05 14 2008

Homeless teen moms straddle a strange line between adulthood and adolescence, page 7

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Where the Washington area's poor and homeless earn and give their two cents May 14 – May 27, 2008 • Volume 5, Issue 14

ELECTION 2008

www.streetsense.org

New DC Agency Tackles Shelter Upgrades $2.7M Plan Improves Access for Disabled and Brings Public Facilities in Line With Federal Laws – 13 Years After Deadline Set by Congress

By Mandy McAnally

Homeless Voters Face Challenges

By Dan Seligson

$ See

Voting, page 4

timulate treet ense’s uccess

For more info , see page 3

See

courtesy of istockphoto

Roy Crabtree has some strong feelings about politics.

Over breakfast last week at Miriam’s Kitchen in northwest D.C., Crabtree espoused strongly held positions about politicians’ responsibilities, campaign promises, the price of oil and the war in Iraq.

When November rolls around, however, Crabtree, who has voted in almost every election in recent years, said he was unsure whether he would participate.

“It‘s up in the air,” he said. “Registering to vote without a fixed address – that is definitely a roadblock to our people.”

Low-income and homeless citizens face some unique difficulties when registering to vote. Proof of identity, such as birth certificates or ID cards, can get lost, making it

A number of homeless shelters in the District of Columbia are slated for capital improvements this year under a plan to bring the buildings in compliance with federal disability laws.

The plan is expected to cost about $2.7 million and is being managed by the new Office of Disability Rights, which opened in November. The city worked with advocates to establish the office for the purpose of making public facilities compliant with the American Disabilities Act of 1990.

The ADA required that all government programs, services and activities be accessible to people with disabilities by 1995, but D.C. has yet to meet that deadline for compliance, particularly in its homeless shelters.

So, for example, some shelters

need sleeping areas that are in a clear path of travel; dining areas and bathrooms that are accessible for wheelchairs and for people with other disabilities; wheelchair accessible elevators; accommodations for deaf and blind residents; and accessible transportation, according to Elaine Gardner, director of the Disability Rights Project.

“We are trying to bring together the Office of Property Management and the Department of Human Services (DHS) so we have all the right people making the right decisions,” Eve Hill, director of the Office of Disability Rights, told Street Sense.

“We have done a lot of quality modifications. We’ve done assessments of most of the buildings, and so now it’s time to be making decisions and getting the work done,” Hill said.

Disability, page 4

The office of Disability Rights opened in November 2007.

WHAT OUr READERS ARE SAYING ...

A Sampling of Reader Reactions to Our Recent Coverage on Drugs A Stereotype Broken

D

ear Editor,

I read in your From the Editor column (“Cracking It Open,” 4/30) that Brittany Aubin faced some objections as she prepared her article (“Path to Recovery for Addicts Littered With Obstacles in District,” 4/30). I think that is most unfortunate. Please allow me to explain why.

I do not claim to have any indepth knowledge of the prevalence of substance abuse among the homeless, and I have to admit that — even after having read every single issue of Street Sense since the beginning of 2006 — there are still some stereotypes about the homeless that it has been difficult for me to let go of, but Brittany’s article just helped me to let go of one.

According to Brittany’s arti-

Inside This Issue LOCAL NEWS

Hanging Questions The District holds the first public hearing on its housing plan for the homeless, page 5

cle, 27% of D.C.’s homeless individuals are chronic substance abusers.

That means 73% — virtually three of every four — aren’t.

I would like to think that I am your only reader ignorant enough to have still believed—up until about an hour ago when I picked up Brittany’s article — the wrong and harmful stereotype that most homeless people abuse drugs.

Un f o r t u n a t e l y, I m i g h t h a ve some company, according to Mela-

nie Lidman’s Nov. 28, 2007, article “Public Perceptions Don’t Match Reality.”

In that article, Melanie reported that according to a survey conducted by Gallup for Fannie Mae, 26% of Americans say that drug and alcohol abuse is the primary reason for homelessness. Fortunately, only 17% of those who were surveyed in Washington, D.C., said so

See

Letters, page 12

PHOTOGRAPHY

EDITORIAL

Vendor Gregory Rich takes readers along as witnesses to his week, pages 8 and 9

Vendor Moyo Onibuje argues the Internet can help the poor take charge of their health, page 13

A Week in the Life

FEATURES

Prom Night Vendor Jo Ann Jackson continues her childhood memoir, page 10

Health on the Web

BACK PAGE

Photo Finish Italian photographer Emiliano Facchinelli turns his camera on D.C., page 16

Street Sense . May 14 – May 27, 2008

ALL ABOUT US

Our Mission

1317 G Street, NW Washington, DC 20005 Phone: (202) 347-2006 Fax: (202) 347-2166 info@streetsense.org www.streetsense.org BOARD OF DIRECTORS James Davis Robert Egger Ted Henson Barbara Kagan Brad Scriber John Snellgrove Michael Stoops Francine Triplett David Walker Kathy Whelpley EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Laura Thompson Osuri EDITOR IN CHIEF Kaukab Jhumra Smith VENDOR MANAGER Rita Renee Brunson AD SALES MANAGER Larie Edwards Jr. ASSOCIATE EDITOR David S. Hammond (volunteer) INTERN Brittany Aubin VOLUNTEERS Matt Allee, Robert Basler, Robert Blair, Jane Cave, Jason Corum, Carolyn Cosmos, Rebecca Curry, Rick Dahnke, Colleen Dolan, Jessica Gaitan, Joshua Gardner, Genevieve Gill, Joanne Goodwin, Carol Hannaford, Justin Herman, Annie Hill, Dan Horner, Aimee Hyzy, Alicia Jones, Mary Lynn Jones, Maurice King, Geof Koss, Jessica LaGarde, Jeff Lambert, Karin Lee, Brenda K. Lee-Wilson, Claire Markgraf, Mandy McAnally, Sam McCormally, Kent Mitchell, Kim O’Connor, Robert Orifici, Swinitha Osuri, Cara Schmidt, Jamie Schuman, Dan Seligson, Kat Shiffler, Jennifer Singleton, Katie Smith, Kathryn Taylor, Matthew Taylor, Robert Trautman, Eugene Versluysen, Linda Wang, Brenda Karyl-Lee Wilson, Marian Wiseman, Corrine Yu VENDORS Willie Alexander, Michael Anderson, Katrina Angie, Jake Ashford, Lawrence Autry, Tommy Bennett, Corey Bridges, Bobby Buggs, Conrad Cheek Jr., Walter Crawley, Louise Davenport, James Davis, Bernard Dean, Muriel Dixon, Alvin Dixon El, Barron Hall, David Harris, John Harrison, Patricia Henry, Phillip Howard, Jo Ann Jackson, Michael Jefferson, Patricia Jefferson, Jewell Johnson, Allen Jones, Mark Jones, Brenda Karyl Lee-Wilson, L. Morrow, Charles Mayfield, Lee Mayse, Jennifer Mclaughlin, Jeffery McNeil, Charles Nelson, Moyo Onibuje, Therese Onyemenon, Thomas Queen, Kevin Robinson, Ed Ross, Dennis Rutledge, Gerald Smith, Patty Smith, James Stewart, Gary Stoddard, Archie Thomas, Ingrid Thomas, Francine Triplett, Carl Turner, Jerry W., Martin Walker, Mary Wanyama, Lawless Watson, Inell Wilson, Ivory Wilson, Tina Wright

We are proud members of:

Street Sense aims to serve as a vehicle for elevating voices and public debate on issues relating to poverty while also creating economic opportunities for people who are experiencing homelessness in our community.

Our Editorial Policy

Editorials and features in Street Sense reflect the perspectives of the authors. We invite the submission of news, opinion, fiction and poetry, hoping to create a means in which a multitude of perspectives on poverty and homelessness can find expression. Street Sense reserves the right to edit any material.

North American Street Newspaper Association

The Story of Street Sense Street Sense began in August 2003 after two volunteers, Laura Thompson Osuri and Ted Henson, approached the National Coalition for the Homeless on separate occasions about starting a street newspaper in Washington, D.C. A street paper is defined as a newspaper about poverty, homelessness and other social issues that provides an income to the homeless individuals who sell it. About 25 street papers operate in the United States and Canada in places like Seattle, Chicago, Montreal and Boston, and dozens more exist throughout the world.

After bringing together a core of dedicated volunteers and vendors, Street Sense came out with its first issue in November 2003, printing 5,000 copies. For the next three years the paper published consistently on a monthly basis and greatly expanded its circulation and vendor network.

For the first year, Street Sense operated as a project of the National Coalition for the Homeless, but in October 2004, the organization incorporated and moved into its own office space. In March 2005, Street Sense received 501(c)3 status, becoming an independent nonprofit organization.

In October 2005, Street Sense formed a board of directors, and in November, the organization hired its first employee, a full-time executive director.

A year later, in November 2006, the organization hired its first vendor coordinator.

In February 2007, the paper started publishing twice a month as the network of vendors expanded to more than 50 homeless men and women.

To support the increased production, Street Sense brought on its first fulltime editor in chief in April 2007.

Do you have comments on a story?

Did we get something wrong?

What would you like to see covered in Street Sense?

Tell us!

Write to editor@streetsense.org

Thank You!

International Network of Street Papers

Street Sense Vendor Code of Conduct 1.

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

2.

I will only purchase the paper from Street Sense staff and will not sell papers to other vendors (outside of the office volunteers).

3.

I agree to treat all others – customers, staff, other vendors – respectfully, and I will not “hard sell,” threaten or pressure customers.

4.

I agree to stay off private property when selling Street Sense.

5.

I understand that I am not a legal employee of Street Sense but a contracted worker responsible for my own well-being and income.

6.

I agree to sell no additional goods or products when selling the paper.

7.

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

8.

There are no territories among vendors.

I will respect the space of other vendors, particularly the space of vendors who have been at a spot longer.

9.

I understand that my badge is the property of Street Sense and will not deface it. I will present my badge when purchasing the papers and display my badge when selling papers.

10. I understand that Street Sense strives to be a paper that covers homelessness and poverty issues while providing a source of income for the homeless. I will try to help in this effort and spread the word.

WANNA HELP? If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, or have a great article or feature idea, please contact Koki Smith at 202-347-2006 or e-mail editor@streetsense.org If you are interested in becoming a vendor, contact Rita Brunson at the same number or come to a vendor training session on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2 p.m. at our office (1317 G Street, NW - near Metro Center).

Street Sense . May 14 – May 27, 2008

PROFILE

Street Success

Vendor Finds Entrepreneurial Spirit on the Streets

By Aimee Hyzy

“I’ve learned how to become a businessman, instead of a laborer. When you’re an entrepreneur, you’re free.”

– Jeffery McNeil

JANE CAVE

Jeffery McNeil is dressed in a full-length camel-colored coat and a dark blue suit. He is indistinguishable from any of the welldressed businesspeople hurrying along the downtown streets on weekday mornings. Ask him about globalization, and he will tell you the connection between corporate greed, third-world factories and poverty in America. It’s surprising to find that Jeffery has been homeless for four years.

A serious gambling problem cost Jeffery everything: his home, his girlfriend and all the money he had. In fact, it was a bet that took him from his hometown in New Jersey to D.C. He lost a card game and decided then that the time was right for serious change. On the fourth of July, he threw a dart at a map.

When the dart hit D.C., he decided to move to the nation’s capital. He arrived with just 30 cents in his pocket and nowhere to live.

By the time he moved from New Jersey, Jeffery had already been experiencing bouts of homelessness for several years. With nowhere to go in the city, Jeffery tried to stay in shelters, but discovered the abhorrent state of shelters in the city. He noted that the Franklin Shelter was particularly deplorable; full of rampant drug use and rodents. Consequently, he chose instead to spend many of his nights on the streets and generated a

small income through odd jobs.

One day last October while he was living in a park, Jeffery noticed a man wearing a bright green Street Sense vest. He asked him what it was for. Jeffery trained as a vendor as soon as he could and now earns a living selling the paper.

In the few months since he started, Jeffery has already earned a reputation as a serious vendor and uses signs to pitch the paper. His cardboard signs inform potential readers that “a little change can make a big difference.”

Because many customers are first-time buyers, Jeffery says, “The best selling technique is to market the product.”

Jeffery also believes in the importance of appearance and attitude. His philosophy is to “be pleasant and polite, even when things aren’t going your way.”

His selling methods are clearly effective.

Jeffery says he sells about 100 papers per day.

In order to meet his overall sales goals, Jeffery creates shifts for himself in which he aims to sell 20 papers. His entrepreneurial spirit, which he attributes to Street Sense, is evident to even a casual observer.

“I’ve learned how to become a businessman, instead of a laborer,” he says. “When you’re an entrepreneur, you’re free.”

Jeffery has not yet been able to secure long-term housing and attributes this to the high tax rate and high cost of living in the city.

As for being homeless in D.C., Jeffery wishes more people knew that the vast majority of homeless people are not panhandling to support illegal habits. It is difficult just to procure enough money for the basics of survival.

Jeffery emphatically says, “The biggest tragedy is that people working in D.C. can’t afford the high cost of living. There’s no living wage.”

Jeffery sees the need for major change in policies regarding D.C.’s poor and homeless populations. He points to the correlation between the number of homeless people and the high tax rate. If social services – financed through taxes – were more effective, he argues, there would be fewer people homeless, and there could be a corresponding decrease in tax rates for the citizens of D.C. Despite his current problems, Jeffery has his eyes set on the future. Writing is one of his great passions, and he frequently writes articles for Street Sense. He hopes to eventually pen a book about globalization and poverty, but in the nearer future Jeffery wants to intern with the Institute for Political Journalism. In the meantime when he has spare time, Jeffery enjoys reading and visiting the Library of Congress.

“Street Sense has opened my horizons,” he says with a smile.

“How long will I be with Street Sense? ‘Til the next great opportunity.”

$timulate $treet $ense

We are calling on all readers to donate to Street Sense all or part of the money they will soon be receiving from the Economic Stimulus Package rebate.

The President is hoping that you will stimulate the economy with the purchase of a digital camera, designer purse or some other short-lived consumer good. But wouldn’t you rather invest that money in a worthy nonprofit that will continue to thrive through your donation long after the camera has turned into junk?

So we ask you to please help stimulate Street Sense’s success today through a donation of $60 to $600. Any amount you can spare of this government bonus payment is greatly appreciated.

My Information Name:_____________________________________________________ Address:___________________________________________________ City/State/Zip:_____________________________________________ Phone:_______________________E-mail:_______________________

Jeffery McNeil joined Street Sense in August ‘07

My Economic Stimulus Donation

___ $600 All my rebate or the printing for half an issue ___ $300 Half my rebate or one new vendor computer ___ $200 One-third of my rebate or vests for 15 new vendors ___ $100 One-sixth of my rebate or monthly postage ___ $60 One-tenth of my rebate or food for one vendor meeting ___ Another amount of $_______ ___ Another amount of $_______ for vendor: ________________

Please make checks payable to Street Sense.

Street Sense is a 501(c)(3), nonprofit organization.

All donations are tax deductible.

Mail to: Street Sense, 1317 G St. NW, Washington, DC 20005.

You can also donate online at www.streetsense.org

LOCAL NEWS

Street Sense . May 14 – May 27, 2008

Disability, from page 1 As of the January 2007 homelessness count conducted by local government, 14% of D.C.’s homeless population, or 806 people, had some type of physical disability.

Many D.C. shelters “have a number of accessible elements…so there are some small fixes that need to be made that we are making,” Hill said.

Then there are the shelters that require more complex upgrades, including Blair, Emery, New York Avenue, St. Elizabeths, New Transitional and Madison shelters. Blair and Emery, which are old school buildings, don’t have elevators.

So the city is grappling with installing elevators or moving all programs and services to the first floor. Abdul Nurriddin, former executive director of the Community for Creative NonViolence, said he worked with the Department of Human Services and the Office of Property Management for months.

He gave the agencies a “checklist” of items that need to be fixed at CCNV. Among them are installing door handles for disabled residents, Braille signs in designated areas and a text telephone device for deaf residents.

There are more than 30 disabled men and women living at CCNV, Nurriddin said. The women’s floor was recently overhauled to meet ADA regulations. The floor now has wider doors and hallways. The bathrooms have handicap stalls and sinks that are lower to the ground with plenty of space around them. The showers are also spacious and equipped with benches and hand-held shower heads.

Nurriddin was replaced by Interim Executive Director Rico E. Harris last week.

Harris said the men’s bathrooms also have wheelchair accessible stalls and sinks. He noted that the building has access to only one elevator because the other is overdue for a safety inspection.

Amber Harding, an attorney for the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, said that before the Office of Disability Rights was established there were “significant efforts” to work with DHS to call attention to disability issues in homeless shelters. “ODR seems to be doing a great job on this issue,” she said.

But she also raised concerns about whether the new renovations will cover the needs of homeless families. According to Harding, D.C. has two townhomes in Northeast that are supposed to be ADA accessible and used for emergency shelters for families. She said that one of the units she visited does have some ADA accessible features.

But even if both units are fully equipped for disabled residents, there will still be an unmet need for an accessible family shelter, she said.

Hill said she expects most of the smaller capital improvement projects to be finished in 2008, and the more complex projects to be finished next year.

When asked if he expects the city to meet that deadline, Nurriddin laughed.

“It seems like everything during the renovation will eventually be taken care of,” he said.

“Knowing the city, it’ll be about money,” he said. The Office of Property Management wants to stay within the budget. The Department of Human Services wants to make sure the upgrades are in compliance with the laws.

“And CCNV is saying, ‘Y’all better get it done, because we aren’t taking the heat.’”

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Voting, from page 1 harder to fill out legal forms. Registration forms are not always readily available. And residency requirements can cause other headaches.

With the 2008 presidential election looming just half a year away, homeless citizens might face a few complications.

But no eligible citizen should be deterred.

Whether living at a fixed address or not, U.S. citizens can cast ballots, said Tulin Ozdeger, civil rights director for the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty.

“A homeless person should be able to vote even if they don’t live in a traditional dwelling,” Ozdeger said. “You can register even if you are living on the street.”

Judicial opinions in recent years have upheld the notion that requiring a traditional dwelling can pose a hardship to some voters.

Court decisions from a number of states have stated that street corners, parks and other public places can be used to establish local voting precincts, the National Coalition for the Homeless reports on its Web site.

However, election officials say a valid mailing address is still a necessity.

Once a registration has been processed, a confirmation card is sent through the mail. If it is returned as undeliverable, the person might end up not being registered.

Local election officials from Arlington County and the District both said they are well aware of the challenge homeless people face when establishing domicile. Local organizations, including shelters, churches and community groups can provide addresses that will be considered valid by registrars.

“We’re familiar with the addresses,” said Donna Patterson, deputy registrar for Arlington County. “We know the people at the shelters and the churches where mail will be accepted for people who don’t have homes.”

Bill O’Field, a spokesman for the District of Columbia’s Board of Elections and Ethics, said his department will accept non-traditional addresses for people without fixed addresses.

“Since the early 1980s, D.C. has allowed homeless people to register to vote with an address because of what the [registration] form says,” O’Field said. “So if it’s at the corner of 4th and E, we accept that address, but we need a mailing address for them to send them a voter information card.”

O’Field said registration materials are available throughout the city, at police stations, fire houses, public libraries and public assistance offices.

Also, his department will send representatives to address groups interested in registering homeless citizens in the District.

Private organizations around the city offer assistance to homeless people seeking to register to vote. Miriam’s Kitchen, at 24th and G streets, NW, for example, offers voicemail services and a post office box for homeless people to stay in touch. That post office box can also be used as an address for voter registration.

While establishing residency requirements in the area can be established with the help of local organizations, a new crop of voter identification requirements that have been gaining a foothold across the country could be a more difficult barrier to overcome.

An Indiana law that requires all citizens to present a government-issued photo ID before voting was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

For now, only two other states – Florida and Georgia – have similar requirements, though some legal experts say more laws could be on the way.

“It can be difficult for a homeless person to maintain ID documents because they move around so much and may be subjected to police sweeps, encampments that get cleared out and the destruction of their personal belongings,” Ozdeger said.

“They’re already at risk of losing an ID. Once a homeless person loses a birth certificate, it’s very difficult to get a new photo ID.”

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Street Sense . May 14 – May 27, 2008

LOCAL NEWS

DC Proposal for Permanent Housing Leaves Some Wary First public hearing on $19.2M plan leaves questions hanging : Who is housed first? For how long? And who provides supportive services?

By Brittany Aubin Even the staunchest advocates for the homeless generally applauded the District of Columbia’s proposal for permanent supportive housing at the first public hearing on the plan on May 6, but made clear that their concerns about the loss of downtown emergency shelter space were not going away.

The plan, which D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty announced April 2 (“Fenty’s Proposed $19.2M Plan Leaves Some Advocates Cold,” Street Sense, 4/16), will create 2,000 individual and 500 family housing units by 2014. It will also result in the closure of the 300-bed Franklin School Shelter on 13th and K streets, NW, by Oct. 1.

“I support the plan 100%,” said Mary Ann Luby of the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. However, Luby and others raised concerns about the closure of Franklin shelter and other elements of the mayor’s overarching homelessness policy.

Adam Rocap, senior case manager at Miriam’s Kitchen, supported the commitment to permanent solutions, but advised the city to ensure that demand for emergency shelter decreased before closing any shelters.

A Department of Human Services statement said the shelter closure was not necessary to the housing plan but that it made sense to time them together because the added housing would make it easier to find alternative housing or shelter for Franklin residents.

“In effect, the timing of the kick-off of our permanent supportive housing efforts assists us with the closing of Franklin Shelter,” the statement noted.

At the hearing, Clarence Carter, director of the Department of Human Services, frequently rerouted questions regarding the closure and requested to have those conversations in private because they were not linked to the permanent supportive housing plan being discussed.

“They’re dodging the closure of Franklin like it’s a rattlesnake waiting to bite them.”

Such sidesteps have been typical, said John Dermott, a homeless advocate who has attended several meetings on the proposed changes to homelessness services.

“They’re dodging the closure of Franklin like it’s a rattlesnake waiting to bite them,” Dermott said.

How the city allots the 400 housing vouchers, or who among the almost 6,000 homeless will be deemed most vulnerable, remains unclear.

“We all have this big question about who will go first,” said Eric Sheptock, a homeless advocate and resident of Franklin shelter.

Elderly residents and those with disabilities will rank high on the vulnerability index, which prioritizes homeless individuals with conditions likely to lead to death, said Fred Swan, administrator of the DHS Family Services Administration.

Residents in transitional housing or leaving institutional settings such as hospitals or jails will also be eligible for the permanent supportive units.

The city needs to provide continued funding for the programs that work, said David Cohen of the Community Council for the Homeless at Friendship Place.

“You can’t have people permanently housed and then thrown out of their homes,” he said.

While DHS will provide $19.2 million in funding this year, other funds will come from other District agencies, Carter said.

Fenty has pushed the District into a more collaborative ap-

proach to alleviating homelessness and all agencies are tasked with providing resources, Carter said.

Much of the knowledge about the plan centers on housing, leaving some to question how supportive services would be incorporated. Carter acknowledged the focus on the housing side both at DHS and in the public debate. However, he said the department recognizes that housing is “inextricably woven” with supportive services and will continue conversations on programming in the future.

Every homeless resident placed in permanent supportive housing will receive a case manager, said Laura Zeilinger, deputy director of DHS. The intensity of the services will range from high to medium to low, with either mobile service teams or onsite providers.

DHS estimates that 60% of the units will be accompanied with high-intensity services, 30% medium-intensity and 10% low-intensity. However, those numbers may change and are principally for budgeting, she added.

High-intensity residents will meet with case managers at least once a week for as long as needed, with one case manager for every 10 to 15 individuals or six to eight families, according a sheet distributed at the hearing.

Medium-intensity residents would see case managers weekly for six months to a year with monthly follow-ups for a year or two after. Low-intensity services would be determined based on the resident’s need. The city recognizes that needs change episodically, said Zeilinger, and will not permanently label people at a certain level.

Units will be divided among single-site, mixed-income and scattered-site. About 65% of the units will be leased and 35% will be constructed or renovated by the city. Focusing on rental rather than construction keeps costs lower, Zeilinger said.

The city will send out Requests for Proposals for the units and supportive programs proposed in the plan, Carter said.

Street Sense . May 14 – May 27, 2008

6 POLITICS

Street Politics By David S. Hammond

On the Hill “Not Succor or Aid, But Liberty Itself” That is the goal – not just help for homeless people, but an end to homelessness – set

by Phil Mangano in a recent speech at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Mangano heads the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, which has been advertising the success of new “Housing First” programs around the country, along with other intensive efforts to jump-start aid, outreach and individual lives.

Some of Mangano’s favored solutions – immediate housing for the most needy homeless people – have drawn criticism for not addressing larger economic issues like affordable housing.

But what Mangano is promoting is an effort to untangle two tough aspects of homelessness as both social phenomenon and policy challenge: the feeling that homelessness is a permanent crisis that can be managed but maybe never resolved, and the difficulty inherent in getting the most vulnerable homeless people off the street through a step-by-step approach.

The Housing First approach offers the promise of not only untangling the issue, but also simply cutting through to a solution, for those who are needy enough – and lucky enough – to get into such a program.

“Housing cures homelessness,” said Linda Kaufman, who heard Mangano speak.

Kaufman oversees programs at Pathways to Housing, a nonprofit that has been running Housing First programs in New York City since 1992, and in D.C. since 2004. Her organization has one primary – and relatively simple – measurement of success: how many people stay housed and continue to receive the services they need. The answer is, she says, the overwhelming majority.

Mangano said that specific goals and measurable outcomes not only attract public money, but also challenge people to think differently about combating homelessness.

But the key metric, he said, is still the number of people on the streets and in the shelters. That concern is apparently one reason for Mayor Fenty’s new push in the District to offer more supportive housing, faster, to the city’s homeless people.

Mangano stressed the fact that most homeless people do not have addictions, mental illness, or any disability, and said that initiatives focusing on jobs and employment are among the most important, because “a job is the best therapy.” And for many homeless people, good health and employability can be the paths that lead back to a stable life.

The mission of the Community Council for the Homeless, which sponsored Mangano’s speech, remains complex. CCH provides street outreach, guidance, and housing in Upper Northwest, especially for people facing more than one major personal challenge. So keeping track of their work means measuring individual progress in many directions.

But for those who face multiple barriers like mental illness, addiction, and years on the street, it can be hard to measure, let alone overcome, the combination of crushing misery and overwhelming need. For them, and for those trying to help them overcome homelessness, it will take money and an attention to detail – and finding and holding the resolve to keep trying.

What People Are Saying Street Sense vendor Brenda Wilson has been following the District’s new plans for housing homeless people, and while she welcomes the push to get the neediest people off the streets quickly, she has the larger picture in mind, too.

“I love the fact there’s a magic wand,” she said, “but ... there are still 300 homeless men at Franklin shelter. It’s like, you pull out your magic wand, but we’ll still have homeless people – people who couldn’t pay their mortgages and lost their homes to foreclosure, people who lost their jobs overseas, or didn’t have health insurance. ... We need affordable housing for everyone.”

What’s on your mind? E-mail StreetPoliticsDC@aol.com.

Your thoughts and editorials are welcome.

Please e-mail editor@streetsense.org or mail to 1317 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005.

Hearings: The Runaway and Homeless Youth Act

By Street Sense Staff On April 29, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, held a hearing called “Living on the Street: Finding Solutions to Protect Runaway and Homeless Youth.”

The hearing was in preparation for a debate on the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, which Leahy plans to introduce in the coming weeks.

In Congress, senators and representatives are assigned to sit on various committees which are responsible for specific issues areas, such as Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; Veterans Affairs; or Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, for example.

The purpose of the committees is to create a forum for members to discuss issues and legislation in more detail than is possible on the floor of the House or Senate.

When a bill is proposed, it must first be considered and “marked-up,” or edited, in a committee before Congress votes on it.

One of the ways committees examine issues is to hold a hearing, during which expert witnesses from the government or the private sector offer testimony on the chosen subject.

The expert witnesses who testified at the hearing on homeless youth included two-time Academy Award nominee, actor and former homeless youth Djimon Hounsou; Mark Redmond, executive director of Spectrum Youth and Family Services; Michael Hutchins, residential manager of Spectrum Youth and Family Services and former homeless youth; Victoria A. Wagner, chief executive officer of the National Network for Youth; and Jerome Kilbane, executive director of Covenant House, Philadelphia.

In opening the hearing, Sen. Leahy cited statistics about homeless youth to highlight the need to pass this legislation.

“The Justice Department estimated

that 1.7 million young people either ran away from home or were thrown out of their homes in 1999. Another study suggested a number closer to 2.8 million in 2002.

“Whether the true number is 1 million or 5 million, young people become homeless for a variety of reasons, including abandonment, running away from an abusive home, or having no place to go after being released from state care,” Leahy said.

“An estimated 40% to 60% of homeless kids are expected to experience physical abuse, and 17% to 35% experience sexual abuse while on the street, according to a report by the Department of Health and Human Services. Homeless youth are also at greater risk of mental health problems,” he said.

The Runaway and Homeless Youth Act was first passed in 1974, and has been reauthorized, or modernized, several times since, most recently in 1992. The goal of the legislation, Leahy explained, is to “provide a safety net that helps give young people a chance to build lives for themselves and helps reunite youngsters with their families.”

And the programs funded by the bill seem to be having a positive effect.

“The backbone of this nation’s runaway and homeless youth network are the [runaway and homeless youth] programs throughout the country,” Wagner said in a prepared statement.

“Without these agencies and their programs, these youth have no where to go.

During fiscal year 2007 alone, [runaway and homeless youth] programs served over 740,000 disconnected youth,” she said.

“Given the increasingly difficult economic conditions being experienced by so many families around the country, now is the time to recommit ourselves to these principles and programs, not to let them expire,” Leahy concluded in support of the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act.

Looking for a past story or poem?

Visit the Street Sense archives online!

Go to www.streetsense.org/archives.jsp to read past issues or use our internal search engine at www.streetsense.org

Street Sense . May 14 – May 27, 2008

NATIONAL NEWS

STREET NEWS SERVICE

Homeless Teen Moms Have One Foot in Adult World Often an invisible population, homeless young women face limited public resources and increased vulnerability

By Michael Neary

Invisibly homeless The whole cycle of teen homelessness often unfolds under the public radar, according to those who have experienced it and those working to fight it.

“When you’re an adult and you don’t look up to par and your clothes are messed up and you’re on the street crying, people think, ‘Man, that guy’s homeless,’” said Lora.

But when people see youth on the streets, Lora continued, they chalk up the trouble to “teenage stuff.”

“They don’t believe that there are adults, parents, who don’t take care of their kids or

“You can’t sign a lease when you’re 17, but you can be the mother of two,” said Melissa MaGuire, director of the Youth Shelter Network.

Women younger than 18 can approve health care for their children but not – except in the cases of emergency or reproductive health – for themselves.

COURTESY OF ISTOCKPHOTO

For 18-year-old Lora, a night’s sleep during an unplanned two-year odyssey through the streets of Chicago often required the hospitality of a friend. During the cold weather she’d spend an evening at a friend’s house, and as the clock ticked toward midnight she’d hope for an invitation from the parents to stay the night.

In the warmer months, when the weather was fine, Lora took a simpler approach to securing a place to sleep. She’d seek out a sturdy set of church stairs.

“I was sleeping on church steps,” said Lora, a teen mom who asked that her last name not be published. “I felt like those were the safest places.”

The strategies used by Lora and other Illinois teens are fairly typical in a state where youth shelter space is scarce. According to Nicole Sauler, 318 beds are set aside in Illinois for homeless youth – a group of about 25,000, according to a recent study by the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, the Illinois Department of Human Services and the University of Illinois at Chicago.

“That’s a very large number of kids who do not have a place to say,” said Sauler, the government relations manager for The Night Ministry and a member of the Youth Policy Committee, organized by the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

For young women, homelessness can also increase the chances of becoming pregnant.

Sixty-eight percent of the teenage women surveyed as part of the study said they had been pregnant. That number has doubled in the past 20 years, according to the study.

In addition to facing the dangers of sexual assault, teenage girls often find themselves emotionally – as well as physically – vulnerable. The emotional component, said Lora, increases the chances of becoming pregnant.

“When it’s just you, you feel like you’re not loved,” said Lora, who’s now staying with her 5-month-old son Xavier at The Night Ministry’s shelter for young mothers and young pregnant women. “And when some guy comes around and says, ‘I love you,’ we go for it. I know I do. I just needed somebody to tell me that they care about me.”

Lora left her house when she was 15, after disagreements with family bubbled to the surface and after the home environment, as she explained it, had deteriorated.

who take care of them wrong, and the kids say no and leave or are kicked out of their homes for whatever reason,” she said. “They don’t believe it happens.”

“I call them an invisible population,” said Audalee McLoughlin, president and CEO of New Moms, Inc., a Chicago-based agency.

McLoughlin said many people have a tough time acknowledging two generations of homeless youth existing side by side.

“Society also wants to believe that these are kids who decided that they didn’t want to follow rules at home and walked out, and that’s not the case,” she said. “We have had multiple cases of young women who were sexually abused by their mother’s boyfriend, by their sister’s boyfriend, [and who] may even be pregnant by their mother’s boyfriend.

“And then,” she added, “the mother chooses the boyfriend over the daughter and throws the daughter out.”

Housing struggles can stay invisible in other ways, as well. Not all young people with precarious housing are trekking through the streets. Jasmine Green, 20, was staying at her sister’s house while she was expecting her son Jayden, who’s now nearly two months old.

With her sister and her sister’s five children already living in the house, living conditions were rough.

“It was just crowded,” said Green. “No room, no privacy.”

The problem may also lurk undercover because the young women, not anxious to become wards of the state, learn to hide their homelessness. Lora said she became adept at painting the impression that all was well, especially at school.

“As soon as I got on the school grounds – not even inside the building – I had to have another attitude,” she said. “Otherwise somebody would know something.”

Nudged into seeking help In some cases, especially among younger teens, pregnancy may precede homelessness, according to Melissa MaGuire, director of the Youth Shelter Network for The Night Ministry. But MaGuire said she believed that most of the older teens who become pregnant carry a history of precarious housing – a history that predates any pregnancy.

For these young women, she said, it’s often the prospect of a new baby that sends them seeking help.

“For some of the girls, they might have managed for a while, but the pregnancy tipped it,” she said. The pregnancy prodded them to admit they needed help.

That, said Lora, described the rhythm of her own decision to contact The Night Ministry.

“When I found out I was pregnant, it wasn’t just me,” she said. “It was me and baby.”

Looking ahead For the young women who are pregnant, the future can be tenuous. Once older than 21, they’re no longer eligible for youth services, and they face a pinched supply of affordable apartments in the area. And before they hit 21, young moms find themselves in a strange inbetween zone, according to MaGuire.

“Their foot is between the adult world and the adolescent world,” she said. Women younger than 18 can approve health care for their children but not – except in the cases of emergency or reproductive health – for themselves, MaGuire said. Age-generated limitations extend into other corners, as well.

“You can’t sign a lease when you’re 17, but you can be the mother of two,” she added.

So the young women are in a place where they don’t have many legal rights, but they do – if they are fortunate – have support systems from youth agencies.

Organizers of such services stress skillbuilding. McLoughlin said that in the past youth advocates had not focused enough on preparing homeless teens for the future, but concentrated instead on immediate needs.

New Moms currently runs an internship program that allows (and pays) young women to work 30 hours a week.

The organizers say they see real change in the women who participate in programs like these – both during and after their stays in the programs. Jasmine Green was quick to take advantage of the internship, using it to work at an after-school program. And McLoughlin read an e-mail from a former New Moms resident who, 10 years later, is thriving with a home and a good job.

A bill to provide help for youth homelessness enjoys wide legislative support, and now advocates hope the wheels of an entrenched state government will speed up enough to grant it swift passage.

The bill, which would provide $7 million for shelter and employment, has passed the House of Representatives and awaits action in the Senate.

The bill would devote $5 million of that total to youth shelter, more than doubling the amount of money the state currently spends in that area, said Nicole Sauler, a member of the Youth Policy Committee, organized by the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

Sauler, who’s also the government relations manager for The Night Ministry, said Youth Policy Committee members have worked with State Rep. Greg Harris, D–Chicago, the bill’s sponsor, to draft the legislation.

Harris said the bill, now under consideration in the Senate’s Rules Committee, passed through the House with a large majority. He said the bill enjoys broad support in the Senate, as well, but he noted that the “ongoing battle between the House and the Senate and governor” threatens to slow legislation of any kind down.

Harris noted his surprise to discover an estimate of 25,000 homeless youth in the state, based on a study by the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, the Illinois Department of Human Services and the University of Illinois at Chicago.

“That’s a large number,” he said. “I certainly did not realize it. I think there are a lot of people who don’t realize it.”

Harris said the causes for the homelessness are multiple – and can extend to children as young as 8 or 9 years old. He mentioned substance abuse and incarceration on the part of parents as causes, as well as disputes over sexual orientation.

“A rather huge number (of youth) have come out as lesbian or gay, and their parents don’t want them,” he said.

Harris, along with others who have considered homeless youth, said the population tends to be invisible to the average bystanders. Many people recognize homeless adults, he said, but “they drive by a group of 12-yearolds and say, ‘Why don’t the parents have them home in bed?’”

Sauler said the remaining $2 million would go toward employment help for youth. She said the work component funded “paid work experience” that could jump-start a permanent position.

“It’s actually job placement,” she said.

Reprinted from StreetWise © Street News Service: www.street-papers.org

NEWS LOCAL PHOTOS & POETRY

Street Sense . May 14 – May 27, 2008

A Week In The Life

Street Sense vendor Gregory Rich took snapping pictures of scenes, objects Seventh Floor Through the window of my TV screen, I watch the wide blue world where a legion of lives are washed away in a divine heartbeat; where bullet–studded bodies fall in desert wars and on shadowed streets, where my grand and bleeding city sits stilled and stifled waiting for a coronation.

I click the window into darkness; up here on the seventh floor, there is no war, there is no peace, there is no such thing as music.

I’m ready with my sack full of Street Sense papers, ready to come to D.C. I’m a vet, and ironically I was staying at this shelter at the Ft. Belvoir base before moving to D.C. a few days ago.

You, at the other end of my pen, don’t hear my silence; I hear nothing else.

I once wove scraps and swatches of a life on concrete into tapestries; one hundred days of comfort on the seventh floor have woven a shroud; beneath, I sleep through winter, my blood flowing slow and treacly with the chill.

My pen lies as still and useless as the fingers which held it.

This was my bunk inside the Eleanor Kennedy Shelter in Fairfax County.

I’ve built a prison out of spider lace, and climbed within to await a thaw.

You, on the other side of my voice, might hear my rustling, restless stillness.

You might hope, with me for a spring when my pen will sing, bringing music to the seventh floor.

— David Harris

This is across from the Street Sense office. There was a man under there. It was so hot that day. When he finally came out, I said, man, aren’t you hot? it just touched my heart.

Street Sense . May 14 – May 27, 2008

PHOTOS & POETRY

Gregory Rich

a disposable camera along for a week, s and people that represent his life.

Spring Season Spring is here The flowers are blooming The sun is looming Oh I love these days The season of April and May But like a dream it won’t Last – oh, it goes by so fast

— Andrew Grey

This is a painting of a homeless woman at the Church of the Pilgrims. I had gone there to buy papers on a Saturday. I thought that could be anybody’s mother, pushing that cart.

Street Sense There’s a place set aside Just for you and me Where the homeless and poor use Their talent and chemistry With garment and jewels And stories untold Left in threads and lace And broken old shoes This is outside the hotel where there was a big event by the National Alliance to End Homelessness. There were people there from around the country. This gentleman bought a paper.

Doors opened by the National Coalition With volunteers such as Laura Thompson Osuri and Ted Henson, I’m told.

Placed upright, like soldiers in battle waiting to fight.

No phone calls.

No letters.

Just authors, designers, photographers and such, Set aside for US with love and faith.

There’s a place set aside called the Street Sense newspaper.

A group of veterans, some homeless, from a program that helps unemployed vets get back into the workforce. I’m learning heating and air conditioning now and have my own room.

— Mary Jane Owens

10 FEATURES

Street Sense . May 14 – May 27, 2008

The Mills Family: Part V

By Jo Ann Jackson

Prom Night

M

y uncle looked at Toby and burst out laughing.

“You’re a grown man with a wife and children.

Yeah! You can take her if you buy the gown, shoes, tickets and get her hair done, because I’m not.”

My cousin said, “He doesn’t have to buy her anything. I already have; she has everything she needs except for your permission. “ “I don’t think so, he’s too old.”

My aunt said, “You have my permission to take her.”

This was one of the few times my aunt spoke up.

“Simms, enough is enough. Jo Ann hasn’t caused us any problems, brings home excellent grades, and is the only one to finish high school and be accepted to college. The only way she won’t go to prom is over my dead body.”

I ran to Aunt Fannie and hugged her so tight with tears running down her face and mine.

“Toby, what time and day will you pick her up?”

“Well, Ms. Simms, the prom starts at 9 p.m. and ends at 11 p.m. But, I think the children have a party planned afterwards. I promise you that I’ll be with Jo Ann all the way.”

My uncle said, “I want her home by one o’clock.”

I had been holding this back for a long time. “You are as ignorant as you look. I’m going to the party and you can’t do anything because I’m 18 years old. The only thing you can do is change the locks on the door and

I don’t believe you will because you’re too drunk as always.”

When Toby came to pick me up the night of the prom I was so nervous, because I had never been out before and didn’t know the first thing about dancing.

We arrived at the prom and everyone looked beautiful, including the teachers.

I felt like an ugly duckling all dressed up sitting at that table alone.

Finally, one of the students in my class asked me to dance. Once I saw who it was I wasn’t shocked because he was called a NERD all of the time.

I was shy and afraid, but he said, “Come on, I can’t dance that well either and no one will pay any attention.”

Oh, boy was he wrong. As soon as we got on the floor even the teachers looked. I thought I would faint, but then like I said before I’m a fast learner. So, I began to remember some of the dances I would see my friends doing at recess. My feet started moving and I danced my heart out, not knowing if I looked silly or not, please let this record end.

After the record ended and no one laughed, but applauded, I felt great.

The prom was ending and I started to feel sad. My sweet Rita (Peanut) came over with another surprise. She had brought some of her clothes with her for me to wear to the after–prom party.

“Rita, you know I’ll get in trouble.”

“I hope you won’t, but at least you will have some fun.”

So I went to the party, but it was getting so late that my heart was in my shoes.

It was about 3:30 a.m. when I put my key in the door.

Uncle Simms pulled the door open with his red devil eyes and said— To be continued.

Jo Ann Jackson is a proud grandmother and a vendor for Street Sense. This is the fifth part of her memoir about her childhood.

Springtime is Gardening Time

By Patty Smith

I

t looks like spring is finally here to stay. I like springtime i n Wa s h i n g ton because it’s humid, and around 70 to 80 degrees.

The best thing about spring is that the flowers are coming out, the trees are turning green, and you can breathe the air.

It reminds me of years ago when I gardened.

So let me tell you about my best springtimes of the past.

Where I grew up in Pittsburgh we had a backyard garden where we grew greens, tomatoes, string beans, and peppers. We grew

whatever would grow in that region of the country.

So for me springtime meant getting to go to the store and getting some seeds and planting them. But first I had to get some tools together.

I’d go to my basement and I’d get the rake, a pail, seeds and fertilizer. I’d go to the side of the house, pull out the hose and attach it to the water spigot. Then the seeds went in the ground. A few weeks later I’d start to see the flowers and vegetables bloom.

I don’t have a garden now, but I sure do miss those times. That’s what I loved best about spring – gardening.

Vendor Patty Smith wrote this essay in the Street Sense writers group, which meets every Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. at 1317 G St., NW. Everyone is welcome!

D.C. Offers Tax–Free College Savings Plan

By Laurent Ross

J

ust one week a g o , I watched my daughter, Tadina, graduate from Duke University.

As I bask in the glow of my first college graduate, I think of all the things my money paid for: a top-notch education at a prestigious college, a beautiful campus, well-equipped dormitory rooms, and a basketball team that I have always rooted against. And let me tell you, I paid an awful lot of money for this basking.

While I certainly got my money’s worth (except for that basketball team part), I sure wish that the DC College Savings Plan had been around when Tadina was born.

That way, I might have saved even more for her college education and I would have borrowed much less money from the federal government. As it was, the DC College Savings Plan started just two years before Tadina’s high school graduation, so I was only able to save enough through the plan to pay for her first semester in school.

However, Tadina’s younger sister, Machel, should have a lot more money reserved for college when she graduates from high school two years from now, because I have had enough time to do some serious savings through the DC College Savings Plan. The plan allows me to save for Machel’s education while lowering my tax bill.

If you have a small child, you should start saving…now!

Here is how the plan works: • I save money for Machel’s college education in various investment options offered through the plan.

• All my earnings are free from federal and District taxes.

• The District gives me a tax deduction on the first $3,000 that I save and the first $3,000 that my wife saves – every year!

The fact that the earnings are all tax free (as long as I use the funds for Machel’s college education) and the fact that the District actually gives me a tax deduction every year make the saving so much easier.

And, it’s not just me.

More than 10,000 other people have a DC College Savings Plan and have entrusted more than $110 million to the District.

The DC College Savings Plan has already helped some of those parents send their children to college. The plan has paid out nearly $7 million to colleges and universities across the country.

You do not have to be wealthy to start a DC College Savings Plan. Accounts can

The Fine Print For more information on the DC College Savings Plan, please call 800-987-4859 (or 800-368-2745 for non-District residents).

An investor should consider the investment objectives, risks, charges, and expenses of an investment carefully before investing. The District of Columbia College Savings Trust Program Disclosure Booklet contains this and other information. Read it carefully before you invest or send money.

An investor should also consider, before investing, whether the investor’s or designated beneficiary’s home state offers any state tax or other benefits that are only available for investments in such state’s 529 college savings plan.

The DC College Savings Plan is underwritten and distributed by Calvert Distributors Inc., member FINRA/SIPC, a subsidiary of Calvert Group, Ltd. be started with an initial contribution of as little as $25.

The District also offers additional assistance to D.C. residents through the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant Program (DCTAG) and the DC Leveraging Education Assistance Program (LEAP). The DC College Access Program (DC-CAP) is offered to all District public school students (both DCPS and charter school students). These programs, together with your savings through the DC College Savings Plan, provide an outstanding combination of resources to maximize your child’s college potential.

Maryland and Virginia residents are eligible for the DC College Savings Plan as well. However, non-District residents will probably be better off investing in their own state plan. You can find out more about the Maryland and Virginia college savings plans at www.savingforcollege.com.

For information about the DCTAG and DCLEAP programs, contact the D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education ((202) 727-2824, www.osse.dc.gov). DCCAP can be contacted at the website www.dccap.org.

For information on the DC College Savings Plan, see www.dccollegesavings.com or call (800) 987-4859. We would love to send you a start-up kit in the mail.

Laurent Ross serves on the board of Capital Area Asset Builders, www.caab.org, a nonprofit that helps people of all incomes improve their financial management skills, increase savings,and build wealth. He is also College Savings Manager for Calvert Distributors, Inc. Send your questions or ideas

FEATURES & GAMES 11

Street Sense . May 14 – May 27, 2008

WANTED Street Sense Board Members

Gregory’s Great Game

Street Sense is calling all qualified readers to consider joining the Street Sense board of directors. We are looking for people who have a passion for helping empower homeless individuals and who have innovative ideas to help our organization succeed.

Street Sense vendor Gregory Martin loves creating puzzles.

Simply find the following words in the grid below. The solution to the last puzzle is found below.

All board members are unpaid and requirements include board meetings and work team meetings every other month, and about three to six hours of work outside the meetings each month.

We are looking for potential board members who are: • • • • • •

Cement Candy Circus City Cream Credit Custom Counter Century Campus Classic Church Center

Attorneys Accountants Journalists Marketing Specialists Members of the Small Business Community Leaders at Nonprofits Serving the Homeless

If you are interested, please send your resume and a cover letter explaining why you would be a great addition to the Street Sense board to board president Ted Henson at ted@ streetsense.org.

Looking for a past story or poem?

Cost Concern Crazy Come Cousin Cream Cozy Comic Course Cure Core Catch

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PLACE YOUR AD HERE!

Check out the Street Sense online archives!

Visit www.streetsense.org/archives.jsp to read past issues or use our internal search engine at www.streetsense.org

With Street Sense now coming out every two weeks and reaching nearly 12,000 people each issue, now is the perfect time to promote your business with us.

Gregory’s Great Game: Solution to April 30 Puzzle M

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DEMOGRAPHICS And who your business will be reaching can’t be beat. Our typical reader is a 35-year-old woman who lives in D.C. and works for the government or a nonprofit earning $70,000 a year.

RATES Rates are about half the cost of the neighborhood monthlies and are as low as $57 for a 1/16 page ad that runs multiple times.

DISCOUNTS Discounts offered to nonprofits and to those that prepay for multiple ads.

Call Larie at 202-347-2006 or email larie@streetsense.org for more information and to get a copy of our new advertising brochure. Or ask your local vendor, who can earn 20% commission from ads sales.

Street Sense . May 14 – May 27, 2008

12 EDITORIALS

Letters, from page 1 (http://www.fanniemae.com/media/pdf/GP_Citiesfinal.pdf, see table on page 18), but anyway, it looks like I’m not alone in my ignorance.

Let’s be brutally honest, even though it isn’t always pleasant to be. It is not exactly a revelation that there are some homeless people who struggle with substance-abuse problems.

However, it may come as a surprise to some people – at least the ignorant ones, like me – that the rates of chronic substance abuse among the homeless are actually as low as they are. I seriously doubt that many readers walked away from Brittany’s article believing that the rates of substance abuse among the homeless were higher than they thought before having read the article.

In closing, I am thankful that Brittany wrote and Street Sense published this article, which contains a great deal of important information about and insight into the struggles faced by homeless individuals who do struggle with substance-abuse problems.

I think it would have been most unfortunate if the article were to have never been written or have never been printed out of concern that it would divulge some dirty little secret that, yes, there are indeed some homeless people, albeit a minority of them, who do indeed struggle with addiction and substance abuse.

– Brian C. Tefft

Silence Doesn’t Resolve Problems Dear Editor, Thank you for devoting several recent articles, and at least one controversial photo, to the connection between homelessness, drug and alcohol addiction, and the relative scarcity of the city’s addiction treatment services.

As a voice of and for the area’s poor and homeless, Street Sense has (in my view at least) an obligation to draw attention to the really difficult and politically uncomfortable problems associated with homelessness in D.C. – including, in particular, drug and alcohol addiction and mental illness.

Highlighting such topics may perhaps have some minor effect in reinforcing some unfortunate stereotypes. But it’s certainly negligible compared to the much larger effect that inadequate services and ineffective or unavailable treatment produce by ensuring that these chronic and highly visible problems continue to be advertised on park benches, on street corners, and in doorways across the city on an ongoing basis.

Silence doesn’t resolve problems. Self–censorship assists no one. Unpleasant truths sometimes need to be told so that attention will be paid and resources provided.

There are plenty of positive stories about the struggles of D.C.’s homeless to overcome their situation, of the efforts of provider organizations to help them succeed in those efforts, and of the work of advocacy groups to ensure that homelessness stays on the federal and city governments’ radar screens.

And Street Sense regularly covers those.

But it’s equally important that Street Sense’s readership – which includes not a few caring souls from the government offices and nonprofit organizations that regularly deal with homeless policy and practice – remains aware of the problems that aren’t being adequately addressed.

Keep up the good work.

– Bob Blair

Freedom of the Press and Ethics in Journalism As a sometime writer and a new resident to Washington, I stumbled into the world of print journalism accidentally. I have had numerous articles in print in Street Sense.

When I first started writing, I shot from the hip, not caring or sparing anyone from my opinions. I wanted to call it as I see it. I was raw, crude and naïve about human nature and human relations. I learned it’s better to get along with people than to make enemies. We are all flawed, make errors and can be insensitive or unaware of the effect we have when we say something.

The last two issues of Street Sense (4/16 and 4/30) have been very controversial because they depict a stereotype many homeless people are trying to shake. The pictures I see about homeless drug addicts remind me of the black face photos of the early part of the last century where we stereotyped African–Americans.

An image says a thousand words and we as writers in a rush to sell papers and who are educating the public shouldn’t undermine the positive good we do by showing stereotypes that emotionally trigger a thought. Furthermore, as someone who knows and who has friends in recovery or who are trying to recover, what purpose does it serve to kick people who are down?

A certain percentage of the staff, volunteers and customers have lifelong battles with homelessness and addictions and we need to be sensitive when we show pictures that might create memories of using drugs.

Just because someone is battling an addiction doesn’t mean that person doesn’t want to quit. As an advocate, I wouldn’t want that on my conscience, if that person chose to use again because of my words or the images I portray.

I have been a top–selling vendor for a few months and I learned the hard way, I don’t need negativity to have someone buy from me. I understand the editor wants to address an article but do you need people smoking crack to read the paper?

Street Sense as an organization shouldn’t be so reckless. Take the high road in bringing an issue to light. That’s why Street Sense is the standard of homelessness.

I ask Street Sense to not be a smut magazine to get sales.

We as an organization don’t need disturbing articles to get subscribers. Sending vendors, training and educating can address sensitive topics.

I hope next time you print the paper you are sensitive to who you affect. I hope you take great thought when you print something because sometimes you can be right but the message you send to the people you’re trying to help might undermine or complicate things more.

Thank you for listening.

– Jeffery McNeil

An Obligation to Tell the Whole Story I was struck by the things I have been reading in the latest issue (4/30) and felt obligated to write you. The concerns voiced by people experiencing homelessness and their advocates (“Path to Recovery for Addicts Littered With Obstacles in District”) are indeed valid.

In my capacity as a speaker and board member for the National Coalition for the Homeless, the most frequent stereotype that I have come into contact with concerning those who are homeless is that they are substance abusers, either alcoholics or drug addicts or both.

One of the things the Faces of Homelessness Speakers Bureau tries to do is reveal the truth of the matter: that the majority of persons experiencing homelessness in this city and in this nation are not and have never been substance abusers, and that of those who do abuse substances, four–fifths did not begin using until after they became homeless, and have fallen into addictions as a coping mechanism.

That being said, I feel the need to relate my personal feelings as a formerly homeless individual and resident of Franklin shelter. In a previous issue, I wrote an article about the rampant exploitation of the homeless by drug dealers who prey upon the population (“Keep Drug Dealers Away From Shelters,” 7/15/07).

It was my experience in the D.C. shelters where I stayed that the problem of drugs and alcohol in general, and crack cocaine in particular, was more rampant than most people would expect, and was a very significant barrier to getting off the street and back into housing.

As an advocate for the homeless, I feel that it is my job to present the best face of individuals who have experienced this situation. As a journalistic institution, I believe that it is your obligation to tell the whole story, and not just one side, be it good or bad.

Keep up the good work.

– David Pirtle

Readmission Policy for Gospel Rescue Ministries I want to thank Street Sense for the excellent story, “Path to Recovery for Drug Addicts Littered With Obstacles in District” (4/30). It clearly shows the need for more and varied treatment programs for homeless individuals in the District. However, I need to point out an apparent misquote on the part of the author concerning Gospel Rescue Ministries’ Transforming Lives Ministry readmission policy. This is the full policy: 1. Readmission is not guaranteed.

2. Readmission will be considered following 90 days absence if discharge was for non–violent or non–drug–related reasons.

3. Readmission will be considered following 6 months absence if discharge was for drug–related reasons.

4. Readmission will be considered following 12 months absence for violence–related behavior only after a meeting of the treatment team members, including the program director, senior addictions counselor, clinical case manager and staff therapist.

5. No one who has successfully completed the program or has been admitted more than once will be considered for readmission. However, a referral to an appropriate level of care will be offered.

As you can see we give consideration to those who do not readily adapt to a treatment situation, and allow them an opportunity to try again. The various time frames are in place to allow current members time to clear through treatment before a former resident with whom they may have had a negative experience returns. This ensures the safety of our current clients while giving access to our treatment and wrap–around services to those who still need them in due time.

– David Barnes, ACADC, CCS Clinical/Program Director Transforming Lives Ministry Gospel Rescue Ministries

From the EDITOR

Take Two

By Kaukab Jhumra Smith

W

e’ve received a number of e-mails, phone calls and personal reactions from readers and vendors about our coverage of drugs and homelessness in the April 16 and April 30 issues of Street Sense. I wrote about some early reactions in my last column (“Cracking It Open,” 4/30) and we are printing several representative letters on these pages.

However, I think it’s worth another short note to document the distinction in many vendors’ heads between our decision to publish the stories by Brittany Aubin and the decision to publish close-up photographs of a man smoking a crack pipe (4/16) and of a pair of hands loading a crack pipe (4/30). For many vendors, the photographs are the problem, particularly on the front page of the paper. They were taken in downtown D.C. by a volunteer, Dan Wilkinson, who spent an hour and a half with the subject, disclosed his assignment with Street Sense and received his consent to photograph him. The man told Dan he was not homeless but came to the area near Franklin shelter to buy and use crack.

I’ve listened to enough offended vendors now to understand that these photos could serve as a trigger for individuals already struggling with a substance abuse problem. And while I apologize for any inadvertant harm the photos may have caused, I don’t know if I would change my original decision. Because I also received a call from a woman last week, who thanked us for printing photos that helped her identify the instruments she had seen lying around different places. “You have no idea how many families out there you are helping,” she said.

Thanks to everyone who shared an opinion. Your perspectives strengthen Street Sense into a paper that fosters debate and understanding on difficult community issues.

Street Sense . May 14 – May 27, 2008

In MY Opinion

EDITORIALS 13

Moyo’s Corner

By Eric Sheptock

The Drug Issues

W

hen I looked at the centerfold of the April 16 issue of Street Sense, I was surprised to see a picture of a man smoking crack. I wasn’t offended. I had just figured it to be against the editing policies of Street Sense to show such a thing.

The photo didn’t show enough of the man’s face to positively identify him. The caption did, however, indicate he was smoking in front of Franklin shelter.

I was left to wonder if the mayor or anyone who wants to close this shelter was behind it. Were they trying to give Franklin a bad (er, worse) name? Were they being allowed to negatively influence public perception of the homeless, and Franklin residents in particular?

I hope the staff at Street Sense is more ethical than that. I try not to jump to negative conclusions too quickly. I’d need to see something a bit more overt and brazen on the part of Street Sense before I accuse them of any deliberate attempts to stereotype or misrepresent the homeless.

I wondered who the man was and whether or not he knew he was being photographed. I wondered why anyone would agree to allow himself to be pictured smoking crack. How much was he paid to pose for that picture? Crack users are usually too paranoid to allow themselves to be photographed.

A few minutes after I viewed this photo, I had a conversation about it with a caseworker at Franklin. He wondered if it was even a real user or someone just posing as a user in order to defame Franklin.

Then came the April 30 issue, with a picture of someone loading his stem right on the cover. I spoke to others who thought it was a poor judgment call to place it on the front page. I agree. My thoughts of there being a campaign against Franklin resurfaced.

Both articles were enlightening and well-written. They addressed certain realities of homelessness. When addressing homelessness, drug addiction is quite a relevant topic.

We should be careful not to stereotype large groups of people. I feared that some people wouldn’t look any further than the photos and end up stereotyping the homeless. However, I’m certain that others would read the articles in their entirety and gain some insights into the struggles of the homeless.

The April 30 article said 26% of the homeless are users. That leaves a whopping 74% that are not. Let’s talk about them too.

Many of the homeless who use became users after becoming homeless, and using crack is not the reason for their homelessness. The stresses of homelessness are the reasons – whether it is the despondency of being homeless, or the exposure to other users at the shelters and labor halls that eventually causes a person to start using crack cocaine.

It is great for Street Sense to give an unbiased, balanced and true account of homeless issues, even when it means that they are publicizing the ugly side of the issue (as if there is a pretty side).

However, they should give equal consideration to well-behaved homeless people.

There are those who are always neat and clean, act appropriately and don’t use drugs. This group is extremely difficult to pick out of a crowd if you don’t already know them to be homeless.

Furthermore, let’s stop dumping on Franklin. I’m not certain that Franklin has any higher a percentage of users than any other low-barrier shelter in the district. It doesn’t profit anyone (with the possible exceptions of wealthy developers and their allies in government) for us to defame, dehumanize and demoralize the homeless, whether or not they use.

When addressing the issue of homelessness, the logic begins with the fact that, if we don’t eliminate the causes of homelessness and then adequately get the homeless back on their feet, the problem will remain with us indefinitely.

The public sometimes seems to be under the illusion that portraying the Franklin residents as a bunch of users somehow justifies forcing them to the outskirts of town. They seem to think that, if the users are away from the center of town, the drug problem is solved. Then again, they might think shutting a shelter smack dab in the center of Ward 2, where the Capitol and the White House are located, will cause the homeless to leave the ward.

They’re wrong on all counts. Moving them to the outskirts of town or into Maryland or Virginia only shifts the problem. It doesn’t solve the problem.

Also, the homeless who feel connected to the Ward will simply sleep outdoors rather than go to a different location. In essence, those who were considered to be eyesores will become even more visible, with a larger number of them now sleeping outside. It seems to me that the public needs a lesson or two on how the homeless think.

Homeless advocate Eric Sheptock stays at Franklin shelter and can be reached at ericsheptock@yahoo.com.

Your thoughts and editorials are welcome.

Please e–mail content to editor@streetsense.org or mail to 1317 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005.

By Moyo Onibuje

The Internet: Just What the Doctor Prescribed

T

he poor, year of life if one has been diagnosed with a hometerminal illness. Such metrics as quality–adless and justed life year (QALY) – a measure that comsick people of bines the length of time that life is extended Washington, and the quality of that life – have led to more D.C., have seen health consciousness by the public. Many l i t t l e b e n e f i t people seem to be engaging in all possible to their health activities to stay out of harm’s way by eating from the Inter- right, exercising, engaging in healthy mental net. It usually exercises and so on. takes 15 years One dark area that the Internet has shed for new tech- more light on has been the issue of clinical nologies to get trials of new drugs and therapies. First of all from the middle how do you know that the drug you are usclass down to the very poor, and by that time ing is safe? Secondly, is the desire for a cure most of the poor will have passed away. sufficient enough to take the risk?

Any good research on health issues and I think the main disadvantage of the Intreatment on the Internet will show an in- ternet in terms of medical resourcing is that credible wealth of information. But how it has led to less trust between doctors and much of this applies to the poor of D.C.? patients.

Do these people even know they are being Health companies are being pulled up disenfranchised? Many about the degree of covdon’t know which goverage issue. Online comernment Web site does munities are exposing Any good research what, much less how to major flaws in treatment find and bookmark such styles. Doctors have been on health issues and sites. reduced to prescription treatment on the InThe poor and homewriting entities. People less need to be taught have become more wary ternet will show an computers, so they can of drugs, particularly psyincredible wealth get their medical entitlechiatric drugs, because of ments. In my experience side effects. of information. But most of them don’t push Any discussion of techhow much of this for this, and give up very nology and health coneasily without a fight. cerns invariably links up applies to the poor The only thing inforto privacy concerns. The of D.C.? Do these mation technology is reason being that for inmaking the homeless surance or employment people even know man aware of regardpurposes a person might they are being dising his health is that his be compromising his peronly hope is to not fall sonal data. enfranchised? sick. If he is already sick, Among the possible he should find whatever benefits to the public at little medical care might large from information be available for him, and most importantly community technology on health resources, he should make peace with his God. drug makers are going to have to collaborate The idea of justice is to protect the most more with the genetics companies and figure vulnerable people in society, not harm them out a way to personally tailor drugs. or disenfranchise them. This is why it is imA knowledge of basic computer file experative that we increase funds available for tension terms and certain file extraction educating the poor and homeless people. and implementation programs is certainly This demographic has been bypassed by the helpful in researching health issues. A lot information technology revolution, and they of these sites also require log–ins and passare continually exploited. words, which can only be implemented after The advantages of using the Internet for registration, so patience is advised to those health resources would include an increased who are sincerely searching for solutions to ability to self diagnose, a chance to price sur- their health problems. geries and medications, check side–effects, We can use the Internet for our health monitor the number of medical malpractice investigations if we are curious about some suits going on in a jurisdiction, and even personal symptoms, some illness we read analyze Medicaid in its totality. Not to men- about in the news, or if a loved one becomes tion analyzing carefully the results of clinical sick. The bottom line is we can either use the trials.

Internet to prevent an illness or to look for a In stressing the impact of computers on cure for ourselves or others. medical care, it means there is less chance of We, as Street Sense readers, should be the patient losing hope or getting distressed committed to social reform of the inequaliover his condition. The Internet shows him ties of this situation. that he is not the only one coping with this situation, so the group effort becomes more Street Sense vendor Moyo Onibuje has a important than the individual effort. degree in business information technology The Internet has also brought about a from South Bank University in London and more accurate pricing of each additional can be reached at handofgod5@verizon.net.

Street Sense . May 14 – May 27, 2008

14 STREET SENSE NEWS

OFFICE Insight

By Colleen Dolan

Confessions of a Volunteer

Announces the First Annual David Pike Excellence in Journalism Awards On June 12, Street Sense will give out the first annual Excellence in Journalism Awards at the National Press Club in memory of its late board member and journalist David Pike. The awards honor print journalism that changes perceptions about homelessness, draws attention to the factors affecting homelessness, and influences social responses to homelessness.

Criteria

Submissions must: • address homelessness or the causes of homelessness (affordable housing, mental illness, domestic violence, health care, for example) • focus on the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area • be published in a local or national print media outlet in 2007

Categories • • • • •

Investigative Reporting. Entries may be a single article or a series of articles and may include additional materials such as sidebars or illustrations.

Editorial Writing. Entries may be one opinion piece or a series.

Breaking News. Entries must showcase deadline reporting of a single event.

Feature Stories. Entries may be personality profiles, trend stories, human interest stories, or any feature that is not a breaking news story. They can be a single story or a series.

Photography. Entries may be a single photo or a series of no more than three.

Submission Guidelines • • • •

Anyone can submit a story, whether you are a reader or the writer(s).

Please submit the article electronically as a text, PDF or HTML attachment.

Please include the name of the category you are submitting to, your contact e-mail, phone number and address.

If you are the writer of the article, please include a brief biography about yourself.

DEADLINE EXTENDED! All submissions must be received by MAY 16, 2008.

Please send all submissions and any questions to awards@streetsense.org.

Get Twice as Much Street Sense Each Month Delivered Right to Your Door!

Do you want to continue to support Street Sense throughout the year?

Order a subscription today.

Not only will you receive 26 issues packed with all our latest news, poetry and photography, you will also help raise awareness about poverty in the D.C. area. ___ YES! I want to subscribe to Street Sense for just $40 a year for 26 issues. ___ YES! I want to give half of the cost of a subscription to my favorite vendor: ____________ Name: __________________________________________________________________________ Address: ________________________________________________________________________ City: _____________________________________ State:_______________ Zip: ______________ Phone: ___________________________________ E-mail: _______________________________ Please make checks payable to Street Sense.

Mail to: Street Sense, 1317 G St. NW, Washington, DC 20005.

Thanks for your support!

U

nlike most Street Sense volunteers, it was neither my selflessness nor my willingness to sacrifice my free time that got me here. Contrarily, I was brought here to satisfy a basic course requirement. That, and the fact that I wanted to expand my social life.

I am a first–year student at George Washington University. This semester, I signed on to take a “Writing for Social Change” course – a course I registered for based on the fact that it did not meet on Fridays. For the class, we were to spend 20 hours at a community organization which, I figured after painstaking debate, would be a small sacrifice for having Thursday nights free to expand my social life.

Day 1 of the class proved to be a rude awakening, however. Participants in my small seminar went around the room discussing community service they had already participated in.

“President of the community service club.”

“I went to Africa with Seeds of Peace.”

“I raised thousands to feed children in poor countries.”

Suffice it to say, I was in way over my head.

It was on this day that we chose the organizations we would work with. As a declared journalism major, I was in luck and immediately signed on to work with Street Sense.

It was my first meeting with Koki, editor of Street Sense, which made me slightly unsure of what I was in for. She asked about my history in journalism and I gave her a brief description of working on my high school newspaper, slipping in the fact that I had a few stints on ABC–TV in New York. Naturally, she asked how I had managed to be on arguably the biggest news channel in New York City. I gave a response that has become almost mechanical, explaining that my parents work as TV journalists. But the usual response of “Getting into the family business?” or “Really? What are their names?” didn’t come.

Needless to say, I was surprised but also rather relieved. In fact, it was this implication that I needed to prove myself that led me to agree to come into the office six hours a week, rather than the one hour required by my course. This was a decision for which I was immediately grateful.

Once I walked into the office, I knew this would be an experience entirely different than what I had anticipated. Usually an outgoing person, I was rendered unsure of what to say in front of the extroverted vendors and volunteers.

I spent my early hours at Street Sense quietly running toward the stairs when the doorbell rang and issuing vendors their papers.

I was taken aback by their “Hey pretty girl, how are you?” attitude, and unsure of what to say.

After my first few weeks, I realized my nerves were getting the better of me. At this point, I began making a clear effort to know the different vendors – quickly being able to say hello to them by name as I greeted them at the door.

The vendors were genuinely unlike anything I expected. On a busy afternoon, Conrad Cheek Jr. took the paper sign–out sheet from me. “Look, I’ll show you how to do it faster,” he said, proceeding to teach me a superior way to give out large numbers of papers. Jeffery McNeil asked me for advice on what to put on posters and in his articles, while cheerfully telling me about the job interview he had later that day. Brittany Aubin, the intern I worked side–by–side with on Wednesdays, wrote article upon article, fixed Web site glitches and then jetted out just in time for evening classes at American University. I was truly surrounded by remarkable, exceptional people.

After receiving only a B– on the paper for my writing class (on which I had slaved away endlessly), I found myself on the verge of giving up the class. It was only my time at Street Sense that encouraged me to reconsider.

With classes now ending, I’m not looking for an excuse to get out of this last week at Street Sense, which will not count toward any class credit. Rather, I am looking forward to sitting in the office a little longer and getting to know the intelligent, charismatic vendors and volunteers a bit better before saying good–bye.

FEATURES 15 SERVICE PROVIDERS & VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES

Street Sense . May 14 – May 27, 2008

Community Service Index WASHINGTON, D.C. SHELTER Calvary Women’s Services 928 5th Street, NW (202) 783-6651 www.calvaryservices.org Central Union Mission (Men) 1350 R Street, NW (202) 745-7118 www.missiondc.org CCNV (Men and Women) 425 2nd Street, NW (202) 393-1909 users.erols.com/ccnv/

Food and Friends 219 Riggs Road, NE (202) 269-2277 www.foodandfriends.org

Miriam’s Kitchen 2401 Virginia Avenue, NW (202) 452-8926 www.miriamskitchen.org The Welcome Table Church of the Epiphany 1317 G Street, NW (202) 347-2635 http://www.epiphanydc.org/ministry/ welcometbl.htm

MEDICAL RESOURCES

Community of Hope (Family) 1413 Girard Street, NW (202) 232-7356 www.communityofhopedc.org

Christ House 1717 Columbia Road, NW (202) 328-1100 www.christhouse.org

Covenant House Washington (Youth) 2001 Mississippi Ave SE (202) 610-9600 www.covenanthousedc.org Housing, education, job development

Unity Health Care, Inc. 3020 14th Street, NW (202) 745-4300 www.unityhealthcare.org

Franklin School (Men) 13th and K streets, NW (202) 638-7424 Gospel Rescue Ministries (Men) 810 5th Street, NW (202) 842-1731 www.grm.org John Young Center (Women) 117 D Street, NW (202) 639-8469 http://www.ccs-dc.org/find/services/ La Casa Bilingual Shelter (Men) 1436 Irving Street, NW (202) 673-3592 N Street Village (Women) 1333 N Street, NW (202) 939-2060 www.nstreetvillage.org 801 East, St. Elizabeths Hospital (Men) 2700 MLK Avenue, SE (202) 561-4014 New York Ave Shelter (Men) 1355-57 New York Avenue, NE (202) 832-2359 Open Door Shelter (Women) 425 Mitch Snyder Place, NW (202) 639-8093

FOOD Charlie’s Place 1830 Connecticut Avenue, NW (202) 232-3066 www.stmargaretsdc.org/charliesplace Church of the Pilgrims 2201 P Street, NW (202) 387-6612 www.churchofthepilgrims.org Dinner Program for Homeless Women AND the “9:30 Club” Breakfast 309 E Street, NW (202) 737-9311 www.dphw.org Father McKenna Center 19 Eye Street, NW (202) 842-1112

Whitman-Walker Clinic 1407 S Street, NW (202) 797-3500 www.wwc.org

OUTREACH CENTERS Bread for the City 1525 Seventh Street, NW (202) 265-2400 AND 1640 Good Hope Road, SE (202) 561-8587 www.breadforthecity.org food pantry, clothing, legal and social services, medical clinic Community Council for the Homeless at Friendship Place 4713 Wisconsin Avenue NW (202) 364-1419 www.cchfp.org housing, medical and psych care, substance abuse and job counseling Bethany Women’s Center 1333 N Street, NW (202) 939-2060 http://www.nstreetvillage.org meals, hygiene, laundry, social activities, substance abuse treatment Green Door (202) 464-9200 1221 Taylor Street NW www.greendoor.org housing, job training, supportive mental health services Friendship House 619 D Street, SE (202) 675-9050 www.friendshiphouse.net counseling, mentoring, education, youth services, clothing Georgetown Ministry Center 1041 Wisconsin Avenue, NW (202) 338-8301 www.georgetownministrycenter.org laundry, counseling, psych care Martha’s Table 2114 14th Street, NW (202) 328-6608 www.marthastable.org

Shelter Hotline: 1-800-535-7252

dinner, education, recreation, clothing, child and family services Rachel’s Women’s Center 1222 11th Street, NW (202) 682-1005 http://www.ccdsd.org/howorwc.php hygiene, laundry, lunch, phone and mail, clothing, social activities Sasha Bruce Youthwork 741 8th Street, SE (202) 675-9340 www.sashabruce.org counseling, housing, family services So Others Might Eat (SOME) 71 “O” Street, NW (202) 797-8806 www.some.org lunch, medical and dental, job and housing counseling

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Bright Beginnings Inc. 128 M Street NW, Suite 150 Washington DC 20001 (202) 842-9090 www.brightbeginningsinc.org Child care, family services Catholic Community Services of D.C. 924 G Street, NW (202) 772-4300 www.ccs-dc.org umbrella for a variety of services D.C. Coalition for the Homeless 1234 Massachusetts Avenue, NW (202) 347-8870 www.dccfh.org housing, substance abuse treatment, employment assistance Community Family Life Services 305 E Street, NW (202) 347-0511 www.cflsdc.org housing, job and substance abuse counseling, clothes closet Foundry Methodist Church 1500 16th Street, NW (202) 332-4010 www.foundryumc.org ESL, lunch, clothing, IDs Hermano Pedro Day Center 3211 Sacred Heart Way, NW (202) 332-2874 http://www.ccs-dc.org/find/services/ meals, hygiene, laundry, clothing JHP, Inc. 1526 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE (202) 544-9126 www.jobshavepriority.org training and employment Jubilee Jobs 1640 Columbia Road, NW (202) 667-8970 www.jubileejobs.org job preparation and placement National Coalition for the Homeless 2201 P Street, NW (202) 462-4822 www.nationalhomeless.org activists, speakers bureau available National Student Partnerships (NSP) 128 M Street NW, Suite 320

(202) 289-2525 washingtondc@nspnet.org Job resource and referral agency Samaritan Ministry 1345 U Street, SE , AND 1516 Hamilton Street, NW (202)889-7702 www.samaritanministry.org HIV support, employment, drug/alcohol addiction, healthcare St. Luke’s Episcopal Church 1514 15th Street, NW (202) 667-4394 http://stlukesdc.edow.org food, counseling St. Matthew’s Cathedral 1725 Rhode Island Avenue, NW (202) 347-3215 ext. 552 breakfast, clothing, hygiene Travelers Aid, Union Station 50 Mass. Avenue, NE (202) 371-1937 www.travelersaid.org/ta/dc.html national emergency travel assistance Wash. Legal Clinic for the Homeless 1200 U Street, NW (202) 328-5500 www.legalclinic.org legal services

MARYLAND SHELTER Comm. Ministry of Montgomery Co. 114 W. Montgomery Avenue, Rockville (301) 762-8682 www.communityministrymc.org The Samaritan Group P.O. Box 934, Chestertown (443) 480-3564 Warm Night Shelter 311 68th Place, Seat Pleasant (301) 499-2319 www.cmpgc.org

FOOD Bethesda Cares 7728 Woodmont Church, Bethesda (301) 907-9244 www.bethesdacares.com Community Place Café 311 68th Place, Seat Pleasant (301) 499-2319 www.cmpgc.org Manna Food Center 614-618 Lofstrand Lane, Rockville (301) 424-1130 www.mannafood.org

MEDICAL RESOURCES Community Clinic, Inc. 8210 Colonial Lane, Silver Spring (301) 585-1250 www.cciweb.org Mobile Medical Care, Inc. 9309 Old Georgetown Road, Bethesda (301) 493-8553 www.mobilemedicalcare.org

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Catholic Charities, Maryland 12247 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring

(301) 942-1790 www.catholiccharitiesdc.org shelter, substance abuse treatment, variety of other services Mission of Love 6180 Old Central Avenue Capitol Heights (301)333-4440 www.molinc.org life skills classes, clothing, housewares Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless 600-B East Gude Drive, Rockville (301) 217-0314 www.mcch.net emergency shelter, transitional housing, and supportiveservices

VIRGINIA SHELTER Alexandria Community Shelter 2355 B Mill Road, Alexandria (703) 838-4239 Carpenter’s Shelter 930 N. Henry Street, Alexandria (703) 548-7500 www.carpentersshelter.org Arlington-Alexandria Coalition for the Homeless 3103 Ninth Road North, Arlington (703) 525-7177 www.aachhomeless.org

FOOD Alive, Inc. 2723 King Street, Alexandria (703) 836-2723 www.alive-inc.org Our Daily Bread 10777 Main Street, Ste. 320, Fairfax (703) 273-8829 www.our-daily-bread.org

MEDICAL RESOURCES Arlington Free Clinic 3833 N Fairfax Drive, #400, Arlington (703) 979-1400 www.arlingtonfreeclinic.org

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Abundant Life Christian Outreach, 5154 Eisenhower Avenue, Alexandria (703) 823-4100 www.anchor-of-hope.net food, clothing, youth development, and medicines David’s Place Day Shelter 930 North Henry Street, Alexandria (703) 548-7500 www.carpentersshelter.org laundry, shower, workshops, hypothermia shelter Legal Services of Northern Virginia 6066 Leesburg Pike, Ste. 500 (703) 778-6800 www.lsnv.org civil legal services Samaritan Ministry 2924 Columbia Pike, Arlington (703) 271-0938 www.samaritanministry.com social, job and HIV/AIDS services

Street Sense . May 14 – May 27, 2008

PHOTO FINISH

VENDOR PROFILE

By Emiliano Facchinelli

Carlton Johnson

By Roberta Haber

A man naps during a night of inclement weather on the Metro Red line to Glenmont. Commuters may think of Metro only as a way to get home, but others find warmth and shelter right in the trains. This picture was taken by Italian photographer Emiliano Facchinelli, who works for the Piazza Grande, the first street newspaper in Italy. Established in 1993, the Piazza Grande publishes 7,000 copies every month and is sold by homeless people on the streets of Bologna.

Carlton J. M. Johnson was born in Washington, D.C., where he attended John Philip Sousa Junior High School and McKinley Technology High School before graduating from Suitland Senior High in Virginia. Carlton has family all over D.C. Carlton spends a lot of time with his 7-yearold son, Quincy. Carlton’s older son recently made him a grandfather.

Carlton has worked as a telecommunications installer and has also been in sales. He enjoys the money and freedom that come with being in sales but he doesn’t like the dog-eatdog atmosphere in some sales environments.

Because Carlton believes it’s important to give back to the community, he does volunteer work with the Youth Athletic Association of Gum Springs, Va., in Fairfax County. The organization serves boys and girls who are between 7 and 16 years old. Carlton works with the football program. The team he coaches plays against other youth teams throughout northern Virginia.

When Carlton isn’t spending time with his younger son or doing volunteer work he might be drawing, reading or writing poetry. The inspiration for his poetry comes from his life experiences.

How did you become homeless?

A roller coaster of events brought me to where I am today. I’ve been on my own since I was 12 years old. I don’t own a home but I don’t consider myself homeless.

Why do you sell Street Sense?

I sell it for the empowerment it offers and to help the community.

StreetFact 17% to 35% of homeless youth experience sexual abuse while on the street. See stories on pages 6 and 7.

Where do you see yourself in five years?

If there isn’t a nuclear holocaust I see myself as a well-known businessman building value for the community.

Favorite movie?

I like movies about the connection between fathers and sons. “John Q.,” starring Denzel Washington, is an excellent film. I like most of Denzel Washington’s movies as well as some of the films Morgan Freeman and Will Smith have been in.

Favorite music?

I like jazz, some rock, some country. I guess my tastes in music are eclectic. A favorite song is “I’ll Always Love My Mama.” A personal anthem might be “I Made It,” by Jay-Z. Favorite food?

I like any kind of fresh seafood. In general, I like well-cooked homemade food. I’m a better cook than a lot of gourmet chefs. I like a healthy diet.

Favorite book?

I’ll read anything that increases knowledge, power, and self-awareness. I enjoy history and prefer facts to fiction.

Source: Department of health and human services, 1998

May 14 – May 27, 2008 • Volume 5 • Issue 14

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