12 01 2021

VOL. 19 ISSUE 3

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DEC. 1 - 7, 2021

Real Stories

Real People

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Real Change

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BUSINESS MODEL

© STREET SENSE MEDIA 2003 - 2021 1317 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20005 (202) 347 - 2006 streetsensemedia.org info@streetsensemedia.org

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VENDORS Ayub Abdul, Shuhratjon Ahmadjonov, Abraham Aly, Gerald Anderson, Andrew Anderson, Charles Armstrong, Lawrence Autry, Daniel Ball, Phillip Black, Reginald Black, Debora Brantley, Andre Brinson, Laticia Brock, Donald Brown, Brianna Butler, Melody Byrd, Reginald C. Denny, Anthony Carney, Carlos Carolina, Jeffrey Carter, Conrad Cheek, Chris Cole, Jenkins Daltton, James Davis, Patricia Donaldson, Julius Donte’ Turner, Ron Dudley, Queenie Featherstone, Jet Flegette, Jemel Fleming, James Fuller, Samuel Fullwood, Gracias Garcias, Chon Gotti, Morris Graham, Marcus Green, Levester Green, Ibn Hipps, Carlton J.M. Johnson, Chad Jackson, Joseph Joe Jackson, Frederic John, Henry Johnson, Mark Jones, Morgan Jones, Reggie Jones, Darlesha Joyner, Larry Kelley, Juliene Kengnie, Jewel Lewis, John Littlejohn, Mildred M.Hall, Marcus McCall, Jermale McKnight, Jennifer McLaughlin, Jeffery McNeil, Ricardo Meriedy, Kenneth Middleton, Anton Mitchell, Collins Mukasa, Kiera Myles, Evelyn Nnam, Earl Parker, Kym Parker, Aida Peery, Jacquelyn Portee, Ariealle Powell, Anthony Pratt, Abel Putu, Doris Robinson, Michele Rochon, Corey Sanders, Rita Sauls, Malcolm Scott Jr., Mary Sellman, Patty Smith, David Snyder, Franklin Sterling, Warren Stevens, Beverly Sutton, Sybil Taylor, Archie Thomas, Eric Thompson-Bey, Jacqueline Turner, Joseph Walker, Rochelle Walker, Amia Walker, Michael Warner, Robert Warren, Susan Westmoreland, Sheila White, Angie Whitehurst, Sasha Williams, Wendell Williams, Charles Woods, Latishia Wynn BOARD OF DIRECTORS

AVA I L A B L E

Mary Coller Albert, Blake Androff, Jeremy Bratt, David Cloe, Clare Krupin, Jennifer Park, Michael Phillips, Dan Schwartz, John Senn, Aaron Stetter, Daniel Webber, Shari Wilson, Corrine Yu

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Brian Carome

VENDOR CODE OF CONDUCT

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

1. I will support Street Sense Media’s mission statement and in so doing will work to support the Street Sense Media community and uphold its values of honesty, respect, support, and opportunity.

2. I will treat all others, including customers, staff, volunteers, and fellow vendors, respectfully at all times. I will refrain from threatening others, pressuring customers into making donations, or engaging in behavior that condones racism, sexism, classism, or other prejudices.

3. I understand that I am not an employee of Street Sense Media but an independent contractor.

4. While distributing the Street Sense newspaper, I will not ask for more than $2 per issue or solicit donations by any other means.

5. I will only purchase the newspaper from Street Sense Media staff and volunteers and will not distribute newspapers to other vendors.

6. “I will not distribute copies of “Street Sense” on metro trains and buses or on private property.”

7. I will abide by the Street Sense Media Vendor Territory Policy at all times and will resolve any related disputes with other vendors in a professional manner.

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT

Doris Warrell

DIRECTOR OF VENDOR PROGRAMS

Darick Brown

CASE MANAGER

Leo Grayburn

DIRECTOR OF VENDOR EMPLOYMENT

8. I will not sell additional goods or products while distributing “Street Sense.”

Thomas Ratliff

9. I will not distribute “Street Sense” under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

Aida Peery, Clifford Samuels

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VENDOR PROGRAM ASSOCIATES VENDOR PROGRAM VOLUNTEERS

Jeff Barger, Haley Gallagher, Roberta Haber, Ann Herzog, Kevin Jaatinen, Jacob Kuba, Eva Reeves, Mauricio Reyes

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

Eric Falquero

DEPUTY EDITOR

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

Gordon Chaffin

The Cover

Will Schick

Neighborhood Well built a mobile shower trailer with two private stalls including toilets and sinks. First United Methodist in Hyattsville hosts it for now.

PHOTO COURTESY

NEIGHBORHOOD WELL

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

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

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

STAFF REPORTER WRITERS GROUP ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE

Willie Schatz

OPINION EDITORS (VOLUNTEER)

Claire Harvey, Rebecca Koenig, Emily Kopp, Lydia DePillis

INTERNS

Spencer Donovan, Jamaica Kalika, Michelle Levine, Maydeen Merino, Irene Si

EDITORIAL VOLUNTEERS

Ryan Bacic, Katie Bemb, Megan Boyanton, Lilah Burke, Lenika Cruz, Kelsey Falquero, Roberta Haber, Allison Hageman, Alison Henry, Priya Rhoehit, Nick Shedd, Andrew Siddons, Jenny-lin Smith, Rebecca Stekol

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EVENTS

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AT A GLANCE

Women Cooking in Prison: Food Justice in Jail Event Fundraiser Saturday, Dec. 4; 2 p.m. ET Virtual and in-person

Latishia Wynn Nov. 28

Help fundraise for the Who Speaks For Me? Project by cooking alongside female chefs who are returning citizens.

Virtual attendees will be sent an ingredient list to follow along.

INFO & RSVP: https://tinyurl.com/who-speaks-for-me SATURDAY, DEC. 11

UPDATES ONLINE AT ICH.DC.GOV

Screening: “Invisible Warriors: African American Women in World War II” 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.

MLK Public Library (901 G St. NW) Join the Library and the Royal Embassy of the Netherlands for a film screening and conversation about the documentary.

More Info: tinyurl.com/WWII-AAwomen

FRIDAY, DEC. 3

D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness Meetings

#JobsOffice Career Fair Event

Emergency Response and

11:00 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Virtual

Shelter Operations Committee Dec. 1, 1:00 pm // Webex Executive Committee Dec. 14, 1:30 pm // Webex ***For call-in information, as well as meeting info for unlisted working groups, contact: ich.dmhhs@dc.gov

Attend the world’s largest virtual career expo with nearly 7000 recruiting companies. Participants must first sign up and complete a profile to be eligible for a match.

AUDIENCE EXCHANGE @marycheh Ok, this is phenomenal— @streetsensedc has a free app so you can digitally pay vendors! As carrying cash is becoming increasingly rare, this is definitely worth the download for those looking to support our neighborhood vendors. (Plus, it’s really straightforward/easy to use)

9:25 AM · NOV. 30, 2021

ARTIST/VENDOR

Beverly Sutton Dec. 2 ARTIST/VENDOR

Wendell Williams Dec. 4 ARTIST/VENDOR

Aida Perry Dec. 6 ARTIST/VENDOR

Sign Up: tinyurl.com/jobsoffice-fair

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

Mary Cheh

BIRTHDAYS

VENDOR PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENTS • The Street Sense Poetry Slam, including lunch, is Wednesday, Dec. 1, at 1 pm.

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

• Stay tuned for upcoming holiday announcements, including the special holiday edition of the paper, holiday gift bags, and holiday office closures.

• Take a Vendor Survey this week and get 10 papers.

See Leo, Darick or Thomas.

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NEWS

Bikes used by officers of the Metropolitan Police Department parked outside a Panera Bread in Downtown D.C. PHOTO BY GORDON CHAFFIN

DC program sending 911 mental health calls to social workers to continue, expand from 2% of calls

BY ELLIOT WILLIAMS @ecwilliams30

This article was originally published on Nov. 12, 2021.

D.C. is extending a pilot program that calls on the Office of Unified Communications to dispatch less police and more social workers for 911 calls involving mental health emergencies. Bloomberg CityLab first reported news of the program’s extension.

During the first phase of the program, which Mayor Muriel Bowser announced in May, just over 2% of the behavioral health calls the OUC receives have been directed to the team responsible for the pilot, per CityLab. Cleo Subido, interim director of OUC, told the outlet the city is hiring more social workers for the next phases of the program and will possibly quadruple its capacity for behavioral health calls. In a third phase of the program, Subido says the goal is to have a third of all mental health calls get directed to this dedicated team.

OUC did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the expansion, but confirmed CityLab’s reporting in a tweet.

The program was pitched in the wake of George Floyd’s killing at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, after which the D.C. Council appointed a 20-person D.C. Police Reform Commission.

The group called for social workers to respond to more

911 calls. Nearby Montgomery County, Maryland, has also started expanding its behavioral health response to emergency calls.

The intention is to reduce violent interactions between officers and civilians. Subido told The Washington Post in the spring that the city wanted to prevent escalating incidents into “something more of an event by sending a uniformed officer there if they are not needed.”

Th e p r o g r a m expands on B o w s e r ’s R i g h t Care, Right Now initiative, which sends registered nurses to some 911 calls. The newer pilot, however, required D.C.’s contracted dispatch technology provider, Hexagon, to update OUC’s response technology. A Hexagon manager told CityLab the expansion wouldn’t cost much, however, and that the

program could potentially save D.C. money by allowing Metropolitan Police officers to continue their patrol without responding to mental health emergencies.

“The sooner we can identify what a person needs — whether that is an ambulance, a doctor ’s appointment, or in this case, a visit from a behavioral health expert, the sooner we can help them,” Bowser said with the launch of the pilot. “That’s what this is about: making sure we get Washingtonians the help they need when they call us.”

An October 2021 report from the Office of D.C. Auditor found D.C.’s Office of Unified Communications — which handles 911 calls — frequently miscommunicates caller locations and response times are worse in D.C.’s lowestincome areas.

An October 2021 report from the Office of D.C. Auditor found D.C.’s Office of Unified Communications — which handles 911 calls — frequently miscommunicates caller locations and response times are worse in D.C.’s lowest-income areas.

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The pandemic utility shutoff moratorium expired in October. Here’s how to get utility assistance in DC The DC Line and Street Sense Media contacted the Office of the People’s Counsel (https://www.opc-dc.gov), the Public Service Commission (https://dcpsc.org), and the Department of Energy and Environment (https://doee.dc.gov) to learn how people facing economic difficulties can obtain assistance in paying their utilities. The OPC is an independent agency that is responsible for advocating for the rights of consumers of gas, phone, and electricity services in the city while the PSC is responsible for regulating those industries. DOEE also administers various programs and services related to utility and energy use in the city.

I need help with my utilities, who should I call?

PHOTO COURTESY OF CHANHEE LEE / UNSPLASH.COM

BY WILL SHICK will@streetsensemedia.org

T

he week after Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration abruptly stopped accepting applications for the STAY D.C. rent and utility assistance program on Oct. 27, the D.C. Council passed a bill to help protect city residents facing utility cutoffs and evictions because of financial hardships during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The Tenant Safe Harbor Emergency Amendment Act of 2021, which is currently under mayoral review with a Dec. 13 deadline, comes as city lawmakers and other officials grow increasingly concerned about the welfare of residents who continue to face financial hardships and may have to reckon with paying off overdue utility bills this winter. Council members hope the reprieve will provide time for eligible D.C. residents to seek help through a variety of assistance programs.

If enacted, the Safe Harbor legislation will provide tenants with new protections to use for defense in eviction cases due to unpaid rent, and prevent utility companies from shutting off service for customers due to lack of payment under a range of qualifying scenarios. These include situations where customers might owe less than $600 or have entered into payment agreements with the company.

Residents participating in programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Need Families (TANF) would also be protected from disconnections under the bill.

The previous moratorium on utility cutoffs — which the D.C. Council put in place for the duration of the public health emergency declared by the mayor at the onset of the COVID19 pandemic — expired on Oct. 12. Two days later, Bowser announced that the District was on track to spend all of its federally allocated STAY D.C. funds and would soon stop accepting applications for the program. Both the Bowser administration and D.C. Council members are calling on the federal government to provide the District with more funds once they become available because other states have not distributed their original allocations.

Of the $34 million in requests for utility assistance received

by STAY D.C., $9.6 million had been awarded as of Nov. 12, according to a report from the D.C. Department of Human Services. The average amounts provided to individual recipients were $529 for gas, $861 for electricity and $1,054 for water.

Whether the mayor approves the emergency legislation or not, there are a number of resources available for people seeking help to pay for their utilities and other expenses.

•

You can always start with 311, the main point of access for city services. If a person is seeking assistance with their utilities and does not know where to turn, they can always pick up the phone and dial 311, according to Maurice Smith, the director of the Office of Consumer Services at the D.C. Public Service Commission. “Just in terms of facility, that might be the easiest, best route,” he said.

•

Residents can also reach out directly to the Public Service Commission at 202-626-5100 or the Office of the People’s Counsel at 202-727-3071 and speak to someone directly about their individual case.

•

D.C. also has a recently launched information portal called Front Door D.C. (https://www.frontdoor.dc.gov) where residents can learn more about programs they might qualify for that subsidize their utility expenses.

•

Eligibility for different programs varies but is usually based on household size and maximum annual income. While these criteria are not used for all discount and subsidy programs, they are the basis for many, including discount programs for electricity, gas, and phone services. A chart on the PSC website lists the general income caps: $72,250 for a one-person household; $82,600 for two people; $92,900 for three people; $103,200 for four people; $113,550 for five people; $123,850 for six people; $134,200 or seven people; and $144,500 for eight people.

Household Size

Maximum Annual Income

1

$72,250

2

$82,600

3

$92,900

4

$103,200

5

$113,550

6

$123,850

7

$134,200

8

$144,500

TABLE COURTESY OF THE D.C. PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION

What should I do if I can’t pay for all of my utilities in full?

•

You can develop a payment plan. Kellie Didigu, the communications officer at the Public Service Commission, stressed the importance of being proactive to avoid experiencing utility shutoffs. “Instead of just waiting for these bills to accumulate, we really need people to make a plan, to do that research and find out what programs are available, and then make certain that you’re paying what you can so that you don’t get so far behind,” she said.

•

The Office of the People’s Counsel echoed this sentiment.

Not only are there payment programs in place at utility providers such as Washington Gas and Pepco, but the Office of the People’s Counsel can help people who don’t qualify for those existing programs to negotiate payment plans.

What do I do if I need help with other expenses?

•

Often, people seeking help with utilities are also facing other kinds of financial hardships, explained Aaron S. Ward, the director of the Consumer Services Division in the Office of the People’s Counsel. “We try to keep in mind that, although they’re calling about utilities, nine times out of 10, they have other financial issues that they have to attend to as well,” Ward said. While the Office of the People’s Counsel does not operate the various utility relief programs, it is an information resource for residents seeking to learn more about them. Call takers there can also help coordinate payment plans with their utility providers.

•

Together the Office of the People’s Counsel, the Public Service Commission, the Department of Energy and Environment, and the D.C. Sustainable Energy Utility assembled a list of resources that can be found at here2helpdc.dc.gov. The OPC has an additional page with contact information for various community partners that can also provide assistance to people needing help with utilities or other economic hardships. (https://tinyurl.com/opc-partners)

•

DOEE administers a weatherization assistance program that fixes inoperable heating and cooling systems for qualifying residents. Residents can call 202-299-3316 for more information about the program.

What’s something I might qualify for but might not have heard of before?

•

You might be paying more for utilities than you need to. Depending on your income level, you may qualify for utility discount programs through Pepco, Washington Gas, and Verizon. There is also a program administered through DOEE called the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which provides assistance benefits between $250 and $1,800 for up to two payments per fiscal year, according to Kenley Farmer, the deputy director of DOEE’s Utility Affordability Administration.

This article was co-published with The DC Line.

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ART

2050, a day in the life:

Best and worst case scenarios for Earth’s environmental future

BY SARAH WILSON The Big Issue

T

he 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) was held in Glasgow, Scotland, from Oct. 31 - Nov. 13.

Approximately 25,000 delegates from almost 200 countries attended and were asked for their plans to cut emissions, according to the BBC. Several months ahead of the conference, The U.S. pledged a 50-52% reduction by 2030. The Biden administration also stated the goal of reaching “net-zero” greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 at the latest.

But what difference will sticking to emissions targets make? London-based street paper “The Big Issue” travels into the future to find out the best and worst-case climate scenarios, based on scientific modelling and expert opinion.

LOW WARMING SCENARIO 2050: the world stuck to its climate ambitions and successfully drove down greenhouse gas emissions from 2020 onwards. Most countries, including the UK, achieved net zero emissions on target, but historical greenhouse gases mean the earth is now 1.3 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial temperatures.

It’s 6 a.m. when your sleep assistant wakes you by tuning into the radio and gradually dialling up the brightness of your bedside lamp. When you bought it, the shop assistant promised the device would monitor your sleep rhythms and rouse you at the optimal moment but, judging by your morning grogginess, you’ve been ripped off.

It’s early December and there’s a chill in the air, so you reach up to the control panel above your bed and click the heating on. Two floors below, you hear the heat pump whirr, and your well-insulated room quickly fills with warm air. The DJ plays a teaser track from Adele’s upcoming album, “60,” as you throw on a robe and marvel at her stamina.

Pulling back the curtains, you’re relieved to see that two straight weeks of torrential rain have finally ceased, with the sun straining through a thin grey cloud. The radio news bulletin says last week’s flooding almost breached barriers in York and parts of London, and you think of Susan, who came to the co-living complex a decade ago after her home in Fairbourne, Wales, was reclaimed by the sea. You feel lucky to have chosen to live here. Most of your housemates have stories like this – hurricanes, wildfires, floods and typhoons forcing them from their homes.

‘Fake-on’ and co-living Your thoughts are interrupted by the smell of bacon wafting in from the kitchen, reminding you that the best cook in the building is on breakfast duties. Today’s meal is a plate of toast, ‘fake-on’, spinach and a couple of eggs from the coop in the buildings’ shared garden. Meat is a rare treat these days, and when you do have it, it’s usually produced in a lab and mixed with alternative proteins. The bread is homemade, courtesy of the retirees living in your building whose enthusiasm for baking just about makes up for the endless nostalgia for the good old days of snow at Christmas and diesel cars.

You’ve been living here for five years now and, bar one odd housemate who only ever emerges at night, you get along well with everyone. Co-living complexes with shared communal facilities first sprung up in the 2030s when the climate crisis began displacing millions and developers were forced to innovate. At first the goal was extra space, but over time complexes went a long way to easing loneliness, community tensions and, thanks to government-subsidised rent, social inequalities.

Your housemates linger in the kitchen after breakfast. As it’s Friday, most have now finished their four- day week and will head off to various volunteering projects during the day.

Four-day week For most, the five-day week is a distant memory. The first time the four-day week was rolled out it was an emergency measure to reduce carbon footprints, but today, 80% of the workforce enjoy a three-day weekend.

Originally, mass rollout saw a big push to encourage volunteering on the free day, though you personally enjoy using your Monday off to lie on the sofa.

The constant rain has been irritating, but it means no faffing about with the spare water supply for your shower. The water for bathing, which comes from a rainwater tank on the roof, trickles through the pipes to be heated and treated before coming out of the showerhead.

Pushing for time now, you finish up, hurry back to your room and pull on some clothes.

Your jeans are a “lifetime” pair bought in 2030, with the distressed finish produced by lasers instead of the water-intensive methods once used in the early 2000s. The shirt you pull over your head is made from recycled orange peel, and your anorak is second hand, lined with fleece made from old plastic bottles. Your boots are vintage leather, exchanged for a pair of brogues at a “swap shop” down the road.

You don’t own as many clothes as you used to. Vintage, second-hand and independent retailers dominate the market, and huge discounts on new clothes are available for taking unwanted garments back to clothing stores, which either sell them on or upcycle them into new life. Thanks to the success of a huge public campaign some years back, the old reuse, repair and recycle mentality has returned, with schools making sustainability – and needlework – a core part of the curriculum.

Car sharing and fast, cheap trains Once dressed, you briefly contemplate taking your bike to work but decide the risk of getting stuck behind the school “bike bus” isn’t worth it, and open your Ryder app instead. In almost every big city now, some variation of this app allows you to hitch a ride with others going in the same direction, keeping millions of cars off the road. There’s three people going your way, so you tap the one with the most normal-looking profile picture (sorry, Mr Lycra) and head out to wait by the building charging points.

At first the goal was extra space, but over time [co-living] complexes went a long way to easing loneliness, community tensions and, thanks to government-subsidised rent, social inequalities.

You’re picked up by a chatty woman from the local area who tells you all about her recent holiday on a high-speed interrail ticket. Since railway building accelerated in the late 2020s, international trains are fast, cheap and appealing.

Plane travel hasn’t stopped, but it has shrunk dramatically, with flights now relying mostly on hydrogen fuel and domestic journeys banned.

Like almost every car on the road, the one you’re travelling in today is electric.

You whizz past the high street and watch local cafe owners roll back the covers from their outdoor seating for the first time in weeks. The area is already teeming with

families, dog walkers and joggers, all with plenty of space to move since pedestrian and cycle space was vastly expanded into the road.

The “15-minute city” hasn’t emerged perfectly everywhere, but amenities, shops and entertainment are accessible without a car for most people – meaning local business has boomed. In city centres where footfall subsequently declined, empty shops were given over to arts and charity organizations to create extra space for culture, leisure and community services.

Urban forests = clean air Green space is everywhere you look today thanks to the urban forests planted long ago to soak up carbon and cool the intense summer temperatures that strike cities every year. The air is cleaner. Long-gone wildlife is returning, and a complex system of fences and sensors has been devised to keep as many animals as possible away from the roads, where quiet electric car motors can often prove deadly.

After a short ride, you’re dropped off by the shuttle boat that takes you out to the offshore wind farm where you’ve worked as a turbine engineer for the last couple of decades. When wind farms started cropping up in enormous numbers off Britain’s coastlines years ago, naysayers complained that they were spoiling the view. When gas shortages started crippling those same households, they soon fell silent.

Your working day finishes around six, and you grab a bus home, where a vegetable box has been delivered to your doorstep by the local farm. Thanks to droughts and crop failures around the world, supermarket shortages are not uncommon, but an increased reliance on seasonal British-grown produce provides a degree of food stability.

You take the box inside, thinking back in disbelief to the days when fruit came individually wrapped in plastic. The ocean remains full of it to this day, but single-use plastic has been almost entirely phased out of production processes, and mass clean-up operations are under way to remove as much as possible from the global water supply.

A glass of English wine Your evening plans involve a drink at a local bar with a friend. Ever since pedestrians claimed back vast swathes of cities, street lighting has been vastly improved, and footfall is high even at night. You know your neighbours and feel safe walking alone to the

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bar, where you sit down with your friend and order two glasses of 2040 English wine.

You feel a little guilty when the drinks arrive, remembering that, whereas parts of England got better climes for wine-growing out of the climate crisis, parts of south Europe burned. As ever, the conversation soon turns to these unluckier parts of the world and those nations who unfairly paid the price for emissions produced by wealthier countries.

Things are by no means perfect, but the world is a far better place than it would have been had leaders failed to hit the brakes on emissions in the 2020s. Thank goodness agreement was reached at COP26 in Glasgow all these years ago. Bit by bit, the Earth is getting cleaner and greener, and scientists say temperatures will begin coming back down.

HIGH WARMING SCENARIO 2050: countries around the world failed to achieve their climate ambitions and greenhouse gas emissions continued to rise from 2020 onwards. The Earth is now 2.4C warmer than pre-industrial temperatures, wreaking havoc on the climate and environment.

You can’t remember if it was the wind rattling your window or the coughing from the next room that woke you up first, but either way you’ve been sitting up in bed for half an hour.

Your friend Layla and her son Daniel have been staying in your flat since their home in Hull flooded. She’d bought the house 20 years ago, putting faith in a developer’s promise that living on a flood plain presented “minimal risk of damage” when accounting for flood barriers.

A few weeks ago, those barriers were breached overnight. Layla’s insurance company was overwhelmed with claims for damage and folded, leaving her with nowhere to go. Daniel’s asthma has flared up since the incident, and the high pollution levels on your street aren’t helping his cough.

Still, you think, it could be worse. The UK’s botched transition to an electric vehicle fleet was at least an attempt. In the US, the driving lobby dug in their heels (thanks, Trump 2024) and driving gas-powered cars became the next target of the culture wars. Americans who once complained about masking up for coronavirus now cover their faces for fear of destroying their lungs.

As you’re thinking this, your phone beeps with today’s pollution alert. Medium is the best it’s been in a while, you think optimistically as you switch on the news.

Fires, floods and hurricanes You’re not really sure why you do this any more – perhaps a sense of obligation. Or perhaps to try to remind yourself how much worse things could be. Every day another disaster, every day people forced from their homes by fires, floods and hurricanes. Aid organizations do their best, but the relentless

PHOTO COURTESY OF GUILLAUME DE GERMAIN / UNSPLASH.COM

onslaught of crises makes it difficult to respond quickly enough. A pang of guilt strikes as you remember cancelling your direct debit to a disaster relief fund last week. After losing your job, you just couldn’t afford it.

As if this isn’t bad enough, the newsreader moves on to a light news segment on the celebrities who have “come together” to sing ‘Lean On Me’ in the hope of bringing “light” to the victims of the latest hurricane in the Philippines. You think bitterly about the multi-million dollar bunkers these people have underground for when things get truly terrible – though you question whether being locked in there with them would be worth it.

Your flat, a converted Victorian townhouse, was never properly insulated after the collapse of the government’s Build Back Blazing voucher scheme in 2023. On wintry days like today, the cold air creeps up through the floorboards and numbs your toes. Your roof was fitted with solar panels years back, but the manufacturer cut corners and opted for cheap flimsy materials which failed to account for the increasingly extreme weather you’re now experiencing in the UK: winters of extreme rainfall and summers of extreme heat. You flick on the boiler – still powered by gas – and pull up the blinds. The street outside is strewn with placards and the shop window opposite has been shattered. You’re surprised the commotion didn’t wake you up. It’s hard to remember a time when people weren’t protesting, and even harder to remember exactly what they’re protesting about – there’s so much to be angry about. For your part, you’re just weary.

Slim pickings and an employment crisis You remember your guests and pop your head into the living room, offering them breakfast with the sheepish caveat that the options might be limited.

It’s now hard to obtain certain fruit and vegetables once common in the UK. Bananas are a rarity. Fish stocks have been depleted to the brink of extinction and meat is often prohibitively expensive, though global instability means prices fluctuate too often to keep track.

Vast swathes of once habitable, arable land across Africa, South America and Australasia are agricultural deserts, with more regions edging closer to the brink every day. As a result, supermarket shelves are bare on a regular basis, though local community gardens – founded years ago in the spirit of self-sufficiency – try to help where they can.

Scraping together the contents of your fridge and pantry, you manage beans on toast and coffee, serving them up apologetically.

The other day you heard a positive news story about agricultural opportunities opening up in Greenland and Antarctica now the ice is gone, though you cynically wonder who’ll start the next war to claim it.

Over breakfast, you chat about the ongoing employment crisis. While the UK has been protected from the worst climate-related impacts of global warming, worldwide instability has repeatedly tanked the economy.

During the most recent recession, you heard stories of people opening their banking app to find the bank had collapsed overnight – taking their savings with it.

With little to do since you lost your job, you offer to take Daniel to the GP while Layla works from home, clinging by a thread to her own career. Like several medicines, the kind Daniel once relied on to treat his chronic asthma is in short supply. Regular flooding of roads slows delivery of nearly everything and, more alarmingly, the natural resources from which many chemicals were extracted have been wholly or partially destroyed.

Cheap clobber Your wardrobe is what it ever was – a jumble of cheaply made, inexpensive clothes. Even when Ghana and Pakistan stopped agreeing to take shipments of Britain’s discarded garments and they began piling up in landfills at home, it didn’t stop the fashion giants from peddling £1 dresses for one-time wear. You pull on a jumper and jeans and head out to the car.

Electric cars are the norm now, though a failure to install sufficient charging points early in the transition drove thousands of frustrated drivers back to petrol. Perhaps

// 7

worse than the petrolheads, though, are the wealthy drivers of electric SUVs who drive them faster, further and more dangerously than they ever did prior to electric power.

Poorly placed charging points have further squeezed pedestrian space, making some pavements impossible to walk on. Outdated infrastructure means buses and trains are constantly late, delayed or cancelled.

The doctor’s trip is futile. Medical professionals are so overwhelmed with new conditions and mental health crises these days that they’re squeezing two appointments into five-minute slots. The GP writes Daniel a prescription you know the local pharmacy doesn’t have in stock.

Still, it’s not raining when you emerge, so you drive through the city centre to the nearest forest. You pass the once-buzzing high street, all now converted into hundreds of rabbit-hutch flats. You remember once visiting a friend there who lived without natural light among hundreds of others with nowhere else to go.

The walk through the forest is pleasant enough, and you visit the tree you planted yourself, decades before. Back then, airlines and large companies deluded the country into thinking any amount of carbon was acceptable if a forest was planted to offset it. What they failed to account for were the wildfires that came to Britain as summers heated up and peat burning continued.

The silent forest The forest is eerily quiet, you think to yourself as you wander among the trees. Once upon a time, this area was teeming with animal life. Nobody could bring themselves to care when the insects first started disappearing, but it wasn’t long afterwards that the impact cascaded through the food chain, killing birds and mammals in turn.

It was like this every time some milestone was passed, you think, trying to place your finger on the point of no return. It’s not like there weren’t warnings. Throughout the early 2000s entire species went extinct, the Amazon was logged for wood, coral reefs died and the ice caps melted. The outrage was brief and fleeting, and politicians shook their heads then went back to business as usual. The public didn’t want to know, or didn’t care, or some combination of both.

Perhaps sensing your thoughts, Daniel turns and asks what the forest used to be like as you head back towards the car. You answer in vague terms about birds and picnics and tree-planting. If only COP26 all these years ago hadn’t been a wasted opportunity. All the way home, you’re plagued by the thought that none of this was inevitable.

With thanks to COP26 sponsors UK Research and Innovation and Professor Jane Harris, Professor Jeremy Till, Professor Glen Lyons, Dr Christian Reynolds and Professor Dan Lunt for their contributions and insight. Courtesy of International Network of Street Papers / The Big Issue, bigissue.com, @BigIssue.

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ART

Random Acts of Kindness: Cutting edge innovations to help homeless people in PG County, Part 1

BY WENDELL WILLIAMS Artist/Vendor

A

s a person tasked with helping people experiencing homelessness move towards self sufficiency, at times I am frustrated by the lack of vision shown by the very agencies and decision makers working with this challenging population. Over time, because of my lived experiences, I’ve personally had visions of outside-of-thebox solutions to some of the more glaring problems people are facing daily while living on the street. However, lacking enough letters behind my name on my business cards, people like myself are not often listened to in the formation of ideas that could lead to viable solutions to some of their daily challenges.

We are experiencing an increase in homelessness nationwide so alarming that even polarizing political figures like the conservative talk radio host Larry Elder made homelessness an issue in his unsuccessful campaign during the California governor’s recall race. But the winds of change may be finally blowing in the direction of those with lived experience. Several times I’ve been asked to consult with organizations seeking new avenues to bring about needed change.

In my humble opinion we as a nation are just going round and round and getting nowhere with truly solving this human rights issue.

One problem for homeless people is one of the more basic privileges we who are housed enjoy but take for granted: the ability to start each new day with a clean body and clothes. Think about this, you’ve spent days if not weeks in the same outfit, including undergarments. Now throw in these D.C.-area summer days at close to 100 degrees along with the humidity and ask yourself what it must feel like. Or layers and layers to keep warm down to the dead of night in winter?

How would you feel? Even worse, think of what you’d smell like.

I can tell you from working in low-barrier shelters where, to keep harmony and order in the dorms, I’d literally have to put on rubber gloves to bathe and change grown men who, for whatever reason, couldn’t do so themselves. I can also tell you from my own firsthand experiences that it doesn’t feel real good to be stinking and looking so bad that no one will think of coming near you. Today my heart still breaks thinking how people would cross the street to avoid coming near me, or the embarrassing way people would literally get up and change their seats on public transportation. How hurt I felt when teens would make loud comments about

someone smelling like piss on the buses and trains, knowing they were talking about me.

It’s one reason homeless people often avoid public transportation.

Even now, as I write, the memories bring tears to my eyes. It’s so hurtful when the condition of a person’s life becomes an opportunity for some to publicly make offcolor remarks and embarrassing jokes by ridiculing an already broken soul. Welcome to the world of chronically homeless people who find themselves living on the street, as I once was. We are the target of some people’s disdain while at the same time not being seen by others as human beings.

It’s been many years since those days and I pray I never forget or repeat them. Becoming homeless again is my worst nightmare as I quickly approach the age when I won’t physically be able to work. At times in my job I have the unenviable occasion to relive that hurt, pain and embarrassment through watching how mean my clients — my brothers and sisters currently experiencing homelessness — are talked to, talked about, and still being treated.

I sometimes sit and wonder. “Am I the only one seeing all this happening to people on the streets? Or is something wrong with me?

Or do not enough people even care?” Some of the reactions I get just when distributing Street Sense papers make me fear it’s the last one, mainly the dismissive looks.

Because of my trials, unlike many people tasked with doing something about homelessness or making a living off their suffering, I care deeply. Maybe so much that at times it has led to many confrontations over ineffective policies in my various career assignments. At times I feel like I am just a voice crying loudly in the night and nobody hears me, even if I scream louder.

In staff meetings or conferences here or outside of this area, I’d bring up some of the ideas that I felt would be effective approaches to positively improve people’s conditions on the street. Eventually they would always be dismissed as not being accompanied by all the research or data that the bureaucrats are currently obsessed with in fighting homelessness. Today they use spreadsheets, not hands-on imaginative actions. Most want to commission yet another panel to study various aspects of homelessness for what seems like years before announcing their latest findings.

In the meantime, more and more homeless people will have perished. Every day I watch

people die right in front of me, powerless to stop it — if not in body, for sure in spirit. (I’ve had at least 5 clients die in my sector since this spring.)

People are just broken under the weight of lack of public kindness, support, and understanding for proposed solutions, complicated sometimes by their own guilt and shame.

People fail to realize how many attempts most have to make before finally breaking out of their homeless cycles. The best example I can cite is the Netflix series “Maid.” If you ever wanted to know what it’s like to be homeless without experiencing the curse yourself, watch it.

Your NIMBY opposition and opinions about homeless people will be changed forever. That person panhandling in the median is not representative of the many people trapped in what seems like an endless maze.

It takes a homeless person countless attempts to be able to move through the roadblocks and dead ends — some of which they may even place in their own way — to be able to remember which way they should turn or not turn in the given situation. It’s trial-anderror for most people.

It could take weeks for some, and months or years or decades for other people like myself.

Everyone and every situation is different.

There is no easy quick fix.

I actually do not believe in most of the current housing strategies because some skip essentials that need to be addressed in recovery from homelessness. Instead

Neighborhood Well’s trailer includes two private rooms with a toilet, sink, and shower. PHOTO COURTESY NEIGHBORHOOD WELL

Street Sense Media artist and vendor Wendell Williams stands with Omolayo Adebayo, the founder of Neighborhood Well.

PHOTO COURTESY NEIGHBORHOOD WELL

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

they hurry to get people off of the books of whatever program so it will seem like it’s a success. These are the clients that I see come back and forth into the shelter system or stay outside after having an apartment, especially with programs like rapid rehousing. They are stuck in a sort of “Matrix,” wondering whether to take the red or blue pill because they lack a strong foundation without a service plan created with case management, as shown in the “Maid.”

But the time for finger pointing and blaming has passed. We need action from all sources willing to help with nontraditional approaches and ideas, without the red tape associated with large agencies. And in a whimsical Random Act of Kindness, I was humbled and grateful to be asked to be part of the implementation of two so-basic and low-tech approaches to give homeless people some relief that many will be left thinking, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

Many may have missed it because they were looking for more complex solutions when, like a lot of challenges in life, the best often overlooked answers are so simple.

For years I’ve talked about my experiences at Cincinnati’s Mary Magdalen House, named after the New Testament figure who, it is written, humbly washed and wiped Jesus’s feet with her hair. She became a follower and was present at his death. This personal care facility is located in Cincinnati’s Over the Rhine neighborhood, or just “OTR.” (It’s called that because the area was settled by German immigrants who called the canal running through the city separating Downtown from the West End, The Rhine.) This part of the rapidly gentrifying city’s core was ground zero for those down and out, much like Skid Row. Because of its affordability, almost all cheap Single Room Occupancies, transitional places, and homeless services were located there. And right on Main Street was the shower house run by a Catholic order of brothers and staffed by the most awesome of volunteers.

Mary Magdalen House started each day with men and women lining up outside at 7 a.m. in sometimes bitter weather, including snow, for a chance to be in that lucky group to get in before they closed off the intake operation at 8:30. There were separate waiting rooms and showers for each sex, I think 10 men’s and 4 lady’s. Your name was called and you went to a type of locker room, undressed, put your clothes in a paper bag with your name on it with all your sizes, and were given a towel, wash cloth, and toiletries. When you emerged, there was clean everything laid out for you. Your dirty items would be washed and folded by volunteers, ready for you the next day.

This allowed us to walk out into “the world” without the appearance and stigma of being homeless. You can’t imagine how it felt to look like any other human on the way somewhere in the morning. Added later around the corner, a group of nuns started a barbershop where you could get one free haircut a month or when you had interviews.

Just the unassuming Acts of Kindness by those brothers, nuns and volunteers in helping provide me a clean body and clothes daily changed my life, and others, because our housing status was no longer hanging over us like a bright neon sign or around our necks like a scarlet letter.

So it brought me unbelievable joy when my phone rang all these years later with a young lady on the line, Omolayo Adebayo, a lawyer by trade. She had been given my name and called asking me for my help in implementing a vision she’d been working on.

Low and behold it was an updated variation of my long lost wish. She asked if I would allow her, her mom, and others to spend a day shadowing me around the county’s homeless encampments so she could get a better feel on how her idea could be enacted in a vast county a quarter the size of Rhode Island.

I wondered myself because I wasn’t sure how

the plan could be adapted to the suburbs. But if she was game (and she was), then I was ready to assist her efforts any way I could. And in another strange Random Act of Kindness, I was able to play a small yet hopefully important role in getting the ball rolling.

We met along a road in the middle class suburb of Bowie, Maryland. Homelessness is not just an urban issue and it’s becoming more and more a political lightning rod in the suburbs. I chose this meeting spot for that reason. I wanted them to see that right across from an upscale housing development was a large homeless encampment. And it was obviously a permanent site for five people or more, with what looked like an outdoor kitchen area, community tent, and several individual tents around a fire pit in the center.

It was well back off the road, but in winter with no green cover you could see the colored tents from the street.

We moved around the county that day, from Oxon Hill to Langley Park and Clinton, seeing more encampments than any of them expected to find. But there was one common thing missing from all of them: showers and bathrooms. And that’s where Adebaya’s Neighborhood Well organization was willing to fill the void. “Thank God,” I am thinking, “someone else gets it.” To think of yourself as human and have others treat you as such, it helps not to advertise your housing status, thereby reducing the chances of you being discriminated against in everything from employment to renting a place, to being able to ride on a bus without anxiety and trauma.

The Neighborhood Well efforts will give the homeless community in Prince George’s County the same relief from insecurity and doubt that Mary Magdalene House gave me all those years ago. And Ms. Adebayo and I have stayed in touch throughout the process of getting the mobile shower concept up and running. And for a lot of reasons I don’t understand it was not easy.

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I talked to many officials who seemed like they initially welcomed the idea. But that only lasted until they realized this was a serious endeavor, not some pipe dream that would never happen. Low and behold, the opposition and red tape started to crop up. “Who could be against this?” I thought. It seemed many wanted to hide their opposition behind regulatory concerns.

I was also sure that many mega-churches of the community would be eager to get on board. Per my last conversation with Ms. Adebayo, the response from pastors was not what I’d hoped but some had stepped up.

Either way, the ball was rolling and nothing could stop them now.

She and her staff, centered around her family members, marched on with plans. They finally received Neighborhood Well’s state-of-the-art mobile unit. And on a sunny Saturday at the end of August, they hosted a ribbon cutting and open house at a Hyattsville church’s parking lot. I was so proud to be invited.

And like a new Navy ship, it will undergo it’s 6 month shake down cruise every other Saturday morning at this location, First United Methodist Church of Hyattsville, 6201 Belcrest Road. Once they work out the bugs, systems and plans Neighborhood Well will be open for full services in the spring of 2022 with a schedule to be announced.

I applaud these ladies and their commitment to be change agents and outside-of-the-box thinkers who I’m honored to be associated with. In another Random Act of Kindness, by a phone call no less, the universe is bringing to fruition a long lost dream of mine through Ms. Adebayo’s compassionate efforts: That every homeless person could start their day like anyone else does, clean and feeling part of the human race again.

You can learn more about the program at theneighborhoodwell.org.

Neighborhood Well is setting up its mobile shower trailer in a church parking lot every other Sunday morning, from October 2021 through March 2022. Omolayo Adebayo, the organization’s founder, explained the mission and expansion strategy to congregants of First United Methodist Church in Hyattstville, where the trailer will be available to homeless residents those mornings. PHOTO COURTESY NEIGHBORHOOD WELL

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OPINION

DC has money to help unhoused students.

Here’s how the city should use it.

BY SARAH MEHROTRA AND BARBARA DUFFIELD

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hen the COVID-19 pandemic forced school systems to move online, students in Washington, D.C. and across the nation struggled. The health crisis exacerbated long-standing racial inequities. Many students also faced food, housing, and economic insecurity, all while trying to obtain an education virtually. Among those most affected were students experiencing homelessness, who numbered about 7,000 in D.C. public schools when counted over the course of the 2018-2019 school year. They often lack access to the internet or a place to work and charge school-issued devices, if they even get them.

With the return to in-person learning this school year, students experiencing homelessness need further support.

Across the city, school district liaisons responsible for identifying and supporting children experiencing homelessness report more unaccompanied youth who are homeless and navigating challenges relating to transportation, caring for siblings, or struggling with food security. These students frequently work while attempting to attend school. All of these barriers are alarming when you consider that not completing high school is the greatest single risk factor for homelessness as a young adult.

While the Center for Disease Control’s eviction moratorium brought housing stability for some families starting in September 2020, the Supreme Court recently struck down that policy on the federal level. The end of the moratorium likely means that the number of students and their families experiencing homelessness will rise in the coming months despite increased local funding for housing. As a result, educators, advocates, and school leaders must ensure that students experiencing homelessness do not go missing from school and have the resources they need to succeed.

The federal government delivered a significant investment in education for children, youth, and families experiencing homelessness amid COVID19 with the passage of the American Rescue Plan Act. Of the $386 million D.C. received in education funding, $2.5 million is dedicated specifically to the identification, enrollment, and school success of children and youth experiencing homelessness.

Educators and school leaders must make the best use of these funds. They should lean on the expertise of the homelessness liaisons in each D.C. school, who are usually the most knowledgeable people for all matters relating to housing and homelessness in the community.

At the state education agency level, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) houses the Homeless Education Program, while the Office of the Student Advocate, a part of the D.C. State Board of Education, is also able to provide resources and support for students and families. To help families facing eviction, local liaisons are connecting with eviction courts, legal aid, housing agencies, and realtors. They are also engaged in public awareness campaigns to help families understand their legal options and get connected to emergency rent relief and utility assistance. Schools must be a part of

Two kids standing side by side wearing masks. PHOTO COURTESY OF KELLY SIKKEMA / UNSPLASH.COM

emergency rental assistance homelessness should have equal distribution, either directly or access to the same educational indirectly, which may mean opportunities and services as perforging new partnerships and manently housed youth. Effective placing housing and resource school outreach and partnerships navigators within schools. have the potential to address these Families and youth who are inequities. And as District leaders experiencing homelessness and advocates deploy new local need these services, as well and federal infusions of cash, as emergency shelter options, they must prioritize investments reliable transportation, food, in these uniquely vulnerable kids. clothing, counseling, credit Sarah Mehrotra is a P-12 Research recovery and accrual, help with & Policy Analyst at The Education student financial aid applications, Trust, a nonprofit that promotes and assistance accessing available excellence and equity in education early childhood programs. The for disadvantaged students. Barbara Duffield is Executive Director American Rescue Plan Act of SchoolHouse Connection, a provides dedicated dollars for nonprofit working to overcome children and youth experiencing homelessness through education. homelessness. If passed, the Build Back Better Act would also fund housing access as well as education - Have an opinion about how homelessness is being addressed in our community? for students facing - Want to share firsthand experience? homelessness.

- Interested in responding to what someone else has written?

Homelessness is not an identity, Street Sense Media has maintained an open submission policy since our founding. but an experience We aim to elevate voices from across the housing spectrum and foster healthy debate. that disadvantaged Please send submissions to opinion@streetsensemedia.org. students disproportionately face.

Youth experiencing

Among those most affected were students experiencing homelessness, who numbered about 7,000 in D.C. public schools when counted over the course of the 20182019 school year.

Join the conversation, share your views

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

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ART

Thanksgiving

BY MARCUS GREEN Artist/Vendor

Did you know that a disproportionate number of Muslims give food, clothes, and jobs? I want to see a lot more giving to homeless and struggling mothers, fathers, grandfathers, grandmothers, foster parents, and anybody showing love for kids, the elderly, etc.

The talk about giving this time of year helps you get focused on the love, being grateful, knowing where your blessings come from, etc. I need to know where the love comes from. You need to dig deep and keep going, to bring out the truth in your soul. How can I do nothing but grow? Put the work in and you will receive back the blessing.

Having a support system means the world when you’re going through something, trying to just have a regular, balanced life. I’m motivated for the holidays and seeing my family. Tell your family you love them, your friends, too.

Being thankful goes a long way. Being humble, most of all. That’s the balance: I never want to be self-centered, because you lose focus and sight of what your personal goals are. Come from the heart and it will be so easy to be honest in your endeavors.

I plan on giving away gloves, hats, socks, hand warmers, etc, because someone helped me when I didn’t have a place to go, food to eat, or just shared some kind words. I didn’t yet have a case manager with Street Sense Media,

Thanks-giving

BY CARLOS CAROLINA Artist/Vendor

The time of the year, To come together and bring cheer.

Hitting pots and pans like marching bands.

Big smiles on face with forks in hand, The aroma from the stove, Make my taste buds go, “Can’t wait to get a plate and a couple dinner rolls.”

And that’s that.

And that’s facts.

EDITORIAL CARTOON BY ANGIE WHITEHURST.

or any other nonprofit organization.

I believe in the circle of blessings: it entails blessings you put in for others.

Sometimes you get back double or more.

Helping an old person across the street, holding the door, or nice words go a long way. I’m thankful for Thanksgiving and

family and friends during the holiday.

Remember to tell them you love them.

Thanks for your support and encouragement from my regulars. I pray you have a nice holiday and your family see you and hug you — for some it will be the first time in 18 months. God bless.

Every grocery near, slam packed.

And if you can cook, Please bless.

When the food hit the table, The table scream, “Yes?” Guess?

Happy Thanksgiving.

Faith is critical to surviving homelessness

BY DON GARDNER Artist/Vendor

How does faith play a role in those experiencing homelessness?

My name is Don L. Gardner, and I was formerly homeless at one time. But, faith led me to the National Coalition for the Homeless, where I can share my story of faith.

Faith plays a vital role in those experiencing homelessness. It takes faith to wake up in the morning not knowing what you're going to eat. It takes faith to wake up not knowing if you're going to have water to drink or where you're going to use the restroom, or if you’re going to have a change of clothes. Or, what about the elements tonight? Is it going to rain on me? Is it going to snow on me today? Is it going to be too hot? It takes faith.

A lot of people that are homeless, in the homeless population, suffer from mental and physical abuse. I've experienced a lot of things being homeless. I've seen a lot of things. And I’d like to tell you that there’s nothing good about being homeless.

Homelessness sucks. But, faith carried me and delivered

me. Yes, I kept faith in the government and their programs.

And, I have faith in faith-based ministries and those providers that were coming out to help those who are homeless. But I didn't lose faith in me and I didn't lose faith in God. I was really raised in the church. And faith brought me through.

There are a lot of people that are homeless today that have lost faith. They have lost their dreams, their visions, and they believe that no one cares about them. Almost 45,000 people died last year from suicide. And that's very bad. Because those people maybe lost faith. They lost hope in their dreams, lost hope in the government, lost hope in their families and friends. And, most of all, they lost hope in themselves — and God. I’d like to say, today, that my experiences have brought me to help someone else. I believe that God didn't allow me to go through these trials and tribulations just for me. But, to be a blessing to somebody else, to lift somebody else up, to help somebody that has lost,

to bless somebody today.

It takes each and every one of us to continue to be a light to the darkness. Homelessness can happen to anybody. It doesn't make a difference what race, creed, color, or religion that you are. Homelessness can happen from a fire, a flood or loss of job, domestic violence — whatever reason.

But, everybody has a story. And my story today is faith.

Without faith, it's impossible to please God. I commission each and every one of you that is listening — those who are concerned today: continue living and being an inspiration to those that are lost. To those who are less fortunate, those who have lost their way. Be the salt of the earth. Be a light to the darkness and bless them and help them; just don't walk by them. Blessing with a kind word, an act of kindness. It doesn't take much. Because, sometimes we can lose faith in a split second. In a very “New York minute” we can lose our faith and lose hope.

I thank you. God bless you. Love you.

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ART

The murderous path of man

BY ROBERT WARREN Artist/Vendor

The murderous path of man and our brother’s conflicts.

Should we cash young Mr. Rittenhouse in?

The defenders of justice for the giver of life and death.

When will the stories of murder we write only be stories?

A new covenant written by man. Like, out with the old, and those who denied God’s Revelation to mankind.

Will justice be quick for the judge, jury, and executioner?

Three men who would ride and see the color of another man in their eyes and not the color of humanity.

A God giving life to man’s testimonies is a test of time summed up in the blink of an eye.

How many days before man murders the devil?

Some say the devil lied after that day. Will we all die?

To stand in the Lord’s court house of justice for every man — his and hers justice.

Do as it is written that the Lord is a witness.

See that men do like the Romans, who thought they would rule forever.

All was lost and built in a day.

Let man pray for forgiveness of one’s sins and the murderous path of man.

Cain killed Abel. When will there be a greeting of peace and no more murdering of men?

Just to close one’s eye and peacefully breathe in.

The Soul

BY KYM PARKER Artist/Vendor

We all are blessed With all we need The spiritual essence Of what was given to us God forgives us and loves us Even at our weakest She is always there A soul

A Dave and Buster’s in Dallas, Texas.

PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVIS PATTON / UNSPLASH.COM

Lots of indoor fun

BY BRIANNA BUTLER Artist/Vendor

Its getting cold outside but the inside offers lots of fun things to do. Let me take you through them.

My family and I make an event out of a sports, gathering to play basketball. We are hitting a lot of 2-point baskets, a few are hitting 4-points from half court, then a few people join us in this fun. We are filled with bloopers like dropping the ball while dribbling and letting the ball hit us.

Sometimes, the ball passes us by when we are supposed to catch it. All of us are laughing when we make all the free throws and layups.

The next day, our friends and us go to Dave and Busters to play games. We play a game where digital horses run to the finish line. The horse I pick is wearing green polka dots. I lose that game but Frank wins with

his gold- and black-caped horse. We play pinball, shouting and tapping the machine. My ball is hitting and going through loop-holes and dropping down through the hills in the game. My score is high and I win a radio.

Mark wins a figurine. Gladys wins a tufted duck. Ann wins some money. We also play a game where you roll a ball through holes but don’t let it go in the gutter, which gives us tickets to buy items from the gift area.

We work up a huge appetite.

We eat cheeseburger deluxes, pizza, and popcorn with a large strawberry daiquiri. For dessert, we order a cake.

We don’t expect it, but they bring a huge extra large cake that would feed a giant and then some. We are nice enough to give some cake to all the fan club that was playing with us. Then everyone prays to have a safe drive home and a blessed night of rest.

Homeless children

BY JACKIE TURNER Artist/Vendor

People don’t want to believe it, but there are lots of homeless children living in shelters and cars with parents and uncles — others are 18 in the street and trying to stay alive.

They need help. There are a lot of organizations and groups to reach out to them. They are still there. If Street Sense Media could put in a couple of words to help the situation from time, to let kids know they are not invisible and that people care, that would do a lot.

I’ve seen them in the street. Those are the ones that are visible. But the little ones the parents hide away in their cars and places like that. So they don’t know what’s going on.

It brings tears to my eyes. They’re just as confused as can be about what to do, how to get help, and how to communicate. They won't even listen. And can you blame them? They feel like they’re forgotten.

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The right time We all need Street Sense

BY ANTHONY PRATT, a.k.a. “PRAYED UP” Artist/Vendor

I work for Street Sense Media. My name is Anthony Pratt, a.k.a. “Prayed Up.” I enjoy concerning myself with others.

Working with Street Sense Media helps me to feel good about myself. When you help others, you also help yourself.

God always knows when you help people from the heart. The more you read the Bible, the more God gives you wisdom and understanding and common sense. The reason I love working for Street Sense Media is that when people read the paper, they have more understanding about homeless people. With more knowledge, they will understand that we are human beings and have real feelings and emotions like anyone else.

I feel that a lot of homeless people feel hopeless and don’t seek the help they need to get better. Evil takes over their minds and they become more hopeless and don’t care about themselves or others. That’s why all human beings need to go to God in prayer, so that their way of thinking is changed from negative thinking to positive thinking.

Get out of your head and learn to help others. Then, and only then, will you be able to help yourself.

Love always, Prayed Up. Peace.

Real change

BY ROCHELLE WALKER Artist/Vendor

God really did it this time. He picked a woman; a woman who loves him and herself.

I was born in Washington, D.C., the national capital. I attended Morgan State University and ended up a graduate of the University of the District of Columbia.

Whitney Houston sang, “I believe“children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside.” With an associate’s degree in early childhood development, I could believe that, achieve that, receive that, and teach that.

This world was created by someone, someday, somehow, so let us rejoice in it by changing ourselves first. A global change would be nice.

As climate changes, seasons change, and people change — Street Sense Media changed me. I have been selling the paper and writing articles since Sept. 20, 2020, and I love every bit of it.

Selling my paper on the street gives me a chance to pray for people who are homeless and tell the people about Jesus. Real change and real belief are coming. Change starts within you.

Weather and climate change

BY MICHELE ROCHON Artist/Vendor

During the last five decades, the science curriculum in public and private schools included the long-term impact/ effects of aerosol sprays on the ozone layer causing it to be extremely thin.

In addition, educators wanted to increase awareness of aerosol sprays such as deodorants, air fresheners, etc., and businesses provided alternatives such as roll-on deodorant, lighting scented candles, etc.

According to Merriam-Webster (2013), “the ozone layer can be defined as an atmosphere layer at heights of about 25 miles (40 kilometers) with high ozone content which blocks most ultraviolet radiation.”

Thinning of the ozone layer over many years allowed the sun’s rays to shine directly on the skin, potentially causing skin cancer. Educators addressed students to wear floppy sun

hats, caps, and suntan lotion to protect the skin from cancer, aging, and wrinkles.

A plethora of skincare professionals offer over-the-counter remedies: with a protection rating of SPF 15 at local pharmacies such as Walmart, CVS, Rite-Aid, and other such chains.

Finally, a significant amount of data has supported that the proper treatment of skin even during the winter months can have a formidable impact to reduce skin cancer, wrinkles, and other such destroyers to the skin.

Lastly, a number of communities have adopted rain forest(s) as a venue to sustain existing grass, plants, and trees.

Other topics of discussion regarding climate change could include the hole in the ozone layer, and specifically how often we should treat body parts that are exposed to the weather (i.e. once a day, twice a day, etc.).

BY AYUB ABDUL // Artist/Vendor

Waking up in the early morning breeze, hearing the birds through the trees, asking yourself “What do I need to do today?”

What will I do better today than I've done in the past? How can I make people laugh? How can I be kinder to my fellow man and woman?

Time will tell who's who. Remember, real friends are conscious of your time, and at the right time they let you know this is the time.

Being concerned about others, we must also be concerned about ourselves. It's alright to help someone, but help yourself first using your time and doing the right thing. Let people know you love them so, but love yourself first.

The problem within the problem

BY GRACIAS GRACIAS Artist/Vendor

The problem within the problem...

My problem...

Your problem...

The problems of others...

The problems of all the distant beings… far and near.

The problem of the problem; In the problem…

The problem with the solution...

The new problem...

The same problem...

The same new problem.

The problem of life...

Eternal.

The present problem…

The same old problem.

Obscure, however, empty, answerless body of work.

Happening mental structured problems Engaged in life that decomposes to obtain solidity again.

The hard problem of consciousness...

Find the problem of consciousness Find the problem follow the source of nothing happening.

Blah, blah, blah Ha, ha, ha.

ABSURDEXCHANGE

7/13/2021

1 4 // S T R E E T S E N S E M E D I A / / D E C . 1 - 7 , 2021

Novice Sudoku by KrazyDad, Volume 20, Book 50

Sudoku #3

3 7

9 8 7 3 6 5 4 9 5 8 2 1 4 5 1 7 6 2 1 6 8 4 7 5 9 1 © 2019 KrazyDad.com

Novice Sudoku by KrazyDad, Volume 20, Book 50

Fill in the blank squares so that each row, each column and each Sudoku #2 all of the digits 1 thru 9.

3-by-3 block contain If 3 you use 1 logic 9 you 5 can 6 solve 7 the 2 puzzle 4 8without guesswork.

Need 5 a6little4help?

2 The 1 page 7 shows 8 hints 3 9a logical order to solve the puzzle.

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

7 2 8 3 9 4 5 1 6 >> This crossword

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

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

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

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

4

4 5 2 7 8 3 1 2

5

7

9 1 6

6

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

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

puzzle’s answers: tinyurl.com/SSMcross-11-30-2021

<< LAST EDITION’S PUZZLE SOLUTION

This is the Daily Crossword Puzzle Across Across 1. Derisive sounds 1.8.

Green gem exercise Like some 8.15.

Makes more expensive Issue forth 15.

Private, at timesproject 16.

Grade-school 16.

Tree-trimming 17.

Extension tools 17.

Blabbed 18. Romance, for 14 Down 19.

Skin softener 19.

1987 Peace Prize winner 20.

Madrid 20.

Relax,Mrs. with "out" 21.

Once, once 22.

Bart's mother 22.

Nevertheless 23.

Object to 23.

Upper 24.

Crazecrusts 27.

Actress Russell, 26.

Roulette bet to friends 30.

Genesis locale 27.

Islanders' surface 31. in beauty...”

28.“___ Greatwalks numbers (Byron) 30. Name in Beatles history 34.

Mountain-related 31.

Tumbled down 33.

Flowerquickly, part 37.

Unwrap as a parcel 35.

At __ (conflicting) 39.

Blabbed 36.

Hit the water 41.

Master copy 37.

Mole's work 42.

Kampala’s country 40.

Oater heroes 43.

Devotee 44.

"Femenino" 44.

Dickens lass suffix 45.

Some pro golfers 45.

Sword vanquisher, figuratively 47.

Edge adverb 46.

Contract 48.

Telejournalist Cosby 48.

Muppeteer Henson 50.

Overindulges 51. Big name in auctions 51.

News follower 54.

Teachers’ org.

52.

Vibrant 56. “___ and the Swan” (Yeats) 54.

Poodle pro 57.

Blabbed 55.

Triumphal outburst 62. Said “Cheese” 56.

Branch off 63. Straight swords 58.

Major unrest 64.

Tranquilizes 60.

Ceaseless 65. Young actress 61. Inherent quality 62. Organized ways Down 63. Came out

#1 for Jul 13, 2021

You're never too old to become younger.

-- Mae West

1 8 5 2 7

Free Printable Crossword Puzzle #1

1. Written composition 2. Syrup source 3. Poet T.S. ___ 4. Govern 5. Iceland’s ocean (abbr.)

6. Sediments 7. Eminem producer 8. Speed limit letters

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

© ONLINECROSSWORDS.NET

FUN & GAMES

Free Daily Printable Crossword Puzzles

9. “We ___ not amused” Down

36. Nabokov novel 10.

Chafe 38. ___ upswing (improving) 1. Like terra cotta 13. Think of 39. You find them in your 11.

Pants parts 40. Hardy cabbagetravels 2. "Ventura Highway" band 14. "Terminator 2" director 12.

Scorch Laughing beast40. Place 3. Four teeth 21. Camelot46. lady 13.

Largeclay vases 47. Comes close 41. On the lam 4. Work 24. Interfered 14.

“Hey, you!”

48. 1-Across, 42. Get behind 5. Passed bills 25. What some keys havefor example 18.

Alternate title for this crossword 49. “___ ahead!”)

43.right Freeloaded 6. Depot info 28. Takes on cargo you!” (“Go 24.

“The very ___!”

50.

Might, Scriptures-style 46. Long stories 7. Fabric edges 29. Moves a bit 25.

Oolong holder 51. Quiche ingredients 49. Head off 8. Ballet duet 32. Bilk 26.

Anger article 52. Inboast one’s birthday 51.suit After a while 9. Austrian 34. End of Jack's 27.

Diana “The Avengers” 53. Zealous 53. Bird of prey 10.Actress Travel far andofwide 36. Closet item 28. computer-style 37. Diatribes55. Part of a Latin55.

101Model trio 11.Connected, Bach instrument 29. of fishing boat 56. Den 57. Herd of whales 12.Type Saloon 38. Public service 31. Interval 58. Blaster’s letters59. Belief 32. Range rover 59. “___ Haw!” 33. Single-named New Age singer 60. Both Begleys 34. ___ now (immediately) 61. Pollution monitor (abbr.)

35. “Dr. Zhivago” heroine

Author Gene Weingarten is a college dropout and a nationally syndicated humor columnist for The Washington Post. Author Dan Weingarten is a former college dropout and a current college student majoring in information technology. Many thanks to Gene Weingarten and The Washington Post Writers Group for allowing Street Sense to run Barney & Clyde. https://www.onlinecrosswords.net/printable-daily-crosswords-1.php

1

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

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

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

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

Foundry Methodist Church // 202-332-4010 1500 16th St., NW ID (Friday 9am–12pm only) foundryumc.org/ministry-opportunities

Friendship Place // 202-364-1419 4713 Wisconsin Ave., NW friendshipplace.org

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Martha’s Table // 202-328-6608 marthastable.org 2375 Elvans Road SE 2204 Martin Luther King Ave. SE

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

My Sister’s Place // 202-529-5991 (24-hr hotline) mysistersplacedc.org

N Street Village // 202-939-2060 1333 N St., NW nstreetvillage.org

New York Avenue Shelter // 202-832-2359 1355-57 New York Ave., NE

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH HOTLINE Línea de salud del comportamiento

1-888-793-4357

Laundry Lavandería

Samaritan Ministry 202-722-2280 // 1516 Hamilton St., NW 202-889-7702 // 1345 U St., SE samaritanministry.org

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

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

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

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

Unity Health Care 3020 14th St., NW // unityhealthcare.org - Healthcare for the Homeless Health Center: 202-508-0500 - Community Health Centers: 202-469-4699 1500 Galen Street SE, 1500 Galen Street SE, 1251-B Saratoga Ave NE, 1660 Columbia Road NW, 4414 Benning Road NE, 3924 Minnesota Avenue NE, 765 Kenilworth Terrace NE, 555 L Street SE, 3240 Stanton Road SE, 3020 14th Street NW, 2700 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE, 1717 Columbia Road NW, 1313 New York Avenue, NW BSMT Suite, 425 2nd Street NW, 4713 Wisconsin Avenue NW, 2100 New York Avenue NE, 2100 New York Avenue NE, 1333 N Street NW, 1355 New York Avenue NE, 828 Evarts Place, NE, 810 5th Street NW

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

The Welcome Table // 202-347-2635 1317 G St., NW. epiphanydc.org/thewelcometable

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

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

Samaritan Inns // 202-667-8831 2523 14th St., NW samaritaninns.org

// 1 5

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

HELP! WE’RE LOOKING FOR

volunteers Become a Street Sense Media volunteer and help further our mission to empower people experiencing homelessness by amplifying marginalized voices and meeting the information needs of people in poverty.

Our editorial team seeks volunteers skilled in either Adobe InDesign or the WordPress CMS to help expand two teams for publishing our content in print and online, respectively.

If interested, please contact our editors, Eric Falquero and Gordon Chaffin: editor@streetsensemedia.org 202-347-2006 (x 201) For more information about these opportunities and other volunter positions, visit StreetSenseMedia.org/volunteer

SENSE STREET MEDIA Real Stories Real People Real Change

Dear Friend, For too many of the men and women we work with at Street Sense Media, such as Daniel or Marcus, as well as hundreds like them in Washington, D.C., winter means another battle to survive nights spent sleeping outside.

Others live in shelters that close their doors every morning in all but the harshest of weather conditions, expelling residents out into the cold.

Your past support has ended the nightmare of homelessness for dozens of our vendors. And with your generous help this year, we can help ensure that this will be the last year that vendors like Christina and many others live outside.

One of the most painful daily routines each winter at Street Sense Media is, after the coldest nights, checking to see if any of our vendors succumbed to the elements the night before. We are on a mission to make sure that such tragedies do not reoccur. Your contribution makes these check ins and all our work possible.

Your generosity allowed us to launch a case management program in 2017.

Today, that program is stronger than ever. It seeks out our most vulnerable vendors, helping them navigate to the housing, health and mental health care they need to live longer, healthier and more stable lives. Since it launched, we’ve helped more than 50 of our vendors obtain permanent housing!

Much more recently, your generous support led to our becoming only the fifth street newspaper in the world to publish new editions weekly. This has directly led to a 40% increase in earnings for our vendors who formerly sold far few papers in the second week of what had been a two-week circulation period for each edition. That additional income is often the difference between a night in a warm bed and a night outside in the cold of winter.

Rochelle, vendor/artist To donate online, go to www.streetsensemedia.org

These are two of the many ways that your donations make a difference in the lives of the men and women we serve. Often, it’s a life-saving difference.

Reaching these two goals – creating an effective case management program and publishing weekly – has added well over $200,000 annually in new costs.

To sustain those two efforts, and fund other needed initiatives, we need your help. Will you make a generous gift to Street Sense Media today?

Every time one of our vendors inserts a key into their apartment door or saves enough money for a security deposit on a new lease, the results of your generosity can be seen.

Your generosity changes lives. We hope that we can count on your continued partnership through a generous year-end gift using the form below or going online at www.streetsensemedia.org.

We thank you for your support and wish you the very best this holiday season.

Faith, vendor/artist

Sincerely,

From your vendor, Brian Carome Chief Executive Officer

DEC. 1 - 7, 2021 | VOLUME 19 ISSUE 3

Yes, I want to support Street Sense Media and REAL CHANGE! Enclosed is my gift of: ❑ $1,000 ❑ $500 ❑ $250

❑ $50

NO CASH? NO PROBLEM. WE HAVE AN APP! SEARCH “STREET SENSE” IN THE APP STORE

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