One Step Away Magazine Volume 9 Issue 4: Stories From The Streets

ONE STEP AWAY V OLUME 9 ISSUE 4A PRO GRAM OF RESOURCES FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL GUIDE * HOSTILE ARCHITECTURE * PHILLY’S MATERNITY CARE HEAR OUR STORIES PODCASTEDITION VEND ORS SHARE THEIR STRUGGLES, STRENGTHS , AND SUCCESSES FROMSTORIESTHESTREETS $ 5

Why did you change to a magazine?

In honor of our nine years as Philadelphia's street paper, we wanted to celebrate all of our accomplishments and create a magazine to help our vendors earn more money so they can truly break the cycle of homelessness.Asanewspaper, vendors earned 75 cents from each paper sold.

Every day our vendors put on their yellow vests and hit the streets distributing One Step Away. Our vendors work hard to earn the money they need to support themselves, to meet their basic necessities, to overcome homelessness, or to afford rent so they do not experience homelessness again.

SUPPORTING OUR VENDORS

9 YEARS 1 MILLION PAPERS GIVINGDISTRIBUTED.APLATFORM AND A VOICE TO THE VOICELESS . BREAKING STEREOTYPESDOWNAND BUILDING COMMUNITY WITH VOLUNTEERS4,000 . CREATING MEANINGFUL & DIGNIFIED OPPORTUNITIES FOR 3,000 PEOPLE EXPERIENCING HOMELESSNESS

Over the past nine years, basic living expenses have increased, and 75 cents does not get you very far these days. We want to help provide our vendors with the best opportunities for success, and stay current in our constantly changing society. To do this we created the One Step Away magazine. We hope you enjoy the new format, and will continue to support us as we prepare for the future. Is One Step Away’s content changing?

While we are moving to a new format, we will still continue to provide the solutions oriented, community focused, and vendor driven content that you have come to expect. While adding some new sections to engage more of the community.

Why is One Step Away now $5?

The new price allows our vendors to continue to benefit from selling the magazine throughout the city, and allows the program to grow and continue to be an open opportunity and second chance for our neighbors in need. Vendors purchase each magazine for $1.50 and distribute them on the streets for $5 — earning $3.50 for each magazine. What does One Step Away's future look like? We are focused on remaining a no-barrier income opportunity for anyone in need, while supporting vendors and providing them with the skills they need to succeed. We plan on creating internal vendor positions and promotions, while building our community and business partnerships, with the goal of finding stable employment opportunities for our vendors. WHY A MAGAZINE? OR

POVERTY. THANK YOU! YOUR IMPACT BECAUSE OF YOU, I CAN:

2 ONE STEP AWAY

OSAPHILLY.ORG 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS INSP: VENDOR CITY GUIDE 5 INTERNATIONALMONTREAL TOURISM & TRAVEL 6 BROKE IN PHILLY: MATERNITY CARE 7 U.S. HOSTILE ARCHITECTURE 12 MEET YOUR VENDORS 14 VENDOR’S FAVORITE SPOT IN PHILLY 15 “HEARD” OSA’S NEW PODCAST 29 PUZZLES 31 CHAMPIONS CELEBRATION MAY 10, 2019 THE MAGAZINE VENDORS BUY EACH COPY FOR $1.50 AND DISTRIBUTE THEM FOR $5, KEEPING ALL OF THE PROFITS! Every time you purchase a One Step Away Magazine you create meaningful income and personal growth opportunities for individuals experiencing homelessness or poverty. HELP OUR VENDORS WORK THEIR WAY OUT OF HOMELESSNESS. 612 29 One Step Away is a program of Resources for Human Development (RHD), a certified 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. www.rhd.org. We are a member of the International Network of Street Papers (INSP), helping 20,500 vendors earn an income each year. www.insp.ngo OUR AFFILIATIONS HalsallJordanbyPhoto

A national human services nonprofit with the broadest possible service mission, RHD supports tens of thousands of people each year in caring and effective services addressing intellectual disabilities, behavioral health, homelessness, addiction recovery and much more. Find out how you can help at www.rhd.org

WORTH IT The magazine is more visually appealing and sturdy. Great articles. Worth the money. — Jacqueline

— Jordan

TOGETHER, WE CAN End homelessness

Maybe stories about some of the people that have overcome homelessness – what they had to do. It’s very personal and I know how difficult it would be to open up about those kinds of experiences, but I think it would give people an even clearer picture on what it takes to crawl from the bottom out of hell and make a happy life. Or maybe a feature about the services offered in Philly that help as stepping stones to building a better life. Lastly, the layout of the magazine is well thought out. The articles have clear to the point visuals that complement the text nicely and communicate information quickly. A couple examples being the Matching Numbers article and Laying out the Statistics for the Pre-K program and the Ten-Year Challenge from Issue 2. Some of the articles (though not all) ended with suggestions on how people can help or volunteer. I’d like to see more of that. I know when I was looking for volunteer opportunities on the web it was very frustrating to find sites that easily pointed me to opportunities.Thanksagain for introducing me to One Step Away. I’m blown away by the organization and of course words don’t do justice for my respect for you for your passion, hard work, and dedication in helping people empower themselves, to build better lives for themselves, and to show our community the human beings that are all around us, and that we are all connected no matter where we are in our lives.

TO OUR VENDORS I love the magazine! For so many reasons which I’m sure you’ve already heard from many others. First off, I felt a real human connection to the vendors through the stories told about them and the stories they tell about themselves. Their hopes for better days, their quiet moments of despair, and sometimes (rightfully so) anger, to be seen and heard as people and not invisible. Shunned and disregarded. Told through their words in story and poetry. Powerful stuff. I came away from this intimate sharing wanting the best for each of them.Iwould love to see more indepth stories and interviews about them where they talk about their struggles and where they are in their lives.

Everybody deserves a place to call home. From shelters and safe havens to supportive housing and nationally-renowned case management services, Resources for Human Development helps people of all abilities attain and maintain their own housing. RHD is a national leader in pioneering innovative strategies to support people as they work to break they cycle of RHDhomelessness.founded One Step Away in 2009 as a voice of advocacy and social justice, and as an innovative way to solve gaps in social services that would help people achieve self-sufficiency.

Together we’re better. Together, we’re RHD.

“From Our Readers” a permanent section. Please help by submitting your thoughts and feedback! One Step Away P.O. Box Philadelphia,63703PA19147 osa@rhd.org@OSAphillyosaphilly.org

4 ONE STEP AWAY YOUR SAY: FROM OUR READERSWewanttomake

OSAPHILLY.ORG 5 #INSP: INTERNATIONAL STREET PAPER FEATURE

The question arises as to why tourists don’t make more effort to understand and follow local customs.

Tiaki is a Maori word meaning to guard, preserve, protect or shelter. An associated principle is Kaitiakitanga, an ethic of guardianship based on traditional Maori understandings of kinship between humans and the natural world. The Tiaki campaign thus asks tourists to look after New Zealand, “to act as a guardian, protecting and preserving our home”. In exchange, it promises a warm welcome to those who care to care. Such a principle of reciprocity is an inviting code for responsible tourism. The tourism industry’s challenge is to develop effective strategies to bring tourists and locals into better alignment.

BY: FREYA HIGGINS-DESBIOLLES, THE CONVERSATION

The problem now, as other tourism scholars have pointed out, is that tourism is promoted as an activity of pure hedonism. Rather than being encouraged to see themselves as global citizens with both rights and responsibilities, tourists are sold an illusion of unlimited indulgence. They are positioned as consumers, with special privileges.Isitanywonder that encourages indulgent behavior and an attitude of entitlement?

Freya Higgins-Desbiolles is a senior lecturer in tourism management at the University of South Australia Courtesy of The Conversation / INSP.ngo Photo: Tourists go home, Refugees Welcome Credit: Dunk/flickr, CC BY-SA #INSP: INTERNATIONAL TOURISM & TRAVEL TOURISTS BEHAVING BADLY ARE A THREAT TO GLOBAL TOURISM, AND THE INDUSTRY IS PARTLY TO BLAME

While it may seem that European citizens are turning towards far-right political groups due to growing anti-immigrant sentiment, it seems that other community cross-sections are focusing their ire on another group: anti-social tourists. In Europe, and the rest of the world, cities at the bleeding edge of the tourism industry are turning against foreign visitors. An expert in the subject tries to explain why for The Conversation.

Then there’s the question of why tourists behave in ways they wouldn’t dream of at home. Maybe it’s wearing a lime-green mankini while wandering through Krakow. Or nothing at all at Angkor Wat, Cambodia’s most holy shrine. The evidence suggests there’s something about being on holiday that simply seems to lower people’sOtherwiseinhibitions.ordinary people commit stupid [Ed: though not worthy of capital punishment] acts like attempting to steal a propaganda poster in the world’s most totalitarian state. Or spray-painting grafitti on a wall of a site where millions were murdered. Or brawling for a prime selfie spot at Rome’s Trevi Fountain. Sustainable tourism rests on a number of pillars. One of those is the need for the tourist to respect local people, cultures and environments.

6 ONE STEP AWAY TOURISM HOTSPOTS

Japan’s Nanzoin Temple is famous for its huge statue of a reclining Buddha. Its custodians are less laidback about the hordes of tourists the temple attracts. Signs in 12 languages now warn foreign visitors they may not enter in large groups.It’spart of anti-tourist sentiment, driven by “the bad manners and abhorrent actions” of some visitors from abroad, reportedly growing all over Japan — and elsewhere in the world. In Amsterdam, for example, city authorities have put a halt on new hotels and souvenir shops, and are cracking down on private rental platforms. Tourism brings many benefits to communities around the world. But tourism hotspots are feeling the strain as tourist numbers increase. Locals resent being crowded out of restaurants and parks. They resent paying inflated prices. Most of all they resent tourists behaving badly.

WHEN IN ROME… Sometimes bad behavior is a matter of perception, and comes down to cultural differences. There are places in China, for example, where it’s perfectly acceptable to leave your restaurant table, and the floor around it, an absolute mess. Two Chinese women visiting Japan, however, became the focus of international criticism due to a video that appeared to show them being asked to leave an Osaka restaurant because of their “disgusting eating habits”.

Such is the case of the “pig” British tourists who created a media storm on their holiday to New Zealand in January. A video showing the rubbish they left behind at a beachside park turned them into a media sensation. More than 10,000 people signed a petition for them to be deported.

THE TIAKI PROMISE We know about some of the incidents mentioned because the perpetrators themselves recorded their crimes for posterity. On other occasions, an offended local has done the filming.

The increasing prevalence of the badly behaved tourist, either in reality or simply as cultural meme, presents a serious issue for the tourism industry. In cities at tourism’s bleeding edge, such as Venice, resentment has boiled over into anti-tourism protests. In Barcelona, the cause against foreign visitors has been embraced by left-wing nationalist activists. Their view is expressed in graffiti around Barcelona: “Refugees welcome; tourists go home.”

Unless the tourism industry does something to address underlying aggravations, such sentiments are likely to spread. There’s a danger tourism, instead of building bridges for crosscultural understanding and friendship, will add to the stereotypical walls that separate people.

The key is in communicating the priceless experiences that emerge from being with the locals rather than imposing on them.

To deal with multiple problems associated with tourists — including bad driving, damaging camping practices and ignorance of safety in the outdoors, New Zealand’s tourism authority and operators are promoting ‘The Tiaki Promise’.

It’s a classic case study in how a local event can now so easily become a national or international incident.ButIbelieve New Zealand also provides a case study in how the global tourism industry can deal with anti-tourist sentiment by encouraging tourists to show greater respect.

The chief executive of the health system at the time, Gavin Kerr, cited rising insurance premiums for the decision, which forced many physicians to stop delivering babies, in an interview with the New York Times. “We had been subsidizing the program because we had the resources,” he said in the 2002 article. ”But as the malpractice premiums increased, that dramatically shrunk the resources.”Mercysuccumbed to sector-wide pressures, like a lot of hospitals. A nationwide surge in the cost of malpractice insurance — especially acute in high-risk areas like obstetrics — led to a consolidation of maternity care. Local hospital executives, looking to cut costs, turned to reliably money-losing wings for rollbacks. Maternity wards are historically among the first to go.

The closures led to alarming stories about women’s ability to access quality prenatal and maternal care. In a 2006 report by the Maternity Care Coalition, experts wrote of “women laboring in hospital hallways,” overwhelmed hospitals, and “rumors that obstetricians were ‘fleeing Pennsylvania’ at record rates.” Doctors hypothesized in op-eds that the closures would push maternal health further down on “crisis”, and access to prenatal care would fall off as distance to service grew.

“Women being born on I-95 while racing to the hospital. Women having difficulties getting prenatal care. Neither of those have happened,” says Karen Pollack, vice president of programs at the Maternity Care Coalition. “When you look at the concerns we had in the middle of all of these hospitals closing units, you have to say now that most of those concerns have not come to fruition.”

So how likely is it really that the two trends — closures of maternity centers and stubbornly poor maternal health, including high maternal mortality rates — are not linked? And if the inverse is actually true, how? The answers are complicated.

By Malcolm Burnley / Generocity.org / A Broke in Philly Feature

MATERNITY CARE CRISIS (AVERTED?)

Starting in the late 1990s and well into the 2000s, maternity wards in hospitals across the Philadelphia region began to close down. Citing financial losses, two-thirds of hospital obstetrics units within city limits shuttered between 1997 and 2012, to go along with a string of suburban shutdowns.

The fears gathered energy from media stories like the one above: women would have such long drives to the few available maternity wards, I-95 would turn into a birthing center. But a decade later, there’s little data to suggest the mass disappearance of maternity wards has harmed the health of mothers and infants in Philly, despite altering the healthcare landscape in the region. Key metrics like infant mortality were unaffected in the long run. I-95 did not become a birthing center.

In the past two decades, 13 of the city’s 19 maternity wards have closed. Philadelphia’s maternal mortality rate is high, especially for women of color. Cause and effect? Not so fast, says Malcolm Burnley, who takes a deep look at the factors contributing to poor maternal health outcomes in the city. True story. But it was assumed to be part of a much larger narrative about maternal health that — surprisingly — hasn’t ended up being true at all.

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In the early 2000s, Mercy Health System in West Philadelphia shuttered its maternity ward.

Babies born on I-95 notwithstanding, the overall picture of maternal health in the city isn’t rosy. There’s a local deficit of midwives, obstetricians, and gynecologists. Philadelphia still reports a maternal mortality rate of 27.4 deaths per 100,000 lives births, which is worse than the rate of all but six states. And African-American moms are twice as likely to die within one year of childbirth in the city, a racial disparity that shows no signs of abating. (Throw in a high concentration of malpractice lawyers in the city and you have a bad recipe for improvement.)

This article was supported by the Fuller Project for International Reporting, a nonprofit journalism organization that reports on issues that impact women, in collaboration with Resolve Philadelphia.

In Philly, the closures of nine maternity wards between 1997 and 2007 resulted in 40% of all obstetrics beds (the rooms where one-third of all births occurred) disappearing within Philadelphia County.

In fact, some practitioners are now arguing the opposite of what was originally predicted: The closures, despite the gaps it’s created, might even have improved outcomes.

THE ALLEGED CULPRIT: CLOSURES

“When you look at the concerns we had in the middle of all of these hospitals closing units, you have to say now that most of those concerns have not come to fruition.” — Karen Pollack DAD WAS SPEEDING DOWN I-95 past the Philadelphia Airport, his heavily pregnant wife moaning in the SUV. The drive was too far; the traffic too congested. Eventually, he pulled over and with the help of arriving State police officers Jean Altomari and Donald Foley, a baby girl was delivered in early August 2009 on the side of the highway near the airport.

Several beefed up their maternity wards, including Holy Redeemer Hospital, which sits a stone’s throw away from the county line in Northeast Philly. This all happened in spite of the financial picture around obstetrics remaining precarious.

Mercy, a Catholic healthcare provider with locations throughout the metropolitan area, used to deliver north of 5,000 babies per year in the 1980s in West Philly. But it was delivering shy of a quarter of that number by 2000.

“It was as much about quality of care as it was a financial decision. If you’re not doing enough deliveries, the safety of those deliveries declines,” Kerr said. “We had high rates of uninsured patients. The overhead cost [of the maternity ward] wasn’t being spread across enough deliveries. But the final driver for us was that we were doing such low volumes, we did not feel comfortable that our teams were getting enough experience to ensure high quality maternity care.”

The bottom line for mothers in West Philadelphia is that they had one less choice for where to deliver their babies or seek prenatal care, joining a long list of places across the country grappling with the same shortage. Typically, urban America isn’t the first of these to come to mind. Rural closures have gotten more publicity. Over the last three years, the likes of the Atlantic, Jezebel, and the New York Times have all published stories, along with dozens of research papers, exploring the rural healthcare impact of obstetrical decline.

13 OUT OF 19:

The reporters found the abswolvement of doctors to be nearly universal, despite the less certain realities of these deaths. “The best estimates say that half of these deaths could be prevented, and half of the injuries reduced or eliminated with better care,” they wrote. Temple Hospital’sUniversitybirthingcenterhasabsorbeddeliveriesfromelsewhereinthecityas13ofthe19maternitywardshavecloseddown.

Last year, a multi-part investigative series by USA Today found that Maternal Mortality Review Committees — existing in the majority of states, and many municipalities — broadly underrate the role that medical professionals have had in the deaths of new moms. “State panels across the country have focused a fraction of their attention on the quality of care hospitals provide or on advocating for improvements,” USA Today wrote.

(Photo by Flickr user tehshadowbat, used via a Creative Commons license)

“From a pure medical viewpoint, regionalization has been better for babies.” — Dr. Amy Zucker

“From a pure medical viewpoint, regionalization has been better for babies,” says Dr. Amy Zucker, director of neonatology at Holy Redeemer. “You have to be in a facility that can recognize internal obstetric emergency and take care of it. You want to deliver at a place that has drills for when there are common maternal problems, and if you’re delivering somewhere where they’re only doing only 600 babies, you can’t keep everyone trained.”

8 ONE STEP AWAY

“Today, places that are delivering are mostly teaching hospitals that have lots of equipment and operating rooms, plus they have more highly trained staff for serious situations,” says Pollack. “If you have more providers who are at fewer hospitals, you don’t have people delivering babies at smaller community hospitals without NICUs.”Except it’s hard to say exactly what’s occurring inside hospital units. Anecdotes abound in online forums about negative experiences at some birthing centers, including Temple University Hospital, which has absorbed deliveries from elsewhere in the city. Until recently, there was no public record of complication rates at area hospitals, which kept that information proprietary.

At first, the researchers found alarming evidence. The elimination of obstetrics units corresponded with a 49% increase of neonatal mortality (within the first 28 days of life) over a three-year period beginning in 1997, when the worst stretch of closures began — confirming the worst fears of prognosticators. But those trends quickly reversed. “After 2000, there was no statistically significant change in any outcome in Philadelphia County compared with the preclosure epoch,” wrote Dr. Scott Lorch, head researcher on the team. The surviving maternity wards in the area quickly bounced back, adjusting to new volumes. On average, these six units had a 58% increase in births between 1997 and 2012, a later study found.

All the remaining NICUs in the city, and the majority in the suburbs, have neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). That wasn’t the case 15 years ago.

“It was just a heart-wrenching decision,” says Kerr, now running Building Champions, a strategic leadership consultancy. “There were deep emotions that went with that decision, especially among the sisters and the staff.”

Philadelphia became one of the only urban areas to be studied in a large-scale research project — undertaken by researchers at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and later published in a paper produced by the Center for Outcomes Research — regarding urban obstetrics closures.

Craig believes that Governor Tom Wolf’s newly formed MMRC, which she is part of, will help steer the public health community towards better monitoring and tracking — along the lines of what’s been installed in the death review process to track infant deaths.

“Maternal mortality is challenging to track, especially if the death occurs outside of delivery.” — Joanne Craig

MATERNAL MORTALITY RATES: NOT A TRUE COUNT

(Photo by Sanjasy from Pixabay)

THE MED-MAL EFFECT What caused the spike in maternity ward closures in the first place back in the early 2000s? Well, it depends who you ask.

It’s the subject of a fiery debate currently unfolding in the state capital of Harrisburg, with lawyers, judges, and lawmakers all wrestling with the question.

The last major report on maternal mortality in Philadelphia was published in 2015 by the city’s health department in conjunction with an independent, 30-member maternal mortality review committee (MMRC).Although the committee found that Philadelphia had a 53% higher death rate than the national average over its three-year research window, they didn’t attribute a single death directly to medical negligence by doctors. Only one woman had a “good chance” of being saved through improved care, they wrote.

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Despite the longevity of the rise in maternal mortality (which has been going up since 1987), there is no standardized tracking of these deaths, such as what occurs systematically for infant mortality. Maternal mortality data isn’t as clear-cut as you’d think, which could be obscuring the true impact of obstetric unit closures.

“If a woman suffering from postpartum depression wanders out in front of a bus, there will be no discussion of the fact that she had a baby two months ago,” says Craig. The death will be ruled a suicide or an accident instead, not a pregnancy-related death. The same could be true of domestic homicides involving new parents. In fact, if you look again at the report that gave us Philadelphia’s oft-cited 27.4 maternal mortality rate, it’s a bit misleading. That number is actually only a fraction of deaths — the “pregnancyrelated mortality rate” per the MMRC — obviously stemming from obstetrics care. There were an additional 36 deaths ruled out for the purposes of the statistic because the MMRC attributed the mortalities to things like accidents, homicides, or suicide.

But the report from the Philadelphia MMRC, like MMRCs across the country, admittedly used an inexact, although commonly used method for reviewing maternal deaths. “Unfortunately, this number is probably an underestimation of the true count in Philadelphia, as there are likely additional deaths that were not able to be identified by the MMR team and thus never reviewed,” the report’s authors wrote.Isolating maternal deaths remains difficult. Despite the longevity of the rise in maternal mortality (which has been going up since 1987), there is no standardized tracking of these deaths, such as what occurs systematically for infant mortality. Because of this, it’s quite possible that the deaths of moms — low-income, moms of color, in particular — are invisible within the harrowing statistics. Only a small percentage of fatalities are operative-related, such as deaths by hemorrhages or infections. “Maternal mortality is challenging to track, especially if the death occurs outside of delivery,” says Joanne Craig, vice president for programs at the Foundation for Delaware County and a member of Pennsylvania’s newly formed Maternal Mortality Review Committee. “If a woman dies in childbirth, or even within a few weeks, there could be a logical connection. But when a woman dies six months later, there could be no connection made to childbirth.”

Of course, official reports aren’t the only way to assign culpability.

Some people worry that proposed rule changes in 2019 to malpractice law could set off a whole new set of financial worries for the longevity of maternity wards.

Doctors can still be sued for birth injury, which has long been a path for victims in Philadelphia. The extent to which doctors are shielded or not from liability has taken on fresh urgency, however.

The cost of malpractice insurance in Pennsylvania had been rising more sharply than the national average since the late-’90s. Thanks in part to President George W. Bush and national pundits railing against soaring lawsuits and high awards, it became a popular belief that Philly lawyers were chiefly to blame: The city was home to less than 15% of the state’s population, but the locus for more than 50% of all malpractice cases.

“We’re very close. The committee is already formed. Soon, we’ll start reviewing deaths. We’re right at the door of getting a better handle on this,” she says.

Although the definition of maternal mortality is clear, spotting it with rote information is less so. The process of identifying maternal death rates involves the laborious work of combing through death certifications and obituaries, and cross-referencing them against birth records and interviews with close relatives. According to experts, it’s assumed that many moms’ deaths are missed in statistics.

So, the debate rages on.

The venue-shopping rules established an uneasy detente between hospitals and lawyers to drastic effect. In the first full year of the reforms, the number of med-mal lawsuits in the state dropped by more than 1,000, including a 50% reduction (over 500 cases) disappearing in Philly. That number has since leveled off in the city, at roughly 66% of peak levels. Shortly after the reforms, malpractice insurance prices in Pennsylvania leveled off. But the correlation between lawsuits and premiums, meanwhile, also turned out to be an exaggeration, according to many experts.

“Back then it was open season for suing medical providers, noholds-barred tort laws, and family-friendly courts and juries. The malpractice costs were skyrocketing at the time,” said one healthcare consultant who was not authorized to speak on the record with me. In 2003, state provisions signed into law by first-term Democratic Governor Ed Rendell tried to curb the lawsuits. Lawmakers borrowed a page from California, whose legislature instituted strict limits on malpractice lawsuits and high-damage recoveries in 1975, which have been credited for warding off rapid increases in the cost of malpractice insurance. Specifically, the new laws in Pennsylvania outlawed an old med-mal maneuver known as “venue-shopping.”

It’s part of the reason why, seemingly out of the blue last December, an advisory committee to the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court suggested the rules were “no longer warranted.”

In a letter written to the justices of the court, the committee recommended a rollback of Rendell-era restrictions on venueshopping in order to “restore fairness” to defendants.

The disappearance of obstetrics units in Philadelphia hospitals hasn’t left the maternal health landscape unscathed.

The theory that malpractice lawsuits are chiefly to blame for pricier insurance premiums nationally has actually been debunked. Since the insurance nightmare of the early 2000s, many economists have concluded that natural fluctuations in the market, federal policy, and declining earnings at insurance companies drove price hikes, not litigation.

Proponents of the status quo, including Schroder, argue that it’s still possible lawsuits are chiefly to blame for the troubling financial situation facing Pennsylvania’s healthcare sector. The authors of the 2003 Pew report on medical malpractice came to different conclusions than national researchers when studying the problem more locally. “The largest cost component [of insurance hikes] is state-specific — investigating, defending, and paying legal claims,” wrote the authors of that 2003 Pew report.

(Photo by Parenting Upstream from Pixabay)

According to a 2003 report by Pew, Pennsylvania’s total malpractice payouts adjusted for population were twice the national average and Philadelphia plaintiffs were twice as likely to win damages in a jury trial than the national average. “If you had a surgery in West Chester” — or even Lackawanna county for that matter — “and you were dealing with a doctor who was part of a larger practice, they would sue you in Philadelphia,” says Schroeder, referring to the well-known track record of plaintifffriendly conditions in the city.

10 ONE STEP AWAY

But the questions of how and where doctors should be sued in Pennsylvania can distract from the more important inquiry at hand: are doctors hurting pregnant mothers and if so, being punished for it appropriately?

27.4 DEATHS PER 100,000 LIVE BIRTHS PHILADELPHIAIN

“The best reform that we were able to make was a provision that kept a lot of the lawsuits out of the Philadelphia court system.” — Curt Schroeder

Previously, lawyers were allowed to file malpractice suits in any jurisdiction where the doctor’s medical institution had an affiliation. So when teaching hospital networks began to buy up more community providers, venue-shopping became easier and simultaneously more preposterous throughout the reform that we were able to make was a provision that kept a lot of the lawsuits out of the Philadelphia court system,” says Curt Schroeder, a GOP state lawmaker at the time and now head of the nonprofit Pennsylvania Coalition for Civil Liberties Reform.“ We had a medical malpractice crisis.”

A follow-up study of the surviving six maternity wards in Philadelphia, published by the same research team at CHOP, found that the closures weren’t without negative externalities.

“Thestate.best

—Joanne Craig Generocity is one of 20 news organizations producing Broke in Philly, a collaborative reporting project on solutions to poverty and the city’s push towards economic justice. One Step Away is a proud partner with Broke in Philly. Learn more at brokeinphilly.org

RELATEDPREGNANCY-DEATHSINPHILLYOCCURREDAMONG BLACK WOMEN Between 2010 & 2012:

“I can tell you that over the course of my career, the ratio of practitioners to patients has gotten worse,” says Craig. “Already, it’s difficult for practitioners to spend a fair amount of time with each patient. When there are fewer practitioners and the number of patients continue to grow, it makes it even more difficult.”

“I can’t speak to the impact on statistics, but what I can tell you is that when OB-GYNs leave the state of Pennsylvania because of fear of malpractice, it means there are fewer clinical resources for mothers to access,” says Craig. Craig was named to Pennsylvania’s newly created MMRC by Governor Wolf in 2018. She argues that having a breadth of providers is essential for improving outcomes for low-income mothers throughout the region, irrespective of what statistics can prove at the moment.

And that’s where the malpractice rules — and the elevated threat of getting sued — might ultimately contribute to maternal mortality: Forcing would-be OB-GYNs to steer clear of the specialty in the first place. Less than 20% of the city’s OB-GYNs are under the age of 40, while more than 35% are over 55 years. Even if malpractice suits in the early 2000s were not expressly to blame for 13 out of 19 maternity wards closing during a twodecade span, they continue to define the culture of maternal health locally. Philadelphia has a reputation for possessing a climate ripe for suing doctors and simultaneously, one of the worst maternal mortality rates of any city in the country. The long-term outlook for mothers would only be hurt by the restoration of malpractice lawsuits to pre-reform levels — simply the suggestion of the change has already had a depressing effect on the sector.

“I can tell you that over the course of my career, the ratio of practitioners to patients has gotten worse.”

For more than a decade, maternal health experts have warned of a declining pool of physicians, midwives, and nurses in the local obstetrics fields due to the fear of being sued or going bankrupt paying insurance premiums. Inside the remaining wards, low morale and overcrowding became commonplace, with less patient satisfaction. Inner-city hospitals like Temple University and Albert Einstein Medical Center began to take on two to three times the number of publicly insured and uninsured patients, exacerbating the financial burden of generally unprofitable obstetrics work.

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A POOL OF PRACTITIONERS

It’s also taking a psychic toll on patients, research suggests. A 2010 survey-based study of mothers enrolled in Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) benefits, all of whom lived in Philadelphia, found that one in three cited recent closures of delivering hospitals as having a negative effect on their pregnancy. The perception that mothers are getting worse care is a consequence in itself. For more than a decade, maternal health experts have warned of a declining pool of physicians, midwives, and nurses in the local obstetrics fields due to the fear of being sued or going bankrupt paying insurance premiums. On a visit to the NICU at Holy Redeemer Hospital outside of Philadelphia, nurses and doctors confirmed this fear to me, citing anecdote after anecdote of recent med-school grads starting to practice outside of the state.

In February, the justices of the Supreme Court agreed to postpone their decision on the “venue-shopping” proposal until the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee of the House of Representatives produces a report.

(Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels)

DWINDLING

74% OF ALL

Philadelphia’s Love Park, located in the heart of the city, underwent a $26 million renovation, unveiled in 2018 the updated design. “One of the hallmarks of the redesign was to make it more inclusive and accessible,” said Parks Commissioner Kathryn Ott Lovell. The question then became: Who can access and be included? The new “THE

EMERGENCE OF ARCHITECTUREHOSTILE HAS —SAFE.”RESTOUTDOORS—TOINDOORSWITHHOMELESSNESSEXPERIENCINGLEAVINGOFTENSHORTAGE.OFTHECOMPOUNDEDMORALCRISISOURHOUSINGTOOWEAREPEOPLENOPLACE—ORORTOBETONYBERNAL HE UNITED STATES HAS A PROBLEM.ARCHITECTUREHOSTILE IS PUBLIC SPACE BECOMING PRIVATE?

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San Francisco also implemented the use of “peeproof” paint in several places in the city — UV-treated paint which forces urine to bounce back on the person urinating. It is designed to discourage public urination, which can be, in some cases, the only option for some who experience homelessness. In other cases, decorative rocks have been added to areas where people might congregate to drive them away. Sacramento, the state capital, faces its own troubles with defensive architecture, and many believe that these design choices affect all members of the public, not just homeless people.

Tony Bernal, Senior Director of Public Policy and Funding for Transition Projects, a homeless organization in Portland that works to transition people out of homelessness and into housing, said of the design in their city: “The emergence of hostile architecture has compounded the moral crisis of our housing shortage. Too often we are leaving people experiencing homelessness with no place—indoors or outdoors—to rest or to be safe.”

12 ONE STEP AWAY

People facing homelessness in many cities throughout the United States often feel safer spending a night in open public space than they do in shelters, but design policy forces people to reevaluate where they will spend the night. Daytime services as well are not always easily nasty offender in the game of hostile architecture, and it is an offense felt by the people who experience homelessness all over the state. In San Francisco, benches were removed in the middle of the night from Civic Central Plaza in the 1990s and the United Nations Plaza in 2001, leaving nowhere to sit during the day for many of the plazas’ daily visitors, and nowhere to sleep at night for those seeking refuge in a formerly accessible space.

“Our downtown has incorporated hostile designs and practices, such as removing benches outside the library, erecting fencing to keep people out of alcoves, turning off all the water faucets, turning on sprinklers at odd hours in parks, all to discourage homeless people and loitering,” said Paula Lomazzi, the director of Sacramento’s street paper Homeward Street Journal. “What they have done affects everyone, making downtown uncomfortable for everyone, including shoppers.”

Specific and egregious examples of hostile architecture and defensive design are prevalent and visible in major American cities. New York City’s long-famed Strand Bookstore installed sprinklers as part of their iconic awning, spraying people seeking shelter and sleeping under it. In early 2018, a homeless camp in Seattle full of men, women, and children was cleared out by police action, only to be replaced by a set of 18 bicycle racks in an area where people do not frequently ride bicycles. A 7-Eleven store in Portland made headlines recently when it blared a high-pitch sound, similar to an alarm outside the store to, according to the clerk, “keep homeless people away.” [The store was subsequently informed that this may be in contravention of city code].

Anti-homeless policy has been a staple in cities all over the world for decades, whether those policies be forthright, like loitering laws and sit-lie ordinances, or peppered into a city’s infrastructure and public spaces. Hostile architecture, sometimes called “defensive architecture”, is a trend in urban design which discourages the use of spaces in any way other than the intention of the owner or designer. Architecture exists all over the world, in various ways, but the most harmful examples have come in the way of targeting the homeless community, an already marginalized group, many of whom look for a place to sleep or rest during the day. They are met with a lack of access to public space.

city spokesperson Kelly Cofrancisco said when asked about the backlash. “The new benches reflect the standard design for seating installed across the city’s park system, with dividers that are supposed to encourage people to share the space and allow multiple people to sit on the benches.”Therest of ‘The City of Brotherly Love’ houses spikes on the walls at Eight Penn Center, a famous curved “bench” in the 8th Street Station, and the infamous Starbucks debacle — after last year causing worldwide controversy when two black men were arrested for sitting for too long, seating sections were later removed due to a number of homeless people spending time in the cafe during the day.

“Really, the bigger issue is why people are sleeping in parks in the first place and what we as a community are doing to address that,” Cofrancisco stated. “We should be asking that question of American society, too, more than anything else. Here in Philadelphia, we’re proud to say that there isn’t an ‘us versus them’ mentality. Instead, we work together to ensure that people experiencing homelessness receive access to services as well as dignity and respect and that residents, workers, businesspeople, and visitors can enjoy Philadelphia as one of the best, most welcoming cities in the nation.”

OSAPHILLY.ORG 13

Currently, many cities and communities are deciding and re-designing their public spaces, leading to the question: who is welcome in public space? When the city builds an armrest in the middle of a park bench, it says to someone who needed to sleep there, “you are not welcome here”. When the city adds spikes to the cement of an already hard and uncomfortable sidewalk that once laid flat, it says to the person who needed to sit there, “you are not welcome here”. It makes the message rather clear. It does not need words on a sign, only metal and concrete

“REALLY, THE BIGGER ISSUE IS WHY PEOPLE ARE SLEEPING IN PARKS IN THE FIRST PLACE AND WHAT WE AS A COFRANCISCO—ADDRESSARECOMMUNITYDOINGTOTHAT...”KELLY

“I think [hostile architecture] sends the message that people who sleep outside are not part of the community, are not our neighbors, and that it is alright to ostracize them,” The Contributor executive director Cathy Jennings said. “This type of attitude hurts any community.”

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While the city of Philadelphia, and many others in the United States, might be looking towards bridging the gap between the homeless community and the services that may assist them, day and night, this does not address what goes on in public, shared spaces.

To call much of this design work “defensive” architecture rather than “hostile” is inherently hostile in nature. The word implies that the public needs defending from the sights and experiences of homelessness when they walk along the sidewalk or through a park for lunch, or walk home at night past someone sleeping under a store’s awning to get away from the rain. It implies that public space needs to be defended from the presence of other members of the public. They just might not be the “public” that a city wants on display. There are instances in which public organizing against this type of design has been successful. When antihomeless spikes were installed in Montréal, the outcry was so loud that the city removed them almost instantly, reopening that sidewalk space to whoever may need it. In Iowa City, local organizers rallied around a call for the removal of benches with armrests in the center, allowing for several to be replaced with benches without armrests; benches where someone, who might need to, can lie down andThesesleep.changes in design remain in place because people tend to not notice, which is why recent social media campaigns to call out hostile architecture have been launched by UK artist Stuart Semple. Artist Sarah Ross went a step further and created the ‘Archisuit’, a padded garment designed to make it easier to lie down or sit in places where it has been made nearly impossible, drawing attention to this type of architecture. In the midst of all this, people facing homelessness are sent out of sight, maybe as a means to keep them out of the minds of a city’s residents and subsequent tourists, people who use those public spaces for leisure rather than necessity. There are people who need this public space more than its desired audience. More than someone who needs a space on a divided bench to take their lunch break, there is someone who needs a place to spend their day, as other options for homeless people are limited during the daytime hours. Instead, those people are made to feel excluded, like they are not members of the deserving public at all. So the question remains: who has a right to use public space?

Every day, One Step Away vendors proudly put on their yellow vests to hit the streets distributing the magazine. For our vendors, the vest symbolizes a community, a purpose, and a sense of belonging. On the streets, the yellow vest represents a positive change in our vendors’ lives and the City of Philadelphia.

There is no one face of homelessness, because there is no one story of how someone becomes homeless. As our vendors can tell you, everyone’s story of becoming homeless, as well as everyone’s story while homeless, is as unique and diverse as our vendors themselves. Some vendors have overcome homelessness and now use their earnings from distributing the One Step Away Magazine to maintain their housing, while other vendors are still in transition. But all of our vendors are working towards a better life, for themselves, for other people who might find themselves homeless, and for our larger Philadelphia and international communities.Also,vendors answer some of the most frequently asked questions from our readers and community members, including: how did you become homeless? And what can I do to help those on the streets? Finally, our vendors share some advice to other’s who might find themselves without a home, encouraging them to not give up! Thank you for your support. We hope you enjoy learning more about us and our stories!

MEET YOUR VENDORS

Our vendors make amazing strides each day — whether it is opening a bank account, kicking a bad habit, overcoming homelessness, or just making the decision to get-up and hit the streets to try and make a change. In this issue, we highlight our heroes in the yellow vest — the men and women of One Step Away — our vendors.

THE MEN & WOMEN O f ONE STEP AWAY Thank you to all of our volunteers, vendors, and contributors for helping us make this issue.

Photography: Ted Goldman at TGoldmanPhotography.com, Alexis Wright-Whitley, Ashley Gearhart Donovan, Ethan Cohen. Writing, Interviews, and Editing: Caia Iglehart, Jaymes Savage, Conall Dempsey, Dylan Yuska. And thank you to all of our vendors who shared their stories for this issue.

“Love Park or Penn’s Landing.”

— Kevin Wiehsner

“The—“DelawareBoylanAvenue.”JerryEllisNortheastand the mall.”

— William Powell “I love picnics and fishing. Anywhere, near the two rivers is wonderful for me.”

WHAT DOES HOMELESSNESS MEAN TO YOU?

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE SPOT IN PHILLY?

That’s my getaway spot. I’d go there a lot when I was little. I used to go there and fish with my grandfather. There’s nice people up there. I wish I could live there but I can’t afford the car insurance.”

— Sylvia Williams

“To me, homelessness is being without shelter, without a roof over your head. I wouldn’t say it is being shunned, but people turning away from you. But it’s definitely having a door slammed in your face. For me, it means being alone. Because there is no one there to really help you when you need it the most. That’s what it is. And it means putting yourself in danger and putting yourself at risk in health too.”

— Deirdre Boylan “No one is above being homeless. No one. Homelessness can be a state of mind. I believe, to me, it could be considered a state of mind. It could be a lack of resources, depression, hopelessness, circumstances that make you feel that the only thing you can do is to be homeless.”

— Maria “HomelessnessJames is having nowhere to go.”

— Deirdre

— Maria “WissahickonJamesCreek.

— Neal McLaurin “We are all one step away from being homeless.”

MEET YOUR VENDORS: FAVORITE PLACES

— Jeff “BoathouseGreenerow, I love the drive and everything.”

MRKOJEVICSLOBODAN

Growing up Charles had a normal, stable life, but wasn’t working any good jobs to support himself. He worked jobs at pizza shops and food places. Charles describes homelessness simply: “being homeless just means, having no key to anything.”

Jerry Tucker became homeless at 16-yearsold when his mother passed away. He has been in shelters ever since. To Jerry being homeless means: “having nowhere to go. You’re stuck in the streets and in shelters — your family even turns their backs on you.”

One Step Away helped Jerry a lot; he was able to rent a low-income apartment and learned to spend money on things he really needs like food and clothes. First starting as a vendor at One Step Away was very hard for Jerry, “I couldn’t do it at first, it was a slow process. A friend told me to, ‘hang in there,’ and I did.” Jerry says that person was his guardian angel because he was ready to give up. He feels as though he is on the right path, in the future he wants to own a business and get his sales license. The number one thing that Jerry lives by is that you have to want to help yourself.

21ST & HAMILTON STREETS VENDOR SINCE MAY 2018

Slobodan has a different outlook on life than your average person. He says homelessness “means, a little free sky, freedom, and no thinking: the only thing you have to worry about is money for food.” Slobodan experienced two heart surgeries and lost his job – as a result he became homeless. He is fighting with the government to put him on disability, but that is still a struggle. “I had no support, I had to try to save money and book rooms for one Slobodannight.”wrote two books and made profit off of them, he says a lot of people like his writing including his poetry. When asked do you feel like your life is progressing, Slobodan responded, “Honestly, no, but I can’t change it. It’s just life — so much thinking.” There’s a quote that Slobodan lives by: “I know, I don’t know anything.”

TUCKERJERRY 10TH & SOUTH STREETS VENDOR SINCE SEPTEMBER 2012

BLAKESLEYCHARLES

16 ONE STEP AWAY

— Charles Blakesley

Charles was homeless two years ago, from 2014-2017. As Charles opens up about how he became homeless, he says: “I was dependent on drugs and alcohol, on top of the fact that I was not working any good paying jobs.” The thing that actually made Charles homeless was an argument with his landlord, resulting in him moving out. Luckily, Charles had friends to help him out at the time and RHD to help him get housing and back on his feet. “One Step Away has helped me a lot,” he says, “it’s helped me establish connections.”

Jerry had a normal life, he had good jobs and a relationship. But Jerry understands how quickly you can become homeless: “for me it was simply just losing things. I lost my job, then my relationship, then my home.”

When asked if he thinks his life is on the right track, Charles responded “Yes, my life is a lot better I have learned to live more stably.” In the future Charles wants to travel and become an architect to work on big buildings. “Being homeless just means, having no key to anything.”

“Homelessness is having nowhere to go. You’re stuck in the streets and in shelters, your family even turns their backs on you.” — Jerry Tucker

In the future Slobodan wants to become a millionaire.

12TH & FILBERT STREETS VENDOR SINCE OCTOBER 2012

Zachary responded that he had “an average normal life,” before experiencing homelessness. When asked how homelessness feels he answered, “It feels like your stranded, it’s a lot of pressure and you just feel alienated. You feel isolated and just feel like you’re at a loss.” Unfortunately, Mr. Caldwell had issues with his landlord, and had to go to court. So he had to find a new place to reside, but he couldn’t. Zachary thanks God that he had supports while he was homeless through a couple of relatives and the Veterans Administration. Also, he says One Step Away helps him:“it helps occupy me doing sales work, marketing, and getting contact with people. OSA helped me get into the mainstream of life, and feel less isolated.” He said just starting out and trying to make sales is somewhat hard, but, if you speak up and speak out, then people will pay attention. Zachary lives by the motto, “silence is golden except when you’re selling newspapers. You have to make yourself known and have some type of sales pitch.” Zachary said he feels as though his life is going in the right direction, and in the future he plans to continue writing and contributing to the community.

“It feels like you’re stranded, it’s a lot of pressure and you just feel alienated. You feel isolated and just feel like you’re at a loss.” — Zachary

— Edward Johnson LISTEN TO EDWARD’S FULL STORY ON “HEARD”, ONE STEP AWAY’S NEW PODCAST SERIES.

“I’m currently homeless and living on the streets after losing my job May 7. Since then I’ve had two surgeries.”

Profiles By: Jaymes Savage, Volunteer Writer, Senior at Sankofa Freedom Academy Charter School

Jaymes is a student-athlete whose high school team just recently won a state championship. Mr. Savage has always loved being involved because in life he just simply wants to make a different and make the world a better place. Mr. Savage intends to continue his servant leadership and activism in the future years that are ahead of him, and his future is very bright.

What makes Edward’s search for a permanent home challenging is that he has to essentially do it himself. He can’t get help from the shelter because he is an able person, and individuals having mental illness or substance abuse disorders are the shelter’s top priority. When asked whether he’s on the right path, Mr. Johnson responded, “I think I’m on the right path. I am slowly progressing.” In the future Edward said he plans to get custody of his kids, and a four-bedroom house. The number one thing Edward says he has to do to attain these goals is hold himself accountable and maintain a plan.

Mr. Johnson has been a vendor for One Step Away since July — and says the program really helps him: “It helps keep money in my pocket and make connections with different people.” Edward already has sales experience, so he said selling One Step Away was not hard, but he said to truly make an impact you have to want to do it.

Jaymes Savage is a high school senior that attends Sankofa Freedom Academy Charter School in Kensington. He has a 3.6 GPA and has been accepted into 30+ colleges some with scholarships. He wanted to volunteer because he loves to hear people’s stories and has always heard that he was a good writer.

15TH & JFK STREETS VENDOR SINCE JULY 2018

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JOHNSONEDWARD

Edward Johnson had a very good life before becoming homeless. He took care of his kids, had a lot of money, wore nice clothes, and had nice sneakers. Unfortunately, a couple of bad decisions forced him to experience homelessness. He said homelessness is: “having nowhere to go.” Edward currently lives in a shelter but still considers himself homeless because it’s truly not his own place.

“It’s about how you present yourself.”

BROAD & CECIL B. MOORE VENDOR SINCE MAY 2014

CALDWELLZACHARY

— Ram

“Being a vendor has taught me to be self-motivated and self-reliant.”

VENDOR SINCE FEB.2012 20TH & MA R KETSTS. RICHARDRAMSON“RAM”

Like all children do, she requires a stable living environment where she can grow up secure, healthy, and protected. I am thankful for people like Emily Taylor who has been there for me (and all other vendors) through the ups and downs of OSA. She has never given up on us, and in return there are those of us who have never given up on ourselves because of her efforts. I thank her so much for supporting us, helping us, standing up for us, and most of all loving us.

I have a strong work ethic and leadership. I am a man of integrity, honesty, and commitment. I am passionate and confident in what I do, especially when I believe in something. I’ve dreamed of having access to resources that give us OSA vendors the opportunity to gain housing. I will set the tone necessary for years to come for what a successful model looks like in the form of an OSA vendor accomplishing goals and maintaining housing simply because they were given a chance.

By: Richard “Ram” Ramson I grew up in the City of Philadelphia. My mother and father did not raise me. So as a little boy I did not receive the proper love, care, nurturance, and support that is necessary for a child to be productive and successful in life. This love, care, nurturance, and support is the natural order of things when it comes to being a loving and caring family, but when you come from the druginfested and violent environment I lived in, most times we develop habits that are destructive, leading to counterproductive lifestyles based on the unnatural, unhealthy, and dysfunctional ways we are raised.Imoved in with my Aunt around the age of five or six. She started off doing a good job of raising me until drugs came into the picture. Her drug of choice was cocaine which lead to a crack cocaine addiction. Her addiction led to me being neglected by her, so at the age of ten the Department of Human Services aka DHS came knocking. At ten years old I was taken from my family and put in a group home as part of the foster system. I was in the DHS system until the age of 18. All of these experiences were traumatizing, leaving me lost for years because I could not move beyond my past — I was stuck there. In 2003, I felt like I received a revelation from God, my purpose. It was writing. I started writing poems and lyrics. I went to my first open mic in August of 2003. Fifteen plus years later, I’ve established myself as a poet, emcee, speaker, etc... Most of my writing is based around healing from my past traumas (especially from my childhood). I use my creative writing abilities to tell stories and messages about my past in hopes of inspiring others to know that no matter what you’ve been through, as long as you’re still breathing you have the opportunity to turn your life around and make things better yourself and those around you. One Step Away (OSA) has truly been a blessing. It has helped me sustain myself over the last seven years, and it keeps me hopeful knowing that as long as I continue to work diligently and move forward in a positive matter in my life, things will always get better. Since 2013, I’ve been in the shelter system four times. Through it all I’ve been able to maintain a sense of dignity because of OSA. I am able to do for myself which allows me to improve my life by being self-sufficient and self-reliant. It is up to me to get-up and go make it happen!

Also, as recent as February 16, 2018, my first child, my daughter Symphony Grace, came into this world. She is truly a blessing in my life. She motivates me on another level to get things in order in my life, especially housing. It’s all about her needs and giving her the proper love, care, nurturance, and support necessary for a child to be productive and successful in this world.

I also have a family now with my daughter Symphony. As soon as she arrived, I’ve been focused even more on gaining housing, so I can give her a place to call home. She brightens up my life and I love that I am her father. I know life hasn’t been an easy one for me, but I will do everything in my power to make sure she experiences a better upbringing than I had. Over the last seven years of being an OSA vendor I’ve demonstrated a level of consistency that reflects me being a responsible adult. I’ve been one of the main voices of OSA resulting in me winning the advocacy award last year alongside Bill Anderson of FOX 29 News. Being a vendor has taught me to be self-motivated and selfreliant. I am also hungry for this opportunity. I’ve dreamed of and prayed for this opportunity knowing that having my own place to call home would create such goodness and stability in my life, especially now since I have a daughter. All these years with OSA I was seeking my own place and taking steps towards that reality.

“I’ve come to realize that me being homeless steams from my childhood - like I was sent to a group home at 10-years-old. 10. Then, at 18 I was out of foster care. I had nothing, I knew nothing, but I had to make it on my own.” — Ram

OSAPHILLY.ORG 19

LISTEN TO RAM’S FULL STORY ON “HEARD”, ONE STEP AWAY’S NEW PODCAST SERIES.

RICHARDSCHEERER“RICHIE”

30TH & MARKET STREETS

VENDOR SINCE JANUARY 2019

Originally from North Philly, you can find William in Northwest Center City at 17th and the Ben Franklin Parkway. He is proud to have been a vendor for six years, and it has changed his life. He now has his own income and the resources to get back on his feet. He has learned to stick with vending for One Step Away to maintain a stable employment status. If he could give his former self advice, he tell himself to “stick with One Step Away and recovery until you overcome.”Inaddition to his recovery, William is motivated by the idea of filling up his bank accounts. His goals, in addition to making money and moving away from homelessness, include visiting Walt Disneyworld. When in Philly, and not vending magazines, you can find him in the Northeast, the mall, and the movie theater. He has been most influenced by his church, and he is inspired now by church relatives.

30TH & MARKET STREETS VENDOR SINCE DECEMBER 2018

Richard maintains the belief that we live on Mother Earth, so how is anyone homeless? He goes on to say, “At least that’s how I personally felt about my situation being nomadi for almost 4 years on and off.” But he adds, “I also believe that if you don’t have closed quarters to lay your head it could be a challenge.” He would advise other homeless to keep pushing: “don’t give in to what would be even a worse demise for yourself. Take this as an opportunity to start things off fresh and do not create the thought that you’re stuck and failing, or moving backwards, because it could only be uphill from here.” He would advise a new vendor, “don’t just sell the magazines or promote the organization, promote yourself and network like your life depends on it as well, because it does.”

20 ONE STEP AWAY

Born in Port Richmond, you can now find Richie at 30th Street Station vending magazines when he’s not delivering cookies as a bicycle courier. Since beginning both of these jobs in the last several months, Richie says he’s proudest of “realizing his self-worth before it was too late.” He’s grateful: “Being given the opportunities to do and achieve what I always wanted.” Most recently this goal has been to find permeant housing in South Philly. Now, because of these opportunities, the goal seems achievable.

DEIRDREBOYLAN

When she’s not vending, Deidre enjoys time with her friends who inspire her to be free and happy. She likes to read and maintain her 10-month recovery, which is her greatest accomplishment. Her goals include rebuilding a great relationship with her son James who she loves. Deidre also loves her mother Moira, who was her greatest influence. She feels most would be surprised to know how loving she is. Her goals also include to travel to several destinations including Ireland, Amsterdam, and Norway. When she is home in Philly her favorite spots include Love Park and Penn’s Landing.

WILLIAMPOWELL

17TH & BEN FRANKLIN PARKWAY VENDOR SINCE NOVEMBER 2013

Originally from Fairmount, Deidre still calls Philly home and can be found in Northwest Center City where she has been a vendor for three months. Vending for One Step Away has helped her financially, and she has since obtained housing. She’s made progress quickly because she’s naturally motivated every day. She likes people and making connections with them, though she says the experience has taught her patience. She encourages other homeless not to give up. And for those who want to help she says to “Help [the homeless] to get a leg up. You never know what might change someone’s life.” She also encourages OSA readers to make connections with their vendors. If she could give her younger self advice, she’d tell herself to make better choices and take care of herself and her health. But she’d also council herself to trust in people “There are good people out there.”

William advises others experiencing homelessness that there is a homeless hotline. It will direct them where they can get help. He feels the thing that homeless need help with the most is information on shelters and meals, and also information on treatment and recovery. But if they need a job, he’d direct them right away to One Step Away.

VENDOR SINCE APRIL 2012

Sylvia feels strongly that “we are all just one step away from homelessness.” This is the advice she would give someone who is homeless, along with food and clothes. She advises that those that want to help do the same. “Donate food, clothing, blankets, and toiletries.” Her advice to someone in need or new vendors would be to stick with the vendor program: “doing One Step Away will keep you from being penniless and homeless, and living in the street.” “Doing One Step Away will keep you from being penniless and homeless, and living in the street.”

Bernard would give the same advice a new vendor: to not give up. “You just don’t know what you’re doing when you first start. You aren’t going to make a whole lot of money in the beginning, but just don’t give up. Stay the course. Find a location and stay at that location and develop it. Eventually it will payBernardoff.” also has sound advice for anyone wishing to help the homeless: “give them a couple of bucks.” That’s what he does, in addition to passing out a lot of clothes and socks.

Bernard has personally never experienced homeless, but that has not stopped him from recommending becoming a vendor to multiple people in need. People who Bernard recommended, he says, “seem to be doing pretty well now.” This is one of the things he’s proudest of. He feels his biggest accomplishment is being able to meet and open-up to all those he has met through his job.He would advise other homeless to never give up and reach out to the Lord. “Religion is important to keep your inner strength,” says Bernard. And he would advise them to try One Step Away. As Bernard believes, “it’s better than panhandling, because you meet a lot of different people that can help you out in different ways.”

If you’re in our Northeast Center City Neighborhood grabbing a bite in Reading Terminal, you can also grab a One Step Away Magazine from Sylvia, a vendor originally from South Philly. She feels selling the magazine “has given her another chance at life,” and is one of her biggest accomplishments. “I’m also proud that I’ve been clean for a while, doing One Step Away, staying alive and well, and being responsible for her life.”

When you shop at Trader Joe’s in OSA’s Northwest Center City Neighborhood, you can purchase a One Step Away Magazine from Jerry Ellis, a West Philly native who has been vending for the magazine for seven years. One Step Away changed Jerry’s life, “it gave me a job.” Working is his favorite thing to do and his biggest accomplishment and what he’s most proud of is, “working. That I am in the shape to work.” He thinks other’s might be surprised to hear that he works every day. He keeps himself motivated by thinking, “I’m going to get off these streets one day,” and by listening to songs like Papa Was A Rolling Stone. He would advise other vendors or homeless to: “keep on trying and not let others discourage you.” If you are looking to do something or support the homeless or a your regular vendor Jerry suggests: “Take them and feed them.”

18TH & WALNUT STREETS

BERNARDRUSSEL

Bernard was born in South Philly, and he currently lives in West Philly. He vends One Step Away Magazine in our Southwest Center City Neighborhood Zone. You can find him at 18th and Walnut, next to the Barnes & Noble, if you would like to buy a magazine from him.

JERRYELLIS 20TH & MARKET STREETS

VENDOR SINCE NOVEMBER 2017

WILLIAMSSYLVIA

12TH & FILBERT STREETS VENDOR SINCE MAY 2017

Jerry doesn’t have any dreams of visiting faraway foreign places, but he does like to visit Georgia when he travels. He would like to go back to school and write a book. If he’s ever not working, you could look to find Jerry along Delaware Avenue near the casino, his favorite pastime area of the city. “I’m going to get off these streets one day,” — Jerry Ellis.

OSAPHILLY.ORG 21

— Sylvia Williams

VENDOR SINCE2017 17TH & MA R KETSTS. WIEHSNERKEVIN

As Kevin explains about being a One Step Away vendor: “it completely changed my life for the best. It made me financially stable, and it gave me different opportunities in life.” While Kevin was able to save enough money to get off the streets and into an apartment he says he wants to move to a nicer neighborhood, but has been hard due to his criminal record.

“I keep myself motivated because One Step Away is all I have, and without it I would be homeless. And that’s why I’ve never missed a day since I started. I don’t want to go back to that. That’s what keeps me motivated.”

“I would suggest that anyone who might be homeless, jobless, and in any way considering helping those who are in need, to contact One Step Away and listen to some of the best advice available.”

Kevin continues talking about all he’s learned being a One Step Away vendor: “OMG, people skills. I’m able to talk to different people — older to younger. I meet people from all sorts of backgrounds. You have no idea how many people I talk to and care about me. It’s insane, it’s crazy. There are a lot of good people out there.”

WHAT’S THE BEST THING SOMEONE CAN DO FOR THOSE LIVING ON THE STREETS? “Take care of them and feed them.” — Jerry Ellis “Teach them how to survive. Help them to learn more responsibility.”

— Kevin Wiehsner “Help them get a leg up. You never know what might change someone’s life.” — Deirdre Boylan

For people still experiencing homelessness, Kevin offers some words of wisdom. “If you are currently experiencing homelessness or a struggle, do not to give up. Don’t give up! It’s hard in the beginning, but it will get better, you just have to stick with it.”

Kevin first started with One Step Away in 2014 & 2015. Between 2015 and his return to OSA in 2017 Kevin was arrested and in jail. “When I was released back in October 2017, I came right back to the One Step Away vendor site.” Kevin worked hard as a vendor and saved his money, he was able to get his own apartment in December 2017.

— Sylvia Williams

— Jeff “DonateGreeneandgive out clothing, toiletries, and blankets.”

“I appreciate everyone that donates to OSA and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You helped change my life. That’s the truth. And I really do appreciate you. Thank you.”

OSAPHILLY.ORG 23

“I think about it all the time; I know I’m very fortunate where I’m at. And I’m able to see the same people every day. And I have hundreds of relationships that I’ve built over the past year. It’s amazing.”

— Kevin Wiehsner

With a record, Kevin say his choices have been limited, and after losing the last apartment he hoped to move into, he is beginning to lose hope altogether. “If I can’t find a place in the city that I can afford. If I can’t find that, I don’t know what to do. I want to get out of North Philly and start a new chapter of my life elsewhere.” He knows he made mistakes in his past and is trying to leave them behind and look towards the future; “I want to eventually own a home, possibly a car, and start a family. I want two kids.”

Kevin Wiehsner is 40-years-old and works as a One Step Away vendor at 17th & Market, inside the BNY Mellon Building. Originally from Roxborough, Kevin is currently living in North Philly, although he is saving up to move into a nicer neighborhood, “one with less crime so I can begin a new chapter in my life.”

“It’s becoming hard for me to find a place, because of my record — 17 years upstate. It is so frustrating and hard. It’s so crazy to me, someone’s trying to change their life and do something for the better, but my past keeps coming back to haunt me. It’s so hard and challenging. It’s a shame. It is. It really is. The system, you know, is hard. I don’t know what to do now. I had the furniture picked out, I had the bed waiting, everything. And now, I don’t know. I put so much energy into that; I put everything I had into that. I guess I’m not allowed to live in the city, I’m this big monster.”

— Maria James “There is a homeless hotline which will direct you to were you can get help. Give them information on shelters and meals. Or if they want a job, tell them about One Step Away.” — William Powell “Try and show them a path they can take to improve their lives.”

If you want to help someone struggling, Kevin says, “Try and show them a path they can take to improve their lives.”

LISTEN TO STORYFULLNEAL’S 8AM.MAYSERIES,PODCASTNEWAWAY’SONE“HEARD”,ONSTEP6AT

Kevin James was homeless for 20 years. “Yea, I did all that. Living on the streets, eating out of trash cans — I started cardboard city back in the day. I panhandled just to survive.” Now living in a recovery house, Kevin can look back on his life with some clarity. “I’m not ashamed, I want people to know what it was like, and I’m proud of what I’m doing now,” says Kevin. “I used to panhandle on the same corner I’m working on now.” — Kevin James

CHALMERSLORENZO

24 ONE STEP AWAY

JAMESKEVIN

MCLAURINNEAL

19TH & CHESTNUT STREETS

“I was getting bullied so much that I learned how to box, that’s what started me in the gym.” From boxing, Neal learned how to have a positive attitude and motivation. Although the trauma and stress he endeared as a child lead him to begin drinking. “I was just in a negative mindset, it was dragging me down, and I felt like there was no way out,” Neal says. Neal’s turning point came when he started seeing spots from drinking. He remembered his boxing training and the strength physical activity gave him. “Your mind and your body are so linked.” Neal started to exercise again and started to pray and do meditation. He also started going to AA meetings, “the 12 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous helps me as well.” He joined a theatre and acting class, started writing, and performing poetry. Now Neal has bigger goals: “I’m a personal trainer, I’m an advocate for helping children. I want to start a theatre and fitness program.” He stays motivated by his nephew, nieces, and little brother, but he knows you need inner strength.

Neal McLaurin likes to vend the magazine, meet people, and recite Shakespeare: “people don’t believe me when I tell them I studied theater, they’re like ‘nah this bull doesn’t know Shakespeare’, then they are amazed when I recite it word for word.” Neal likes to travel around neighborhoods teaching people about One Step Away, what it does for the community, and how it can help someone in need. He’s often traveling through Northeast Philly when vending. Originally from North Philadelphia, Neal first became homeless in the summer of 2007. “I became homeless due to financial issues and alcohol abuse,” but it started earlier than that. “It started as a kid growing up. The struggles I saw with my family and those around me,” Neal remembers his childhood. “When you grow up in the inner city it can lead to homelessness and PTSD. You’re traumatized. And you don’t get the right education.” Neal has dyslexia, so when he was younger school was hard for him: “I had to take special education, and I was picked on and bullied.” Neal says he remembers himself feeling like he was falling behind, especially because his school lacked the resources he really needed to succeed. His family atmosphere wasn’t much better: “there was a lot of alcoholism around.” Neal recalls falling into bad habits and feeling lost and alone: “I had the homeless mentality.”

VENDOR SINCE MAY 2018

Lorenzo started with One Step Away after his friend, Ram, recommended it to him. He decided to become a vendor “to be more productive on getting the word out about homelessness.” Lorenzo enjoys meeting new people and engaging with the public. He also likes writing for the magazine, “it gives me a voice.” Lorenzo wants to thank everyone who supports him, “I love meeting new people so it is a great job. I have a more positive outlook because of OSA. It’s my main source of income and it brightened my future.”

“I keep going to see myself achieve what I want to achieve one day, as long as I keep moving forward,” says Neal.

VENDOR SINCE SEPTEMBER 2016

16TH & WALNUT STREETS

COTTMAN AVE. & ROOSEVELT BLVD. VENDOR SINCE NOVEMBER 2016

I have enjoyed the privilege of being a vendor for One Step Away for almost nine years now. My re-start date was September 2010. I was signed up earlier back then, but I walked away from it because it did not seem to be right for me at the time. Being a vendor helped me express myself. I have always wanted to express my life through being a writer or journalistic story-teller through the media from a very early age. Honestly, I can say that through being a One Step Away vendor I have learned to extend myself to each and every human that I happen to meet. I have learned the value of my own “born this way” expression of myself as a human doing, as well as being.

13TH & MARKET STREETS

20TH & MARKET STREETS

A person who can’t meet their basic needs of food, shelter, clothing has almost an impossible chance to do anything not just recover. I am talking about these things because I want to let you know that I truly understand the importance of housing and the effect it can have on the spirit of an individual — bringing out the best in them. It sits at the top of the tree under the necessities. If a man is sleeping on cardboard, he is going to have a problem trying to stop using because he is probably using to cope with that. At least it did with me. Now that I have been off of heroin for coming up five years, I see what it has done. I owe a lot of my recovery to my son, because I really want a life for my family. But I had to change my thinking, and people and my surroundings, but mostly my thinking. You could call it instant gratification... No patience... So, at the end of the day I am blessed to make it to the other side with my life and have a family. Thank you for all of the support and opportunities. Thank You...

OSAPHILLY.ORG 25

At my tender age of 66, I have become accustomed to embracing each and every Moment as a Blessing granted to me for the creation of positive and loving joy for my world and all life.

As I sit back and look back at my past like I have so many times before, I recognize now the bad decisions and what devastated my life the most. Now besides drug addiction that I battled with for many years, homelessness and worrying about rent all the time, if I’ll have somewhere to sleep tonight. These are all just parts of my life that I have experienced first-hand. Not minimizing anything else I was taught in recovery, that your basic needs need to be met in order for you to be able feel better about yourself and start to recover.

Tim is currently not homeless, but likes to work. “My biggest accomplishment is working for a job, he says. “I like to talk to people about the paper.” Tim enjoys meeting new people and the experiences he has while vending One Step Away. Having a supportive community is a big reason Tim likes to vend. He encourages new vendors to stay with it, “at first it will be hard, but you got to have patience and understanding— but they won’t forget you,” he says referring to our community.

GREENEJEFF

WILCZYNSKICHESTER

VENDOR SINCE SEPTEMBER 2010

“Homelessness, to me, is one of the worst situations I have had the experience of going through a few times when I was younger — and to me it was earth shattering.”

16TH & MARKET STREETS VENDOR SINCE NOVEMBER 2016

—Chester Wilczynski

Tim admits he doesn’t know the best way to help someone experience homelessness, but he tries and gives people food when he can. He also wants to remind people on the streets: “keep your head up, it will get better.”

I would suggest that anyone who might be homeless, jobless and in any way considering helping those who are in need, contact One Step Away and listen to some of the best advice available. I suggest that a person living on the streets might consider talking to one of our Vendors and calling the city’s fine Outreach program.Thebest thing someone can do for One Step Away vendors is to support us financially and compassionately. We are all about real change for ourselves and for our many fine supporters, too!

VENDOR SINCE MAY 2018

TIMOTHYADAMS

— Deirdre Boylan “I would suggest that anyone who might be homeless, jobless, and in any way considering helping those who are in need, to contact One Step Away and listen to some of the best advice available.”

26 ONE STEP AWAY WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO PEOPLE HOMELESSNESSEXPERIENCING OR NEW VENDORS?

— Jerry Ellis “Don’t be discouraged, and keep trying.”

— William Powell “You might not feel that there is any way out, but there might be a way out, a lot of times there is.”

— Timothy Adams

— Maria James “There is a homeless hotline which will direct you to were you can get help. If you’re in need of recovery, look for a One Step Away vendor and get the information that you need. And if you need a job, come to One Step Away.”

“Keep on trying. Don’t let people discourage you.”

— Neal McLaurin “Don’t give up. It’s hard in the beginning, but it will get better - you just have to stick with it.” — Kevin Wiehsner “Don’t give up.”

— Jeff Greene “Keep your head up, it will get better.”

Since then I got hired at First Step Staffing as a food runner. So now I have two jobs, and in May I will be studying to become a certified peer specialist. One Step Away vendors see a lot of what’s going on, and we always try to help others. I once saw a guy punch a woman in the face knocking her to the ground and then he tried to kick her. When I approached him, he ran away. Had I not been on the job, I would not have been in a position to help her. A lot of our vendors have been through some tough times and have compassion for others in need. Back when we were a newspaper I was at work when I saw a woman walking down the street crying. We wound up talking for over 30 minutes about problems in life, we talked about God and relationship drama. I was trying to make money, but I put my needs aside because she was deeply troubled. She eventually stopped crying and felt better so I was glad to help. And it turns out she knew about One Step Away and gave me money.

Just recently I was selling magazines when a woman walked out of a store and just burst into tears. Someone she trusted stole some items from her house and while in the store she realized this person had also stolen all of the money from her pocketbook. She was worried about what her kids would eat for dinner. I gave her some money and bought her some food from the store. She was really grateful and hugged me like five times. She promised to pay me back, but I told her not to worry about it, to God be the glory. It is not in God’s plan for a person to be alone during troubled times. It is in God’s plan for us to always help those in need.

I am Kareem Jones and I have been working for One Step Away since 2016. I began working here shortly after I threw my back out. All of my previous jobs involved heavy lifting, mainly construction labor; moving drywall, cement bags, and shingles. I was also moving furniture. When I threw my back out, I could hardly walk, so I was completely out of work. That is until I worked for One Step Away. I was then able to earn an income, work on communication skills, and meet a lot of interesting people. When I see construction workers walking by with their tools and hard hats, I think about how much I miss doing construction. Earlier this year I noticed my back had been fine for the last two years, so I was going to look for construction work or move furniture again. But then in February, I threw my back out again. My doctor recommended therapy, which I did, so hopefully I won’t have this problem again.

VENDOR SINCE FEB. 2016 4 TH& MA R K ET STS . KAREEMJONES

OSAPHILLY.ORG 27

Thank you to everyone who supports One Step Away and appreciates all of the work we do behind the scenes. The articles sometimes take a lot of time and research. The poems take being creative and entertaining. And telling your story means sometimes reliving some of the worst times of your life. Thank you to Caia, our Vendor Site Representative and Emily Taylor our Director. They hustle like ants doing the rewriting and editing to make deadlines. It’s a lot of teamwork and we stick together to get it ready for the streets. The job I have with First Step Staffing, Resources for Human Development (RHD) helped me get it. And as you know, One Step Away is through RHD. RHD has programs that help people with housing, addiction, education, jobs, job readiness, and more. They are really doing a lot to help the homeless. And thank you again, because without you, I wouldn’t be where I am today!

I’d suspected for some years that this might be, but also thought that those aspects of my experience that suggested it could be symptoms of something else instead, such as social anxiety disorder, with which I already had been diagnosed. But the psychologist who assessed me said I showed too many other signs that aren’t characteristic of social anxiety but are consistent with ASD. I still could (and, I think, do) have SAD, but I have this as well.But this was still a rather abstract understanding. I accepted her expertise, but didn’t feel strongly convinced -- until today. She’d informed me a conference on autism was coming up and, at her recommendation, I was offered a scholarship to attend as a “self-advocate.” So I went, and it was, almost literally, eye-opening. I refer to an epiphany near the beginning of the first session. The presenter was talking about differences in attention patterns between young children who are neurotypical and those on the autism spectrum. He then remarked on how our ability to study these things has been improved by the development of eyetracking technology. Despite this lead-in, I still wasn’t prepared for the revelation that came next. He showed a video of a woman researcher demonstrating for a child (not seen in the video) a novel way of removing a bottle from a plastic bin and then taking its cap off. The bin was one of a row of them of different colors. He repeated the video while verbally emphasizing the novel aspects of her behavior that were intended to engage the child’s interest.

But I haven’t yet written anything addressed directly to you, and I want to correct that now. First, thanks for all of your support. It’s very much appreciated. Second, I hope that you’ve found my submissions for One Step Away interesting. A few things about myself: I read voraciously. I’m very interested in science and the philosophy of science, psychology, and understanding human history with a view to realizing a more fully human future. I’m very politically engaged. And I also read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, with an emphasis on the science fiction story as thought experiment.Iinherited my political, scientific, and literary interests from my parents, who’d met through political activism but were no longer focused on it for most of my childhood. Unfortunately, the socialist group which they had been part of, and in I became involved in my adolescence (1978-1979), only gave lip service to internal democracy, and, pushed me out for being too independent-minded. I sustained some emotional injury due to its manipulative methods. I only started to understand this in 2006 after reading an academic paper about the inner workings of another, similar group. Since then I’ve been involved with the cult awareness movement.

28 ONE STEP AWAY

And now he showed the video a couple more times, but with a difference: there was also a red dot on the screen that moved around, showing where the observing child’s eyes went while the woman was demonstrating the procedure. So I got to follow the eye movements of the neurotypical child, and then those of the child on the spectrum. And so, after the unusual bottle-removingand-opening procedure itself, I had a second novel experience: the eye movements of the neurotypical child.

Narratives by: Eric Hamell Hello to My Patrons and Readers Some of you will know my name from things I have written that appeared in previous additions of One Step Away, starting with last April’s issue. And, some may also know me by having purchasing copies of One Step Away from me in University City, as well as other parts of town before OSA’s zone system was set up. (A warm hello, especially to those who patronized me when I vended at the Weavers Way-Mt. Airy location. That was a very supportive neighborhood.)

At the start of the video the child’s eyes were grazing over the varicolored bins, until the researcher started doing something with her hands. Then his eyes shifted -- toward her face (hmm, that was unexpected!). Then to her hands, back to her face, etc., for the duration of the procedure.

Very recently, acting on a hunch I’d had for a while, I got evaluated for autism, and was informed that I’m on the spectrum. So now I’ll be exploring how this may have affected my life up to the present, especially in terms of delaying a fulfilling career that would reflect my academic performance— and, of course, exploring how to overcome that.

HAMELLERIC 40TH & MARKET STREETS VENDOR SINCE JULY 2016

In the last video the ASD child likewise is initially looking at the bins, until the woman starts demonstrating the procedure. Then he starts watching her hands, and stays focused on them for the rest of the video. Same as I had done! And it would never even have occurred to me that someone else might do otherwise. The presenter then explained that this illustrated the difference between social learning focused on looking to another person for cues about their intention and instrumental learning focused only on the physical action itself. These two styles had been exhibited by the neurotypical child and the ASD child, respectively, in the eye-tracking videos. And the latter also by me. There were some other revelations at the conference that were pretty striking too, but that was enough to convince me that I’d been diagnosed correctly. I expect to write more about this later.

A few months ago yesterday, in the last of three interviews at the Center for Autism, I was informed that I place on that spectrum, albeit right on the cusp.

A New Window on Myself

If you like my contributions to OSA I hope, you’ll check out what I’ve written elsewhere. I have a blog called Gondwanaland at stripey7. blogspot.com. Since Gab’s new sister site Dissenter now lets me comment on any webpage at all, I’m also using that a lot. If you’ve been frustrated by the growing number of sites that don’t have comments sections or are heavily censored, you’ll probably have a lot of fun using this!

Currently “Heard” is available on 7 Podcast Platforms.

OSAPHILLY.ORG 29

The first season will feature nine episodes that will be released at 8:00 am every Monday morning starting April 29th. You can subscribe on your preferred podcast platform to receive episode updates. The podcast is sponsored by One Step Away, produced by Emily Taylor, recorded by Dylan Yuska and edited by Max Morgan of Malix Media.

MARIAJAMES

In northeast center city, you can find Maria, on the north side of 8th and Market, who is originally from West Philly. She has shown leadership as a vendor, and is currently a team leader. One of her biggest accomplishments is her team leadership award. She has also stepped up to volunteer for additional responsibilities at One Step Away, that were integral to keeping the vendor site operating. Over the last four years as a vendor, her health has improved and so has her self-esteem. She has improved her skills, most notably her communication skills. She keeps up her sales by learning everything there is to know about the magazine and creates new strategies for getting people interested in the magazine. She lets them know about her article, or the change from the newspaper to a magazine. For extra motivation Maria listens to Where Is the Love, by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway. When she’s not vending, her favorite things to do are crafty and creative. She likes any kind of arts and crafts, cooking, painting, sewing and making jewelry. In addition to obtaining permanent housing, her goals including owning a motorcycle. But she’s willing to settle for riding one. Maria would like to visit Disneyworld or Paris. She’s never been overseas. When in Philly she loves to visit Boathouse Row.Maria regrets marrying too young, and would tell her younger self to “listen to her own opinions and make your own mistakes. Don’t follow anyone else’s advice. Some choices affected me much more than I thought they would.” This is similar to her message to others to “Be your own person.” Maria encourages other homeless not to be discouraged and to keep trying. Those that wish to help should teach the homeless how to survive and handle more responsibility.

Launched April 29

8TH & MARKET STREETS VENDOR SINCE AUGUST 2014

LISTEN TO MARIA’S FULL STORY ON “HEARD”, ONE STEP AWAY’S NEW PODCAST SERIES. MARIA IS OUR FIRST VENDOR FEATURED ON OUR 9 EPISODE PODCAST. NEW EPISODES EVERY MONDAY AT 8 am FROM APRIL 29 TO JUNE 24.

On April 29, we launched our new podcast “Heard”. “Heard” is another platform for people experiencing homelessness to share their experiences in their own words. Each episode will feature a different voice and perspective on homelessness in Philadelphia. Dylan Yuska volunteered with One Step Away to produce the podcast. He spoke with many of our vendors to share their unique stories and experiences. “Listeners will hear stories of hopelessness, struggle, reflection, recovery, and strength. They’ll hear from people who have overcome homelessness and those who are still knee-deep in it. There will also be some really tough conversations, but also some of the most inspiring,” Dylan says of the podcast and the experience. Through it all, we hope these stories will help bridge understanding, the kind of understanding that can make all the difference. We also hope to reach new audiences through this innovative platform, as we begin to digitize more as a society.

“HEARD” ONE STEP AWAY’S NEW PODCAST

30TH & MARKET STREETS VENDORSINCEREPRESENTATIVEMARCH2019

Caia vends at 30th Street Station on the Porch in between the regional rail and Amtrak Station, and the SEPTA subway station. Born in El Paso, TX with parents in the military, Caia lived in fourteen states including New York where she went to high school and later worked in the garment district. She has lived in Pennsylvania for more than a decade where she moved to attend Temple for Landscape Architecture and Horticulture.Shealsowent to Maryland Institute College of Art for fine art and English. She is able to use her creativity in her current position as Vendor Representative for One Step Away where she has the opportunity to contribute to the magazine as a writer. She is proud to work for an organization that is helping in such a meaningful way with an issue that is personally affecting her so seriously.Sinceshe began vending OSA three months ago, Caia’s learned about the human connection, and how important it is to have it. “Some people avoid it and just keep their earbuds in but they are not engaging in the full human experience we’re meant to have with others.” When you engage and experience that connection it is difficult not to share in some way with those we encounter in need. She encourages other new vendors to make that connection and keep their energy up which she does by playing a Bluetooth speaker with her favorite songs. Her song list includes Shelter by Ray LaMontagne, which lyrics talk about the idea that even all our infrastructure crumbled we can shelter each other.Sheencourages those that want to help even more than buying a copy of the magazine find a personal fit for their service or donations. There are many good and established organizations to volunteer for. “Examine your personal resources and skill set and find a place to leverage that and team up with a good group or two of others that are doing something you find meaningful. Homelessness is a mindset of limitation from which people can finally break free through the help, care and encouragement of others.”

30 ONE STEP AWAY S A C A U D A L J O I N T E D P M U N I V A L V E J R E Z Q I E V A G I L E D O E N P X G D T F A N G U I N E I T N U N E A S O S D G A R R F A V A M R B L U C N D O E N I O I A U Y O W U A I I S A H L V V R B C L O R L R N C C C A I I A I J I A E E A S A B A R P P N V C C N T D E R U S N I A A E A U N S B W T L D C I I R R I L A O C M A N R A A N D O O D V P I A B M A N T L E V U U A E P A L L I U M E E Q G S S L D R Z Y Q F R K D Y P E D A T E WORD SEARCH 4 6 2 8 9 1 3 5 7 8 1 3 7 6 5 4 9 2 9 5 7 2 3 4 8 6 1 2 3 4 6 7 9 5 1 8 1 7 9 4 5 8 2 3 6 5 8 6 3 1 2 9 7 4 3 4 1 5 2 7 6 8 9 6 9 8 1 4 3 7 2 5 7 2 5 9 8 6 1 4 3 SUDOKU 1 6 1 8 5 4 2 7 9 3 5 7 9 8 3 1 6 4 2 3 2 4 7 9 6 5 1 8 2 4 3 1 5 8 9 7 6 9 8 1 3 6 7 4 2 5 7 6 5 4 2 9 8 3 1 4 5 2 6 7 3 1 8 9 1 3 6 9 8 4 2 5 7 8 9 7 2 1 5 3 6 4 SUDOKU 2 A B O D R A G S M U T S N O R O O H E D A E R I E A L I G U A N O G R E E N D I G S I N T Y P E C A S T E D I T E D L E E R Y M E N U A R E N A S H E C D R O M I D I O M T E N C O M M A N D M E N T S O N I O N N E A P S T S P W Y A T T C L A D S T O A T E R R A T A V I C T R O L A L E Y D E N A D I E U T R A I N I O U S E T A E A M I N E D U B T A E L S S L E W A T E CROSSWORD LAST ISSUE’S SOLUTIONSPUZZLE MARILYNBLAKE 20TH & MARKET STREETS VENDOR SINCE SEPTEMBER 2011 I’m in my eighth year as a One Step Away vendor. And I have to say I LOVE MY JOB more every year. While I’m originally from Chicago, I’ve lived all over the country, including New York City and Southern California. Philly is home now for nearly ten years. During my life I’ve been blessed with some great accomplishments, the greatest one being a Mom. I had a challenging seven-year career on Wall Street which taught me a lot. But my job with One Step Away has given me such personal growth and satisfaction. I like the self-employment aspect of it for its flexibility and independence. The best part, however, is the people I meet. You’re wonderful! I feel satisfaction in the belief that we have the opportunity to uplift the image and increase the understanding of the homelessness everyEarlyday.on people used to say to me: “You don’t look homeless.” Back then, the belief seemed to be that people without a home are all kind of grimy and rough around the edges. That perception of the homeless has changed due to One Step Away’s message that each person has human dignity and is an individual with their own unique story. Thanks to the freedom of One Step Away, I’ve been able to express my creative side much more fully. I’m in the process now of starting a business offering my unique ‘one of a kind’ paintings, collage, and artisanal pieces for home and fashion. My company is called HEART2HAND. I’ll keep you posted.Agenerous heartfelt thank you to my patrons for your emotional and financial support over these years. My recent progress as a human is in large part due toHappyyou. Mother’s Day to all the Moms!

IGLEHARTCAIA

OSAPHILLY.ORG 31 PUZZLES 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 ACROSS 1. After 5. Big mess 10. Allocate, with 38.37.36.35.34.equipment33.suppliersby25.stock24.23.Venice22.vegetationin20.much18.17.16.15.14.“out”AssortmentNavajohomeAffirmMake,asmoneyHavingtooof,with“on”Frogfoundhigh-growingMarketplaceof___BetaKappaUnload,asMoneyowedabusinesstoitsAnglingBitBreakoutMosqueV.I.P.InfluenceFashion 39. Chest protector 40. Island necklaces 41. Period 42. Geico agent, e.g. 46. Alpine sight 47. “Absolutely!” 48. Woodlouse 51. 64.piece63.etc.checks,62.___61.schoolsinat60.JackDay”59.times58.56.toothedperennialsherbaceousSomewithleavesSanJuan’shomeDetective,at“TheSnowyauthor___KeatsToxicgasfoundelevatedlevelsseveralPortland“What’sgottenyou?”Bouncedhangnails,BackgammonBypass DOWN 1. Keats, for one 2. Apple spray 3. “Your majesty” 4. compositionOrchestral based on literature 5. Sure thing 6. ___ Scotia 7. Ancient 8. ___ cry 9. Never imagined 10. Garam ___ 11. “... there is no ___ angel but Love”: Shakespeare 12. Camping gear 13. “Cogito ___ 30.29.28.27.found26.25.24.21.19.sum”GreasyAsaresultPartnerAccused’sneedSpiceoftenin10-DownGrouchesAbilityZeno,notablyVeto 31. Big dipper 32. Arab leader 37.(Var.)Loud ringing 57.55.monkey54.53.52.name51.50.liqueur49.48.45.44.sunspots43.41.genus38.noisesForget-me-notHandsDarkpartsofBeatbadlyOldenEruptAnise-flavored“___#1!”GenericdogClickableimageCaptain,e.g.SouthAmericanHogwashBackstabber CROSSWORD FOR ANSWERS PICK UP OUR NEXT ISSUE OF ONE STEP AWAY! CONTRIBUTED BY STREET ROOTS, PORTLAND, OREGON. 2SUDOKU 5 4 1 9 1 2 6 3 9 9 5 6 7 6 1 8 6 4 8 5 8 3 5 6 5 2 8 1 1SUDOKU 8 1 6 9 2 8 7 1 6 3 2 7 4 4 9 9 7 4 4 7 3 7 8 3 1 2 4 7 WORD SEARCH E Y A M A H A E C H I M E S C L Q U A I L L V C R W T H E O E G B J L D L L S A S Q B C U C U Z B D P L R H E N E T S C T I F I N E H S N H R P I P E R T F I B V O O D E A G A N L O A D N F Z B J R F K R R L E N R R F K E O G N N T O P T S I Y U K U L E L E O H R U I T C Y M B A L A G O N G L A M A O C E T U A D V E L C V N P O R E G A L G K P I A N O V A S G L R B O U L C H E N G I N B A L T O S A X E L Y R E L I I N O M R A T T L E Y V I O L N CelestaBugleBonesBinBellAnvilAltoAlphornAlpenhornsax organElectronicDrumDeaganCymbalCrwthChimesChengCello MoogLyreLuteKlavierHarpGuitarGongFifeFiddle TaborShawmRegalRebecRattleQuailPipePianoOboe YamahaViolUkuleleTubaTrapsTimpani The object of a Sudoku puzzle is to fill in the numbers 1 to 9 in the empty squares so that each row, each column and each 3x3 box contains the same number only once. Good luck!

32 ONE STEP AWAY ChampionsTICKETSCelebration Ticket $85 per person ($100 at the door) *VIP Tasting Tickets includes a VIP Wine & Beer Tasting before the event. $150 per person SPONSORSHIPS Want to make a larger impact? Become a sponsor! Enjoy VIP event tickets, marketing, and printed and digital advertisement campaigns. Levels Ambassador $10,000 Investor $6,000 Entrepreneur $3,000 Supporter $2,000 Individual & Family Sponsors $1,000 Register online at osaphilly.org/champions. From the streets to the 52nd floor… Join us for an evening to celebrate One Step Away ’s Champions Friday, May 10, 2019 6 pm Champions Celebration 5 pm VIP Wine & Beer Tasting COCKTAIL PARTY | SILENT AUCTION | AWARDS CEREMONY | CELEBRATION THE PYRAMID CLUB PHILADELPHIA 1735 Market Street, 52nd Floor Philadelphia, PA 19103