02.28.2024

91,154

VENDORS

Abel Putu, Aida Peery, Al Edmonson, Akindele Akerejah, Amia Walker, Amina Washington, Andre Brinson, Andrew Anderson, Angie Whitehurst, Anthony Carney, Beverly Sutton, Brianna Butler, Burton Wells, Carlton Johnson, Carlos Carolina, Charles Armstrong, Charles Woods, Chon Gotti, Chris Cole, Conrad Cheek, Corey Sanders, Daniel Ball, Darlesha Joyner, David Snyder,

Vendors pay per paper

Debora Brantley, Degnon (Gigi) Dovonou, Denise Hall, Dominique Anthony, Don Gardner, Donté Turner, Doris Robinson, Earl Parker, Eric Thompson-Bey, Erica Downing, Evelyn Nnam, Floyd Carter, Frederic John, Frederick Walker, Freedom, Gerald Anderson, Greta Christian, Harriet Fields, Henrieese Roberts, Henry Johnson, Invisible Prophet, Ivory Wilson, Jacqueline “Jackie” Turner, James Davis, James Hughes,

Jeanette Richardson, Jeff Taylor, Jeffery McNeil, Jeffrey Carter, Jemel Fleming, Jennifer McLaughlin, Jermale McKnight, Jet Flegette, Jewel Lewis, John Alley, John Littlejohn, Josie Brown, Juliene Kengnie, Kenneth Middleton, Kym Parker, Laticia Brock, Lawrence Autry, Levester Green, Lori Smith, L. Morrow, Marc Grier, Marcus McCall, Mars, Martin Walker, Mary Sellman, Maurice Carter,

We provide people experiencing homelessness and poverty in D.C. with a low barrier economic opportunity to earn an income. Each one of our vendors functions as an independent contractor for Street Sense Media, managing their own business to earn an income and increase stability in their lives.

$3 You pay Vendors keep all of your contribution!

Maurice Spears, Melody Byrd, Michael Warner, Morgan Jones, Nikila Smith, Patricia Donaldson, Patty Smith, Phillip Black, Queenie Featherstone, Rachelle Ellison, Randall Smith, Rashawn Bowser, Reginald Black, Reginald C. Denny, Ricardo Meriedy, Richard “Mooney” Hart, Rita Sauls, Robert Reed, Robert Vaughn, Robert Warren, Rochelle Walker, Ron Dudley, S. Smith, Sasha Williams, Shuhratjon

Art by Angie Whitehurst, design by Bruna Costa and Annemarie Cuccia.

Ahmadjonov, Sybil Taylor, Tony Bond, Tonya Williams, Vennie Hill, Warren Stevens, Wendell Williams

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Ashley McMaster, Blake Androff, Clare Krupin, Corrine Yu, Jonquilyn Hill, Matt Perra, Michael Phillips, Nana-Sentuo Bonsu, Shari Wilson, Stanley Keeve

CHIEF EXECUTIVE

OFFICER

Brian Carome

DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS

Darick Brown

DIRECTOR OF VENDOR

EMPLOYMENT

Thomas Ratliff

VENDOR PROGRAM

ASSOCIATES

Aida Peery, Chon Gotti, Nikila Smith

PRICE CHANGE

Why we're raising the paper price to $3

BRIAN CAROME CEO

eginning with the publication of our March 13 issue, the cover price of Street Sense will increase to $3. Quite simply, we believe that our hardworking distribution vendors deserve a long-overdue raise and an opportunity to keep pace with inflation. This is only the second time in our 21-year history that we have raised the price, and the first since 2013. Vendors will continue to pay 50 cents per copy to purchase the paper wholesale, meaning they will retain 100% of the increased earnings they make selling the paper at the new cover price.

Washington, D.C. remains one of the highest cost of living communities in the nation. Housing here is 140% more expensive than the national average. Utilities are 13% higher and food 8% higher. And overall, the cost of living has risen over 24% since the last time we raised our cover price (according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and rentcafe.com/cost-of-living-calculator). Of course, you live here and know how hard a burden our high cost of living is day to day. And we share this news knowing that your budget has also been stretched with the last few years of high inflation. But I also know you understand that for our vendors and others at the bottom end of local income bracket, life is that much harder.

Our vendors live on the very fragile edges of housing insecurity. While more are housed than ever before, few are securely housed. Our hope is this small increase in monthly earnings can help keep more in their current housing situation and allow those who are still in shelters or outside the chance to end their homelessness. There is such a strong connection among housing security, health and lifespan that we are compelled to do whatever we can to help vendors move forward.

For several months ahead of the decision to raise the cost of the paper, we have given our readers the chance to weigh in. Overwhelmingly, those of you who chose to do so voiced support for this decision. But moving forward, readers retain the final word here — deciding weekly whether they can and will afford to purchase the paper. We hope you will continue to support our vendors and our newsroom — one of the last truly local newsrooms in the area.

VENDOR

PROGRAM VOLUNTEERS

Ann Herzog, Beverly Brown, Madeleine McCollough, Roberta Haber

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Annemarie Cuccia

EDITORIAL INTERNS

Andrea Ho, Margaret Hartigan, Nora Scully

GRAPHIC DESIGN INTERN

Bruna Costa

SOCIAL MEDIA INTERN

Azaria Jackson

ARTISTS-INRESIDENCE

Bonnie Naradzay (Poetry), David Serota (Illustration), Leslie Jacobson (Theater), Roy Barber (Theater), Rachel Dungan (Podcast), Willie Schatz (Writing)

OPINION

Street Sense Media vendors keep all of your suggested $3 donation. Get a Street Sense newspaper today!

Peregrino, Ryan Bacic, Taylor Nichols, Zach Montellaro

EVENTS AT SSM ANNOUNCEMENTS

□ Women's Workshop is back! Every Thursday, 1:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.

□ Street Sense follows the government for weather closures. Check the office status at opm.gov/status. If Thomas has your number or email, he can notify you.

□ Find announcements and other useful information at streetsensemedia.org/ vendor-info.

BIRTHDAYS

Chris Cole

March 8 ARTIST/VENDOR

VENDOR CODE OF CONDUCT

Read this democratically elected code of conduct, by vendors, for vendors!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

First medical respite center for women opens in DC

NORA SCULLY Editorial Intern

D.C.’s first medical respite center for women experiencing homelessness opened in January. Volunteers of America Chesapeake & Carolinas (VOACC) opened the center, named Hope Has A Home for Women. It will support at least 30 women experiencing homelessness each year and is currently accepting its first wave of residents.

“The goal is to ensure that women who are experiencing homelessness can recover from either [a] mental health challenge or a medical challenge and be moved into permanent housing,” Nicholle Granger, the executive director of development and marketing for VOACC, said.

Hope Has A Home for Women is based on its counterpart for men, Hope Has A Home, which launched in D.C. in 2019. It has served over 100 individuals, according to VOACC. Seventy percent of men who went through the program moved into permanent housing or stable living environments afterward, and 40% didn’t need to rely on emergency services or hospitalization because of the services available at the center.

The VOACC program is a partnership with AmeriHealth Caritas D.C., one of the largest Medicaid and Medicare insurance providers in the District, and Pathways to Housing, an organization that provides case management and housing for people experiencing homelessness. They will work with Unity Health Care to offer medical services to women living on-site.

“Our belief is that everyone should have a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible,” said Karen Dale, the market president for

AmeriHealth Caritas D.C., and the chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion officer at AmeriHealth Caritas Family of Companies. “We have to work not in a vacuum with rigorous data, testing and partners who we know share the same commitment to equity.”

Hope Has A Home began after AmeriHealth Caritas D.C. analyzed data regarding patients who were readmitted to hospitals and found that people experiencing homelessness were admitted and readmitted to hospitals at higher rates than their housed peers, according to Dale. The program’s goal was to save money incurred from repeated hospitalizations while supporting community members.

“This is unique because it’s a residential program,” Granger said. “The goal really is to make the individuals feel like they’re at home in the process of moving to a permanent living situation.”

With two phases, the program hopes to heal and support women as they transition out of homelessness. The first phase will focus on medical care for between 30 to 90 days, with a medical room on-site to provide primary-level care. If gynecological care is needed, residents can be transferred off-site to a Unity Health Care clinic to receive support.

The second phase moves residents out of medical beds and into a residential space for

anywhere from 90 to 180 days. The women will work closely with Pathways to Housing’s case management team to find stable living environments.

Residents also have access to peer recovery services, which pair female residents with mentors in active recovery to help combat addiction. According to Granger, the VOACC is also exploring adding job resource assistance programs to help residents become independent in the long term.

To qualify for Hope Has A Home for Women, residents must have an insurance provider through AmeriHealth Caritas D.C. Medicaid. AmeriHealth Caritas D.C. then vets potential residents, who must be experiencing homelessness and have been referred to the hospital.

Both Granger and Dale expressed optimism that Hope Has A Home for Women would eventually expand to serve more communities, including trans residents.

“We all should agree that equity matters,” Dale said. “If we start there it creates a whole new path about how we think about solutions and leveraging and collaborating together.”

The medical respite program will house at least 30 women annually.

A similar program for men opened in 2019.

The inside of the new Hope has A Home for Women facility. Photos courtesy of Volunteers of America Chesapeake & Carolinas

New bill would expand involuntary commitment in DC

NORA SCULLY Editorial Intern

Four D.C. councilmembers introduced a bill on Feb. 5 that would expand the scope of involuntary commitment in the District and make it easier for people to be involuntarily committed.

Mental health advocates expressed concern the new legislation could result in more visibly vulnerable communities, including people experiencing homelessness, being treated against their will. Involuntary commitment, also known as involuntary hospitalization or civil commitment, is a legal process that requires an individual to receive mental health treatment if they are deemed to be a danger to themselves or others by a judge.

While the District does not publicize local data on the number of individuals involuntarily committed, the Office of the Attorney General reported that 2,930 emergency petitions to commit residents were filed in 2023.

The Enhancing Mental Health Crisis Support and Hospitalization Amendment Act of 2024 was introduced by the chair of the Committee on Health, Christina Henderson, as well as Councilmembers Brianne Nadeau, Anita Bonds and Zachary Parker.

The bill proposes expanding the pool of health care professionals who can initiate the involuntary commitment process to include psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners. It would also extend the timeframe that someone can be detained from seven to 15 days, potentially against their will, for emergency observation and diagnosis in a hospital or jail while mental health professionals determine if their behavior meets the standard for imminent harm to themselves or another. In D.C., drug addiction and alcoholism do not qualify as mental illnesses, according to the D.C. Courts.

Lewis Bossing, the senior staff attorney at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law, argued many of the provisions in Henderson’s legislation would be unlikely to support a person’s autonomy or improve the quality of their treatment. He criticized the provisions permitting hearsay in court hearings and those prioritizing virtual hearings, which he says are part of a “wishlist for people administering the system.” In a press release about the bill, Henderson’s office argued those same measures would make the challenge process fairer for people being committed against their will.

Bossing also opposes a provision that would allow the city to issue warrants for non-compliance with treatment plans or court appearances, which he argued would criminalize people’s failure to comply with a treatment plan they did not consent to or help create.

“There’s no evidence that forcing people to be treated improves their outcomes or makes people more likely to be engaged in their treatment,” Bossing said. Most recent studies have shown that involuntary outpatient treatment does not provide substantial benefits and may increase mental health deterioration.

“The Enhancing Mental Health Crisis Support and Hospitalization Amendment Act of 2024 aims to strengthen the District’s mental health processes for individuals in need of emergency stabilization and care,” Henderson wrote in a statement to Street Sense. “In no way are these processes meant to be used as anything other than a temporary entrance to a hospital or psychiatric facility for the purpose of mental health assessment and treatment.”

Involuntary commitment intersects frequently with states’ policy solutions to address homelessness, especially in the last two years. For instance, in Portland, where Point-in-Time Count data shows a record-high increase in homelessness in 2023, some politicians have advocated for more lenient civil commitment laws to allow doctors to increase the number of individuals they commit. In the District, 28% of adults experiencing homelessness surveyed in the 2023 Point-in-Time Count self-reported a mental illness.

“Here in the District, we are seeing cases of what happens when individuals experiencing mental health crisis do not receive care,” Henderson wrote in a statement. “This aims forth to maintain an overall well-being in our community by keeping residents safe from themselves and others.”

But while officials argue the legislation will support public health and safety efforts, Bossing and other advocates view expanded civil commitment as a violation of civil liberties that often impacts vulnerable communities. In D.C., where individuals experiencing homelessness are more likely to be Black than anywhere else in America, organizers are particularly worried about the disproportionate impact of more expansive involuntary commitment laws.

“People who have significant mental health support needs often experience some level of housing instability,” Bossing said. “We see a lot of efforts at the state level, in these ways or other ways, [to use] involuntary commitment as a means to generally transport people from the street to hospitals or to jail to await assessment.”

Without an expansion of housing services, mental health resources and other social services, Bossing believes involuntary commitment is unlikely to help people. “The solution here is for every community to have the capacity to engage people.”

The D.C. Council building. Photo by Kaela Roeder

Oversight hearing focuses on affordable housing, tenant

Bowser’s plan to increase density in areas like Chevy Chase through adding more affordable housing. She instead suggested the city work to distribute its housing vouchers

The hearing also touched on what OTA can do to promote

In 2023, amid soaring rent prices in D.C. and across the United States, the D.C. Council approved an emergency bill to cap maximum annual rent increases in rent-controlled units to 6%. This effort was partially spearheaded by Councilmember Robert White, who now chairs the Committee on Housing. However, residents and Chief Tenant Advocate Johanna Shreve argued the city could do more to protect affordable housing.

In a city where renters outnumber homeowners, rent control is critical in keeping housing affordable and maintaining housing security for the majority of D.C.’s population. Over the summer, both residents and councilmembers alike called for comprehensive reform.

During February’s hearing, trustee David Marlin, representing the Committee of 100 on the Federal City, urged the Committee on Housing to make structural reforms to the rent control statute to protect tenants and make it easier to expand rent control.

“It is a well-supported fact that the District needs more affordable housing to prevent the displacement of our working force,” Marlin said.

To that end, Marlin advocated for the repeal of two provisions of the rent control statute: voluntary agreements and certificates of assurance.

Both voluntary agreements and certificates of assuranceshave been subject to repeated moratoria over the last few years. However, two pending bills, introduced by Councilmember Anita Bonds and Councilmember Christina Henderson respectively, call for the permanent repeal of these provisions.

agreements, like Marlin, argue landlords often pressure tenants into signing these agreements, abusing this provision as a loophole to raise the rent of rent-controlled units.

Certificates of assurance, on the other hand, ensure landlords are compensated if their buildings are ever converted into rent-controlled housing for the difference between market rents and rent-controlled rent. To Marlin, this has the potential to drain D.C.’s coffers, diverting funds away from other crucial programs. In its four decades of rent control, D.C. has never granted a certificate of existence, despite an influx of applications in 2020.

Shreve, the head of the OTA, also spoke about reforms to rent control. Among other efforts in the past year, Shreve said that OTA contributed to the drafting of the emergency bill that capped rent increases and promoted provisions that would prevent landlords from overcharging tenants.

But Shreve shared concerns about continuing automatic rent increases for rent-controlled units, especially since many older buildings have faulty amenities. She suggested landlords instead build a mandatory replacement reserve fund, which would obligate landlords to pay for upgrades and improvements, as well as anticipated maintenance costs. Landlords could put any additional revenue from rent increases into the reserve fund.

“I think the automatic rent increase business needs to be rethought,” Shreve said. “Why are we as a city giving [landlords] an increase every year without justification?”

While residents all said D.C. should create more affordable housing, there was disagreement on the approach. Co-founder of Chevy Chase Voice Sheryl Barnes opposed Mayor Muriel

A tenant group, the Tenant Advocacy Coalition (TENAC), pushed for more transparency on the OTA website so tenants could more readily navigate any difficulties with landlords and track potential policy changes.

“TENAC has long wanted an addition to the OTA website that would list current issues tenants face and reforms necessary to resolve these issues,” Robert Leardo, co-chairman of TENAC, said. “With such a resource, all stakeholders, the council, and its staff could be brought up to speed quickly on tenant legislation issues and needed reforms…It is vitally important tenants be well informed of the issues that affect the community.”

Leardo also proposed several policies he said would improve accountability for landlords and protect tenants from incurring avoidable costs, such as a repair and deduct law that has been successful in Massachusetts. Under such a law, tenants can make repairs and have repair costs deducted from their rent in the event their housing is in unhabitable condition and landlords refuse to make repairs.

Shreve emphasized OTA’s role in rectifying the imbalance of economic power between landlords and tenants, expressing concern over the “alarming” frequency of tenants being displaced by building closures. Using the nuisance abatement fund, the Department of Buildings has the authority to order tenants to vacate buildings that violate housing codes. Shreve said it was an immediate priority for OTA to engage with the Department of Buildings to examine the conditions of housing in D.C.

Councilmember Robert White chairs an oversight hearing for the Office of the Tenant Advocate. Screenshot

Half of DC encampment closures in fiscal year 2023 happened with little notice

NINA RAJ Volunteer Freelance Reporter

.C. is relying on immediate dispositions to close encampments at high rates, officials testified at a Feb. 8 oversight hearing for the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS). Legal advocates are pushing back on the policy, which they say allows the city to close encampments with little to no notice.

DIn fiscal year 2023, 50% of the 82 encampment engagements conducted by DMHHS were immediate dispositions, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Wayne Turnage testified at the oversight hearing before the D.C. Council Health Committee.

A 2023 census of encampments recorded 210 unhoused individuals living outside, 194 tents or structures and 100 encampment sites across the District, according to Turnage. Seven of these sites seemed to be new, he said, while 13 have become inactive. Ward 2 hosts 20% of all city encampments, which is by far the greatest concentration of any ward.

DMHHS closes or ortherwise engages with an encampment whenever a site poses a health, security or safety risk or interferes with community use of public space, according to Turnage. For years, most encampment closures have been standard dispositions, which typically provide residents with 14 days’ notice to move their encampment or any property they wish to keep once the site is closed. Emergencies that pose an imminent threat to the health and safety of the general

population trigger an immediate disposition, for which DMHHS is not obligated to provide any prior notice.

According to D.C.’s encampment protocol, immediate dispositions can be justified due to emergency, security, health and safety risks. However, the protocol does not include specific examples of when immediate dispositions are allowed, leaving it to the discretion of DMHHS.

Ann Marie Staudenmaier, senior counsel at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, said immediate dispositions have drastically increased in recent years, occurring at an unprecedented rate. In June, Street Sense reported D.C. conducted 59 immediate dispositions in calendar year 2022, the most reported in recent years. (Calendar year 2022, included four months of fiscal year 2023).

“This is significantly more than ever. I’ve never seen them do a lot of immediate dispositions, and 41 is a lot,” Staudenmaier said in an interview with Street Sense.

Frequent immediate dispositions exacerbate the city’s struggle to house residents, Staudenmaier argued. When encampments are cleared with little warning, individuals can lose belongings and documentation needed when applying for housing. In the aftermath of an immediate disposition, it is more difficult for unhoused residents to stay in contact with case managers, she said.

In the past, DMHHS officials have said the rise in immediate dispositions is due to an increase in public health and safety concerns at encampments. But Staudenmaier,

who helped write D.C.’s encampment protocol, argued that immediate dispositions were intended to be enacted rarely and in extreme cases of threats to public health and safety. She believes the protocol is best applied if immediate dispositions are conducted only when an encampment can be reasonably considered a danger, not just to residents, but to others in the surrounding area, such as presence of a gun or hazardous substance. None of the 41 immediate dispositions over the last year qualified as a true risk to public health and safety, according to Staudenmaier, who reviewed a list of the justifications.

Street Sense reviewed a similar list in June. While D.C. closed some encampments due to fire hazards or criminal activity according to DMHHS, the most common reasons the city gave for an immediate disposition were that an encampment was blocking a pedestrian passageway or on private land, abandoned property or city parkland. Staudenmaier said for years these types of violations have been considered as justification for standard dispositions, enabling unhoused residents to prepare for a clearing.

“I think that they are violating the letter and the spirit of the protocol that governs how they are supposed to be doing clearings generally,” Staudenmaier said.

Joshua Drumming, a law graduate at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, testified at the hearing encampment closures can harm the health and wellbeing of unhoused residents, retraumatizing an already vulnerable population.

“Many encampment residents are surrounded by every belonging they own, including sentimental things to legal documentation,” Drumming testified. “Some leave their encampment for an hour or two, and upon their return, their home is lost forever.”

Despite no official requirement for notice, Turnage told councilmembers that DMHHS has attempted to give a 24-hour notice for immediate dispositions when possible.

With no notices posted online, immediate dispositions often fly under the radar of the general public and are difficult for advocates to consistently monitor, according to Staudenmaier. She suggested the city create a protocol that explicitly lists the requirements for an immediate disposition.

At the hearing, Turnage also highlighted the findings of a December 2023 follow-up on the Coordinated Assistance and Resources for Encampments (CARE) Pilot Program. First enacted in September 2021, the CARE pilot closed four encampments on city land with the promise of matching the affected residents with housing. Turnage announced that all of the 139 total residents on the official pilot list now have leased apartments, and expressed interest in expanding the program citywide when feasible.

While all of the individuals on CARE’s official list have been housed, Staudenmaier said there were many more unhoused people displaced by the program’s encampment clearings who were not included on the list.

“Everybody else who was in those large encampments has not been housed, and their lives were made more difficult, more precarious because of these huge encampment sweeps that came along with the CARE pilot,” Staudenmaier said. “Encampment clearings don’t solve homelessness. They don’t make homelessness go away. They make it worse.”

Shelley Byars moves her belongings during an encampment closure in 2023. Photo by Athiyah Azeem

DC, National Park Service conduct encampment clearings in Foggy Bottom ahead of May closure

MARGARET HARTIGAN AND ANDREA HO Editorial Interns

The National Park Service (NPS) will temporarily close the park area around the San Martin Memorial in Foggy Bottom on May 15, displacing a 28-tent encampment, according to signs posted in the area.

On Feb. 14, D.C. and NPS jointly conducted an “engagement” of the encampment ahead of the closure, cleaning the area but leaving all but three unoccupied tents intact. Encampment residents said they were aware of an upcoming full closure, but did not yet have plans for where to move in May. After NPS closed McPherson Square a year ago, many people relocated to the Foggy Bottom area, which now is home to some of the city’s largest encampments.

According to the signs posted, NPS will close the encampment so the area can be renovated for landscaping and turf restoration in advance of a celebration of the 250th anniversary of United States independence in 2026. A representative for NPS’s National Mall and Memorial Parks division said NPS notified the city about the closure in October.

The city also closed two smaller encampments in February — a one-person encampment in NoMa and in Foggy Bottom.

Among the residents present during the Feb. 14 clean-up of the area around the San Martin Memorial was Lucy, a former resident of the McPherson Square encampment. She said she was glad government officials had come by to clean. (Lucy, like all encampment residents quoted in this story, only gave her first name to protect her privacy while living outside.)

“They’ve gotta do it,” she said, adding that it frustrates her that some of her neighbors do not clean up as often as she thinks they should.“I pick up trash every day,” she said.

Lucy said proper disposal of trash and food waste is particularly important in D.C., a city with a notorious rat problem. (D.C. Health received thousands of calls about rat infestations last year.) Lucy said she enjoys giving nearby birds and squirrels leftover food, but she makes sure to give it to them in an area away from the encampment to prevent infestations.

“If they’re satisfied, you’re satisfied,” Lucy said as she emptied a jar of leftovers for a flock of birds.

Another resident, David, has lived in the encampment for six months, moving there shortly after hitchhiking from Kansas City. He said that he was “excited” for the clean-up, and gave two thumbs up. Like Lucy, he said he also values keeping the park clean and rat-free.

Tad moved to the Foggy Bottom encampment a little more than a month ago, after his belongings were stolen at the place he was previously staying. He spoke positively about the officials there cleaning. “They’re pretty good, respectful,” he said.

Tad added that the park had gotten messy and that there hadn’t been any cleaning since he moved there. “It’s about time,” Tad said.

DC encampment updates

The next day, Feb. 15, D.C. officials scheduled a “full cleanup” at a five-tent encampment in Foggy Bottom. A resident of that encampment, Nathaniel, who said he has been homeless “since before Reagan got shot” in 1981, said that he had been unaware that there was a cleaning scheduled.

“They’ve tried to clear this area many times before. They know me so they usually don’t touch my stuff,” Nathaniel, who stores his belongings in grocery carts, said in advance of the planned clean-up. Nathaniel said he usually moves between that encampment in Foggy Bottom and another encampment in Georgetown.

On Feb. 21, D.C. officials closed an encampment in NoMa, on the playground outside the Choice Academy at Emery, a public high school. Eddy, a now-former resident of this encampment, was notified of the closure the week prior and moved his belongings into his friend’s car the morning of the closure. Eddy said he and his friend planned to drive around the city in search of another place for him to set up camp.

Eddy, who is from Virginia, said he had been living at a shelter and working often — a morning shift at a grocery store and an evening shift at a convention center — when shelter officials gave away his bed after he had been missing for three days. After a series of misfortunes, including having his car’s catalytic converter and his phone stolen, Eddy ended up sleeping outside.

“How could they do that?” Eddy asked rhetorically. “I was working towards goals.”

D.C. was scheduled to fully close another encampment in Foggy Bottom on Feb. 28, after publication.

D.C. employees throw away trash at the Triangle Park encampment.

Lucy’s tent and belongings, protected by a rope, at the San Martin encampment. Photos by Margaret Hartigan

Where Eddy lived prior to Feb. 21.

FEATURE

Pages from the life book of Big Dan

FREDERIC JOHN Artist/Vendor

"Nature abhors a vacuum,” it has been said. Ergo, as long as Dan Kingery and his tent of inspiration and home-grown wisdom anchor the southwestern corner of McPherson Park, there shall be no vacuous moments at 15th and I Streets.

By dint of a miracle from above and perhaps a benevolent wink courtesy of park authorities, the robust, engaging Mr. Kingery holds forth daily to whoever passes his stand. At full height, Dan measures better than 6 feet 2 inches and his bright blonde facial foliage shames Jim Bridger, or perhaps Paul Bunyan.

Onlookers might quickly glom onto Kingery’s role as the McPherson Mountain Man. However, D.C. had earlier precedents for a free thinker dwelling out in the open — most notably the naturalist and philosopher Joaquin Miller who camped in a board cabin in the middle of Rock Creek Park — the house is still standing today!

Ensconced in his 5 foot by 10 foot enclosure, seeing Dan reading (or scribbling in) one of his many looseleaf pads most assuredly amazes passers-by coming off local bus routes or strolling through McPherson Square. On this particular day, the usual winter dark has been augmented by ice, snowdrifts and an almost constant stinging wind current blowing from the Ohio valley.

Yet there he reaches, with a Buddha-like composure, often through his bushy white beard. It’s hard to perceive traces of a wry smile, but it’s likely there.

“I grew up in a small Midwestern town of 900 or so and everybody pretty much knew everyone’s ways and practices.

“When I moved around, west, north, south — it took me 25 years to undo the indoctrination of 13 years of public schools.”

Dan settled in D.C. by 2018, by which time he was fully versed in all the articles and amendments of the Constitution.

His numero uno in the Bill of Rights hit parade is Article I: The right of peaceful assembly. Further, Article IV, Section 4 is a favorite of Dan’s.

When roused by any query, Dan greets all comers amiably.

“Even the park authorities seem in the square with me.” It seems, nearly a year after a hectic official sweep of McPherson, Big Dan and his jovial growl of a voice are a welcoming entity since the crowd was dispersed.

Dan has added his monumental shadow to that of the enormous gnarly “McPherson Oak” which is over 100 feet to the sky and which he estimates is “probably 200 years old.”

Amazingly enough, Dan can be found hunkering down in his “sleep cubicle” even on the most frigid of days. He even said to me “rest is precious — particularly for one who possesses a busy mind.”

Early in our one-on-one chats, Dan said “a beautiful little bird” inspired him to seek Constitutional purity in his quest for personal freedoms.

Our lugubrious host holds forth his biography:

“People nowadays don’t respect the Constitution. In Article IV, the founders pledged good rule to the nation. Funny thing — you may not realize it, but we are this close to clean, honest government.”

At this moment, the man formed the “little bit better” sign with his thumb and forefinger. Dan also likes the Ninth Amendment, which was used to guarantee the right to reproductive choice, along with the Fourteenth Amendment.

Dan Kingery has key quotes from the founder’s documents pasted around his enclosure. He’s no “MAGA” fanatic, just an old-fashioned libertarian. Not only does he keep his quarters (and his person) scrubbed and clean, but I also found the great man sweeping the main walkway of McPherson Square the other day.

Shoeless, but I consider Dan Kingery a true “barefoot oracle.” For good measure, he will

always hand over a pocket-size edition of the Constitution, free of charge.

There is far too much open sky territory to cover in one profile of the unique citizen but did we mention he was formally on the ballot for United States president?

Dan Kingery. Photos by Frederic John

Dan Kingery sweeps McPherson Square.

Dan Kingery's home next to the tree in McPherson Square.

The right to see

GRACIAS GARCIAS

In the United States of America, there is a right for people to see! Any questions?

Every living creature has senses to understand the universe, and is able to have a healthy organism to see the world and a nation that protects our rights. To freely perceive everything is so fortunate for all, so necessary to survive with liberty and purpose in the trials of life. I’ve been having vision problems since I can recollect, but lately, the problems are brain-related.

I’ve been forced to leave the island where I was born in search of medical attention because doctors in the archipelago of Puerto Rico are nowhere to be found. Our medical professional services were decimated and our hospital infrastructure was severly damaged. The economic “human trade offer” has always been the backbone of the government of the United States of America's imperialist, exploitative nature. The people of the invaded nation of Puerto Rico and all of our land and resources have been exploited.

“We the people…” are the product to maintain the colony that nurtures the empire of “SOME,” for the entire world to see.

The money paid for work done in the continental United States is more than double the salaries in our “nonincorporated territorial/colony” at our islands of Puerto Rico, in some instances, a lot more than double, sometimes as much as the ultimate price.

To clean the face of the colonial and imperialist nature of our invaded and slowly annihilated Caribbean culture, at a global forum legitimized by the United Nations, we are a “commonwealth.”

The truth is Puerto Rico is being submitted and enslaved resolutely, with strategic economic and political forces designed for our extinction and our political status. The definition contained in Article II of the United Nations Convention

described genocide as “a crime committed with the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, in whole or in part…”

Any questions?

At SOME (So Others May Eat), there is a group of professionals of the highest order. People with a true vocation in all their services, total quality, simple efficiency, a wholehearted place with integrity where if you can't afford to get glasses to be able to see, they will find a way to have you a pair of glasses perfectly and professionally manufactured.

I was walking through life without glasses for SOME years, but not anymore, thanks to SOME unique people in the United States of America. There is a right to see!

To see, analyze, act upon and remind our powerful “minority” communities, who were and are still enslaved and forced to work, deprived of full human dignity, because of disparities and inequality. Those who truly built this nation and still are marked with generational scars honed with the sweat, blood and tears of our true “American” nation builders for us to see, and to see justice!

In honor of the African slaves who built this nation and still suffer the consequences of this human trade, in honor of the Native American people who were decimated to create a nation who still suffer and barely survives, and of all Puerto Rican people who are displaced in a forceful economical imperialist displacement.

Colonialism is human trade and a genocidal tactical exercise against humanity. Freedom for all! Gracias Garcias is an artist and vendor with Street Sense Media.

Taking back my power

INVISIBLE PROPHET

n my life, I have learned the importance of healing inherited trauma. My healing process is releasing what no longer serves me, the emotional attachment to the trauma that has caused havoc throughout my growth process. I have so many inherited teachings swarming my mind like buzzing bees.

IUnlearning taught behavior is a long process of shredding away the cords of friction. I’ve grown to acknowledge my self-worth is expressing who I am. My voice is important and my family no longer controls my wellbeing and my mental health. No one will have power over me and what I say goes. I control my life. That is my freedom.

I am grounded in Mother Earth. My roots lie there with the trees. My new roots are no longer embedded in unbalanced trauma that has disrupted my chi expressing love freely without feeling like my heart is a curse. The trauma no longer has control.

My voice is published here in Street Sense, which is healing a part of my childhood trauma. I used to be mute as a child. In later years I went to speech therapy learning to say my R’s and S’s. I also stuttered a bit. The reasons for not speaking were trauma and abusive submission to keep secrets.

All my life I’ve been told to be quiet, to shut up, to not tell anyone anything. I advocate for the right way of life moving forward into healthy wellness. Wellness is being accountable for how I receive human behavior and how to process my growth in the present moment.

I’m grateful for Street Sense publishing me. I can thank the stalker who gave me the courage to remove myself from a harmful life. Even though it has been a rough start addressing the matter of intentional behavior not of my doing, I can breathe and let go of the past chaos. I am taking back my power!

Invisible Prophet is an artist and vendor with Street Sense Media.

Photo courtesy of Fethi Bouhaouchine/Unsplash

Photo courtesy of Volodymyr Hryshchenko/Unsplash

My opinion on the response to the rising crime in DC

Too many kids are getting involved in crime. Kids acting out starts with the mother and father. If they’re not around, usually, the kids raise themselves and their peers raise them. Kids under 15 don’t care about anything. They reject authority, they’re robbing and killing and have no remorse for it. And this is a product of their environment. I would like to change the school system. Prayer should be back in schools. Kids should proudly say the Pledge of Allegiance. They have to have something to stand for, to make America great, to be a part of America — not just to take from Americans.

A carjacked Prince George’s County resident testifies against the DC crime bill

JULIANA BARNET

Ilive in Prince George’s County, so why would I submit testimony against the Secure DC Omnibus Amendment Act of 2024?

In August 2017, I was coming out of the post office near my home one morning in Mt. Rainier when I was carjacked at knifepoint. Police pursued the carjacker into D.C., where he crashed, badly injuring two innocent people and himself.

As far as I know, no one died in that chase, but this is not always the case with police pursuits. In 2021, the deaths of Karon Hylton-Brown and Jeffrey Price in police chases led to a bill restricting dangerous, high-speed chases. The proposed crime bill would relax the restrictions.

I testified out of dismay that this and other dangerous practices would be reinstated, reversing important advances toward more humane, rational approaches to public safety that people called for in 2020, in which I and my family also participated. Is this progress to fade like the “Black Lives Matter” slogan the mayor ordered painted on the pavement near the White House?

The bill includes "drug-free zones," rollbacks of policies around transparency and accountability and expansion of pretrial and preconviction detention, which unfairly burden the poor. The bill also enables for surveillance measures highly correlated with racial profiling and reduced police accountability.

Crime affects the poor and unhoused at alarming rates. Won’t intensifying policing help stop it?

Unfortunately, rather than benign defenders of public safety, law enforcement has long been a repressive, punitive institution designed for social control, especially of those deemed most threatening to the status quo — the poor and the unhoused.

The way the police handled my case did not make me or my neighbors in either Maryland or D.C. safer or help prevent carjackings like the one I experienced — which have continued to increase.

It is puzzling why politicians keep resorting to being “tough on crime” in the style proposed in this bill when studies and experience show that communitybased social programs are most effective

at preventing crime. As the D.C.-based Brookings Institution, hardly a radical source, said in 2022, “The U.S. government dramatically underspends on programs that are most effective at improving community safety, while allocating billions to punitive programs that harm both families and communities.” The proposed D.C. crime bill clearly follows this pattern.

Genuine public safety can only be guaranteed by institutions controlled by the people who are the most aware of what safety truly means for themselves and their communities.

The Secure DC Omnibus Amendment Act goes in the opposite direction, heightening policing and punishment, even though many question such measures. This includes the former director of the D.C. juvenile justice system, Hilary Cairns, who expressed concern in an interview with DCist about “over-incarcerating youth.”

While the entire metropolitan area will feel the effects of this legislation if enacted, the most vulnerable will be most affected.

In December I attended a workshop held by the Stop Police Terror Project-D.C. for people wishing to testify against the bill. The workshop, with activists and lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union and other organizations, assisted citizens adversely impacted by D.C. police violence to prepare testimony stating why we are against the bill.

In addition to recounting my experience, I had a further motive for attending. I am writing a novel series set in the rapidly gentrifying Northeast neighborhood in D.C. The main characters include a community organizer and a group of teens who take over an abandoned recreation center to turn it into a community center. They live daily with policing practices like those contained in the bill.

My story is imaginary, but I aspire to portray the world my characters live in. As an activist and a writer, I want to support the fight for justice in the D.C. area. And as a novelist, I am committed to authentically portraying people confronting injustice — including police violence.

Juliana Barnet is an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and an activist, anthropologist, educator and writer.

MARC GRIER

Marc Grier is an artist and vendor with Street Sense Media.

Crime in D.C. rose in 2023. Screenshot of Metropolitan Police Department website

Happy Valentine’s Day!

EVELYN NNAM Artist/Vendor

Valentine’s Day is a day of showing your loved ones how much you really care and love them. Only it shouldn’t be just a day, it should be throughout the year. Nonetheless, Valentine’s Day comes every year, and when that day comes, we love to go all out for one another. I especially love it when stores promote Valentine’s Day with red and pink balloons, cards and other accessories. I love the chocolate boxes and other treats that come in beautiful pink and red colors. I love the Valentine’s Day feeling — that feeling of being cared and loved.

I also hope whoever reads this shares much love and care with anyone around them. Showing at least one person cares and loves is a way of making our world a better place. Valentine’s Day should be celebrated with everyone, even with those whom we don’t know. We should share that love and care all around us so everyone can feel that love that we want.

Jessica, my heartbeat

DEGNON DOVONOU Artist/Vendor

Let’s talk about the Jess of Ica

The little angel that glued my heart as a father

My third born is the baby of my baby

Every day I think about my little Jessica

One of the beautiful children, the fruit of my love

That makes me a proud father

How sweet it is to be and play the role of father

I really don’t know how to explain

How great is is to bear that privilege of privileges

To dress that vest of responsibility

To sustain the possibilities of impossibilities

As a father, I’m proud to support that marital status and have that parental visa States that will be and stay undeniable

Time goes farther and farther and due to the alias of life I’m stuck right here

But sooner or later

My baby will come here

Will see and hear what I do here

We here will always hear

Jessica, I love you so much

To live my life

TONY BOND Artist/Vendor

I am not interested in fighting hating blaming or being petty with whatever remaining time I have on this Earth

I just want to live love be loved and be at peace

Flowers

LADY SASHA Artist/Vendor

Roses are seasonal

Flowers make people feel special I wish I could send love and healing to everybody

People should laugh and smile...blossom

Not to laugh and smile, but some are evil and wicked...weeds

Heal and give people peace

You don't know what people are dealing with and going through

As we go through life and deal with different battles just reflect on the process

For the negative energy rains but doesn't reign

So let's stop the dramas and lies and rise...thorns

I can remember a lot over the years but I am truly thankful to have outgrown a lot

If you can talk to the B.S. — tell it to stop being sneaky

The mask of betrayal is not loyalty to anyone...fake

Let be known

I can see people are still using poison to trick people

But it is wrong and not a good thing to fool people...where is the love?

Some roots have weeds that need to be plucked out...nip it in the bud

Roses have thorns...of course, you know

But hey, there are fake diamonds but I am not

So let me say this...for all the nosey people that have thrown ashes at me

I am a diamond in the rough

I have been shaped into brilliance by the experiences that I survived I am beautiful...flaws and all

What are you? You know who you truly are

As for me, I am 39 and fine, so I am too blessed to be stressed

While others enjoy the mess

I get my rest

Don't blame me because I am beautiful

My question is for people who like spitting trash out their mouth

What if you died and had to relive life with lies that you spread

Would that make you want to change?

What if we all paid more attention to the truth and stopped the lies

Wouldn't we have more peace?

The poetry within me

CARLTON “INKFLOW” JOHNSON Artist/Vendor

The part of me that I hide I write alone

I hide within my poetry looking for a way to stand out from the homeless within our capital city Washington, D.C.

Most of the time I just wish to relax out of the cold on the streets

I feel the old years of homelessness to the next stage for the new years to come I hold onto all that I see in the streets

But the promise of a new year will soon be with me

I only wish to experience and teach about life off the streets

This is the preparation story about relaxing things I do with taking the long walks daily I only wish to help end homelessness on the streets of our nation’s capital I will mentor all that I wish to be

What kind of food do you like?

DANIEL BALL Artist/Vendor

My name is Daniel. And I like to eat watermelon.

I like to eat some good old corn off the cob.

I like to eat some good old apple pie.

I like to eat some good old greens.

I like to eat some good old lemon pie.

I like to eat some good old peaches.

I like to eat some good old ice cream.

I like to eat some good old steaks sometimes too. Also, I like to talk on my new cell phone.

Hotels

ANDRE BALTIMORE Artist/Vendor

I’m a host.

I’m this new passage.

I’m set, saying ‘So, who am I forgiven for what I’ve forgotten.’

I’m at the beach, sunning, watching the moon at a witness level.

To the one who…

TONYA WILLIAMS Artist/Vendor

To the one who likes to sleep

To the one who likes to listen

To the one who likes to talk

To the one who likes to eat

To the one who likes to smile

To the one who likes to play

To the one who likes to…forgive

Poor People’s Campaign

JOSIE BROWN Artist/Vendor

The Poor People’s Campaign will be meeting on March 2 at 10 a.m. at the Church of the Epiphany. We will be announcing our major 2024 voter mobilization campaign. We are standing together and we will take moral action leading up to the presidential election. We will educate and organize low-wage voters to shift the political landscape in this city and country.

Young Alum

LEVESTER GREEN Artist/Vendor

I’ve been thinking about the two dances I learned while away at school at South Carolina State University. I learned the finger wag and I remember utilizing it at the parties.

The other joint, now that I recall, came to be after listening to some Go-Go. It was about two years later. Me and my friends from South Carolina State University would always do what we called the “Orangatang Clyde” whenever we were playing some Go-Go music. I called it that because that’s what it looked like to me with our hands all waving wildly above our heads, clapping.

It took me some time to start dancing to some Go-Go. That was the camaraderie we often showed amongst us when we all converged somewhere, like at the parties. “You didn’t see them roughing off everybody at the party!” That was our giveback dance!

One of our native D.C. dances was brought to us by The Junkyard Band. It's my hometown flavor. Their other original dance to Go-Go music was the heehaw!

CROSSWORD

Game-Changer

Across

1. Actress Jessica of "Fantastic Four"

5. What's rounded up in a roundup

9. Religious doctrine

14. Go to a different, much warmer state?

15. Yours, in Tours (Fr.)

16. Take ____ off (relax) (2 wds.) (1,4)

17. "You said it, preacher!"

18. "Couldn't be easier" (3 wds.) (3,1,6)

20. Formal instruction sessions involving the development of lightsaber skills for padawans (2 wds.) (4,9)

22. Score after the first goal in a Sounders or OL Reign game

23. Want ad inits.(abbr./initialism)

24. Do goo

27. What the hen in charge did to the roost (2 wds.) (5,2) (IDLE RUT anagram)

29. Close call

31. Bother

33. National dish of Scotland

34. Prepared veal scaloppini or minestrone (2 wds.) (6.7)

39. Comrades in battle

40. Neither's partner

41. How eulogies are typically delivered

42. Newsroom staffers to whom crossword puzzle constructors submit their work

48. ____ Pinafore (well-known Gilbert & Sullivan operetta) (abbr./initialism)

49. Print resolution letters (abbr./ initialism)

52. Vail trail, in a couple of words (3,3)

53. Timeworn phrase that means reversed the course of events...or a hint to a feature of the answers with circled letter groups (3 wds.) (6,3,4)

57. What James Bond orders "...shaken, not stirred" (2 wds. (3,7)

59. Mother ___ (prospector's quest)

60. Emulates the Good Samaritan, say

61. Clever stroke, or a government takeover

62. Part of DOE (abbr.)

63. "____ Lady (big hit for Tom Jones) (4,1) (ASHES anagram)

64. Baseball Hall-of-Fame slugger Mel's family

65. Ukr. and Lith., once (abbr./initialism)

Down

1. Key of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony (2 wds.) (1,5)

2. Starting item commonly asked for "s'il vous plait?" in Paris restaurants, perhaps (2 wds.) (2,4) (Fr)

3. Actress Alexis of "Gilmore Girls"

4. When many stores open (2 wds.) (2,4) (INNATE anagram)

5. Like some bone fractures (IRISH LANE anagram)

6. Jazzy James

7. "Riveting" propaganda figure of WWII

8. Newswoman Sawyer of ABC

9. "Rats!"

10. Couturier Cassini of fashion

11. Gets wildly enthusiastic (2 wds.) (4,4)

12. Actor & stand-up comic Jobrani who's a frequent panelist on NPR's "Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me!," familiarly

13. Sidewalk stand drink

19. Life story, in brief

21. Rx instruction that means 3 times a day (abbr./initialism) (Lat.)

25. "___ Brockovich" or "___ go bragh"

26. "___ Misérables" (Fr.)

28. Bit

29. "Do the Right Thing" pizzeria owner

30. Hollywood special FX initialism

32. 57-Across ingredient

33. The adversities in life (HASH DRIPS anagram)

34. Chowder morsel

35. Like retro music and clothing (2 wds.) (3,5) (DOLLY SET anagram)

36. Black gold

37. Skeleton ____ or Shift ____

38. Turning point for a ballerina?

39. Baseball bat wood

43. Mamie's man in the 1953-61 White House

44. Book spine data

45. ___ Belt (constellation feature)

46. Nautical steering device

47. Bad looks

49. "Hands off" order in the ER, briefly (abbr./initialism)

50. Big Box chain for items for Fido and Fifi (name incls. an abbr.)

51. Dunderhead

54. Strike callers

55. Tabula ___ (blank slate/page) (Lat.)

56. Letter-shaped fastener (1-3)

57. Some batters, for short (abbr./ initialism)

58. Second presentation of the evidence in a trial or similar legal process (abbr.)

This crossword puzzle is the original work of Patrick “Mac”McIntyre. It is provided to us courtesy of Real Change News, a street paper based in Seattle, Washington. Learn more about Real Change News and the International Network of Street Papers at realchangenews.org and insp.ngo.

ILLUSTRATION OF THE WEEK

COMMUNITY SERVICES

Housing/Shelter Vivienda/alojamiento

Case Management Coordinación de Servicios

Education Educación

Food Comida

Academy of Hope Public Charter School 202-269-6623 // 2315 18th Place NE 202-373-0246 // 421 Alabama Avenue SE aohdc.org

Bread for the City - 1525 7th St., NW // 202-265-2400 - 1700 Marion Barry Ave SE // 202-561-8587 breadforthecity.org

Calvary Women’s Services // 202-678-2341 1217 Marion Barry Ave 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 // 202-929-0100 1820 Connecticut Ave., NW charliesplacedc.org

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

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

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

Community of Hope // 202-232-7356 4 Atlantic Street, SW 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

Care Seguro Employment Assistance Assitencia con Empleo

Father McKenna Center // 202-842-1112 900 North Capitol Street, NW fathermckennacenter.org

Clothing Ropa Transportation Transportación

Legal Assistance Assistencia Legal Showers Duchas

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

Food and Friends // 202-269-2277 (home delivery for those suffering from HIV, cancer, etc)

219 Riggs Rd., NE foodandfriends.org

Foundry Methodist Church // 202-332-4010 1500 16th St., NW foundryumc.org/idministry

Identification services

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 // 202-544-9096 1526 Pennsylvanis Ave, SE jobshavepriority.org

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

Martha’s Table // 202-328-6608 marthastable.org 2375 Elvans Road SE

2204 Martin Luther King Ave. SE

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

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

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

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

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

Laundry Lavandería

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

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

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

St. Luke’s Mission Center // 202-363-4900 3655 Calvert St., NW stlukesmissioncenter.org

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

Unity Health Care unityhealthcare.org

- Healthcare for the Homeless Health Center: 202-508-0500

- Community Health Centers: 202-469-4699

1500 Galen Street SE, 1251-B Saratoga Ave NE, 1660 Columbia Road NW, 4414 Benning Road NE, 3946 Minnesota Avenue NE, 765 Kenilworth Terrace NE, 850 Delaware Ave. SW, 3240 Stanton Road SE, 3020 14th Street NW, 425 2nd Street NW, 4713 Wisconsin Avenue NW, 2100 New York Avenue NE, 1333 N Street NW, 1355 New York Avenue NE, 1151 Bladensburg Road, NE, 4515 Edson Place NE

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

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

Whitman-Walker Health 1525 14th St., NW // 202-745-7000 1201 Sycamore Drive, SE whitman-walker.org

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

Server

The Landing Alexandria // 2620 Main Line Blvd., Alexandria

Part-time, full-time

Provide service of high-quality meals and exceptional customer service to the residents.

REQUIRED: N/A

APPLY: tinyurl.com/landingalex

Store Associate RX CVS Health // 661 Pennslyvania Ave. SE

Part-time, full-time

Ensure that each customer has a positive shopping experience at CVS.

REQUIRED: Able to lift up to 35 lbs.

APPLY: tinyurl.com/cvspenn

Host

Dishwasher

Palette 22 DC // 400 Morse St. NE

Full-time, part-time

Assess the needs of each guest you encounter, assure the quality of our products and services and evaluate guest satisfaction.

Maintain a clean, neat, and organized dish station throughout a busy shift. Set up station before shifts and leave clean station after. Properly washe and sorts soiled dish ware, properly uses dish machines and equipment.

REQUIRED: N/A

APPLY: tinyurl.com/palette22dc