Newsletter Bread for the City
STRATEGIC PLAN
2012-2015
What we’ve accomplished: ✔ We hired a psychiatric consultant to better address the mental health needs of our community
✔ We completed our first Participatory Action Research project to engage and empower our community to advocate for their interests ✔ We restructured the clothing room and staffed it with client interns ✔ We hired a full-time community organizer to support community engagement efforts in the legal clinic and more!
Read the full strategic plan: Download Plan: BreadfortheCity.org/StrategicPlan Request Plan By Mail: info@breadforthecity.org or 202-386-7613 Questions or Comments Email CEO George A. Jones: GJones@BreadfortheCity.org Call George: (202) 386-7602
@BreadfortheCity
SUMMER
2013
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LeJuan Green: A Place to Call Home
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eJuan was doing everything right. She was working full-time to support her two young children, and when her older son needed help raising his kids, she took in her grandchildren, too. But, then her employer went out of business, and she was laid off. Suddenly, she had no job and no income. She struggled to keep up with her bills and feed four kids. She found herself with nowhere to turn, just like more than 53,000 others who are unemployed across the District. That’s when Bread for the City stepped in. Thank you for helping Ms. Green “I had my two children and find a new job and a stable home! my two grandchildren, I was backed up on my rent, and I was facing eviction.” LeJuan first came to Bread for the City for food assistance, so she could feed her two young children and two grandchildren while she searched for work. We supplied her with healthy groceries and invited her to meet with a social worker to better assess her needs. From there, we connected LeJuan with Melissa Palms, a housing case manager, to help her get started on the path towards a stable home. Once we helped her get housing, Melissa stood by LeJuan as she dealt with the anguish of finding a new job while supporting her family. “The entire time, Mrs. Palms was there with me, looking for apartments and getting applications in. When I was ready to give up, she was right there. When I needed to vent, she was right there.” “I am just so thankful to Bread for the City because, at my lowest point, you all were there.” Today, LeJuan is back to work and inspiring us all with her resilience! “Now I live in a one-bedroom apartment with my two children,” says LeJuan. She continues to live stably in her Northeast DC apartment, with a steady income and a place to call home.
Current Events DC’s affordable housing crisis The DC Housing Authority’s affordable housing waiting list closed to new applicants on April 12th. What does this mean for DC’s low-income and homeless residents? And what does it mean for the 70,000 people still on the list? Find out on page 3.
Increasing the minimum wage Many argue that the minimum wage should be increased because the current rate is “not fair” in today’s economy. Chief Financial Officer Sekou Murphy agrees, yet argues that the minimum wage must be increased also for macroeconomic reasons. See page 4.
We’re blogging about all of these issues and more at BreadfortheCity.org/blog Subscribe online, or email communications@breadforthecity.org to receive blog posts to your inbox.
Donor Spotlight Griffin Shapiro first came to Bread for the City to volunteer at City Orchard. Now, he’s the reason we’re growing a collection of strawberries known affectionately as Griffin’s Patch!
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Teen donates bar mitzvah money and gardening skills to help feed DC’s low-income and homeless neighbors TYPICAL TEEN-AGED BOYS spend their weekends hanging out with friends and playing video games. There’s nothing wrong with that. But Griffin Shapiro set out on a different track when he ventured out to our orchard one Sunday afternoon in spring 2012 to get down in the dirt to help us plant more than 1,000 fruit trees – the benefits of which will stock our food pantry for DC’s low-income families! Griffin first got involved with the orchard through his synagogue, the Washington Hebrew Congregation. “There was a project to go out and plant Asian pear and apple trees. I decided to go, and I really liked it,” he said. “After I did that, I really liked Bread for the City, so I wanted to do more.” Not long after helping us plant fruit trees at City Orchard, Griffin celebrated his bar mitzvah. And, again unlike most teens, Griffin decided to use his bar mitzvah gifts to help those less fortunate. Remembering his experience with City Orchard, he reached out to us and – on his own – sponsored a full crop of 2,300 strawberry bushes with a gift of $5,000. Planted just this past May, this collection of growing strawberries is now affectionately known as Griffin’s Patch.
“Clients are really excited about this new addition,” says Jeffrey Wankel, BFC’s Urban Ag Specialist. “I mention strawberries, and their eyes light up.” It will take a year for these strawberries to grow to full harvest potential, but what’s great is that they’re an everbearing variety, meaning that we’ll be able to reap at least two full harvests per year as opposed to a single harvest in May. Griffin’s parents are so proud of their son for giving back. “My husband and I are thrilled that he has been able to volunteer and put in some of his own effort rather than just giving funds,” says his mom, Nell. She added, “We really support the initiative, creativity, and healthful eating emphasis behind the notion of an orchard dedicated to helping those in need.” When Griffin returned to volunteer in the orchard this past spring, he was so excited to see the fruits of his labor -- literally. “I could actually see the stuff that I had planted and see how much it had grown,” he said. “It’s so cool to look at something that’s real, that’s there – something you can point to and say, ‘I made that happen.’” You sure did, Griffin, and we can’t thank you enough!
Interested in volunteering or sponsoring a tree in City Orchard? Visit breadforthecity.org/get-involved/orchard
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We live tweet all of our major events, and we love tweeting with our supporters! @BreadfortheCity
We’re also blogging every week about issues affecting our community. Subscribe to our blog on our website at www.BreadfortheCity.org or by emailing communications@breadforthecity.org
Meet the people we’re helping at Bread for the City. Visit BreadfortheCity.org/OurClients to see how we’re changing lives.
lved? to get invo ther ways o r fo g g in in k Loo contact with us by Volunteer hecity.org rt fo d a bre volunteer@
Photo by Tim Coburn Photography courtesy of DC Bar Foundation.
Su Sie Ju: “Our Calm in The Eye of a Storm”
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very year, the DC Bar Foundation awards the Jerrold Scoutt Prize to an attorney who has dedicated a significant part of his or her legal career to an organization that provides direct legal services to poor or disadvantaged persons in DC. This year, we’re honored to announce that the winner of the Jerrold Scoutt Prize is our very own Northwest Legal Clinic Supervisor Su Sie Ju! Su Sie has worked with Bread since 2000. Throughout her legal career, she’s been a champion for increasing access to justice for those living in poverty in DC. Here are just a few of the amazing things that Su Sie has accomplished during her tenure at Bread:
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As the Director of the Child Support Community Legal Services Project, Su Sie was one of the creators of the Child Support Resource Center in the Paternity & Child Support Branch of the Family Court, which expands the availability of free legal services to persons living in poverty in DC who would otherwise not have the assistance of an attorney at a critical point in their paternity or child support case.
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Su Sie is a member of the DC Access to Justice Commission working on ways to remove barriers that prevent low-income DC residents from having meaningful access to justice.
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Su Sie is a member of the DC Bar Family Law Task Force, Paternity and Support Rules Drafting Committee, and for many years, she co-chaired the Child Support Task Force. Through these efforts Su Sie has worked to improve judicial processes and government programs to enhance the safety and stability of children and their families.
Su Sie accepts the Jerrold Scoutt Prize from Jay A. Brozost, Chairman of the Council for Court Excellence Su Sie is also a leader within Bread for the City, mentoring new attorneys, inspiring law students, and as Chief Operating Officer Jeannine Sanford puts it, “[being the] calm in the eye of the storm. The yin to our yang. Our steadfast one.” In short, Su Sie is a rock star! We appreciate everything that she has done for Bread for the City and for our community. And, she’s committed to going even further. In her own words: “I think almost every Scoutt recipient ends his or her remarks by noting how much more needs to be done. How much more needs to be done to increase access to justice. How much more needs to be done to end the District’s poverty crisis where one in three children live in poverty. I echo this challenge. In doing so, I’d like to leave you with the words of Florence Wagman Roisman, a true legal services hero and passionate advocate on the obligation of the legal community to end poverty. “Think big, be greedy, be unreasonable, be creative, and be strategic.” Congratulations, Su Sie!
DC Affordable Housing Wait List Closes; Upcoming Purge Leaves Most Vulnerable at Risk
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he DC Housing Authority (DCHA) closed its affordable housing wait list on April 12th, accepting no further additions to a list that had already grown to around 70,000 names long. Bread for the City social services case managers Matt Leasure and Chris Lewis wrote in an October blog post opposing the closure, “[A]ffordable housing – on paper, a service that the city government aspires to provide for District residents – is no longer an attainable option. Meanwhile, in the last decade, half of the affordable units on the
Volunteer Roger Kuhn helps Bread for the City clients fill out applications for affordable housing
private market have disappeared, making DCHA’s public housing slots even more crucial.” What does the DCHA wait list closure mean for our clients -- DC’s low-income, homeless, and most vulnerable residents? For clients already on the DCHA wait list, the next step in the process puts many of them at risk. “DCHA will be mailing out letters that applicants will have
to return within a set timeframe and indicate whether or not they want to remain on the list,” says Senior Social Worker Stacey Johnson. “With such a transient population, receiving mail in a timely manner is a concern.” Lack of access to a reliable mailbox or telephone could mean that our most vulnerable residents will miss the letter or call that could keep them in the running for a safe, affordable place to live. Bread for the City is working to solve this problem. We’ve been connecting clients with free SafeLink cellular phones and helping them get free mailboxes. We’re also continuing to help secure safe, stable, and affordable housing through housing assistance programs in both our Northwest and Southeast Centers. Finally, Bread for the City’s staff will continue to work with DCHA to ensure that if and when the list reopens, it is done in a way that provides all residents an equal opportunity to have their names added. breadforthecity.org
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Increasing the Minimum Wage
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t’s no secret that income disparity is the widest it’s been since the 1970s, and that real wages have fallen. What’s fascinating is that corporate profits are the biggest in history as well. Clearly, the spoils have not gone to the line workers, receptionists and mail staff, many of whom do not operate under collective bargaining. To address this issue, many would argue that the minimum wage should be increased under the “it’s simply not fair” statute. But that’s not quite the capitalist (albeit modified capitalist) society we live in (for better or for worse). Another argument, and one that I’d
make, is that the minimum wage should be increased for macroeconomic reasons. The vast majority of Americans are in the lower and middle classes. This group will drive economic growth simply because it spends the most. How many people do you know who can’t wait to get their tax refund so they can use that money to make needed home repairs, buy new clothes, pay off some debt, or go out to eat? Now imagine this happening on almost each and every pay day because of a few more dollars in the bank. With more people buying products and services, businesses will need to adjust and hire more people, build new plants, buy more equipment, etc., to meet this demand. If I’m a local restaurant, say Ben’s Chili Bowl, and I usually serve about 1,000 people each week, I should start to see that number increase as more
Thank You!
people can afford to eat out more often. As I start to feed more people, I will need to purchase more ingredients (so my suppliers will have to sell more ingredients to me), hire more staff to serve patrons and, maybe even, add another location (which could mean more work for architects, more rent for landlords, more construction jobs if building from the ground up, etc.). The point is that at least some of this growth funnels back into the economy. – Sekou Murphy, Chief Financial Officer at Bread for the City But, what about the impact on small business and inflation? Read the rest of this article at BreadfortheCity.org/Blog.
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Mary A. Christie Jessica Del Vecchio for photography services DLA Piper LLP Don Foley Groff Creative LLC for design services
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Donald Monroe for his help in IT Jay Monroe for his years of dedicated service to Bread for the City Franklin Moses Olivia O’Neal Rick O’Neill with Dickstein Shapiro LLP for his wisdom on estate matters Susan & Will Sherk for their counsel Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP Madeline Taskier WilmerHale LLP for their help training our staff
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Make an in-kind gift by donating food, clothing, or an item from our Amazon Wish List See our Wish List at Amzn.to/BFCWish
Here are some of our most-needed items:
✔ Children’s books, especially books in Spanish
✔ Cleaning supplies/laundry detergent ✔ Gift cards for grocery stores and pharmacies
✔ Plus-sized clothing for men and women
✔ SmarTrip cards ✔ Toilet paper and other household items