for the Department of General Services. He did his best to lay out a timeline for the pending construction.

“We don’t have a contractor,” Gormon said. He added that the agency would bring them on board sometime in the late summer or early fall.

The park will be closed for about a year to implement this plan. Officials at the meeting indicated construction

will require the entire park to be closed and construction may lead to some disruption of weekend use for those who come to the park.

Once construction begins in Franklin Park, those experiencing homelessness in the park will have to find somewhere else to go.When asked what will happen during construction, Ellen Jones of the Downtown D.C. BID said, “We’re working on it.”

In addition to the new Day Services Center that opened one block south of the park in February, Jones said the BID is in negotiations with churches in the area to help provide more places for people experiencing homelessness to be while the park is developed. “We are going to need something during construction,” she said.

The day center, which opened in February of this year, provides a “one-stop shop” for homeless individuals where they can receive a hot meal, shower, do laundry, and address other immediate needs.

“We have enough time,” said Micheal Coleman, a former constituent representative for the D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH).

[Disclosure: Reginald Black is a current constituent representative for the ICH] Coleman proposed the ICH’s consumer engagement group should directly conduct outreach and support in order to soften the blow to services on the weekends, when many faith communities and other civic groups traditionally distribute meals and other supplies in the park.

He emphasised that residents of color are becoming more and more frustrated about occupying spaces in the District of Columbia.

“I don’t want to have what happened to [Martin Luther King Library] to happen when the park closes,” said Coleman, who was once homeless himself. “The impact that it’s going to have will put a little more weight on the civic unrest in the community.”

Documents on the National Park Services site state that Franklin Park construction will begin this fall.

What's happened to the benches around the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church where the new day center is? They've disappeared without a trace!

I would sit on one of them for 15 minutes while I drank my morning coffee. I would eat my lunch on one, too. I don't understand this. If the D.C. government cared about the homeless as much as it says it does, it wouldn't remove the benches.

BY JENNIFER MCLAUGHLIN I'm 60 years old and it's Artist/Vendor hard for me to walk.

While I was experiencing Please bring back homelessness, I became pregnant. the benches!

I was told to go to Virginia Williams Family Resource Center, after no shelter would help me. I was upset because they did not help me and would not accept me until I was seven months along.

So, I went back to living on the street.

This was scary. People were taking photos of me, laughing. This made me feel worse, of course.

I sold the Street Sense Media newspaper to stay in a hotel for a while.

Eventually the money ran out. So, I started riding the Metro back and forth for a sheltered and semi-safe place to be until it shut down for the night.

It wasn’t until a hypothermia van picked me up one cold night that I went to the D.C. General family shelter. I was nine months along when they picked me up off the street.

Thank you for reading Street Sense!

From your vendor SEPT. 4 - 17, 2019 | VOLUME 16 ISSUE 22

WWW.INSP.NGO

5.5 million READERS

9,000 LEFT: A rendering of the finished park, displayed on a poster at the June meeting. RIGHT: A slide showing the new structures for the park.

PRESENTATION MATERIALS BY STUDIOS ARCHITECTURE, THE DAVID RUBIN LAND COLLECTIVE, THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE, THE D.C. DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL SERVICES AND THE DOWNTOWN D.C. BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT. PHOTOGRAPHED AND OBRTAINED BY REGINALD BLACK.

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