09 12 2012

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Volume 9: Issue 22 September 12 - 25, 2012

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The Power of

A bike pg 4

Long ti volun me Street Se te faces er finds m nse o a recen f poverty i ny n t Philad move to elphi a

pgs 8

-9

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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Educator, activist, and author Jonathan Kozol speaks to the District

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A failure to lead on D.C. Statehood?

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Don’t miss the conclusion of The Pinnacle!

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Meet vendor Jacqueline Turner, a woman with many talents!

COVER ART

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@streetsensedc /streetsensedc OUR STORY Street Sense began in August 2003 after Laura Thompson Osuri and Ted Henson approached the National Coalition for the Homeless on separate occasions with the idea to start a street paper in Washington, D.C. Through the work of dedicated volunteers, Street Sense published its first issue in November 2003. In 2005, Street Sense achieved 501 ( c ) 3 status as a nonprofit organization, formed a board of directors and hired a full-time executive director.

Today, Street Sense is published every two weeks through the efforts of four salaried employees, more than 100 active vendors, and dozens of volunteers.

Nearly 30,000 copies are in circulation each month.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Brian Carome EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Mary Otto MANAGING EDITOR Eric Falquero VENDOR/VOLUNTEER MANAGER Allen Hoorn advertising/communications coordinator Rebecca Stewart

VOLUNTEERS/WRITERS Jane Cave, Margaret Chapman, Brandon Caudill, Lilly Dymond, Ashley Edwards, Andrew Gena, Steve Gilberg, Jane Goforth, Roxanne Goldberg, Roberta Haber, Jesse Helfrich, Maurice King, Sean Lishansky, Victoria Hatterman O’Banion, Ashley Perkins, David Piper, Mark Rose, Willie Schatz, David Sellers, Kate Sheppard, Ernie Smith, Lilly Smith, Kelly Stellrecht, Brett Topping, Charlotte Tucker, Marian Wiseman, Eugene Versluysen

Photo by Allen Hoorn

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS Yebegashet Alemayehn, Margaret Chapman, Kristal Dekleer, Lisa Estrada, Robin Heller, Sommer Mathis, Manas Mohapatra, Brad Scriber, Michael Stoops

INTERNS Joel Barnes, Sydney Franklin, Mariko Hewer, Nick Mutschler, Chris Trevino

Street Sense vendor Larry Taylor is empowered by the chance to use a Capital Bikeshare bicycle to get around town.

A new issue comes out every two weeks, but you can stay connected to Street Sense every day!

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STREET SENSE September 12 - 25, 2012

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NEWS IN BRIEF

Reports Highlight Shelter Hazards

By Mary Otto Editor-in-Chief Felons working at the District’s family shelter, hazardous conditions at a city men’s shelter, and a lapse in oversight visits to more than 60 other shelters have raised the concerns at the District’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG).

In three new reports the OIG highlights problems found by teams of inspectors during visits at city shelters and suggests that other problems might have gone undocumented due to a shortage of staffing at an office expressly charged with overseeing the shelters.

In a review of personnel records at the city’s family emergency shelter located at the former DC General Hospital, the OIG found that some workers who had direct contact with families and children lacked background checks, drug and alcohol testing or tuberculosis screening as required by local law.

Only 49 of the 65 employee files reviewed by the inspection team contained criminal background checks and of those, six had criminal records and five admitted to the conviction of a felony, according to the report.

The DC General shelter, which has routinely housed more than 200 families, is run by the Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness (TCP). The organization took over the running of the shelter from Families Forward, Inc. which lost its contract in 2010 in the wake of allegations of sexual misconduct between shelter workers and clients.

According to the report, a TCP employee told the inspectors that TCP ‘uses a standard of no felony convictions less than ten years old, no pending charges and no misdemeanor drug or weapons charges in the last five years.”

“This TCP employee further indicated that all of DC General’s employees, including the six with criminal convictions, who ‘came to us (TCP) from Families Forward were grandfathered in ‘regardless of their criminal background’” On a favorable note, inspectors said they found the shelter’s common areas to be clean and well maintained.

“DC General clients reported good

conditions at the shelter and praised the on-site computer lab, as it allows them to apply for jobs,” the report stated. An official at TCP did not return calls for comment.

A second report highlighted concerns about the 801 East men’s shelter, located on Martin Luther King, Jr, Ave in Southeast. OIG inspectors found that a metal detector used to screen men entering the facility was not functioning.

They also questioned the reliability of an emergency generator and observed that men staying at the facility had no safe place to securely store prescription medications.

Men also faced barriers getting to and from the facility, which has a capacity of approximately 380 beds. A 25-person shuttle that offers rides between the shelter and downtown Washington only makes three runs in the morning and three in the evening, according to the OIG’s report. Men “clamoring” to get on board the shuttles and loitering outside the shelter “may create security and safety concerns,” the report noted.

“Correcting these deficiencies will create a safer more positive environment for clients at the 801 East shelter” said Inspector General Charles Willoughby.

Catholic Charities runs the shelter and provides case management services to the men who stay there through a contract with the Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness, but the city owns and operates the building itself.

“These are concerns we’ve raised already,” said Catholic Charities spokesman Eric Salmi, who praised the report.

“We are hopeful this will be a driver in improving services at the shelter.”

In a third report, the IG’s office cautioned that the Department of Human Services’ Office of Shelter Monitoring, a city office charged with monitoring shelter safety and quality in 65 facilities, failed in recent years to conduct regular site visits to many of the shelters.

The office had only one shelter monitor as of February of this year, the re-

port noted. In a written response the Department of Human Services noted that three additional monitors had been assigned to the unit in June and a full time compliance specialist was added in July.

An apparent lack of oversight for one huge shelter, the 1,350 bed Community for Creative Non-Violence (CCNV) shelter located near Judiciary Square, was a point of particular concern.

The shelter, the city’s largest, is unique in that it does not have paid employees but rather is run by volunteers who are formerly homeless themselves, the report noted. While the shelter is not a District government contractor, it does receive some city funds.

“Lack of CCNV monitoring as required by the D.C. Code, may jeopardize the safety of homeless shelter clients and employees and put the District at fiscal liability risk,” the report warned.

Department of Human Services spokesman Reggie Sanders said the OIG findings “identified a number of critical issues that were carried over from previous years.

Sanders said a number of corrective actions have been taken and that other problems are “in the process of being corrected.”

Men living at the CCNV shelter highlighted the dismal conditions of a shower facility in Sept 4 meeting with a city official and a legal advocate.

Men staying on the third floor of the 3 South wing of the CCNV shelter voiced their concerns about the shortage of showers, sinks and toilets.

“We talked,” said shel-

ter resident and homeless advocate Eric Sheptock. “We have 248 men using two sinks. There are 16 shower heads.

Only eight of them work.”

The city official, Dallas Williams of the DHS, did not return calls for comment. Julie Broas, a staff attorney for the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, who was also in attendance noted “reports from the residents indicated the conditions of the bathrooms and sanitary facilities are of great concern.”

“Bikes are Very Important Tools”

By Chris Trevino Editorial Intern Seven days a week Larry Taylor’s watch goes off at 5 a.m. The first thing he grabs is his tennis shoes. He lays them on the ground, rests his knees atop of them and prays.

Then, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Taylor heads out for a run.

Taylor is a member of Clean and Sober Streets’ running team, one of five in the District created by Back on My Feet (BoMF), a nonprofit that aims to provide independence, confidence, and self-sufficiency to those experiencing homelessness and overcoming addiction through running.

Besides running, Taylor recently added another form of exercise to his routine: bicycling. He is one of 10 runners selected to participate in a pilot program that offers bike sharing to the homeless, through a partnership formed by BoMF and Capital Bikeshare.

“As soon as I get to the bike I start feeling better because of the fact that the bike is so convenient,” said Taylor, who recently celebrated one year of sobriety. “And it teaches me to be responsible. Having those bikes you have to be responsible because bikes are very important tools.”

Taylor is not alone in his appreciation of bikes. Capital Bikeshare, a regional bikesharing system launched two years ago through a collaboration between Washington, D.C. and Arlington County, Va. is run according to a model that is growing in popularity across the country and the world. Such programs promote bicycle transit as a sensible alternative to buses, trains and private vehicles. helping to reduce traffic congestion and air pollution in urban areas. And bikes are low cost. That’s an added bonus for budget-minded commuters. In October, 2011, BoMF approached Bikeshare with the idea that the bikes might be a boon for the homeless as well.

“It just seemed like a natural fit,” said Gretchen Gates, the Director of Communications and Corporate Relations for BoMF. Officials at Bikeshare agreed.

“It’s our primary objective to get more people biking in the city,” said

Josh Moskowitz, a project manager with Bikeshare. “That is part of our mission.”

An annual membership with Bikeshare costs $75, but the pilot program allows the participants to obtain discounted memberships at $50 with the use of financial aid, aid that must be earned.

BoMF does not provide food nor shelter, but a community among the runners, which allows them to develop values such as leadership, teamwork, and disciple. The four-to-six month program is organized like a staircase; members must progress through certain steps to advance.

If a runner maintains a 90 percent attendance rate for morning runs after 30 days, he or she will move on to a new phase of the program that offers job training, education, housing opportunities and perhaps, even the use of a cheerful, bright red bike.

The pilot program began on March 22, 2012 and the future looks promising.

According to Gates the ten riders have embraced their memberships and have been using the bikes avidly.

Taylor said he uses the bikes every day and has tallied 97.53 miles. Dave Withers, 53 , is the program’s top rider with 136.55 miles and owns the distinction of haveing rented a bike 246 times in one month.

“I didn’t know it was 246,” said Withers with surprise.“But you know what, I’m kind of proud of that.”

Gates is also very pleased.

“People are super excited to use the Bikeshare so we do have plans to expand to an additional ten member in our program,” said Gates. Members use the bikes to reach a variety of destinations such as stores, 12-step recovery meetings, potential job interviews, appointments and school classes. Wherever they go, there is an added bonus, notes Taylor.

“The most important reason I use those bikes is for health,” said Taylor, 54, after an early Friday morning run.

And much like those morning runs have helped Taylor reclaim his life, so has the use of the Bikeshare bikes.

“It’s all about the bikes,” said Taylor with a smile. “It’s all about the bikes.”

Overcoming Barriers

By Chris Trevino Editorial Intern Amid the many pressing needs of the homeless, transportation often gets overlooked, even by the agencies and charities dedicated to helping the city’s very poorest residents.

But Amanda Formica, who recently completed a two-year stint at a case manager for Miriam’s Kitchen as a member of the Lutheran Volunteer Corps, stayed focused on ideas for providing cheap and free transportation for the District’s homeless people.

Formica led a transportation working group for the Coalition of Housing and Homeless Organizations and over six recent months, Formica and her group mulled the many barriers homeless people face in getting around the city.

Members concluded that at $1.70 a trip, bus fare was too expensive, that the city’s shelter hotline system was inadequate, causing homeless people to wait for rides in inclement weather, to lose access to shelter beds, and to be late for appointments and jobs.

The work group came up with a variety of possible solutions, from offering free bus fare to expanding the city’s shelter hotline system with safe waiting areas and larger shuttle buses. The group also suggested that free bicycles, together with helmets, locks, and access to bike maintenance lessons and supplies, might help many homeless people with their transportation needs.

“This would not be the solution for everyone, but would be incredibly

helpful for a significant percentage of people,” the group concluded in a draft report, released in July.

It was not the first time Formica had thought of bikes. In fact, she had helped Miriam’s, which operates meal, counseling and therapy services to the homeless in Foggy Bottom, to try a little pilot program of its own. It seems the city police department has plenty of bikes; abandoned, stolen, and unclaimed. Local organizations are able to sign up to get the bikes if they need them.

Miriam’s received 10 of the bikes.

Five of them were raffled off to a pool of around 60 entrants, all homeless. And five were set aside for use by Miriam’s volunteer corps workers as an inexpensive method of transportation.

While the raffle was a success, Formica was convinced of the need for a sustainable citywide program to provide low-cost transportation to poverty-stricken residents.

“There needs to be some coordination between organizations about transportation in the city,” said Formica. The city’s Business Improvement Districts might get involved, working alongside Capital Bikeshare and groups such as Bikehouse, a bicycle co-op in D.C., that could provide locks, helmets and classes on riding and maintenance to participants.

As she wrapped up her time at Miriam’s, and prepared to move on to a new assignment in another state, Formica said she remained convinced that bikes could be a key to providing free and simple transportation for homeless people, and instilling a path for a healthier life.

STREET SENSE September 12 - 25, 2012

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news

A student chats with two guests of the Youth Service Opportunity service dinner.

Photo by Nick Mutschler

Service men and women were honored at Freedom Plaza.

Photo by Nick Mutschler

D.C. Embraces National Day of Service

By Nick Mutschler Editorial Intern

As Street Sense went to press, local students and workers joined volunteers across America to repair schools and shelters, feed the hungry and assist homeless veterans in remembrance of the tragedies of September 11, 2001.

In the 11 years since thousands died in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, volunteering to help neighbors and strangers has become a way to mark the anniversary. In 2009, Congress designated the date as a National Day of Service and Remembrance.

Here in the District, the nonprofit HandsOn Greater DC Cares, along with over 20 other organizations, marked the day with speeches and activities honoring veterans and emergency responders at Freedom Plaza.

Attendees were invited to assemble emergency preparedness kits for homeless veterans, participate in crisis alertness demonstrations and trainings and a volunteer recruitment fair.

Mayor Vincent C. Gray remembered the tragedies in comments at the event and in a statement. He asked city residents to recall the victims and their families.

“Today, I ask District residents to pause to remember those whom we lost – including several of our own fellow residents, among them a group of DC Public Schools students and educators – in the terrorist attacks 11 years ago,” Gray said.

“Our thoughts and prayers remain with those loved ones they left behind,

who feel their loss especially acutely on this anniversary.”

Gray also commemorated the heroism of the emergency workers and military personnel who responded to the attacks and those who continue to work to ensure public safety..

Although changing the atmosphere of 9/11 from tragedy to unity is no easy task, the activities planned for the National Day of Service stress kindness, and community spirit.

“We are greater together,” said Clarence J. Fluker, a spokesman for Serve DC. “Our hope is that this event will encourage residents across the District to engage in service to and with their community as a way to honor the brave men and women who have in the past and are currently serving our great nation.”

Meanwhile in suburban Viginia, volunteers converged at a shelter, the Arlington County Winter Emergency Center, to paint, do repair work and make improvements in remembrance of 9/11.

“We’re making sure the center is appropriate and ready for our guests. You want to feel comfortable and peaceful in a home, especially in the winter,” said Patti Klein, executive director of Rebuilding Together Arlington/Fairfax/ Falls Church. Volunteers came from Klein’s organization, as well as from the Monumental Sports & Entertainment Foundation (MSE,) and from Arlington County First Responders Although some of the improvements such as new mirrors, clothes hooks and book shelves, might not seem dramatic, they will have an impact upon the

lives of the shelter guests. So will fresh paint and a thorough cleaning. In addition, volunteers planned on assembling care packages for 100 homeless men and women.

Arlington Street People’s Assistance Network (A-SPAN,) operates the shelter and provides services such as case management, employment counseling, housing case management and placement and medical care.

DC Students from Ballou Senior High School and the Maya Angelou Public Charter School got a head start on observing the day, preparing a meal for homeless and hungry men and women.

The September 8 service dinner, hosted by Youth Service Opportunities Project (YSOP) was held at the Church of the Epiphany near Metro Center.

Such events are designed to help the poor, and also to teach young people about the wider needs that exist in their communities said one organizer.

“We are striving to broaden the perspectives of all the students we work with to make an impact on their lives,” says YSOP DC Program Director Sarah DeGrandpre.

The event offered an opportunity for students to talk with homeless individuals in a relaxed and safe setting, with a goal of challenging social stereotypes and prejudice. During the last school year over 4,636 students and adults took part in YSOP programs, providing services to more than 504,700 hungry and homeless people in New York City and Washington, DC. “YSOP has totally taken me out of my comfort zone. But being able to meet people from different schools and pull together to give back to the community brings a great feeling,” said Dreonna Richardson, a junior at Ballou Senior High School. “I’ve even learned how to cook.”

THIS TIME LAST YEAR:

On September 11th, 2011, the Obamas volunteered at Miriam’s Kitchen, preparing and serving food for the center’s clients.

Courtesy of Whitehouse.gov

Wealth on Wheels

By Gail Jennings www.street-papers.org/IPS “If you have a bicycle, you can be rich,” said one cargo cyclist on the road just beyond the falls, as he abandoned pedalling and pushed his wheeled load.

“This is how we trade.”

Although they are low-tech, the trailers are skilfully designed and often neighbourhood- manufactured, have two wheels and are attached to the bicycle via a hitch behind the saddle.

They can carry up to around 200 kilogrammes of goods, water or, less often, people. These are significantly greater weights than what can be transported by head load, handcart or backpack.

In Zambia, Namibia and more recently Congo-Brazzaville, bicycle trailers save not only livelihoods, but also lives. Zambulances - bicycle trailers with a mattress, privacy curtain and basic medical equipment - have replaced walking or being pushed in a wheelbarrow for many ailing or pregnant rural people who live some distance from healthcare centres. Designed and produced by Zambikes, these trailers have been found to save one life for every nine days they are used.

South Africa has been slower than its neighbours to embrace the bicycle as an obvious example of low-cost, low-carbon mobility. But slowly micro-entrepreneurs and bicycle tourists are discovering the ease and economic opportunity a bicycle trailer can offer as a way of transporting goods and passengers.

Malibongwe* lives in Khayelitsha, a low-income neighbourhood on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa. He makes a living buying ice cream and selling it from his make-shift bicycle trailer - and manages to support his whole family. Recently he tested positive for HIV and now uses his bicycle to make the monthly trip to collect his anti-retroviral medication as well.

So it was with dismay that Malibongwe learned that his enterprise is in danger, from a surprising source. De-

spite the country’s draft non-motorised transport (NMT) policy that aims to increase the role of NMT as a key transport mode and allocate adequate and sustainable funding for its development and promotion, the South African National Department of Transport (NDoT) is considering prohibiting the use of bicycle trailers on public roads.

However, the department recognises that although there is growth in motorised transport in developing countries such as South Africa, a large portion of the population depends on non-motorised forms of transport. This is likely to increase following global trends of rising fuel prices and the need for low-carbon transportation.

“Local transport solutions such as trailers, handcarts or bicycles could assist poor and rural communities in making them more efficient with small business and domestic duties,” stated the draft NMT Policy.

Yet in June, the NDoT published an intention to amend the National Road Traffic Regulations, proposing that “no person shall ride a pedal cycle on a public road drawing or towing a trailer or anything.”

Malibongwe told IPS that he is “very worried about the new law, as if it is passed I’ll have no way of supporting my family.” He is one of a number of bicycle riders who petitioned the NDoT in July, asking that the proposal be reconsidered.

“By limiting the ability of bicycles to carry goods and passengers, this regulation will undermine their potential as a primary mode of transport for individuals and for most entrepreneurial small businesses,” Kyle Mason-Jones, a chemical engineer who also bicycle commutes 15 kilometres most days in Cape Town, told IPS. “For the poor, this will destroy a very promising possibility for affordable transport and wipe out many small business opportunities. For wealthier citizens, it will make the ownership of a motorcar a necessity of life, elimi-

Zambulances – bicycle trailers with a mattress, privacy curtain and basic medical equipment – have replaced walking or being pushed in a wheelbarrow for many ailing rural people who live some distance from healthcare centres.

Photo by Gail Jennings

nating many of the benefits of bicyclecentred transport.”

Concerns about road safety were among the reasons behind the proposed amendments, said one of the policymakers working with the NDoT. “We know that we have a poor safety record - almost half of the deaths on our roads are pedestrians and cyclists,” he told IPS, asking for anonymity.

South Africa has one of the highest road death tolls in the world. During the holiday period from Dec. 1, 2011 to Jan. 10, 2012, 1,475 people were killed in road accidents according to the NDoT. This contrasts sharply with the United Kingdom, for example, where the death toll for all of 2010 was 1,857.

“Road safety activists brought to our attention that in mostly rural areas, people were being carried by these trailers, and we had a concern about the speed of downhill transportation,” the source said.

Safety-conscious countries such as Germany and the UK - where bicycle trailers are popular modes for parents transporting young children, and for long-distance bicycle tourists - strictly regulate bicycle trailers as merely one facet of comprehensive attention to safer road behaviour.

In Germany, bicycle trailer loads (goods and people) may not exceed 250 kg, or 100 kg in a rigid coupling with no independent brakes, and 60 kg if the trailer itself has no brakes and has a flexible coupling.

In the UK, all wheeled vehicles designed for transport must comply with British or European safety standards the equivalent of the rules and regulations issued by South Africa’s Bureau of

Standards. Certain visibility precautions must be taken, such as reflectors, lights and pennants.

In South Africa, current legislation forbids bicycles from towing other vehicles, but does not define bicycle trailers as vehicles. The country’s Vehicle Technical Committee, in reviewing these regulations in 2011 and 2012, determined to prohibit bicycle trailers rather than regulate or define them.

The new, prohibitive measures seem counter-productive in a middle-income country with high levels of poverty, where the overwhelming majority of people rely on non-motorised transport.

Improving the goods and passenger carrying of non-motorised transport vehicles will not only facilitate the fulfilment of any government’s transportation goals, but also its goals for job creation, micro-enterprise and community sustainability, suggested NMT engineer and safe cycling educator Louis de Waal.

There is no doubt that road danger is a major fear for people who walk and cycle in South Africa, De Waal told IPS. “But to ban one form of bicycle transport, ahead of implementing other safety regulations… just does not make enough sense,” he said.

Citizen action and the resulting correspondence to the NDoT might have made an impact, though.

“Now that we have seen people’s objections, and read their reasoning, we agree that we will have a significant impact on entrepreneurs and small businesses, and livelihoods of people, with this possible regulation. So we will be back at the drawing board,” said the source at the NDoT. *Name withheld on request.

STREET SENSE September 12 - 25, 2012

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news

Addressing Issues that Confront Urban Schools

By Joel Barnes Editorial Intern For more than 50 years, renowned educator, activist and author Jonathan Kozol has dedicated his career to working with and chronicling the lives of some of America’s poorest children and their families, particularly in the South Bronx. Through more than a dozen books Kozol has taken readers on a journey allowing them to see what life is like for those living in poverty.

Jonathan Kozol Photo by Maureen Sill

His latest, “Fire in the Ashes: TwentyFive Years Among the Poorest Children in America,” was the topic of discussion at the Sidwell Friends School on Sept. 4th.

Fire in the Ashes shares the heartfelt tales of children in the South Bronx who must face the many hardships and obstacles that plague the communities they grew up in. Many of these children and families lived in some of the South Bronx’s notorious homeless shelters.

Over the years Kozol has developed deep and lasting friendships with these children and their families.

Some of the youth that he encountered have overcome these challenges and made it out, while others became victims of the inner city. In the book, Kozol reveals and highlights the inequalities of education in urban schools.

Everything that he writes about comes from firsthand observations.

First, as Kozol writes, the low-performing public schools that these children attended fail to provide adequate learning opportunities and hinder their academic growth. Secondly, their fami-

lies are broken up by drug addiction and crime, which results in emotional problems and limits their social mobility.

Lastly, violence, crime and drugs plague the community in which they were raised, and their neighborhoods do not provide resources and opportunities. As a result, many of these children become marginalized and disenfranchised, making it very difficult to progress and escape these difficulties.

Kozol grew up in privilege in Cambridge, Mass. During the height of the Civil Rights Movement in 1964, Kozol moved from Harvard Square into a poor black neighborhood of Boston and became a fourth grade teacher.

He has been working with children ever since and has devoted his life to providing equal educational opportunities to children regardless of race or economic status.

In the late ‘80s and throughout the ‘90s Kozol spent his time many children living in New York in a section called Mott Haven, which was then and is still today the single poorest neighborhood in all of the South Bronx, and remains the poorest congressional district out of all 435 congressional districts in America.

“I thought I had seen poverty in Boston but I’d never seen anything on this scale before,” said Kozol.

Kozol noted that many of his readers frequently ask him what happened to those children? Did he keep in touch with them? How many of them survived?

How many did not? And for those who did survive how did they obtain a decent education? How far did their education take them? What are they doing now?

Kozol said that some of the children he encountered never did recover from the battery they underwent in schools that were among the worst he had ever seen.

“Streets where needles and crack cocaine were almost anywhere. Three of the boys who suffered most, I’m sad to say, are no longer alive,” Kozol said.

Still, Kozol recounts the stories of children who found the strength to defeat their dire circumstances.

“There are many children in the book who battled back courageously against the formidable obstacles they faced. And with the help of grown-ups who intervened at crucial times and loved them deeply and fought aggressively on their

behalf have won triumphant victories.

Those children are the fire in the ashes whom I celebrate today,” said Kozol.

A number of teachers were in attendance. Kozol has a high adoration for teachers and praises them for the role that they play in children’s lives. Kozol addressed the issues of public education. Among the topics discussed, class size, standardized testing and the No Child Left Behind Act were the most prevalent during the talk.

Some of the children that Kozol mentions in his book prevailed in part because of charitable people. Scholarships and philanthropy are a great aid to students who come from poverty stricken neighborhoods.

“Charity is a lovely thing I never turn it down I assure you. But charity will never be, it never was, it isn’t now a substitute for systematic justice,” Kozol said.

Low-income students such as the ones in this book should not have to look for charity to receive a decent education in the wealthiest nation in the world, according to Kozol.

“Only equal, universal, non-seductive public education can ever close the gap between the classes and the races in America,” Kozol said.

Anna Ernst, a social worker from Bethesda was in attendance. She read Kozol’s Savage Inequalities: Children In America’s Schools while attending Oberlin College in Ohio. The book discusses the disparities in education between schools of different classes and races. After reading the book, Ernst was deeply moved by Kozol and wanted to explore these issues more in depth.

“He painted a picture of public education that I had never seen before,” Ernst said.

Education and poverty activist Jonathan Kozol’s 13th book, “Fire in Ashes,” examines education inequality.

Image courtesy of Jeremy Franklin

STREET SENSE September 12 - 25, 2012

92

Feature

Philadelphia Street Scenes Photos by Brett Mohar

Street Sense photojournalism volunteer Brett Edward Mohar left D.C. for a new job in Philadelphia.

Before long, he started exploring the stories of homeless men and women in his new hometown. He sent Street Sense this photo essay.

“It is the same scene every day, on every corner,” Mohar said, “Seen by thousands; noticed by few.”

He described his subjects as being “the most accepting and willing to tell their stories to a perfect stranger with a camera and a notepad, expecting nothing in return.”

Each one seemed grateful for the help he or she received from the community. No one

blamed anyone else for his or her homelessness.

“Most of the people I spent time with in the photographs were intelligent, humorous, sober, and open-minded, but lacked optimism and hope,” Mohar said.

“All I want to do is show those people that can’t or don’t take the time to hear their stories that there is another, softer, more humanistic side to nearly everyone, including every subject in these images.”

Mohar plans to go on using his camera to explore the lives of his homeless neighbors in Philadelphia.

-Sydney Franklin, Editorial Intern

Comics & Games

Glarph The postulatin’ shark: is not a people person

By Chris Shaw, “The Cowboy Poet”

Summer Ending

By Sybil Taylor Vendor Fall is arriving soon, Summer fun is gone.

Those long hot days of 100 degree weather, the hottest summer we had.

The weather has been so dry. drinking a lot of water, going swimming, keeping cool, stay where it’s air conditioned.

We didn’t hardly get rain, so we had to bare it out.

A trip to the beach to cool down, relaxing on the beach sand on a blanket, eating watermelon, drinking a lot of fluids, or eating ice cream or popsicles.

Others enjoyed summer BBQ on the grill, cooking steaks, hamburgers, hot dogs, ribs, corn on the cob, fixing a cold salad, or glasses of lemon ice water.

I enjoyed all the summer days.

Well farewell to summer and say hello to the fall season!

STREET SENSE September 12 - 25, 2012

74

opinion

Conventially Independent

By Jeffery McNeil Vendor Now that the conventions are over it is time for me to reflect on the candidates. As an independent I tried to watch the conventions with objectivity.

I thought one of the two best speeches of the Republican convention was Ann Romney’s. While I don’t agree with her politics or what she represents, I respect her for battling multiple sclerosis and breast cancer. I identify with women who struggle with debilitating diseases for I have seen the women in my life lose the fight battling breast cancer. The other speaker I liked was Condoleezza Rice. She articulated well the Republican platform: deregulate, cut taxes and drill more oil.

However great speeches by Republicans were few, capped off with the bizarre crescendo by Clint Eastwood.

While I agree with some Republican talking points such as self-reliance, God and independence, it seemed like the Republicans were acting like wolves in sheeps’ clothing. One by one, the speakers came up with narratives of growing up in lowly beginnings only to pull themselves up. To hear Ann Romney talk about living in the base-

ment made me turn off the channel and watch the Call of the Wildmen.

Each speaker also bamboozled the flock with lies about our President. The biggest whoppers came from Paul Ryan accusing Obama of closing a plant in Janesville, Wis., and lowering work requirements for welfare (after Republican governors begged him to lower the restrictions.) Bill Clinton served this distortion right back at the Republicans like a Serena Williams’ volley.

What was most glaring about the Republican convention was the complexion and the tone of the Republicans. You couldn’t help but notice the lineup was dominated by white males, with only a few minorities and women spouting anger towards our President. The theme was “Obama isn’t like you. He is not one of us.”

It hard to see how the Republicans convinced anyone that they would be an alternative to the President. They said little about what they would do if they got elected. They advocated less abortion, more deportations and lower taxes for the rich.

It was grotesque seeing the crowd chant “USA!” when speakers promised to cut Medicare, and aid to the poor. As an independent , I wonder how America could let a person twist in the wind because he got old or sick or lost his job.

As veterans say, we don’t leave our

wounded behind. The Republican platform not only kicks the wounded but leaves them out to die.

While I was not impressed by Romney, I was only lukewarm toward the Democrats when I first tuned in to their convention. At the outset, it seemed like they were offering the same old liberal rants. It was more abortion, less God and the poor are victims.

When Michelle Obama spoke, however, my cynicism turned to tears because Michelle spoke to me. Her personal narrative about her husband, Barack Obama made me feel guilty about some of the criticism I have written about him. She inspired me. I went from simply hoping he wins to feeling I need to get up and vote for him. Every time I walk by the White House now I feel honored she is there. She is the personification of what a woman should be. Go ahead Mrs. Obama! I love you.

Her speech alone should have inspired everyone but the Democrats didn’t let up. They offered something for everyone. If Michelle Obama did not convince the women, there was also Elizabeth Warren; for minorities there were Julian Castro, Deval Patrick and Emanuel Cleaver. But the main event was Bill Clinton.

Clinton was speaking my language.

He reached out to the moderates and independents who are fed up with both

parties. In his own Clintonian style, he simplified the intricacies of policy like a maestro who plays the audience with every note. He systematically addressed every argument that the Republicans tried to use against Obama. In the end I felt Bill Clinton talked me out of wanting to commit suicide, or vote for Romney. Who needs money when you have a Bill Clinton in your stable?

The man can inspire a waitress to serve your table.

If that was not enough, there was a fiery speech by John Kerry, then my favorite: Joe Biden, “Scranton Joe” He beat up on the Republicans like a thug from the projects. It was a combination of tears, compassion and shaming. I don’t know Joe Biden but Joe Biden knows me. I will vote for Obama because I love Joe Biden.

Then President Obama finished them all off with the best line of the show.

“I am the President. “ I cried because those words stood for everything Americans want from Obama. They don’t want handouts.

They want someone to give them a hand. I am not voting for Obama because he’s black but I am voting for him because I’m black and I can’t see him being replaced by Richy Rich.

Come election day I will do my duty and vote for Obama.

Failure to Lead – Obama’s Silence on Statehood for the District

By Brian Carome Executive Director Starting in 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr., began speaking out against U.S. involvement in Vietnam. His stand cost him support among union leaders, the press and even President Lyndon Johnson. Over time, in his speeches, King moved from expressions of doubt to outright opposition to the war. Now viewed as evidence of the courage of his convictions, King took a stand that defied political wisdom.

Compare that to President Obama’s

complete lack of leadership on the issue of D.C. statehood. It reached a new low at last week’s Democratic Convention in Charlotte.

During his nomination acceptance speech on Sept. 6, President Obama made not a single mention of the issue of statehood or even equal representation for District residents. Worse, Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Obama’s campaign leadership refused to let D.C.’s non-voting representative to Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton, come anywhere near the podium at the convention.

Until this one, Representative Norton had addressed every Democratic Convention since being first elected in

1991. This year, along with D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray, Representative Norton was told she could address her concerns from the designated “free speech zone” set aside for protesters outside the convention hall. Ironically, security around the “free speech zone” was so tight, that Mayor Gray and Representative Norton were unable to reach the area.

Perhaps it is this type of politics as usual that has deflated so much of the hope that fueled voter enthusiasm for then-Senator Obama in 2008. Undoubtedly it can be argued that it would be politically unwise for the President to stand firmly and vocally in favor of the rights of DC residents. In a Sept. 5 column in The Washington Post, Robert

McCartney cited senior Democrats from the District who pointed to “political calculations about race” as being at the root of DNC and Obama campaign leadership’s motivation to “squash advocacy of D.C. statehood or voting rights at the convention.”

“The Chicago folks wanted to avoid publicizing African American leaders or causes that might perturb some white voters or hand Republicans an issue to exploit,” McCartney wrote.

That’s the sticky thing about leadership. Taking a stand, especially one as far-fetched and controversial as equal representation in a democracy, alienates some voters.

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 colaborate on the next great issue of Street Sense.

How to Find Work in DC

Tired

By Morgan A. Jones Vendor

By Adira Sheinman Vendor

It’s hard to get a job in D.C. when you’re homeless. Unless you know someone, this is what you need to get a job in D.C.: a resume, c o v e r l e t t e r, email account, cellphone, letters of reference and an address.

Many of these things can be hard for a homeless person to obtain. Some of these things require a computer, which many homeless people do not have much, if any, access to.

This is even more of an issue nowadays, because most places want you to submit your application online. It used to be you could just go into a place and fill out an application.. Then they either called you or they didn’t. Employers also ask you to provide an address, which can be difficult when you don’t have a permanent address.

A GED or high school diploma is preferred but not required at many places.

Also, proper attire is required for men and women. Men need a white shirt, tie, dress slacks and shoes. Women might need a dress and proper shoes.

Some places can help you with many of these things.

Jubilee Jobs helped me apply for jobs. It also has information about how to run a business and has a variety of support groups to help you while you search for work. Jubilee Jobs also referred me to the Community for Creative Non-Violence (CCNV) Job Club.

The CCNV Job Club provides access to computers. It will help you write a resume and cover letter, and get you proper work attire. After being in the club for three weeks you will get a bus pass so you can go out and look for work.

I also recently joined Marshall Heights Community Development, which offers a lot of programs to help you find work.

I’m trying to join as many organizations as possible because I don’t just want to find a job; I want to find a career.

A few years ago I was going to school to be an engineer. I have to start over now, but I think if I work hard, be persistent and keep believing in myself, I will eventually attain my goals.

I’d like to thank Ms. Sandy, Kimberly at CCNV, and Jubilee Jobs for all their support.

If you’re looking for work, I also recommend Hard2Hire.com, which helps ex-offenders find work. You can also try some temp agency websites like aerotek.com, kellyservices.com, manpower.com, officeteam.com, and staffingnow.com.

The Votes Most Cast

By Gwynette Smith Vendor After the election has occurred And the results have been heard We can only hope that the votes most cast Were, in reflection, the ones for the best That we are not then in a big mess And filled every day with deep regret.

Tired Of when I wake to brush my teeth and look in the mirror; while I open my mouth to scream, yet no sound comes out;

Tired Of the constant anxiety and fear I live in from relationships past;

Tired Of being unemployed, broke and broken, residence-free;

Tired Of looking in the mirror and not recognizing the face looking back, Of me, ashamed of whom I became;

Tired

I’m just so tired.

Why I Wear the Hat

By Phillip Black Vendor There are more than one hundred and thirty Street Sense vendors. We have our own style and technique to sell the newspaper. Each vendor says a favorite pitch phrase to our customers to get them to stop and buy our paper.

What helps me the most? The Hat! Wearing the hat distinguishes me from all the other vendors. I have made it my logo and my brand.

Selling my Street Sense papers and wearing my hat makes my customers happy when they see me.

Whether or not they buy the newspaper, people can be sure that the cat and the hat will be between 11th and 13th Streets NW during the week and at Eastern Market on weekends, with a bright smile and a happy attitude.

The children there cannot wait to see the cat and the hat. To see the kids smile and laugh when they see

me makes my day. Most of my customers tell me they look forward to seeing me when they get off the Metro. They tell me they can see my hat a block away. If it’s raining, snowing or a very hot day, you can be sure that Phillip Black, the Cat in the Hhat, will always be working, smiling and happily selling Street Sense.

STREET SENSE September 12 - 25, 2012

163

news

Street Crime Hurts Us All

By Gary J Minter Vendor Last night my next-door neighbor Mr. Brown, a 70-year-old man, went out for a smoke. Three teenage boys had been hanging around our apartment building,

sitting on the entrance doorstep of our senior citizens apartment building on Good Hope Road SE. When they asked Mr. Brown for a cigarette, he said he didn’t have any extras. They hit him on the back of the head. Mr. Brown came upstairs with blood all over his head and

The Remorseful

By Ibn Hipps Vendor So much hate and anger we have among ourselves. Each race of people has a reason for hating the next. The hate and anger comes from deep within the soul. Some of us were born with that disease of hate and some were raised to be that way.

Now for a person - woman, man or child - to overcome this hate. We must look deep into our own hearts, deep into that burning fire of hatred and ask yourself “why do we feel this way? What has that person, that race or creed, what have they done to me to cause me to feel this way? When you really look deep, deep within yourself, you’ll find there’s no reason for the anger and hatred.

So as you can “c”, there’s no reason for the mean looks and rude hand gestures. I am deeply hurting from all the

mistakes I have made in my lifetime. So for me to inhale all the hatred an’ anger that some people have burning in their hearts. Because pain and time can leave a person dysfunctional in the mind.

Every morning I wake up repenting for my lifelong mistakes. I like to thank the good lord for what good did come out of my life. I have four children and I have tried hard to be a positive force in their everyday lives. But the roads I have chosen have led me to a dead end. I am lost in the darkness of this world, and I fear my next world might be worse. As I write, my eyes rain the pain that I hold deep inside. I’d like to sincerely thank all the positive people who donate to me on the corner of 14th and I St. Your smiles and positive vibes strengthen my faith and better my life for me and my children. Thanks 4 the love!

Look out for my next article, “The Mist.”

hands while the rest of us were watching Dallas play the Giants.

The ambulance took Mr. Brown to the hospital, and the police came to our apartment building, but the boys are still at large.

What is wrong with young people today? Many of them are good kids, but many have no respect for their elders, or for anyone else...

Last year while I was staying at the men’s shelter 801-E on Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue in Southeast DC, I was talking to one of my friends. He got up from the bench to go inside, and I continued reading the newspaper. I heard some boys laughing and running

down the street. A few minutes later I got up to go inside the shelter, and saw my friend lying on the sidewalk, unconscious, with blood dripping from his mouth....

A couple weeks ago a family man in his 20s was walking home from a bar on Pennsylvania Avenue after the baseball game, and he was brutally attacked and hit on the head with a hammer... he almost died, and will need therapy for a long time....

We need to do something to stop these vicious street crimes in our city.

It is time to start Neighborhood Watch groups all over DC.

Before the Rain, Part 5: Ain’t no charity in Charity Hospital

By Chris Shaw “The Cowboy Poet” Loomis rolled over and wiped gravel off his face. Slick. That Craig and his homies were puffin’ the blunt and fist bumpin’ as they faded from Loomis’ view -- AGAIN! This time it was for real, but the “Mercy Day” riff was just a sham to throw Loomis of his usual awareness game.

Now the dratted COCKROACH BUZZING swam loud, louder, LOUDEST in Loomis’ ears. Now some sireen noise.

Loomis blacked out. He felt an ungodly swaying. He retched. Blur, more blur, then BUZZING again.

Cockroaches? No, now it’s a big fluorescent light. Loomis is strapped to a gurney.

He tried getting up. Strapped down.

No use. Loomis espied a glycerinerimmed vision of an old wicker wheelchair. A gaunt African American with a puffy wig and star-shaped shades over his eyes -- “Wot!! Voices cry out- “Give him a sedative!! Thorazine shot” At’s JAMES BOOKER! Cool Pianna playah!! But he DIED back in SeventyEight! Doctor John told me so.”

Disembodied from reality. Loomis, zoning out, groans, “The ghost of Booker, I’m telling you..”

(TO BE CONTINUED)

By Franklin Sterling, Vendor

The Pinnacle

part 2

By Jane Goforth Volunteer In part 1 of The Pinnacle, our hero stands as the last survivor of his dying world. He gets ready to board a selfsufficient ship designed to keep him safe and preserve the Knowledge Tapes, so they can be passed on to next inhabited world.

ALL THE KNOWLEDGE WAS THERE. Knowledge which had brought his world to its peaks and which had led to its destruction. Within those tapes that he had protected and preserved for so long, were the lessons his race had learned in its final hours.

Perhaps other cultures would be able to use them and avoid what his civilization had not been able too. Other cultures could learn from these tapes, the meaning of true civilization and how to maintain a world in a manner that would sustain and uplift its inhabitants.

In these final moments before his departure, he reflected upon those tapes.

Their simplicity of presentation, he hoped would ensure their understanding. They had to be understood to be utilized. They offered the key to a lasting culture as compared to a transient one. A few hundred years is hardly a long time to call a culture a civilization. Civility is central, he thought. His culture/civilization had only understood this near the end, when their counsel had begun to plan for the end. The discussions were long and continued into the night and early morning. Why hadn’t they had these talks in the past?

Because the present, with its horrible inevitability, was knocking savagely on the door to the future.

He and the members of the counsel had only realized, too late, that the an-

swer and answers lie in an almost intangible idea. An idea taught by teachers of antiquity. Some of those ‘lessons’ or ‘messages’ had been used to decorate temple walls. Words and symbols, inscribed on stone, but only seen as decoration. He thought to himself of the regrets. Why they as leaders had failed to promote – somehow – those words as lessons. They had had an obligation to teach what they believed and passed along to their children. But after almost three millennia of civilization, essential truths had become lost in rhetoric. The true meanings had suffered from old age.

His regrets were magnified when he realized that even he needed to see and absorb the final consequences of their actions, to realize the full horror of the result. The intrusion of the basic self, the debasing element of greed, the few ruling the many, yet lacking the moral or inevitable ‘right’ to do so. Right had been usurped. Yet those whose rights had been taken had given them up without a fight.

The answers, now clearer than they had been in ages past, were hopefully so well defined in the tapes that almost any similarly-evolved civilization would be able to decode them and understand their importance. That importance, he believed, was well laid out and defined. So well so, that he had less anxiety about their eventual discovery and use than he had about the ‘rebirth’ of his planet.

The cold finally became too much for him. He turned and went inside, the doorway sealing with a smooth hiss behind him as he cleared its path. He still wondered about that light he had

seen, but dismissed it, as the necessity to leave became more pressing. He gathered up scattered papers and various personal items he had missed and carefully placed them inside a mediumsized backpack.

Minutes later, with a last look around his home, and the sadness of the past gently releasing itself in a sudden sigh, he entered an elevator and descended the 1,000 feet unto the cavern beneath.

When the elevator stopped and the door opened, the huge cavern awed him. He had tried to imagine what had created this huge hole but no solution ever came to him because he had not been an excavator, just a scientist looking for a very private place to work. No tunnels shot off into the distance. It was just one hell of a great hole in the ground.

The proportions of his cavern workshop were immense, the dimensions jawdropping. Its potential had remained as obvious as it was to him so long ago. He moved from the elevator, passed a pulsating console of controls and proceeded toward the glowing silver object in the center of the workshop. He marveled at its beauty, the silver glow caused by so much scientific ‘stuff’ that even he lost count. It was a silver-white and luminescent culmination of almost 200 years of painstaking planning and exhausting but satisfying work. It was the final glory of this world, its technology, and his remaining years.

He let pride flow through him. It satisfied his esthetic perceptions. Its natural glow from the metallic substances of its manufacture pleased him to the point where he felt embarrassed. But there was no one here to fault him for

his pride, so he enjoyed it even more.

He approached the ship with a reverence accorded usually to people in high and respected offices. He stood in front of it feeling the pride of the artist/creator who sees his idea, complete and perfect and a reality.

He pressed a piece of the ornament he wore around his neck. A stairway along the underside of the ship, lowered and he walked fully upright, into his ship. He returned a few minutes later, minus his bundles, and went over to the console, which for so long had monitored this dying world and which now would also keep an additional set of the tapes, in case some future adventurer found his way here.

He began making adjustments on the center console. Second later lights in the cavern began to fade. Darkness, except for the console in front of him, which glowed with a living power of incredible energy forces, was all around him. He made final settings – one to welcome that adventurer who might come later in time. He then moved toward the ship, ascended the stairway and disappeared inside.

He walked along out the corridor that led to the control center.

Suddenly, a certain amount of peace settled over him. It was all over. He and others had done all they could do. He would leave knowing that. If only they had seen. No life could survive her now.

He began by buckling himself into the seat in front of the console so that the controls were under his hands, within easy reach.

THE END.

Service Spotlight: Byte Back

By Nick Mutschler Editorial Intern Although we live in a digital world, gaining the proper skills to become computer literate can be incredibly challenging.

Byte Back, located in Northeast, DC, seeks to bridge this digital divide by providing hands-on computer training to those in the community who lack access to digital communications or have little computer literacy.

Success is not uncommon at Byte Back. DC native Cheryl Williams landed her first paying job in over nine years after one month of attendance at the Benning Road Office Track Class. In 2010, half of unemployed students who enrolled in the program obtained employment and 15% of students who already had a job received a raise because of their training.

“We want to help unemployed and underemployed people compete in a highly competitive marketplace where computer literacy is vital,”

Department of Mental Health Access Hotline 1-888-7WE HELP (1-888-793-4357)

SHELTER Calvary Women’s Services 110 Maryland Avenue, NE (202) 289-0596 (office) (202) 289-2111 (shelter) www.calvaryservices.org Central Union Mission (Men) 1350 R Street, NW (202) 745–7118, www.missiondc.org Open Door Shelter (Women) 425 2nd Street, NW (202) 393–1909 www.newhopeministriesdc.org/id3.html Community of Hope (Family) 1413 Girard Street, NW (202) 232–7356,www.communityofhopedc.org Covenant House Washington (Youth) 2001 Mississippi Avenue, SE (202) 610–9600, www.covenanthousedc.org John Young Center (Women) 119 D Street, NW (202) 639–8469, www.catholiccharitiesdc.org

says Byte Back communications associate Jessica Bates.

Courses are taught at over a dozen locations throughout the D.C. metro area. Students are offered more than six different programs to enroll in based upon their individual skill level, from basic Computer Literacy Training to Linux Certification.

“Our program doesn’t only work with people looking for employment possibilities; we also encourage retirees looking to learn basic computer skills to enroll in our senior course,” says Bates.

Byte Back also offers classes on American Sign Language, Spanish and computer courses for people with low-literacy.

Anyone with basic computer literacy can volunteer to teach beginner courses. For information on how to enroll, call 202-529-3395 or visit www.byteback.org. For information on volunteering, contact Eleanor Grewal at 202-529-3395.

My Sister’s Place PO Box 29596, Washington, DC 20017 (202) 529-5261 (office) (202) 529-5991 (24-hour hotline)

STREET SENSE September 12 - 25, 2012

COMMUNITY SERVICES St. Stephens Parish Church 1525 Newton St, NW (202) 737–9311, www.thrivedc.org

Martha’s Table 2114 14th Street, NW (202) 328–6608, www.marthastable.org

Food and Friends 219 Riggs Road, NE (202) 269–2277, www.foodandfriends.org

Rachel’s Women’s Center 1222 11th Street, NW (202) 682–1005, www.ccdsd.org/howorwc.php

Miriam’s Kitchen 2401 Virginia Avenue, NW (202) 452–8089, www.miriamskitchen.org

Sasha Bruce Youthwork 741 8th Street, SE (202) 675–9340, www.sashabruce.org

The Welcome Table Church of the Epiphany 1317 G Street, NW (202) 347–2635, http://www.epiphanydc. org/ministry/welcometbl.htm

So Others Might Eat (SOME) 71 “O” Street, NW (202) 797–8806; www.some.org

MEDICAL RESOURCES

Academy of Hope GED Center 601 Edgewood Street, NE (202) 269-6623, www.aohdc.org

Christ House 1717 Columbia Road, NW (202) 328–1100, www.christhouse.org Unity Health Care, Inc. 3020 14th Street, NW (202) 745–4300,www.unityhealthcare.org Whitman–Walker Clinic 1407 S Street, NW (202) 797–3500, www.wwc.org

OUTREACH CENTERS N Street Village (Women) 1333 N Street, NW (202) 939–2060, www.nstreetvillage.org Samaritan Inns 2523 14th St., NW (202) 667 - 8831 http://www.samaritaninns.org/home/ New York Ave Shelter (Men 18+) 1355–57 New York Avenue, NE (202) 832–2359

FOOD

15

Bread for the City 1525 Seventh Street, NW (202) 265–2400 1640 Good Hope Road, SE (202) 561–8587, www.breadforthecity.org Community Council for the Homeless at Friendship Place 4713 Wisconsin Avenue NW (202) 364–1419, www.cchfp.org Bethany Women’s Center 1333 N Street, NW (202) 939–2060, www.nstreetvillage.org

Charlie’s Place 1830 Connecticut Avenue, NW (202) 232–3066 www.stmargaretsdc.org/charliesplac

Father McKenna Center 19 Eye Street, NW (202) 842–1112

Church of the Pilgrims (Sundays only) 2201 P Street, NW (202) 387–6612, www.churchofthepilgrims.org

Friendship House 619 D Street, SE (202) 675–9050, www.friendshiphouse.net

Thrive DC Breakfast served Mon.-Fri., 9:30-11 a.m.

Dinner for women and children, Mon.-Fri., 3-6 p.m.

Georgetown Ministry Center 1041 Wisconsin Avenue, NW (202) 338–8301 www.georgetownministrycenter.org

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Catholic Community Services 924 G Street, NW (202) 772–4300, www.ccs–dc.org D.C. Coalition for the Homeless 1234 Massachusetts Ave., NW (202) 347–8870, www.dccfh.org Community Family Life Services 305 E Street, NW (202) 347–0511, www.cflsdc.org Foundry Methodist Church 1500 16th Street, NW (202) 332–4010, www.foundryumc.org Gospel Rescue Ministries (Men) 810 5th Street, NW (202) 842–1731, www.grm.org Hermano Pedro Day Center 3211 Sacred Heart Way, NW (202) 332–2874 www.ccs–dc.org/find/services/ JHP, Inc. 425 2nd Street, NW (202) 544–9126, www.jobshavepriority.org Samaritan Ministry 1345 U Street, SE 1516 Hamilton Street, NW (202) 889–7702, www.samaritanministry.org

Shelter Hotline: 1–800–535–7252

Last words: My Road to Street Sense

Vendor Profile: Jacqueline Turner

By Rebecca Stewart Advertising & Communications Coordinator

By Chris Trevino Editorial Intern

My name is Rebecca Stewart and I am an AmeriCorps V I S TA m e m ber serving at Street Sense as the Advertising and Communications Coordinator. One of my favorite things about Street Sense so far is interacting with the vendors and hearing their stories. I find it inspiring to witness them write so passionately about issues affecting their lives and the community. When I see them in the city selling Street Sense, it makes me smile because I’m proud to know them.

My path to Street Sense began in 2009 when I started volunteering at a domestic violence shelter to help families in crisis and make their stay at the shelter feel more like home. I led a weekly arts and crafts group, baking activities for youth and adults, and provided respite care for mothers. Volunteering led to full-time employment as the daytime Shelter Advocate where I answered the crisis line, provided information, referrals, and safety plans for callers, conducted phone screens for new intakes and provided orientation for new residents. This experience was eye opening and helped me better understand the trauma that women and children endure while escaping and recovering from domestic violence.

I enjoyed volunteering at the shelter so much that I became a mentor to a teenage mother living in a residential

facility. Mentoring had its challenges, but one of the most important lessons I learned while being a mentor was to set firm boundaries while being a positive role model. After several months of hard work my mentee and her baby successfully transitioned out of the residential facility and back into her foster home. Our relationship lasted 18 months and I felt honored to watch her overcome difficult life barriers and become a wonderful and attentive mother as well as a strong and kind hearted woman. I am very proud that my mentee graduated high school and enrolled in classes at a local community college.

In August 2011 I began a year of service as a Literacy*AmeriCorps member at Byte Back, a small non-profit organization providing free computer classes to low-income DC residents. These classes offered adults the opportunity to Learn more learn essential computer about Byte and job readiness skills to Back on help them obtain employpage 15 ment. Teaching computer classes as an AmeriCorps member at Byte Back strengthened my leadership skills, made me reevaluate my priorities, and provided me with an incredible growth and learning experience.

I re-enlisted for a second year of service as a VISTA member at Street Sense because I wanted to work for an organization dedicated to fighting poverty, educating the community about important social issues and empowering individuals to succeed. Although I have only been working at Street Sense for a few weeks I can already tell this is going to be an unforgettable year.

September 12 - 25, 2012 • Volume 9 • Issue 22

Street Sense 1317 G Street, NW

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English actor and comedian Stephen Fry once said “You are who you are when nobody’s watching.” Unfortunately for those in the city of Washington D.C. watching just so happens to be the hobby of Jacqueline Turner.

“People fascinate me,” says Turner, a two year veteran Street Sense vendor, adding that no two are the same. While selling the paper or taking a rest on the busy streets of the nation’s capital, Turner enjoys studying the idiosyncrasies and habits of those passing her by.

In addition to people watching, Turner’s second hobby is trying to make people laugh with a deployment of “funnies” as she calls them.

“I get pleasure out of it,” said the amateur comedian who came to Street Sense through a referral from another vendor.“ It makes me feel good.”

When asked who is the one person she would have dinner with, alive or deceased, she initially said President Obama, before changing to Hannibal, the ancient Punic military commander.

“I don’t know,” she laughs when asked why. “I guess I want to know what he was thinking.” But then minutes later she changes her answer again. This time to Jean Harlow, an American actress and 1930’s sex symbol. What lies in this revolving door of choices gives insight into Turner’s life.

Turner came to D.C. as a child after being born in Virginia and raised on the East Coast. Her parents embodied the blue-collar spirit of a working

class family with her father employed as a mechanic and car salesman and her mother a cashier at a dry cleaners.

By Turner’s recollection, her parents never missed a day of work. Turner on the other hand has had a little more trouble finding her calling.

High school aptitude tests would tell her to become a psychologist. She

“People fascinate me.” dropped out and later received her G.E.D. She also moved to New York City during the 1970s and has been married twice. From there her search for a career began.

She’s worked for park services and the health department, and attended cosmetology secretary, business and nursing schools.

“I haven’t found anything that I like so much,” she says. Her current venture is venipuncture, the science of drawing blood for medical purposes, a career that will give her a lot of interaction with people. She recently passed her 10 week course and is currently looking for three individuals to practice on.

There was one thing she has always wanted to be however, a mother. She became that 40 years ago after the birth of her only daughter.

For now the mother and Street Sense vendor will be working to become whatever interests her at the moment, even if she doesn’t know what that is right now. Because for all the uncertainties that there are in life, Turner has her a motto to get through it all.

“I’m going to live, I’m going to eat and I’m going to sleep,” she says. “And God is going to take care of the rest.”

Permit #568

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

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Franklin Sterling - 9/14