02 21 2018

VOL. 15 ISSUE 8

$2

FEB. 21 - MARCH 6, 2018

Real Stories

Real People

TIME MARCHES ON

Celebrating communities & questioning Black History Month

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

@ STREETSENSEDC

A PUBLICATION OF

suggested donation goes directly to your vendor

Real Change

2 // ST REET SENS E ME DI A / / FE B . 2 1 - MA RC H 6, 2018

BUSINESS MODEL

© STREET SENSE MEDIA 2018 1317 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20005 (202) 347–2006 streetsensemedia.org info@streetsensemedia.org

How It Works

Street Sense Media publishes the newspaper

Each vendor functions as an independent contractor for Street Sense Media, managing their own business to earn an income and increase stability in their life.

$2.00 YOUR SUGGESTED

$.50 Vendors pay

DONATION

per newspaper copy

supports your vendor, helping them to overcome homelessness and poverty

NO CASH? NO PROBLEM.

Pay vendors with the Street Sense Media app!

S treet S ense M edia . org /A pp

AVAI LABL E

VENDOR CODE OF CONDUCT

VENDORS Shuhratjon Ahamadjonov, Wanda Alexander, Ollie Alston, Gerald Anderson, Charles Armstrong, Lawrence Autry, Charlton Battle, Lester Benjamin, Phillip Black, Reginald Black, Melanie Black, Phillip Black Jr., Clarence Branch, Debora Brantley, Andre Brinson, Laticia Brock, Valarie Brooks Williams, Kanon Brown, Donald Brown, Lawrence Brown, Elizabeth Bryant, Matthew Burn, Brianna Butler, Dwayne Butler, Melody Byrd, Antoinette Calloway, Anthony Carney, Conrad Cheek, Michael Craig, Anthony Crawford, Kwayera Dakari, Louise Davenport, James Davis, Charles Davis, David Denny, Reginald Denny, Dennis Diggs, Alvin Dixon-El, Ron Dudley, Joshua El, Joel Empleo, Betty Everett, Jemel Fleming, Johnnie Ford, Cornell Ford, Duane Foster, Samuel Fullwood, Anthony Gist El, Chon Gotti, Latishia Graham, Marcus Green, Levester Green, Barron Hall, Tyrone Hall, Mildred Hall, Tawanda Hall, Dwight Harris, Danell Harris, Lorrie Hayes, Patricia Henry, Derian Hickman, Ray Hicks, Vennie Hill Bracey, Donald Hopkinson, James Hughes, Leonard Hyater, Gedion Iyasu, Joseph Jackson, Chad Jackson, David James, Frederick Jewell, Morgan Jones, Darlesha Joyner, Larry Kelley, Juliene Kengnie, Jewell Lean, John Littlejohn, Scott Lovell, Michael Lyons, William Mack, Ken Martin, Kina Mathis, Jermale McKnight, Jennifer McLaughlin, Jeffery McNeil, Ricardo Meriedy, Amy Modica, L. Morrow, Collins Mukasa, Evelyn Nnam, Moyo Onibuje, Earl Parker, William Parkins, Aida Peery, Marcellus Phillips, Barbara Pollard, Jacquelyn Portee, Angela Pounds, Jeanette Richardson, Henrieese Roberts, Doris Robinson, Raquel Rodriquez, Ritta Salaus, Chris Shaw, Patty Smith, Gwynette Smith, David Snyder, Franklin Sterling, Warren Stevens, James Stewart, Beverly Sutton, Sybil Taylor, Archie Thomas, Shernell Thomas, Stephen Thomas, Eric Thompson-Bey, Harold Tisdale, Carl Turner, Jacqueline Turner, Ronald Turner, Martin Walker, Joseph Walker, Michael Warner, Robert Warren, Glenn Washington, Sheila White, Angie Whitehurst, William Whitsett, Anneka Wickham, Wendell Williams, Sasha Williams, Robert Williams, Clarence Williams, Edward Williams, Ivory Wilson, Christine Wong, Charles Woods BOARD OF DIRECTORS

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

1. Street Sense will be distributed for a voluntary donation of $2.00, I agree not to ask for more than $2.00 or solicit donations for Street Sense Media by any other means.

2. I will only purchase the paper from Street Sense Media staff and volunteers and will not sell papers to other vendors.

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

4. I agree not to distribute copies of Street Sense on metro trains and buses or on private property.

5. I agree to abide by the Street Sense Media vendor territorial policy at all times and will resolve any related disputes I have with other vendors in a professional manner.

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

7. I agree to sell no additional goods or products when distributing Street Sense.

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

9. I understand that my badge and (if applicable) vest are property of Street Sense Media. and will not deface them. I will present my badge when purchasing Street Sense. I will always display my badge when distributing Street Sense.

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

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

Jeremy Bratt, Margaret Jenny, Jennifer Park, Reed Sandridge, Dan Schwartz, Jeremy Scott, John Senn, Kate Sheppard, Aaron Stetter, Annika Toenniessen, Martin Totaro, Daniel Webber, Shari Wilson

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Brian Carome

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Eric Falquero

COMMUNICATIONS & SALES MANAGER Jeff Gray

VENDOR MANAGER Muhammad Ilyas

EVENTS & ADMINISTRATION MANAGER Dani Gilmour

CASE MANAGER Colleen Cosgriff

WRITERS GROUP ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE Willie Schatz

OPINION EDITORS (VOLUNTEER)

Rachel Brody, Arthur Delaney, Britt Peterson

The Cover Store owner Ephrame Kassaye commissioned this mural by artist Rebeka Ryvola on the side of his corner market.

Read more on page 16.

PHOTO KEN MARTIN //

ARTIST/VENDOR

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

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

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

ADVISORY BOARD John McGlasson

EDITORIAL INTERNS

Annie Albright, Colleen Grablick, Jake Maher, Olivia Richter

EDITORIAL VOLUNTEERS

Ryan Bacic, Jason Lee Bakke, Grace Doherty, Miriam Egu, Roberta Haber, Hunter Lionetti, Laura Osuri, Mark Rose, Andrew Siddons, Sarah Tascone, Jackie Thompson, KJ Ward, Marian Wiseman

OFFICE SALES VOLUNTEERS

Miya Abdul, Bill Butz, Jane Cave, Emma Cronenwethe, Pete Clark, Orion Donovan-Smith, Maria Esposito, Roberta Haber, Ann Herzog, Bill Magrath, Alec Merkle, Nick Nowlan, Sarah O’Connell, Leonie Peterkin, Eugene Versluysen, Natalia Warburton

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

EVENTS

// 3

NEWS IN BRIEF JOBS

Mayor’s office seeks advice for how to incubate new minority-owned startups

BY COLLEEN GRABLICK colleen.grablick@streetsensemedia.org

I AM Frederick Douglass Life and Legacy

7:00 pm // Historic Lincoln Theatre // 1215 U Street, NW I AM Frederick Douglass commemorates the 200th birthday of Frederick Douglass by presenting excerpts of the film Enslavement to Emancipation, a panel discussion on the legacy of Frederick Douglass, musicians from the National Symphony Orchestra and a Douglass actor portrayal by LeCount Holmes, Jr. RSVP at dcarts.dc.gov.

MONDAY, FEB. 26

UPDATES ONLINE AT ICH.DC.GOV

SATURDAY, FEB. 24

Film: Slavery by Another Name by Sam Pollard

D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness Meetings

Prosperity Fair

6:30 - 8 p.m.

Woodridge Neighborhood Library 1801 Hamlin Street, NE

Woodridge Library hosts a viewing of the PBS-made film, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book

by Douglas A. Blackmon about the new forms of forced labor that emerged in the American South in the years following the Civil War.

Strategic Planning Feb. 22, 2:30 pm // TBD Tenant Barriers Work Group Feb. 28, 10 am // TBD Shelter Capacity Monitoring WG Feb. 28, 12 pm // TBD Emergency Response and Shelter Operations Committee Feb. 28, 1 pm // TBD Youth Work Group March 1, 10 am // 441 4th Street NW, 20001 Singles Housing Placement WG March 6, 1 pm // TBD

12 - 6 p.m.

Walter Washington Conv. Center 801 Mt. Vernon Place, NW Mayor Bowser hosts a live showcase on the Toolkit for African American Prosperity.

Exhibitors will provide one-onone guidance, resources, and host breakout sessions on jobs, entrepreneurship, homeownership, financial wellness, and smallbusiness strategies to help African Americans prosper.

Keep up with community events at StreetSenseMedia.org/calendar

AUDIENCE EXCHANGE Michelle Sara King @MSKinDC

Congrats @streetsensedc on #VendorWeek! I buy #StreetSense #newspaper from Jeffrey McNeil @FRESHFARMDupont on Sundays for the past several years! Join me in supporting this local #journalism & their hard working vendors!

3:07 PM - 18 FEB 2018

Ralph Nader

@RalphNader Ralph talks to Brian Carome, executive director of @streetsensedc, about how his organization is helping the homeless in the Washington DC area

3:22 PM - 12 FEB 2018

Mayor Muriel Bowser issued a Request for Information (RFI) earlier this month seeking insight from investment professionals on the design and approach of the Inclusive Innovation Fund.

The Inclusive Innovation Fund is a new program that aims to increase access to capital for entrepreneurs in D.C., particularly underrepresented entrepreneurs such as women and people of color.

Access to capital is one of the biggest barriers to minority entrepreneurs, according to Pathways to Inclusion, a report released in November 2016.

The report found that less than half of minority entrepreneurs surveyed had managed to obtain funding for their companies. None received venture-capital investment, half received angel investments or philanthropic gifts, and half relied on family, friends, personal savings or credit cards.

“I think that one of the barriers is that people tend to invest in companies that look like themselves,” said Chanda Washington, with the office of the Deputy Mayor of Planning and Economic Development. “So, one of the challenges is the number of investors that are people of color or LGBTQ or women, the numbers are already low.”

The technology industry is one example of where a lack of diversity among investors and owners makes it difficult for minorities to break into the field, according to Sharon Carney, economic strategy director with the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development.

“I think that across the country we are seeing that the tech industry is not always reflective of the full diversity of our country,” Carney said.

“It’s overwhelmingly white and male. It’s not always welcoming of people who may not fit that description.”

Carney added that it is difficult to amass social capital for many underrepresented entrepreneurs and the Inclusive Innovation Fund hopes to help entrepreneurs build stronger relationships with investors and companies.

The RFI is designed to work with private investors and incubators to gather information about how best to create an inclusive fund for minority entrepreneurs. Carney said that steps will be taken once the responses to the RFI are collected, and the Inclusive Innovation Fund will move forward in its goal of providing more capital to minority entrepreneurs.

The Inclusive Innovation Fund strives to be the first of its kind, working to create a more inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem in the District, according to Washington. “We want to figure out the best possible solution to addressing this challenge,” she said.

4 // ST REET SENSE ME DI A / / FE B . 2 1 - MA RCH 6, 2018

NEWS

Pilot program houses D.C. residents while they find work The outside of the new Transitional Residential Program apartments.

BY COLLEEN GRABLICK // colleen.grablick@streetsensemedia.org

A

BY COLLEEN GRABLICK

fter its pilot month, a new transitional housing of our high-quality workforce training programs have housing program has provided seven individuals with when they secure unsubsidized employment,” Snowden said. the support they need to get on their feet, giving The D.C. government has increased its focus on serving them resources to help find permanent housing homeless veterans and families over the past year, but the and secure employment for up to six months.

Transitional Residential Program will only serve single “The Transitional Residential Program was individuals. Snowden said this program will provide additional really born out of the need that many of our support to single individuals who may often be left out of the residents faced when they came to us,” said Courtney Snowden, homeless conversation. the deputy mayor for greater economic opportunity. “They “[The mayor] believes, as I believe, that in a city as were seeking employment and training [and] found themselves prosperous as ours, no one should be homeless,” Snowden said. either homeless or couch-surfing.”

“So she really worked hard to make sure that we’re closing In order to qualify for the Transitional Residential Program, the gap on the hardest-hit populations, and that’s been families which was launched by Mayor Muriel Bowser on Dec. 20, and veterans. But, of course, single individuals also experience 2017, individuals must have completed one of the Department homelessness and sometimes need additional support.” of Employment Services’ programs, be employed in fullKatherine Mereand-Sinha, the program manager of the time unsubsidized jobs or be earning a sustainable wage Innovation and Equitable Development Office, leads the Aspire through a small business venture. DOES programs such as to Entrepreneurship program and said that single individuals Career Connections, Project Empowerment, or Aspire to often struggle to find housing as many programs focus on Entrepreneurship work with individuals to connect them with homeless families. employment or entrepreneurial guidance, in order to help them “It can be very difficult for an adult without children to find eventually secure placement in fields they show interest in and a housing program if they need it,” Mereand-Sinha said. “There that will create stable income. are good reasons for the priorities that exist for making sure While in the Transitional Residential Program, individuals that families have housing, but when housing resources are continue to receive career coaching and counseling, as well as tight and are strapped, it can mean that individuals don’t have help with their resumes and anywhere to turn.” job search.

Mereand-Sinha added that housing Finding secure employment instability makes it difficult for individuals is a struggle facing many to excel in other areas of their lives, single individuals in the a reality with which the Transitional District, according to a study Housing Programs hopes to assist. completed by Dr. Maurice “I think everyone who faces housing Jackson, an associate instability has a challenge in being able professor of History and to operate the other portions of their life African-American Studies at while they’re facing that,” MereandGeorgetown University. By Sinha said. “So when you start to look at 2020, 50 percent of all new questions about recidivism, individuals jobs will require at least a who are interested in changing a factor Courtney Snowden bachelor’s degree or above, about their life need to be able to have a and nearly 60 percent will space in which they’re building that new require at least some form of life from.” education and training beyond One of the seven people in the pilot high school. This creates barriers for many D.C. residents. The program, PreAnn Walker, 24, struggled to find permanent study states that 60,000 adult African American D.C. residents employment after graduating from Spelman College in May have not completed high school, and 50 percent have no formal 2017. Having completed one of the Department of Employment education past high school.

Services programs, Walker secured unsubsidized pay with a Snowden said the mayor’s office saw a strong need to public charter school but still faced housing insecurity and connect services across city government to ensure that residents lived with her older sister. After receiving an email from the can sustain themselves in an increasingly expensive city.

Department of Employment Services asking her to fill out “It’s time we connect our workforce system to housing to a survey, she was selected to participate in the Transitional make sure those residents who have a fragile housing situation Residential Program. and who have completed or are in the process of completing one Walker said that the additional support provided by the

“[The mayor] believes, as I believe, that in a city as prosperous as ours, no one should be homeless.”

program has allowed her to focus on finding permanent housing and alleviated much of the stress that comes with housing insecurity.

“Coming home from college, I didn’t think it would be this hard, you know, just finding jobs,” Walker said. “It really helps because it takes a lot of the stress or the depression that I had to go through off, by having this program and having the extra support with somebody to help me.”

Walker said she plans to attend medical school starting in June and to secure her own housing.

Another participant, LaShawn West, took advantage of the program after she completed a DOES employment program.

West, who works at the Hyatt-Place Hotel, said she was contacted about the program while she was looking for housing through another program. The Transitional Housing Program, she said, seemed like a better option because it would help her find permanent placement, and other programs were asking for too much money.

“All the places they were trying to send me is like a thousand dollars a month, I can’t afford that right now,” West said. “[The Transitional Residential Program] is trying to find me a reasonable place for me to stay.”

Director of the Department of Employment Services Odie Donald also helped launch the initiative and said the new program is unlike any that have come before. The program partners with Capital Area Asset Builders, and participants in the program must save money as a part of the program requirements. Capital Area Asset Builders then match whatever amount of money individuals save while in the program.

“Our program is a little different than anything else you’ll see around the country because we start with employment first.

We connect soft skills and things of that nature through our programming, but then while folks are able to maintain living for six months, they’re also able to save,” Donald said.

Donald said that during the first month he has seen “baffling” success with the participants of the program.

“People aren’t just saving to focus on the match. I’ve noticed that our participants are really focused on making sure they take advantage of this opportunity and they’re doing increased savings on their own, past what’s required, so that’s extremely encouraging,” Donald said.

While the program guarantees six months of housing, Donald said that after the six-month period, the needs of the participants will be re-evaluated and exceptions may be made.

Many of the participants in the program continue to use DOES services such as career coaches and resume-building.

Donald added that the residents, despite falling on hard times, show perseverance and promise.

“I’ve been really impressed with just the resiliency of D.C. residents even though they experience challenges like this,” Donald said.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

Low-income tenants are concerned about being displaced from their homes, so they protested the developer’s home

BY JAKE MAHER jake.maher@streetsensemedia.org

P

rotesters organized by local advocacy groups Justice First and ONE D.C. marched on the Cleveland Park home of land developer Geoff Griffis on Saturday, Feb. 10. Roughly 50 people chanted slogans such as “Hey-hey, ho-ho, slumlords have got to go!” and carried signs reading “Land for People, not for Profit.”

The march came in response to Griffis’ company, CityPartners, taking over ownership of property in Congress Heights in late December. The previous owner, Sanford Capital, has been facing two lawsuits brought by Attorney General Karl Racine in 2016 for numerous housing violations, after Washington City Paper exposed systemic neglect at properties surrounding the Congress Heights Metro station and other Sanford Capital properties.

Sanford Capital transferred the properties to CityPartners without informing the D.C. Superior Court on Dec. 27. The Congress Heights apartments had been managed by a court-appointed receiver since 2017 to ensure that income from rent was put toward an estimated $2 million worth of needed repairs.

The protesters, including several tenants of the apartments at Congress Heights, were demonstrating against what they see as the forced removal of tenants through neglect in order to make room for more profitable apartments.

Ruth Barnwell, president of the Congress Heights Tenants Association, spoke at the protest about her asthma caused by mold in her apartment. She said the residents of Congress Heights would not stop fighting for decent housing conditions. “Nothing they do will wear us down. We will just fight more. We are not quitters,” Barnwell said.

Griffis was not home during the protest, but a banner displayed prominently on his porch included the address to a website run

by CityPartners with information about the redevelopment plans.

CityPartners directed Street Sense Media to the site in response to requests for interviews.

Will Merrifield, a staff attorney at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless and the legal representative of the Congress Heights Tenants Association, said the transfer was an “attempt to avoid paying a substantial amount of the money to the court” through the receivership, as well as an attempt to avoid honoring the tenants’ rights under the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act. Sanford Capital was under court orders to negotiate offloading the property exclusively with the tenants, as required by TOPA. The law requires landowners to sell their property to their tenants if the tenants can match the value of third-party offers. Tenants of Congress Heights have made a $3 million offer for the property with the help of the National Housing Trust, a nonprofit developer, and hope to build 200 units of affordable housing on the land.

CityPartners maintains that the land transfer was not against the law. “The transaction that gave CityPartners control of the buildings at the site was legal. To reiterate, it did not take away the rights of the tenants,” reads CityPartners’ website. “Geoffrey Griffis will honor the TOPA rights of the 13 existing tenants who live at the site.”

// 5

OPINION:

March together, build together

BY REGINALD BLACK

Roughly 50 protesters rallied outside the home of Geoffery Griffis, founder and managing member of D.C.-based development firm CityPartners. Griffis was previously the chair of the District’s Board of Zoning Adjustment and a failed nominee of former Mayor Adrian Fenty’s to the Zoning Commission. PHOTO BY REGINALD BLACK

Sanford Capital transferred the property to CityPartners via a “deed in lieu of foreclosure,” which does not violate TOPA. However, Merrifield sees the transfer as a sale disguised as a deed in lieu, in order to evade the law.

The march was the third one on Griffis’s house since 2015 and is part of a larger campaign by the tenants of Congress Heights to protest the poor conditions of their apartments and prevent the planned redevelopment. Tenants in the past have documented rodents, mold, broken heating and air conditioning, and slow or shoddy repairs as part of what Merrifield calls “planned displacement through neglect.”

Sanford Capital’s and CityPartners’ “intentions are to continue to force the tenants to live in slum conditions in an attempt to displace them,” said Yasmina Mrabet, an organizer with ONE D.C. One purpose of the march was to push back against Griffis’s efforts to present his acquisition of the properties as a fresh start, according to Mrabet. Griffis’s company distributed flyers reading “Sanford Capital is out, CityPartners is in” to tenants.

“Geoff Griffis is trying to frame himself as a new person coming into Congress Heights,” Mrabet said. “[But] Griffis is a long-time partner of Sanford Capital.”

Sanford Capital bought the properties in 2009 and 2010 and submitted joint plans for the redevelopment with CityPartners in 2015.

Eugene Puryear, director of field operations for Justice First, said that developers like Griffis are often able to redirect blame onto firms like Sanford Capital for such projects. “We know that without these big-money people and big-time developers and all their connections, these projects can’t happen,” Puryear said. “We want to try to take away the anonymity.”

CityPartners wrote in a press release that the tenants of Congress Heights have the options of temporarily relocating and moving back after the redevelopment at their current rental rates, receiving a buyout, or investing the buyout amount into the project and becoming limited owners. “CityPartners and Griffis pledge to treat the tenants with the care and respect they deserve, as Griffis has done throughout his long career in Washington,” CityPartners wrote on its website.

Six days after the protest, D.C. Superior Court authorized a $50,000 payment to the properties’ receiver, David Gilmore, to be used over the next 30 days. Gilmore requested $25,000 to address immediate health and safety concerns and an additional $25,000 in case of unforeseen emergencies while the properties’ legal status is being decided. The judge said the money is going to be paid, whether it’s by Sanford Capital or the new owners.

Merrifield said that the tenants are considering filing a legal complaint about the land transfer. The Office of the Attorney General, meanwhile, requested a “show cause” order from the court, claiming that Sanford Capital is in contempt with the transfer to CityPartners. The attorney general is seeking to add CityPartners as a respondent in its lawsuit.

This march was important to bring to light issues that have been playing out in Wards 7 and 8 for several years, but that actually stem from Ward 3.

Griffis lives in an affluent neighborhood and has expressed interest in a piece of land that has needed investment since the early 90s. It is located in an area that is still economically segregated. But the cost of the market-rate apartment units Griffis could develop on this land, adjacent to a Metro station and a brand new stadium that is under construction, would not benefit the people who have called Southeast home for decades. It would not benefit the people who live in fear, daily, of being pushed out of their neighborhoods.

Who is he investing in? In a city where 17.7 percent of the population lived below the poverty line in 2014, according to the Office of Planning, Griffis would only serve wealth folk that could afford to move. The tide would not lift our neighbors boats.

Growing up here, Congress Heights was one of those neighborhoods people would refer to as blighted, because of the economic inequality plaguing our community. I have watched as these properties have deteriorated over the last twenty years. I have watched as neighbors in other wards did not stand together to make sure development in their communities was inclusive and equitable. They did not stand up for eachother and many have found themselves priced out.

There are those that would say that marching through a neighborhood is worthless. They would say, “Think for yourself, build something.” Those persons don’t know the ins and outs of land deals. Land is the single most powerful resources a species can have. Everything needs and feeds off land.

Marching is important because it is a chance to raise public awareness and bring in broader audiences to learn a side of a story that they have not heard before.

The people at Congress Heights had the right to make an offer to purchase their buildings under the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act. And they worked hard to find a nonprofit developer that would fund the $3 million offer that they did make, and commit to develop the properties into affordable housing. Yet the transfer of that land to Griffis’ company has left the matter in a murky area the courts must now navigate.

In the meantime, these tenants, rent-paying tenants, suffer. These are not people experiencing homelessness, though we both face deplorable conditions at the hands of one entity or another. The difference is that, with an apartment complex, there are rights and rules that govern how it is supposed to operate. Our fight to support the few remaining tenants of Congress Heights and our goal to build affordable housing instead of market-rate apartments, offices and shops, should be an example of how neighbors can come together to solve their own problems without the government’s help.

I hope that those who see our struggles see that they are not alone in the realm of economic disparity.

Showing solidarity with our neighbors has to be the way to got to really build something for ourselves.

The skills and labor exist. We just need to meet people where they are and show that we care. Only when we care can something really be built.

Reginald Black is a native Washingtonian and an artist and vendor at Street Sense Media. He is a member of several homeless advocacy groups in the District.

6 // ST REET SENSE ME DI A / / FE B . 2 1 - MA RCH 6, 2018

NEWS Oversight hearing on education highlights barriers for low-income students

BY OLIVIA RICHTER // olivia.richter@streetsensemedia.org

STORY AND PHOTOS BY BENJAMIN BURGESS www.kstreetphotography.com

D.C. cleans homeless camp without evicting tents On Feb. 8, a representative from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services and a crew of public works employees visited an encampment of homeless people at E and 21st streets Northwest. Unlike with the repeated shutdowns of the encampment that Street Sense Media covered in November, there was no police presence and no one was forced to give up their tents or leave the area. The purpose of this “cleanup” was to collect and dispose of trash, such as broken bottles and dirty clothes, to promote public health and to keep rats away.

Camp residents were asked to identify what was trash to be disposed of. One person living there said the city’s efforts were needed and welcome because a few neighbors in the camp were struggling with hoarding.

“Clean. It needs to be kept clean,” said another camp resident. “You see some tents throughout the city that are on the sidewalks, but you don’t realize they are there after a while because it is kept so clean.”

Nearly 30 people testified Monday during the Committee on Education Performance Oversight Hearing led by Committee Chair David Grosso.

District residents, along with the Public Charter School Board and the Deputy Mayor for Education, testified during the hearing.

Several of the testimonies raised the issue of exclusionary discipline in District schools. Renee Murphy, supervising attorney at the Children’s Law Center, called the high rates of suspensions and expulsions in District schools a crisis.

Data gathered by the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) showed that students were 2.7 times more likely to be suspended if they were considered at-risk, a category that includes children who receive TANF or SNAP benefits, children in foster care, children who are homeless and youth in high school who are overage for their grade. Homeless students were 2.5 times more likely to be suspended, and children in foster care because of past abuse or neglect were 2.9 times more likely to be suspended.

Grosso responded to testimony on exclusionary discipline by asking how teachers in D.C. schools are being trained on implicit bias.

“When we suspend students for more subjective things like disrespect or insubordination, disruption of the class, it tends to target what we’ve come to understand as unconscious bias, implicit bias, students of color more often than not,” Grosso said. “If you understand the data, then you can’t deny it. Then you can’t say that we didn’t know that this was happening.”

In November 2017, Councilmember Grosso introduced a bill aimed at reducing exclusionary discipline practices in D.C. schools.

Marlana Wallace, a policy analyst at D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, testified on the issue of poverty in District classrooms.

Wallace described a critical need for funding of Out-of-School Time programs, specifically to provide low-income students with enriching time opportunities before and after school. Earlier this year, the deputy mayor for education, Jennifer Niles, launched a new office dedicated to expanding these programs. Wallace requested that Mayor Bowser and the DC Council invest $25 million in Out-of-School Time programs.

Caryn Ernst, member of the Cross-Sector Collaboration Task Force, testified on recommendations of the task force to redistribute at-risk students to different schools. The recommended policy, to provide a preference in the lottery for at-risk students, was shown to benefit only 600 of the 40,000 at-risk students in the District school system. The task force, Ernst said, spent little time identifying ways to replicate educational approaches that have proved successful in improving achievement of at-risk students.

Lecester Johnson, CEO of Academy of Hope Adult Public Charter School, testified on the barrier of transportation costs that hinder low-income adult learners’ ability to get to school. Deputy Mayor Niles recently partnered with the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) to launch the Adult Learner Transportation Subsidy Pilot Program, which from Jan. 1 to June 2018 will provide adult and alternative learners with $50 per month for transportation costs, with the goal of improving attendance rates. Johnson called for DDOT to continue the pilot program for a full school year.

Grosso asked Scott Pearson, Executive Director of the DC Public Charter School Board, whether the city is doing enough to improve learning outcomes for at-risk students in District schools. Pearson responded that he could not say.

“That’s a no, I would imagine,” Grosso said. “I don’t know that we ever can, but there is more we could do.”

Mayors and CEOs commit to funding housing

BY REGINALD BLACK “Da Street Reportin’ Artist”

Just after the annual census of the homeless community, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser joined 13 U.S. mayors and three CEOs to call for national, local and private investments to curb the housing-affordability crises across the nation. The Mayors & CEOs for U.S. Housing Investment campaign was announced Jan. 25 in the lobby of the John and Jill Ker Conway Residence, a state-of-the-art supportivehousing building that was developed through public-private partnership with more than 50 funding sources and sits one mile down North Capitol St. from the U.S. Capitol.

“We know that ending homelessness, making it rare, brief and non-recurring, is about political will,” Bowser said to her peers and the press. “We need to make sure there is an affordable unit at the end of the

line for all our residents. We deserve access to quality housing.”

The coalition of mayors and business leaders is organized around four policy changes. First is maximizing funding for existing federal programs that work, such as Section 8 housing vouchers and community service block grants. “All of the mayors here have programs, but programs aren’t the answer,” said Steve Hogan, mayor of Aurora, Colorado. “The answer is a place to go, a place to be safe.”

Next, they recommend new competitive grants to spur housing innovation and investment to create and preserve affordable units. The coalition also thinks that building on the success of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s past partnerships by matching housing-voucher recipients with health and supportive service programs is another step in the right direction.

“When government has to step in, there is a failure in the market,” said Mayor Michael Hancock, mayor of Denver. “We have to have the audacity to believe that every person in our city is worthy and they matter no matter what challenge.”

Lastly, the coalition wants to create a housing-stabilization fund to provide housing assistance to persons that earn 80 percent and below of the Area Median Income. In the District, such a fund would benefit individuals who earn less than $61,750 per year and fourperson households that earn $88,250 or less, according to the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development.

Mayor Darrell Steinberg, from Sacramento, California, said that most policy drafted to address homelessness is reactionary and strives to manage immediate needs rather than take on root causes of poverty. He said this coalition has the opportunity to be proactive.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti added that bipartisan solutions are needed in order to build a system that endures and functions well from one administration to the next. “We are Democrats. We are Republicans. We are from the North, the South, the East and the West,” Garcetti said. “Housing is the pillar of the American dream.”

The inclusion of the business community is crucial in the eyes of Greg Stanton, mayor of Phoenix. He said much of the homelessness and affordability crises is a work development issue.

“Phoenix is proud to be part of this brandnew coalition of mayors of cities and business partners who understand we can do better,” Stanton said. “Now is not the time to cut key programs. We are Americans. We love a good comeback story.”

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

// 7

BUILDING COMMUNITY

A real opportunity

BY ERIC THOMPSON-BEY Artist/Vendor

Life is getting better and better for me. I’m working at a restaurant in Adams Morgan that’s called the Diner. I’ve been working here since Dec.2 on externship through a culinary program named Real Opps. I work here 30 hours per week washing dishes and receive a stipend from the Real Opps program for 19 of those hours.

When I went to the Diner for my interview, the heneral manager told me that the only position open was for a dishwasher; I accepted. I learned through Chef Terrence Brown of the Real Opps program that when we do get hired by a restaurant that most likely we may have to start from the bottom. My goal is to one day move up to another position so that I can utilize my skills and learn as much as I can so that I can move even further.

To get to where I am now, I had the help of two organizations: Housing Up and Thrive D.C. Housing Up, which is affiliated with the apartment building where I live, has a job-readiness program in which I participated. They referred me to Thrive D.C., which is were the Real Opps culinary program is located.

The Real Opps program gave me the necessary skills to work in the food-service business. During my internship, I worked under Executive Chef Terrence Brown, who teaches us how to cook and helped us study for our food handlers license. I earned mine in December.

The second phase of the program is doing an externship in a restaurant for three months, in which we receive a stipend every two weeks for hours worked. The goal is to get hired by the restaurant at the end of externship, so I can use my skills and maybe become a food manager.

This whole process started for me last July. My externship ends March 2. Then the decision will be made as to whether I will be employed at the Diner. Hopefully I am. If not, I have the skills to keep going.

Eric Thompson-Bey trained for his food handlers license at the Real Opps kitchen, a program of Thrive D.C. PHOTOS BY JEFF GRAY

A wish for my friend and co-worker

BY CHON GOTTI // Artist/Vendor

Toni, also known as Beverly, is one of the hardest-working vendors that I know. She never makes excuses for selling the paper, and she never missed a beat working six or seven days each week, faithfully distributing the paper to her smiling customers in Van Ness.

My wife Kizzy and I, along with some of our beautiful customers, filled out a giant card to tell Toni how much we miss her attentive presence and amazing work.

Thank you for the outstanding work you do Toni, and Get Well Soon!!! You have really come a long way.

Love always, Chon, Kizzy and the Street Sense Media team.

Left: Toni in her Street Sense Media vest. Right: Kizzy and Chon show off how many customers and co-workers signed the card for Toni.

PHOTOS BY CHON GOTTI

9 // S T REET SENSE ME DI A / / FE B . 2 1 - MA RCH 6, 2018

How creating dolls serves as therapy for homeless women

BY OLIVIA RICHTER olivia.richter@streetsensemedia.org

PHOTO COURTESY OF ERIKA CLEVELAND

Several women from N Street Village took part in a 12-week program led by artist Erika Cleveland, in which they designed and created traditional flip dolls inspired by their lives.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

T

// 9

PHOTO BY OLIVIA RICHTER

raditional flip dolls designed and created by women from N Street Village were showcased in a Feb. 2 art reception in Rockville, Maryland.

The women participated in a 12-week workshop titled “Revisioning the Flip Doll: Exploring our Connections,” hosted by artist Erika Cleveland, which invited the women to make their own dolls inspired by their lives.

Cleveland, who once worked as an art therapist, hosts doll-making workshops for women in transition. She defines transition as a broad term encompassing any significant life change, including entering or leaving a shelter, quitting a job, or leaving a relationship. Making the dolls, which Cleveland calls transformative healing dolls, is a therapeutic process used to comfort and celebrate the maker.

It is believed that traditional flip dolls originated in the antebellum South, although this has not been formally documented, where enslaved mothers made the double-sided dolls with two girls attached at the hip for their daughters.

The dolls would be flipped from one character to the other by turning them upside-down. The dress of one persona of the doll would fall inside-out to become the dress of the other persona, and would also cover the head of the side not in use. “[Enslaved mothers] knew that their daughters would have that role of taking care of White kids and Black kids, so they wanted to teach them to go back and forth,” Cleveland said.

“The idea that the doll can hold opposite ideas, that’s what the challenge was.”

Heidi Gauthier, volunteer coordinator at N Street Village, suggested bringing the workshop to its clients, specifically at the organization’s Luther Place and Phyllis Wheatley residences. N Street Village, located in Northwest DC, provides services such as overnight shelter, addiction recovery and resume-writing

for close to 2,000 women annually, according to its website.

Participants in the flip doll workshop were provided premade doll bodies, to which they sewed all clothing, facial features, and embellishments themselves.

Danna Newball, a client of N Street Village, participated in the workshop, where she says her doll was inspired by her two granddaughters.

“They are one year apart and very different. One is very quiet, and the other one is very outgoing; she takes after my side of the family,” Newball said. Her doll reflects the differences in the two girls.

Newball described the doll-making process as a relaxing experience and said the 12 weeks flew by. Having begun the workshop with no prior sewing experience, she has now mastered multiple kinds of stitching.

“In the beginning, I didn’t think I’d enjoy it, because I’d never done any artwork or activity like it. After a while I caught up on the concepts,” Newball said.

Cheryll Young, another participant, was inspired to create a doll representing her two favorite seasons: winter and spring. She described the events of the two seasons as sources of happiness in her life. The winter side of the doll included a Christmas tree star and Valentine’s Day hearts. The spring side depicted a family picnic, cherry blossoms and a dog, representing her sister’s beloved dog Angel, who recently passed away.

“I am a family person and a people person. My mom was an inspiration to me; she gave me happiness,” Young said, emphasizing that family was the biggest source of inspiration for her doll.

Both Young and Newball attended the Feb. 3 reception at the Artists and Makers Studio in Rockville. Young attended with her daughter, and Newball with one of the granddaughters who inspired her doll.

The ride that Newball had secured for herself and her granddaughter fell through before they were due to leave for the reception. Newball suffers from knee and back problems but was determined to attend despite not having access to a car. She borrowed a walker from her neighbor and took three buses and a train to make it to the studio.

“It was a journey and a half to get there. It was the most interesting journey. We left here right after 5 and arrived at 8:30,” she said. “We didn’t get home until 11; I haven’t been out of my house that late in so long!”

The journey was well worth it, she said, for her granddaughter to see her doll on display.

Cleveland is excited by the works of Newball, Young and the other workshop participants. Some, including Young and Robin Mendes Newell, another woman from Luther Place, enjoyed the work so much they asked Cleveland for more blank dolls to work on independently.

Cleveland said one of the most rewarding aspects of the workshop was what the women involved learned from each other. She described the comfort that the N Street women provided a woman from the Potomac Arts Fiber Guild who was there assisting with the workshop. The woman was making her own doll, inspired by her sister who had passed away.

“She was in tears talking about her doll,” Cleveland said.

“The women from N Street were there comforting her, and I loved that it was like a reversal of roles. It wasn’t just us coming in and helping; it was more equal.”

The flip dolls will be on public display at the Artists and Makers Studio in Rockville until Feb. 22.

“I loved that it was like a reversal of roles. It wasn’t just us coming in and helping, it was more equal.”

ERIKA CLEVELAND Danna Newball and her granddaughter with her flip doll at the Feb. 2 reception. PHOTO COURTESY OF ERIKA CLEVELAND

PHOTO BY OLIVIA RICHTER

1 0 // S T REET SENSE ME DI A / / FE B . 2 1 - MA RCH 6, 2018

OPINION BLACK HISTORY MONTH:

The double-edged sword

BY MICHAEL CRAIG

To me, Black History Month is a double-edged sword. On one side, you have this beauty of acknowledging the toolong overlooked contributions of Black Americans to American history.

On the other edge of the sword, we have this emphasis on celebrating Black history once a year. Why is this? Racism and its undertones are fortunately waning but still perceivable. And by the way, I’ve never heard of a White History Month. Why is that? Shouldn’t there be a month for all Americans? The Chinese, Muslims, Italians, Polish, Greek, Irish?

If not, the particular distinction is curious. Perhaps the undertone of guilt represents the fact that you already know in American society the motive for Black History Month.

Now, that is not to say that Black History Month is not beautiful. But how did we get in this circumstance?

We’d be a lot better off recognizing Humanity Day, every day.

Michael Craig is an artist/vendor for Street Sense Media. Illustration

by Mildred Hall.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR:

No more diatribes Dear Street Sense Media, I have supported your newspaper for a long time and used to buy from Jeffery McNeil — but I no longer do.

Like Colly wrote in the previous edition, I am really fed up reading a political rant each week. He's welcome to his views, but the column is biased, derogatory and often ends up denigrating people like myself who hold different political views. I'm fed up with being called a hater, a snowflake, a hypocrite, an obstructionist and lots more. I would never use such terms about him!

I appreciate Colly Muk's letter — please thank him for writing it. If I knew where he were selling the paper, I would certainly go and buy the paper from him.

A candidate’s plan to end homelessness

BY JAMES BUTLER

It can’t be said enough that the District’s homelessness problem won’t be easily solved. It goes without saying that there are many ways that people become homeless. If a person loses a job, becomes sick, has addiction issues or mental- or behavioral-health problems, this can easily put a person or family on the street.

The problem won’t be solved simply by managing the problem. Few people are probably aware that the District spends more money managing homelessness than it would cost simply to end it!

It certainly won’t be solved by continuing to manage the problem, which is tantamount to putting a bandage on it. The problem also won’t be solved by giving a person a roof and nothing more. We must have a plan to provide a roof first and then have a plan to ensure that people do not return to homelessness.

The current crisis requires a big and bold solution. A mayoral administration with a truly big and bold plan is the only thing that will resolve a big and bold problem.

We will end homelessness with a three-part process: engaging churches and nonprofits, providing a replacement for D.C. General, reducing dollars reserved for abatements (reduction of taxes) for developers and redistributing those dollars.

Before I get into the workings of our three-part plan, it’s important that I mention that all parts of this plan recognizes that when mental or behavioral health or addiction is the cause or a part of the individual’s homelessness, we will have full outreach and wraparound services to ensure that the person is empowered to keep housing.

Let’s discuss engaging churches and nonprofits. If we ask that every church and nonprofit in the District adopt just one homeless person or family, we’d be well on our way to

ending homelessness. This is not an attempt to negate the fiscal responsibility of the city to help — it’s simply a way to allow entities that enjoy tax-free operations to give back to the community if they choose. Just count the number of churches in the District, and you will see the potential power in the plan.

Next, we have the task of replacing D.C. General with suitable housing for those without a home. This requires us to actually do — and not back down when we get opposition — what the city already planned and verifiably has the money to do! We know that this plan is best fulfilled by using land owned by the District throughout the city. We certainly will be faced with “not in my backyard” responses, but, at a minimum, we can have four distinct houses in four different sections of the city. We know this plan is a bit controversial, but we will not run from opposition. Sometimes democracy is hard.

Lastly, we will reduce abatement dollars going to for-profit developers that are not doing anything to provide “incomebased housing” and increase dollars going to end the crisis of chronic homelessness. We know that if we allocate less than half of 1 percent of the District’s $14 billion budget, we would end homelessness and no longer have a need to manage the crisis.

All change is hard. But we must ask ourselves: Is it worth it? Is it worth it to stop managing a crisis that allows people to kill other people? Is it worth allowing all citizens to live in a dignified manner? In less than five months, voters will get to make a choice about putting people first.

We want to thank the Street Sense Family and all that it does to fight to raise awareness to the crisis and end homelessness. We welcome your ideas and thoughts to help put the city in the right direction. We know that ending homelessness is possible.

James Butler is running for mayor. More info: butlerformayor.com.

Black conservatives are the new revolutionaries

BY JEFFERY MCNEIL

As a writer, there is always pressure from the powers that be that you shill, parrot and mimic. They want you to fall in line rather than critically think for yourself. I know how Clarence Thomas felt when Black progressives attacked him for the crime of having a different viewpoint. There’s always a faction of African-Americans that believe their opinions are the way and light. Because they shill for the White man, they feel you should emulate them.

What amazes me is how this Black bourgeoisie calls you the Uncle Tom when they’re the ones supporting the same Best regards, system that’s failed them for 50 years. I believe the Black Penny Williams conservative is the true militant and radical.

The left is not interested in solving social ills; if they solved Penny Williams is a Street Sense Media customer living in the District. them, there would be no need for them. What they’re about is power, yet none of them is capable or qualified to govern a nation as diverse and complex as ours. When Obama ran this country, our nation fell apart.

Under Trump, the checks come in - Have an opinion about how homelessness is being addressed in our community? the mail; tax cuts are real money, - Want to share firsthand experience? not crumbs like House Minority - Interested in responding to what someone else has written?

Leader Nancy Pelosi says.

Liberal policies have also Street Sense Media has maintained an open submission policy since our founding. We aim p r o m o t e d b a d b e h a v i o r, to elevate voices from across the housing spectrum and foster healthy debate. rather than work and personal responsibility. Liberals are like Please send submissions to opinion@streetsensemedia.org. the mother hen that won’t allow their chicks to grow up and be

Join the conversation, share your views

big roosters. Help is allowing people to reach their fullest potential; liberals turn people into weak-minded snowflakes.

Policing language is also indicative of leftist ideology.

Political correctness is pretending that warts and pimples are not repulsive but are actually unicorns. To object to the prevailing view of the left means you will be demonized as “anti-pimple” and be called some kind of right-wing extremist for stating the obvious: They’re disgusting! In fact, the language police created Donald Trump because Americans were dying to hear someone praise America rather than apologize for it.

The left has become so ridiculous and oppressive that they’ve managed to turn right-wing commentators like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity into voices of reason.

Tucker and Hannity offer a platform to listeners where White people can talk with Blacks, women and Hispanic conservatives about Black-on-Black crime, radical Islam and illegal immigration, open and candidly. Liberals want us all to pretend that White racism and police brutality are bigger problems facing our inner cities, rather than failing schools, single mothers and Black-on-Black crime. According to the left, only White men can be racist; they ignore the hate and vitriol that come from others.

Part of power is being accountable for the choices you make both in public and private. These snowflakes are not ready to lead. You can’t want power and then be reduced to tears because men challenge your authority. In the real world, if you try to elevate off the back of me, you’ll be put in your place.

Jeffery McNeil is an artist/vendor for Street Sense Media.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

/ / 11

ART A KISS for Congress Dear Congress, May I suggest a KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid!

Eliminate the red tape, the petty, silly, antiquated bureaucratic rules of the current EBT/SNAP food program, like not being able to use your EBT card at McDonald’s or other fast-food places. Homeless people have no stove or kitchen to cook commodities!

Rich people — lawyers, college professors and federal bureaucrats — have no clue what happens to “the little people” in the real world outside your ivory towers, on our city streets. You don’t even ride the bus! Here’s what happens: Almost everyone sells their food stamps the first day of each month for 50 cents on the dollar.

Instead, I suggest you convert all welfare programs, including Supplemental Security Income, EBT/SNAP, TANF, public housing, etc., to a simple, guaranteed monthly income put on the current EBT card. This would cut out money-grubbing middlemen like slumlords and those who take advantage of us lowincome people, by paying only half the value on food stamps. It would also save hardworking taxpayers a lot of money by eliminating the huge, wasteful cost of bureaucracy, paperwork and stupid, petty rules. Each person would receive a monthly electronic deposit on their EBT/SNAP card, report this as income on their IRS form 1040, and pay the same 12 percent Social Security “self-employed” payroll tax that working folks pay each year. People who depend on taxpayer-funded welfare must learn “there is no free lunch”: Hardworking taxpayers foot the bill for ALL government costs. Welfare recipients who agree to register for work and accept placement in a job should get double the amount of those who do not work! And Congress, give retired workers struggling to survive on Social Security a retroactive costof-living raise equal to what you members of Congress have been rewarding yourselves and federal employees all these years, with our tax dollars. After many years of getting nothing, I appreciate the 2 percent we finally got this year.

With my 2 percent “raise,” I can afford to buy one 53-cent cup of senior coffee at McDonald’s each day … plus 3 McChickens or McDoubles each month! At least McDonald’s gives one free refill on coffee!

And Congress, please give D.C. residents the right to vote for real, actual voting members of the U.S. Senate and House.

Also add a few more public toilets for the homeless in our nation’s capital city.

Thank you very much, Gary Minter Gary Minter is a former atist/vendor for Street Sense Media now living in Las Vegas.

Our seniors need help

BY GWYNETTE SMITH // Artist/Vendor

The Department of Employment Services has a training program with age-friendly business. A senior can be trained and given classroom instruction while working part-time for the minimum wage at a senior center, a daycare center, or other types of jobs where there is the possibility to live on-site. After the training period, the senior would apply for work of the same type at their training location.

Seniors now have a free legal clinic at the University of the District of Columbia. Also, nonprofit-care retirement communities, such as Ingleside, are exempt from District of Columbia’s property taxes.

Therefore, these places are now more affordable.

There was also a lot of pending legislation introduced in D.C. Council last year with helping seniors in mind.

One bill, introduced in January 2017, would increase the eligibility for property-tax reduction from $125,000 to $150,000 of the gross adjusted household income. This incentive could keep more seniors in their homes.

A dental-service program, introduced in March 2017, would provide dental care for seniors 65 and older whose annual income for their household is $60,000 or less. A two-year program also introduced in March would pilot the donation of unused prescription medication to low-income D.C. residents.

A hearing-aid act, introduced in June, would reimburse seniors who qualify for the expense of a hearing aid. A utility act, also introduced in June, would require utility companies to give a 30-day notice to the managing agency before they could shut off services at a community facility. The agency would have to be listed by the facility as a thirdparty contact for the utility company.

An elder-abuse law, introduced in September, would educate residents about the dangers and prevalence of abuse of seniors.

These many bills show how much seniors have to worry about and what our city may be able to do for them.

Random acts of ... craziness?

A blatant double-standard

BY WENDELL WILLIAMS // Artist/Vendor

Brotherly Love

BY DWAYNE BUTLER // Artist/Vendor

The city of brotherly love finally won a Super Bowl. And it did it in style!

The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New England Patriots, a dynasty of greatness, 41 to 33. The Eagles were underdogs to a five-time champion, known to play a steel-net defense with a quarterback who had a lastminute magic trick in the bag. The Eagles overcame the odds and brought happiness to the city of Philadelphia.

The team won its first Super Bowl in 60 years! The fans celebrated joyfully — they stood in the streets to watch the game and partied until the late hours of the night. “Fly Eagles Fly!”

Perseverance

BY PHILLIP BLACK // Artist/Vendor

It’s a story made for a movie.

After many setbacks, Philadelphia quarterback Nick Foles thought his football career was over. But during a camping trip, his brother-in-law inspired him to give it one more try.

Lo and behold, Super Bowl MVP! Hearing someone else go through hard times can help us with our own troubles. We all may have our setbacks, ups and downs. And even though life can sneak up on us pretty fast, no matter what we go through, we can always bounce back just like Nick Foles did.

I normally write about great, kind things we do randomly for one another. But the events following the Super Bowl game have me baffled.

While I must disclose I am a Patriots fan and have attended many victory parades, I am saddened in multiple ways by what I saw in the media that evening and into the night of Philly’s first Super Bowl victory, and its all-soimportant racial implications.

As a Black man born in 1950, I quickly look at this with shock and awe. Now, correct me if I am wrong, but what I saw were multiple vehicles (both publicly and privately owned) being overturned, burned and vandalized, including police cars and vans. Some fans even hopped atop moving police vehicles and surfed throughout the cheering, out-ofcontrol crowds. I saw shouting lunatics pull down traffic and street lights, as well as traffic signage, which is a serious public-safety hazard. I witnessed storefront windows being smashed and their owners’ merchandise thrown all over the street, with the added comic relief of an idiot eating horse poop as his buddies in the mob cheered him on.

Wow, I shudder to think what would have happened if Philly lost! How in the world can this be portrayed simply as boys gone wild?

Having grown up during the most intense period of change in this country, I quickly noticed what I did not see. No police lines with shielded and helmeted cops ready for battle to control the crowd, as in Ferguson. No mass beatings or arrests by police, like Chicago when MLK was murdered. I’ve only heard of two arrests so far. Unbelievable. No fire hoses used to push the crowds back, like in Birmingham and other cities North and South. No tear gas or rubber bullets, as were used in the Freddie Gray demonstrations in Baltimore.

No growling police dogs used by redneck sheriffs throughout the Civil Rights era and no cops wading in with swinging batons to break up the crowd, like in most of the urban riots.

No, none of that. Why? Readers, this is when I call upon those of good will to be open and honest. If you are, then you will clearly see why movements like Black Lives Matter are needed. Let’s suppose we took off the home-team football jerseys and changed the hue of the faces of those involved. Are you still with me?

These kinds of unequal police responses play out all over our land. Take President Clinton’s draconian drug laws in the ‘90s for example: White folks overwhelmingly received far less jail time for essentially the same drug. Through the years, the substance may change, but the inequality remains the same. Today, addicts whose names are Buffy and Jody get probation or a pass with recovery services, while Ray-Ray and Boo-Boo get locked away. Drug use is a health crisis for some and a crime for others.

Let’s face it: In most of America, some lives are more valuable than others. Maybe you saw the celebration of a football game. But I saw a clear statement of where we are as a people, all these years later.

1 2 // S T REET SENSE ME DI A / / FE B . 2 1 - MA RCH 6, 2018

ART

People of interest and importance

BY ROBERT WILLIAMS, USMC // Artist/Vendor

Black History Month is a time to acknowledge the history of Black people.

Typically, we highlight individuals of interest or importance. Is that to say that the general consensus is that all Blacks are not?

For so long, our history was just “his story,” only what White folks felt we needed to know and what we were able to take proper credit for. Much of our story went untold. This limited view was designed to keep self-esteem down and keep people of color from being proud or knowledgeable of their legacy. How can one know where they are going when they don’t know where they’re coming from? History for Blacks was not in the books or the schools, at least not in any accessible way.

All Blacks are people of interest and importance. For real, though, all PEOPLE are of great interest and importance, regardless of the amount of melanin in their skin. Together we make up one race — the human race — with many differences, shades and personalities.

Of all the candidates for me to acknowledge here, all of whom are quite brilliant, I choose a woman who was all about equality. She saw no color and prayed for everyone. She was the most, caring, loving, kind and considerate person.

She was a dedicated worker, graduated high school at 15 and was crowned a beauty queen of the YWCA, a regular tradition in the ‘50s. She went on to American University, became a dental administrator with a private practice for over 35 years and taught at Howard University. That was before she became ill, probably from because of such hard work professionally and taking care of her five children, neglecting herself. That lady is the most notable person in African-American history and is none other than my mother.

I love you, Mushie.

February

BY ROBERT WARREN // Artist/Vendor

These February days are special to me because my goddaughter’s birthday, my birthday and Valentine’s Day are all celebrated. I, being who I am, always seem to find myself alone on these days. I might have dinner or something with my family later, when I get a chance. But of late, there has been no one special to say “I love you” when I do.

From a distance and that's what I love too, it's all about you and that's all right too, because I have known love, it's true, so, you say your goodbyes, keep it moving and love them all.

You hope we get better with the things we go through, we remember the good days and put a thought of love out in the airways, when we think about you.

If goodbye is something we didn't get to do, there's always tomorrow, for those it comes to, did I say, "I miss you, too?" I find myself thinking about you, and then I smile with a thought so true, that I love you, too.

I don't know what to do, but I always get through, these February days.

Words of thanks and praise for those Black leaders who passed away, the history of a great people could never be told in one day, if the year takes a leap we will have another day, to see the waters and to dish out our dream of love.

Hearts of love and Happy Valentine's Day.

#MeToo

BY JENNIFER MCLAUGLIN Artist/Vendor

ILLUSTRATION BY PHILLIP BLACK, JR.

Three years

BY SYBIL TAYLOR // Artist/Vendor

On Feb. 20, we visited and placed flowers on my father's grave. It had been three years since he passed away. Jesus and the angels saw that he had shed tears, that he was tired of the pain of cancer. My father's final days were at home with us, and his final farewell was a blessing.

He got tired of doctors' visits, exercising, being transported in an ambulance to and from the hospital. Hospice care had taken care of his feeding, bathing and other services he could

I have been sexually harassed. When I first came to D.C. in 2003, I lived on 2nd Street NW, in a shelter. I was working at FedEx Field with a temp agency on Georgia Avenue that used to come to 2nd and D to get homeless people to work. One day, the head boss I was working with made advances at me. I didn’t say anything to my supervisor because I didn’t want to lose my job. Now I can relate to the women in Hollywood and in other industries where women have been standing up for their rights. Me too.

not do for himself. In those final days, these things my mom and sister did for him. The best love and care, a lot of water and pills and morphine to stop the pain.

We didn't know that day would be his last.

He did not tell us; he just left in peace and quiet. He died at home in his own bed, facing the wall, with his eyes open.

It was heart-wrenching to see him suffer and die. My father would talk to Jesus while we were downstairs. Peaceful birds often sang around his window. Jesus knew what was best for him, and that was to take him home with Him. When the undertaker people came and picked up his body and carried him to the morgue in

an ambulance, his doctors came over to check on him. He was pronounced dead, no heartbeat.

We cried all that day. The room was ice cold without him, only his memory left behind. We had to make funeral arrangements, which was very hard to do, but we did.

The angels waited on him to come through the golden gates for a new life, with a halo, a robe and a smile. Beautiful planets and flowers abound there. And beautiful birds were singing "Welcome to Heaven, Henry." He was so happy not to suffer any more.

Until we meet again in Heaven, I want to say, Dad, rest in peace. Amen.

Every day I’m strugglin’ BY “POOKANU” DUDLEY // Artist/Vendor

I had a bad summer, man; my winter was worse.

Brokest I ever been, damn this feeling, it hurts.

I got a daughter five months, and one on the way.

Two baby mommas that don't like me, the things that they say, to get me mad, it's sad, ‘cause I just wanna be a dad.

A good father to my babies, please stop telling them bad.

You need to tell them that I'm strong, you need to tell them that I try.

I was born to make mistakes, I’m only human; I cry.

Still I believe I can fly, through the rain and the storm.

But with no money and no job, it's kinda hard to keep warm.

In a world where it’s cold, family like vultures it's told.

True friends become leeches, stickin’ around when you weakest.

So whenever I’m strugglin’, that's when the streets’ unconditional love come in, love come in.

I can't believe how time fly, my oldest daughter she one.

Her baby sister’s five months, and while I'm rollin’ this blunt, it got me thinking about my life and the way I been living.

My daughter Heaven just said, “Dada,” can you imagine the feeling?

Her big sister Brooke-e, she's walking, talking, and playin’.

Two births in one year’s enough, to make Satan start praying.

I'm down on my knees God, ‘cause right now it's really hard.

I just lost my job; that's the reason I steal and rob.

The struggle’s a sad thing, strugglin’ make you do bad things.

The roar in my stomach, was the reason why I done it.

‘Cause when you feel like your stomach, touchin’ your back, the rumble inside ‘a make you run, and get strapped.

And when it seem like you down, to your last dime, the demons inside seem to surface, every time my babies crying.

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

// 13

What happened to Honeyboy?

BY VENNIE HILL BRACEY Artist/Vendor

Remembering

Marvin Gaye

ILLUSTRATION BY DWIGHT HARRIS

BY LEONARD HYATER // Artist/Vendor

On April 2, 1939, Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. was born here in D.C., and he grew up in a poor segregated section of town. My dad played basketball with him in Lincoln Heights, according to my mom. There’s a park named after Marvin there now.

Marvin sang in his father’s church when he was a little boy and attended Cardozo High School in Columbia Heights as he got older. It was then, in the mid-’50s, that Marvin formed his first group, the D.C. Tones.

By the time he finished high school, Marvin was ready to pursue his singing career as a members of The Moonglows. He performed at Howard Theater when it was considered part of the Chitlin’ Circuit, venues throughout the country where it was safe for Black performers to take the stage. He eventually left The Moonglows to start his solo career with Motown Records Marvin made a lot of hits with Motown, including duets with female singers such as Kim Weston, Mary Wells, and Tami Terrell.

He could do a lot more than sing, too. Marvin was a talented writer, arranger and producer.

He became known as the Prince of Soul because every song he sang turned into a hit, including “What Going On,” “Let’s Get It On,” and “Just Like Music.”

On April 1, 1984, Marvin Gaye, Jr. was killed, tragically. I would like his surviving family members to know that he continues to inspire. I wanted to write this article because I, too, was born here in D.C. and I grew up with Marvin’s music and his story. He has been an inspiration in my life, and one of my favorite songs is “Inner City Blues,” which I still listen to today.

His music will live on.

The king of pop

BY TAMMY MICHELE RICE // Volunteer

He's the King of pop, Don't do the bunny hop.

He's the king of soul, Don't let your money unfold.

He's Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael Jackson.

He entertains the world.

He made me feel like a pretty girl.

He's Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael Jackson!!!!!

He did the moon walk, and Put the world in shock!!!!!

He brought people together With his music, and That's how he used it!!!!!

He's Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael, Michael Jackson.

Michael Jackson visits the Reagans, 1984.

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE WHITE HOUSE // WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

This composition was originally written, arranged and sung by Tammy Michele Rice. The lyrics are presented here as a poem.

Have you ever heard of local legend Lloyd Taylor?

I hadn’t — at least, not until I met him on the street once or twice, just chilling. He’s a beautiful human being. So kind, so nice, so sweet. Genuine.

One day, he really started talking to me about his life, and I found out this cat was a championship boxer! He met celebrities like Cher and Muhammad Ali, and he traveled the world. “Good God,” I thought to myself, feeling excited and blessed. We first met while he was panhandling.

It didn’t take long for us to become friends.

A week or so later, we sat at my house and talked about what he had been through. He’s from Anacostia and graduated from Suitland High School in PG County. After winning the Golden Gloves in 1979, Taylor expected to compete nationally for a shot at the Olympics. But President Carter boycotted the 1980 Summer Games as a way to protest the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union, which would be hosting the competition. So “Honeyboy” Taylor went pro instead.

He didn’t set out to become a championship boxer. But he remembers a defining moment, when his father pushed him to stand up for himself, one day in 1965 when Taylor was being bullied.

“What are you doing?” his father asked when he saw Taylor running home from school.

“Trying not to get caught by Andre,” Taylor answered.

“Boy, you better get out there and fight,” his father instructed. “If he don’t whip your ass, I will.”

So Taylor fought back, and he won. He kicked Andre’s butt and chased him home.

After that, people didn’t mess with him anymore. At least not for a while. Between his father and his stepfather, Taylor throughout the city, out to Maryland and bounced back to the District.

Along the way, Taylor remembers a couple of White boys “harassing” him and his cousin for no reason. That was putting it lightly: They tried to run him over.

So he started boxing lessons “to learn to fight back, to get even with people.”

In 1974, he started amateur boxing in South Bowie and went on to win the Junior Olympics and the Novices division. After his hopes for the Olympics were dashed, he started building up his record in the pros.

Taylor was undefeated in ‘81, “but they wouldn’t give me a title fight,” Taylor said.

So he started sparring with Tommy Hearns, who was preparing for a fight with “Sugar”

PHOTO COURTESY OF LLOYD TAYLOR

Ray Leonard. They worked together for three weeks straight until Taylor got hurt.

Taylor later earned a tri-state title for the DMV area, where most of his bouts occurred, though he also fought in Atlantic City, Cincinnati, Nashville and Indianapolis. He won the “Metro Welterweight” title — which was first created for a match between Leonard and Johnny Grant in 1979 — and defended it twice from Robert “Boo Boo” Sawyer, also of D.C. After his last professional bout, in ‘85, Taylor had a record of 23 wins and only 6 losses.

“Then I started getting high and selling drugs, which messed up my career. I went to jail in 1988 for selling and did 10 years,” Taylor said.

He’s still looking for work. But Lloyd “Honeyboy” Taylor isn’t letting that stop him from looking out for the people in his community. He has given me advice about taking care of myself and he does the same for others when asked. I’ve also seen him showing young folks how to throw a proper punch and stand up for themselves.

“Since coming home, I’ve tried to help others pursue their dreams,” Taylor said.

1 4 // ST REET SEN S E

FUN & GAMES

5 1 7 9 2 4 3 6 8 9 4 1 2 3 8 6 7 5 9 R8CH46, 5 B .72 11- MA ME3 DI6 A /2 / FE 8 7 5 6 4 9 2 1 3

2018

Sudoku #3 1 6 8 9 5 4 2 7 3 Sudoku 3 Intermediate 7 by8KrazyDad, 4 6Volume 9 5 2 1 1, Book 1 2 7 4 3 6 1 9 8 5 8 1 6 4 3 9 7 5 2 4 2 3 7 8 5 6 1 9 7 5 9 1 2 6 8 3 4 9 8 7 5 4 3 1 2 6 5 4 2 6 1 7 3 9 8 6 3 1 8 9 2 5 4 7

Sudoku #8

3 4

9

1

8Sudoku #5

4

3

3

8 5 2

2 3 6 7 8 1 9 4 5 8 5 1 9 4 6 7 2 3 7 4 9 5 3 2 8 1 6 4 7 2 1 5 8 6 3 9 3 9 5 2 6 7 1 8 4 6 1 8 4 9 3 2 5 7 5 6 4 8 1 9 3 7 2 1 2 3 6 7 5 4 9 8 6 1 9 8 7 3 2 ©420135 KrazyDad.com

5 2 4 6 1

5

4

8

7

6

8

Fill in the blank squares so that each row, each column and each 3-by-3 block contain all of the digits 1 thru 9.

Want to help me replace my broken pencil sharpener?

You can make a donation at http://krazydad.com Or by mail: Krazydad, P.O. Box 303 Sun Valley, CA 91353 USA Thank you!

2

7

6

7

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

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

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

Name:

Feb. 21

terms and topics referenced in this edition Sudoku #4 1 2 1 9 2 3 7 4 6 5 8 5 7 4 1 8 6 2 9 3 8 3 6 9 2 5 4 1 7 9 8 7 5 6 2 1 3 4 4 2 3 8 31 9 5 7 6 6 5 1 4 3 7 9 8 2 7 6 8 2 5 1 3 4 9 3 4 5 6 9 8 7 2 1 2 1 9 7 4 3 8 6 5 4 5 Sudoku #6 1 3 8 9 9 4 6 3 5 2 7 1 8 7 3 4 2 9 4 6 6 5 1 8 4 8 9 2 7 1 2 5 3 6 5 7

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

7 8

LAST EDITION’S CROSSWORD SOLUTIONS 1) wage theft 2) fable 3) three 4) sinusoid 5) Greenbrier 6) budget 7) Pelops

3 2 1

9 5 6 4

Coffee & Cigarettes

BY PATTI SMITH // Artist/Vendor

wodrinking rd Puz z lemy Generato Sudoku #7 Sudoku #8 Created with TheTeac hers Co rner.net Cro s sI'm coffee. r Down I notice you across the street.

1) an intermediate weight class in sports between lightweight and middleweight 5 9 1 6 2 3 4 2. 8ny type 7 1 5 9 6 8 3 4 2 7 the blank squares snpuzzle. intermediate weight class in spo rts between o f scho o l disciplinary actio n that remo ves o r Need a little help?

The hints page shows a logical order to solve1.the You're just smoking cigarettes.

2) any type of school disciplinary action that removes or excludes a so that each the row, Use it to identify next square4you 6 should Or use pageand middleweight lightweight 9 solve.

3 the5answers 2 1 8 7 2 4 8 9 7 1 6 excludes 5 3 a student fro m his o r her usual educatio nal ifeach you really get stuck. fromtohis or the her means usual educational setting column and 3. the so cial classstudent that came o wn of setting 3 came 6 n and 7 own 4 the 9he became 1 2 3 8 7 4 5 1 pro6ductio 9 n during 8 means 5 2of mosocial dern industrializatio who se 4 .production kno wn as the Prince o f So ul your arms. each 3-by-3 block I rush into 3) the class that to during so cietal co ncernsmodern are the industrialization and whose societal concerns 5 . o ccurring o r existing befo re a That's particular contain all of the thewar, startespecially of our beautiful relationship.

6 9 3 5 8 1 7 6 . 2jo urnalist 4 and Civil Rights leader and 1 7 4 8 5 6 9 3 2 are the value of suffragette the American Civil War digits 1-9.

Time goes by.

I look, but I can't find you. property and the preservation of capital, to ensure the perpetuation of 7 . a fo rm o f eco no mic and cultural capital in which so cial 6 5 3 7 9 2 8 1 4 1 7 4 6 2 9 8 5 3 their economic supremacy netwo rks are central; transactio ns are marked by 2 Prince 9 3 of 1Soul4 5 7 6 5 8 2 4 3 7 9 recipro 1 6city, trust,4) he became known8as the Where are you, baby?

LAST 5) occurring or existing7before a5particular especially the American Civil War 1 8 3 6 9 3 5 6 8 7 4 2 9 1 2 4 war, EDITION’S Late at night, I cry my eyes out over you.

6) journalist and Civil Rights leader and suffragette PUZZLE 9 3 2 5 6 7 1 4 8 9 2 1 3 5 6 4 7 8 I dream night after night of holding you tight, 7) a form of economic and cultural capital in which social networks are SOLUTION >> 8marked 9 7 trust, 2 and 5 cooperation 8 4 7 1 9 2 6 3 5 4 are 6 1by 3 holding you tight, holding you tight! central; transactions reciprocity, IfSUDOKU: you use logicFill you can in solve the puzzle without guesswork.Across

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

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG

COMMUNITY SERVICES

SHELTER HOTLINE Línea directa de alojamiento

(202) 399-7093

YOUTH HOTLINE Línea de juventud

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE Línea directa de violencia doméstica

(202) 547-7777

Education Educación

Health Care Seguro

Clothing Ropa

Legal Assistance Assistencia Legal

Case Management Coordinación de Servicios

Food Comida

Employment Assistance Assitencia con Empleo

Transportation Transportación

Showers Duchas

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

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

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

Catholic Charities // 202-772-4300 catholiccharitiesdc.org/gethelp

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jobs Have Priority // 202-544-9128 425 2nd St., NW jobshavepriority.org

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

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

Martha’s Table // 202-328-6608 2114 14th St., NW marthastable.org

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

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

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

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

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

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH HOTLINE Línea de salud del comportamiento

(202) 749-8000

Housing/Shelter Vivienda/alojamiento

1-888-793-4357 Laundry Lavandería

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Unity Health Care // 202-745-4300 3020 14th St., NW unityhealthcare.org

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

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

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

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

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

// 15

JOB BOARD Awake Overnight House Monitor Wanda Alston Foundation // Washington D,C. Full-time Monday-Friday or Part-time Saturday-Sunday The Awake Overnight House Monitor ensures that LGBTQ youth who are residents of the Wanda Alston house are safe, supported, monitored, and cared for respectfully.

Coordinates the day-to-day conditions following agency guidelines for maintenance and works with Case Manager to develop and monitor individual case plans for residents to provide optimum supportive services.

Counsels residents and coordinates adjunct services as needed. REQUIRED: High school diploma or GED, excellent interpersonal skills, experience in group home living or shelter facility preferred, experience working with LGBTQ youth preferred.

APPLY: tinyurl.com/WAmonitor

Program Assistant

Catholic Charities Archdiocese of Washington The Program Assistant provides primary support of female clients in the residential facility in support of program goals and objectives. Oversees daily shelter activities; enforces program rules and regulations; performs intake process and log entries; Provide a safe and orderly environment; addresses client behavior issues; conducts random urines, and assist with maintaining cleanliness of the facility. REQUIRED: High school diploma or GED, experience with customer service, preferably with persons who are homeless, basic computer skills in MS Office Software or willingness to be trained on developing computer skills.

APPLY: tinyurl.com/CCassistant218

Janitor

The Washington Post // Springfield, VA Varied shifts are generally 7.5 hrs long Reliable, dependable and experienced janitor with good work habits for part-time opening at the Washington Post’s Springfield, VA production facility. Maintain cleanliness of occupied and unoccupied areas including general upkeep of building interior and exterior.

APPLY: tinyurl.com/WaPoClean18

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

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

CW Resources for Library of Congress // D.C. Responsible for performing custodial duties, minor maintenance and other miscellaneous duties in order to ensure that the buildings and facilities are maintained in a healthy, safe and sanitary manner. Reports to the Lead Project Manager/Assistant Project Manager and cares for the areas assigned. REQUIRED: High school diploma or GED. Previous custodial experience preferred. Must have knowledge of standard cleaning procedures and ability to meet physical demands including lifting up to 25 pounds, standing for long periods, reaching, and operating medium-weight cleaning equipment.

APPLY: tinyurl.com/CongressLibraryCare

“Spread Southside Love”

T

he first time I was displaced was due to a fire in a unit below me at an apartment building at 16th and W streets SE, in 1976. That building, once my home, has since gone condo.

The door to the neighborhood store I frequented daily while living there now features a mural. It was completed Saturday, Feb. 17. The entrance of the newly renovated store is now located on the W Street side.

The new owner of the store, which is a three-minute walk from the STORY AND PHOTOS BY KEN MARTIN Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, commissioned muralist Artist/Vendor Rebeka Ryvola to depict past icons and modern community members together, next to the Anacostia River.

“Douglass is joined by friends and contemporaries,” according to a press release, “including radical abolitionist John Brown, activist lawyer and the first black graduate of Harvard Richard Greener, journalist and Civil Rights leader and suffragette Ida Wells, first African American to serve a full-term in the United States Senate Blanche K. Bruce, abolitionist and Douglass mentor Wendell Phillips, and groundbreaking journalist Grace Greenwood, seen playing baseball with a number of modern day neighborhood children. A young person serenades the gathering with the violin.”

As I enjoyed the inspiring art in the mural, which is certainly a rose among the thorns, I noticed a street sign that said, “NO OUTLET.” I couldn’t help but wonder whether it is a sign of the times.

Walking up to the site, I was repulsed by the scent of freshly burned pot. The same pot that, although legalized, I recall having the side effect of reduced ambition. Grizzled old men stood on the corners, seeming to have no destination in mind.

On a sunny day on a street that was once full of life, there were no children playing, no soulful sound tracks, no other onlookers. I wondered, “Where are all the others that need the lift in spirit this masterful piece abundantly offers?” Sadly, there were police standing in the street deciding how to approach the driver in a car they had blocked from proceeding down 16th Street to Good Hope Road.

Yes, Good Hope Road, paved with many stepping stones: resource-filled agencies that lead to personal development in education, employment, entrepreneurship, housing, upward mobility and financial independence. The (road) sign of the times I so desperately wish my neighbors would steer their futures toward.

The apartment-turned-condo building Ken was displaced from in the ‘70s.

FEB. 21 - MARCH 6, 2018 VOLUME 15 | ISSUE 8

INTERESTED IN A SUBSCRIPTION? VISIT

Street Sense Media 1317 G Street, NW Washington, DC 20005

STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG/SUBSCRIBE

Nonprofit Org

WWW.INSP.NGO

US Postage Paid Washington, DC Permit #568

MAIL TO:

5.5 million Thank you for reading Street Sense!

From your vendor

READERS

9,000 VENDORS

100+

STREET PAPERS

34

COUNTRIES

24

LANGUAGES