11 04 2020 by Street Sense Media

VOL. 18 ISSUE 1

NOV. 4 - 17, 2020

Real Stories

Real People

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Real Change

ENDING HOMELESSNESS IS A POLICY CHOICE.

What are we waiting for? AYANNA PRESSLEY

CONGRESSWOMAN, MA

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NEWS IN BRIEF Harriet Tubman residents say the shelter is still cold as hypothermia season begins

A Candid Look at Racism: History, the Church, and Today at Georgetown Presbyterian Church

Sunday, Nov. 8, 9:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. // Online event

Welcome to a candid look at the history of racism in America, in the church, and today, hosted by the Adult Education program at Georgetown Presbyterian. Here’s your opportunity to deepen your learning as our country continues to reckon with centuries of racism. Please join your friends and neighbors at Georgetown Presbyterian Church for a virtual fall program on the history of racism in America, the role of the church, and how that relates to us today. Facebook event: https://tinyurl.com/gtown-presbyterian-lecture Zoom link: https://tinyurl.com/georgetown-presbyterian-zoom Meeting ID: 857 2572 1880 // Password: 343482

THURSDAY, NOV. 5

UPDATES ONLINE AT ICH.DC.GOV

SATURDAY, NOV. 7

Understanding Justice Systems and Moving to a World Without Prisons

D.C. Interagency Council on Homelessness Meetings

Contactless Food Drive

12:00 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. // Online Part of the American University Library’s Exploring Social Justice Series, this lecture will provide a conversation on incareration and what the world could look like without prisons. Register: tinyurl.com/au-prison-abolition

Housing Solutions Committee March 6, 1:30 pm // TBD * Most likely 1800 MLK Jr. Ave. SE Executive Committee March 12, 1:30 pm // TBD * Likely 441 4th Street NW ***For call-in information, as well as meeting info for unlisted working groups, contact: ich.info@dc.gov.

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As the weather fluctuates across D.C., including wind chills in the 20s on Nov. 2, residents at the Harriet Tubman Women’s Shelter say the building has remained uncomfortably cold for the past two weeks. “It’s freezing in here,” Althea Thompson, a resident, told Street Sense Media on Oct. 26. “You don’t know if you want to be outside or be in here.” Thompson said she and others have been bundling up in blankets to stay warm inside since Oct. 25. On that particular day, she reported the airconditioning was still turned on and blowing cold air inside, while temperatures outside didn’t reach above 57 degrees. An employee from the Department of General Services told Street Sense Media that the heat was turned on for the season at 1:20 p.m., Oct. 26. But two weeks later, multiple residents said it was still cold inside as Street Sense went to press. In the District, Nov. 1 marks the beginning of hypothermia season, a ﬁve-month period where the city prepares auxiliary resources to provide blankets, shelter, and transportation whenever temperatures dip dangerously low. The Department of Human Services hypothermia alert was activated on Nov. 1 and Nov. 2 when temperatures reached a low of 39 degrees but was deactivated Nov. 3 due to warmer weather. —athiyah.azeem@streetsensemedia.org

Attorney General Racine’s Lawsuit Prevents Cuts to Food Benefits The D.C. District Court permanently blocked the Trump administration from revoking vital SNAP eligibility for 700,000 Americans, including 20,000 D.C. residents, on Oct. 19, in response to a lawsuit brought in part by D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine. A coalition of state attorneys general led by Racine and New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against the Department of Agriculture in January, protesting a new rule that would have made it more difficult for states to provide food benefits for unemployed residents struggling for work. The coalition argued that the rule “violated the federal rulemaking process, contradicted law and Congress’s intent for SNAP, and lacked a sound rationale,” all of which arguments the federal court agreed with in its decision to block the rule. Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell noted how the pandemic has shown the flaws of the rule change, as over six million Americans enrolled with SNAP in the first two months of the pandemic alone. Racine was relieved to find that the rule change was blocked and emphasized the importance of programs like SNAP to many Americans during troubled times. “While the pandemic continues to drive millions of Americans into unemployment — including thousands of District residents — the Trump administration is focused on cutting vital food assistance rather than helping those in greatest need,” Racine said in a press release. —george.guruli@streetsensemedia.org

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NATIONAL NEWS

As mayors advocate for a guaranteed income, DC may be left behind

Micheal Tubbs, mayor of Stockton, California, speaks at TED 2019 last April.

BY ANNEMARIE CUCCIA annemarie.cuccia@streetsensemedia.org

As a coalition of city leaders around the country gathers to support a guaranteed income, D.C. is still struggling to define what its own program could look like. A guaranteed income is a monthly cash payment made directly to any citizen who qualifies with no strings attached. Though it is similar in concept to a universal basic income, it is normally targeted to low-income residents, rather than all residents. Since June, 2020, 25 mayors from across the country have united to call for a guaranteed income at the federal level and have begun studying programs in their cities through Mayors for a Guaranteed Income (MGI). Following the success of Stockton, California’s guaranteed income program, its mayor, Michael Tubbs, founded the organization and began recruiting fellow mayors to support similar models. Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has not signed on and her office did not respond to requests to comment. “The beginning and end of this for me is that the impacts of poverty in my community and across the country are so devastating to our communities and to our residents that we have to find some way to lift people up and provide them with the income that they need,” said Satya Rhodes-Conway, mayor of Madison, Wisconsin, at a virtual event held by MGI and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. Madison is currently exploring starting its first guaranteed income pilot program. The coalition argues a targeted program can be a tool for economic, racial, and gender equality as it will protect a city’s most vulnerable residents. The money, they say, can supplement current social safety programs and earned income and guarantees an income ﬂoor for everyone. Unlike other social programs, it allows residents to choose what they need to spend the money on. “During COVID-19 it became incredibly clear that a guaranteed income was a lifeline for so many of our residents,” Tubbs said at the virtual event, pointing out that unemployment and other assistance programs can often take two or three months to distribute benefits. “You have to wait, and your bills don’t wait with that waiting period.” Though the details of a guaranteed income, including how much it is monthly, differ, most current or proposed programs follow the same model as the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED), where an amount of cash, in this case $500, is given to individuals or families monthly. According to Tubbs, the money they receive is spent on necessities, and nearly 50% is spent on food. “I am able to buy better things, like fruit, which is very high in cost,” said resident Laura Kidd Plummer in a press release from SEED. The concept of a guaranteed income is picking up

IMAGE COURTESY OF TED CONFERENCE // FLICKR

speed. In 2016, then-Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton almost ran on a platform including UBI, though she said later “we couldn’t make the numbers work.” This election cycle, Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s campaign was defined by his support of UBI. Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee for president, was against the concept in 2017, but recently put out a plan for a guaranteed income of $3,000 annually for parents with children. However, most of the discussion on a national level has examined universal programs, rather than the targeted ones MGI supports.

*** The idea of a guaranteed income in the District was ﬂoated in a 2018 D.C. Council report on the feasibility of providing a minimum income for residents. The report found that most low-income households in the District struggle to make ends meet without any additional programs. “Fifteen dollars an hour is clearly not enough to even make your basic needs met in the District of Columbia,” At-large Councilmember David Grosso said of the findings. Though the minimum wage in the District is currently $15 per hour, a single adult would need to make at least $17.78 to meet all basic needs, the report concluded, and an adult with one child would need to make $31.79. The report also found that while a single adult with a child, if they received all benefits they were eligible for, could meet all their basic needs, eligibility did not mean they were guaranteed that benefit. Single adults who receive all the benefits they are eligible for are still not able to meet their basic needs. The proposals considered by the District in the 2018 report would ensure households make a certain percent of the federal poverty level, making up any difference between their current income and the minimum amount. According to Grosso, while the report encouraged councilmembers to think about ways to improve the social safety net in the District, the price tag kept them from leaping at a guaranteed income. “In the end, I think we were all a little bit sticker-shocked by how much it would cost,” Grosso said. The less ambitious proposal called for the government to guarantee an income of 100% of the federal poverty level, or $12,760 for an individual and $26,200 for a family of four. This proposal was projected to decrease new jobs added by between 1,600 to 3,000 jobs and projected GDP growth by $99 million to $185 million over the next first 10 years of the program. Depending on whether it was implemented via a negative income tax or direct cash payments, it would cost between $380 million and $710 million annually, with the negative income tax

being the cheaper option. The more ambitious proposal calls for a guaranteed minimum income of 450% of the federal poverty level, which is approximately D.C.’s cost of living. Under this proposal, an individual would be guaranteed to make $57,420 and a family of four would be guaranteed to make $117,900. This proposal was projected to decrease jobs in the District by over 100,000 and increase the money the district spends on local programs by $7 billion to $9 billion each year. The Budget Office, which prepared the report, recommended the Council decide on a specific proposal, but did not say the general idea was out of the question. Grosso pointed out some of the costs would be offset by lower enrollment in other benefits programs. However, this lower enrollment could present yet another concern, if an increase in income erases eligibility for other benefits. The possibility is something lawmakers should consider, according to Tazra Mitchell of the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute. “We have to make sure there are no unintentional harsh effects of pushing people off of SNAP or TANF if they’re accessing a guaranteed income,” she said. Partially in response to this need, a group of non-profit organizations joined together to create a cash and food assistance program in Ward 8 called “THRIVE East of the River.” Through this program, which is fundraising its budget, 500 families are receiving $1,100 a month for five months, plus groceries and dry goods. This pilot could be an indicator for what future guaranteed income programs could look like in the District, according to Mitchell. “THRIVE is going to give us a lot of information about how to do that well,” she said. Since 2018, Grosso said, conversations have continued about a guaranteed income program, but have not resulted in a lot of movement, especially given the budget it would require. Though Grosso would like to speed those conversations up, in the meantime he thinks enrolling citizens in social safety net programs and limiting barriers to access those programs can go a long way to making up the difference. To Grossos’ knowledge, Bowser has not looked into the issue. More information about the Mayors for a Guaranteed Income campaign is available at www.mayorsforagi.org. The D.C. Council 2018 minimum income report is available at www. tinyurl.com/DC-Council-min-income. This article was first published as part of our 2020 contribution to the D.C. Homeless Crisis Reporting Project in collaboration with seven other local newsrooms. This year’s 20-article collection is available at DCHomelessCrisis.press.

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Rep. Ayanna Pressley asks marginalized communities to remember “our greatness is older than our oppression” BY ANN-DERRICK GAILLOT The International Network of Street Papers (INSP)

wo years ago, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley won her seat in the House of Representatives after running against a 10-time incumbent. That was one of the nation’s first clues that the Chicagoborn and raised politician was game for taking on the seemingly unchangeable. Upon doing so, she, who in 2009 became the first Black woman ever elected to Boston City Council in over 100 years, took on a new, trailblazing superlative: first Black woman to represent Massachusetts in Congress. She’s taken a similarly undaunted approach in Congress, having thrown her support and efforts behind a number of fair housing and racial justice policies and efforts, tackling other seemingly inescapable, entrenched national realities, like homelessness and police brutality. Earlier this year, she and Rep. Rashida Tlaib introduced the Public Health Emergency Shelter Act, calling for $11 billion of grants for emergency funding for those the pandemic has left homeless and housing insecure. She also secured $4 billion dollars in homelessness assistance funding in the CARES Act, passed in March. Meanwhile, Rep. Pressley has steadily emerged as one of Congress’s more relatable members, often speaking to how her formative experiences in Chicago, as well as her specific experiences as a Black woman in America, inform her policy work. Now up for re-election, Rep. Pressley took a moment to speak to INSP about housing justice, racial justice, and holding on to hope in turbulent times. INSP: You introduced the antiracism and public health act calling to formally declare racism as a public health crisis, which Boston did. Can you talk more to our readers about this legislation and the impacts it could have across the country? Rep. Pressley: The Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District, my district, has been the hardest hit in the Commonwealth by this pandemic, and that has everything to do with the comorbidity of structural racism. Unequal access to healthcare, transportation deserts, food apartheid systems, lack of safe, affordable housing, a confluence of all of those things which, by the way, are not naturally occurring. They are policy choices and decisions. And so, during this moment of national reckoning on racial injustice, it’s not enough to simply call out racism. The federal government really has a moral obligation to actively pursue anti-racist policies and to dismantle systemic racism once and for all. I’m grateful for the Boston City Council, which I served on, the Somerville City Council, and Cambridge as well in the Massachusetts 7th, Boston, who have all declared racism a public health crisis. But I introduced this bill, the Anti-racism in Public Health Act, with Senator Elizabeth Warren and Congresswoman Barbara Lee specifically so that we can be actively anti-racist when it comes to dismantling structural racism and improving policy when it comes to public health. There are three things that I think are important to highlight here. The first is that we’re confronting and dismantling these racist systems and practices, which have created these racial disparities, by creating the National Center for Anti-Racism at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which first declares racism as the public health crisis that it is and then provides the critical research needed to develop anti-racist health policy. The other matter is the bill will also establish a law enforcement violence prevention program at the CDC, because police brutality is also a public health crisis. In fact, this is the sixth leading cause of death for young Black men.

I really do ultimately believe that that which gets measured gets done. So, if we’re really serious about ending systemic racism, then we have to invest in the policies and the research that are actively anti-racist. And that’s what the Anti-Racism in Public Health Act does. What does the federal government need to do to meaningfully address the housing crisis and homelessness in this country? Again, housing is a critical determinant of health, but also social and economic mobility. So, access to safe and affordable housing is a matter of public health. The fact that we find so many people on the precipice of eviction, contributing to growing homelessness in the midst of a pandemic, is unconscionable. We have arrived at this moment not only because of the failings of the federal government to meet the scale and scope of the crisis, but [also] because of a confluence of a lack of political will and leadership and policy. When I was a Boston city councilor, the number one calls my office received were related to housing. And now as a member of Congress, that’s still the case. This is about choices, ultimately. For the price of one military aircraft carrier, we could end homelessness. That’s $13 billion. And I know that because I serve on the Financial Services Committee. Housing and homelessness are under that jurisdiction. And the very first bill to be considered in the 116th Congress in full committee was an act to end homelessness. And I so appreciate that it says “to end,” because it is possible. But it really is about the choices that we make in our budgets on the city and state level and the choices that we make when it comes to federal policy. Can you talk to our readers a bit more about the intersections of racial justice and housing justice? So again, I serve on the Financial Services Committee, and I wanted to do that because of my lived experiences growing up in the residual aftermath of precisely discriminatory policies like redlining. That practice still exists, which is also why we need to modernize the Community Reinvestment Act. The fact that 98% of our financial institutions continue to pass those examinations, meanwhile, the practice of redlining persists, then the 2008 foreclosure crisis, and now our current eviction crisis, Black folks are suffering from generations of systemic discrimination in housing. If you’re Black, you’re more likely to face housing insecurity, less able to build generational wealth and home ownership. It’s why Black students borrow more and default more, because of the policies that have obstructed our abilities, our families’ abilities, to build generational wealth. What’s happening during this COVID-19 pandemic has really only laid bare and worsened these longstanding racial disparities and health outcomes. One of the things that I’m going to continue to fight for is the cancellation of rent and mortgage, for eviction and foreclosure moratoriums. They’ve been a critical lifeline for folks during this pandemic. We know that evictions disproportionately impact Black folks, especially Black women. We’ve seen in Massachusetts and across the country, landlords are illegally attempting to evict tenants despite moratoriums banning them from doing so. It’s also why I introduced legislation with Senator Kamala Harris and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, the Housing Emergency Lifeline Program, or HELP Act, which would guarantee a right to legal counsel for those who do face eviction. What it provides is an added layer of renters’ protections for those facing eviction. We know that there is an increased likelihood

that they will not be evicted if they do have legal representation. How have the activists and protestors taking to the streets over the past several months influenced your work? Oh, the past several months. No, my entire life. I grew up in a household of a single parent. Our household was destabilized for many reasons, not only because of short-sighted, discriminatory policies, but other destabilizing, social factors. Poverty, incarceration, substance use, trauma. My mother was a tenant’s rights activists. And so, I grew up in the activist household and tradition and my mother made it very clear to me early on that I had a role to play in the movement and in that struggle. It was her expectation that I would. And so now as a policymaker, I’m very intentional about engaging activists because I believe the people closest to the pain should be the closest to the power driving and informing the policymaking. Of the 11 housing bills I’ve either authored or co-sponsored, eight out of the eleven have been directly shaped and informed by my co-authoring legislation with those closest to the issue. People are experts based on their lived experiences. So, my mother’s example really just demonstrated for me the power of activism, of organizing, of mobilizing, the power of movement building. And so as a legislator, I just seek to affirm that our freedoms and our destinies are tied, and to legislate in a way that is bold and intersectional, because each issue builds upon the next. None of these things happen in a silo. In talking with friends and family about the upcoming election, what keeps coming up is this fear that no matter what happens, things will get worse as far as racist violence and political violence. What words do you have for people with marginalized identities as far as resisting hopelessness or resignation as all this comes to a head? Much of my work on the city council and now in Congress has been informed by my commitment to mitigate the impacts of trauma and to prevent it. I think many things cause trauma. Some things are more obvious, like being besieged and accosted by the consecutive murders on video of unarmed Black Americans. I think trauma is also caused by policy that is violent, policy that is precise in the hurt and harm that it causes. [Recently], we asked the City of Boston to respond to the trauma that is all around us and the gravity of our challenges. An activist in the community, Thaddeus Miles, partnered with Boston City Councilman Julia Mejia to designate Black Joy Day in the city of Boston [on 12 September 2020]. One of the affirmations that came out of that was “our greatness is older than our oppression.” So that’s what I would say to all marginalized communities, who are marginalized because of structural racism and systemic oppression, that our greatness is older than our oppression. This is the time to call upon our ancestors. This is the time to revisit the blueprint of what the early chapters of the Civil Rights Movement taught us. We have to dig deep. A dear friend of mine recently challenged all of us to choose the discipline of hope over the ease of cynicism and to choose fortitude over fatalism. My mother taught me to believe in the power of the people, and my conviction and my belief in that has not waned because every transformative systemic change that has been ushered in in this country was made possible because of the power of the people. I would bet on that movement and the American people every day. Article courtesy of INSP.ngo. Ann-Derrick Gaillot is a freelance journalist and writer based in Missoula, Montana. (annderrickgaillot.contently.com)

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LOCAL NEWS

As the number of homeless people in quarantine due to COVID-19 dwindles, DHS expands its use of hotel rooms to protect especially vulnerable people BY AOIFE MAHER-RYAN aoife.maherryan@streetsensemedia.org

he District is expanding its hotel accommodations for individuals experiencing homelessness that might be at greater risk of contracting COVID-19, such as the elderly or those with prior medical conditions. The Department of Human Services began moving clients into a third Pandemic Emergency Program for Highly Vulnerable Individuals (PEP-V) site last month at the Fairfield Inn on New York Ave. NE. The Fairfield Inn added 115 rooms of capacity and joined the Hotel Arboretum, which it shares a parking lot with, and the Holiday Inn on Rhode Island Ave. NE as PEP-V sites. The other two locations provide 109 rooms and 193 rooms, respectively. D.C. opened three PEP-V sites soon after the public health emergency was declared in March, but DHS reduced that number to two in July. Seventy-five percent of PEP-V funding comes from FEMA. DHS Chief of Staff Larry Handerhan said the department is “hoping [this federal funding stream] continues during the duration of the public health emergency.” Since PEP-V sites opened in March, 488 people have stayed at the hotels and 249 of those individuals have been “matched” to housing, 55 of whom had moved in at the time of publication. Current capacity at the three PEP-V hotels is 417 rooms. Each resident is issued a rapid COVID-19 test before they are admitted to the hotels to make sure they are negative. If the test comes back positive they are placed at a separate hotel reserved for isolation and quarantine space. D.C. paused its “coordinated entry” system for matching people to housing assistance when the pandemic hit in March, but resumed the program in May and adjusted it to target people who qualify for PEP-V for housing as these individuals were seen as more vulnerable and could be easily located.

Proactive vs. reactive While PEP-V hotels are a preventative measure to keep vulnerable individuals from contracting COVID-19, Isolation and Quarantine (ISAQ) sites, also hotels contracted by the city, are for individuals who have tested positive or been exposed to the virus who cannot safely quarantine at home or in a shelter. The Department of Human Services has one ISAQ site still running, down from three earlier in the year. DHS staff said they do not publicly disclose the ISAQ site’s location in order to protect the privacy of the people staying there. As of a Oct. 30 DHS briefing, 63 people were in remote quarantine with 37 of them coming from shelters. The city’s daily coronavirus data has not included a public number for how many people are in its ISAQ site since Oct. 28. At its highest point thus far, there were 360 people spread across in isolation and quarantine on May 7. Two hundred and seventy-six of them were “from shelter, or unsheltered.” Individuals staying at shelters early in the pandemic were upset by the lack of communication about the virus. William Long, a 59-year-old native Washingtonian who previously stayed at the New York Avenue men’s shelter said in an April interview , “They didn’t tell you anything about how people in

the shelter are actually doing. I kept hearing guys say people had left and been taken to quarantine.” Long said he directly asked a worker at the shelter if there had been any cases among the residents and said the person refused to answer. “He said, ‘I’m not gonna tell you that. You need to figure that out for yourself.’” After realizing that he might have been exposed, Long got tested. “I went straight to GW and got tested. It came back positive.” He was taken to a Days Inn on Connecticut Ave. NW that was serving as an ISAQ site at the time. After two weeks, Long said he was “medically cleared” and told he could no longer stay in the hotel room. He began to feel ill soon after leaving the hotel, returned to GW Hospital, and tested positive for COVID-19 a second time. He was then quarantined at the Capitol Skyline Hotel in Southwest D.C. for a couple of weeks before again being told he had to leave. In June, Long was interviewed by NBC Washington while camping in Franklin Park, just before everyone living there was forced to leave when the park closed for year-long renovations. He said he felt better taking his chances outside than going back to a shelter. While Long said he felt like a prisoner at the ISAQ, he greatly appreciated having a shower, toilet, safe sleeping space, and an outlet to charge his phone day-in and day-out. People who are at ISAQ sites are meant to stay there until they are medically cleared, according to Zelinger, the DHS director. “We don’t put guards at the doors. I mean we are not policing people.” she said. “The same way if you or I were exposed and called by the contact tracers from D.C. Health and told that we had been exposed and we should self isolate at home, nobody would be standing outside our door to enforce that.” Long’s experience at the Days Inn ISAQ site in April contradicts the current policy described by Zeilinger. He said an ambulance took him to the hotel, where security guards then stood by his door. While people were free to leave, Long said the catch was that if you left quarantine, you could not return. Another person staying in one of the hotels, who spoke under the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation, independently reported the same policy. “Anyone can leave, but if you do, you can’t come back,” they said in May, at the height of demand for ISAQ space for people experiencing homelessness. “You pack your stuff up and they put you on the street.”

Expanding as the health crisis continues The Fairfield Inn PEP-V site began operating Oct. 12 with people moving in on Oct. 14. “We’re still in the process of moving people in,” Zeilinger said. “We’ve done that in a staggered way to allow for that roommate matching work and we are working closely with Unity [Health Care] and we’re not filled up yet. We’ve got about 81 people at this point who have moved in.” DHS plans to place 40 more individuals at the hotel each week over the course of a 5-week period. The goal is to have 90% of rooms filled across all PEP-V sites by Dec. 1. Currently there are 466 referrals on the PEP-V waitlist. A referral, including contact information and medical history, can be entered through an online form administered by DHS at tinyurl.com/dc-pepv. As long as the PEP-V program is able to run, DHS does not cap how long a client can stay. “On average, the length

The number of hotel rooms occupied by medically vulnerable people from April 21 - Nov. 2. DATA AN VISUALIZATION COURTESY OF DHS

of stay so far has been 123 days and people would either exit to permanent housing or they no longer wish to stay in the program or for other reasons where it just hasn’t been an appropriate fit,” Zeilinger said. In an effort to expand the program, DHS has also begun introducing double occupancy across all PEP-V sites. This month, individuals staying at PEP-V sites will share rooms unless they have certain medical conditions or other factors. So far, 91 clients share a room with another client. DHS looked at examples from Connecticut and New York to come to the decision. “That’s not going to work for me,” a PEP-V client told Street Sense Media in October when the change was advertised. “If we’re both in the room all day, that means wearing a mask all day. And my sleeping is all messed up, so I’m usually up at night. But now I won’t be able to make any noise while I’m awake because I’ll have a roommate that’s trying to sleep.” Going forward, all new PEP-V intakes will come in pairs unless a single intake can be placed with an an existing PEP-V client in Hotel Arboretum or the Holiday Inn locations. The change will allow an additional 200 people to stay at the hotels. Clients who are expected to receive a roommate will be notified 30 days in advance and discuss with their case managers any preferences they have based on health, gender, employment and history. Zelinger said DHS wants the clients to feel safe and comfortable in the environment they are in and will work to accommodate reasonable requests not to have a roommate on the grounds of medical conditions.. In-person medical services, which include staff going to clients’ rooms for check-ins or to check their vital signs, will be available five days a week at the Fairfield Inn and the Holiday Inn starting the first week of November, and six days a week at the Hotel Arboretum which is housing those with more complex medical needs. Zeilinger said DHS works with clients and Unity Health Care to decide how often medical care needs to be available. “For the most part it’s just based on what people present as needing and also what they want,” Zeilinger said. “Not everybody wants to be checked on by a doctor everyday if they feel fine and there’s no need.” The goal of the PEP-V program is to provide clients resources to transition into permanent housing, according to DHS. The department has made an updated PEP-V agreement that asks clients to agree to weekly meetings with case managers to find permanent housing or another exit plan for when they leave the hotel. The agency has offered transportation to visit potential units for lease and assistance with housing documentation. Bill Myers contributed reporting.

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SSM FAMILY UPDATES

Name of vendor pictured

Director Merawi Gerima based much of the story of the main character, Jay, on himself. In this still image from the film, young Jay looks straight at the camera. PHOTO COURTESY OF ARRAY

Film Review:

‘Residue’ spotlights a Capitol change BY ERIC THOMPSON-BEY Artist/Vendor

esidue follows the story of a filmmaker, Jay (Obinna Nwachukwu), returning to his old neighborhood, Eckington, in Northeast D.C., which has been renamed NoMa. He’s coming back after years away studying film in Los Angeles to make a film about his childhood, only to see that his neighborhood has radically changed due to gentrification and many of his old friends have been pushed out or locked up. Jay wants to rewrite this story. He tells his childhood friend Delonte (Dennis Lindsey) that the new white people in D.C. will just walk over them and they’ll be forgotten if he doesn’t make his film. Jay visits family and old friends and reminisces with them about the times before gentrification reached Q Street. He wants the story to be the life before all this. This film is authentic. What impressed me the most was the D.C. slang used by these actors and actresses — phrases and gestures I’ve grown up with and used myself, as a native Washingtonian. I could relate like being there. Writer/Director Merawi Gerima has said most of the cast and crew were from Northeast, and the film itself is based on his own experience growing up here and going to film school in California, and the difference he noticed when he returned after only one year away at school. Their experience shines through. On the other hand this film would look more authentic if there were more camera shots of the city. It was nice to have the film start with GO-GO and New Bounce music on U Street, but that was about the only area of the city that I recognized. There were no shots of the U.S. Capitol Building and no shots of Union Station, which is right at the area now branded as NoMa. If you have never experienced gentrification, Gerima gives us a good look at how it can cause conﬂicts, but not at how to resolve them. Although there’s no easy resolution to these conﬂicts, the film would have been more educational if it attempted to show the audience how to make a change. Near the end Jay takes his frustration out on two white men who

are out walking his neighborhood. He assaults them and then runs away. This only shows conﬂict. I am experiencing gentrification myself, but not to the extent of Gerima’s film. What I am noticing is more white people living here and visiting the new restaurants and stores in the neighborhood. Also more law enforcement. Gerima included a sequence in Residue juxtaposing the audio of a conversation between two white people eating brunch and talking about the transformation of DC while showing the visuals of multiple Black people being forcibly arrested by the police. I have not personally gotten the “turn your music down or I’ll call the cops” threat that Jay got in the film. But I have heard similar stories from my neighbors. Residue is a good film. If you are new to our city, I recommend this film for you because it gives a real good look at the changes in our city, which was the most intensely gentrified city in the country from 2000 - 2012 and dropped to the thirteenthmost-intense ranking from 2013 - 2017. Residue is now streaming on Netﬂix. Screenings may also be requested through Array at www.arraynow.com/residue.

Artist/Vendor Levester Green published a 382-page book of poetry on Amazon.com: “The $hort Report for a $hort $ta¢k of $hort ¢ake: This Is $hort Work” www.tinyurlcom/LG-short-report

BIRTHDAYS Andre Brinson Nov. 9 ARTIST/VENDOR

ACCOMPLISHMENTS Jennifer Orange

Recently hired by a local business ARTIST/VENDOR

Gerald Anderson

Interviewed for the Oct. 27 episode of the DC Public Library Podcast: dcplpodcast.simplecast.com ARTIST/VENDOR

Marcellus Phillips

Became the producer for our weekly ﬂimmakers workshop ARTIST/VENDOR

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LOCAL NEWS

DC green workforce development program helps people who lost their homes BY ATHIYAH AZEEM athiyah.azeem@streetsensemedia.org

ndre Roberson experienced homelessness from 2018 to mid-2019 and lived at a lowbarrier shelter in D.C. Now, due to the training and mentorship he received at the D.C. Sustainability Energy Utility (DCSEU), he is a team lead solar technician and on his way to permanent housing. “I didn’t know how to feel when it first happened, I was so grateful to have a job,” Roberson said of the help he received from DCSEU. Unemployed after losing his previous job in February 2018, he ran out of unemployment compensation in August 2018. Unable to pay his rent, and his family unable to temporarily house him, Roberson had to stay at the 801 East homeless shelter in Southeast D.C. “It's a reality check,” Roberson said. At the shelter, he had to hide his shoes under his pillow every night, as he and other residents slept in fear of their shoes being stolen. He moved into his sister’s house in the summer of 2020 and still lives there, searching for permanent housing. He has reason for optimism, however, because he now works for Greenscape Environmental Services, a local green energy company that installs solar panels in neighborhoods across D.C. He was promoted to team lead within six months of working there, and he now manages seven to eight people in a team. Roberson was connected to Greenscape through DCSEU’s Workforce Development program, a five-month externship program that trains D.C. residents to work in the green industry. Rather than an internship, the “externship” invites local D.C. companies like Greenscape, GRID Alternatives and other green energy companies to train and mentor graduates. DCSEU itself pays the externs, to compensate mentors for the time they spend training each individual. Within the workforce program cohort that graduated in September 2020, 15 out of 19 externs received full time employment so far,

even in the midst of a pandemic. “The program was made to help individuals who are unemployed,” said Gleniss Wade, program director of the Workforce Development program, in an interview with Street Sense Media. “We have had in the same cohort people experiencing homelessness and people with graduate degrees.” She said the program has serviced several people experiencing homelessness since 2011, in addition to returning citizens and displaced workers. Yolanda Hayden is another workforce program graduate who has experienced a loss of housing. Due to a leg injury in 2016, Hayden could not continue working as a construction project manager, losing her job and the house her company sponsored for her as well. This caused her to move between her friends’ and relatives’ houses for four years. “I was getting to the point where I was feeling down,” Hayden said. “I was getting to the point where I was like, ‘forget it.’” Hayden said she bounced between programs trying to find housing and employment. She attended one at Friendship Place only to realize it was for returning citizens. Regardless, Friendship Place kept recommending jobs and programs to her, until they put her in contact with Wade. “I wanted her to be in the program so bad,” Wade said, taking an immediate liking to Hayden. “She was doing so much, she didn’t realize the impact she made on our organization through the mentor she was working with.” After graduating from the 2020 program cohort, she is now a project manager at WDC Solar, a D.C. solar engineering, production and procurement company. She is still staying at her daughter’s house, but she feels more confident that she’ll find housing now that she has a stable job. Externs do not need to have prior experience. All they need is proof of residency in D.C., which can include a shelter address, and an interest in working in the green industry. Wade said Roberson and Hayden had no experience

Andre Roberson stands on a rooftop. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE DC SUSTAINABLE ENERGY UTILITY

EDITOR’S NOTE: In the Aug. 12 edition of Street Sense, we ran a story that represented Andre Roberson (pictured above) as a participant in the Solar Works D.C. program. However, Roberson participated in the D.C. Sustainable Energy Utility workforce development program. A corrected version featuring a different Solar Works D.C. participant, Andre Green, is featured on the opposite page. Roberson’s experience was re-explored in the new story below. with the tools used in solar installation at the start of the program. “He said ‘I just want to be able to feed myself. I just want to get a roof over my head,’” Wade recalled Roberson mentioning. Wade was impressed by Roberson’s drive to improve his situation. But Antonio Harrison, Roberson’s mentor and the CEO of Greenscape, said Roberson had a rocky start, not committing his full energy into the externship. “A lot of [externs,]” Harrison said, “go from program to program to program. And they look at this as a situation where they are being used as free labor.” Roberson and Hayden have both admitted they entered the program to earn money at first. DCSEU pays externs a living wage upwards from $17/hr. Over the course of the externship, however, Harrison said he saw Roberson grow to trust the program and take hold of the opportunities presented to him. As program director, Wade said she ensures externs learn about work etiquette and financial literacy, encourages them to keep applying for jobs, and even talks to them about their personal lives and struggles. “If I can help them be more,” Wade said, “that would make life so much sweeter for me.” “I really wanted to make the program proud … because I really appreciated the way [DCSEU] stood by me and made me feel like I wasn’t just some statistic,” Roberson said. “They really make you feel loved and appreciated.” Theodore Trabue Jr., managing director of DCSEU, said the Workforce Development program was created in 2012 through a

contract between the D.C. government and DCSEU to improve energy efficiency in the city. As part of the contract, DCSEU needed to hire a number of local residents so that they could “be a part of this new economy.” As someone who had worked in workforce development for a time, Trabue had a vested interest in ensuring his externs could get jobs. “I really wanted to prove the naysayers wrong, those people who say District residents aren’t employable, because they aren’t trained,” Trabue said. “Being a D.C. resident, I think it’s important to give other D.C. residents the chance to learn,” Harrison said. As the CEO of a Black-owned green energy firm, Harrison directly ties the employability of D.C. residents to race. “Believe it or not, there are not a lot of African American companies that also have a lot of African American employees working in the field,” Harrison said. “And D.C. is not used to seeing that, even though D.C. is predominantly African American.” D.C. was a majority-Black district from the 1950s to 2011. Roberson now often works on the roofs of buildings across the District, including Howard University and low-income, majority-Black neighborhoods. While in a neighborhood in Southeast D.C., Harrison told Roberson that he and his team were probably the first workers who look like the neighbors in the neighborhood. “You know what it’s like, seeing people of color see other people of color doing work in their neighborhood?” Roberson said. “I had a chance to feel like I was making a difference.”

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Grid Alternatives staff install panels on a brownfield in Ward 8 on July 6, for the Community Solar at Oxon Run project, the largest renewable energy project to serve neighborhood residents in the District. The Department of Energy and the Environment hosted a "first look" at the 7,280-panel community renewable energy facility on Sept. 16. PHOTO COURTESY OF GRID ALTERNATIVES

Solar Works program creates jobs and can reduce expenses for low-income households BY ANNEMARIE CUCCIA AND MARK ROSE Editorial Intern, Volunteer

ust three years ago, Andre Green had no experience with solar panels besides the tips he picked up from his father, who’s an electrician. Now, he hopes to start his own solar panel installation business. “I know I can work for myself if I choose to,” Green, who is currently employed as a teacher, said. “I’m just now learning like this thing could go a long way.” In 2018, Andre Green spent 12 weeks installing solar panels on houses in Northeast and Southeast D.C. with the help of Solar Works D.C., a low-income solar installation and job training program led by the Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE), the Department of Employment Services (DOES), and the mayor’s office. It prepares District residents to enter careers in solar and related industries and is implemented by the nonprofit GRID Alternatives, through a grant from DOEE’s Solar for All program. Participants are paid hourly and receive a stipend during the program. [Disclosure: DDOE is a frequent advertiser with Street Sense Media.] When Green ran across the program, he was homeless. He signed up for the program, and started going to class every day. By the end of the three months, Green said he had completed four or five installations. He learned about every aspect of installation, from the electrical requirements to getting up on the roof and installing the panels. “The class taught me a lot as far as how to install solar panels and what would be available to me as far as opportunities in the future,” Green said. “I will be okay if anything happens.” The only criteria for the program are to be 18 years or older, be willing to get up on a roof, and have the strong desire to give back to the community through the program, according to Elijah Perry, Grid Alternative’s mid-Atlantic development director. Approximately three in 20 trainees from each cohort are homeless, though they're not required to provide that information when applying as the program is not targeted at people experiencing homelessness, Perry said. Grid Alternatives provides each participant with education on solar installation basics, CPR and OSHA certification, and access to wrap-around services. Everyone who comes through the program meets with a case manager 1-1 who can help connect them, if needed, with food stamps, shelters, temporary housing, and other resources. It’s during these private conversations that most workers may disclose their lack of stable housing. “How many of these trainees wouldn’t have asked for help

had it not been for the program? It’s a resource within itself,” Perry said. "We want them to have these collective resources … we try to meet people where they are.” Linda Stroman is one of the case managers and trainers with the program. In her role, she aids participants with soft skills training, financial management, career development, and other wraparound services. Families are also included in case management, which Stroman feels is key to improving situations long-term. The provision of those services is one thing that she feels makes SolarWorks stand out from other job training programs. “It’s helping them kinda create those basic foundations,” Stroman said. “It’s not just about learning about solar, it’s so much more rounded, and that’s why they push the wrap-around services, they’re really trying to get people to feel whole again all the way around.” The 12-week pipeline program aims to produce a qualified workforce for entry-level green jobs in solar and related industries. It also provides free solar installation to low-income residents in the District. The program has trained over 200 people so far, who combined have created 9,600 kW of solar capacity. Under the mayor’s Solar for All Program implementation plan, DOEE aims to provide 100,000 low- and moderate-income homeowners access to solar power from rooftop solar panels by 2032, which is estimated to cut participants’ energy bills by 50%. If it sticks to the plan, the District is projected to reduce its “carbon footprint” to zero by 2050. Participants could save up to $500 per year on their electricity bills, according to DOEE’s website. District residents are eligible for community solar if their household income is below 80% of the area median income — $100,800 for a family of four and $70,550 for a single person. By the end of last fiscal year, Sept. 30, 10,000 households in D.C. were anticipated to have been receiving the benefits of solar, either from direct installations, credits, or improved living conditions, according to Cecile Brown, a public affairs specialist for DOEE. So far, the program has installed 12.8 megawatts of solar capacity. The program anticipates installing panels to serve another 2,983 houses by the end of 2020. The number of installations in 2020 has been adjusted due to COVID-19. The program is within budget, and demand has progressed somewhat ahead of capacity. They have plenty of room to grow, Brown said. The solar development rate continues to rise within the District. The number of permits issued doubled last year from the year before. The first Solar For All Community Renewable Energy Facility (CREF) in Ward 8, Oxon Run,was installed over the summer. It hosts 7,280 panels, partially installed by SolarWorks members, and will provide 750 residents with up to $500 in electricity savings per year.

Solar Works D.C. enrolls new trainees every spring, summer and fall. Before the coronavirus pandemic, the training program included two days of hands-on solar installation experience per week, filling the other days with a mix of classes and workshops. In her role, Stroman stays connected with graduates of the program, and reported that while a decent number of graduates do go into solar installation or solar marketing, the skills they acquired are useful no matter where they go next. “By the end of the program, the way they’re so proud of themselves and we’re proud of what they’re doing, I see an enhanced self esteem over all in what they can do, adding new skills to their resume, being able to talk about who they are and what they can bring to the table,” Stroman said. Graduates also have opportunities at Solar Works itself, which hires graduates when they can as panel installers, according to Stroman. Two instructors of the program now previously went through the training program. The program is still operating and recruiting applicants for upcoming cohorts. However, due to the health crisis, no installation training is taking place in the field. DOEE and DOES are making sure each trainee has a laptop and internet access, while Grid Alternatives has been implementing a 3D solar installation simulation platform for students to learn and practice installation techniques. The nonprofit’s COVID-19 task force is still developing its guidelines to safely allow trainees back in the field. For now, the full curriculum is implemented virtually, though Perry stressed recruitment is still very much ongoing. For those interested, Stroman stressed there were no specific qualifications. “It’s about the desire to really do something different, we’re looking for folks who aren't just looking for something to get paid for for a couple of months, but see the need for solar installation and how it's helping the environment,” she said. Perry of Grid Alternatives said COVID allowed the nonprofit to think more outside of the box about how to engage people who aren’t able to make it into a physical classroom and to build out a more hybrid program. “A lot of homelessness is tied to economics and opportunity,” Perry said. “We try to create a pathway forward for people to build the life that they want and that they see themselves in.” Residents who would like to see if they qualify for no-cost solar installation on their home should visit: www.dcseu.com/solar-forall#get-started Residents who would like to enroll in a future Solar Works D.C. training cohort should contact the D.C. Infrastructure Academy: dcia@dc.gov or 202-899-6040.

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OPINION

Expanding child care can help Black women overcome disparities in domestic violence BY SANDRA JACKSON

This was first published by TheDCLine.org on Oct. 29.

pproximately 25% of women and 14%of men in the United States — and a staggering 39% of women in D.C. — will face domestic violence within their lifetimes. This pernicious problem finds its way into all corners of the country and can be damaging and deadly regardless of race, gender, or socioeconomic and educational status. Some communities, however, bear a greater share of this burden than others: Over 40% of Black women will experience intimate-partner violence of some form during their lives. Not only do we experience higher rates of domestic abuse, but we are also nearly three times as likely to be murdered as white women — with more than half of those murders perpetrated by a current or former intimate partner. As a Black woman and an advocate for domestic violence survivors, I have long been aware that a unique set of social and societal factors make the situation for Black women far more dire. And I have come to understand that to effectively address this problem, we must adopt a holistic approach that engages with the complexities imposed by racial injustice in this country. Societal ills feed on one another. In the case of domestic violence, a lack of access to child care has far more of a role to play in the crisis than one might assume. Access to child care can be a deciding factor for women determining whether to stay or leave a violent partner. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, an overrepresentation of Black Americans among frontline workers has compounded the vital need for child care for those who cannot work remotely — putting stay-at-home mothers who live in abusive households

in an impossible and inescapable position. as they seek to move forward from domestic violence. These Despite the significant need, there’s not enough child issues do have solutions, and through a combined effort care in the United States; some estimates indicate that we can make a difference. Complacency and pessimism nationwide there are only enough licensed facilities will allow thousands of women — of all backgrounds and to serve 23% of America’s infants and toddlers. The races — to die each year from intimate partner violence. absence of available resources keeps women out of the In Ward 7, the House of Ruth recently opened a new child workforce, forces parents to settle care facility to help alleviate the child for lower-quality care, and keeps care desert that exists in Southeast Since the COVID-19 women dependent on their abusers. Washington. We now have the capacity pandemic began, an And when women can’t leave their to care for 88 infants and children at abusers, it sets up intergenerational no cost to parents. We also provide overrepresentation of traumas for them and their children. services, safe places to stay, Black Americans among counseling The national crisis is even more career guidance and other supportive pronounced in D.C., a city that’s resources to help local women. All front-line workers has more than 45% African American. across the city important initiatives Our city has the highest cost of compounded the vital need are being undertaken to protect the infant care in the United States most vulnerable. What we need is your for child care for those ($24,000 annually per infant), support so we can help D.C. women and 27% of DC residents live in a who cannot work remotely. and children. child care desert. To make matters If you or someone you know is worse, the pandemic has resulted struggling with domestic abuse, in the closure of thousands of child seek help. You can contact House of care facilities in the Washington area alone. As many Ruth and our domestic violence counseling services by working parents know, lack of affordable child care calling 202-667-7001, ext. 515, or emailing us at intake@ has numerous negative consequences; but for women houseofruth.org. seeking to escape violent circumstances, it can be one Sandra Jackson has more than two decades of experience in of the most significant obstacles. social services management in the Washington area. She began In order to help Black women escape violence, we her work with House of Ruth in 2013; throughout her tenure need to provide supportive, community-based resources with the organization, she has served as director of operations, throughout their journey to independence. executive director and, as of September 2020, president and CEO. She has also worked with the D.C. Child and Family While the pandemic, the political landscape and Services Agency and Catholic Charities of Washington, D.C. She seemingly a million other concerns this year have gotten holds a master’s degree in social work from Howard University all of us feeling hopeless at times, I urge you to think about and a bachelor’s from George Washington University. how we can be more inclusive and better serve all women

Beware the red mirage BY JEFF TAYLOR

You may have read or heard about the coming "red mirage" on election night. The in-person vote totals will initially show a Trump win which will fade away as mail-in and absentee ballots are counted. The red mirage will become a blue wave if, and only if, all the ballots are counted. Trump and the rest of the GOP know that democracy is not in their favor so keeping the vote count as low as possible works to their advantage. The plan, as I understand it, is to declare victory as soon as possible on election night and fight it out from there. The goal is to yet again manipulate the archaic electoral college into a bogus win that overrides the will of the American people. Take Pennsylvania, for example. Trump will declare victory in that state

on election night. But when mail-in ballots turn the table on Trump, the GOP controlled legislature will simply appoint GOP-faithful electors and boom, there goes Pennsylvania for Trump. Same goes for several other states as well. So it's easy to see where things end up being settled in a 6-3 conservative Supreme Court. I say f*#k that sh%t! We cannot allow this to go down this way! If we do, it will be the end of democracy. It will be the end of the United States. We must be willing to make sacrifices; that of our very lives if unfortunately necessary to secure democracy for future generations. We must be prepared for war, because you better believe the other side sure is! Jeff Taylor is an artist and vendor with Street Sense Media.

“I voted” stickers in English and Spanish in Virginia, Nov. 2014.

PHOTO COURTESY OF STATE DEPARTMENT BUREAU OF GLOBA PUBLIC AFFAIRS / FLICKR

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We won’t be shut out of the system BY JEFFERY MCNEIL

he D.C. swamp, including Fox News, has once again blathered that President Donald Trump is toast and there is no way he can win the presidency. We have seen this movie, and we know how it ends: with more Trump derangement and resistance. Win or lose, it doesn’t matter if Trump gets re-elected: The Trump supporter is not going away! That’s even if former Vice President Joe Biden somehow gets elected, which I don’t see possibly happening when a Rasmussen poll is predicting Trump will win nationally. Even if Biden wins, there are long-term crosscurrents both political parties need to address. One, there is a huge cultural shift happening, where people that live in Blue urban areas are ﬂeeing to states like Arizona, Texas, and Tennessee to take advantage of the libertarian low-tax environment but want social policies such as legalized marijuana, plans to protect the climate and reproductive health rights. Colorado and Virginia were traditionally conservative states but have been voting Democrat since 2008, and many red states are now becoming swing states like North Carolina and Florida. While these states may end up re-electing Trump, they are in danger of going the way of California. This also brings a long-term dilemma for Democrats, as the wealthiest corporations and citizens ﬂee the high taxes of the Blue States, such as New York and California. This will in my opinion leave them with poorer and less educated people who pay little in taxes and create few jobs. As revenues and property values decline, fewer people will want to support Democrats who want to run everything from their capitals and statehouses instead of reducing regulations and creating a tax structure that will grow the economy. When people see their economic prospects decline these, blue states will become like Indiana and Kentucky — redder than a Christmas tree. These cultural shifts are why America is at a breaking point. The young millennials want to remove the old guard against power, but unfortunately, the young guns do not understand how the machinery of politics works. The young think they can do idealistic things such as vow to take away guns, make health care a human right, or tear down statues they believe are offensive without repercussions or consequences. While it sounds idealistic to redress historical injustice, what Leftists will be brave enough to go into gun owners’ homes in Alabama

or Mississippi and confiscate their property in the name of racial equality? While many in the Washington, D.C. area have PhDs and advanced degrees, very few have emotional intelligence. They are as robotic as the computers they sit behind. They are slaves to data, stats, and numbers and can’t measure human behavior. It’s easier for people of privilege to call Trump supporters “deplorable” instead of addressing the shifting of our political landscape. Most Trump supporters are not bigots or anti-immigrant; they are struggling to survive in a pie that keeps shrinking. Immigration is nothing more than the competition for resources. Those that virtuesignal about immigration are usually wealthy elites that don’t face competition but see those that have to compete for everything from living space to wages as intolerant bigots. As someone that lived through the “Silent Majority” of Richard Nixon as well as the “Reagan Revolution,” I saw the enthusiasm for former President Barack Obama but nothing compares to the Trump movement. They say he's losing, but when you get away from the emotion, how is Trump behind when polls suggest he’s winning in Texas. Arizona was supposed to be a swing state, and Trump is either slightly behind or leading. But I think national polls are misleading because the people they poll are concentrated in populated urban areas. Groups like Trafalgar do polling at a state and countywide level which can give a more accurate and unbiased snapshot of where the election is going. This is one angry electorate and they are going out to send a message: "Open Up America or Else!” They say Trump may lose, but it will be hard to convince me when you see crowds that are better suited for sporting events than a president. Trump has a “rock star” status. Not even Teddy Roosevelt or John F. Kennedy was as beloved as this president. None of us Trump supporters care for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell or the Republicans. But I see American politics as a choice between the Titanic and Lusitania: America is headed for an iceberg, but at least one party has lifeboats and preservers. With Trump, you have a chance. With former Vice President Joe Biden and California Senator Kamala Harris, kiss this country goodbye. Jeffery McNeil is an artist and vendor with Street Sense Media.

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Get out the vote BY AIDA PEERY

I voted a week before Election Day. And I hope you did, too. I voted by mail like I did in the primaries. This time, I dropped my ballot in the ballot box at the Martin Luther King Library, which just reopened. Our grandmothers, aunties, sisters, and a few grandfathers, fathers, etc., have fought against a racist society for Black folks, and for White women to be able to vote, and for all of them to be able to contribute more to this society than having to work meaningless, low-pay jobs, and for women to be nothing more than homemakers. So vote. Voting is important. Votes do count. I'm Black, everybody knows I'm Black, and votes do count. If our vote doesn’t count, why do we always have to go through voter suppression like gerrymandering? During the beginning of the 1900s, Alice Paul formed an integrated group of women to march for equality and to be able to vote, as well as for men of color who were being

discriminated against in wages and were also unable to vote! It took 20 years before Congress finally gave in to allow women and people of color to vote. My grandmother cast her first vote at the age of 25 years and she cast her last vote before she died in 2000 at the age of 106. It took the women’s suffrage movement 20 years of abuse, jail time, and marching a for social reform and the right to Vote! Let’s not forget what women have endured during their time of marching so we can have the right to vote. No, voting is not a privilege. It is a responsibility for all of us that want changes for a “better America.” So, let’s not let our grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins down by not voting! Black folks and white women in America for years were treated as second class citizens. Today, we have a choice to make. Aida Peery is an artist and vendor with Street Sense Media.

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ART

Still Missing My Baby Alice BY JEFF TAYLOR // Artist/Vendor

Dec. 18, 2020 will mark one year since I lost my dearest friend and fellow Street Sense Media vendor Alice Carter. I'm dreading the coming holidays without her. The last time I saw her alive was Dec. 11, just a week before she passed, two weeks before Christmas. We shared a cigarette and ﬁrmed up logistics for Christmas Eve and Day. I wanted to take her to the latest Star Wars movie on Christmas Day. I still see her real and alive as can be in my dreams. I'm still looking for the closure that I fear will never come. I have yet to accept that she is gone and I will not see her again. At least not on this earthly plane. Maybe it's because she was so young. She would have been just 36 the day after this past Christmas. We were supposed to spend the holiday and her birthday together. Maybe it's because it was so unexpected. Alice did live a dangerous life and despite the fact that she was 20 some odd years younger than me I knew there was a better than average chance she would die before I did. She didn't die the violent death I feared and she didn't die alone. But she died without me being at her side. We

didn't get the opportunity to say goodbye to each other as I had hoped. Most people don't know that Alice had a tumor in her rectum that needed to be removed. It was the HPV that I had thought would take her. According to sources on the scene, Alice came out of the McDonald's at 17th and Corcoran and collapsed early in the evening of Tuesday, Dec. 17. First responders found her not breathing yet were able to resuscitate her and get her to Howard University Hospital. But unfortunately she went into cardiac arrest the next morning and she was gone. Autopsy results would later show that Alice had died due a combination of pneumonia and extreme alcohol intoxication. Apparently she had been seen at another of D.C.'s many hospitals earlier that day, though it's not clear which one. Alice had been in and out of most every ER in the city for similar circumstances. Why was this time diﬀerent? Was it just a little too much alcohol this time? Was it the combination? She had a long history of substance abuse and had had bouts of pneumonia before. Was it

Women’s March BY CARLTON JOHNSON // Artist/Vendor

The events on Capitol Hill during the COVID-19 pandemic have brought thoughts of ending Trump’s first term into people’s minds. We are now welcoming change with the presidential election around the corner. In light of all that, I went to the Women’s March on Oct. 17. I got there early, I wasn’t playing. It came down mostly to the change of peoples’ choices. They will vote and they want Trump out of the White House. The crowd was strong. It filled up all of Freedom Plaza. Everybody’s tired of who’s in the White House right now. He didn’t have to get out here and campaign for money cause he already had money to put himself in the White House. Most people in politics have to campaign for money, and he already had his millions. Most people think he’s a big liar. I saw the stage, I listened to the speakers, collected flyers, and I took the pictures. The walls are closing in on Trump.

Dollar Tree

BY JENNIFER MCLAUGHLIN // Artist/Vendor

Since the start of the New Year I have decided to be wiser with my money. I started walking rather than riding the bus. I also started to shop at the Dollar Tree. There is one at Height Mall and one on Minnesota Ave. NE. When I ﬁrst went in I noticed that they sold a lot of brand-name items like Irish Spring soap. I realized I was wasting a lot of money when I could have been saving for any emergency. I have learned a lot of things as a I’ve been getting older. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began I’ve noticed I am not the only thrifty person in America. A lot of people have also started shopping there.

a matter of negligence on the part of Howard Hospital? Or another hospital? Maybe some sense of closure still eludes me because I'm still angry and looking to blame anyone other than Alice for her own death. Or maybe it's because she was cremated. I understood the necessity of it under the circumstances, but I really wanted to lay my eyes on her beautiful face one last time. It was not to be. At times it seems everything around me reminds me of her: food, pop culture, all the places in the city Alice frequented. All I know is I can't shake this feeling like she really never died and I'm going to see her again at some magical moment. I've never been one to spend much time thinking about seeing loved ones in the hereafter, but now it's all I seem to have. I miss you so much Alice. I hope you're having fun up there in glory. Hope to see you again, my precious baby. .

Treading the Waters, Pt. 31 BY GERALD ANDERSON // Artist/Vendor

My friend Greg come home from prison. Most of the time when my friends come home we get together. We throw parties sometimes. Matter of fact, we gotta hit the street. Show everybody I missed my man, but he back home. When he rode back out, I’m like, “Damn man, what’s going on?” We dabbed up and talked stuff like, “Shit, man, how your mamma and your family and stuff doing?” I say, “Man, they cool. How it did on that big yard? Boys, little boys trying to go at ya, you know?” He say, “Nah, man. Nah, nigga, you know I hold myself down.” I say, “Man, for real, for real. I’m gonna keep it real with you.” “We all been in the street, we been hustlin’. Man, I don’t see how they say you tried to swallow a quickie and stuff in jail, trying to kill yourself and stuff.” “Man, what about you and Bum? What about y’all? Crazy about him messin’ with your wife? Damn, man, you and Bum got into it! Glad I didn’t meet up with y’all with that kinda stuff when I was out on pass, man. But it’s good to see you home, man, we gotta do somethin’ together. We gotta go in the project for a minute, man. Play with the girls, see what they talkin’ about. Like I said, my mom

and everybody alright, man. I been out here for a little minute, man, you know. Let’s go on Bourbon Street, man.” So we passed through our old stomping ground. I was kicking it on Greg about my man Minew, how he got this guy locked up. He like, “Damn, man. I don’t know him.” I say, “He from back of town.” He say, “Back of town? Man, what he be doing?” I say, “He put in some work with me. But he was messing with Sam, Sam’s old lady.” “Clayton?” I say, “Yeah.” He say, “Man, what are you looking for? What? Are you ‘bout that?” I say, “Man, what happened, we work with Sam and she used to always come around and all the sudden they start hookin’ up and shit, you know what I mean. But for real, for real, man, he ﬁghtin’ a manslaughter charge right now. I hope he come back out here, man. Foo, foo.” When I say “foo”, foo’s going wild. Minew was going wild. He wildin’ out. Greg was like, “I don’t want none of that.” To be continued. Anderson’s ﬁrst book, “Still Standing: How an Ex-Con Found Salvation in the Floodwaters of Katrina,” is available on Amazon.com.

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Count it all joy; God is still in control BY REGINALD DENNY Artist/Vendor

very day is a day of Thanksgiving. God’s been so good to me that I cannot tell it all! I would not know where to begin in testifying about his goodness, grace, and mercy. For a long time, it was my belief that God must be on vacation or something when I looked at all the destruction, calamity, and atrocities that befall man for no apparent reason. Why is it that bad things happen to good people? Meanwhile, to this very day, it baffles me when I look around at how things play out and ruthless people seem to have good success and prosper more than those who are actually striving to do good and be good. It seems like the more I try to keep my life in order, the more situations and circumstances appear to knock me off balance once again. The things I desire to do, I don’t do; and they very thing I don’t want to do, I do. This inner struggle has me so perplexed at times that I feel like just throwing in the towel and giving up. It’s a hard-knock life and it does not feel so good, especially when you’re trying to live right. There are some valleys and pains in my life that need closure for me to move forward. I regularly speak to and consult with my therapist about the thoughts and activities of what one might call, “my stinking thinking.” I must admit that, at times, my mind is not my best friend. I thank God for my therapist though, because she helps to clarify what I am feeling and thinking. I am still under construction and the rebuilding can become overwhelming and tedious oftentimes, till I become depleted of strength. And I do get weary. At this point, I call on my creator, God, who strengthens me and fortifies me once again. The more I live, the more I understand that the battlefield is in the mind, and not within man, so to speak. So, if I just get my mind right, everything else will fall into place. It takes a long time to get my mind right because I have to go to the depths of sin that I come from. What it took me 40+ years to get into it just might take me the equivalent years or more to get out of. Change of mind is a process that will not come overnight. And rebuilding takes time! We have to be vigilant! Alert! Watchful! And know that there is an enemy who wants us to repeat the same mistakes of last year this time next year. We’ve got to get our minds right. I got to get my mind right! It is crucial at this point in my life that I be very focused on what God will have

me do with the remaining time I have left, here on this terrible sphere called Earth. No matter what befalls me, I count it all joy, for God is in control, no matter what it looks like. I often heard it said that where good is, evil is always present. And why does it seem that the wicked always prosper? I ask myself, if God is a good God, then why is all this stuﬀ, bad stuﬀ, happening to this world He created, as well as the people in it God created? Is this his judgement, or His chastising to bring us back to Him? Truly, God only knows.

What it took me 40+ years to get into it just might take me the equivalent years or more to get out of. Change of mind is a process that will not come overnight.

There have been times during my homelessness that I asked myself, “Where is God in all that I am experiencing right now?” Day in and day out I dealt with unrest, uncertainties, and not knowing whether I was coming or going, and I began to question God about allowing me to suﬀer through this degradation and disgrace, especially after I had cared for my mom the previous three years prior to her recent departure from this world. I truly suffered severely after her death, for she was my all, as well as my go-to person in my time of peril. No matter what, my Mom loved me in spite of what others declared about me. I got to the point that I was mad at my mom for leaving me out here on my own. This is how I felt for quite some time, never realizing that all the fragmented pieces and places in my life were soon to be put back together as long as I continually trusted in God, come what may. I experienced many long dreary days and bitter cold nights during my plight with homelessness! It was not until one day riding the 70 bus to Silver Spring, a small voice spoke to my spirit and said, “Be content in whatever situation you ﬁnd yourself in, for I the Lord God am with you and will not place on you more than you can bear.”

That was my assuredness and conviction that things would eventually turn out for my good. Things were getting better, one day at a time. Even with that confirmation, I still experienced sleepless nights and endless days as well as the fear of the unknowing. Shelters were not environmentally safe or conducive to my mental or physical wellbeing, so most times I stayed outside. Every now and again I was fortunate enough to stay at a hotel. Thank God! Thank God for those people who had my best interests at heart and were willing to aid and assist a guy like me. Sometimes when times got rough, I would consult my Bible and two passages of scripture would come to mind: “Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” (James 1: 2-4); and, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7). This was a daily declaration I made to keep my sanity, regardless of what was going on in my life. I truly, truly, truly thank God for His grace and His mercy, and most of all, for His presence. I am at a very crucial point in my life now because there are so many things I aspire to perfect that should have already been fulfilled and done. Yes, I do still believe that all things are possible. But at the mature age of 56, it feels like time is running out. There is nothing more unnerving than being told that you are getting old and you need to be “chillaxin’” instead of chasing the wind of trivial pursuits. Now that things in my life are beginning to make sense and take on new form, that battleground of the mind is waging war within itself between two wills, negative and positive. This stronghold can block a blessing that may be right in arms reach. For a long time now, my visions, dreams, and aspirations of becoming that artist, vocalist, motivational speaker, business owner, and ministry leader have been at the forefront of the desires of my mind. I make it my business not to listen to the naysayers that are devising my downfall but I also live in the reality that becoming is a process and somethings just might take longer to unfold than others. Life has no limitations except the ones we make. Adversity builds character! Our trials come to build us up and make us stronger. God bless us all! He is our ever present help in our time of struggle.

Cold Outside BY KYM PARKER // Artist/vendor

In all things One of Her greatest gifts to us is To understand when to drink Hot chocolate and coﬀee. She likes us to understand To stay in The warmth of Her blankets, To cuddle with their mate. In all things She blesses us We are all Her children. Her gift to us is pure love and To understand.

You Brought Me To My Knees BY JENNIFER ORANGE // Artist/Vendor

I put faith in myself. Once I found out who I was, I said, “I got this.” Everybody will have to follow my beat. Beat after beat, I run around in the same circle. Repeat every obstacle over and over. Beat after beat. I cry out, “Lord, why so much heartache, why so much pain? I know that I am the chosen one. Why won't my trial stop?” Beat after beat, what am I doing wrong that these trials won’t cease? When you look in the mirror, what do you see? An enemy of your own destiny. Stop! Let it go.

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FUN & 6 GAMES 5 1

Challenging Sudoku by KrazyDad, Volume 20, Book 45

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

Sudoku #7

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

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Sudoku #6 2 the blank squares 6 1 7 9 8 4 3 2 5 Need a little help? The hints page shows a logical order to solve the puzzle. Use it to identify the next square so that each row, 7 if you really get stuck. 8 solve. 5 2Or use7 the4answers 3you 9should 1 6page each column and 2 4 5 1 3 6 9 7 8 5 each 3-by-3 block 4 6 2 8 7 9 5 3 1 9 contain all of the digits 1-9. 8 5 7 1 6 4 3 2 8 9 1 8 3 9 2 5 1 6 4 7 4 LAST 7 2 6 4 9 8 1 5 3 EDITION’S 3 PUZZLE 9 8 4 3 1 5 7 6 2 SOLUTION >> 6 1 5 3 7 6 2 8 9 4 IfSUDOKU: you use logic Fill you can in solve the puzzle without guesswork.

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

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I have seen the future and it is just like the present, only longer. -- Kehlog Albran

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

Sudoku #2 8 2 4 3 5 9 7 6 1 3 7 Sudoku 6 4by KrazyDad, 2 9 Volume 1 Challenging 8 520, Book 45 6 5 9 1 7 8 3 2 4 4 7 8 9 3 5 2 1 6 5 9 3 2 6 1 4 7 8 2 1 6 7 8 4 5 9 3 7 6 1 5 9 3 8 4 2 9 8 5 4 2 6 1 3 7 3 4 2 8 1 7 6 5 9

Love’s Voice BY SAUL TEA Artist/Vendor

This is page two of a 12-part song book accompanying the “Hell’s Bottom Congress Of Puppets” folk opera, created by Saul Aroha Nui Tea. The song is loosely inspired by the work of Tom Waits. It’s a mix between “Take One Last Look at the Place That You Are Leaving” and “God’s Away on Business.” Look for the rest of the opera in future editions of Street Sense and ﬁnd music videos made with puppets of the characters, along with more information about the project, at congressofpuppets. blogspot.com.

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

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SHELTER HOTLINE Línea directa de alojamiento

(202) 399-7093

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BEHAVIORAL HEALTH HOTLINE Línea de salud del comportamiento

1-888-793-4357

Laundry Lavandería

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

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

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

JOB BOARD Advocate Friendship Place // Columbia Heights Full-time Ensure resident and building safety, security and optimal operations. Life experience with homelessness could be substituted for education or work experience. REQUIRED: High school diploma; 5 years general work experience, including one year of experience in direct human service. APPLY: tinyurl.com/FP-advocate

Resident Support Specialist New Hope Housing // Falls Church

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

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

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Martha’s Table // 202-328-6608 marthastable.org 2375 Elvans Road SE 2204 Martin Luther King Ave. SE

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

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

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

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

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

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

Full-time and on-call positions // Temporary, runs Dec. 1 through March 31. Complete essential forms for intake and checkout procedures for guests, monitor buildings and grounds to assure safety, and transport residents in agency vehicles. REQUIRED: High school diploma and valid driver’s license. People with lived experience of homelessness are strongly encouraged to apply.

Unity Health Care 3020 14th St., NW // unityhealthcare.org - Healthcare for the Homeless Health Center: 202-508-0500 - Community Health Centers: 202-469-4699

APPLY: tinyurl.com/new-hope-housing

1500 Galen Street SE, 1500 Galen Street SE, 1251-B Saratoga Ave NE, 1660 Columbia Road NW, 4414 Benning Road NE, 3924 Minnesota Avenue NE, 765 Kenilworth Terrace NE, 555 L Street SE, 3240 Stanton Road SE, 3020 14th Street NW, 2700 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE, 1717 Columbia Road NW, 1313 New York Avenue, NW BSMT Suite, 425 2nd Street NW, 4713 Wisconsin Avenue NW, 2100 New York Avenue NE, 2100 New York Avenue NE, 1333 N Street NW, 1355 New York Avenue NE, 828 Evarts Place, NE, 810 5th Street NW

Part-time

Cashier We The Pizza // Capitol Hill Responsible for interacting with guests, taking orders, answering guests’ questions, putting together pick up orders. REQUIRED: None listed APPLY: tinyurl.com/we-the-pizza

Crew Member Trader Joe’s // Glover Park

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

Part-time, up to 38 hours per week Operate the cash register, bag groceries, stock shelves, and help customers find products. REQUIRED: None listed

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

APPLY: tinyurl.com/trader-joes-crew-member

Cashier Whole Foods Market // Tenleytown

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

Part-time Check out customers, follow all cash and credit card procedures, clean and stock front-end areas, and perform opening and closing tasks. REQUIRED: None listed

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

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

APPLY: tinyurl.com/tenleytown-whole-foods For further information and listings, visit our online service guide at StreetSenseMedia.org/service-guide

Hiring? Send your job postings to editor@StreetSenseMedia.org

Sheila’s Picks

Archive photo of Sheila White at the main UDC campus. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN / MARTINENDEAVOURS.COM

Sheila White sets the bar high, with her own housing and classes at UDC BY SARAH GRAVER sarah.graver@streetsensemedia.org

her apartment, and engaging with the organization was a ike the rest of us, Sheila White has been trying way to occupy her time and help her mental health. Sheila to stay safe in the midst of the COVID-19 joined every workshop she could at Street Sense Media, pandemic, while balancing work, school, and including the writers’ group, photography workshop, and thoughts about the election. But after seven film workshops. She looked forward to working on her years of homelessness, she has one asset on skills in these groups every day. her side she didn’t have before: Last spring, The love for learning Sheila she secured housing and explored at Street Sense Media moved into an apartment of her own. encouraged her to seek more The move has changed her life. educational opportunities. Sheila says the day she signed her Since 2017, Sheila has been lease was “very touching and moving.” working toward a degree in She feels like she can fi nally relax. photojournalism at the University “I can live and breathe again … it of the District of Columbia. She has been the most wonderful thing,” recalls the day she was accepted Sheila said while talking about how to UDC as one of the best days of much her new apartment has improved her life. When remembering the her well-being. day, she says, “it’s bringing joy to Living on her own has brought my face right now to talk about.” new independence and opportunities. Sheila White This semester UDC’s classes Before finding housing, Sheila stayed are online, so fewer tutoring in a shelter and was forced to arrange resources are available. However, Sheila is determined to her schedule around the shelter’s rules — she needed to get continue her studies and earn her degree. to the shelter by 4 p.m. to ensure she got a bed, and lights Sheila is also a passionate advocate within the homeless out was at 11 p.m. Now Sheila enjoys the simple freedom community, where she enjoys talking to people to ensure of choosing when she wants to do things. She can shop and they know their rights and understand the power of their cook a Sunday dinner on her terms. She can complete her voices. Sheila is involved with Miriam’s Kitchen and the homework without worrying about her laptop being stolen. People for Fairness Coalition, which are social service and Amid the pandemic, having a space to herself she knows advocacy organizations working with unhoused and lowis safe has made her feel secure. income people in D.C. When asked whether there was one Sheila has been active in the Street Sense Media thing she wants Street Sense readers to know, she said, community since 2016. At Street Sense Media, Sheila “somebody cares about you. Even if you are out in the says she has “learned how to advocate for [her]self and cold with people walking by you, and it feels like nobody the voice [she has] now.” She first came to Street Sense does.” Media after finding herself homeless because of a flood in

“Somebody cares about you. Even if you are out in the cold with people walking by you, and it feels like nobody does.”

Favorite place in D.C.: Down at the monuments! Sheila loves spending time on the national mall and meditating in the sun. Favorite thing about Street Sense Media: Everything! Sheila is so thankful for the group meetings and the education she has gotten from them, from the people, and the opportunity to learn how to write poems and stories in her voice. The only thing she doesn’t like is saying goodbye when staﬀ members leave. Sheila’s hopes for the future: She wants to continue writing people’s stories,taking their photos, and completing her degree at UDC. Ultimately, she wants to “give the homeless community a voice like Street Sense did for me.” One piece of advice to share with Street Sense readers: Be strong!

Thank you for reading Street Sense! From your vendor NOV. 4 - 17, 2020 | VOLUME 18 ISSUE 1

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