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As budget crisis looms, the Rapid Rehousing program scales back for the fiscal year
DONTE KIRBY Deputy Editor
C.’s Rapid Rehousing (RRH) program for individuals hasn’t taken new referrals since April 2024 due to budget constraints. Now, the program has suspended any new entries for the fiscal year, meaning single adults experiencing homelessness won’t see relief from the program until at least October. In the family version of the program, the purse strings are only getting tighter as the city pauses hiring program staff.
RRH is a short-term subsidy that pays a portion of a family’s rent through the Family Rehousing Stabilization Program (FRSP) or an individual’s rent through Rapid Rehousing for Individuals (RRH-I). The subsidy supports a market-rate apartment for a year, with the possibility of a six-month extension. During that time, participants receive case management and are expected to increase their income so they can remain in housing once the subsidy ends, though many do not achieve this. Despite questions about efficacy, RRH is one of the city’s main tools to address homelessness and currently serves 2,800 families and 300 individuals, according to the D.C. Department of Human Services (DHS).
The program has been a battleground between the D.C. Council and Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office since last June, when more than 2,000 families were forced to exit the program. A tight D.C. government budget — which appears to be getting ever tighter with federal funding concerns — has led the city to not only stop new single adults from using the program but also to inform family service providers they can no longer hire new staff to fill vacancies, according to DHS, which runs the program.
“As a cost-savings measure, DHS recently issued guidance to FRSP providers advising them to pause the hiring of specific FRSP staff positions that are vacant. DHS will continue to assess the program and provider staffing levels moving forward with the goal of assisting families in the most effective way possible,” a DHS spokesperson wrote.
For individuals, DHS suspended new referrals in April 2024, the spokesperson said, and the program has since reduced the number of participants from 600 to 300. Officials at a recent D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness meeting announced they have recently stopped enrolling individuals in RRH for the fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, and closed the referral form because the program isn’t expecting to take new referrals soon.
“Referrals remain suspended to stay within the Fiscal Year 2025 funding appropriation for this program. DHS reviews its RRH-I budget on a monthly basis to explore the possibility of accepting new referrals,” DHS wrote.
This year’s budget season, during which RRH’s funding may rise to enable more spots to open next year, is set to begin when the mayor releases her budget. It’s been delayed, however, until Congress decides whether to fix a measure slashing D.C.’s budget. The House of Representatives voted on a continuing resolution to prevent a government shutdown in March, but the bill treated Washington, D.C.’s locally funded budget, raised through local taxes, as part of the federal budget. Due to the change in wording, D.C.’s budget was set to revert to Fiscal Year 2024, meaning the city would sustain $1.1 billion in cuts. The Senate passed a bill to close the hole, but the House has yet to bring it to a vote.
Service providers and advocates are calling for the city to increase funding for RRH for individuals to help at least 600 people at a time, with a hope they can add additional 100 slots. But with the city’s budget up in the air, DHS has decided to tighten the purse strings, and only time will tell if they open up again, allowing more people to move into housing.
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‘Significant slowdown’ in moving people into housing, officials say
ELLA MITCHELL Editorial Intern
The District housed fewer people experiencing homelessness in fiscal year 2025 than the year before — even as the city wades through its voucher backlog. The “significant slowdown,” as Executive Director of D.C.’s Interagency Council on Homelessness Theresa Silla described it to it at a D.C. Council Committee on Human Services oversight hearing on March 7, comes in the same year as an uptick in homelessness in the city.
The District’s homeless services system moves more families into housing than single adults each year, even though more individuals experience homelessness. The process is also slow. While the city funded 2,400 new Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) vouchers for individuals in fiscal year 2022, only 600 people moved into housing with the vouchers that year. With D.C. funding fewer vouchers in subsequent years, only a fraction of adults experiencing homelessness have moved into housing.
In 2024, according to Silla’s testimony, the number of families experiencing homelessness across D.C.’s homeless services system increased by about 11%, from 1,284 families in FY23 to 1,431 families in FY24. In response, the family system “mobilized” to house families as quickly as possible, Silla said. The number of families exiting homelessness and moving into housing increased by 32% over the last year, from 885 families in FY23 to 1173 families in FY24, she said.
“While we are anxious about the increase in families experiencing homelessness, we are grateful for all of the members of the family system … who rally to house families as quickly as possible,” Silla said.
But single adults have not seen the same outcome. Homelessness among unaccompanied people rose slightly based on the city’s data about how many people it serves, from 8,691 people in FY23 to 8,768 in FY24. But the number of individuals who moved into housing decreased by 22%, from 972 people in FY23 to 756 people in FY24. This means less than one-tenth of individuals who experienced homelessness in FY24 moved into housing.
One of the main ways individual adults experiencing homelessness move into housing is through the PSH program, which provides long-term rental assistance and case management to those who are chronically homeless.
In FY24, 995 individuals were matched to a PSH voucher, according to DHS data from January 2025. In the same timeframe, 544 individuals moved into housing with the voucher. As of Oct. 31, 2024, all FY22 through FY24 resources had been matched to a household, DHS data says.
But that doesn’t mean everyone is in housing. Hundreds of individuals who are eligible for and matched to vouchers are still homeless, with 38% of vouchers not utilized from FY22 to FY24, according to DHS data. This means about 1,187 of the 3,126 vouchers allocated for singles from FY22 to FY24 remain unused, with their recipients still sleeping outside or in shelters.
This is nothing new for DHS and the D.C. Housing Authority (DCHA), its partner on the PSH program. Since the city expanded PSH vouchers in 2022, the city has had a backlog of hundreds of vouchers waiting to be processed. Part of the delay is the lengthy process; once someone is matched to a voucher, they still have to apply for the program, find an apartment, and have the city approve that apartment.
As the backlog continued, the city slowed voucher investments. In FY25, the District only allocated funding for 148 PSH vouchers for individuals, a sliver of the 1,260 vouchers advocacy groups pushed the city to fund. It was the third consecutive year the city reduced the budget for PSH vouchers for individuals as officials played catchup with the remaining vouchers.
Delays occur at every stage of the process, which officials at the oversight hearing attributed to DHS staffing shortages and DCHA’s disarray. Brian Campbell, the administrator for the DHS’s economic security administration, said DHS increased overtime spending by $129,000 last year, which he attributed to the agency’s higher caseload across all its programs.
“It’s certainly a contributing factor. The other thing that explains it, frankly, is that our caseload has risen 40% since COVID. So it’s a matter of: there’s work to get done. How do we get the work done?” Campbell said.
On the DCHA side, a 2022 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) report found the housing authority suffered from issues like poor management of its voucher program.
As part of bringing DCHA into federal and local compliance, rent reasonableness, a process the housing authority uses to verify landlords are charging voucher holders a
rent comparable to what other rents would pay, was first implemented in July 2023. DCHA said in a June 2023 release it did not anticipate “any delays” in processing timelines, yet housing placements came to an immediate halt, Silla said at the hearing. Interim DHS Director Rachel Pierre said DCHA and DHS collaborated to expedite the process for those impacted.
DHS’s reliance on the DCHA administering the local rent subsidy program is one reason there is such a gap between the percent of families and individuals moving into housing, Silla said. The family system does not rely on DCHA to exit families from short-term housing to housing facilitated by the Family Rehousing Stabilization Program, which provides rental assistance to families for 12 to 18 months.
“The road to recovery at the D.C. Housing Authority has been hard on our single adult subsystem,” Silla said.
While a higher percentage of families move into housing, there are still delays in the PSH program. In FY24, 441 families were matched to a PSH voucher, and 158 moved into housing, according to DHS data. But 48% of recent PSH investments for families haven’t been used, meaning 922 families are waiting to move in with a voucher.
Thus far in fiscal year 2025, 33 singles and 27 families have been matched to a voucher through the PSH program, according to DHS data last updated in January. Another 149 singles and 27 families moved into housing. The District’s voucher progress over the last year may impact how much funding the mayor and D.C. Council will give the PSH program in the next budget, which is expected to be released in the coming weeks.
Homeless services community warns Trump’s
order to make D.C. “safe and beautiful” will just hide homelessness
KATHERINE WILKISON
Editorial Intern
Following months of speculation and a flurry of recent executive orders, housed and unhoused Washingtonians alike are left wondering what the future of their city looks like under the Trump administration.
On March 28, Trump signed an executive order threatening D.C. home rule and targeting residents experiencing homelessness. The order calls for the creation of the “D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force,” which, as of the time of publication, will not include any members of the local government, direct service providers, or community representatives. For many Washingtonians, this is just the latest example of federal overreach and interference without true representation.
The task force is charged with increasing police presence in the District, “maximizing” immigration enforcement, enforcing penalties for “quality of life crimes,” strengthening pretrial detention, and cracking down on crime on public transportation. Following the announcement, several D.C. politicians fired back at the president and his task force, which will include representatives from 10 federal agencies.
“President Trump’s thoroughly anti-home rule EO [executive order] is insulting to the 700,000 D.C. residents who live in close proximity to a federal government, which continues to deny them the same rights afforded to other Americans,” D.C. Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton wrote in a statement.
The order also calls on the National Park Service (NPS) to promptly remove and clean up “homeless or vagrant encampments” to the “maximum extent permitted by law.” It is unclear if this order will lead to a policy change, as NPS already closes at least some encampments on federal land in D.C.
NPS has long-standing regulations against unauthorized camping and has cleared several encampments in recent years, including a 70-person encampment in McPherson Square in 2023. The agency had planned to close all encampments on federal land in D.C. by the end of 2023 but began reinforcement of the camping ban in mid-2024. NPS did not respond to multiple requests for comment about how the order will be implemented, but advocates worry it will lead to more encampment closures, or harsher penalties for those found camping, which is an arrestable offense.
“This executive order, like many executive orders, won’t actually help anybody. It’ll just push people further into poverty and, in this case, keep people homeless longer,” Jesse Rabinowitz, the campaign and communications director for the National Homeless Law Center, said. “If the president was really committed to solving homelessness, he would fund housing and support, not prioritize these traumatic and wasteful evictions.”
While the order specifically targets encampments on federal land, the president has publicly instructed D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to remove encampments from District land as well. In a post on Truth Social about the executive order, he wrote, “I will work with the Mayor on this and, if it does not happen, will have no choice but to do it myself.”
This is not the first time Trump has targeted homeless encampments in the District. In March, he posted on Truth Social demanding Bowser clear an encampment near the State Department building. The city shut down the encampment two days later with the help of more than 25 police officers.
In a statement, a representative for the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS), which oversees the city’s encampments team, said the order does not mean a change in policy for encampments on District land.
“Our outreach and engagement efforts will not change. We will continue to encourage residents to move from outdoor conditions into safer shelter and housing resources,” a DMHHS spokesperson wrote in an email to Street Sense. As of April 7, 13 DMHHS encampment closures are scheduled for April and May. DMHHS estimates about 200 people are currently living in encampments in D.C.
Rabinowitz believes policies calling for encampment closures are, in part, driven by misconceptions about people experiencing homelessness.
“The biggest narrative driving homeless laws is that homelessness is a choice, and that if we make homelessness harder or if we are more cruel to homeless folks, then they would not be homeless. But nobody is experiencing homelessness by choice,” Rabinowitz said. “They are forced into homelessness by a country that doesn’t have enough housing that people can afford and that doesn’t have a social safety net.”
Homeless service providers and advocates have long spoken out against encampment clearings, calling them destabilizing and ineffective.
Ami Angell, executive director of the h3 Project, has been doing street outreach in D.C. for more than five years. For her, simply removing encampments is short-sighted.
“Sure, it provides that temporary Band-Aid. Oh, look, now we actually followed through. This place is clear,” Angell said. “Imagine having to pack up your house and have to move everything. You’re going to lose things in the process, it’s very inconvenient.”
For service providers like Angell, closing encampments also means losing connections with clients. This may mean clients lose access to their caseworkers, important documents, or the people who were helping them apply for housing.
“Suggesting that we can just get rid of homelessness severely undermines the motivation and the intellect of those experiencing homelessness. Those that are on the streets, just because they may be down on their luck, that doesn’t mean that they lack resilience,” Angell said. “Instead of trying to cover up something, let’s do something that’s going to be helpful.”
Angell estimates she and her team have a current caseload of about 200 people who are experiencing homelessness or are housing insecure, and they provide resources like clothing to dozens more in the Union Station area.
Beyond removing people experiencing homelessness from national land, the order calls for increased police presence and enforcement of “quality of life” laws, which could have a disproportionate impact on low-income Washingtonians. A statement from the ACLU said the approach is ineffective and “criminalizes behaviors that are symptoms of poverty and lack of opportunity.”
Crime rates in the District have fluctuated in recent years, but are largely going down. Overall crime declined by nearly 15% from 2023 to 2024. Over the same period, homicides decreased by nearly one-third, sex abuse by 25%, and robberies by 39%. From 2021 to 2024, violent crime declined by more than 15%, according to data provided by the Metropolitan Police Department.
The order is part of a larger effort by the president to “beautify” the District, which Trump has previously described as “horribly run” and “marred by filth and decay.”
After decades in the District, Daniel del Pielago, the housing director for Empower DC, says he sees a different side to the city than the president, who has called D.C. “a nightmare of murder and crime.”
“I am not naive enough to say that I have not witnessed crime, but I also witnessed the beautiful city that is the District,” del Pielago said. “I see communities that help each other. I see food distribution, people taking care of one another in the ways that they can. So I think that that is far from the truth, and just another way that this new administration throws around their weight and controls cities that are primarily Black and have Black leadership.”
Del Pielago is well aware of the severity of the challenges facing the District but says more policing, incarceration, and encampment closures are not the best path forward.
“We need to make sure that we continue to invest in this city, which is very rich. It has very rich people living in it, and we find ways to support everyone that lives here,” del Pielago said.
After spending decades abroad, Angell has chosen to build a life in the District and serve its residents. For her, it is clear Trump is out of touch with most Washingtonians.
“It’s not like [Trump] goes out walking by himself anywhere to really experience D.C. He has a very narrow view,” Angell said. “Let’s not just ask all the folks in suits next to us. Why don’t we go to the streets, and why don’t we really find out what folks think of D.C.?”
Angell has spent years asking people experiencing homelessness that question: If given the choice, would they choose to leave D.C.?
“The vast majority, I’d probably say a good 88 or so percent, say that they want to stay here because this is their home, and this is where they feel connected,” Angell said. “They would not say this if it was the mecca of murder and crime.”
A man in Washington, D.C., on Inauguration Day, Jan 20. Photo by Madi Koesler
District to open second non-congregate shelter this summer after delay
FIONA RILEY Editorial Intern
The District expects to open a second non-congregate homeless shelter in Northwest D.C. this summer. The E Street shelter, which was originally set to open this past November, will offer 190 beds with privacy for adult families and medically vulnerable people, expanding the city’s supply in what’s soon expected to be a nearly full shelter system.
The months-long delay mirrors setbacks faced by the Aston, D.C.’s first noncongregare shelter, which opened its doors in fall 2024 after delays securing a housing provider, lawsuits, and a failed building inspection pushed the date back a year. A D.C. Department of Human Services (DHS) spokesperson declined to comment on why officials delayed the E Street shelter’s opening, which, with its original date, was slated to raise the number of available beds at the start of hypothermia season, when more people seek shelter.
Officials initially announced plans to open the shelter at 25 E St., near Union Station, in summer 2023, including the 190 beds it would provide in the city’s plan to raise the number of available beds by 500 by the end of 2028.
Under the initial timeline, District officials expected to complete renovations on the building — which used to be an office space — in fall 2023 and winter 2024, onboard the provider in spring and summer 2024, and begin accepting tenants in November 2024.
DHS officials said at a March 26 Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) meeting they now expect to open the shelter this summer. Miriam’s Kitchen will run the non-congregate shelter, according to the March ICH presentation. The local homeless services organization does not currently run any shelters, but is one of the city’s main outreach providers.
“DHS and our partners continue to work hard to bring this project online,” a DHS spokesperson said in an email.
As a non-congregate shelter, 25 E St. is a specialty shelter, rather than most shelters in D.C., which are low-barrier. To move into E Street, which the District considers “transitional” housing, people will have to go through a referral process.
In a July 2023 presentation to the 6E Advisory Neighborhood Commission, the ANC for where the E Street shelter is located, DHS said the shelter would serve medically vulnerable people, people who require case management for a “specific population,” like those who require work beds and senior beds, clients who are matched to housing resources through the District’s coordinated entry program, and people who “cannot be served” at other shelters in D.C. — including couples, mixed gender adult families and clients with acute conditions who need a medical respite bed. The shelter will give priority to female clients, according to the presentation.
According to the presentation, officials expect 25 E St. tenants will remain at the shelter for between six and 12 months and will receive consistent medical services and intensive case management during their stay.
While the city did not comment on a reason for the delay at E Street, necessary renovations outlined in the presentation included painting the interior spaces of the building, completing construction on a dining and lounge area, laundry room, storage room and warming kitchen, upgrading security and IT infrastructure, building a medical clinic and administrative spaces, and adding a “flex space” for a boutique and barber shop.
The update comes five months after officials opened the city’s first non-congregate shelter, the Aston, on New Hampshire Avenue in Northwest D.C. District officials had initially intended to house 190 people at the Aston but dropped the number to 100 ahead of its November opening.
DHS officials said at the March meeting that, similar to the Aston, the E Street shelter won’t start at full capacity, but they plan to create a schedule to “ramp up” the number of beds — arranged in pairs with a bathroom for each suite. The Aston initially offered 50 beds but raised the number to 100 in January. About 80 people now live at the Aston, and the city has recently offered beds to some people impacted by encampment closures.
But the model hasn’t been without challenges. Ten of the initial 50-person cohort who moved into the Aston left during the first month, the GW Hatchet first reported. A DHS spokesperson at a January meeting attributed the turnover to some tenants’ difficulties adjusting to a different way of living. The Aston’s noncongregate style, with common spaces, curfews, and rules, can be a large adjustment for people who previously lived on the street or in a low-barrier shelter, some of whom have told Street Sense they found the rules so restrictive they declined a spot at the Aston.
Health care providers for low-income residents pass one year of contract negotiations
TIERRA
A
fter a year of negotiations for better working conditions, Unity Health Care employees held a rally on March 15 in support of their staff amid ongoing turmoil.
The rally comes after more resignations from doctors at the organization’s clinics and slow progress with union negotiations. With clinics unable to efficiently replace the physicians lost, the workload for remaining staff has only gone up, physicians say.
Unity is the largest health care provider for underserved people in D.C. Medical providers originally unionized in late 2023, beginning negotiations in April 2024. The nursing and support staff followed suit, moving to unionize at the end of 2024.
The main objective of the rally was to increase the awareness of union contract negotiations for better working conditions for staff, especially after the announcement the CEO and President of Unity, Dr. Jessica Henderson Boyd, will be stepping down in May.
Although Unity workers have near wall-to-wall union coverage, Jimmy Tracy, family nurse practitioner and Unity Health Care peer representative, said the rally was necessary to push for faster contract results.
“You get Unity to agree to our demands so that we can get this contract done, and we can get back to taking care of patients,” Tracy said.
Since the beginning of bargaining sessions more than a year ago, providers wanted to portray strength and allyship for the staff and the patients.
“We’re not only advocating for ourselves, but advocating for the patients and that we are eager to be a part of the broader movement for health care justice in the city,” Tracy said. “We’re very happy to engage our community allies because we’re in for the long haul.”
It’s not clear how Boyd’s resignation could impact contract negotiations. Boyd has not been an active participant in the bargaining session negotiations since the beginning of the process, said Tracy. Her team did not respond to Street Sense’s request for comment.
Tracy also worries about the recent federal changes under the Trump administration in the Medicaid and Medicare programs. Programs such as Medicaid are monumental in Unity’s patients’ ability to see specialists, and the organization’s primary income comes from Medicaid reimbursements, according to Tracy.
The Trump administration has overseen the firing of thousands of probationary employees in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees Medicare and Medicaid government programs, according to the Center for Medicare Advocacy. The group expressed worries about how these firings will affect operations and health care fraud prosecutions. The administration has argued that the cuts are intended to cut costs and boost efficiency.
So far, Unity Health Care has not seen any major changes in Medicaid or other community health care service funding. According to Tracy, Medicaid makes a great difference in access to care because recipients do not have to use the emergency room to see a doctor and can routinely get their medications.
“We definitely feel like it’s the right time to not only be active for our own interests, but add to the ranks of organizations in the city that are doing important work to [promote] good policies and to protest bad policies,” Tracy said.
CUNNINGHAM Volunteer Freelance Reporter
Unity Health Care workers rally in front of the John Wilson Building on March 15. Photo courtesy of Jimmy Tracy
Eastern Europe in five days? Part 3: Vienna Waits for You
WENDELL WILLIAMS
eaving Bratislava right after dinner, we could see the modern outskirts of the city pass by as we picked up speed. After warming up a little, for the first time after that face-to-face meeting of the Slovakian version of myself and all early vendors, I asked my friend for the itinerary. I was now fully engaged, whereas before, I was merely tagging along on a free trip. Everything about being there made sense since I’d contacted the homeless, which had given me an alternative mission, a reason to anticipate the upcoming stops. A song from long ago popped into my head. But why that song?
LAs I thought about our next port, the song made me think about another life I once led. It seems so far back now that I must work very hard to get in touch with it, because so much has happened to me to take me away from that world. Sometimes I forget, as all who have experienced homelessness often do, that once upon a time, I had a good life, and it wasn’t a fairy tale either. I was working in a top rock radio station as a twenty-something. I was an anomaly, a young urban Black guy labeled a whiz kid. I’d fallen in love with a certain Long Island artist’s music and a song of his about a city, which I now know I was too young to understand, but still, I was captivated by the hidden meaning of the words. And because of another Random Act of Kindness, here I was, about to finally decode the song’s meaning for me. The title of that song, Vienna, was our next stop on the Danube. I started to think about my former life. The cars I drove and the nice house I was buying. I strained to recall what the house looked like. It seemed so long ago I was constantly told I had so much promise, but hearing that song again and knowing “Vienna was waiting for me” had me up most of the night. As we awoke, we couldn’t see much of the famous Austrian capital. Vienna doesn’t sit on the Danube. It was built as a Roman garrison along a Danube tributary a short distance away. We pulled up alongside a pier and came to a stop at a place that looked nowhere like the Vienna I had envisioned. It was in an isolated area, unlike any of the previous stops, which had put us right downtown. We were tied up on a lonely pier waiting for what was next. All the while the Piano Man’s music still playing in my head, “Vienna waits for you.” “Where is it?” I was thinking.
Vienna is an old city. Boarding buses, we made our way through its newest parts as we headed towards the historic center. For centuries, it was the crossroads for East-West chicanery, from the Roman Empire right up to the Cold War. It’s been featured heavily in spy movies, books, and comics, including everything from Tom Clancy’s “Jack Ryan”, Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible,” to “Spy vs. Spy” in Mad Magazine, to Boris and Natasha from “Rocky and Bullwinkle.” All had used Vienna as the backdrop for mystery and intrigue. And here I was, about to unravel a little more of my own mystery.
As we moved through modern developments of housing and apartments, we started to see glimpses of the old Vienna. Park after park was spread across acres. One park even had a giant Ferris wheel that would shame the National Harbor’s. And let me not forget to mention the traffic circles in this city. I can see how Washington’s planners got many of their ideas. So far, they’ve been a staple of the old European cities we’ve seen, serving two purposes: controlling traffic and adding a beautiful green space. Think Dupont Circle, but five to 10 times larger. It was just grand in scale, as was everything we saw.
By this time, my mind was starting to calculate the cost of this grandness. The Austrian Empire was rich and mighty, with noblemen who didn’t care to build anything small. “Anything you can build, I can build bigger” seemed to be how they thought
in that period. Vienna was home to a lot of famous people in history. We saw Mozart’s home as we moved down avenues with once tall mansions now hotels, apartments, and office space. We headed towards the two attractions we most wanted to see, the opera house and the palace.
Even from the bus, it was easy to see the opera house was huge. We pulled up to what I thought was the front, only to find out it was just a side entrance. It takes up a city block, and its exterior footprint is bigger than some NBA arenas I’ve been to. During those times, building opera houses was a competitive undertaking where one monarch had to outdo the other, or city pride caused one city to want its to be the best and biggest. The current Vienna State Opera never performs the same opera on back-to-back nights, never. It is a huge undertaking, but it’s what is expected. And just from the size of all this, I’m sure it delivers. We didn’t go inside the opera house because it had taken 45 minutes to get us through the town to its old center. Vienna had waited for me; the real city of folklore was right here. And as I looked up, I couldn’t see what other attractions people were talking about. But we sure could tell in what direction Schönbrunn Palace was by the flow of the crowds.
Our group marched down the city’s wide streets until we found ourselves on a road that narrowed into one barely wide enough for a car. Then I got one of the many surprises of that cold day. As we were walking in what became a covered passageway, I looked to my right and said, “Wait a minute” to my friend. “This is it, isn’t it?” Yes, it was. Without the guides mentioning it, I had just walked up on the world-famous Spanish Riding School barn that features the Lipizzaner horses’ practice facilities. I only noticed when one, then another white horse head peeked out of its private stall as I passed them. I put on the brakes and called out, “Hey,” but they all kept going, and I was the only one who saw them.
I’d heard this palace was one of the biggest ever. Before I got to Vienna, I would have thought you were kidding, but these people would have built a 7-11 the size of Costco during this period. So big today, 400 regular citizens can win a lottery for apartments in a surrounding courtyard bigger than RFK and its parking lots. Looking up at the apartments, I thought about how much that kind of living would cost in, say, New York City. I just can’t describe how vast the open space of this one of 17 courtyards was. Finally, standing beside the gates and looking back over the distance I’d covered gave a sense of how grand the scale of this place was. It was like walking from the U.S. Capitol building to the Washington Monument. And we weren’t finished walking. The reason we came in first place was the famous Vienna Christmas markets.
There were people of all ages and races out there enjoying themselves like they didn’t even feel the cold. By now, the sun was bright and high, in the sky, but it was unbelievably cold. Hundreds of people walked towards the markets in MuseumsQuartier, a huge open space between government buildings with green roofed huts as far as you could see. They were filled with handmade crafts and arts along with regional foods and drinks we knew nothing about because none of the signage used English.
We waded in the thick crowd, holding hands for fear of being separated. In one of our finer moments, my friend told me she knew I was tired and if we got away from each other, she’d wait up ahead, shopping, of course. How she shops like that without speaking a word of German is a mystery to me, but she had bags for her grandkids and mine. And off she’d go again, with a new plan for us to meet in the main circle where I could sit for a while.
At about the same time, we suddenly noticed the sun was fading. We could feel the temperature begin to drop, and she took
one for the team. She sacrificed her shopping, and we started our way out of Vienna’s largest Christmas market. But in this feelgood moment, we got to the pickup spot over an hour early, and our mistake was starting to make us pay dearly as we had no decent gloves on. Every bus that showed up looked like ours, but it wasn’t. Then another freezing couple showed up and another group from the boat and we’re all like “Where is the damn bus?” It was our longest day, and we were at our limits when my friend shouted, “Is that it?”
It wasn’t. So, we leaned against the wall of this huge building only to discover the stones were fake. It made me think about how much of what I saw was similar. It made a lot of sense because during WWII, the Allies bombed Austria daily and destroyed Vienna. A lot of the city was reconstructed, and what a great job they had done, because I had been there all day and was just finding out Hollywood magic existed here. It made me want to go retrace my steps and touch every wall. But I was gassed, legs gone, and I didn’t want to spoil the fantasy of finally being in Vienna.
And just as this group of seniors, strangers to each other from all over the world, were at a point where we were ready to hijack the next bus, my friend said, “Is that ours way down the street?” Thank God it was. The local driver started in on what time it was before reading the faces of his desperate mob and said, “Come on and get warm.” And an international incident was averted. As our coach slowly filled, I wondered what was taking people so long? Probably any number of hot drinks that include alcohol. The real source of all this Christmas market cheer.
Some of us were sleeping while others, like my friend, were just resting. I was wondering why this feeling of calm came over me as I was looking out at a place I’d never been to or cared to go to a week ago. But somehow, something happened on this journey to this city. The city’s past beauty, its terrible destruction, and its amazing resurrection. With its three lives, this city mirrors my life. As the boat appeared, I put my head back, closed my eyes, and started to hum the song’s words, finally getting their meaning for me: “Vienna waits for you.”
Wendell Williams is an artist/vendor with Street Sense.
One of Vienna’s many old buildings. Photo by Wendell Williams
Encampment updates: As closures increase, so does frustration and displacement
FRANZISKA WILD Editorial Intern
As Denise Ann Allman packed up her belongings, she motioned a Street Sense reporter over.
“This is like the fifth time I moved in a month. I’m not the one making the mess, they are,” she said, referring to the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS), the city agency that manages encampments and was closing Allman’s at 26th and L Streets on April 2. As she spoke, the frustration in her voice was clear.
Residents like Allman are feeling the toll of D.C.’s decision to increase the rate of encampment closures. In late March and early April, DMHHS closed five encampments, leading to the involuntary hospitalization of one resident and the displacement of at least 15 other people.
In late March and early April, DMHHS also canceled two encampment closures, one at the L Street Underpass and one at 2000 14th St. NW “because the residents relocated on their own before the scheduled times,” according to a DMHHS spokesperson.
Beginning five weeks ago, DMHHS ramped up the rate of encampment closures, scheduling up to four a week. In the Foggy Bottom neighborhood alone, DMHHS has closed five encampments since mid-March, partially because residents have returned to sites that were previously closed, the DMHHS spokesperson wrote.
“We have seen residents relocate to sites in Foggy Bottom that had been previously closed and noticed as spaces where camping is prohibited, which is why we’ve taken further action to enforce the protocol,” they added.
With the increase in closures, the city has also begun offering noncongregate shelter to some encampment residents and will “continue to increase options within our adult homeless services continuum to provide a variety of reconnection services, shelter, bridge housing, and temporary and permanent housing,” the spokesperson wrote. Encampment residents have moved into the Aston, and a new non-congregate shelter, E Street, is set to open this summer.
But residents like Allman say they are becoming frustrated, angry, and burnt out as they try to find yet another place to move to.
“I asked where I could put my tent, I don’t know how many different times. They’re not telling us we can go over there, but everybody in their group is going over there, and then they’ll do the same shit over there,” Allman said.
The closure at 26th and L Street is the largest closure since DMHHS conducted an immediate disposition near Virginia Avenue on March 14, displacing some residents for the second time in three days. The 26th and L closure displaced Allman along with at least 12 other residents, most of whom moved their belongings across the street to a patch of green space that DMHHS closed on April 8. A DMHHS spokesperson cited “health and safety concerns” as the reason for the closure.
Encampment residents say they are having to move more often and with less time in between moves; DMHHS also closed an encampment on Virginia Avenue and Rock Creek Parkway on March 25, displacing four people, some of whom moved a week later during the closure at 26th and L Street. The agency said that it first identified the Virginia Avenue site six months ago and made the decision to close it “due to various health and safety concerns, inclusive of fire hazards and bulk hoarding.”
“Even as we approach the end of hypothermia season and closure of overflow sites, we want all residents living in encampments to accept our offer of shelter. Accepting shelter will allow us to better address the needs of each individual and assess our shelter capacity overall,” the spokesperson wrote.
On April 6, the daily census of available low-barrier shelter beds showed there were 26 beds available for men and 32 beds available for women, including dozens of beds that will no longer be available by April 15. As of the beginning of 2025, DMHHS estimates there are 200 people living in encampments across the city, meaning most likely, even if every encampment resident felt comfortable accepting shelter, there wouldn’t be adequate beds to serve them.
As Allman continued to pack her belongings, an exchange began between another resident and a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer on the scene.
The resident, who was upset about the increase in recent encampment closures, had been drinking and, at points during the closure, yelling. One officer, Yudis Zuniga, went to go speak with the resident, and they talked for a few minutes before the resident took a few unsteady steps into the nearby road, seemingly to get away from Zuniga.
In response, Zuniga grabbed the resident’s arm, while she tried to pull away. Then, Zuniga grabbed both the resident’s arms and put them behind her back in an attempt to handcuff her. During this, the resident began yelling, “You’re hurting me.” Two other officers assisted in helping Zuniga cuff the resident while she yelled and began to cry.
Another resident watched as officers cuffed his neighbor. He repeatedly asked officers not to arrest her and explained that he could take care of her if needed.
“I can’t just watch her?” he repeated as officers forced the resident into a police car.
After the incident, MPD told Street Sense the resident was not arrested; rather, they conducted what is known as an FD-12, a process that seeks to involuntarily commit someone to a hospital due to mental health concerns. The resident was brought to George Washington Hospital, according to an incident report provided to Street Sense by MPD.
In the incident report, MPD wrote that DBH “completed their assessment” of the resident and determined she was “in need of a mental evaluation.” The report also stated she was being “aggressive and insulting” and “was walking in and out of traffic, putting herself and others in danger.”
After the closure, Street Sense spoke with the resident who had offered to care for his neighbor. He grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and spent years working as a corporate trainer before surviving cancer. Since the beginning of COVID-19, he’s been experiencing homelessness. He asked to be identified as “Silence Dogood.” He expressed he thought the way DMHHS and MPD handled the situation was unnecessary.
“She just didn’t want to be touched. She didn’t want them to touch this or touch that. And instead of listening to her or being like, okay, okay, okay, the minute she got loud, they put her in cuffs,” he said. “She was being, you know, kind of troublesome, but not to the trouble of what they did to her.”
In his eyes, he or another encampment resident could have handled the situation differently, in a way that did not require the resident to be hospitalized.
“Let me go talk to her. Yeah, give me five minutes. Let me, let me see if I could do something,” he said. He acknowledged she was yelling and often acts “off the beaten path” but said, “you gotta take it with kid gloves, not handcuffs.”
For him, being forced to repeatedly move hasn’t even been frustrating, just sad.
“You have no foundation. You don’t have nothing to rely on. That’s the biggest thing,” he said.
Allman echoed some of the same feelings, but her emotions verged more into frustration than sadness. She explained she didn’t plan to move across the street with the rest of the group, since she had already been forced to move from the spot they were heading to once before.
“I’m not moving across the street. They threw me out of across the street last week,” she said. “No, I’m going to destroy the tent. I’m prepared to go sleep in the bush.”
The next week, after the closure on April 8, Allman did exactly that. She grabbed only the possessions she needed and left her tent to be trashed by DMHHS.
Beyond the closures on March 25, April 2, and April 8, DMHHS conducted two other closures, one at 1st and C Streets NW, which impacted a single resident, and one in Mount Pleasant. This was the 16th closure at the same site in Mount Pleasant. The full story of the effect of repeated closures on the resident, Heather Bernard, can be read on the opposite page.
Upcoming encampment closures: April 9 at North Capitol Street and Massachusetts Avenue NW, April 10 at 1000 block of Howard Road SE, April 15 at 11th Street SE (DDOT Underpass), April 22 at 15th and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, April 23 at 3527 Connecticut Avenue NW Cleveland Park Metro, and April 24 at 300 Mass Avenue NE .
Koesler contributed reporting.
Madi
Denise Ann Allman carries her belongings across again for the fifth time in the last month. Photo
A Metropolitan Police Department officer handcuffs held by two additional officers. Photo by Madi
Heather Bernard poses in front of the metal encampment Street. Photo by Madi Koesler
Her encampment was closed the most in 2024.
“Why are you doing this?” she asks.
FRANZISKA WILD Editorial Intern
Heather Bernard feels the city won’t leave her alone. Nearly every month, she packs up her clothes, toiletries, bedding, and other essentials and moves around the corner or a block down from the orange storefront where she normally sleeps. Sometimes, she might lose valuable items in the moving process. But she always returns.
D.C. cleared the encampment Bernard lives at in Mount Pleasant 14 times in 2024 and once so far in 2025, largely because of its proximity to the road, the city says. This makes her encampment the one D.C. closed the most; the next most frequently cleared location was closed only eight times in 2024. Each time, after city officials are done clearing her encampment, Bernard returns, even though she’s not supposed to — she says she doesn’t have anywhere else to go.
“They’ll say, we wouldn’t like for you to be here,” she said. “And I said, look, you’re failing me because I’m waiting for my home [at] my home.”
Dressed in red Crocs and a pink jacket, Bernard, who’s in her early 50s, looks as motherly and kind as she is — when she sits down to speak to Street Sense at a nearby coffee shop, she keeps finding things to compliment. She’s exceedingly proud of her family and says her daughter “opened up [her] understanding to a new world.”
Bernard’s lilting way of speaking and slight accent betray her birthplace of Jamaica, from which she immigrated at 12 with her siblings. Her parents had immigrated several years before to set up a life for the family in D.C.
“It seemed as if something was happening, because my parents came ahead of me,” she said. “This thing about the land of opportunity, and this was supposed to be the United States of America.”
Bernard attended junior high and high school in the District. She loved school, describing it as “fun” and her grades as “good.” After high school, she dabbled in engineering at the University of the District of Columbia before committing to majoring in computer science. She graduated from UDC in 1991. After graduating, she moved home for a while before beginning a postgraduate program at American University, Bernard said, but as she became sick, bad things kept happening to her and her family.
By her own admission, her memory of this time is somewhat hazy. Bernard describes herself as having bipolar disorder and told Street Sense she also sometimes has trouble remembering details. But she said she came to Mount Pleasant in 2001 after having surgery because she didn’t know where else to go.
Bernard’s encampment isn’t an encampment in the traditional sense — she doesn’t have a tent, just a collection of belongings which include a tarp, bedding, and blankets. Still, the Office of D.C.’s Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS) has cleared it a total of 16 times, beginning in 2023, and most recently on April 3, according to publicly available data compiled by Street Sense.
The city originally closed the site to all camping in 2023 for “health and safety” reasons, a DMHHS spokesperson wrote, including the fact the site is close to roads and sidewalks. The agency has received complaints about the encampment since mid-2023, the spokesperson wrote.
In Bernard’s eyes, the repeated clearings are unnecessary, as she isn’t causing any trouble, and she tries “to be good.”
“If I’m at the end of the sidewalk, yeah, it shouldn’t be a problem, yeah, unless I’m blocking people, you know, from getting back and forth,” she said. The repeated closures have put her on edge, she told Street Sense. Whenever she sees the orange Department of Public Works truck, she knows it’s time to move again. Of the 14 times DMHHS cleared Bernard’s encampment in 2024, 12 of the clearings were “immediate dispositions” — when the agency provides residents with only 24 hours of notice to pack up and move.
“This morning, I saw the orange truck. I don’t know what they were looking for because every day they’re looking for something to take somewhere,” Bernard said.
For Bernard, the sense of frustration and uncertainty generated by the frequent and repeated closures has also made it harder to move into housing. It can often take people years to receive a voucher and then months to years for them to find a lease that will accept the voucher. Disruptions, like losing a case manager or not finding housing during an allotted period, can cause the process to take even longer.
“I was so frustrated. I didn’t know what to do, because I have my own damn problems, like I told you, I’m bipolar,” she said. “I had a voucher, and it had expired, and they’re waiting to fix some more. But you know, when you’re used to something, that’s what you do; It’s like, I like my home, I like my space.”
According to the DMHHS spokesperson, the city paused closures of Bernard’s encampment for several months in the summer of 2024 so city and contracted outreach workers could work towards making a housing plan for Bernard, and service providers have offered her other services, such as storage. But closures resumed after five months due to continued health and safety concerns.
“We know this is a process that takes time and trust, but we are working to build that here with the end goal of accepting shelter and working through the housing process,” the spokesperson wrote.
Edward Wycoff, a community care navigator at District Bridges, a local service provider, shares Bernard’s frustrations. He’s been in touch with her since May 2024 and has watched the repeated closures unfold while progress toward connecting her to permanent housing has stalled.
“I want this person to receive care, and that has been extremely difficult because of the many challenges that she faces, but also the many challenges that service providers face with interfacing with one another,” he told Street Sense. “I know of five direct service providers, including District Bridges, along with at least four D.C. agencies that have interfaced with her since I’ve started.”
DMHHS says they work to coordinate with all these agencies before and after all encampment closures, including Bernard’s. “DMHHS, DHS, DBH, and the area provider(s) work together to ensure residents staying in encampments have received ample outreach prior to and during encampment engagements,” the spokesperson wrote.
But Wycoff feels there are still some common holes in coordination among city agencies and outreach providers, which he thinks may have made things more difficult in Bernard’s case.
“There’s no single platform for communication, so there’s no way for me to know if [DMHHS] have contacted the provider or what has been communicated,” he said. Even HMIS, the Homeless Management Information System, has issues because providers have varying levels of information that they’re required to report and share, according to Wycoff.
Different providers have different levels of access to HMIS, where information on people experiencing homelessness and their progress towards housing is stored. This disparity can create situations like Bernard’s, where someone may be at one point matched with a housing voucher, but providers might not do the legwork to ensure a person leases up, either because they aren’t aware of the voucher or aren’t in touch with the client.
In Wycoff’s eyes, the first step to addressing cases like Bernard’s is to improve communication between service providers. This would also increase accountability in cases where one provider might not be making meaningful progress on a client’s case.
“If we are actually invested in ending chronic homelessness, then we have to find a way to have all of the people involved, all of the providers able to communicate easily,” Wycoff said.
Bernard feels these issues with communication even more acutely. She remembers once trying to talk to someone who had arrived to close her encampment.
“I said, I don’t know what you want. Why are you doing this? Please tell me the honest truth,” she said. In response, she says someone told her they had no time to explain, and she had to move once again.
across the street where she would have to move
Photo by Gabriel Zakaib
handcuffs an encampment resident while she’s Koesler
encampment closure sign on Mount Pleasant
I did it. I said it. I show no shame, remorse, or regret.
JEFFERY MCNEIL
rowing up Black in America, you’re conditioned to believe you’ll always be second-class. Jay-Z? LeBron? Ali? They’re the exceptions. Silly boy, you weren’t built for fame or freedom. Get your name on a waiting list for housing or food stamps. Good luck — budgets are being cut.
You want a job? The post office is hiring. Maybe Metro. Clock in. Clock out. Buy a little house, grill on weekends. Sip something cheap and strong. That’s the “good life,” right? But that was never my dream. I tried playing bougie. Went to the top schools in New Jersey. I paid attention to history — their Story.
I grew up thinking the teachers in public school were there to shield me from white supremacy, evil corporations, and boogeymen like Reagan and Bush. That’s what they taught us: the danger came from the Right. The KKK, lynch mobs, and segregation were all pinned on conservatives. But when I finally opened my eyes, I realized it was the opposite. The Democrats weren’t the heroes; they were the architects of the nightmare. They supported the KKK. They drove Native Americans off their land. Hundreds of thousands of people died in the Civil War because they refused to give up their slaves. They blocked the door for Dr. Martin Luther King. And when they couldn’t chain you anymore, they handed out food stamps, Section 8, and welfare, not as a victory, but as a leash. They turned poor people into dependents, single moms into statistics, and neighborhoods into crime zones. It wasn’t a hand up, it was a setup. So no thanks, I’ll take bootstraps over breadcrumbs every damn day.
I got the degrees, the certificates, and the credentials. I thought I was God’s gift to the workforce. I deserved it. I earned it. In 2000, I landed a restaurant manager gig. $45K a year, a company car, clean shirts, and a fresh haircut. It all looked good on paper. But I was still broke in America.
I used to look down on the homeless. “Lazy,” I thought. “That’ll never be me. I’m smarter than the system.” Then, boom, I was fired, evicted from my apartment. Car gone. All with no warning. Security took the keys.
The worst part? I had nothing to show for it. I blew my cash on wine, strippers, and distractions. I was broke, ashamed, and empty. The message was loud.
“This ain’t yours. You’re replaceable,” people said, “You had it good. You blew it.”
No. I didn’t blow it. I escaped it. That job wasn’t a dream. It was a cage. And that day, I made a vow: I’ll never be owned again.
From rock bottom to Atlantic City, I spiraled. Drank to forget. Snorted to disappear. But every morning, I woke up — broke, breathing, and pissed.
Then I heard a story: Richard Nixon funded his first campaign with poker winnings. That lit a fuse. Poker was my ticket out of labor. I calculated: Every half hour equals getting a pair. Two hours equals a premium hand. Three hours equals a powerhouse. Fold for aces. Very efficient. Very scientific. I read “Super/System”
by Doyle Brunson and Mike Caro like scripture. Poker wasn’t just cards. It was people. Psychology. Capitalism. It was war.
I lost bankrolls. Got outplayed, outbluffed, outgunned. Then one night, I turned $100 into $2,000. Another night, I made a year’s salary in five hours. Everything I was taught about life, race, and hard work? Lies. Are hustlers born or forged in fire? Well, necessity is the mother of invention, and I was unemployable. So I invented the hustle. I don’t clock in. I show up and cash out. I don’t work for money. Money works for me. Let someone else run the place. I’ll flip it, own it, and move on.
Then I found Street Sense. I didn’t come for sympathy. I came to build. People think I’m begging. Nah, I’m branding. My words are the product, my pitch is the packaging, and my grind is the brand.
I love my customers. But Street Sense is capitalism and compassion. It’s networking. It’s storytelling. But it’s still business.
They call me arrogant. Nah, I’ve got plans. Goals. A vision and the grit to see it through. I don’t wish my book to be a bestseller. I know it will because I’ll make it happen. Nobody out-hustles the hustler. I’m relentless. I’m coming. All day and all night. Whatever Jeffery wants, Jeffery gets. We can do this easy, or we can do it hard. Either way, I’m ready.
You don’t like my swagger? Call Al Sharpton. Don’t like my hustle? Keep it moving. Don’t like my story? Try publishing your own. I offend you? The Street Sense office is down the block — go file a complaint. Just make sure you spell my name right. You don’t want to buy because I triggered you? Oh, look — Venmo just lit up. If you won’t? Someone will.
I don’t want your apple pie. Keep your slice. Keep your table. I’ll buy a stove and bake my own pie, then feed whoever the hell I want. That’s freedom. That’s ownership. That’s what they never wanted us to have. I don’t envy success. I love starting from scratch. That’s what real writers do. They take a blank page and build something timeless. Pay stubs fade. Printed words last forever. I’m chasing Hemingway. Thoreau. Baldwin. Not a corner office.
I’ve failed. I’ve fallen. I’ve lost. But every defeat made my next move smarter. You mock me? Good. Mock me for selling homeless newspapers? Cool. The Kennedys built fortunes bootlegging, the Rockefellers off snake oil. Me? I turned lemons into lemonade — with words.
While you blame the system, I’m rewriting the rules. I’m not begging for shelter. I’m building my paradise. Jacuzzis. Saltwater breeze. Not someday, but soon. Keep scrolling. I’m buying Tesla stock and betting on me. My final word. There are two kinds of people: Those who follow the rules. And those who write them.
I’m not here to survive. I’m here to dominate. Even if I never “make it” by your standards. I know this: I never folded. I played every hand. Because while others talk, I do. And while they hate, I win.
Jeffrey McNeil is an artist/vendor with Street Sense Media.
Overlooked and underappreciated
very place of business has a bad side people hate to talk about or acknowledge, which makes it hard for people to come to work with positive attitudes. You might have a co-worker you wanna tell to “shut the hell up” or some customer, client, attendee, etc. who you just wanna haul off and slap for being very disrespectful or thinking they can do your job better than you when they’re the ones who need your help. Goodwill Excel Center (GEC) can be one of those places, and I wanna recognize and honor some people for keeping a positive spirit throughout all the negativity that I’ve seen them endure.
GEC is an adult charter high school that allows adults and teens, no matter the age, to get a chance or a second chance to succeed in getting their high school diploma. They also have programs that help you attend college after graduation and have connections to help you find the job that best suits you. But, you have people that come in and take it for granted, not knowing how much money is spent on our second chance, and that ain’t cool. So, with that said, I want to recognize and honor some people who have come with positive attitudes in spite of the mistreatment that I’ve seen them endure.
Mrs. Dawn, Ms. Roshawne, Ms. Jasmine, and Ms. Tyra, I would like to thank you for your dedication and service in teaching us and caring for our well-being of learning and personal problems. I understand it’s not easy to endure the things you go through or are put through, in and out of work, and still come in with a smile on your face. You have students who give you a hard day no matter how many times you show them you are concerned and care for them. I respect and honor what you do for us because had I handled my situations like y’all do, I’d be getting a paycheck too and not new charges.
In my personal opinion, to rich folks, people like these are the reason you’re rich. You wouldn’t know how to read or write, let alone make the money you’re making, but yet you got a whole lotta mouth about the people who helped you get there. If it weren’t for people like these, you wouldn’t know how to write your own name, “genius.”
I would also like to recognize one more person, and that’s my substance use disorder (SUD) counselor, Dr. Willa Jones. Through my ups and downs and relapsing as a client at Hillcrest Children and Family Center, she’s never given up on me. Even when I wasn’t in my right state of mind, she continued to help me and never turned away from the help I needed. I’ve been to programs I’ve enrolled myself in, and they weren’t about helping me get better. They were all about the concern of the money and not the client. But she goes beyond what she sees I need, and I thank her so much because it’s amazing how the government she works for can help me destroy myself but don’t want to help me get better. Matthew 25:40 states, “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” God has blessed me with some beautiful, smart, caring, professional women to help me with educational and life skill goals, and I wanna thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Donté Turner is an artist/vendor with Street Sense Media.
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DONTÉ TURNER
Social Security
President Donald Trump claims his administration saw a lot of fraudulent Social Security numbers belonging to babies or someone 120 years old! Some people might live to be 120 years old. It’s rare, but it can happen.
Why doesn’t Congress just put pictures on Social Security cards like they do on a state ID/driver's license? And then put it in some database? So, if someone tries to use someone else’s Social Security number, that person's face should come up.
As for children who get Social Security cards when they’re born, they can take photos, too, for security. Every year, a child has to take a picture, just like if they have to do a check-up or a vaccine. It’s just an extra step. Some credit cards have a picture ID on them. Use common sense.
Instead of firing people from Social Security offices, we should be hiring more people at Social Security offices. So people don’t have to wait all day to see someone.
Aida Peery is an artist/vendor with Street Sense Media.
Trump encampment closures
DOMINIQUE ANTHONY
Ifeel the recent encampment closures are unfair to people who are unhoused and that President Trump needs a kick in the ass. Where is he going to put the homeless people? And does anyone know what it’s like to lose everything and to have it be that way from the beginning?
I know from experience about being homeless. I have been unhoused since 2017. I became homeless due to my incarceration and criminal background, which led to me losing my housing voucher. I was homeless in 2016. I had to start from the beginning.
In 2023, I did the SPDAT and scored for rapid housing. I’ve been housed for a year now, and I just did an appeal to keep my housing. In my opinion, Trump should give the unhoused housing, a voice, and money for affordable housing.
The little piggy who never
made
it to the market
WAYNE HALL
t this point, I identify as the first sovereign consultant of America, I would like to apologize to any of my customers and fellow Washingtonians who heard me use curse words in public during the inauguration weekend. I'm alive and did not receive any legal punishment.
I will say, I must have been right, confirmed by the head nods from badges and the throw-off responses from the suits. Nevertheless. This is what I was saying in a summary. If it makes you feel better, find a way to listen to this article with Trump's voice. Use a simple text-to-speech app. I'm sure it will make it more feasible if you don't agree with the following.
For starters, look at the dates of both major events: Jan. 20, MLK Day, and Trump punching in. But look at history. We know what happened with MLK's assassination. There was a transfer of property that stifled the ability to maintain and establish generational wealth or a healthy lifestyle. This leads to what you see across America today.
And to the opposition from the powers that be, I will say. Well, people will be lazy. They just want handouts. It's a hindrance. They will be on it forever. I'm 33 years old. Food stamps and Section 8 have been around my whole life. So that's 33 years at least of human resources operating in that manner, and has it worked?
Now, what if you give a universal basic income with the intent to improve and maintain an individual's health? This is for the working-class Americans without the qualifications to go from job to career or entrepreneurial endeavors.
To give more clarity before you dive in, imagine being the only person, regardless of color, yelling about what you're about to read downtown, walking 35,000 steps. And you get called the n-word no less than 10 times.
I was on my way to the market. With the street closures, I had to walk from Eastern Market to Dupont Circle. The farmer's market starts at 8:30 a.m. Knowing I would have to walk, I was off the concrete and in Chinatown by 6:45 a.m. Once I looked around and saw how many people were there, I had to stop and raise my voice to get the point across. See something, say something respectfully.
Plus, at that point. I thought to myself, naw, that's dead. That's too damn far. Eastern Market to Dupont Circle in 16-degree weather to sell a newspaper in 2025 on a Sunday after waking up on a sleeping pad is crazy work. Due to the numbness, I ignored the numerous urges to "hike it" to Dupont. Once I reached Chinatown, I saw streets as
FBI building
crowded as a weekday downtown lunch break on a Sunday at 6:45 a.m.
I'm 33 and thought of this in five minutes one day as a solution to the world's madness. So, just imagine all the time wasted. Imagine all the time wasted by those older than me just thinking about the solution to the problems of America for free, with feasible solutions. Please don't let my greatest thought go to waste; it's my most valuable possession, along with my resume.
For all social media platforms: All funds generated are taxed with a social impact tax and repurposed for a universal income fund in America. Taxing all social platform forms to establish universal income is a fair trade for the monetization of humanity. And in all reality, the result will be a fair chance to establish generational wealth.
The factor that will control the way the money is viewed is the amount: $500 - $700. It’s just enough to give you the ability to make a change in your life. It's as simple as stated. It's not just about money, it's about overall lifestyle. And if I can manage to have a good day and not have to do something to pay to live on this planet versus living a day focused on my health and existence, that's one major aspect of success.
You don't work, you don't eat... Okay, sending an email and making PowerPoints isn't labor; it's community service at all levels. And the majority of the government, and really at this point, any occupation that doesn't have a brick and mortar storefront with customers, your job can be automated. Accounting is nothing more than scanning financial documents. Human resources are no longer needed. My friend, universal income is no more than $700. Really, $1000 isn't enough to live off, and if people want to be homeless, leave them be. It's a planet. Is that what's going on in San Francisco? They get money to live like that. Or I'll suggest the stimulus amount you receive be garnished from tax returns with interest. That will be repurposed to start the universal income fund. You can tax the people, or you can tax something that is not even real, like the internet. Investing in a life instead of a dollar is how you restore value or give meaning to any form of currency at this point. I say universal income is entirely essential because as a human, I deserve to live life on my own understanding of time. Not the social norms attached to sounds and syllables.
If you would like to support a purpose, not a cause that needs someone to fix something because of a premeditated reaction, please go to https://chng.it/fv4XrPt8pY
Wayne Hall is an artist/vendor with Street Sense Media.
don’t always agree with the president. But I do agree with President Donald Trump on the Federal Bureau of Investigation building staying in Washington D.C. Keeping the building will bring economic development to our downtown area. Jennifer McLaughlin is an artist/vendor with Street Sense Media.
Dominique Anthony is an artist/vendor with Street Sense Media.
AIDA PEERY
The FBI building. Photo by Jennifer McLaughlin
JENNIFER MCLAUGHLIN
“A journey with angels:”
My stay at a men’s shelter
ROBERT VAUGHN Artist/Vendor
In the fall and winter of 2022, I reached a bottom I had never experienced before. All aspects of my life had taken a turn for the worse. My health had gotten so bad I had to retire from my culinary career after more than 40 years in a field that I truly loved. My relationship with my wife was damaged to the point of no return. My relationships with my children were holding on by a thread. My youngest decided she no longer wanted to stand by and watch me destroy myself, and moved to South Carolina with my other daughter. Because of my mismanagement of finances, we were on the verge of eviction from our apartment. My wife informed me she was no longer going to put up with my insanity and she, her sister, and mother were moving to Tennessee. Her plans, however, did not include me.
Jan. 28, 2023, marked the beginning of a new journey that would ultimately save my life. Beaten and broken, God ushered me to this place of solace. This was the place I would rekindle my relationship with God, from whom I had strayed many years before. A place where he would reshape me into the man He intended me to be. He brought me to Central Union Mission Men’s Emergency Shelter. A place of angels.
I remember my first day of intake. I was in pretty bad shape spiritually, mentally, and physically. I had a duffle bag with just about everything I had left from a tattered life of misery and destruction. Not only did I look pretty bad, I'm sure my unpleasant aroma entered the facility before I did. Till this day, I always wear my ID badge with my picture from day one. Whenever I start to think I got it going on, I stop and look at the guy who came here 26 months ago. The guy who met me at the front desk had a big smile on his face, greeted me with a pleasant “Hello,” and welcomed me to the mission. I remember thinking to myself, “What the heck is he smiling about”? For me, it was no time for smiles. I was hurting. I began to notice that, judging by the things he was saying and his kind demeanor, he knew where I was emotionally. It’s as if he’d been there himself. Later down the road, I would discover he had, indeed, stood in the place I was standing and felt the same way I was feeling. He was an alumni of the very program I would become a part of. He ushered me through the intake process, took my picture, and welcomed me to Central Union Mission.
During my first few days, I suffered an exacerbation of my emphysema symptoms and had to be taken to the hospital. I was there for four days and, upon discharge, returned to the mission. To my surprise, they still had a bed for me and welcomed me back like a loved family member, though they had only known me a short time.
I spent my days in one of the two dayrooms, the quiet one or the one for TV and games. I decided I’d stay inside, knowing venturing out may lead to rekindling my addiction. I figured I’d be safe in the mission. We were served breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Every evening, we would meet before our chapel service to go over mission rules. It was during one of these meetings I heard two announcements that caught my attention: They offered weekly 12-step meetings and a 16-month all-inclusive recovery program, RTP (Restoration Transformation Program). I had no doubt
in my mind these options were why I was here. I signed up for RTP, and after a brief screening process, I was accepted. The next stage of my journey had begun.
A couple of days a week, I would venture out to outside 12-step meetings. At one of these meetings, I ran into a guy I knew from years ago. He had been clean and sober for over 20 years. I asked him to be my sponsor to help me navigate my way through the difficult days I knew I’d have to face. He consented. We got permission from the mission to meet every Saturday in the classroom for one hour for 13 weeks to study the 12 steps of the recovery program. There were also classes through my RTP program. We had Bible study groups, substance abuse, anger management, finances, and a course called “The Genesis Process.” We had job readiness training, resume writing, and so much more. Truly all-inclusive. Day to day, I had my struggles. Difficulties with other residents. Clashes of personalities in the dormitories. But most of all, my health issues. Daily tasks were sometimes difficult because of my breathing problems. During my stay, I was taken to the hospital on four occasions. I was diagnosed with cancer. In stepped another crew of angels, my team of doctors. In one year, I underwent two major surgeries. Both were successful. Today, I have six valves in my lungs to assist my breathing, and I’m cancer-free! All this was made possible by the angels at the mission who helped me get better medical insurance than I’ve ever had, at no cost to me. I’m taking some extremely expensive medications right now, and by the grace of God, it’s all free of charge. Had I not made this decision to turn my life over to God, I’d be dead by now.
Since being here at the mission, some amazing things have taken place. I've been able to face my addiction issues like never before. I completed the RTP program in June of 2024. My relationship with my children has been restored and strengthened, and they’ve become my strongest supporters. We have family chats where we encourage each other and share our love. I’ve taken on the role of chairperson of our weekly 12-step meetings, and I’ve been approved for permanent subsidized housing. As the title of this article suggests, I've had an opportunity to meet many “angels” during my stay here. I lovingly refer to them as my “stubborn angels.” Angels because they watch over me, and stubborn because they refuse to give up on us. And when I say angels, that includes this entire organization. From the president and administrative staff on the fourth floor to the guy who operates our laundry. From the maintenance staff to the kitchen crew. And, of course, my ride or die angels, my counselor, my spiritual advisor, social worker, and my substance abuse instructor. Special mention to our mission pastor and all the chaplains who put up with me on a daily basis. And don’t forget all the volunteers who lend their support.
There’s one lady who’s been doing this labor of love for over 20 years. She has an infectious smile that always cuts through whatever difficulties I may be dealing with. She’s like the “energizer bunny,” she just keeps going.
From the day I entered these doors till today as I write down these words, it has truly been “a journey with angels.”
Strength in the Lord
TONYA WILLIAMS Artist/Vendor
Father, when I am tired, you give me the strength to carry on. When I am discouraged, you renew my hope. When I am afraid, you fill me with peace. When I feel alone, you bring me comfort, renew my spirit, and fill my soul with your presence. Thank you, God, for protecting me from what I thought I wanted and blessing me with what I did not know I needed.
God is saying to you today, "I have you in the palm of my hand. I see what is happening. I did not bring you this far to leave you. I am about to do something unusual, something bigger than you've imagined."
Dear God, if I am not where you need me to be, I pray you lead me there. Dear God, I have no idea where you are taking me, but I trust you.
Amen.
On life
SASHA WILLIAMS Artist/Vendor
Street Sense is that metaphorical hug. When life gets you down, somehow, you got to find a way to get back up.
See, it’s not easy for me. It may or may not be easy for you, but it’s one of those things you've got to do. You’ve got to choose your reason to get back up.What is your reason to love? What is your reason to start over? What is your reason to leave misery? What is your reason to leave the streets? What is your reason to let things that hold you down go?
It’s ok. Keep shining. Keep rising. Keep your head up.
Iwill
ROCHELLE WALKER Artist/Vendor
I will change my life. I will give more.
I will cry less. I will pray more.
The snake
PEGGY JACKSON WHITLEY Artist/Vendor
Everybody wake up, wake
As I heard, this is the Year of the Snake
We are all God’s people
Please don’t make that mistake In the Year of the Snake
I’d rather stay asleep
In Jesus’s arms
And when He returns Then and only then Will I awake
Listen, too, and listen well
The snake has intentions
To deceive, and he does it well Destruction, confusion, deception It’s his job, and he does it well
Understand he does not care
We ALL (NO!), at least for me
I do not want to burn in Hell
See, in the beginning, the snakes And deception were
Already descending First, he tricked Eve, Then dishonored God, Lied and made her believe
Then he got to Adam
I will praise God. I will forget about the end time and begin with my time.
I will get up and clean up.
I will forgive my enemies and love my God more.
I will read the Bible and meditate on God’s words.
I will become a better person in this world. In 2025, What the world needs is love, sweet love. We need more prayer in our schools. We need to respect our president. Our hearts need to be changed.
Love, sweet love.
I pray that we learn how to give more love to the world.
In which he already knew
But she got him to bite the fruit, too
Because of that old, sneaky snake
So, my people, stay
On your toes and for
God’s sake, stay in prayer
Be aware of the snake
Jesus will come again
So be cautious with yourself
And everybody else
Especially the fake
So please keep your eyes open
And watch out for The snake!
Homeless Lives Matter!
LATICIA BROCK Artist/Vendor
The gift my Creator gave me
I can’t believe I’ve had
But I don’t have enough
In my budget
That’s the only thing
That’s sad
Back when I was selling weed
I had enough bags
But I was robbed and stripped of all I had
That took away my Mental health and my wealth
I didn’t know myself no more
Now I’m left with slurred speech
Street thinking and feet stinking
Cherry blossoms
SURYAKANTI BEHERA
Artist/Vendor
Springtime arrived early
Fresh white flowers looked lovely
Celebration through the nation
This annual event celebration
Viewed cherry blossoms
With developed culture
And beautiful sculpture
The people have no rest
To do their work’s best Viewed cherry blossoms
I love this nation
They dress in the latest fashion
They do many inventions
Which are about fiction
I love cherry blossoms
Rita’s riddle
skididdle
RITA SAULS
Artist/Vendor
Do not let what I said be misread
Because Mrs. Red (sacrd blood)
Used to be Miss Green (money)
Why are people rude?
MARC GRIER Artist/Vendor
I could literally be on the corner saying hello to people, and people would walk by and not say anything. I can say, “Hi, hi, how are you doing,” three times or more and get no response.
I wonder what that is? Did they have a hard day? Is something bothering them? I always wonder what makes people go past me and not speak. I'm a big guy, but I have a smile on my face at all times. So why are people so rude as to not speak to me?
Sometimes I wonder if it is my clothes, or my breath? I just want to know why people are so rude. Because I know they hear me.
The one
What we believe, our hope, and our faith make us strong. God never leaves us. She always walks by our side.
If you ask Her for a family, She will give it to you.
If you ask Her for information, She will give it to you.
If you ask Her for love, She will give it to you, Because She is the best listener.
She wants us to be happy and enjoy this life.
She fills us with blessings every day.
She gave us the angels to take care of us.
We are Her children, and She loves us.
I love talking to Her, asking Her for things, thanking Her.
I love telling Her how blessed I feel by Her love.
Let's never forget to talk to Her because She loves us and never leaves us.
Love of God
JAMES LYLES III
Artist/Vendor
Loving is caring and sharing with your brothers and sisters, sharing clothes, advice, family affairs, and other life issues. According to the word of God, we must help our sisters and brothers through hard times.
Love is also doing something for another person without knowing you are doing it for that person. The Bible encourages us to love one another, as in John 3:15: “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.”
So we must love all our sisters and our brothers regardless of their faults.
Easter poem
JOSIE BROWN
Transformed together on scene (blood bank)
And became a new thing (cash)
Support your local blood bank
Artist/Vendor
Easter is a time to celebrate.
Easter is a time to come together, no matter the weather. Easter is a time to care and share, always being there, no matter where.
Easter is a time to come together as a family and come to fellowship in the midst.
Easter is a time to be swift and stay in the midst with a special twist.
In recovery, looking back!
MARCUS MCCALL Artist/Vendor
This article contains strong language.
If I could rewind the tape, I would take it back to 2002. I was still a child. My mindset then was wild; I was in special education classes, lacking vocabulary and math. I was trying to hustle and was slow in the game. I got worked for not knowing what the price of stuff was.
In early 2002, weed was dirt cheap, the quality was amazing, and the quantity was great. I was young, dumb, and full of it. I was chasing the fast life and fast money, school was the last thing on my mind. I was in there failing. I'm playing that tape back now, and I'm like, wow. My first high. My first flip. That’s old money, and now I'm all messed up. But it is not too late for me to fix everything. I fucked up school and my demeanor, but admitting is step one.
For those who are finished and who are struggling with addiction, just rewind the tape. My life was unmanageable at a young age, and now I'm trying to remember steps 3 and 10 because I know my story. I've been sharing in my writings a little piece here and there. Street Sense readers, we been knew the difference. I have the courage and wisdom to keep sharing. And please keep coming back. It only works when you buy the paper... Thank you.
It is springtime
MELVEON HARP Artist/Vendor
I like springtime! It keeps me happy and in a good state of mind, as it does for many other people. The flowers bloom, the grass is green, and people are shopping. Children are happier. They're looking for love in the spirit of God, who still calls our name and the names of our family and our friends. God is giving us chances to set it right. It feels good when you love yourself. I love Street Sense. It brings something out of me. I'm finding myself more as I open up about myself, and I’m learning how to understand other people. We all need goodness in our lives. And we should thank God for all the different seasons, like spring.
Mercy me
ANDRE BRINSON
Artist/Vendor
M - My memory of the past of love and respect for each other
E - Everyday we have to continue to love ourselves and respect each other
R - Recognize I smile and respect others, not because of the color of their skin, but because they are a human being
C - Caring God cared and loved us so much he gave his own to cleanse us
Y- You are loved and love the people that truly love you (Everyone is not your friend.)
KYM PARKER
Artist/Vendor
FUN & GAMES
1. Seattle Sea____
6. Insignificant person
10. Put on, as weight
14. Be of one mind
15. Decorate anew, as a room’s decor
16. With the bow, in music
17. Why Lady Godiva’s ride was a close call? (4 wds.) (3,6,4,2)
20. Canal site or hat type
21. Smeltery refuse
22. Born, in Bordeaux
23. Collective noun often applied to freshly-baked cookies or washer-bound laundry
25. In the direction of
27. Cheerios grain
30. Medical research arm of DHHS (abbr. /init.)
31. Rain buckets
32. At no cost
34. F.D.R.’s Scottie
36. Sample, as food.
40. Like an attorney who spends their entire legal career with the same group of partners? (2 wds.) (6,9)
43. Brazilian dance
44. Word before and after “against”
45. Naval relief facility?
46. Poet Pound
48. U.S.N.A. grad’s rank (abbr.)
50. Be nosy
51. Build up, as interest
54. Agrees to an exchange of playing cards, or makes a sketch
56. One of the five W’s
57. Shakespearean king
59. Its capital is Ottawa
63. Like elderly police officers compelled to retire on account of an aging out requirement? (2 wds.) (8,7)
66. Like hand-me-downs
67. Black cat, maybe
68. Establish as fact, as in a court of law
69. Minus
70. Journalist Swisher who blasts several hi-tech icons in her NYT best-seller “Burn Book”
71. Apply, as a cloth badge or repair patch (2 wds.) (3,2)
Down
1. Door securer
2. Turkish honorific
3. Small songbird
4. Meat on a stick
5. U.S. Naval rank equivalent to Private 1st Class in the Army or Lance Corporal in the Marines
6. Uno + due (Ital.)
7. Like the countrymen of Richard Burton or Tom Jones, say
8. A poetic or musical composition that evokes a tranquil rural setting
9. “Last one in is a rotten ____!”
10. Flit (about)
11. Climate Pledge ____ (Seattle event setting)
12. Less cordial
13. Famous (TONED anagram)
18. Formally approve
19. Rabbitlike rodent
24. A repetitive Latin-American dance (3-3)
26. “The Grapes of ____” (Steinbeck’s Depression-era classic)
27. Ices, in gangster lingo
28. Diva’s solo
29. Kind of school paper
31. Lavish TLC on, say
33. Fire remnant
35. London lav
37. Big first for a baby
38. Eye drop
39. Mini-whirlpool
41. Lapis ____ (semiprecious blue stone) (ALL UZI anagram)
42. Threaten
47. Nike rival
49. The Pogo comics strip setting, and D.C. politics per many of its critics
51. Bad
52. Selected
53. Nuclear meltdown sites
54. Clothesline alternative
55. Dorm or barracks annoyance
58. Diva Gluck
60. Declare openly
61. “Whip it!” band (DOVE anagram)
62. Gulf of ___, off the coast of Yemen
64. Bygone delivery units for music albums (abbr./initialism)
65. Genetic info carrier (abbr./initialism/ acron.)
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.
COMMUNITY SERVICES
Housing/Shelter Vivienda/alojamiento Case Management Coordinación de Servicios
Academy of Hope Public Charter School
202-269-6623 // 2315 18th Pl. NE
202-373-0246 // 421 Alabama Ave. 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 1830 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 (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 St., NW 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
Father McKenna Center // 202-842-1112 19 North Capitol St., NW fathermckennacenter.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 Pennslyvania 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 Rd, 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
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 // 202-363-4900 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, 3924 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 Rd., NE, 4515 Edson Pl., 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 Dr., SE whitman-walker.org
Woodley House // 202-830-3508 2711 Connecticut Ave., NW
For further information and listings, visit our online service guide at StreetSenseMedia.org/service-guide
Traffic Attendant
The Kennedy Center // Foggy Bottom
Part-time
The traffic attendant directs traffic and helps keep the flow of traffic moving. This position might also require some minimal customer interaction. Attention to detail and ability to handle a high volume of cars is preferred.
REQUIRED: Able to lift 30 lbs. or more and able to stand for long periods.
APPLY: tinyurl.com/TrafficAttendantDC
Core Team Member
Sweetgreen // 1325 W St. NW
Part-time
You help run Sweetgreen day to day activities which include food prep, cleaning, dishwashing, and serving customer.
REQUIRED: Must be able to work at least 12 hours a week and lift up to 25 lbs.
APPLY: tinyurl.com/DCSweetGreen
Wait Staff
Compass Group // Washington D.C.
Part-time
Responsible for patient tray delivery and retrieval, and floor stock delivery.
REQUIRED: Must pass a background check and adhere to safety policies.
APPLY: tinyurl.com/WaitStaffDC
In the year 2025
JAMES DAVIS
Artist/Vendor
In the year 2025, I kinda wonder if men are gonna still be alive In the year 2025, I hope Street Sense will survive and thrive In the year 2025, I wonder if my vibe will still come to me from the inside In the year 2025, I hope you stay inspired, keep your job, and not get fired In the year 2025, I hope you think before you decide to early retire In the year 2025, I hope peace prevails and the wars will end to save lives
Spring
ELIZABETH BOWES
Artist/Vendor
As the temperatures begin changing and it becomes warmer, we start seeing more birds. The trees come alive. And the world opens her eyes after her winter's sleep.
Spring has always been my favorite season. It's not too hot, and it's not too cold. And I am always thrilled to see the different trees, particularly my favorites, Japanese cherry and maple. And those magnificent flowers are awesome, especially the tulips and roses!
Looking your best
GRETA CHRISTIAN
Artist/Vendor
When you work with Street Sense, you don’t need another job. We work our tails off. Street Sense is good for everybody! As with every job, take care of it because you work so hard for your money. How to succeed selling our paper:
1. Stand up straight.
2. Look fashionable.
3. Talk in front of people; don’t look as if you just got up in the morning.
4. Say “Good morning!” to people.
5. Wear decent clothes when you’re selling. How you look matters! Your customers will come up to you and give you money or gift cards. Either way, you will thank them. Other times, people will talk with you and not give you anything or say nothing to you. But you still have to be good to people, because when you are, they will treat you right.
Spring in the city
BRIANNA BUTLER
Artist/Vendor
Professor Willie
ANTHONY CARNEY
Artist/Vendor
He is very intelligent. He might even be a genius. He is my mentor, my coach, and my editor. In our Street Sense Writers Group, He helps me become a stronger writer.
Professor Willie’s favorite phrases are “It’s all in the details.”
And “SHOW, don’t tell,”
I am doing my best to become a great writer like Professor Willie.
Thank you, Professor Willie. Spread love!
Chances
DON GARDNER Artist/Vendor
Smiles
DANIEL BALL
Artist/Vendor
Yes, my name is the one and only Daniel Ball.
I bet you can’t find a man like me at Street Sense Media.
So Sybil said, “Can I get your number?”
Then I said, “Yes, baby, you can.”
So I said to her, “Let’s go to the park and read our Street Sense papers together.”
Next, we both got hungry, so we walked to McDonald’s and ate there. So, thank you, Professor Willie, for this nice class today.
There’s nothing like it almost anywhere
Presenting opportunities at every level
Knowing there will be battles and temptations to Endure
Frustrations will reach their fullness
No compromising or contemplating
Whether or not I deserve this greater salvation
Seek His peace and redemption and embrace it
As you go through life’s tunnels and caves
Accept every sunshine
There shines a ray of hope on you
Lord, help me find my way
And order my steps as I pray
For I’ve been tossed to and fro’
Like a ship in the midst of a terrible storm
Without a compass to guide me
Lord, give me another chance to get it right
And find that lighthouse
That leads to safety
And shines so bright
April Fools
WARREN STEVENS
Artist/Vendor
It is spring cleaning weather time. People are preparing to pack away their winter coats, mittens, scarfs, hats, and boots for next winter. The children are dying eggs to make baskets for Easter. I used to dye Easter eggs and jelly beans when I was young.
The Cherry Blossom Festival is in April. The flowers, the green trees, and grass are blooming in the beautiful weather. I will pack up my gear and go bike riding in parks around the city. They have their band set up with drums, bass, and guitar. There’s good food and drinks and stands on every corner where people buy clothes, hats, and jewelry. People will be riding the subway or driving to the mall to watch and enjoy the music and dancing.
Palm Sunday is April 13. People will be blessed with a palm. My son and I have birthdays in April. We get together and go out and enjoy our favorite restaurant, Golden Corral. They have the best food buffet. All our loved ones have birthdays this month.
This month, people get their income tax return, which is a beautiful thing. I got mine already. During spring break, parents and children will travel to enjoy the fair and rides at Hershey Park or King’s Dominion. Enjoy the green grass and flowers. Happy spring and April showers of blessings.
It's sunny and bright around the National Mall. Under our feet are outstretched pathways of rocky pebbles. It makes walking to any museum a delight. Crowds are fascinated by what they see. They're talking enthusiastically about the beautiful flowers and are awed by the powerful stories they read on the plaques. Families bike around the parks, loving the spring temperatures and the smooth feeling they get riding the breeze and laughing at the same time.
All this, while you're enjoying the richness of life with family and friends! Pollen is flying in the air, and it gets so thick that sometimes you can't wash it away. People are running with ice cream in one hand and a balloon in the other while building joyous memories.
I hope you enjoy spring as much as I do. I enjoy seeing others reveling in spring's glorious colors.
The fun of working for Street Sense
DON DAVIS Artist/Vendor
I have fun selling Street Sense papers! When I came to the District, I didn’t know what I was going to do. A friend told me about Street Sense, and since becoming a vendor, I have met so many nice people. Now that spring is coming, I’m looking forward to meeting more people. It's always a good time when the new paper comes out and I see the readers are so happy to know it’s available.
