09 11 2013

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Volume 10: Issue 22 September 11 - 24, 2013

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Street Sense aims to serve as a vehicle for elevating voices and public debate on issues relating to poverty while also creating economic opportunities for people who are experiencing homelessness in our community.

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City launches new efforts to help struggling singles.

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STREET SENSE September 11 - 24, 2013

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NEWS IN BRIEF Wal-Mart in the spotlight as D.C. Awaits Mayor’s Living Wage Decision Just outside the District, scores of people gathered at a Maryland Wal-Mart on September 5 to demand living wages and protest the retailer’s recent worker protection violations, putting increasing pressure on DC Mayor Vincent C. Gray and the decision he must make next week on whether to sign the Large Retailer Accountability Act of 2013 (the DC Council’s living wage bill). Wal-Mart is expected to cancel plans to build stores in the District if the bill takes effect.

As Aaron Davis and Michael A. Fletcher reported in The Washington Post on September 6, protests were taking place in 15 cities around the country, marking a national day of action that Wal-Mart dismissed as a union-backed publicity stunt. In the WaPo article, Steve Jumper, a Wal-Mart spokesman, stated that employees in Maryland are paid $12.10 an hour, which is below the $12.50 the DC Council demands for large retailers in its July 2013 living wage bill.

The protests come at a time when low-wage workers in many sectors are making their voices heard across the country. Recently, fast-food workers took to the streets to demand higher wages and better working conditions.

The September 5 protests only add to the intense public attention currently paid towards wage standards.

The protests also targeted violations of workers’ rights. On the Facebook page of Organization United for Respect at WalMart (OUR Wal-Mart), the group behind the demonstrations tells the stories of employees being fired after speaking out

YES!

against low wages, unfair treatment, or poor and unsafe working conditions. These stories stand in stark contrast the retailer’s official remarks. Company spokeswoman Brooke Buchanan said in the WaPo article that there was “nothing but opportunity at Wal-Mart.”

Study: Poverty Strains Cognitive Abilities A study in the latest issue of the journal Science finds that living in poverty makes it harder for individuals to think rationally, exacerbating a difficult situation.

According to a summary of the Science article posted by Brady Dennis in the Washington Post online, this deterioration of mental capacity blocks people from finding solutions and opportunities to escape their financial woes. It also makes them less able to pay attention to other important tasks.

“While the poor may be experiencing a scarcity of money, at some level what they may really be experiencing is a scarcity of bandwidth,” Harvard economist Sandhil Mullainathan, one of the study’s authors, says in the WaPo article. The findings highlight the stressful situation as a main contributor to poverty, and contradict common prejudices against poor individuals as being lazy.

To examine the impact of financial struggles on a person’s brain, the scientists conducted experiments with two sets of subjects. One group was composed of New Jersey mall shoppers, who were told to imagine their car required a $1,500 repair.

The other group was Indian farmers who were tested before and after their sugar cane harvest, the source of their income.

Both experiments involved a situation in which dealing with the prospect of financial struggle occupied the subjects’ thoughts.

The researchers found that with that struggling with that kind of stress could result in a drop in IQ of as much as 13 points, the equivalent of cognitive deterioration after a night with no sleep. In the WaPo article, Dr. Mullainathan is quoted as saying, “Picture yourself after an allnighter. Being poor is like that every day.”

Improvements in poverty policy, the scientists conclude, could alleviate the situation. They call on policymakers to reduce the “cognitive taxes” on the poor by making forms and paperwork easier to handle, which could save poor people valuable mental resources.

I’m Homeless, Not Dogless This heart-warming headline describes Crimson, a homeless writer from Oklahoma City. In the September issue of the Curbside Chronicle, the city’s new street newspaper, the writer tells of her devotion to rescuing, feeding and rehoming stray dogs. Her story makes clear: a furry companion can be as important to a homeless person as to anyone else, offering comfort, protection and a sense of consistency to life. And the exchange can be mutual. Caring for a stray animal and finding him a new caring household can give new life not just to the animal but also to a rescuer like Crimson.

Crimson discovered her love for animals when she was travelling around with her family’s circus as a young girl.

Without a stable home and human friends around, she took care of the carnival animals. Her love for animals grew stron-

ger, and when she found herself homeless years later in Oklahoma, an encounter with a wounded, starving stray dog who walked up to her in the street nearly broke her heart. She nurtured him back to life and took him to a shelter, which eventually placed him with a foster family. The snow-white Chihuahua was only the first of countless stray dogs she has saved from a cold and lonesome death in the streets.

Of course, Crimson has a hard time getting by as it is, and only limited means to provide for both herself and the animals. That’s why she recognizes that she “can’t save them all.” She speaks out strongly against the kind of animal hoarding others fall into. “I think that’s just as inhumane as leaving them on the streets,” she says. “If you want a pet, make sure you have what it needs. You may not share my love for animals, but regardless of how you feel about them, they deserve humane treatment.”

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The Fight for Ivy City

“It’s really challenging because ev e r y t h i n g i s stacked against the community.”

- Parisa Narouzi Empower DC

By Eric Falquero Art Director Three children race through the intersection of Providence and Capitol streets NE. Two kids ride scooters and one is on a bike. An oncoming taxi stops short.

Danger seen, crisis averted.

But traffic pollution poses a more insidious threat to neighborhood health, local activists say. And it is proving harder to stop than a hurrying cab.

In the low-income community where many residents already suffer from respiratory ailments, the Ivy City Civic Association (ICCA) is fighting to keep the city from opening a new tour bus parking lot.

The neighborhood is hemmed in by busy New York Ave. NE as well as train yards, warehouses and city vehicle lots. Advo-

cates worry the increased fumes from the charter buses will only make health problems worse.

“We can’t just let you come in and kill us,” says ICCA president Alicia SwansonCanty, 40, who has spent her whole life in Ivy City. She worries that current pollution levels in the neighborhood are taking a particularly heavy toll on elders, including her mother.

On December 10, 2012, Superior Court Judge Judith Macaluso buoyed the advocates in their fight against city hall. She ruled that city officials violated the law when they moved forward with plans for the bus depot without getting the required input from the local Advisory

Neighborhood Commission (ANC) or doing a mandated environmental review.

But now, the Ivy City activists are bracing for the next round of their battle.

City Mayor Vincent Gray is appealing the ruling and his day in court is is scheduled for Sept. 17. The office of the mayor would offer no comment for this story, except to say the city is pursuing the requirements specified in the injunction.

Advocates hope the December ruling will stand. And they hope for more. Their ultimate goal is seeing the former Alexander Crummell School, where the bus lot is proposed, transformed into a community or recreation center that could offer resources that are now in short supply such

STREET SENSE September 11 - 24, 2013

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COVER STORY

Scenes from Crummell School, established 1911, closed 1977.

HISTORIC PHOTOS COUTESY OF EMPOWER DC

as a safe play area for kids and adult education classes.

“If they’re trying to make this a community, we need a rec,” said Ivy City resident Juice Williams, age 39. “We don’t need buses, we need something productive: job training, GED classes…”

His fellow residents Nate Wales and David Hayes agreed that a community center would be a haven for children like the ones they had just watched cross the street in front of the taxi.

“They’re not doing anything but chasing each other in the same circles,” Wales says of the kids.

Hayes could not help but compare the lack of services in Ivy City to the resources in other neighborhoods. “Brentwood has a work program, Rosedale has a rec, Edgewood has a rec…”

Wales added that the presence of a juvenile detention center does not send a hopeful message to young people.

“There’s nothing to do, but they’re ready for you when you get destructive.”

Swanson-Canty said she believes that workforce development programs could help both longtime residents and men staying at the New York Avenue Shelter, which is also located in the neighborhood.

She pointed out that the city has been promising a community center to Ivy City for years.

“Just give us what you said you would,” said Swanson-Canty. Most recently the city’s 2006 comprehensive economic development plan called for a community center and additional green space in Ivy City.

The neighborhood activists have found support from Parisa Narouzi, founder and director of grassroots community organizing group Empower DC. In fact, Narouzi’s initial work with Ivy City is what moved her to start the group.

“I credit Ivy City with being the place I learned the most about community or-

ganizing,” said Narouzi. “It’s really challenging because everything is stacked against the community.”

Nontheless, city officials have argued the Crummell School site is needed for charter buses. The vehicles that would be parking at the school were displaced from Union Station in 2012 when inner city buses moved there from the 1st Street NE Greyhound station. Neighbors of the Greyhound facility have said they don’t want the bus depot either and Ivy City advocates say they can sympathize.

“We don’t want to push our community’s problems off to someone else’s” said Swanson-Canty. “We want the mayor to solve this properly.” She still wonders why a portion of the RFK Stadium lots could not be utilized. City officials have said that they considered that option but ruled it out due to uncertainty about the long-term availability of the site.

In her December injunction, Judge Macaluso ruled that city officials should have reached out to Ivy City’s ANC 5B in developing plans for the bus lot.

City officials argued that the city did notify Ivy City’s neighborhood commission, ANC 5B. The notice was delivered in November 2011 in the form of a 97-page list of upcoming city projects. The plans for the Crummell lot were listed on page 63.

In testimony at the December hearing, Michael Durso, a project manager from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development noted that city officials ended up approaching the neighborhood civic association instead of the ANC in December 2011, because it was “more vocal.”

In response, Judge Macaluso noted that that by “regard[ing] ANC 5B as ‘less vocal’ ... the District created a self-fulfilling prophecy that the ANC would remain so.”

Civic association member SwansonCanty recalls the ICCA’s presence at the

first meeting, held in December of 2011.

“We were there, but small in number,” she said. While attendance and resistance from the community grew at subsequent meetings, Swanson-Canty said she and her neighbors were told the project was going to move forward regardless.

“They really ignored our vote,” agreed Williams, her childhood friend and neighbor.

Narouzi said that if the Ivy City ruling is allowed to stand, it will benefit other neighborhoods as well.

“The city violates the ANC statute all over the place,” Narouzi claims. “Our case gives a legal history to this, to say no actually that’s not okay.”

As planned, up to 65 buses will be allowed to park at the Ivy City facility at any given time, A lounge area would accommodate drivers waiting to pick up their groups of tourists and other patrons.

City officials point out that the facility’s operating hours, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and access routes which have been restricted to main roads are designed to prevent excess pollution. District law already prohibits vehicles from idling for longer than three minutes.

But opponents say the city has not provided reliable estimates about how many buses would be laying over in the lot each day.

Narouzi has pulled together a team of students and professors from four local universities to take a closer look at Ivy City’s air quality. The George Washington University most recently joined the team, along with Howard, Trinity, and the University of Maryland. Involvement in the project has given the scholars a sense of the importance of their skills.

“Parisa has gotten all of us head-in-theclouds scientists to work for real change in the community,” said Howard University atmospheric science expert and professor Vernon Morris.

“She’s just doing a fantastic job conveying the sense of urgency.”

A pungent smell in the community’s air gives Morris a sense that pollution is present but the scientific evidence is still inconclusive. At the December 2012 hearing, Morris was only able to provide 10 days worth of air quality measurements.

Instead of revealing unacceptably high levels of pollution, both sides agreed the measurements came in below the limits established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Yet a far more extensive study is needed to truly understand the air quality in the community, said Morris.

“In order to answer the questions of the community, you really need to conduct a long term study, 1 year plus, to gauge the true effects,” said Morris. “Establishing a baseline is a difficult thing.”

Such a study is necessary because many pollutants are seasonal - depending upon the industries and activities that operate at different times of the year, and at what frequency.

“The timeline the city is moving on really doesn’t allow for proper scientific investigation to take place,” said Morris.

Periodic studies on levels of particulate matter such as black carbon and formaldehyde have been ongoing, but a full year long study has not been done.

Morris’ own monitoring equipment was shipped off for other research before being returned to allow him to continue to study the air quality in Ivy City. Looking ahead, Swanson-Canty said the neighborhood is not giving up, regardless of what happens with the Mayor’s appeal.

“We’re gonna keep fighting,” she said, “even if it means lining up residents in the street to keep the buses from coming in.”

New Programs Offer Help to Singles

By Kelsey Reid Editorial Intern Single men and women comprise more than half the city’s homeless population.

The city’s annual one-day count found 3,696 unaccompanied homeless adults in the District.

Meanwhile, other singles, who are struggling to pay their rent or who are doubled up with friends or relatives are at risk of ending up on the streets or in shelters.

Two pilot programs will take a look at whether emergency rental assistance and rapid re-housing initiatives that have shown promise in getting homeless families back on their feet could also help homeless singles.

Homeless advocates see the development as a hopeful sign.

“At Miriam’s Kitchen we had people who would come in for case management, meals or other services who would tell us they felt they could get out of homelessness if they had programs like this,” said Kurt Runge, director of advocacy at the Foggy Bottom program.

The two pilot programs, the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERAP) and the Rapid Re-Housing Program for unaccompanied homeless adults in the District, were approved by the City Council as part of the 2014 budget in May. Service providers advocated for funding for the pilot programs after homeless men and women expressed an interest in having versions of local and national housing assistance programs available to them.

Over the summer, plans for the pilots advanced. In July, the city’s Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) held a public roundtable on the pilot programs.

The ICH’s committee on strategic planning suggested a group of stakeholders in the pilot programs compile suggestions for the Department of Human Services (DHS), which will design and implement the programs.

“We wanted to include the input of service providers who do these programs because they’ve worked with them and know things they may want to change about them when offering them to singles,” said Runge.

The ICH group was expected to meet with DHS staff again to offer detailed guidance for the pilot programs. DHS will also likely request public input before the program design is finalized. Funding for the programs becomes available October 1, though the programs may not launch until later this calendar year.

One challenge is designing targeting for the programs that accurately identifies those who are most in need.

“We have an opportunity to help people who really need services but haven’t been eligible for them,” Runge said. “They won’t serve everyone who needs it, but it will help those who don’t have resources.”

ERAP currently serves families, disabled adults and individuals older than 65. It offers funds for rent if a household

meeting the program’s eligibility requirements is facing eviction. A family or individual may also apply for assistance with a security deposit and first month’s rent on a new home.

Under a new ERAP pilot for unaccompanied adults, ICH has recommended spending $500,000 to provide assistance to single individuals. Like the existing ERAP, the pilot program for singles aims to prevent homelessness among those who are at risk by offering rental assistance to individuals facing eviction and by funding security deposits and first month’s rent for those who are currently homeless.

The ICH group has suggested that eligibility for the ERAP pilot’s prevention efforts be determined by using a targeting tool used in New York that evaluates the likelihood that an individual facing eviction will become homeless if he or she does not receive services. Eligibility for funds for security deposits and first month’s rent could be based on the Service Prioritization Decision Assistance Tool.

“We’re trying to find the individuals facing evictions who have limited resources,” Runge said about the importance of targeting. “Some people have more resources and are able to find their way out of being homeless. We want to figure out who most needs services in order to prevent them from becoming homeless.”

The Rapid Re-Housing Program looks to efficiently transfer individuals out of

shelters into permanent housing. According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, most homeless households have lived in independent, permanent housing in the past and often maintain stable housing after Rapid Re-Housing placements with limited services.

The pilot program for singles will provide a subsidy to make rent more affordable for individuals who are currently homeless. Participants will receive assistance in finding safe and affordable housing, employment placement and case management. The ICH proposal has individuals paying move-in-costs and 40 percent of their income toward rent during their participation in the program.

While the program aims to provide multiple services, it will likely only serve about 50 individuals during its pilot stage due to limited funding.

“We have the challenge of not having a lot of funding. The Rapid Re-Housing Program won’t be able to serve that many people. It will only scratch the surface of meeting the needs,” Runge said.

Since both programs are pilots, Runge said evaluations of their effectiveness will be a crucial part of the process over the next year.

“By having ways to evaluate we will get an idea of things we can do to make the programs better if they aren’t entirely successful or ways to expand them and help more people if they are,” Runge said.

members of one needy group should feel like they are pitted against the members of another needy group for limited resources.

She hopes the Community Justice Project will bring attention to the challenge of helping individuals get the best possible services from existing programs.

“We don’t want to put the haves versus the have-nots,” Masliansky said. “Everyone needs more resources. But we’re going to look at how to better utilize resources for single adults.”

The project has many goals. It is hoped that it will succeed in raising awareness among policymakers about the needs of single adults in a way that will result in an increased number of shelter and transitional beds for singles, and also boost access to cost-effective resources to reduce overall public costs.

In addition, the program is geared toward giving advanced law students the opportunity to gain insights into the needs of the poor and to get first hand experience in advocacy and social justice work.

Masliansky said the project is a unique chance for students to work directly with

the individuals who stand to benefit from their research.

“The students will be able to broaden their skills through working with individuals affected by these policies,” Masliansky said.

SOME has asked that the students present a final project and long-term strategy for an advocacy campaign, including the fiscal years 2015 and 2016.

Masliansky said she believes the project comes at a crucial and exciting time when it comes to changes in resources for single homeless adults. The introduction of an Emergency Rental Assistance Program and Rapid Rehousing Program for singles and the work of the city’s Interagency Council on Homelessness on an intake system for homeless adults will put a newfound focus on the needs of the demographic.

“There is now attention on three pieces of what would be a broad vision of having more robust resources for these individuals,” Masliansky said. “It focuses people’s attention on alternative resources and means of providing resources. This project will be in the forefront of that movement.”

Legal Project Seeking Creative Solutions

By Kelsey Reid Editorial Intern Since the recession hit five years ago, the rise in family homelessness has gotten a lot of attention from city agencies and nonprofits.

Meanwhile, some single homeless men and women have been left with the feeling their problems aren’t being handled with the same urgency as those of homeless families. Now, a new project that pairs budding lawyers with indigent men and women aims to help single homeless people get the assistance they need.

The Community Justice Project at Georgetown University Law Center is a legal clinic where students act as advocates and directly represent social justice clients. For the fall semester, three thirdyear law students will be working with So Others Might Eat (SOME) to try to help unaccompanied, single adults in the District.

The Project asks the students to work with their homeless clients on creatively addressing the barriers they face in getting the help they need. The students will be focused on what resources exist for single

homeless adults, how resources could be better used, and what obstacles single adults face when trying to access resources.

The project seeks to address some of the feelings of frustration expressed at a recent meeting of the Coalition of Homeless and Housing Organizations (COHHO).

Homeless men who attended the meeting voiced the feeling that city resources are largely focused on homeless families, leaving them at a loss.

Nechama Masliansky, SOME’s senior advocacy advisor and a co-convener of COHHO acknowledged that many resources have been directed at families since growing numbers of parents and children have turned to city shelters and programs for help. Family homelessness has increased almost 40 percent in the city since 2009.

The city’s annual homeless count, conducted in January, included a total of 3,169 men, women and children living in families.

But the count also included 3,696 single men and women.

Masliansky said she doesn’t think the

STREET SENSE Sept. 11 - 24, 2013

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NEWS

Theater of Dreams www.street-papers.org / The Big Issue South Africa There’s nothing bland about The Africa Centre for HIV and AIDS Management’s Educational Theater and Creative Arts program. Its rooms are aglow with red paint and warmth, strange paintings and colorful rugs. But then the director, Professor Jimmie Earl Perry, knows the importance of a good set. He’s a true performer, his confident tone a tell-tale sign of his own theater experience. Born in Alabama, USA, Earl Perry has put down roots in South Africa, and is using his own show business know-how to educate and change attitudes about HIV in the most accessible way: through drama.

The center itself - an independent academic unit based at Stellenbosch University - has seen about 4,000 students from all over the world complete its postgraduate diploma program on HIV/AIDS management. Most are from Africa, and 95 per cent are women. Doctors, lawyers, social workers, teachers, nurses and a few politically oriented individuals have taken the course.

Earl Perry told The Big Issue South Africa: “Theater is a perfect vehicle to educate people and to make them aware of something they didn’t know. I came to the Africa Center for HIV and AIDS management in 2004. At the time I had just finished up a show called Jesus Christ Superstar in Germany.

“I had never been to Sub-Saharan Africa before. The stories about the crime terrified me, but at the same time I was intrigued by the beauty of the country.

I am one who accepts not only opportunity, but also challenges. I knew I had to give it a try.

“When I arrived I was given free rein to establish [center director] Jan du Toit’s vision, which was to concentrate on Stellenbosch’s backyard. Any kind of dissemination of information on HIV and AIDS prevention was non-existent in the Afrikaans community at the time especially among farm workers. I’m the director of the community mobilization

program at the center.

“My career and life has been in show business, so creating and managing a production educating people in the surrounding areas on HIV and AIDS was a welcome challenge.

“People like entertainment. On a Friday, farm workers unwind by turning on the radio and listening to music, that sort of thing. Theater has always been a model to push people’s buttons and to reach them emotionally. We begin to think, either about ourselves or what surrounds us. While the Stellenbosch township of Kayamandi had more than 50 organizations, NGOs and clinics on HIV, Cloetesville had zero. I thought, ‘That’s good, at least I won’t be stepping on anybody’s toes.’ I knew that establishing the educational theater program would be difficult, but I hadn’t realized just how difficult. The language barrier was a bit of a problem. I could not understand a lick of Afrikaans. I am fluent in German, so I tried to pick up the context of conversations... Needless to say, it was really hard.

“Finding actors was also a bit of a struggle. I didn’t want to exactly use trained professionals, that would have defeated the purpose. I wanted the people in this community to relate to what I would eventually present, which meant that the actors should relate to the community, and the community to the actors.

“In America, every state has community theater, whereas here the platforms for young people to do this kind of work are practically non-existent. I got really lucky at a theater in Cloetesville called the Breughel Theater Group, where I met six young people; they had worked together and had a good work ethic. I now have eight actors in total.

“We have two productions: Lucky the Hero, and Lucky Fish. Lucky the Hero is a mini-musical presented in English and Afrikaans, mostly both. It’s the journey of a young man, Lucky, who becomes aware of his risky behaviour through information he hears on a radio program.

He takes the brave step to be tested and then has to face the consequences.

After revealing his status to his best friend, who gossips the information to the whole community, he is ostracized.

“Lucky Fish is set in the fictitious West Coast town of Snoekhoek Bay. The plot is about a fish factory experiencing economic woes. When the new human resources director identifies HIV/AIDS

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE BIG ISSUE, IN SOUTH AFRICA

“Theatre is a perfect vehicle to educate people and to make them aware of something t h e y d i d n ’ t k n o w.”

- Professor Earl Perry Director of the center’s program for Educational Theater and Creative Arts

as one of the main contributing factors to the slump, the owner chases her out of his office, not believing her... But, when a long-time factory worker tests positive for HIV, the reality sinks in. A ‘Break the Silence’ concert is organized.

“For years, people would just do things and hope that they had reached at least five people, for example. They would hope that people would eventually go home and think about what they have seen. We constantly monitor and evaluate our success.

“We can tell if the show has been a success by how many people get up and get tested. We have a testing unit that accompanies us on every show. This experience has been a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me. I knew I cared about humanity - you know, when a disaster happens and you try and help, or you see someone on the street and give them 5 rand - but I never knew I would have the opportunity to do good on this scale.

“I come from a very self-centered, insecure kind of industry, where all you want is to be loved or to hear that applause at the end of the show. I have learned how unimportant that really is, and now receive my fulfillment and gratification by watching the good that we do with our work. I have been changed dramatically by being here.”

Go to www.aidscentre.sun.ac.za for more information.

Dupont Circle

Street a photo essay by Johnathan Comer

Performers

At first, coming up the Metro escalator, it’s just distant noise. It’s hard to figure out what I’m hearing. But as I get closer to the surface, the sound grows and becomes unmistakable.

As sunlight falls across the top of the escalator, swelling music replaces the roar of Metro cars below. For a brief moment, the music is reminiscent of a movie score: I am the main character and a soundtrack is cuing the start of my day.

This morning there is a man playing what appears to be a mandolin, though it sounds more like a guitar. For the past few weeks, he has been intermittently serenading the morning crowds at Farragut North. As he effortlessly plays his instrument, a few people drop money into his “tip box.” The donations seem small compared to the beauty of his notes.

I, too, drop a few dollars into his box,

Farragut North

for which he sincerely thanks me. I briefly stand and listen, then begin to take a few quick photographs of this street musician at work. As I leave, he smiles and nods; I do the same.

For this photo essay I searched for street performers, otherwise known as “buskers.”

I knew the best place to look for them was at Metro stops around town, particularly at rush-hour as commuters hurry to and from their jobs.

As I took these pictures I was thinking about the courage it takes to perform before so many people, with the only assured reward being this: sharing one’s talent with the world. And that talent is very real. Some of the most powerful drum patterns I have heard were projected from nothing more than large buckets and trash cans.

To photograph a busker is to pay tribute to that courage, talent and passion.

STREET SENSE September 11 - 24, 2013

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FEATURE

Gallery Place/Chinatown

CHILDREN’S ART: O IS FOR OCTOPUS

There are 1,868 children experiencing homelessness in the District. The Homeless Children’s Playtime Project visits 6 different transitional housing and emergency shelter programs to provide weekly activities, healthy snacks, and opportunities to play and learn to as many children as possible.

Courtesy of the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project

L’Enfant Plaza

COMICS & GAMES

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Street Rememberance

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STREET SENSE September 11 - 24, 2013

Housing is my right

By Reggie Black Vendor Da’ street reportin’ Artist Even though the homeless do not have a place to call their own, that doesn’t mean that they are totally without rights or have be silent about having rights.

How many times have we gone through the same song and dance. We see people living on the street and we assume that this person is going to beg for money. How dense can we be as a society?

Take my story for example, I became homeless when my father and I could no longer coexist in the same house. I spent six months in my neighborhood panhandling and scraping to find employment.

Things changed when I discovered Street Sense. Now I write for the paper and sell the paper and earn somewhat of an income. During the last five years selling the paper I have attended quite a few advocacy events and meetings. One thing has become clear to me. People experiencing poverty need a little more from the community at large.

In the District of Columbia in recent years, we have lost more than half of the affordable units for low-income residents. At the minimum wage of $8.25, a worker would have to put in 140 hours

a week to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment at the prevailing fair market rent for this area.

In late August, the D.C. City Council passed the Large Retailer Accountability Act that would require big-box stores such as Wal-Mart to pay their workers combined wages and benefits of at least $12.50 an hour.

But the bill still faces a possible veto

by Mayor Vincent Gray. Such a veto would send a message to Washington’s hardworking service workers that we do not want you to live here.

To me, it only makes a city law recognizing housing as a human right more important. Such a law would serve as an important tool in fighting the discrimination against the poor that is obviously going on in this city.

It would help me and many others secure housing and would go a long way in helping the city fall in line with the federal government’s goal of ending homelessness.

But the only way to win the passage of such a law is to raise as much awareness as possible. Homeless advocate Mitch Snyder said it best: “When you see someone on the street, say ‘hello,’ give them something to eat let them know that they are human and that you care because truly that is all we ever asked for as a society.”

Who is Chronically Homelessness Anyway?

By Cynthia Mewborn, Vendor “C=mb2”

In the last issue, I wrote about an interview I had with Marta Beresin, a staff attorney for the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless.

She made the point that people who are chronically homeless may be particularly vulnerable because of the conditions underlying their homelessness.

They may be mentally ill, addicted or developmentally disabled. They may be very young or very old.

Though in very recent years, things have been slowly changing, for much of the past three decades and more, society has failed to address the needs of the chronically homeless.

And even today, with efforts such as the city’s permanent supportive housing program, you still see people sleeping on street corners, in alleys and on the steps of buildings.

They walk around with no shoes, barely clothed, sitting in the rain while it pours down, talking with themselves.It leaves me asking “Why is this?”

If these individuals are the most vulnerable then why have they been left to fend for themselves?

The District government has agencies such as the Department of Mental Health and the Department of Human Services tasked with helping vulnerable populations. Yet still, there are so many fragile people living on the streets, apparently unnoticed and without aid.

Something must be done. It is time for all of us to say, “enough already.”

From this day forward I will do my best to treat others in the way I would want to be treated, to understand that my pain is your pain without prejudices, my sorrow is your sorrow without prejudices, my hurt is your hurt without prejudices, my tears are your tears without prejudices.

I will stand with all of humanity and say ‘no’ to anyone who treats other human beings cruelly and with no regard.

We as members of the human race have had leaders who have shown us the way in which to live, love, care, support, nurture and take care of one another.

Lets all start today because all we have is today. Tomorrow is not promised and yesterday is too late. So let’s all make Agape Love Contagious!! For it is the total love of God for all of Humanity!!!

ERIC ON SPORTS: THE ‘SKINS

By Eric Thompson Bey Vendor I am a deep-rooted Redskin fan. But this team has a history of being racist.

The name Redskin is looked upon by Native Americans as being disparaging and insulting. I’m not going to be biased just because this is the football team that I favor. I must admit I would not like it if they were called the Africoons or the Coons, which were racial slurs used against African Americans.

The Redskins were the last professional football team to have a black player on their roster. In fact it was not until 15 years after the ban on blacks was lifted that the teams’ owner at the time, George Preston Marshall, finally accepted a black player. He was forced to do so by the federal government. At the time the Redskins were playing their games in what was then a new stadium, RFK Stadium, that was built on federal land. That gave the United States president the power to force the team to adhere to all federal nondiscrimination policies.

If Marshall had not accepted a black player, the Redskins would have to find

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OPINION

somewhere else to play their games. Marshall’s racism wasn’t just against blacks but against nonwhites. As a Redskins fan, I’m not proud of these facts. As a matter of fact, I’m ashamed.

American dictionaries now define the term Redskin as usually offensive and insulting. Over 500 American Indian groups have called for the end of the use of all Native American references by sports teams, even if the references are not offensive.

In addition, Native American groups argue that since the word is viewed as offensive, it is inappropriate for an NFL team to use it. Susan Harjo petitioned the Trademark Trail and Appeal Board (TTAB) to cancel the trademark registration of the Washington Redskins. The TTAB agreed but the decision was later overturned by the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

I originally saw nothing wrong with the Redskins’ name, but after I got a better understanding of how Native Americans felt, my opinion changed. I think the name is offensive and disrespectful. Current Redskins owner Dan Snyder told USA Today “We’ll never change the name. It’s that simple. NEVER. You can use CAPS.” But it’s more than just tradition. It’s about money. Snyder would lose millions of dollars if he was forced to change the team’s name.

A Poem about September 11

By Evelyn Nnam, Vendor

September 11th is all about the twin towers that got destroyed in New York by a plane.

The people in the plane and in the building got killed and we are today honoring the citizens that died.

So many people go to cemeteries, go back and look at old photos, have parades, and more to remember the good citizens that have risked their lives.

This day is very important for many Americans because when people risk their lives they always are remembered.

It’s not easy losing people who are innocent and have nothing to do with the problem; but, we will always keep them in our hearts.

People who do obnoxious things don’t realize or think about what will end up happening.

So this is what loved ones get in return for their acts.

On the other hand, people do special things to

remind them about their loved ones.

This is what I think about September 11th.

Homeless in the Capital of Capitalism

By Barron Hall Vendor It is a shame there are so many poor and homeless people in Washington, D.C. the capital of the capitalist world. God has truly blessed the United States of America. Yet what has America done for its Native Americans, its black, red and white people who are struggling? We have a so-called black President who is not helping his people. Where are our forty acres and mule? America killed the leaders of this country’s blood-sweat-and-tears people. God said, “She shall fall from within.” The real America is dying from the inside. Where are the houses, jobs, food? All America is doing is finding new drugs to push in our neighborhoods and the lifestyles to go with them. If you don’t want us here let us go somewhere else so we can live and let live.

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

Why a Rose

BEFORE THE RAIN PT 30: IT HAD TO BE ‘DESITIVELY’ YOU

By Robert Warren

By Chris Shaw, “The Cowboy Poet”

For why a rose I live for that peek For I a rose so beautiful my bloom To see a rose, a bee I could be working far above.

Why speak of roses in a dozen, say I love you In heaven, rest in peace.

Just a rose for that one so near, my dear Oh would you be my dear?

A rose tree for my Grandmothers, my Mama A gift from there.

A rose a rose a rose, so many beautiful colors that we will see For why a rose the Lord thought of everything.

One rose this day from the world to The wife of Dr. King, 50 years his dream still blooming Like a rose until it reaches its peak.

Christ rose.

You Dare to Try

By Rashawn Bowser

You dare to try and bully me You dare to try to grab my things You dare to try to push me around In all the time that I have been here, You’ve tested me and tried me, You stupid little man.

All hope for you has now disappeared.

All friendship and care, year that’s gone too.

Your foolishness has caused this And now you will pay ‘cause now you have crossed me, which means your end.

So have fun little man, at least while you still can ‘cause the next time we meet it will be your end.

The Dreamer’s Dream

By Carlton “Inkflow” Johnson

“The Dreamer’s Dream,” a never ending journey for generations, the endless quest to find life’s answers; seeking knowledge, the ageless enlightenment and the fulfillment of that something bigger than life.

“The Dreamer’s Dream,” the journey burning within every mind, heart, and soul of all dreamers, yesterday, today and tomorrow. The travelers within space, racing against time.

Enslaved by the search to find answers to life’s mysteries. The timeless age-old quest within every dreamer’s dream.

The wick burning within every dreamer’s heart, body and soul, only wanting to find their place in life.

Only wanting to express the boundless creative fire trapped within the mind, body and soul.

This is “The Dreamer’s Dream.”

Phillip Howard - 9/20

Lyndsey and Loomis realized their ‘ride connection’ South had an honors exam to complete, so there’d be a 36-hour layover before they could hook up at Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Hall on the “judge Washington” campus, as Loom liked calling it. First stop was a sushi sandwich at the Foggy Bottom Delly, ‘cause Loomis vaguely recalls “developing an odd taste for raw fish” in the presence of his late honored Dad, Esquire Akula Reader, some half-acentury earlier, at this same humble clapboard establishment. It was so old and slouchy that Loomis could feel how he developed a real affinity for similar hash slinging joints down in old ‘Nola’ later on.

Lyndsey wrinkled her sweet upturned nose at the fresh seared tuna and ‘srimp,’ as Loomy preferred pronouncing it. She ordered fresh frisee lettuce on open pumpernickel bread spread with Canola mayo, and devoured it hastily. They barely had enough to pay--Loomis haggled with “Joey,” the founder’s son, who bantered healthily with the son of “Akula,” Hey, ya know my Dad knew and loved yours, where ya been; but Loomis was a bit embarrassed, if you can dig ‘Dat,’ and he shepherded Lyndsey and himself to a rickety outdoor picnic table with the remains of their repast.

“We need more dough,” groaned Loomis, and he began to scrawl on a brown napkin, “HELP! HEADED BACK TO N.O.L.A! NEED $!!”

“No shinola, Sherlock,” muttered Lyndsey, approvingly. I have an obligation to fulfill, Loomis dear...” They teamed up with a skinny dirty-faced kid attached to a mottled mutt with a rope around him, and within an hour or so they had scored up twelve dollars and a dime.

“Take eight f’yerselves, said the kid, Danny by name (the dog was Fido). “Ye’z look kinda beat. So the two L’s found themselves on a DC Metro Green train eventually, en route to College Park, Maryland.

At the Chancellor’s office, Lyndsey Pattison boldly marched in, leaving Loomis out in the hall--dozing on a long mahogany bench-- and demanded to know her status.

Wa’al,” drawled the laconic Chanc’ler Davis, “We’d given you up as lost or dead, either one, Lyndsey. Though you were a promising Social Work candidate with lots of compassion and intelligence,you have been dropped from our Outreach Program to help those sorry-ass “Refugees” down in New Orleans--” “It just so happens they are more than ‘refugees,’ Doctor Davis, and I’m--” He broke in and handed her a flimsy envelope. “Here is your severance check.

Good-bye and Good Luck! End of conversation.” He showed her the door, grimly, his owlish secretary mirroring his masklike disapproval. Lyndsey slumped

gamely against her traveling partner and, it seemed, true love.

“Look,” she said, “129.43!”

“Whut’s wrong wit’ Dat!”, he crowed.

“Owee, can we fly dis coop!”

Three hours later, as the sun settled down behind the Shenandoahs, Loomis and Lyndsey rode shotgun in an orange Pontiac Firebird with geek scholar Winston Jowles.

They palled around long enough to stuff in two fulsome Virginia home-cooked roadside platters (hog jowls, yams, gravy, syrup and cornbread); explored a bit of Luray Caverns (where Lyndsey squeezed Loomis tight, exclaiming, “Gee, those stalactites really DO look like an organ, don’t they!”

Turns out Jowles was supposed to head west to his home in Roanoke, but enjoyed the company so much he left Loom and Lynds in Fayetteville, across the border in good ole North Caroo-line, as Loomis termed it. There, outside a Marine bar, a buck private named “Shotgun,” grabbed Lyndsey outside the corrugated-metal hangout and tried to have his way with her. Whereupon our esteemed Mister Reader, in a burst of rage-inspired superhuman strength, grabbed a rusty length of pipe and whacked “Shot” across the skull good and proper. The aggressor groaned and rolled off Lyndsey.

They ran into “Junco’s” restaurant (“Reminds me of a ‘Junko Partner,’ whispered Loomis as he and Lyndsey half cuddled, half cowered in a curtained booth).

Two stocky Carolina state troopers somehow located the pair and trundled them down to Central Booking. Officer Parmalee informed them of their rights, fingerprinted and mug-shotted them, and placed the bruised lovers in adjacent cells.

“We need t’ hold y’all, ‘til we learn the updated condition of one “Shotgun EustaceStevens” over at the Dispensary up the road, okay?” Parmalee then deposited Loomis, then Lyndsey, in brightly-lit, adjoining cells with punchboard ceilings and matching wall paneling.”Oh well, sighed Lyndsey, checking her left stocking for the seventyeight or so dollars she had stashed, having somehow charmed the cellblock matron into passing on the strip search. (to be continued)

STREET SENSE September 11 - 24, 2013

“I Believe I Can Fly”

VENDOR WRITING

By Veda Simpson, Vendor

A Modern Love Story pt 2

By Jacqueline Turner, Vendor First, Ted and Ann were married twenty two years ago. Ted was 46 and Ann was 42.

After the first family son went to jail at seventeen, the family was devastated.

Ted and Ann had been married for more than twenty years, and were best friends.

Billy and Sally had been married for nineteen years. Like I said, they lived and grew up in the same place.

On Sundays they mostly went to church.

After church, they sometimes ate dinner at each others houses. That’s what happened on this particular Sunday. Ted invited Bill and Sally over to their house for dinner. Ted’s wife was a very good cook and an excellent hostess. Bill and Sally came at six-thirty. They were welcomed and seated in the living room. Being Christian people, they seldom drank.

Today they did. Only Ted and Ann drank, because their excuse was their son was locked up with male adults, charged with murder and rape and all sorts of crimes.

A lot of you want to know why I always sing this song. I sing it because when you believe in something you stand by it, live by it and you show it’s a part of you. I truly feel like a bird when I want to get away from things in my mind. I can fly to a place where nobody can go or get to. Whether it be the tallest tree or the highest mountaintop. I don’t need a plane to soar like an eagle.

When I graduated I worked at the Post Office from 3:30 to 12 midnight, known as the party shift. I took days off without leave until I was fired. I lost everything including myself. I never drank because my best friend, my father, died from drinking and I swore I would never drink. But I turned to something else evil that destroys your life...

DRUGS. I lived in the streets, abandoned buildings, oil joints, (place where you shoot drugs) and crack houses (place where you smoke crack). I kept sinking further down like into my own grave. I did not have the initiative to do anything, just lived day by day. I never had children because I didn’t want the pain that went along with producing children so it was just me, myself and I. One day a kitten followed me home. I got in my room and went to sleep. When I woke up the kitten was laying beside me. She woke up meowing. She was hungry. All I had was my dope money. If I didn’t have food she would starve and if I didn’t have dope I would be ill. A little voice whispered to me and said, “take care of my child and I’ll take you care of you.”

As I came back with some food for the kitten I walked across a plastic dope bag. The voice again whispered, “Take care of my child and I’ll take care of you.” Next a knock on the door, it was a friend who began babbling about Street Sense. The next day I went to Street Sense. For a while I didn’t make much, just enough for food for Sugar, the kitten, and some dope for me so I wouldn’t be sick. Next, some people were on the bus talking about the Methadone Clinic. That’s where you go to get medicine to keep from being dope-sick and kick a dope habit. I inquired about it, that same little voice spoke to me again. Since then Sugar has had two babies, I have my own place, I got my veterinarian assistant license and have been clean.

That’s why I believe in this song, “I used to think that I could not go on, and life was just an awful song. But now I know the meaning of true love, I’m leaning on the everlasting arm. If I can see it then I can do it. If I can just believe it, there’s nothing to it. I believe I can fly. I believe I can touch the sky. I think about it every night and day, spreading my wings and fly away. I believe I can soar. I see me running through the open door. I believe I can fly. I was on the verge of breaking down, sometimes things seem so loud. There are miracles in life I must achieve, but first it starts inside of me. If I can see it, then I can be it. If I can believe it, there’s nothing to it. I believe I can fly. I believe I can touch the sky. I think about it every night and day, spread my wings and fly away. I believe I can soar, I see me running through the open door.” I believe I can fly because I believe in God. Yes I’ve been rejuvenated, reborn, and it feels so good. I’m able to give back to society after all I have taken. I have a new attitude. This song… it is my life. I do believe I can fly!

End of Summer

By Sybil Taylor, Vendor

The summer is gone and the fall is back.

Summer fun under the sun.

Summer fun with barbecue grills.

The scent of grilling hot dogs, hamburg ers, steaks.

Grilled corn and fish. The coolness of summer salads Watermelon, sodas, popsicles, Ice cream, swimming pools the breeze from the fan Or the air conditioner or on the beach.

Summer ended with the final call Of Labor Day. The final day of summer.

Enjoying the last of the summer fruits and seafood.

Putting away our summer clothes.

Thinking back to those 100 degree days we can say We made it through. So now let’s enjoy the fall.

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Goodbye to Cappie

By Kenneth Belkowsky, Vendor

To all readers who know me. At first when I lived at Dorchester, I had two cats. Montey and Cappie. When I moved to Taylor Square Apartments I had to give up Montey because I was only allowed one cat. It was a hard choice but I kept Cappie. I had Cappie for three years.

When he started having problems with his leg I took him to two veterinarians.

They performed x-rays that were negative for a broken leg. One of the vets told me Cappie had a serious nerve problem. I had a talk with the case workers who help me with my financing. My case manager and my employment specialist felt that the constant care Cappie would need would cost me more than I could afford. I did not want to do it but I felt it was best that I give Cappie to the local animal hospital and asked the people there to do what they thought was best; either put him down or find someone who would adopt him. I think that they may have put him down for his own well being. I miss Cappie very much and still have his litter box and food in the apartment. Sometimes I come home and expect to see him since he mostly slept on my bed next to me. I may get another cat but it’s too early.

A Cry for Janis

By James Davis, Vendor

Does anyone know who Janis is?

Does anyone know her name?

She’s quite old and handicapped And sometimes walks with a cane.

Deep wrinkles line her face There’s a story behind every scar.

I believe she lives below the awning Of the Capital One Bank on the corner, And sometimes the Meeting Street Bar. Her worldly possession are stowed away And bundled with great care.

Years of abuse has caused her to flee.

You can’t tell by her blank stare Sometimes she “gets out” at folks like you and me She really means no harm.

Most think she’s just a crazy old lady Ready for the funny farm.

Does anyone know who Janis is?

Does anyone know her name?

Does it really matter? I know she’s a human being And to ignore her plight would be a crying shame.

(Last poem before release of “Arugula Salad’ and other Food for Thought)

PHOTOS BY VEDA SIMPSON

Reflection: March on Washington Enough

Time for a New Agenda

By Jeffery McNeil, Vendor

By Aida Basnight-Peery, Vendor Not everyone realized the MLK march wasn’t just about freedom - we have that now. What we need today, in hopes of another 50 years, is a better justice system for men and women of color.

Injustice runs rampant in the judicial system. I am a member of One.org and Change.org, and it’s interesting how suddenly so many people are experiencing injustices in the judicial system: needing millions of signatures just to get cases back into the courts. We have to pick our battles and what we believe are unfair practices. My personal battle is that once someone serves their time in prison, no prosecutor or judge should use their past crime as to support a current case when there is not sufficient evidence for the alleged crime he/she is in court for.

Deal with the now. A judge and a prosecutor should be making a determination of evidence that is present not time served in the past. That is my battle.

MLK also talked about low-wage workers and homelessness. Fair practice of wages and homelessness and hunger all go together.

Southwest DC, and many parts of over our nation have been experiencing constant hunger, injustice and homelessness for over 70 years. People will work thinking low wages are better than no wages.

But what happens if you can’t find decent housing for self or family? What if you have to choose between food and shelter?

It’s interesting even at the age of 57 years old, remembering how my parents struggled during the late ‘50s and ‘60s to feed me and my brother and to keep a roof over our heads. My mom went to college, and she worked hard for me and my brother to live in decent housing. My dad did the same to the point he had to travel from one state to another state in order to find decent wages.

After 50 years people shouldn’t’ be going through these same issues. Working homelessness has been in existence for over 70 years! I am sure everyone has read this book “Grapes of Wrath.” They made a movie starring Henry Fonda.

Grapes of Wrath is still going on to this day. It discusses injustice in the judicial system, low wages and homelessness and that book was written before the “New Deal” laws in the 1930s. Injustice, hunger and homelessness are EVERYONE’S responsibility even if it’s not happening to you or your family. Come on folks, it’s our responsibility as human beings to stand up to say: “Hey, enough. Let’s fix the system, because it’s been broken for far too long.”

A March Meeting

Street Sense reader Tim Belsan looks forward to buying his paper from vendor David Denny.

Belsan said he usually looks for Denny outside the Archives Metro station on his way to work.

“I usually see him 2 to -3 days a week, and I can’t think of a better way to end my commute on such a positive note. David is always polite and upbeat and I never leave an interaction with him with anything other than a smile on my face.”

On Wednesday, Aug 28, Belsan took a break from work to witness a little of the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington. And there he spotted Denny’s familiar face. They marched together for a while.”We talked quite a bit about how fortunate and blessed we felt to be walking only 15-20 feet behind individuals who had marched in 1963,” said Belsan. And before the two parted, Belsan snapped these pictures.

The Steps of a King

By David Denny, Vendor Today we retraced the steps of a King in a rain symbolic to the pain and tears once endured. The old spiritual “We Shall Overcome” awakens resolve, selflessness and determination. Standing next to me sideby-side is evidence that a despicable era and legacy has not prevailed, confirmation that love is stronger than hate and proof that we as people need and cling to hope.

I am honored to have walked with Tim on this rainy day that will inevitably lead to a brighter future.

Some left the 50-year commemoration of the March on Washington with a powerful sense of history.

But l left disillusioned and depressed for those who still adhere to the Civil Rights agenda of the sixties.

Don’t get me wrong. I am grateful to those who opened doors for me. But the truth is that the poor don't need a message of hope. They need straight talk, raw and unfiltered.

I praise the black leader who not only reminds us of how the Little Rock Nine endured death threats to get an education, but who also points out that our current generation is squandering that hard-won opportunity by walking around with their pants hanging down and their butt-cracks showing, refusing to learn proper grammar because their homies may think they're acting white.

Some will say we should not air out our dirty laundry. The truth is our dirty laundry is aired out every day. Just look at Franklin Park where poor people, mainly black men, spend their time intoxicated, fighting over free clothes and ice tea, urinating and littering. It pains me to see the legacy of Mitch Snyder being desecrated. This man stood on the front lines so the homeless could have a bed. How do they honor him?

By sitting in front of the shelter, drinking, selling drugs and prostituting.

If working people walking through the park or passing the shelter can see the dirty laundry, you better believe business owners see it too. It’s safe to say they are calling law enforcement to remove those defacing the area. I feel amazed when someone tells me that shelter closings are caused by greed and racism. Being a former shelter resident myself, I blame the closing on the disrespectful and morally deficient attitudes of many who use the shelters.

Why don’t more of our self-proclaimed black spokesmen send a message of personal responsibility? I find preposterous the claims by civil rights leaders that society unfairly discriminates against black people.

Instead of tolerating drug abuse and advocating lighter sentences for drug users they should work to prevent people from ruining their lives with drugs.

Truth is, the problems of the black community have nothing to do with racism. Self defeating behaviors, and the corrupt black leaders who plant the seeds of inferiority and capitulation are to blame.

If the poor are ever going to get out of poverty they need to think for themselves and purge the civil rights leaders that claim to be their advocates.

Service Spotlight: McKenna’s Wagon

COMMUNITY SERVICES

By Sydney Franklin Editorial Intern For 32 years, McKenna’s Wagon has served D.C. with hot meals on wheels every single day. As the official mobile soup kitchen of Martha’s Table, the wagon provides food for some 150 to 300 people each night.

From week to week, the wagon’s menu changes based on donations. Restaurants such as Chiptole Mexican Grill and The Capital Grille often give generously to the program.

Volunteers spend two hours driving the vans to its three drop-off locations: 5:30 p.m. – 6 p.m. 2nd and H St. 5:20 p.m. – 5:45 p.m. Pennsylvania Ave. and 19th St. NW 6 p.m. -6:30 p.m. 15th and K St. NW

Academy of Hope: 269-6623 601 Edgewood St, NE aohdc.org

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

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

Catholic Charities: 772-4300 catholiccharitiesdc.org/gethelp

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

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

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

Community Council for the Homeless at Friendship Place: 364-1419 4713 Wisconsin Ave, NW cchfp.org

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

“We have a wide variety of people that we serve,” said Demetrios Recachinas, assistant director of food and nutrition programs at Martha’s Table. “After the recession we did start to see individuals that did have homes, but were trying to supplement income with these meals. We are a zero barrier program, so we don’t ask any questions.”

All the food is prepared at Martha’s Table by staff cooks. Volunteers help prep the food for delivery.

Housing/Shelter

Clothing

Outreach

Transportation

Education

Legal Assistance

Food

Showers

Medical/Healthcare

Laundry

Employment Assistance DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH ACCESS HOTLINE

For information about volunteering, email volunteer@marthastable.org or call (202) 328-6608 X 212.

1-888-7WE HELP (1-888-793-4357)

SHELTER HOTLINE: 1–800–535–7252

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Community of Hope: 232-7356 communityofhopedc.org

15

STREET SENSE September 11 - 24, 2013

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

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

Rachel’s Women’s Center: 682-1005 1222 11th St, NW rachaels.org

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

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

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

Subscribe to Street Sense 1 Year: $40 2 Years: $80 3 Years: $120 I want half of my purchase to benefit a vendor directly Vendor Name

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

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

Vendor Badge # Name

Address Phone

WHAT:

Bringing the Story Home is the gala event of the decade, celebrating Street Sense’s 10 years of service and supporting our mission to elevate voices and create economic opportunities.

Silent Auction & Gala Event Heavy hors d’oeuvres / Open Bar Business/Cocktail Attire Buy Tickets Now @ StreetSense.org/gala

StreetSense.org/gala

WHEN:

Thursday, October 10 6pm

WHERE:

Carnegie Library at Mt. Vernon Square 801 K Street NW Washington, DC 20001

We are honoring:

Founder’s

Good Neighbor

Award

Award

F

ormer Street Sense vendor Tammy Karuza wants her readers and customers to know she is doing well. She left the streets of Washington D.C. in July 2012 for a better life in Fay-

By Tammy Karuza Vendor

September 11 - 24, 2013 • Volume 10 • Issue 22

Street Sense 1317 G Street, NW

Nonprofit Org US Postage Paid Washington, DC

Washington, DC 20005

Mail To:

Permit #568

Remember, buy only from badged vendors and do not give to those panhandling with one paper.

Interested in a subscription? Go to page 15 for more information.

etteville, N.C. Now she has a place to live near her adult son. Her sights are set on getting a job at a local newspaper where she once worked as a freelancer. Karuza said she has found much help and stability through participation in a Christian 12step program called Celebrate Recovery.

To learn more, please read on….

After the August 20th episode of Rizzoli and Isles aired, a tribute was made to Lee Thompson Young. I went online and found that the captivating actor had committed suicide.

One would wonder why someone who had so much going for him would choose to end his own life, but things aren’t always as they appear. Truth be told, there are many things which can make even the most seemingly enchanted life rough, even unmanageable, for the person living it. More than 38,364 Americans took their own lives in 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In addition, more than 45 million more suffer from mental illness, and 23.5 million struggle with addiction according to national statistics. Over 3 million children are abused each year, the advocacy organization Child-Help USA reports.

These “personal issues” don’t just destroy individual lives. Since only a fraction of the people who need psychological help get the care they need, they end up hurting families, communities and society as a whole. Its no secret, for instance, that untreated mental illness contributes to homelessness.

Well, as Anne Murray once sang “We sure could use a little good news today.”

And there is good news. In response to such an obvious need, successful self-help groups such as Celebrate Recovery are helping people who are struggling with addictions and traumas to find peace and healing.

Celebrate Recovery was started in 1991 at Saddleback Church in California. The brainchild of Pastors Rick Warren and John Baker, CR is a twelve-step group, based largely on the same steps as programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous but with a special emphasis upon Jesus Christ’s power to heal that which is broken.

CR has won many accolades over the years, and across the nation. Two groups meet right here in Fayetteville at Destiny Now Pentecostal Church and Arron Lake Baptist Church.

“We use the same twelve steps that AA uses,” says Jamie Rich, Leader of the Arron Lake Baptist Church Celebrate Recovery program. “The difference is in step three: we say ‘we turn our life and will over to the care of God.” Rich grew up in a loving home. Yet he himself faced struggles. He was overweight, was bullied by the other children, leaving him to feel that he did not fit in anywhere among his peers. “Then, one day I was introduced to the “party guys” that used to drink and used drugs,” he said. He finally found a group of peers he felt accepted by, but what started out as fun and social turned into an addiction that followed him most of his adult life.

“By the time I was thirty two years old, I finally hit what I call my rock bottom. (to be continued)