06.08.2022

VOL. 19 ISSUE 29

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JUNE 8 - 14, 2022

Real Stories

Real People

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Real Change

National Park Service and city not following District’s encampment engagement policy On pages 3, 8 & 9

Meet Gerald Anderson. Learn how he turned his life around by selling newspapers on page 4

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VENDORS Abel Putu, Abraham Aly, Aida Peery, Amina Washington, Andre Brinson, Andrew Anderson, Angie Whitehurst, Anthony Carney, Anthony Pratt, Archie Thomas, August Mallory, Betty Everett, Beverly Sutton, Brianna Butler, Carlos Carolina, Carol Motley, Charles Armstrong, Charles Woods, Chon Gotti, Chris Cole, Chris Sellman, Conrad Cheek, Corey Sanders, Cortney Signor, Daniel Ball, David Snyder, Debora Brantley, Don Gardner, Doris Robinson, Earl Parker, Eric Thompson-Bey, Evelyn Nnam, Floyd Carter, Franklin Sterling, Frederic John, Fredrick Jewell, Gerald Anderson, Gracias Garcias, Henry Johnson, Ivory Wilson, Jacqueline “Jackie” Turner, Jacquelyn Portee, James Davis, Jeanette Richardson, Jeff Taylor, Jeffery McNeil, Jeffrey Carter, Jemel Fleming, Jenkins Daltton, Jennifer McLaughlin, Jermale McKnight, Jet Flegette, Jewel Lewis, John Littlejohn, Joshua Faison, Juliene Kengnie, Justin Blakey, Katrina Arninge, Kenneth Middleton, Khadijah Chapman, Kym Parker, Laura Smith, Lawrence Autry, Levester Green, Malcolm Scott Jr, Marcus McCall, Mark Jones, Maurice Spears, Melody Byrd, Michael Warner, Michele Rochon, Mildred M. Hall, Morgan Jones, Patricia Donaldson, Patty Smith, Phillip Black, Queenie Featherstone, Redbook Mango, Reggie Jones, Reginald Black, Reginald C. Denny, Ricardo Meriedy, Rita Sauls, Robert Warren, Rochelle Walker, Ron Dudley, Sasha Williams, Shawon McCrary, Sheila White, Shuhratjon Ahmadjonov, Susan Westmoreland, Susan Wilshusen, Sybil Taylor, Warren Stevens, Wendell Williams BOARD OF DIRECTORS

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Mary Coller Albert, Blake Androff, Jonquilyn Hill, Greg Jaffe, Stanley Keeve, Clare Krupin, Ashley McMaster, Matt Perra, Michael Phillips, Daniel Webber, Shari Wilson, Corrine Yu

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Brian Carome AVA I L A B L E

Doris Warrell

DIRECTOR OF VENDOR PROGRAMS

VENDOR CODE OF CONDUCT

Darick Brown

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

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS AND DEVELOPMENT

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.

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.

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

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

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

6.

7.

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

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.

8.

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

9.

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

10. I understand that my badge and vest are property of Street Sense Media and will not deface them. I will present my badge when purchasing “Street Sense” and will always display my badge when distributing “Street Sense.”

CASE MANAGER

Leo Grayburn

DIRECTOR OF VENDOR EMPLOYMENT

Thomas Ratliff

VENDOR PROGRAM ASSOCIATES

Aida Peery, Clifford Samuels

VENDOR PROGRAM VOLUNTEERS

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

MANAGER OF ARTISTIC WORKSHOPS

Maria Lares

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Will Schick

DEPUTY EDITOR

Kaela Roeder

PRODUCTION EDITOR

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

The Cover Kenan Bell, an encampment resident in Union Station, standing by his tent.

PHOTO BY WILL SCHICK

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.

Athiyah Azeem

STAFF REPORTER

Annemarie Cuccia

INTERNS

Hajira Fuad, Ingrid Holmquist, Jasper Smith

ARTISTS-IN-RESIDENCE

Willie Schatz (Writing), Bonnie Naradzay (Poetry), David Serota (Illustration)

ARTS EDITOR (VOLUNTEER)

Austine Model

OPINION EDITORS (VOLUNTEER)

Rebecca Koenig, Emily Kopp, Lydia DePillis

EDITORIAL VOLUNTEERS

Josh Axelrod, Ryan Bacic, Katie Bemb, Lilah Burke, Chelsea Ciruzzo, Lenika Cruz, Alison Henry, Kathryn Owens, Nick Shedd, Andrew Siddons, Jenny-lin Smith, Rebecca Stekol

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NEWS IN BRIEF

AT A GLANCE

DC did not follow its encampment protocol HAJIRA FUAD Editorial Intern

T

wo recent encampment cleanups didn’t follow the city’s encampment protocol.

According to the website of the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS), a full cleanup and biowaste removal at two encampment sites was scheduled to occur at 10 a.m. on May 10. But the actual cleanups that occurred were earlier than scheduled and were only partial, not full, cleanups.

The encampments were located at two tunnel exits, each less than half a mile away from the U.S. Capitol building.

According to D.C.’s official encampment protocol, the city is required to post an official notice in the immediate vicinity of the encampment 14 days prior to a planned cleanup. The notice must include: the designated area to be cleaned, the scheduled date and time of the cleanup and contact information for various support agencies.

On May 10, the time posted for the cleanup at both encampment sites was 10 a.m. However, when a Street Sense Media reporter arrived at the 1st and C St NW encampment site just past 9 a.m., a cleanup was already underway.

As cars streamed out of the tunnel exit in morning rush hour traffic, encampment residents moved their belongings out of the tunnel and onto a median located at the intersection of 1st and C St. NW. A District official wearing a jacket with a DMHHS logo observed the cleanup and declined to offer comment.

According to the cleanup notice, “Any property not stored or removed from within 200 feet of this notice by the scheduled

clean time is subject to removal and immediate disposal.” This is consistent with the “full cleanup” action that was written as scheduled to occur on the DMHHS website.

However, Lester Kibler, a 46 year old resident of the encampment, told Street Sense Media that the city was not conducting a full cleanup of the encampment.

“I’m just moving all this stuff right here so they can clean,” Kibler said, a lifelong D.C. resident who has lived in the encampment for one year. He was moving his belongings out of the tunnel and onto a median just a few steps away. “When they’re gone, we’re gonna put it right back. We’re gonna pull our tents back once they get finished,” he said.

Once encampment residents had moved their belongings out of the area, a District biowaste disposal team conducted a cleanup as scheduled, hauling away red biohazard bags once they were finished.

At 10:11 a.m., there was no cleanup at the 2nd and D St NW encampment site, similarly located inside a tunnel. It appeared that there were only two unsheltered individuals residing at the encampment site at the time. By 10:30 a.m., a District biowaste disposal team arrived at the site and began its scheduled removal of biowaste.

Meanwhile, by 10:45 a.m, District officials had left the 1st and C St. NW encampment site. The belongings of encampment residents remained at the median a few feet away from their original location at the tunnel exit. Encampment residents remained near the site, but had not yet begun moving their belongings back inside of the tunnel.

SCAVENGER HUNT Here’s the answer to Wendell Williams’ second scavenger hunt clue: This area is the 400 block of Elm St NW. It is in this area that the musical great and favorite son of D.C. Duke Ellington grew up.

VENDOR PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENTS • Vendors, join us for a celebration on Thursday, June 16, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

• Are you a DC resident?

Were you unable to file unemployment, and was Street Sense your only source of income since 2020? Ask us about DC Cares.

• New Workshop! Watercolor Workshop is every Thursday at 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

• The next Vendor Meeting will be Friday, June 24, at 2 p.m.

• “Beat the Streets” has been changed to every Thursday at Street Sense at 3 p.m.

• Papers for vaccinations?

Show us your CDC card and get 15 papers for being fully vaccinated plus 10 more for being boosted.

BIRTHDAYS Jen Flegette June 12 ARTIST/VENDOR

Thank you for reading Street Sense!

Follow more headlines at StreetSenseMedia.org/news

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Reggie Jones June 14 ARTIST/VENDOR

From your vendor, JUNE 8 - 14, 2022 | VOLUME 19 ISSUE 29

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NEWS

How a street paper can change a person’s life WILL SCHICK Editor-in-Chief

Gerald Anderson used to sell up to 100 papers a day. Photo by Will Schick.

G

erald Anderson will never forget the first time he ever stole something. It was sometime in the late 1970s in New Orleans, La. And 10 or 11 year old Anderson was swimming in an oversized t-shirt his older brother lent him, nervous that someone would catch him. Moving aisle by aisle in a local convenience store with his sister, he sorted through his list of sundries: a packet of Ritz crackers, a bag of Dickey’s potato chips, a cold pineapple drink, some Colgate-branded toothpaste for sensitive teeth and an Almond Joy bar.

But once he stepped out of the safety of the fluorescent lights of Danny’s Supermarket, a neighborhood store located in the third ward of New Orleans, he drew the immediate suspicion of a woman making her way in.

“She said, ‘Why ya’ll ain’t got a bag?’ I said, ‘Because there’s two of us, and we can carry it,’” Anderson said.

Like a punctured soda bottle, his sister started spilling a confession.

“She was so scared. She said, ‘Yeah, we stole it,’ and then we had to put it all back,” Anderson said.

The woman was Mrs. Burke, who knew Anderson and his family. Once she saw him, she instinctively knew something was wrong. The child was not at school and he was fumbling with what looked like an unlikely list of groceries. Upon hearing their confession, Anderson said, she gave them both an on-the-spot “whooping” and left it there.

It wouldn’t be the last time Anderson would be caught stealing, though he had not meant any harm. His motivation was different from that of well-to-do teenagers looking for some quick excitement. Anderson was sent to the store by his older brother, armed with a grocery list. Only, he had no money.

He was expected to procure the items on the list without paying

for them. And for a long time in Anderson’s life, this was how he went about getting the things he needed.

Soon after this incident, Anderson left home to avoid burdening his family, especially his mother, who cared for her eight children independently. Growing up, he had never known his father. Sometimes Anderson slept in abandoned cars, back alleys and gas stations. And whenever he needed something, he stole it. Over time, Anderson turned to much more severe crimes. Eventually, the police would catch him and send him to prison.

A number of academic studies have documented the connection between crime and poverty. The Office of Planning and Research at the Department of Housing and Urban Development explicitly links crime and poverty, noting that “numerous studies have shown that neighborhoods with a higher poverty rate tend to have a higher crime rate.”

In 2020, people making less than $20,000 per year were twice as likely to report being victims of a crime as people making over $50,000 per year. And they are three times as likely to report being a victim of a crime as people making over $100,000 per year.

The U.S. Census Bureau tracks poverty by measuring a household’s income level. Households of four making less than $26,500 are considered to be living below the poverty line. The latest American Community Survey published in 2020 found close to 13% of residents living below the poverty level in the United States.

Historical context of crime in the US Dr. Bethany Young, deputy director of DC Justice Lab, a think tank advocating for criminal justice reform in Washington,

D.C., said that in order to understand crime in the U.S. one must look at history.

Young, an attorney with a Ph.D. in sociology, says the Great Migration of the early 20th century is one of the most important events to study when it comes to examining the progression of crime in the U.S. During The Great Migration, millions of Black Americans fled the violence of the American south for economic opportunities in cities like New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Detroit.

“We had Black families fleeing racial terror and the south and coming to northern cities where they imagined there were better economic opportunities for them. And not just economic opportunities, but safety and the ability to have their families and their children be safe and unmolested by the agents of racial terror,” Young said.

But as these families settled down in northern cities, they soon learned that the north wasn’t exactly what they had imagined.

“Instead of finding this paid, skilled labor and better opportunities, they were met with a different kind of shut out.

They were shut out of skilled trades, out of unions and blocked from living in certain communities and neighborhoods and from buying homes. They’re economically blocked,” Young said.

By isolating communities from economic opportunities and concentrating them in geographic areas, racist policies such as redlining, segregation and housing discrimination contributed to developing another phenomenon.

“People have to survive. And so, they do what it takes to survive. And for many people, that has meant, ‘If I can’t find a way to get food or shelter or clothes for my family, I have to do that by whatever means I have available to me.’ And that

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has meant many people doing things that we have decided as a society are crimes,” Young said.

It’s impossible to discuss the link between poverty and crime without discussing race. According to the latest American Community Survey, Black, Indigenous and people of color are disproportionately impacted by poverty and experience it at higher rates than people who are white.

While around 11% of people who identify as white live below the federal poverty level. But for people identifying as Black, the number is twice as high.

The same kind of racial disparity is reflected in crime statistics. While Black people only comprise approximately 13% of the U.S. population, they account for nearly a third of all arrests for non-violent crimes. Meanwhile, though white people account for about 60% of the U.S. population, they only comprise about 46% of arrests for non-violent crimes in the country. While these statistics are not necessarily based on the number of crimes committed by a specific group but instead on arrests, they show a troublesome issue.

An unlikely encounter Growing up, Anderson never spent very much time with his father. In prison, he woke up every morning next to him.

At some point between 1986 and 1987, Anderson was arrested for armed robbery. He had been running scams on tourists looking to buy weed on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. On this occasion, some tourists approached him to ask if he knew of an area where they could acquire drugs. As Anderson named a price, he waited for the victims to pull out their wallets, and then he pulled a gun on them.

After this robbery, Anderson served time at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, a place he likened to college. For several years, Anderson had been moving between juvenile detention facilities and correctional facilities, places he compared to “kindergarten” and “high school.” Now, Anderson has reached the professional leagues.

Because of its famous brutal conditions, the maximumsecurity prison is also referred to as the “Alcatraz of the South” and “America’s Bloodiest Prison.” About 85% of its inmates are serving life sentences, the highest percentage of any prison in the country. Built on a former slave plantation site, the prison is also a working farm. While Anderson knew his father was an inmate at the prison, he hadn’t expected to be placed in the same cell with him.

“I didn’t feel very comfortable sleeping in the dormitory next to my dad,” Anderson recalled.

He said that his father was an influential figure in prison and had sway with the prison authorities, who granted his request

to be next to his son. Though the two hadn’t spoken with each other in a long time, Anderson learned that his father had kept up with him in different ways.

“He knew about me because a lot of the young cats that go there talk about me because I got a reputation in the street,” he explained.

Like most young people and their parents, Anderson felt desperate to get away from his father and his incessant lecturing. A faithful Christian, his father, had tried to get him involved in religion. But he was not having it.

“Me and a guy got in a fight, and I stabbed the guy up,” Anderson said. “I just used the guy really to get out the yard and go to another side of the yard where I could get out from around my dad.”

Today, Anderson is not sure whether his father is still in prison or not. He says that his father was on a 198-year sentence and has likely served multiple decades for a crime he doesn’t believe he ever committed.

Finding a way out The link between children following the paths of their parents has been documented in a number of studies. Children are generally three times more likely to follow their parents’ career paths. Since the 1940s, various studies have also drawn this conclusion regarding criminal parents. If your parents are criminals, your chances of becoming one are much higher. A statistical link between families and crime does not mean that a person is biologically predisposed to become a criminal. It is more about the environment in which people live.

Anderson’s father did not play a major role in his childhood, but he grew up looking up to people he describes as “hustlers,” who paved their own paths and found creative ways to earn a living. In Anderson’s neighborhood, people stole or burglarized, or sold drugs. Money was all Anderson ever thought about for a long time.

In 2013, Anderson had just been kicked out of his girlfriend’s house and sleeping at a local shelter after spending some time in prison. He wanted to find a way to make an income but wasn’t sure how to go about it. While Anderson would sell drugs in the past, he was determined to try something different this time. He had plans to publish a book one day about his experience. And then, one day, he had a chance encounter with someone who would change his life.

He walked over to the Martin Luther King Jr. Library in downtown D.C. He asked a woman if she knew of any place he could get something to eat. She pointed him in the direction of a few places that provide free meals. But then, just as Anderson turned to walk away, he thought to ask her if she knew of any

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sites offering jobs.

“She said, ‘Oh, I know how you can make some money,’” Anderson said. “Sell papers.”

At first, the idea struck Anderson as ridiculous.

“What you say? Sell papers? I ain’t no paperboy. I’m a dope boy,” Anderson said.

And then, the woman responded with a line that Anderson has never since forgotten.

“She said, ‘You just don’t know what could come from these papers.”

Sometime later, Anderson went back to the shelter. He remembers it was night, and it was snowing. He awoke to a friend shaking him the next morning, gripping a handful of money.

“He said, ‘Man, get up! I got plenty of money!’ And I said ‘Where did you get all that money from?’ and he said, ‘I sold papers,’ and so I said ‘Shit, I got to go sell myself some papers.’”

Soon after, Anderson connected with Street Sense Media.

The nonprofit is centered around what is known as a street paper — a publication sold by people experiencing homelessness or living in extreme poverty as a means to make an income.

The business model for a street paper is simple. People who sign up to become vendors purchase papers at wholesale prices and sell them for recommended donations, keeping all the difference for themselves. In addition, many street papers such as Street Sense also provide vendors with an array of case management services and arts workshops.

Reflecting on his life, Anderson said he has no regrets about his criminal history, though he said he would likely have led a different life had he known the results.

Today, he continues to be amazed at the way his life has changed after becoming a newspaper vendor. Aside from the benefit of selling upwards of 100 papers a day (prior to the pandemic), he has forged deep friendships with neighbors and customers –– people he often refers to as family. In 2015, Anderson also accomplished a long-time goal of publishing a memoir with the help of an editor he had met through an arts workshop at Street Sense Media.

“I never thought a piece of paper would change my life,” he said while shaking his head. “A piece of paper.”

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NEWS

Random acts of kindness: The National Guard steps in WENDELL WILLIAMS Artist/Vendor

Wendell Williams, a homeless services navigator for the Department of Social Services in Prince George’s County, recently helped the Maryland National Guard provide vaccinations to people experiencing homelessness in the region. Photo by Wendell Williams.

I

n the winter of 1978, I experienced firsthand the awesome benefit of having a local National Guard unit standing by. I had taken my first job after leaving school early to pursue my dreams in broadcasting at a rock radio station in Dayton, Ohio.

It was while I was there that I experienced my first real blizzard. It was not one of those annual dustings of two inches of snow like around here in D.C. where everyone takes a couple of days vacation. The snow came and never seemed to stop. It got so deep and the drifts so high that an unusual announcement went out — you’d be arrested for driving. People just left their cars on streets and highways and started walking.

When the snow stopped, many were cut off and isolated.

We were stuck on our radio station for what seemed like days, sleeping on the floors and doing public service updates around the clock without relief, when the governor finally announced that he was mobilizing the Ohio Guard.

I remember seeing the results of their presence immediately.

The Guard units showed up with the biggest vehicles you could ever imagine. They attached plows to every vehicle they had.

Massive front loaders and big four-wheel trucks cleared the way in town and then fanned out to start rescuing citizens in surrounding communities who had been cut off without food, water or power and massive piles of snow were everywhere.

Seeing the faces of the young guardsmen gave hope to our communities during this time of need. They went at it 24/7 until they had broken through to every backwater village and town in southwestern Ohio. They rescued people who had been unreachable for what seemed like a week.

All this brings me to my next contact with the Guard years later. Serving in their local communities also, National Guard soldiers play a major part in disaster response missions.

They put themselves on the front lines of the ever-changing pandemic. While sometimes, their missions change, the Guard remains committed to the communities in their state.

A little over a month ago, I received a call from someone who had gotten my number from one of the COPS officers I work with in my position as a homeless navigator in a D.C.

suburb. COPS is a Department of Justice funded program that stands for “Community Oriented Policing Services.” The officers in this program function more like social workers. If they took their uniforms off and you listened to them, you wouldn’t know the difference. They are like my security detail.

And we work together to find solutions for people undergoing crises and who may be homeless.

While my job has a fancy title, I’m really just a mobile caseworker. Many of my referrals occur when people are told, “Maybe you should talk with Mr. Williams so he can show you what’s going on with people experiencing homelessness.”

A woman named Meme reached out to me and asked about vaccination rates of unhoused people. I responded by saying I was sure it needs to be higher. She told me that with the recent surge in infections, she could help. I suggested she come on a ride along with me to see what might be done. l had no idea what this would lead to but I always encourage people who are concerned about this issue to see it up close and personal. I want them to have the opportunity to see firsthand the plight of people experiencing homelessness as this issue

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Williams worked with multiple community agencies to provide vaccinations to people experiencing homelessness.

Photo courtesy of Wendell Williams.

continues to be misunderstood in the 21st century.

We set a date for a morning out and about in my assigned area. To give you an idea of how large this is — it’s about onethird the size of the state of Rhode Island. So I was surprised when Meme told me that she was helping the Maryland National Guard get more involved in the fight against the newest surge of Covid-19. The Guard wanted to make certain the population I worked with had the same access to the lifesaving vaccinations as housed people.

I thought we’d have serious difficulties getting a group of untrusting people to trust us to not be an enemy, but view us as non-threatening. I shared with her how long that usually takes, and the serious doubts I had. But her sincerity and compassion as we spoke about the project kept me engaged.

I soon became convinced that if she thought it could work, maybe I should find a way to help her for the good of the people in the homeless community and people who may come in contact with them.

So many people experiencing homelessness don’t care whether they live or die because there’s no sense to a life without much hope. I feel most homeless people including myself don’t trust the system to treat them with dignity and respect. Looking back on my own life, I think my own view of my worthiness got in the way of getting help. When you’ve been chronically homeless, it can be just as hard to accept that someone feels you’re worth caring about. So, we expect rejection and can often act out in ways that support our fears.

Most unhoused people have had nothing but negative interactions with the very agencies they need to help them and many view them as having had multiple chances already not realizing some peoples different learning styles. Some of us had to repeat similar life lessons over and over, which leads to feelings of worthlessness which makes it hard to trust.

So wouldn’t you know it on the scheduled date we were to do reconnaissance of the target area, it was raining cats and dogs.

As we made “the rounds,” Meme was really moved by what she saw and understood how her project could help unhoused people have the same access to the life saving shots so highly valued by so many in the community. The agreed date was my day to do outreach by handing out bag lunches anyway.

This gave us the chance to speak with those out on the streets.

Meme would also have an opportunity to talk with people experiencing homelessness about their vaccinations status and

When you’ve been chronically homeless, it can be just as hard to accept that someone feels you’re worth caring about.

to my surprise, some people were very receptive. So we set a date and put a plan in motion.

With a MASH team of 10 soldiers dressed in civilian clothes and 2 COPS officers we set out at 8 a.m from a strip mall parking lot to find out if this would really work.

We had a great start as we approached a person who was sleeping in an encampment. Our first customer was glad we came and told us how he just hadn’t gotten around to getting his shots yet. This encounter got us off to a great start.

Our next stop was a big box hardware store parking lot where mostly Hispanic day laborers — many of whom are

unhoused — gather. We had planned ahead and our team was full of Spanish speaking personnel.

Then we headed to an apartment complex near a liquor store where all kinds of people hang out. And low and behold, people turned out to investigate why we were there. It was an encouraging omen of things to come that day.

Our next stop was at an older large shopping center, but the response was far beyond what any of us had hoped for.

Maybe it was that the word had gotten out that there were cash incentives for getting vaccinated. But they came and didn’t stop until I was just about out of money. I feared what the response would be if the word got out that there were no more pay days for getting shots.We were also giving out lunches prepared by a local senior living facility, fast food coupons from a civic minded franchise owner along with a table full of donations of shoes and clothing, but make no doubt about it the cash payment is what drove them to us.

By the end of our day we had exceeded our expectations by vaccinating almost 40 individuals which set the table for a return to get them fully protected later in the next few months.

All in all it was a great experience for the guardsmen, some who were unaware of the real plight of the unhoused which allowed them to feel grateful and became allies against homelessness and in their random acts of kindness they gave me another chance to get closer to the people I serve. Their next vaccination drive is June 16 starting at 8 a.m. in Oxon Hill.

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NEWS

Tossed in the trash: Residents at Union Station stripped of their belongings ANNEMARIE CUCCIA Staff Reporter

National Park Service groundskeepers feed an encampment resident’s tent into the back of a garbage truck. Photo by Athiyah Azeem.

V

icki Paige was determined not to move. As she settled into a wrought-iron garden chair in Columbus Circle across from Union Station, she watched with skepticism as her neighbors packed for the day’s encampment removal.

“The police will be the ones who will have to remove me,” Paige said, pausing a playlist of her favorite songs and placing her headphones in her lap. “If I’m leaving my home, I need to know where I can go. And they’re not explaining that to me.”

On June 1, the National Park Service (NPS) led a longplanned encampment clearing of the area, citing health and safety concerns. Union Station is also set to be renovated in the coming years. Unlike recent closures undertaken as part of Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Coordinated Assistance and Resources for Encampments (CARE) pilot, this closure was not paired with any official effort to match residents with housing vouchers.

This clearing came amid an ongoing debate over what the city should do with a growing number of encampments. People experiencing homelessness often turn to encampments as a last resort while they search for permanent housing, particularly

if they are wary of the conditions and rules in emergency shelters.

When an encampment is cleared, its residents generally scatter throughout the city. This makes it hard for caseworkers to stay in touch with former residents, undermining the goal of connecting people experiencing homelessness with housing, according to Christy Respress, the executive director of D.C.based social services organization Pathways to Housing.

The CARE pilot — which so far has removed four encampments — attempted to address this problem by evicting unhoused residents from encampment sites while offering to help them obtain housing vouchers. The program began in 2021 as part of Bowser’s still-unfulfilled pledge to end chronic homelessness in D.C., with 4,410 people still experiencing homelessness as of this year’s point-in-time count. Administered by the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS), the pilot program has drawn criticism for uneven implementation that left 40 people unhoused across four sites, as well as for inflicting unnecessary trauma on residents during encampment closures by forcing them to move without first securing housing. Supporters of the CARE pilot contend the existing conditions are not safe for the unhoused residents or the community at large.

The area around Union Station has been a longtime target for encampment clearings and closures, which the city has ramped up in the last few years. The city began trying to shut down certain encampments in 2019 and 2020, partially to enhance “pedestrian walkways,” a reasoning heavily critiqued by outreach workers. NoMa underpass encampments were closed altogether in 2021 as part of the CARE pilot. Many of the residents at the Union Station encampment said they previously lived at the site of the NoMa underpasses.

The June 1 clearing displaced around 35 people. In some cases, NPS workers trashed residents’ belongings instead of storing them, despite prior commitments. U.S. Park Police tased one resident who was experiencing a mental health crisis and involuntarily committed her to a mental health facility, officials confirmed. According to Aaron Howe, the co-founder of Remora House, it’s common for NPS-led cleanups to be more traumatic for residents than ones conducted by the city, though the clearing at Union Station was more considerate than some in the past.

“They’re always harder,” Howe said.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

35 lives disrupted Formed at the start of the pandemic, the encampment at Columbus Circle grew to about 35 tents, some of which were gone before last week’s clearing. NPS, which has control of the property, chose not to enforce the no-camping zone during the last two years. Since the onset of the pandemic, many people experiencing homelessness have opted to live in encampments, hoping to avoid exposing themselves to COVID-19 in crowded shelters. This is in line with guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which confirmed the virus could be more easily spread in congregate shelter settings.

In a March 24 letter announcing its plans to remove the encampment, NPS asked the District to provide housing assistance for encampment residents. But the clearing was not linked to any permanent housing program. Pathways and Project H3, another local nonprofit, spent weeks attempting to connect unhoused residents in the area with permanent housing vouchers, a process that usually stretches over many months and that is constrained by the availability of vouchers.

Some residents were eligible for PEP-V, a housing program created during the pandemic for individuals who are medically vulnerable. Others who were matched with a Permanent Supportive Housing voucher but are still looking for an apartment moved into what’s known as “bridge housing.”

But most people were forced to relocate without assistance, Respress said.

That was true for Kenan Bell, an Illinois native who missed his train at Union Station three weeks ago. “And next thing you know, I’m out here,” he said. Instead of watching his child graduate in Miami, he spent the day going back-andforth between Union Station and his next place as he moved his things.

Like Bell, other residents of the encampment who were not able to get housing had to find a new place to stay. Smalls Chin said she was one of several people headed to a nearby park on city property. While most encampment residents felt they should be allowed to stay in Columbus Circle, Chin said she understood the Park Service’s position, at least to some extent.

In the month and a half she’d been there, she’d seen enough rats to believe the area needed cleaning.

“They’re not doing this to make it hard,” she said.

But the day was hard anyway. Bell was losing the first living arrangement he’d found in D.C., and Chin lost some members of her informal family. And many of the people living there in Columbus Circle lost everything they had to leave behind.

Resisting displacement Even the night before the clearing, resistance to movement was in clear view. Below the NPS placards announcing the planned encampment closure, handmade cardboard signs read “we not leaving bruh” and “we have the right 2 land bread n water.”

The next day, that resistance grew.

A Virginia native, Paige had been at the Union Station encampment since September 2021. After 10 months, she came to see the paved corner she’d claimed with two tents and two planters as hers. When NPS officials arrived, she told them she’d only move if ordered to do so by the Park Police. But the choice was never really hers; after the police promised to arrest her if she stayed put, she began packing up. Even so, Paige said, she was only moving because she had help from Project H3: “Otherwise, they would just have to arrest me.”

Before the clearing began, outreach workers worried that several residents would refuse to move, especially those who were at a greater risk for mental health crises. To successfully engage with encampment residents who experience less stability requires maximum time and effort, according to

Ami Angell, the founder and director of outreach for the H3 Project.

“Several of the individuals who want to remain in place today are the people who would most benefit from extra assistance, and I’m really just not seeing much support here for them,” she said.

M, who is being referred to using a pseudonym since she may not have been in a mental state to give consent to her name being used, was the last person left at the encampment.

She’d been talking to outreach workers for about an hour and was almost willing to move when Park Police approached her, according to Howe, who witnessed the incident. Police officers told her they would remove her if she did not leave her tent, Howe said. M became agitated and sprayed a caseworker with a cleaning product before holding scissors above her head and lunging at officers, according to NPS Chief of Communications Mike Litterst. The police responded by tasing and then cuffing her. Though Park Police did not file charges, M was involuntarily committed and NPS workers threw away most of her belongings, including her tent, Litterst said. When she gets out, she will learn she’s lost everything.

The police reaction was widely decried by outreach workers and housing advocates.

“We know that that is the absolute worst outcome,” Respress said. “The only worse outcome would be if someone was shot.”

// 9

National Park Service employees drag an unattended tent and haul it into a garbage truck. The city’s encampment protocol stipulates that it should retain and store all items that can be stored within two 40 gallon storage boxes. Photo by Athiyah Azeem.

Watching a community leave By 8 a.m., Robert Wade was already tired. He’d been living at the encampment since Feb. 10 and wasn’t planning to go far, hoping he could still take advantage of the water and soap inside the train station.

“I’m just preparing to comply and lay down after,” he said.

He’d already gotten rid of several pounds of belongings and was carefully packing 20 more items into various bags.

He said the clearing was causing him to lose about half of his possessions.

When NPS arrived at 7 a.m., outreach workers from Pathways, Project H3, DMHHS and the D.C. Department of Behavioral Health were talking to a few residents who did not know where they would go. Over a dozen NPS employees, who Litterst confirmed were facility management workers, donned protective full-body suits.

The clearing was scheduled for just 90 minutes, but took at least four hours. As the morning progressed and the temperature approached 100, there were eight Park Police officers in the park. NPS employees first emptied the trash cans in Columbus Circle and then began tossing whole tents into the garbage trucks, picking them up with rakes.

The fate of belongings left behind by residents was unclear.

When the city clears encampments, its protocol requires that all clean items left behind be stored for 60 days. Respress said NPS had initially promised to do the same, but advocates watching that day said the promise was not upheld.

At one point, Angell grabbed a clean, packed suitcase out of the hands of an NPS worker as they were tossing it into the garbage truck. Angell said outreach workers saved several items in good condition from being thrown away, and Howe said NPS workers trashed tents that outreach workers thought would be stored. While Park Police told Angell storage was still an option, there seemed to be a disconnect with the NPS workers, she said. In a later statement, the NPS confirmed items collected would be held for 60 days but did not respond to criticism that items were trashed instead of stored.

Losing a tent with belongings inside doesn’t mean losing just housing for encampment residents, but also clothes, personal mementos and important documents needed to obtain permanent housing. In addition to delaying the housing process,

Eight Park Police officers provided enforcement during the encampment clearing on June 1. Photo by Athiyah Azeem.

this can make it harder to survive in the meantime, harder to look presentable for a job interview, and harder to stay warm in the winter or out of the sun in the summer.

“This is everything the individuals we work with have — like it is their livelihood in these tents,” Angell said.

Community broken apart Sixteen hours before police removed her from the encampment, M sat in front of her tent, sipping the last of an ice water with sugar from Starbucks. She normally gets an iced English breakfast tea with lots of sugar and cream, she said, but she didn’t have any money that day.

M had been at Union Station for about a month, and in the NoMa underpasses for three years before that.

She doesn’t remember a lot of her childhood, where she’s from, or where she got the scars on her body. She doesn’t like that it snows in D.C., but the above-80 weather doesn’t faze her.

“It’’s a good thing I can bring sun,” she said.

That day’s sun made her speculate on what the encampment could be: Everyone throws their trash away, she said, and with a few more cans they wouldn’t overflow. More shade would keep people cool. The residents could even have events on the plaza outside their tents. It could really be a community.

“So why do they want people out so bad?” M asked.

Will Schick and Athiyah Azeem contributed reporting.

This article was co-published with The DC Line.

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OPINION

For the unhoused, there’s no substitute for a safety net LORI SMITH

I

have been houseless since November 2020.

I traveled from the west coast to Washington, D.C., back to the west coast, down along the southern border, from San Diego, Calif., to Slab City, then New Mexico, where the fires broke out. Then east again, through Texas, Alabama, north through Indiana, and through nearby states until landing back here in D.C. I have spent time in all 50 states in the course of my life. However, I want to emphasize how much I have had to keep traveling since being displaced and houseless in November 2020.

The main reason for this was fallout from the pandemic.

What is pandemic fallout? Government collapse. Lack of services, due to severe cuts in funding and staff, under extreme lockdowns. I can remember being on the streets for a month, with no one else out there but other houseless individuals. City officials had no shelter to offer. We experienced encampment sweeps, where everything we had left was taken in the middle of extreme weather events. We were left to treat hypothermia, shock and frostbite for each other on our own.

Extreme prejudice ruled. Passerby assume that if you

were homeless, you are just a drug addict or some kind of undesirable, not worthy of help or even dignity. I and other families on the street had their children taken based on these assumptions, with no services for families that were near adequate to meet the need. I miss my children every day. I cried for months. I watched people, in despair, fall to drug addiction and alcoholism or otherwise just give up, or try to numb the pain. The collapse of government, more than anything else, is the biggest barrier to my efforts to pick myself up. Everything requires an ID, even when your ID has been stolen. I wasn't always able to have a cellphone, which makes things even more difficult.

I experienced repeated theft and progressive, continuous loss.

I was due $20,000 in unemployment insurance I never got.

I still have not received my 2020 tax return, despite having turned in all the necessary paperwork by mail, after they wouldn’t accept my electronic filing. I did everything asked of me. Pounded the doors of government electronically, by mail and by phone. I have had multiple jobs while being homeless.

My savings were depleted.

Who I was on the sreets with? A wide demographic. The evicted. Elderly. Disabled. People with some of the worst,

untreated medical conditions I’ve ever seen, whom hospitals repeatedly turned away. Whole families, fathers, mothers, young children. Domestic violence victims, men who had often been homeless for between seven and 11 years. We were pushed together by encampment sweeps and the pandemic.

It was the housed community itself that dipped into its own pockets, during the majority of my being houseless, to feed us, give out gear and do what they could.

I came to Washington, D.C., because it is the seat of the federal government. You are doing things here about homelessness and poverty I have seen nowhere else. However, it is a drop in the bucket compared to the actual need. Furthermore, it is always hard, always, to know what services there are and how to access them, or where. However, know this: We need a safety net for all. And we need your continued support, compassion and creativity. Thank you.

Lori Smith is a vendor with Street Sense Media.

From Alito to Putin, authoritarianism hurts us all OYE OWOLEWA

People gathered to protest the Supreme Court draft opinion to overturn abortion rights, led by Justice Samuel Alito. Photo by Will Schick.

A

merica is still in shock following Justice Samuel Alito’s draft majority opinion to strike down Roe vs. Wade’s landmark decision to guarantee constitution rights to an abortion. If this majority opinion leads to a formal vote, then the Supreme Court will be providing another example of violations against the most marginalized, something we typically see

from leaders of other nations.

Residents of Washington, D.C., where I serve as an elected member of Congress without a vote, may think they are safe.

But without statehood, Congress could simply ban abortion here too. With Democratic majorities in peril in the midterm elections, it’s a very real possibility.

If this opinion stands, the Supreme Court will be endangering the lives of millions of Americans. Recent anti-abortion legislation in red states like Texas, Mississippi and Alabama have criminalized female reproductive procedures. These bills target women and specialized medical professionals who train to provide safe abortions. Instead of ending abortions, prohibiting abortion care only leads women to terminating their pregnancies in dangerous ways. According to the Guttmacher Institute, while abortion rates are constant regardless of legal status, women living in areas where abortions are banned die at higher rates. About 10% of maternal deaths — about 30,000 per year — are attributed to botched abortions in areas where abortions are illegal.

As a health care provider also serving as an elected official, I understand the importance of firsthand experience in crafting health care legislation. Justice Alito’s opinion has little to do with health care, and everything to do with control. The conservative wing of this country has taken over our highest court, rendering it a weapon of political ideology. Justice Alito’s opinion is just another deviation from the principle of separating church and state. The landmark decisions of Roe v. Wade and subsequently Planned Parenthood v. Casey were never about what a woman should do, but what a woman has a right to do. Banning abortions won’t stop the procedure, only block access to safe procedures.

Unfortunately, exerting control through health care

legislation is nothing new. Health and science policy have been weaponized against the most marginalized and politically vulnerable for centuries. Since the 1800s, we’ve denied Black people equitable care, instead forcing them into segregated and often under-resourced medical facilities. More recently, several American states have passed legislation banning gender-affirming care for transgender Americans. Now, we’re witnessing several Supreme Court justices betray precedent, readying to overturn a woman’s right to her own body. These examples have never been about improving laws, but rather opportunities to exert one’s will over the lives of others.

As we continue to fight for those who are oppressed overseas, it’s important to not ignore the maltreatment of those marginalized here in America. As we continue to support the Ukrainians against Vladimir Putin’s invasion, we must keep the pressure on Congress to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act to ensure women have the right to access medically safe reproductive care. While we criticize other nations for criminalizing the LBGTQ+ community, we must also push congress to pass the Equality Act to protect their rights of that community here in the United States.

Lastly, as we continue to spread democracy internationally, we must complete our own democracy by making D.C. the 51st state. By achieving statehood, the 700,000 residents of our nation’s capital who currently lack a congressional vote, control over our budget and full right to self-govern, will finally have a say on national matters and in the lives of our citizens.

Oye Owolewa is the elected Shadow Representative of Washington D.C. and a practicing pharmacist.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

Understand this

Summertime goals

ANGIE WHITEHURST Artist/Vendor

Dear judge: I write right to you, the message is sent, not old, not new echo of so many, too, too! Enumerated to count statistics, unrecorded numbers of coat hangers, the cleaners closed, unsanitized penicillin commercialized, breakers madmen, unlicensed quacks with beautiful vials of Ludlum, opiates knock yourself out to delay in the last century – imbibed, addicted, next to dead, overdosed and dead, the toe ring says unknown, no identification, proper grave next year, maybe buried.

No paper says no proof ain’t dead MIA – missing in action.

Friends do not know what to think and call the morgue, such a life, no one gave a damn, standing on the street, awaken, woke up dead.

Dick Steel still don’t get a pass.

Oh yah, Dick is Richard and Richard is Dick.

No matter, he still don’t get no pass.

Roe versus Wade, really? Telling a human body by law is no human right, you overstepped your bounds.

I guess we need a sex strike, and let’s see who ends the day.

Stand up!

Potions, backroom monsters, witch doctors, black market nurses and doctors who care for life, decisions ordained by society, no choice.

Speak, not you, do not dare.

So many born hidden under the unlit moon, breath taken to the steps of earth no more.

Under the clapboard floors, protected, no slavery there.

Fourscore and more, breeding is not a forced, no choice no right to pass and breathe, survive, early blooming full, nick the ball out of life, jobs and school, scorned by ignorant fools.

Some of the children burned survived.

One thing I know, the living death of slavery, not my child under the clap board to heaven they were born, free one step up into the universe of angels and live above.

No condemnation shall one give no respect of persons, one human is no different; we’re all the same.

So, someone tell the court, no decision on what I can and cannot do.

Ownership, nobody human has illegal chains on ankles hands and feet, Abraham Lincoln broke that Jim Crow freak.

So, tell the Roberts on the court that we know their first name is Robert Stay the court Hoover dam you out of my body.

You do not own it, you cannot roll a rule out on it.

Get a brain, orgasmic grip and stop tyranny.

Do you understand? Democracy, the constitution, and universal human rights?

You have a purpose CARLOS CAROLINA Artist/Vendor

Last time I thought about I ain’t have to think about it That’s why I keep my distance Ain’t trying to hang around you Still want to grow Though Even if you grow slow Life seems strange when Karma come and play Better cling close to Big Brother Faith Never show love to The ones who show hate And when they show That Don’t even show face Life is like a bike

// 11

That you ride With no brakes.

Give you lots of thrills But for real it ain’t Safe, can’t win Nowadays when You can’t think And once you start Thinking just remember One thing, When your life has a purpose Better know that you’re worth it Live life, And be blessed To the days it closed curtains.

Gotta know your purpose

ROCHELLE WALKER Artist/Vendor

I love summer! Summertime.

It is my time of the year It’s hot but I am not cold It’s water to breach I can reach my goal It’s a frog to bugs I can give a hug Summertime! Summertime!

It’s eating outside time Picnic, ice cream, watermelon, ice pops I can reach my goals and stay cool It’s a roller coaster ride To a child’s playground. It is time To swing and ride. It is Harvest time, plants, Corn, and plants and tomatoes Pick some berries and cherries And apples too. Let the Government give you some free Suntan lotion so you can put on That's why I like heat, it’s hot Hot, hot.

Bring the world together ABEL PUTU Artist/Vendor

Things are getting better. My reality is changing. What can we do to bring the world together the way it used to be? Can we stop social distancing, and come together? The key is unity. There’s no way the world can be socially distant. We are all one people, and we have to come together as one.

Then, the world will be back to normal. The only person that can control the world is the good Lord we trust. Kids are our new generation. They can make a difference. They are the world, we are the people, and we can make a change in the world. Black or white, we are people.

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ART

All in all, I had a ball LEVESTER GREEN Artist/Vendor

I remember the name of that town next to Newport News. It was Edisto Gardens, with the strip club, library and Greyhound bus terminal by the mall. Most of the temp work jobs were there but I somehow never qualified for a position with them.

But I did end up meeting new friends in that area.

I don’t remember their names but one — “Bear the dog.”

Now, I met Bear and his owners when I came across another church offering services. I also met a man named Marvin there.

He was the audio-visual guy for this church and he would basically keep the peace between Bear’s owners and the kindly church crowd. I took notice of the place because of my interest in audio-visuals. Also, they had a displayed illustration of a guy so worn out by his job search and life that he wore a hole in the bottom of his shoe sole. It made me laugh cause I had done the same thing to my pair of shoes from Big and Tall that my friend Yusef had bought for me.

This was a church rather than state situation, as I pretty much had to navigate through the churches there for survival services and shelter. And this was my return to the church days.

This one place only gave you 30 days or so and then three on any further return there. That was hard luck because they were very religion-oriented. That’s where I met a guy I’d refer to as the “skinny Hulk Hogan” or Larry Hogan. He looked like him so much I had to ask if Hulk Hogan has a brother named Larry and why was he homeless?

I had a hard time using the word “homeless” to describe myself and my situation even though it was dead-on accurate.

I would say I was “displaced” or “in-between” things.

As I wrote about in previous stories, everything was a competition with Yusef!

The church ran a program for sleeping overnight in churches around town. They do something similar up here in Northern

Choice

I love sports

When we think of things we are given in this life, peace, love, joy, and free will to choose is what she says. The choice is the most powerful thing in this world that we were given; it is here for three reasons: respect, love, and grace. She told us to love our children, and she chose us. Right and wrong to know oneself and respect oneself is the hardest thing to do. Choice.

I love football and basketball. Growing up, my family all loved football. It was our whole life, besides work and school.

Every Sunday we all got together and watched football games.

Also, my family would cook dinners for everyone and we all love to eat. Back then, my team was the Dallas Cowboys. But when I grew up, I started to like New England because with Tom Brady they would win a lot at the Superbowl.

I didn’t watch basketball until I was much older. But now, I love basketball. I like to watch the playoff series. They play

KYM PARKER Artist/Vendor

Ode to the elderly man JACKIE TURNER Artist/Vendor

Old men are sexy because they have experienced something. They have been around and seen a lot. They have learned what to say to make a woman smile. Their life is expressed in the way they look. Their faces are wrinkled with lines of experience. Their hair is the color of wisdom.

Eyes reflecting what they have seen. They have charisma, charm of affection just because of their age.

What looks good on them? Not young men's gear, but style and well-fitting clothes. They know how to be strong in a manly way. Hug and hold hands with respect for women.

Being a mate, a father, grandad and more. Teaching and leading and more. Yes, the elderly are the desired and needed in the world. They are the sexiest thing of all.

Virginia. I was to receive a brand new pair of Timberlands through them but unfortunately never returned back out there.

But I still needed state-provided services. That’s when I met Dee Swartz. She would later help me to secure an apartment I never went back to claim all those years later. She was feisty as I recall. I also ended up meeting someone named Barbara Harvey who was positioned in Norfolk near the Salvation Army that’d take in overnight sleepers. Harvey would be key and instrumental in providing the fare for my return home trip after a jail incident. She’s even bought a copy of my poetry book in a show of support.

RONALD SMOOT Artist/Vendor

very hard to win. Only the teams that make the playoffs and the best two would go to the final. Some players don’t care if they win, they just like their paychecks. And you got some players who want to make a name for themselves in the NBA and the NFL. That’s why I love football and basketball. They are my favorite sports. If I would have went to school, I would be playing football because when me and my family play on the streets, that’s what we like doing all the time.

501(c)(3)

Half a Waltz

REDBOOK MANGO Artist/Vendor

FREDERIC JOHN Artist/Vendor

Shoot cameras – Not guns Make beats to get off the streets I’m still in the streets, I haven’t made enough beats D.C. Dream team Mango is here You know what I mean

Warm air gently wafts, neath canopy stripes, piano stool squeaks…

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

// 1 3

Constantly starting over CHRIS COLE Artist/Vendor

Every time I have an episode of my mental illness, bipolar type 1, I have to start over. I normally present with mania, which is quite different from depression. Rather than reliving the symptoms and explaining what my episodes look like, I’d like to focus on the aftermath. I wonder if anyone can relate to what I mean by starting over.

I usually end up in the hospital or sometimes even jail for at least three to four weeks until the medicine brings me back down to reality and a baseline. By this time, I’ve missed a month of work and usually am “let go” or fired before I am even cleared to return to a work environment. Bills have been

piling up and by this time rent is due, and I no longer have a source of income.

Mentally, I am self-conscious about my entire being. I’m having flashbacks every few minutes of foul or inappropriate things I have said during my episode. I’m remembering people I have cursed out. Friends and colleagues I might have lashed out at. Furthermore, I am remembering past traumas and incorrectly correlating them to things that are happening presently. I just really feel awful, scared and embarrassed for weeks after an episode, I barely want to show my face around town for fear of remembering how I was during a crisis. It’s a

Withdrawing

Martin Luther King (have a dream speech) real life

MARCUS MCCALL Artist/Vendor

Been too many years, This back and forth, Never feels safe, Never feels just okay, It’s too much happiness Spending all my idol time With just using you to kill Me or not nearly enough, All this love, then you don’t Give a damn about my health.

No matter how much I love you, Nobody’s gonna treat me this way.

I’m withdrawing badly, I’m withdrawing Escape sometimes hurts, this is the price of life, I’m withdrawing, This was the last relapse

REGGIE JONES Artist/Vendor

I admire Martin Luther King — having a dream about all people getting along with one another in life. And, it’s sad he died, and things still have not changed yet. We still have a lot of work to improve on how people treat one another out here

Let’s take an inventory

Mental wellness month

DANIEL BALL Artist/Vendor

JEN MCLAUGHLIN Artist/Vendor

Yes, this is my rap that goes with my cap.

This is my goat that came with my coat.

And that is the sack that I wear on my back.

And this is my passion just like my can of rations.

So I am never late when it comes to plat.

This is what I took but now this is my notebook.

And now this is my bed that comes with my thread.

disgusting detrimental cycle that I really hope to break. I lose jobs, friends, relationships and my sense of self every time.

And every time I start over.

I hate it, but I do it. I start over. I pick up the remnants of what my life was, I grasp at the strings, and keep pulling until one of them gives me some slack. I look for new work, I find a place to live, and I figure out how to get my phone turned back on. I reach out to those I have offended and ask for forgiveness, and I try to also forgive myself. I set some goals, schedule my week according to those goals and “reinvent” myself.

Mental wellness is a part of our everyday lives. It’s a medical condition that can be treated just like arthritis. Our neighbors have experienced challenges to their mental wellness. Handle them with care and support and understanding in times of crisis.

in these streets. Damn near sad to me. I believe all people can be kind to each other. It can be this way if people just do what they have to do in this society, and face each other here in this life and time.

Pee Dee FREDERIC JOHN Artist/Vendor

Across brown water, broad mud lying still, frogs croak, so shrill!

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OnlineCrosswords.net This is the Daily Crossword Puzzle #5 for Apr 21, 2022

Find the solution at https://onlinecrosswords.net/71515

FUN &#2 Sudoku 5 2 GAMES 1 4 6 5

Across 1. Across Money drawer Money drawer 5. 1.

Sleeved garment 5.

Sleeved garment 10.

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8 9 7Easy3Sudoku 2 Puzzles by KrazyDad, Volume 12, Book 26 14.Scary District 15.

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20.Repents Lennon’s spouse 8 1 5 6 4 7 3 2 9 22.

21.Military Repentsforce 23.

Bard of ____ 2 6 7 9 5 3 1 4 8 22. Military force 24.

Make holy 23.

Bard of ____ 5 7 9 3 4 8 2 1 6 25.

24.Simpler Make holy 28.

25.Artists' Simplerstands 31.

Citric and boric Sudoku #4 28. Artists’ stands 32. Jeweler's measure 31.

Citric and boric 4 2 1 8 7 6 5 9 3 33. Paid athlete 32. Jeweler’s measure 7 5 3 1 4 9 2 8 6 36. Lipstick shades 33. Paid athlete 37. Prank 8 6 9 2 3 5 1 7 4 36. Lipstick shades 38. Noisy 2 9 4 6 1 7 3 5 8 37. Prank 39. Wind direction (abbr.)

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Performed © 2015 KrazyDad.com 48. Eroded 47.

Ego 49. Gloomy Fill in the blank squares so that each row, each column and each Sudoku #6 48.

Eroded depot (abbr.)

52.

Amtrak 3-by-3 block contain all of the digits 1 thru 9.

55.

Like some tea 49.

Gloomy 5 use 2 logic 8 you 6 can9 solve 7 the4 puzzle 3 without 1 If you guesswork.

56.

Unfriendly 52.

Amtrak depot (abbr.)

6 a 7little 3 8hints1 page 9 2a logical order to solve the puzzle.

5 shows Need help?4 The 58.

Christmas carol 55.

Like some tea Use it to identify the next square you should solve. Or use the answers page 1 really 2 5 3 6 7 8 9 get 4 stuck. if you >> This crossword 59. exercise 56.Piano Unfriendly puzzle’s answers: 60. at amorously 2 8 5 1 7 6 3 4 9 58.Look Christmas carol https://tinyurl.com/SSM61.

Golden ____ Bridge 59. Piano exercise 7 4 9 5 3 8 1 2 6 cross-06-08-2022 62.

Rabbits' kin 60. Look at amorously 3 1 6 9 4 2 8 5 7 63.

61.Wallet Goldenstuffers ____ Bridge << LAST

asy Sudoku Puzzles by KrazyDad, Volume 12, Book 26

Sudoku #7 9

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

5

2

7

1

3

1

6 9 7 2 5 8 8

2

4

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

9

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

6

EDITION’S PUZZLE SOLUTION

62. Rabbits’ kin 63. Wallet stuffers

Down

1. Mexican treat 2. Strong metal

Sudoku #8 4

4

2

6 7 3 2 9 1 5 6 7 4 1

8

2 5 8 9 4

3

© ONLINECROSSWORDS.NET

"To good and true love fear is forever affixed."

-- Francois Rabelais

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

3. Carson’s successor Down 4. “Leaving ____ Vegas” 1. Mexican treat 5. Zone 2.

Strong 6. Wading bird metal 3.

Carson's 7. Persia, today successor 4. "Leaving ____ Vegas" 8. Ceremony 5. Zone 9. Links gadgets Wading bird 10.6.Horrify Persia, today 11.7.

Communicate by 8. Ceremony letter Links gadgets 12.9.Paper measures Horrify 13.10.

Television awards 18.11.

RoofCommunicate edges by 23.letter Helps 24.12.

Gamble Paper measures 25.13.

Hearing organs awards Television 26.18.

HighRoof cardsedges 27. Low traffic road (2 wds.)

28. Diner 29. Desertlike 30. Defunct USAF

branch 32. Leg part 41. Violin's kin 23. Helps 34. Discourteous 43.

Sewing item 24. Gamble 35. Aroma 44.

Rental agreements 25. Hearing organs 37. Mont Blanc, e.g.

45.

Dazzling 26. High cards 38. Goof off 46. Hot chocolate 27. Low traffic roadaction (2 40. Auction wds.)

47. Look happy 41. Violin’s kin 28. Diner 43. Sewing item 49. Go quickly 29. Desertlike 44. Rental agreements50. Ancient Peruvian 30. Defunct 51. Big Dipper 45. USAF Dazzling branch 46. Hot chocolate component 32. Leg part 52. Omen 47. Look happy 34. Discourteous 49. Go quickly 53. Narrative 35. Aroma50. Ancient Peruvian 54. Pub potables 51. Big Dipper e.g.

37. Mont Blanc, 57. Talk amorously component 38. Goof off 52.action Omen 40. Auction 53. Narrative 54. Pub potables 57. Talk amorously.

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

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

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

Bread for the City - 1525 7th St., NW // 202-265-2400 - 1700 Good Hope Rd., SE // 202-561-8587 breadforthecity.org

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

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

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

Catholic Charities // 202-772-4300 924 G St., NW catholiccharitiesdc.org/gethelp

Georgetown Ministry Center // 202-338-8301 1041 Wisconsin Ave., NW georgetownministrycenter.org

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

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

Charlie’s Place // 202-929-0100 1820 Connecticut Ave., NW charliesplacedc.org

Martha’s Table // 202-328-6608 marthastable.org

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 // 202-540-9857 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

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 // 202-529-5261 (24-hr hotline) mysistersplacedc.org

N Street Village // 202-939-2076 1333 N St., NW nstreetvillage.org

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

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

// 1 5

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

JOB BOARD Ambassador Ben and Jerry’s // 705 Wharf St. SW Part-time Take customer orders and serve ice cream.

REQUIRED: N/A

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

APPLY: https://tinyurl.com/ben-and-jerrys

Team Member So Others Might Eat (SOME) // 202-797-8806 71 O St., NW some.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, 1251-B Saratoga Ave NE, 1660 Columbia Road NW, 4414 Benning Road NE, 3946 Minnesota Avenue NE, 765 Kenilworth Terrace NE, 3240 Stanton Road SE, 3020 14th Street NW, 1717 Columbia Road NW, 1313 New York Avenue, NW BSMT Suite, 425 2nd Street NW, 4713 Wisconsin Avenue NW, 1333 N Street NW, 1355 New York Avenue NE, 828 Evarts Place NE, 810 5th Street NW, 850 Deleware Avenue SW, 65 Massachusetts Avenue NW, 4515 Edson Place NE

Wegmans Food Markets// 41 Ridge Sq. NW Part-time Keep cases and shelves clean and stocked; effectively manage perishable goods through storing, stocking, and rotating techniques; and answer any customer questions or concerns.

REQUIRED: 18+ APPLY: https://tinyurl.com/wegmans-team

Crew Member Five Guys // 808 H St. NW Full-time Work the register, prepare food, and sanitize the restaurant.

REQUIRED: N/A APPLY: https://tinyurl.com/five-guys-crew

Busser The Hay-Adams/ / 800 16th St NW Full-time

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 1525 14th St., NW // 202-745-7000 2301 MLK Jr. Ave., SE // 202-797-3567 whitman-walker.org

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

Perform all physical set-ups, breakdowns, food delivery, cleanups of and to all the function rooms as needed. Organize and sanitize banquet equipment, function rooms and storage areas.

REQUIRED: Ability to add and subtract twodigit numbers and to multiply and divide.

APPLY: https://tinyurl.com/hay-adams

Hiring? Send your job postings to editor@StreetSenseMedia.org