VOL. 16 ISSUE 13
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Real Stories
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ERASING HISTORY? Barry Farm: American history lives here
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The Cover
The Street Sense Media Story, #MoreThanANewspaper
All that remained of one Barry Farm dwelling on Feb. 7, 2019.
Originally founded as a street newspaper in 2003, Street Sense Media has evolved into a multimedia center using a range of creative platforms to spotlight solutions to homelessness and empower people in need. The men and women who work with us do much more than sell this paper: They use film, photography, theatre, illustration, and more to share their stories with our community. Our media channels elevate voices, our newspaper vendor and digital marketing programs provide economic independence. And our in-house casemanagement services move people forward along the path toward permanent supportive housing. At Street Sense Media, we define ourselves through our work, talents, and character, not through our housing situation.
JOSEPH YOUNG tinyurl.com/barry-farm-final-days
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EVENTS
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NEWS IN BRIEF 801 East shelter redevelopment to begin this month BY AARON RAUBVOGEL // Editorial Intern
GRAPHIC COUTESY OF THE D.C. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
The much-needed redesign of the 801 East Single Men’s Shelter is starting construction in early May 2019. The 801 East shelter is located on the 120-acre property of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Southeast D.C. The facility has 380 low-barrier beds in one large room and is open each night from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. The shelter provides showers, hot meals, and transitional housing programs for both youth and adults. According to a document released by the Department of Human Services, “the facility has outlived its life cycle,” meaning the building is old and cannot provide the same level of service it once could. Because of the age of the current space, many residents have complained about its overall safety and cleanliness. The security company at 801 East was recently replaced after a late-night stabbing in one of the bathrooms at the shelter.
Community meetings on fair housing issues Tuesday, May 7 // 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. // Dorothy I. Height/Benning Library, 3935 Benning Rd NE Thursday, May 9 // 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. // Anacostia Neighborhood Library, 1800 Good Hope Rd SE DHCD is working on a fair housing analysis of the District area. Your views and experiences will help us understand and find solutions for fair housing issues involving: discrimination; segregation; equal access to affordable and safe homes; access to transit, good schools, and healthy neighborhoods; and issues faced by voucher holders and public housing residents. INFO: For more details, contact Tilla Hall at (202) 442-7239.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 8
UPDATES ONLINE AT ICH.DC.GOV
WEDNESDAY, MAY 8
Citywide resource and empowerment expo
D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness Meetings
A People’s Budget Action to End Homelessness
11:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Entertainment and Sports Arena 1100 Oak Drive, SE Access resources through the D.C. Dept. of Human Services, D.C. Dept. of Employment Services and D.C. Public Schools and connect with “many supportive programs supporting a fair shot for you and your family.” REGISTRATION: www.tinyurl.com/DHSexpo2019
Housing Solutions Committee May 1, 1:30 pm // TBD * Most likely 1800 MLK Jr. Ave. SE *Committee schedules only. For issue-focused working groups, contact ich.info@dc.gov.
8:30 a.m. - 10 a.m. The John A Wilson Building 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW The Way Home Campaign is organizing a demonstration to “show up, raise your voice, make noise, and demonstrate to the DC Council that we are unified in our belief that DC can and must do more to end homelessness.” INFO: tinyurl.com/budget-protest-2019
Submit your event for publication by emailing editor@streetsensemedia.org
AUDIENCE EXCHANGE Mattew Hurtt
@MatthewHurtt
Back in Eastern Market with my favorite @streetsensedc vendor — David. He’s a poet and has a deep love for this city. Support Street Sense here: https://www.streetsensemedia.org 1:18 PM - 28 APRIL 2019
Anna Sanderson @ATown_Downn
Really enjoyed the piece written by [Ron] Smoot in Wednesday’s copy @streetsensedc. Reading these first-hand accounts can be eye-opening. 2:10 PM - 28 APRIL 2019
Demolition taking place next to the men’s shelter in 2018. PHOTO BY BY TATIANA BROWN
The new 801 East Shelter will be divided into four sections, or “pods,” based on need. The working/ employment pod will have 100 beds, plus a kitchenette for those that are currently employed. The senior/ medically frail pod will have 50 beds and the medical respite pod will have 25 hospital beds for those that require more assistance. There will be 200 beds in their own individual pod for low-barrier housing, like the current shelter. The new 801 East Shelter will also have a health clinic and a daytime service center. The old shelter “will remain open as an emergency shelter for unaccompanied men experiencing homelessness until construction of the new site is complete,” according to Dora Taylor-Lowe of the Department of Human Services, in an interview with the Washington City Paper. The new shelter will cost about 40 million dollars to build and will be finished in winter 2020-21. The city is in the process of selecting a company to build the new 801 East shelter. Each potential contractor needs to submit an itemized list with a price breakdown, among other requirements, all of which can be found in the Request for Proposal from the D.C. Government. Construction on this project was originally scheduled to start on April 23, but according to a statement from Keith Anderson, the Director of the Department of General Services, the deadline to receive applications from potential contractors was pushed back several weeks, which lead to the subsequent delay of the construction. The contractor award letter is expected to come out in early May, around the same time construction is scheduled to begin on the new shelter. Follow more headlines at StreetSenseMedia.org/news
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NEWS
Laundry hung out to dry at one of the few housing units still occupied by a family at Barry Farm in 2018. PHOTO COURTESY OF JOSEPH YOUNG // WWW.TINYURL.COM/BARRY-FARM-FINAL-DAYS
Before it is demolished, a man came with a cameraman in 2018 to photograph the home where he’d grown up on Sumner Road at the Barry Farm housing project, where his family had moved during the 1940s. PHOTO COURTESY OF JOSEPH YOUNG WWW.TINYURL.COM/BARRY-FARM-FINAL-DAYS
Barry Farm residents seek historic status to preserve community and character BY GRACE COLLINS // Editorial Intern
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new effort seeks to secure official recognition for the historic significance of Barry Farm, a public housing complex in Southeast D.C. Its origins date to 1867, when the Freedman’s Bureau established it as a place where freed slaves could own houses and run small businesses. In 1942, public housing was built on the land, and the African American community that developed there played an instrumental role in several successful civil rights efforts, including the movement to desegregate public schools and a youth-led tenant organization project that was a part of the War on Poverty. The neighborhood — called Barry Farms by many locals — was also home to Etta Mae Horn, a co-founder of the National Welfare Rights Organization. The roads surrounding the housing development are named after prominent abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass, General Howard, and James Birney. Over the last decade the D.C. Housing Authority has sought to redevelop Barry Farm. The area was selected for revitalization in 2005 as part of the New Communities Initiative, with plans to convert the dilapidated public housing development into a mixed-use, mixed-income community. The most recent proposal for Barry Farm would add 40,000 square feet for retail; reduce the number of public housing units from 444 to 380; and add more market-rate housing, for a total of 1,100 units. To preserve the buildings and layout of the historic African American community, a group of displaced residents has joined with Empower D.C. and the Barry Farm Tenants and Allies Association to ask the D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board to grant historic landmark status to a portion of Barry Farm, which is hemmed in by the St. Elizabeths hospital campus, Suitland Parkway, and the Southeast Freeway. Parisa Norouzi, executive director of Empower D.C., a nonprofit community organizing group, said the nomination is intended to start a conversation around Barry Farm and affordable housing. She also hopes it will change the redevelopment plan to “honor, respect, and preserve some of the really important history of Barry Farms — not just the Civil War-era history, but also the history of the public housing community itself.”
Preserving this rich history, residents believe, should be a top priority throughout the development process. Many residents agree the poor living conditions at Barry Farm must be addressed. The site had become infested with pests, appliances needed repairs, and buildings were dilapidated long before demolition began last year. However, residents want to preserve the style of the historic town houses and the layout of the street grid, which is the last remaining element from the original Civil War-era community. “The residents of Barry Farms felt like they wanted the new community to have the same feeling as their home, not high-rise stacked apartments that could look like any suburb you’ve ever been to,” Norouzi said. A year ago, redevelopment was delayed after the Tenants and Allies Association protested that being displaced would cause much more hardship for residents than the New Communities Initiative claimed. The D.C. Court of Appeals ruled in the tenants’ favor and sent the development plan back to the Zoning Commission, although demolition continued even after the judges’ decision. As part of the redevelopment plans, households were given the option to either obtain a Housing Choice Voucher to find permanent housing elsewhere on the open market, or to accept an interim placement within the public housing system with a guaranteed right to return to Barry Farm after its completion. Many planned to return in 2020, the expected completion date, but are now unsure when the project will be completed. A common worry among displaced residents is that their community will not be the same when development is finished. Nicole Odom, an organizing assistant at Empower D.C. and a former resident at Barry Farm, said that community members have had difficulty staying in contact with one another since being displaced. “The move has separated families, it’s separated friends. Right when I was gaining wonderful relationships with my neighbors, we all had to go our separate ways,” she said. Odom worries that it will be difficult to re-create the sense of community that Barry Farm once had, especially if it is turned into a mixed-income development. She also shares concerns with other residents that those in public housing will face prejudice from their higherincome neighbors.
According to a statement from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, the planning committee for the project organized six meetings and made presentations at nine others to gather community feedback and to share updates on the progress of development. However, Odom said residents feel their voices were largely ignored by the New Communities Initiative throughout the planning process. “There have been opportunities for residents to say what they want, but I don’t feel like it’s been taken seriously or incorporated in any way,” Odom said. “They have these meetings that are supposed to be engaging, but that’s just for photo ops, in my opinion.” In a written statement regarding the nomination for historic landmark status, Christine Goodman, supervisory media relations specialist with the D.C. Housing Authority, said “community input and advice is always welcomed and while the land and community hold a lot of local and national history, an historic designation does not come with a monetary commitment to rehabilitate the property.” Goodman also warned that historic designation would create new hurdles in bringing families back to Barry Farm, given the current state of the housing there. “The physical condition of the buildings at Barry Farm make rehabilitation impossible, this is why DCHA is redeveloping the community so that the families can return to new homes as soon as possible,” Goodman wrote. “A designation that will stop or delay the redevelopment does not solve the conditions of the buildings.” Renovating buildings at Barry Farm is not viable, according to the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development’s statement: “The goal remains to redevelop the entire site. All existing buildings are being demolished.” Empower D.C. is working with the Tenants and Allies Association on an alternative redevelopment plan that would maintain the historic street grid, town housestyle buildings, and private yards. Their community development plan also demands the association be included in all decision-making, that all new units be affordable, and that there be no loss of tenant rights. A public hearing on the historic nomination is expected in June, Norouzi said. “We want to force this conversation about what is the impact when we wipe away communities that are a part of the fabric of the city,” she said. “What are we doing to ensure we’re not just erasing our culture and our history?” Only five households remain at Barry Farm, and the government has filed applications to demolish eight more buildings in the neighborhood on Stevens Road SE. This article was co-published with www.TheDCLine.org
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Dozens of District residents testify about poor housing conditions at Council oversight hearing BY MARK ROSE Volunteer
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vouchers was frozen in 2013 with more than oncerns about inadequate 70,000 names on it — some having waited access to affordable housing decades. The list remains frozen with 40,000 and the backlog of costly households still waiting. repairs to run-down public “People are dying in public housing because housing units dominated public repairs aren’t made,” Das said. In an audit testimony at an April 11 budget of approximately 8,000 Housing Authority oversight hearing held by the housing units, at least 31 percent required D.C. Council’s Committee on Housing and urgent attention due to conditions such as Neighborhood Revitalization. toxic mold, collapsed ceilings, unsanitary Legislators heard from 38 witnesses, conditions such as ruined plumbing and including members of advocacy groups, unchecked vermin and pests, the Washington government housing experts, and city residents City Paper first reported. who said they encounter housing challenges Legal Aid Society of D.C. Staff Attorney due to limited incomes. The general sentiment Amanda Korber testified that Mayor Bowser was that as the federal government disinvests has not found enough money for Local in public housing, the Bowser administration Rent Supplement Program vouchers, a and the D.C. Housing Authority are struggling D.C. government program begun in 2007 to to address these needs. supplement the supply of federal vouchers. D.C. Housing Authority Executive Director The mayor’s proposed budget included $3.9 Tyrone Garrett testified that DCHA “can no million in new funds for the program. “People longer postpone … significant work [DCHA] with no income,” she said in a published is responsible for.” report, “have no alternative to public housing.” Garrett cited “an unprecedented opportunity to The Housing Authority’s board of repair and rehabilitate public housing.” He said commissioners voted in favor of potentially citizens who are “most vulnerable” are living in privatizing up to 2,400 units in severe need the “dire straits of the national economy.” of repair as part of He estimated $2.2 a resolution passed billion would be in January. Korber needed to rehabilitate questioned whether the and redevelop the District had adequate D i s t r i c t ’s p u b l i c funds appropriated housing stock. to comply with the Garrett testified Comprehensive Plan, that the Bowser the central document administration is trying to preserve Kamolika Das, D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute that guides development in the city. The District as much affordable government needs to maintain a stock of housing as they can. affordable housing, Korber said. Committee Chairman and At-Large Andrew Trueblood, appointed last fall as Councilmember Anita Bonds, Ward 8 interim director of the Office of Planning, told Councilmember Trayon White, and Ward 1 Street Sense Media in a telephone interview Councilmember Brianne Nadeau attended that he values “public engagement” to answer the hearing. these questions as the D.C. Council considers Kamolika Das, a policy analyst for the changes to the Comprehensive Plan this year. D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, testified that city “All the city’s people are important; valuable government is not doing nearly enough for for the city’s growth,” he said. low-income residents. She said there are plenty Another public engagement meeting to of District families with less than $35,000 in further consider the plan will be scheduled annual income who spend 63 percent of it on within the next two months, Trueblood said. housing, yet most of the District’s money goes Constance Bradley-Bryan of Jubilee to those making twice that amount. Housing, a nonprofit developer that prides Das said that DCFPI’s analysis is that itself in building “justice housing” for the District’s $14.5 billion budget for fiscal extremely low-income tenants, testified that year 2019 includes no funding for tenantthe city seems to have no concrete plan for based vouchers to help people get off the dealing with affordable housing. waiting list. The Housing Authority waiting Bonds said rebuilding deteriorated units list for public housing and housing choice
“People are dying in public housing because repairs aren’t made.”
Detrice Belt, 33, at Barry Farm in 2019. Belt lived in the public housing complex commonly known as Barry Farms for the past twenty years, paying rent calculated at 30 percent of her income. Belt lived in a two bedroom townhome with her 10-year-old daughter and two pit bulls. Belt had expected to live on site during the redevelopment, fearing they’ll never be able to return. PHOTO COURTESY OF JOSEPH YOUNG // WWW.TINYURL.COM/BARRY-FARM-FINAL-DAYS
takes five years. She asked the witnesses to consider what tenants in untenable public housing will be able to do in the meantime. Del Pielago said one resident who got displaced from her sub-standard Barry Farm house to another public housing community in Southwest said housing conditions in her new place are “Horrible; I hate it.” After she was displaced from her community and went through the process of moving, her housing conditions are no better. Bonds asked Garrett how the Housing Authority plans to address the housing for seniors that was gutted in a fire in October at The Arthur Capper House. Street Sense Media reported that 160 residents were displaced. Bonds said the facility is now occupied by squatters and repair to an elevator is still needed before the building can be considered habitable. Seventy percent of public housing residents are Black, according to Bonds. “Are their needs not worth the investment?” she asked. Detrice Belt, a Barry Farm resident, said she testified on behalf of her public housing community, which was first established there in 1942. Barry Farm is often it’s residents only community and social support system, Belt said. In order to make way for a complete overhaul of the site into a mixed-income and mixed-use development as part of the New Communities Initiative, which has been in the making for more than a decade, all but three Barry Farm households have been moved to alternate public housing or given Housing Choice vouchers to find their own housing on the private market. Those who chose to move
to alternate public housing were guaranteed a “right to return” when the new development is finished. Some residents, along with other advocates in the community, have fought to delay and change the plan. Those displaced residents, including Belt, want to preserve the historic neighborhood’s original look and feel. Her community wants the city government to get community “right,” Belt told Bonds during her testimony. She suggested that that committee meet with Barry Farm residents soon. Barry Farm resident Vernitta White told the committee she’s been on the waiting list for a Housing Choice voucher voucher since 2001. Adam Maier, Director of Housing Partnerships for Pathways to Housing, said his organization works with more than 150 landlords. Maier said DCHA’s required house inspections for voucher-holders take too long and are cumbersome. He said the federal housing inspection process, through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is more streamlined than DCHA’s, and consequently, it takes two or three months to house a formerly homeless person. D.C. Council will get back to working on the Comprehensive Plan after the May 28 vote on the budget. They will start dealing with edits to the “framework element” of the Comprehensive Plan by the summer after an unprecedented 3,000 public comments, Council Chairman Phil Mendelson’s office told Street Sense Media. A video archive of the full hearing is available courtesy of the D.C. Council: www.tinyurl.com/DCHA-2019-oversight
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NEWS
After years of bad housing and facing homelessness, this woman will keep surviving BY NOAH TELERSKI Artist/Vendor
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JahQueen Is Peniel calls herself a survivor and a fighter. Like many fighters, she is losing weight, but not because she is preparing for a title bout. She is stressed and cannot sleep. Her housing for the last three years has been the source of extreme anxiety, and as a result of what she believes was a paperwork error, she is losing her access to state-funded housing support. Being hit by a car in 2015, beating pancreatic cancer, and escaping abusive relationships have taken their toll on Peniel. The ongoing housing struggles have not made recovery easier. In her initial application for housing with Maryland’s Housing Initiative Program, a permanent supportive housing program that provides access to a housing subsidy and other social services, she specified that she needed a ground-floor unit because she could not walk or climb stairs easily as a result of knee and back injuries sustained in the car accident. The first apartment she was placed in was on the fifth floor of a building where the elevator did not always work. It was also only two blocks away from her abuser. The apartment she has lived in since Jan. 13, 2018, is also on the fifth floor. “Everything I’ve specifically asked for, I haven’t gotten,” Peniel said.
The initial notice to vacate delivered to IjahQueen Is Peniel, dated Feb. 21, 2019. Some infromation hidden for privacy. PHOTO BY NOAH TELERSKI
The lease agreement for her current apartment was drafted Nov. 25, 2017. She signed her lease on Dec. 19, 2017, and the landlord was paid the next day. But when Peniel signed the lease, the landlord had not. The permanent supportive housing program paid $1,304 for the first month’s rent, but Peniel soon found out she was in fact still on the hook for the rent. Peniel said she was notified of the issue by the landlord’s property manager. When contacted by Street Sense, the property manager said they could not discuss the situation given the private nature of a person’s housing. Peniel went to court in August 2018 with support from Maryland Legal Aid, but the judge ruled she owed the landlord
$833.20. In October 2018 she received an eviction notice but was able to pay the landlord two days before the eviction date. The landlord decided they did not want to renew Peniel’s lease. She was going to lose her permanent supportive housing voucher because she would be without a valid lease, a requirement of the program, but requested an administrative review hearing with the Maryland Department of Health and Human Services to demonstrate the merits of her case. The hearing was rescheduled once around a day Peniel was scheduled to have three teeth pulled. But when the hearing finally occurred, she was denied an extension to have more time to collect evidence. She was told the money the landlord had been paid the day after she signed the lease was a “holding fee,” not the first rent payment she had thought it was. Still, her housing support is being terminated. Ilana Branda, Montgomery County’s deputy chief for Services to End and Prevent Homelessness, said that they could not comment on the specifics of Peniel’s case because of the private nature of the situation. Branda said being terminated from the HIP program is not permanent and only affects a program participant’s access to the housing subsidy. Terminated participants are moved to an “inactive” file and retain access to their other services, like a case manager. If, in the future, the participant and their case manager feel they are ready, that person can reapply for the voucher. Peniel said that she has no interest in seeking funds from the
state again after feeling mistreated and ignored. “I don’t want nothing to do with them.” When asked if she would continue to utilize the case manager services, she said that her case manager has been no help and she feels the state agencies have made this harder for her. “How do you get a master’s to make a mess?” she said. Housing benefits are renewable as long as individuals continue to meet the program’s criteria, Branda said, including holding a valid lease. Losing a lease through eviction or holding over on a property, staying after the lease has expired, is grounds for termination. “If we become aware of a situation, we bring [clients] in and try talking through an issue,” Branda said. Following such a conversation, participants may receive a first termination notice. This is accompanied by an informal hearing where a mediator can either issue conditions to continue to receive benefits or uphold the termination. In either case, another notice is sent and the participant can request an Administrative Review Hearing in front of a three person panel. This panel can issue new conditions or uphold the termination. The participant then gets an additional notice confirming the decision. Peniel was notified on Feb. 21 that she was holding over on the property, or continuing to occupy it after the rental agreement has ended. Since January 2016 only 6 percent of HIP participants have received a termination notice, and less than 3 percent of participants have been terminated from the housing subsidy
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Housing, out of reach.
ILLUSTRATION BY REGINALD BLACK, ARTIST/VENDOR
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BIRTHDAYS Jeff McNeil May 7 ARTIST/VENDOR
board-certified nurse in Maryland since 1983, specializing as a portion of the program, Branda wrote in an email to Street geriatric nursing assistant and a bereavement specialist. She is Sense Media. eager to get back to work helping others. “I’m just praying to get Terminations can be overturned if certain criteria are met. better so I can be independent. I can’t even focus on that,” Peniel Since the program follows the Housing First model, where said, alluding to the constant emergencies and distractions that clients receive housing assistance before they are required come along with poor housing conditions and instability. to address other issues such as addiction or physical health Without her HIP support she will concerns, these include paying rent need to find a new place to live and utilities. “In most cases we’re without state assistance. Without able to find common ground with the family support, she tried to start participant, with their case worker,” a GoFundMe page to be able to Branda said. “It is very rare to not Street Sense Media has been recognized as afford a place of her own, but she reach that common ground.” thinks she will have to share a On top of the stress of being behind a finalist for 3 regional journalism awards space to be able to afford it. Peniel on rent, Peniel’s time in the apartment IJahQueen Is Peniel and 1 international award. knows two things for sure: She will has not been easy. All her furniture DETAILS: www.tinyurl.com/SSM-2019-awards not move back near her abuser and she will keep surviving. had been delivered two days before she moved in, except for “Everywhere I’ve been for three years has not been safe her bed. There was an extra delivery fee to get her bed to the or healthy for me,” Peniel said. Speaking metaphorically, fifth floor that she could not afford. Despite her knee and back she added, “there was a fire and look what happened, I’ve pain, she slept on the couch, where she has stayed since because been burned.” she has been unable to get assistance with the bed. Peniel said Peniel needs to vacate she also experienced some plumbing and toilet trouble in the by May 1, and per her unit and, for a brief time, she “went in a bag.” termination notice, her HIP In the first fifth-floor unit she was placed in, the one in the benefits will be officially same neighborhood as the abuser Peniel was trying to evade, she terminated on May 31. recalled competing for space with “swarms” of flies. She lived near the trash room, but the owners told her there had never been flies during their 25 years with the building. To Peniel, who describes herself as very clean, a holdover from all her years as a nurse, this was untenable. She spent 18 months living with the flies, and the second summer there she BY IJAHQUEEN IS PENIEL wound up with a dead bird and a dead rat in her apartment. The coordinator for her When, OH, Jah-over-us permanent supportive housing program All wilt through answer wrote a letter dated Nov. 3, 2016, that My/our cries of all was shown to Street Sense Media stating Cries — which I'm NOT alone the property failed its inspection and was Is an International, URGENT Need reported to Landlord/Tenant Affairs. They So many NEED to feel respected added that Peniel had spent her own money The first 40 guests will be served. on dealing with the issues and was two With complete compassion months behind on her rent, as a result. This To be able to trust put her in violation of the lease and at risk In someone — anyone of eviction, which would have meant the It's only thee loss of her HIP voucher as well. Peniel has received various notes from Jah-over-us Friday, May 24th, 2019 her doctors requesting that she be put in new All who can and will accommodations. In February 2018, her rehab Thursday, May 30th, 2019 It's a must, MUST doctor wrote a note to the property manager Way over us saying Peniel was unable to climb stairs due Jah, for us all to chronic knee and back pain. In Nov. 2018, Who have no place her oncologist wrote asking that she not go Doors open at 6:00pm. Dinner is served at 6:30pm. No place safe to go through more housing-related emotional 1317 G Street - Church of the Epiphany And need such stress to “maximize this patient’s chances for Celestial gifts of homes an optimal physical recovery, but also aid her Where joyous sounds in maintaining the mental stability that is so Questions about our dinners or interested in group volunteer very vital for the management of her serious are felt and heard opportunities? Call 202-347-2525, or, check us out at ysop.org. medical condition.” Peniel is getting care to be able to go back to work and support herself. She has been a
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
“How do you get a master’s to make a mess?”
11 artist/vendors, 8 volunteers, 5 interns and 2 full-time staff
A Prayer for Safe Housing
Come enjoy a FREE meal and conversation with our volunteers!
UPCOMING DINNERS:
8 // ST REET SENSE ME DI A / / MAY 1 - 1 4 , 2 0 1 9
ART Mothers BY JACQUELINE TURNER Artist/Vendor
Everyone always thinks their mother is the best in the world. Of course they should feel that way! The Bible says honor thy mother and thy father and your days will be longer. People talk about how mothers work endlessly most of the time with no help. There are lots of women with three, four, or more children with no daddy. Others have different fathers. These supermoms are too often high school dropouts who work two or three jobs to provide for their children. That is so hard in this day and time. And what about pregnancy? It takes a very strong woman to go the nine months to have a baby. But, remember: there are other choices. You don’t have to have a baby. So thank and respect your mother. You only get one. Always give them cards.
Honor Her
BY ANTHONY CARNEY // Artist/Vendor
I have the best mom in the world. Her name is Barbara Louise Carney Scarboro and she is my first love. I remember as a boy I just wanted to protect her from everything. She can really throws down in the kitchen. Ain’t no cook like my mom. She had three children. I was the oldest, and I must confess I was spoiled. We never went without. So thanks, mom, for being the best mom in the world. Spread the love!
May is for Mother BY LATISHIA WYNN // Artist/Vendor
I love the month of May because it has Mother. I always spend time with my mother on that day. I love my grandfather, my grandmother, and my godmother, too. I always give them cards.
Happy Mother’s Day BY SYBIL TAYLOR Artist/Vendor
Happy Mother’s Day to a special mom and grandmother. My lovely mom is a special rose bud. She’s as beautiful as a bouquet of flowers: A sunflower, a tulip, a violet, all together. She has been the very best at what she does. She’s been very independent, along with my sister Bridgette, since the passing of my dad. She is able to do things on her own. She raised me and my brother and sister so nicely alongside my father. You will never be forgotten. Mom would always get us ready for school, help us with homework, and teach us how to cook and clean up the house. She also showed me how to put on makeup and do my hair to go out dancing and singing or playing games. She is a special diamond, a jewel that can never be replaced. She was a dream come true when she married my dad and raised us so beautifully. My mom deserves and honor, a trophy for “Best Mom In The World.” When I was younger, we’d travel in all weather to have fun and see the sights. We went to the zoo and saw all the animals while snacking on popcorn and ice cream. We went to different museums and stores. I still remember the smell of hot dogs at the old five-anddime Woolworth Store, and our favorite record store, The Wiz. We loved our TV shows, too, during the ‘70s. Thank you, mom, for your love and for being there when I cry and go through things. And for helping me out. We all love you. Happy Mother’s Day! I hope all of the moms, grandmothers, sisters, aunts, cousins and great-grans out there have a wonderful day also. Right: Collages by Sybil Taylor
STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG
// 9
A mother’s embrace.
ILLUSTRATION BY ANDRE BRINSON, ARTIST/VENDOR
Mother’s Day BY EVELYN NNAM // Artist/Vendor
Mother’s Day is a day that we acknowledge our mothers for being wonderful and just being there for us. Mother’s Day comes once a year. Some people think that if they buy their mothers flowers and a card that they have completed their duty for the rest of the year. If we just had understood a portion of what our mothers did for us as children, and how they would literally die for us if needed, we would realize that one day is not enough. Mother’s Day should be a time to remind us that we have wonderful mothers that care and love us dearly. The relationship between a mother and child is sacred. Please let us honor our mothers. Mothers are the most compassionate and the most selfless creations by God. We can never thank them enough for all they have done for us. Being in labor, giving birth, pains here and there, waking up wee hours of the morning, preparing food, getting us ready for school, and getting us ready for life. Mothers are the backbone of which we stand today strong and successful. Mothers sacrifice everything just for that one child to become successful one day. So please, when that day comes, everyone please show your mothers or motherly figures that you appreciate them and love them to the ends of the earth. Make sure that when that day is here, they will never forget that they mean so much to you. In closing, I would like to wish all the mothers a happy Mother’s Day. Thank you.
Motherhood BY ANGIE WHITEHURST // Artist/Vendor
Motherhood is a biological condition a stance in life a human cycle practiced by some whether they like it or not.
Motherhood can be practiced by anyone regardless of race color creed gender the teacher the baker the candlestick maker.
For others it is a self-appointed role assumed out of choice and being in need of life's purposes: attaining peace and love.
Happy Mother's Day to all the Motherhood Practitioners leading the way for all the Budding Humans on life's tough journey.
Motherhood is the product of the mother, who gives us what we need: love for the soul.
A Poor Mom’s Dream BY JERMALE MCKNIGHT // Artist/Vendor
A poor mom’s dream crushed And a sense of respect is born Love for self and purpose Find expensive distracting scorn Love and classism stand ready To crush her and her child Both based on value Keyword “-ism” Everything you feel, hear and believe about finding love is rich Poor mom.
ILLUSTRATION BY ROBERT WARREN, ARTIST/VENDOR
But poor is downtown living A lie and long losing trial It made me question if love Is only for the opulent An overcompensating death wish Falsely paying off pleasure Wiping the tears from my eyes To arise in judgement to my true dream Deferred against me in anger And I left baffled in danger
1 0 // S T REET SENSE ME DI A / / MAY 1 - 1 4 , 2 0 19
OPINION A visit to the Downtown Day Services Center BY RONALD SMOOT
I saw the news about the new Downtown Day Services Center at the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church (1313 New York Ave. NW) and wanted to experience it. I went there twice recently, and it was really nice. The people treated me very well. After I entered the building, they asked me whether I wanted some lunch. Of course I said yes. They gave me a wristband, said "welcome” and off I went to the cafeteria. It was very clean, I guess because it is a new place for the homeless. The center also has a computer room, so you can
job search. Counselors will help fill out forms about housing and other things. You can even get a haircut and do your laundry! It was nice for Mayor Muriel Bowser and the city council to open this place and the others for the homeless because many homeless people don't have nowhere to go in the daytime. This is a real blessing for the homeless. But we still need more housing for the homeless men in the D.C area. Ronald Smoot is an artist and vendor with Street Sense Media.
A Beautiful Place BY ANTHONY CARNEY
The new Downtown Day Services Center is awesome. You can eat meals, shower, do laundry, and get case management from Pathways to Housing D.C. staff. I thank Mayor Bowser, the City Council, and all the homeless advocates for their persistence in making this happen. Anthony Carney is an artist and vendor with Street Sense Media.
The cost of our beautiful city BY AYUB ABDUL
The District of Columbia was a beautiful city. I came to Washington as a child to visit my family. It felt small but vibrant, or at least smaller than New York City. It made me want to return. I moved to D.C. in the spring of 1971, when buses cost $0.40. I stayed at the F St. YMCA until I could get on my feet. They charged me $3 a day until I rented my first room for $65 a month. Today, a room costs over $700. That's
“I rented my first room for $65 a month. the cost of the beautiful city they try to sell to us. More cranes go up all the time to make it so. But at what cost? So many people are without a home, living in shelters or on the street in our beautiful city. With prices so steep, of course the rate of homelessness is high. How beautiful is it, really? Ayub Abdul is an artist and vendor with Street Sense Media.
The MetroPCS by T-Mobile at 1915 7th St., NW, in the Shaw neighborhood. GOOGLE STREETVIEW OCT. 2018
MetroPCS and music BY JACKIE TURNER
The Metro PCS store on Florida and Georgia avenues was forced to turn off its Go-Go music recently. A man living across the street had threatened Metro’s owner, T-Mobile, with legal action if the store did not stop the music. There is nothing wrong with music being heard on the sidewalk. It puts people in a jovial mood. Some say it’s too loud. That’s part of the atmosphere of life. Just enjoy the sound, and remember that you are on the move—so don’t make the music move. Note: In the time since this piece was written, Metro PCS store owner Don Campbell has been allowed to continue playing Go-Go music. Jackie Turner is an artist and vendor with Street Sense Media.
Learn how to win, instead of complaining about how the game is played BY JEFFERY MCNEIL
Being a Democrat is similar to being a Washington, D.C. sports fan, whether it’s Georgetown University, the Redskins, the Wizards or the Nationals. As long as we don’t finish in last place, we think it’s a great year. Since 90% of Washingtonians support Democrats, it seems like no coincidence that the city’s sports teams reflect the people that live in the city. Washington is a city that closes down when a snowflake hits the ground. Too many people are coddled and pampered. That’s not a mindset that breeds winners. Winners look for ways to improve. Many Democrats still haven’t gotten over the 2016 presidential election. Do these people ever watch sports? Whining about elections is like the Washington Nationals whining about not having won a World Series in 50 years. The rules in baseball haven’t changed over its history: there are still three strikes and three outs. The Yankees get the same number of turns at-bat as the
Nationals, so why have the Yankees won 27 World Series while the Nationals spend year after year as runners up? Similarly, Democrats need to assess why Donald Trump won: after all, both parties play under the same Constitution and Electoral College. My parents were New York Mets fans, so I understand the mentality of being a victim, sufferer, an underdog. It’s sad when the highlight of your season is wearing a bag over your face. My father stayed devoted to the Mets out of loyalty. He adored the team because of Brooklyn and baseball’s first black ballplayer, Jackie Robinson, who played for the Brooklyn Dodgers. But the Mets have long been a running joke compared to the Yankees, especially because they have been unwilling to do what it takes to win. The team was a replacement, given to Brooklyn in 1962 after owner Walter O’Malley moved the Dodgers and Giants to California, thus depriving
New York of great players like Willie Mays. Brooklyn has never recovered. Nevertheless, my father despised the Yankees because they had a racist history and were one of the last teams to hire African American ballplayers. He could never accept that the team has evolved since the 1950s. By the 1970s, George Steinbrenner bought the Yankees and not only hired African Americans but also signed Reggie Jackson, Dave Winfield and later Derek Jeter -- some of the highest paid names in sports. America has evolved too. Our Founding Fathers owned slaves and committed genocide against Native Americans, yet many progressives can’t see that America has also improved the lives of many fleeing from oppression and tyranny. As long as we continue to focus on the way things used to be and complain about the competition, we will continue to lose. And whether it’s sports or politics, that mindset makes for a boring game. It’s nothing personal: we all love a
worthy adversary and hating the Boston Red Sox is what gets Yankees fans up in the morning. Adversity is the spice of life. If you have never met with failure and disappointment, chances are you done nothing worthwhile. If you don’t like losing elections, try learning how to win one instead of complaining and being miserable. While I don’t personally support the Democrats, I do believe that great teams need worthy adversaries. The Yankees need the Red Sox and the Republicans need a Democratic party that keeps them on their toes. While I’m not a Washington sports fan, it would be nice to one day live in a city that competes for prizes rather than spending every year whining about why their lives are miserable. Learn how to win instead of whining about how the game is played. Jeffery McNeil is an artist/vendor with Street Sense Media and a monthly contributor to the Washington Examiner.
When our justice system takes a life BY BRIAN CAROME
A.
D. was the first client I ever worked with as a member of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. I was taking a year off between college and graduate school, working full-time at Father Horace McKenna Center on Eye Street, which still shelters and aids D.C.’s poor and homeless. But A.D. is dead now. His story, though, feels very much alive in recent weeks, as I struggle again with a client whose life hangs in the balance. I met A.D. in 1985. He was homeless at the time and slept at the 2nd and D Street Shelter, operated by the Community for Creative Non-Violence (CCNV), an anti-war and anti-poverty Christian community that found homelessness immoral. I had many jobs at the McKenna Center that year. One was to help people like A.D. navigate their way out of homelessness. A.D. was smart, thoughtful and patient enough to teach me how to play chess. We talked about strategies to end poverty, Martin L u t h e r K i n g J r. , Malcom X and the tools of homelessness. I got him an interview at McKenna House – also named after Father Horace. At the time, McKenna House was the best-known ticket out of homelessness: It was small, it met you where you were at as an individual and it had everything you needed to get yourself out of homelessness. A.D. did not show up for the intake interview. Not long afterward, A.D. was arrested in a police sting, set to lure persons with outstanding warrants into custody with the lie that they had won a raffle to receive tickets to a Washington Redskins game. Long story short, A.D. was arrested and jailed. He went into prison drug-free. He came out addicted to crack. Not long after his release, he was shot and killed for arguing over change for a $20 bill after buying another hit of crack to feed his prison-induced addiction. He was 24 years old. Along with a CCNV community member named Jenni, I planned his memorial service. We played a tape of singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman’s song “Fast Car,” something A.D. died in need
of, unable to drive his way out of the trap of life at 2nd and D, the nation’s largest shelter for homeless adults, then and today. I applied to work as a JVC volunteer because the organization was rooted in the values of social justice, spirituality and community. I was raised Catholic; my father was a professor at the Jesuit John Carroll University outside Cleveland; and my high school’s motto, “Men for Others,” resonated with me. I continue to hold those values dear today. They are what drive me in my work as Street Sense Media’s executive director. As such, A.D.’s story is to me a tragedy and a travesty. While thoughtful persons may disagree, I know that A.D. was not rehabilitated in our criminal justice system. His was a death sentence. The time did not fit his nonviolent crime. Story over. Life ended. A.D.’s story would be nothing more than a sad history lesson if it were not for the fact that our criminal justice system has failed another life. Privacy concerns prevent me from discussing the specifics of the case. But, in short, a court set up to divert arrest cases involving persons with mental illness has given up on a defendant who is mentally ill. Additionally, our behavioral health system, under the purview of Mayor Muriel Bowser, has failed to recognize that a citizen was presenting a threat to self and others. My fear is that I will soon be organizing another memorial service. A.D. Is long buried, but the subject of this story is still alive. I am pleading with those in power—our courts and our elected officials—to recognize their complicity in a system that condemns instead of rehabilitates the most vulnerable among us—before another life is cut short.
“A court set up to divert arrest cases involving persons with mental illness has given up on a defendant who is mentally ill.”
Brian Carome has served as executive director of Street Sense Media since 2011. He has worked at organizations committed to ending homelessness since 1985, in Washington, D.C., and Fairfax and Arlington Counties in Virginia.
1 2 // S T REET SENSE ME DI A / / MAY 1 - 1 4 , 2 0 19
ART
Say a Word Spoken
BY ROBERT WARREN // Artist/Vendor
Dear Friends, I say a word spoken to me into my soul. For who will believe in the truth of the State of the Union?
April Tears BY FREDERIC JOHN // Artist/Vendor
How brief their dainty reign, Wafting down like April tears (in rain) PHOTO BY FREDERIC JOHN
And until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword. I see a sword of justice carried across the land From sea to shining sea where no man is above the law and no lie will stand.
Disrespect BY BEVERLY SUTTON Artist/Vendor
Many people have been nasty toward me recently. I was talking to one customer about our mission when she sneered, "Get a job. You can do better than this.” "This is a job,” I told her. “To help homeless people. That's why we write the stories and sell the papers." She again told me to get a job, to which I responded that this is a business. The woman ignored me and walked away. Fortunately, the next customer respected me, at least verbally. He said he had to get to work and hustled down the Van Ness Metro escalator. A lot of people literally turn up their noses at me. "You're dissing me," I say. "Why do you do that?" No one answers, of course. They look at me like I'm stupid. I am not a nobody. So why do they treat me as less than human? That makes me really mad. All this disrespecting and dissing affects my business. I feel less assertive and more fearful about approaching potential customers. How do these people have the right to make me more afraid to ask them to buy our paper? I cope by talking to a regular customer I know respects and appreciates me. And I will not quit. I'm too old to get angry. In the end, the people who diss me are the ones with problems, not me. I like everybody.
Or remember Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address? A line of a word spoken yet if God wills it. War will continue until all wealth piled up by the bondsman’s 450 years of unrepaid toil shall be sunk,
My advice BY MARCUS MCCALL Artist/Vendor
Just for today, tell yourself, “I have more than enough of what it takes to make it through the rough times and tight places.” Also, keep the focus on personal responsibility. Until today, you may have thought that what happens to you and around you determines the nature of who you are. But just for today, allow faith, joy, patience, and peace to be the characterbuilding tools that determine your approach to the experiences of life. “A winner is a Dream who never gives up,” Mr. Nelson Mandela
In FDR’s First Address, a line of words spoken, “The only thing we have to fear Is fear itself,” the unjustified fear monger, when learning to fear the lord is the beginning and building a wise nation of people endowed with the wisdom of man. How else can we face our common difficulties of our time, compared with the perils which our forefather's conquered because they believed and were not afraid, even when some cried “America First” and marched on the Avenue of Freedom in White Hoods. And now we know of those youths whose hearts and eyes were stained in bigotry and racism of the time That we all fall short of the glory is a proven truth, and for the Lord’s grace and mercy, let the people of this land work. That the State of our Union will not be a wall that divides us but the wisdom of the words spoken by wise men and the mothers who knew.
STREETSENSEMEDIA.ORG
Through the Rain
Love me some life
BY MARCUS GREEN Artist/Vendor
BY REGGIE JONES // Artist/Vendor
Life is beautiful As I wake up another day I Thank God For waking me up and giving me strength to do my daily tasks and enjoy life cause life is beautiful Just so beautiful
// 13
Can you stand the rain? In rain’s problems and blessings, it’s always best to be on the blessings side. “How do you do that?” most people would ask. In my own experience, I treat people the way I would like to be treated. Helping someone with no strings attached is a good feeling inside. Most of my problems I create. Some you have to work out yourself, then move on to the next one. After the rain, then comes the sun, and rainbow. Life goes on and you put your best foot forward every day. Thanks for your support. Stay blessed.
Tent City, Part 2 BY LATICIA BROCK A.K.A. “PWEEZY VILLAGE” Artist/Vendor
Bed bugs dominate the shelters we access And your hard-earned money gets stolen out your chest
Reality
ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF SIGNOTE CLOUD / FLICKR
BY ALICE CARTER, A.K.A. ”BABY ALICE Artist/Vendor
I guess I’ll wait until Tuesday I get released Monday night I ain’t got my medication I ain’t got it in like a week Yet I’ m trapped in this place This is crazy as hell You can’t even get a bar of soap What kind of place is this? I was dealing with enough Until you did this crazy sh** to me. In fact, this place IS CRAZY. They have a one-hour quiet time I still got to go to court I work for Street Sense I sell newspapers What kind of place is this?
Wishing I had another outlet Butting up with mental health and staying upset If John L. Young and Pat Handy knew how their shelters are being handled they would be tossing and turning in their graves
Trapped in a corner Locked in a psych ward I’m not used to this. I was supposed to see my probation officer I was supposed to go to Whitman Walker And pick up my medication For my hormones and HIV They completely threw me off track
Bullying is at an all-time high Why I gotta resort to prison bunk beds and staring in the sky?
Choices BY CHAD JACKSON Artist/Vendor
Life is what you make of it. For instance, I had the choice a couple times to not participate in criminal activity, but I chose to do it anyway and that’s life. But I also chose to join the military, where I had eight good years. At times, life gives you false choices. But even then, always remember that one could be your best. Like when I went to war: I had no choice because I had signed up. But in the end, we won, and that was good for the whole country. I also chose to have kids, all of whom I love dearly. I’m still mourning my son’s death, but the other six are grown and doing well. They’re all off making their choices, making something of their lives. Two are already graduated from college and one, my oldest daughter, is a neurologist. Always remember, you have choices.
Praying for better dayz for us all sneaking inside and outside of Union Station mall Being classified as street thugs don't know whether to dodge the cops or those damn bugs Yes, those bed bugs is serious and them walking me out of my wool blanket Is makin’ me furious Why it seem like the government is crooked and all the less fortunate take the whipping I think I know what makes sense: Thanking my creator for Street Sense
1 4 // ST REET SEN S E ME DI A / / MAY 1 - 1 4 , 2 019
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LAST EDITION’S PUZZLE SOLUTION >>
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Sudoku #6 8 5 9 6 1 3 6 4 4 2 7 3 3 1 5 2 6 7 2 1 9 8 4 7 5 9 3 8 2 6 8 9 7 4 1 5 Sudoku #8 7 1 9 3 2 5 4 8 8 3 6 7 9 6 1 5 4 2 7 9 5 8 3 6 1 9 2 4 6 4 8 1 3 7 5 2
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Pereant, inquit, qui ante nos nostra dixerunt. [Confound those who have said our remarks before us.] -- Aelius Donatus
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Sudoku #2 3 4 9 1 6 2 7 5 8 8 5 1 3 4 7 2 6 9 2 7 6 8 5 9 1 3 4 Super-Tough Sudoku by KrazyDad, Volume 1, Book 1 7 1 8 5 3 6 9 4 2 5 6 2 9 7 4 3 8 1 9 3 4 2 8 1 5 7 6 6 9 7 4 2 3 8 1 5 4 2 5 7 1 8 6 9 3 1 8 3 6 9 5 4 2 7
Small Town BY PATTY SMITH Artist/Vendor
In the big city of Pittsburgh, we just cared about our small town of Northside. My school had 200 students. I knew most of them because they were small-town people. We had gym class and played tennis and baseball. But my favorite sport was playing pool on the table we had at home. We went on outings to the country and had PTA meetings in the evening just like a small-town school should. When I got home each day, I helped mom plant vegetables in the back yard like the small-town girl in her small-town world.
Best Behaving BY LEVESTER GREEN Artist/Vendor
For my hometown
I need more positive inspirations Good vibrations As we been calling it this generation Alternatives to altercations and incarceration Best behaving!
Author Gene Weingarten is a college dropout and a nationally syndicated humor columnist for The Washington Post. Author Dan Weingarten is a former college dropout and a current college student majoring in information technology. Many thanks to Gene Weingarten and The Washington Post Writers Group for allowing Street Sense to run Barney & Clyde.
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Calvary Women’s Services // 202-678-2341 1217 Good Hope Rd., SE calvaryservices.org
Catholic Charities // 202-772-4300 catholiccharitiesdc.org/gethelp
Central Union Mission // 202-745-7118 65 Massachusetts Ave., NW missiondc.org
Charlie’s Place // 202-232-3066 1830 Connecticut Ave., NW charliesplacedc.org
Christ House // 202-328-1100 1717 Columbia Rd., NW christhouse.org
Church of the Pilgrims // 202-387-6612 2201 P St., NW food (1-1:30 on Sundays only) churchofthepilgrims.org/outreach
Community Family Life Services 202-347-0511 // 305 E St., NW cflsdc.org
Community of Hope // 202-232-7356 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 Eye St., NW fathermckennacenter.org
Food and Friends // 202-269-2277 219 Riggs Rd., NE foodandfriends.org (home delivery for those suffering from HIV, cancer, etc)
Foundry Methodist Church // 202-332-4010 1500 16th St., NW ID (Friday 9am–12pm only) foundryumc.org/ministry-opportunities
Friendship Place // 202-364-1419 4713 Wisconsin Ave., NW friendshipplace.org
Georgetown Ministry Center // 202-338-8301 1041 Wisconsin Ave., NW georgetownministrycenter.org
Jobs Have Priority // 202-544-9128 425 2nd St., NW jobshavepriority.org
Loaves & Fishes // 202-232-0900 1525 Newton St., NW loavesandfishesdc.org
Martha’s Table // 202-328-6608 2114 14th St., NW marthastable.org
Miriam’s Kitchen // 202-452-8926 2401 Virginia Ave., NW miriamskitchen.org
BEHAVIORAL HEALTH HOTLINE Línea de salud del comportamiento
1-800-799-7233
Housing/Shelter Vivienda/alojamiento
// 15
1-888-793-4357 Laundry Lavandería
JOB BOARD
Patricia Handy Place for Women 202-733-5378 // 810 5th St., NW
Program Manager
Samaritan Inns // 202-667-8831 2523 14th St., NW samaritaninns.org
Manages the day-to-day operations of the Office of Paid Family Leave Communications Staff, oversees all department media events, Researches, analyzes and develops information materials designed to reach local and national audience, provides responses to Freedom of Information Act requests. REQUIRED: Must possess one (1) year of specialized experience equivalent to the grade level 12, such as communication techniques and strategies or public information campaigns; Plus 3 years of progressive supervisory/management experience. APPLY: www.tinyurl.com/DOES-manage-PFL
Samaritan Ministry 202-722-2280 // 1516 Hamilton St., NW // 202-889-7702 // 1345 U St., SE samaritanministry.org
Sasha Bruce Youthwork // 202-675-9340 741 8th St., SE sashabruce.org
So Others Might Eat (SOME) // 202-797-8806 71 O St., NW some.org
St. Luke’s Mission Center // 202-333-4949 3655 Calvert St., NW stlukesmissioncenter.org
Thrive DC // 202-737-9311 1525 Newton St., NW thrivedc.org
Unity Health Care // 202-745-4300 3020 14th St., NW unityhealthcare.org
D.C. Dept. of Employment Services Tax Division for the Office of Paid Family Leave 4058 Minnesota Avenue, NE // Full Time
Non-Profit Campaign Job for Women’s Rights
Grassroots Campaigns // Washington, D.C. Full Time
This position works with team members and
other nonprofits to design and run outreach campaigns for reproductive rights, healthcare access, and affordable birth control. REQUIRED: Strong communication and interpersonal skills APPLY: www.tinyurl.com/grassroots-job
Crew Member
Trader Joe’s // Washington, D.C. This position performs many tasks including bagging groceries, being a friendly cashier, stocking shelves, designing creative signs, and providing customer service and direction. APPLY: www.tinyurl.com/tj-dc-jobs
Customer Service Associate 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
Patrick’s Pet Care // Washington, D.C. This position visits clients’ homes to care for pets, performs a mid-day dog-walking route, and occasionally administers medication to pets. REQUIRED: Smartphone, love of animals, 10-40 hours of availability per week, able to occasionally work weekend/ morning/ evening schedule. APPLY: www.tinyurl.com/dog-walking-job
My Sister’s Place // 202-529-5991 (24-hr hotline) mysistersplacedc.org
N Street Village // 202-939-2060 1333 N St., NW nstreetvillage.org
New York Avenue Shelter // 202-832-2359 1355-57 New York Ave., NE
Whitman-Walker Health 1701 14th St., NW // 202-745-7000 2301 MLK Jr. Ave., SE // 202-797-3567 whitman-walker.org
For further information and listings, visit our online service guide at StreetSenseMedia.org/service-guide
Ice Cream Server Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams // Washington, D.C. This part-time position serves ice cream and provides friendly customer service. REQUIRED: Availability to work on weekends and past 11 p.m. APPLY: www.tinyurl.com/ice-cream-job
Hiring? Send your job postings to editor@StreetSenseMedia.org
American University’s food pantry fights hunger on campus BY GRACE COLLINS // Editorial Intern
College is expensive. Financial aid and merit awards can cover most of the cost of tuition and housing for qualifying students. However, expenses such as food, transportation, books, and clothing can add up quickly — especially if a student comes from a low-income household. At American University, one resource that addresses this issue is The Market, a food pantry for students that is run by student volunteers in partnership with the Office of Campus Life, AHealthyU, and the Health Promotion and Advocacy Center. It is located in the basement of a residence hall, where it is easy to access but discreet enough to protect students’ privacy. Users can access it 18 hours a day with their student key card. The Market was created after a student was unable to consistently afford food and went to the Office of Campus Life seeking a solution, according to Tony Hollinger, who oversees The Market. This student helped to create a survey looking into food insecurity on AU’s campus and found that in 2016, 44 percent of students went hungry once a semester, 18 percent went hungry three to four times a semester, and 59 percent of students knew someone who did not have enough food. By the 2017-2018 academic year, The Market was up and running. The food pantry at AU was largely inspired by The Store, a student-run pantry at The George Washington University that was formed about a year before The Market. Like The Store, The Market does not employ a full-time staff. "It’s very much based on an honor system... it really is about students being mindful of each other,” Hollinger said. When leaving The Market, users are simply expected to report what items they are taking on a sign-out sheet. Hollinger says that the system is effective, and he has never seen a situation where a student has taken significantly more than they needed.
PHOTO BY GRACE COLLINS
To access The Market, students do not need proof of their financial situation and must only fill out a short form online with their university ID number and email address. According to Hollinger, “We don’t have any qualifying criteria... for the privacy of the users, we don’t know what their personal circumstances are.” Much of the food at The Market comes from Capital Area Food Bank, which has locations in D.C. and Virginia. Other groups on campus also collect donations and at the end of each semester, money that is left over in student meal plans also goes towards food for The Market. The Market stocks mostly non-perishable food and snacks. There are two refrigerators stocked with fresh food but Hollinger said it is difficult to balance student demand with the rate at which fresh food expires. Next to the door, there is a box where students can submit feedback or suggestions on how to improve The Market. “[The Market] seems to be highly effective based on the feedback from students,” Hollinger said. “We need to increase the awareness of it, to make sure that everyone who might need it knows it’s here as a resource.” The Market is an active member of the College and University Food Bank Alliance, which has over 700 members nationwide. According to this group, about 30 percent of college students are food insecure, and of these food-insecure students, 56 percent are working, 75 percent receive financial aid, and 43 percent have a meal plan — all of which are insufficient to cover their needs. The food bank alliance provides universities with informational “toolkits” to set up their own food pantries, which give advice on how to find sponsorship and how to calculate student need. According to University Food Bank Alliance, 55 percent of their members were able to successfully open a pantry in less than one year. Many universities in the DMV area have on-campus food pantries, including American, George Washington, Georgetown, Howard, University of the District of Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Trinity Washington, University of Maryland College Park, George Mason, and Bowie State. Some of these pantries, such as George Mason’s “Patriot Pantry,” also offer toiletries and school supplies. As of now, about 600 students have requested access to The Market at American University, but fewer use it regularly. The university has more than 7,000 undergraduates, meaning The Market serves fewer than 8.6 percent of students, just a small proportion of the survey respondents who had reported going hungry. As Hollinger put it, “Food insecurity on campus is something that the whole nation is really just starting to more proactively engage.” Students and individuals involved in this effort, like Hollinger, hope awareness and creative solutions like The Market will be able to make a big difference.
Students served by The Market
Students hungry 3-4 times per semester
Students hungry once per semester
Students aware of a food-insecure classmate
INFOGRAPHIC BY GRACE COLLINS. DATA COURTESY OF AMERICAN UNIVERSITY.
The Market is designed to be as private as possilbe in order to reduce any stigma that may prevent students in need from choosing to use it. THE MARPHOTO BY GRACE COLLINS.
Thank you for reading Street Sense! From your vendor MAY 1 - 14, 2019 | VOLUME 16 ISSUE 13
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