01.11.2023

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Darick Brown

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Annemarie Cuccia

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At Street Sense Media, we define ourselves through our work, talents, and character, not through our housing situation.

Josh Axelrod, Ryan Bacic, Katie Bemb, Lilah Burke, Chelsea Ciruzzo, Lenika Cruz, Alison Henry, Kathryn Owens, Nick

PHOTO BY SOPHIA THOMAS

DC to end pandemic-era program to temporarily house city’s most vulnerable people in hotels

AMANDA MICHELLE GOMEZ DCist/WAMU

D.C. will stop housing homeless and medically vulnerable residents in hotel rooms, the city’s Department of Human Services announced Jan. 6.

The city launched the “Pandemic Emergency Program for Medically Vulnerable Residents” in April 2020, hoping to protect individuals who are at the highest risk of severe illness from COVID-19. Some residents who moved into hotel rooms called the program “a dream come true” and their advocates have credited the program for contributing to the 2021 drop in deaths among people experiencing homelessness.

A Department of Human Services spokesperson tells DCist/WAMU that D.C. will no longer receive new referrals, as a means of phasing out the program “over the next year.”

The spokesperson says the current 532 residents enrolled in the so-called PEP-V program will continue to receive case management services, so they can access housing and other support through the city’s Continuum of Care programs like permanent supportive housing.

The spokesperson declined to specify whether the city will continue to house each individual in a hotel room until they get a housing voucher, so they do not return to homeless shelters or live on the streets.

Street Sense first reported this news, which comes as a new COVID-19 variant takes hold and could potentially drive another wave of infections.

DHS Director Laura Zeilinger told DCist/WAMU last year that the PEP-V program “was never intended to exist in the long run.” Zeilinger estimated that housing one resident through the PEP-V program for a month’s time costs roughly $12,800, in part due to staffing, medical care, and other wrap-around services. At one point, most funding for the hotels came from the federal

CARES Act, while the D.C. government covered a quarter of the associated costs. The federal government made new funding available, with the Biden Administration covering 100% of the hotel costs via reimbursement, but only temporarily.

At-Large Councilmember Robert White, who chairs the housing committee, further clarified in his own statement to the press that D.C. opted to end the PEP-V program due to a lapse in federal funding. “The challenge of protecting medically vulnerable unhoused residents from COVID-19 and other health risks is not going anywhere, and congregate settings are not appropriate or safe for everyone” he says in the statement. “I’ll be conducting close oversight of this process to ensure that the city meets the needs of unhoused residents who should not be in congregate settings.”

PEP-V residents may not have access to the city’s homeless shelters if they exit the program without other housing accommodations. Wes Heppler, a staff attorney at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, says all the city’s traditional low-barrier shelters for men and women have been at capacity for the last several months. The only shelters that have capacity are the temporary ones opened in recreational centers during hypothermia season, which aren’t open 24/7 like the traditional shelters.

Heppler says a majority of PEP-V residents have been matched with a voucher, but moving them into housing could take longer than a year. He also doesn’t know D.C.’s plan for connecting the remaining residents without housing vouchers. Heppler is calling on local officials to continue the hotel shelter program for not only the benefit of residents already enrolled but for the countless residents who hope to access PEP-V or who will become

medically frail. (Hundreds had been on the waitlist for PEP-V in March 2021)

“PEP-V has absolutely been a success, not just in curbing the COVID issues, but in acting as an interim step towards permanent housing,” Heppler tells DCist/WAMU. “It gives people the space, the dignity, the privacy to organize their lives and get themselves in a position where they can be successful in getting their own housing.”

He continued: “It’s been a success and we need to continue it, whether that’s through federal funding or through local funding.”

DHS told service providers in an email Friday that their priorities as the program winds down is to ensure all residents at the three hotels have access to COVID-19 vaccines and boosters, and to connect them to programs and services within the city’s Continuum of Care. Of the 2,200 people who have resided at a PEP-V site, DHS said 60% received a COVID-19 vaccine or booster and have connected to community-based health centers. Nearly half of all PEP-V residents have have exited into permanent housing, DHS added.

Two councilmembers — Brianne Nadeau (Ward 1) and Kenyan McDuffie (At-Large) — have said they want the city to purchase hotels in order to convert them into permanent supportive or affordable housing.

The city is also housing migrants who are bused from the Southwest border to D.C. in hotel rooms. The DHS spokesperson says the changes to PEP-V will not impact the city’s temporary hotel accommodations for migrants.

This article was originally produced by DCist/WAMU

SSM FAMILY UPDATES

• The Street Sense Media offices will be closed Monday, Jan. 16, for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

• The next vendor meeting will be on Friday, Jan 27, at 2 p.m.

• The office follows the government for severe weather delays and closures. Search online for “opm. gov/status” or call the main office line.

• Vendors continue to receive free papers for proof of vaccination.

BIRTHDAYS

CORRECTIONS

Due to a design error, the last portions of the following artist/vendor articles were cut off in the last print edition published on 01.04.2023: “Discipline and action” by Erica Downing and “Holding on” by Queenie Featherstone. These articles are now online at: streetsensemedia.org/article_type/art

Please contact editor@streetsensemedia.org for any requests for

Jeanette Richardson Jan. 7

Rochelle Walker Jan. 11 Lawrence Autry Jan. 13 Frederic John Jan. 17

The grocery truck filling a gap in fresh food access

AMANDA MICHELLE GOMEZ DCist/WAMU

After Good Food Markets stopped vending groceries last November, the closest store where residents living in D.C.’s Bellevue neighborhood could get fresh produce and canned goods was over a 20 minute walk away in Maryland.

Bellevue is home to several thousand people who live more than half a mile away from a grocery store or supermarket. On top of that, many do not own a car and struggle to afford alternate transportation options. So when Curbside Groceries started parking its bright green truck three times a week outside Good Food Markets (which only sells prepared food now), things started to look up. Curbside Groceries is a mobile grocery store that Capital Area Food Bank created just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“I was trying to get in this neighborhood. I’ve been trying for the last three years to get here,” said DeJuan Mason, who

manages Curbside Groceries and is a resident of Ward 8, where Good Food Markets is located. Ward 8 only has one full-service grocery store east of the Anacostia River, a Giant that’s two miles away on Alabama Avenue Southeast.

The D.C. government reached out to Capital Area Food Bank when Good Food Markets, which received local dollars to develop the Ward 8 brick and mortar, stopped selling groceries. Good Food Markets and Capital Area Food Bank were already partners, exchanging notes on daily operations because they shared the same mission — to provide access to healthy food in communities where there are fewer options — according to Philip Sambol, the executive director of the nonprofit behind Good Food Markets.

Curbside Groceries rolled in just before the Christmas holiday. The truck posts up Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, selling everything from seedless grapes to potatoes to canned tuna. The mobile grocery store accepts cash, credit,

debit, and EBT cards.

“We’re not Whole Foods. But we are also not Discount Mart, which is really what I tell people,” said Mason. “This is the greatest idea that no one’s heard of.”

On Wednesday evening, Curbside Groceries had two customers in two hours, including chef Darrell Gaston of Kitchen Savages who sells Southern comfort food out of Good Food Markets. People walking by occasionally stopped by the truck to learn more, and Mason would be ready to offer a brief prepared speech and flyer. At least one person who lived nearby promised to return the next week.

The flashy truck caught the eye of Bellevue resident Timothy Duncan as he was heading to his apartment right next door. Duncan had actually been returning from the grocery store, as evidenced by his black shopping cart, which had been filled with Gatorade and various meats.

“So what did you already buy today? You don’t have fruits

Capital Area Food Bank’s “Curbside Groceries” parked their truck in front of Good Food Markets, which used to be one of a handful of grocery stores serving thousands of residents East of the Anacostia River. The grocery store pivoted to selling prepared food only in November.

Photo by Amanda Michelle Gomez / DCist/WAMU

and vegetables,” Mason told Duncan as she peaked in his cart. She started to name items they vend, and he agreed to get white potatoes, pears, bananas, and green tomatoes. He was especially excited to learn they sell green tomatoes, saying he’ll eat that for dinner. He hadn’t intended to purchase fruits or vegetables that day but he figured he should buy something from Curbside Groceries.

“If you don’t use it, it’s going to go away,” said Duncan. “So I figured let me use it, so maybe it’ll stay around a little longer.”

Duncan doesn’t have a car, so he said he’d taken an hourlong multi-bus ride to Safeway to pick up a few items. He said he doesn’t mind the long trip because he is a patient person. But he doesn’t go to the grocery store often because he has severe arthritis.

“It’s real convenient,” said Duncan of Curbside Groceries, “because I could just run out of the house and get what I need. I don’t have to worry about trying to travel somewhere in pain. Like I’m in pain right now. But it’s okay. I just deal with it.” Bellevue is a new location for Curbside Groceries, so no one was surprised to see so few patrons. But Mason says the mobile grocery store only sees a dozen or so customers at its other locations in D.C. and Prince George’s County too, who are mostly repeat customers.

Good Food Markets in part closed the grocery-side of its operations after experiencing the “lowest gross profit margins we’ve ever had in our history” according to Sambol. Grocers have opted against entering communities east of the Anacostia River because they don’t know if they’ll break even, let alone become profitable, says Capital Area Food Bank CEO Radha Muthiah. She says the immediate goal of Curbside Groceries is not profitability. Instead, the organization chooses to have other short-term goals, Muthiah says, including busting the myth that people living near or below the poverty line do not want to consume nutritious food.

“Ever since curbside has been on the road, a top seller every week has either been a fruit or a vegetable,” says Muthiah. Curbside Groceries is only sustainable because of public or

philanthropic funding. Capital Area Food Bank has given the project a runway, says Muthiah, noting the community needs to learn of Curbside Groceries and the team on the truck has to be better understand the needs of the neighborhoods they serve.

“Our hope down the road is to be able to spin this off to an entity, a group of entrepreneurs, maybe even some of the big grocery stores who decide they want to have multiple means of being able to to reach their customer basis,” says Muthiah. “The food bank was just there in the early years to prove this concept that people will buy good, nutritious foods that could result in better health outcomes.”

Back at the truck, Mason gathered her team Gerald Williams

and David Walker to strategize how they can get more Bellevue residents on board with Curbside Groceries. She already planned to canvass the neighborhood, as well as talk to the local Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners. But the group weighed how they better broadcast other food they sell like chicken, spaghetti, and ground turkey.

“While our display is always beautiful, we just need to elevate to the next level,” Mason told the team. “The gentleman who likes green tomatoes, is that the first thing that he sees? So he knows that he’s heard and taken care of.

This article was originally produced by DCist/WAMU

Curbside Groceries sells all kinds of things, including potatoes for $.75 each, jumbo onions for a dollar, and collard greens for $2. Photo by Amanda Michelle Gomez / DCist/WAMU

If Curbside Groceries is unable to sell all its produce, it can be donated to the food bank for composting. Photo by Amanda Michelle Gomez / DCist/WAMU

The power of art to build community, connection and hope

SONIA NAIR Big Issue Australia

The activist and artist Keith Haring once said that “art should be something that liberates your soul, provokes the imagination and encourages people to go further.” The power of art as an avenue to advocate for a better world is pretty well understood. But on an individual level, art can give people a chance to be seen, to be understood, to be taken seriously, to have access to new communities and even to be celebrated.

There are numerous organizations around Australia that are empowering creators and communities through art. Emboldened by these programs, thousands are creating paintings, theatre pieces, textiles, installations and more, that educate, delight and, in some instances, provide opportunities for necessary community services.

Social justice and art are linked, and on an individual level, art can be a way to transcend isolation and manage disadvantage. As these organisations and artists attest, art has the power to connect, to educate and to heal.

Switching on the spotlight

Yindjibarndi Elder Allery Sandy, an accomplished painter, educator, performer and community leader, first became involved with theatre company Big hART through her two grandsons, who acted in plays staged by the organisation that travelled around Australia. Sandy soon started acting herself, as well as writing songs, singing in the choir and attending meetings as an Elder.

“We community ladies – Elders of this community, both Ngarluma and Yindjibarndi – we get involved with what Big hART is doing to see if it’s appropriate for the community,” she says. “They get the okay from us.”

Big hART runs on an ethos that performance that is “imbued with the voices of lived experience” is the most powerful art there is. The organization works with disadvantaged communities to create high-quality theatre with the aim of effecting generational change. One of these landmark works is the New Roebourne Project, a First Nations collaborative piece born out of a need to raise awareness around the effects of the carceral system and suffering in the Roebourne community after Yindjibarndi boy John Pat died in custody in 1983, just a month shy of his 17th birthday – triggering the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.

Projects like Hipbone Sticking Out, a powerful theatre piece involving John Pat’s family that toured nationally, have been healing for members of the Pat family, Sandy included. “It was a privilege to be part of these projects and be a support to my

sister when she was alive and with family,” she says. “We’ve found peace… These projects keep the families going because justice wasn’t done for the family.

“I get very emotional thinking about it,” she continues. “If it wasn’t for this, we wouldn’t be recognized. It’s good for Roebourne – we never used to have anything.”

Big hART co-founder Scott Rankin was inspired by the idea that “it’s harder to hurt someone if you know their story” when he co-founded the organization in 1992.

“We work with hidden issues and hidden communities,” Rankin says. “Personally, I think people are, on the whole, good and that much of the social harm people experience is caused by ignorance, clumsiness and invisibility.”

Thirty years ago, in the Tasmanian industrial town of Burnie, Big hART launched their first project, GIRL – a workshop program for young offenders that helped reduce juvenile offending rates in the town through the production of a largescale theatre performance (which they later performed at the National Festival of Australian Theatre). Today, Big hART is the largest social change arts and media company in Australia, having worked with more than 10,000 people in 50-plus communities.

The numbers only tell part of the story, however.

“Numbers, data and ‘evidence’ are important, but they’re not everything,” Rankin says. “Depth, narrative and time are the hallmarks of exemplary work – creating space for lived experience to speak powerfully and for participants to benefit from both the processes involved in making art that can carry their voice as well as the impact of the voice itself.”

Nowhere in Big hART’s history is the impact of art more evident than in the eight-year Namatjira Project, a career highlight for Rankin. Big hART worked with the family of

revered Aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira, who had been denied all rights or revenue from his work and were living in poverty. Big hART helped put together the award-winning play Namatjira, which toured nationally and internationally, taking Namatjira’s grandchildren – who acted in the play – all the way to Buckingham Palace. A groundswell of momentum led to the return of Namatjira’s copyright to his family.

The room where it happens

To painter, quilter and sculptor Lisa Tindall, Sydney-based arts collective Studio A is her family. “At Studio A, I get together with my friends and make things. I sit down and draw and paint and have to make decisions myself,” she says. “The staff members help if you need it.”

Creating visibility was the thought behind Gabrielle Mordy and Emma Johnston starting the organization in 2016, which assists artists with an intellectual disability access professional development. Studio A provides its current stable of 18 artists with administrative support as well as guidance on how to achieve their professional goals, whether it’s partnering with a mentor artist, learning a new skill or going on an international art residency. “One of the inspirations in starting Studio A was the lack of representation of artists with intellectual disability in Australia’s cultural institutions,” Mordy says.

Overturning the perception that artists with disabilities produce artworks only for therapeutic or recreational purposes has been key to Studio A’s modus operandi. “We use professional art standards to platform and present the work, and we position our artists’ work in mainstream galleries and art competitions, where it can be critically engaged with and

Big hART Songs of Peace, 2022. Photo courtesy of Joseph Penipe and Big hART.

regarded for its artistic merit,” Mordy says.

Challenging perceptions is something Tindall delights in: “When people see my artwork exhibited, they see a new side of me. Sometimes, they are shocked. I feel wonderful.”

For Studio A artists, visual art is a language many use to convey stories they otherwise may not have been able to communicate. “People with intellectual disability can often struggle with mainstream forms of communication such as speech and literacy,” Mordy says. “This can mean they are often misunderstood or worse still, deemed as not having anything to say. Visual arts can be a much more flexible language system.”

Working with artists on an ongoing basis is integral to Studio A’s goal to remedy the exclusion of artists with a disability from the mainstream art world. “If you struggle to read or write, send emails, compose a CV and/or travel independently, then it is really hard to pursue a career as an artist. It does not matter how great the art is that you produce,” Mordy explains. “If you cannot attend art school, you are denied access.”

It’s only been a few years since its establishment, but Studio A’s artists have already attained professional acclaim. In 2021, two Studio A artists had their work selected for the Archibald Prize and one Studio A artist had their work selected for the Art Gallery of NSW’s collection of works. This year alone, four Studio A artists were selected as finalists for the Archibald Prize.

What Mordy finds most rewarding as part of her job is seeing Studio A’s artists access what they find meaningful.

“For Archibald Prize-selected Studio A artist Thom Roberts, professional success means he can purchase whatever he wants at Kmart and can make as many photocopies as he likes at Officeworks,” she says. “These are the activities Thom values, and his earnings mean he has the choice to access them.

“Professional success means that in a social setting, when he is enjoying what he terms a “juicy beer,” and when someone asks him, “what do you do?,” Thom can confidently look them in the eye and say, ‘I am an artist’.”

Art as a lifeline

community on our Country, talking about what they been doing in early days,” says Irene Nangala, chair of Indigenousrun and owned not-for-profit health service Purple House. “They’ve got to be with the young people too, to tell them the truths so they can think and listen to the old people, what they’re telling. Teaching them stories about the culture.”

Purple House, located in the Western Desert of Central Australia, is quite literally the house that art built. The service means Pintupi people of Western Desert no longer have to leave their families and Country to seek treatment for end-stage renal failure.

It was funded by the sale of four collaborative paintings and other works by Papunya Tula artists from Walungurru and Kiwirrikurra, which in 2000 were auctioned off at the Art Gallery of New South Wales to the tune of $1 million.

The service started with a dialysis clinic in Kintore in 2004 and from there has added 19 remote clinics, two mobile dialysis units – called The Purple Truck, which allows dialysis patients to head back home for festivals, funerals and other cultural business – and a bush medicine social enterprise called Bush Balm.

“Papunya Tula paintings are stories of Country, Tjukurrpa, sacred sites, knowledge, story and looking after people and culture,” says CEO Sarah Brown, who has been working with the organization’s board of Indigenous directors for the past 20 years to fund dialysis infrastructure to help older people remain on Country. “If people had to leave their communities to come to town for dialysis three times a week, they would be taken

away from everything they value and that keeps them strong.”

Nangala says people like to come to the dialysis clinic in Kintore, which is important to her. “It’s better for us and all the people to come and have a feed here, to sit down and relax and tell stories or whatever they want to do.”

“It’s important for older people to sit down and paint in

Courtesy of The Big Issue Australia / International Network of Street Papers

Scene from Hipbone Sticking Out. Photo courtesy of Big hART.

Irene Nangala, Chair of Purple House. Image courtesy of Purple House.

New year, new agency? DCHA reform efforts continue into 2023

ANNEMARIE CUCCIA Staff Reporter

D.C.’s public housing agency is set to have a busy 2023.

Responding to criticism in a stinging U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) assessment made public in October, the D.C. Council installed a temporary D.C. Housing Authority (DCHA) board to tackle long-standing concerns about the agency’s deteriorating units and decades-old waitlist for public housing.

But public housing residents, advocates, former board members and council members say a new board is just the first step toward making the mountain of changes HUD called for when it identified 82 deficiencies at DCHA. By HUD mandate, the housing authority has until March 31 to make “meaningful progress” in resolving its shortfalls. Meanwhile, the D.C. Council is set to debate further legislative action in the next two years, possibly going beyond HUD’s recommendations and changing more fundamentally how DCHA functions. And some tenants are calling for more authority to oversee the management and development of their properties.

“Meeting the demands of the HUD report is the floor, not the ceiling,” said William Jordan, who works with the Park Morton Equity Team on organizing residents at public housing properties. “Resident equity is the bar.”

A new board to tackle old problems

While many of HUD’s criticisms were familiar to public housing residents, the D.C. government took the report as cause to act. Late last year, the council passed a proposal by Mayor Muriel Bowser, removing the authority’s divided board and installing a “Stabilization and Reform Board,” which will govern the agency for two years starting this month.

There was near-universal agreement that DCHA’s past board was dysfunctional. The 13-member body included seven mayoral appointees, including the board’s chair and a voucher holder; three elected DCHA tenants; and three commissioners selected by the D.C. Council, labor organizations and legal service providers, respectively. The board often approved policies with little debate, giving the appearance it was a rubber stamp. The HUD report only amplified this concern, pointing out that the mayoral appointees often voted en bloc, and could thus decide any vote — a characterization DCHA pushed back against in hearings last November.

Janet Parker, the former resident commissioner elected by tenants of buildings designated for elderly and disabled housing, felt that she and other resident board members didn't have a real voice. For instance, a few months ago, Parker said she attempted to propose a resolution about procurement and to begin a conversation about the agency’s strategy for serving seniors. But she was told that, as a board member, she lacked the authority to set an agenda item or propose a resolution.

According to the organization’s bylaws, commissioners have always been able to introduce resolutions, DCHA Executive Director Brenda Donald said in an interview, but have historically not done so. Regardless, advocates who follow DCHA hope the reform board has the authority needed to pursue necessary changes.

Councilmembers voted for DCHA’s new governance structure with the hope the board will be more knowledgeable and functional than its predecessor. It has nine voting members, all appointed by the mayor and approved by the council — with the initial members specified in the authorizing legislation and amended from the mayor’s original proposal. Most of the members have expertise in housing, development and related issues, including the director of D.C.’s Interagency Council

on Homelessness. The reform board retained only two of the four DCHA residents and voucher holders who served on the past board, removing two of three commissioners who were elected by fellow residents. The president of the City-Wide Resident Advisory Board will sit on the reform board as a non-voting member, as will a representative of the District’s chief financial officer.

Ousted commissioners worry the reform board will be

Hundreds of people lined up outside Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on Jan. 6 for a chance at moving into public housing. Photo by Annemarie Cuccia

beholden to the mayor (who must, under D.C. law, appoint over half the board). The new board does not include any of the past members with a reputation for regularly questioning DCHA leadership, which worries Parker.

“I am a 70-year-old, white-haired old lady. And I am a senior, and I am a vulnerable adult who lives in this housing, and I share the needs and I share the experience of the other residents,” Parker said.

The reform board will have the same powers as the old board, although the legislation approved by the D.C. Council sets forth specific obligations to oversee the agency’s improvement projects, hold listening sessions with residents, and recommend a permanent board structure by July 2024.

The new year may also bring change at the top of DCHA. Donald’s contract is up in August and it’s widely assumed she’ll retire, given that Council Chair Phil Mendelson mentioned her possible resignation several times last year. However, Donald declined to answer questions about her retirement, saying that she hopes to ”put the agency in a good place to attract the longterm leadership that I think this city deserves.”

However, some of the people who attended the leasing event were less than enthusiastic with how it was carried out. Barbara Jones arrived for her “appointment slot” to find a line that stretched three blocks from the library door. After waiting for three hours, Jones was unsure how much longer she’d be able to stand. Between hip surgery, blood clots and her age, she can barely walk.

“I don’t know whether to leave. I don’t know what to do. I've been waiting for so long,” said Jones, who has been on the housing waitlist for 12 years. “I was here. Tell ‘em I was here, been here, still here.”

Council ponders further DCHA reforms in 2023

While HUD gave DCHA a long to-do list, some local politicians and advocates think it doesn’t go far enough.

Within the next few months, Ward 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto plans to reintroduce a version of the DCHA reform bill she initially introduced in December with former At-large Councilmember Elissa Silverman. The bill officially defines DCHA’s mission as housing extremely low-income residents and outlines the rights of residents in public housing. Last year, several legislators signaled they would consider supporting the bill, including At-large Councilmember Robert White — now head of the reconstituted Housing Committee.

“Given the scope of the challenges DCHA faces, nothing is off the table — including using the Council’s legislative, budget, and oversight power — to improve public housing and our voucher program,” White wrote in a statement to Street Sense Media/The DC Line. He’s hoping to double the amount currently budgeted for DCHA repairs — resulting in a $500 million investment over five years — and to cut wait times for housing vouchers. White said the funding infusion is needed after years of disinvestment.

As initially introduced, Pinto’s bill proposes solutions to many of the issues HUD raised. To address the authority’s dilapidated properties, DCHA would have a designated fund for the repair and maintenance of occupied units. The bill also enhances council oversight and aims to improve DCHA’s management of waitlists for public housing and vouchers by requiring annual contact with people on the list.

plans, codifying resident input.

While Donald agrees generally with the solutions the bill sets forward, she said legislative action is unnecessary because DCHA is in the process of adopting most of those policies. She plans to meet with the new Housing Committee members about reforms that are in the works.

“I think we’re doing everything, so it’s hard to understand what additional legislative needs there are,” Donald said. “I think it really is that we have to deliver, we have to be accountable to our residents, and we have to be sure that we’re transparent.”

Residents demand a role in deciding their futures

The HUD report and Pinto’s legislation include dozens of fixes that local advocates widely agree will help DCHA function more efficiently. But some public housing residents — who have been raising the alarm about the agency for years — worry these actions fall short of the needed change.

While Donald pushed back on the idea that DCHA’s mission has shifted from providing low-income housing to privatization, redevelopment is an undeniable priority for some of the increasingly dilapidated properties in the aging DCHA portfolio. The agency uses mixed-income development to deconcentrate public housing, and is converting several properties via a HUD program that lets the agency seek private funding to redevelop public housing properties.

But current residents sometimes miss out on the benefits brought forward by these redevelopment projects, advocates say. They can be displaced for years, and pressured to sign hard-to-understand agreements, as has been the case with the New Communities Initiative.

Because of this, the Park Morton Equity team and other housing advocates say residents must have a say in any redevelopment. Whenever a property comes up for privatization, DCHA should offer residents a first right of refusal and the ability to submit an equitable redevelopment proposal, similar to residents of privately owned rental buildings under D.C.’s Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act, said Jordan, a member of the Park Morton Equity Team.

The HUD report set DCHA’s first task for 2023 — making substantial progress toward resolving its deficiencies by March 31. According to Donald, DCHA will also focus this year on repairing every occupied unit in its housing stock and getting through the entire 24,000-person waitlist for public housing.

This is a monumental task. As of December, DCHA had 9,000 outstanding work orders to address issues such as mold, broken appliances and missing locks in public housing units. To tackle these issues, Donald said she will dispatch DCHA staff and contractors to every occupied unit in the first half of this year.

DCHA’s inventory includes about 2,000 vacant units, even as tens of thousands of D.C. residents have been waiting for more than a decade to move into public housing. Just last week, DCHA held the first of several planned mass leasing events to move people from its waitlist into the 600 available units (another 1,400 need repairs). The agency invited 5,000 people to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on Jan. 6, and over 600 showed up. Donald said applicants will be able to move in as soon as the end of the month if they were able to provide all the required information to show they are still eligible.

Additionally, the bill responds to concerns the agency is mishandling its voucher program and overpaying landlords who rent to voucher holders. In addition to requiring the agency to conduct a rent reasonableness assessment for every unit a voucher holder leases, the bill would direct DCHA to prevent vouchers from eroding rent stabilization.

“The Stabilization Board is only a temporary board. Its creation does not address many of the core operational failures we see at the Housing Authority,” Pinto wrote in a statement to Street Sense Media/The DC Line. “The structural and operational reforms I have proposed are all critical to ensuring effective delivery of housing to extremely and very low-income residents.”

The bill envisions yet another proposed governance structure, which would include two housing finance experts, two public housing management experts, one financial compliance expert, three residents, and one seat nominated by legal service providers. The new board could take over from the reform board after two years, Pinto suggested.

The reforms proposed by Pinto are popular among some housing rights advocates. Daniel del Pielago, organizing director with Empower D.C., said the bill’s attempt to refocus the agency on providing housing to low-income residents will counter a long-standing push toward development and privatization of units. Del Pielago is also glad to see the bill would require DCHA to seek input from the City-Wide Resident Advisory Board before implementing redevelopment

“If you’re going to privatize, then the issue is what ownership stake the residents or resident entity will have in that structure,” Jordan said. “The only way any reform is going to work is going to be if residents are full partners with the benefits and responsibilities.”

One option Jordan offered for addressing this issue is establishing resident management corporations to oversee the budgets and repairs of their properties. At least one DCHA property, Kenilworth, has used this model before.

While these suggestions go beyond widely-discussed DCHA reforms, the agency might be open, Donald said. Officials are also looking into the Washington Interfaith Network’s suggestions for a local model for equitable redevelopment, which would ensure affordable units, decrease displacement, and allow residents to share their priorities for repairs.

Residents should be at the center of the process, advocates said, because it’s their lives that are most impacted by whether DCHA reform succeeds.

“We have a beautiful gift here — we have land, we have buildings, we have resources, we actually do have money,” said Parker, former resident commissioner. “And if we’re creative in using it, we could make a lot of lives better.”

This article was co-published with The DC Line.

DCHA’s new year's resolution is to focus on repairs, vacancies

DCHA Director Brenda Donald is set to have a busy 2023 addressing wide-ranging concerns with the agency's public housing portfolio. DCHA file photo

OPINION

Repeating the same mistakes: Why encampment evictions do more harm than good

AARON HOWE AND SHANNON CLARK Remora House

We’re Remora House, a mutual aid collective that started in March 2020 to provide material support and advocacy for unhoused and recently housed people in Washington, D.C. Our work often brings us to encampments throughout the city. However, since 2020, we have noticed a disturbing trend. More and more people are being evicted from federal properties without being offered appropriate support and it needs to stop.

The most recent evictions occurred during the height of hypothermia season, and unhoused residents living in these encampments were offered zero help or services. Fences, trash trucks, encampment clearings, and concrete barriers do nothing to help end homelessness. Housing, we know, ends homelessness. The end goal should not be criminalizing and evicting encampments, but rather, we should focus attention on making them unnecessary. Yet, despite widespread knowledge that encampment evictions are ineffective, the National Park Service (NPS) continues to do so, and it is making the situation worse.

As NPS and the city evict more and more encampments across the city, there are less places for unhoused people to live. Encampments provide unhoused people with small bits of dignity, autonomy, security, comfort, and mutual aid that has been proven to speed up the housing process. When encampments are evicted, unhoused people are not only severed from these vital community relations, they are also moved around the city.

This often makes it hard for outreach workers to find their clients and help them along the housing process. At evictions ,unhoused people are often subjected to intense stress and anxiety, property destruction, verbal abuse and harassment from government workers, and sometimes even physical violence, such as when an unhoused person was tased by Park Police and involuntarily committed after refusing to leave her tent during the Columbus Circle eviction. Throughout the pandemic, however, NPS has continued to pursue this ineffective and harmful practice.

A brief history of encampment evictions in DC

On Friday, Dec. 16, 2022, NPS evicted a homeless encampment from the Fort Reno Park in northwest Washington D.C. That morning, groups of people helped unhoused neighbors pack and move their belongings as they figured out what to do next. A dozen or more federal workers from NPS, and a handful of city workers from the Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services (DMHHS), the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR), and the Department of Behavioral Health (DBH) stood around, watching but not offering any help. Heavy rains and flash floods the day before made the ground wet and muddy. Wet shoes, cold fingers and a chilly winter wind didn’t help either. Two days prior, on Dec. 14, the National Mall and Memorial (NAMA) division of NPS evicted the encampments at Scott Circle. This began NPS’ plan to clear all encampments on NPS property by the end of 2023, reinforcing a “no camping” law passed in 1984. As Jeff Reinbold, NPS superintendent of NAMA, noted, NPS stopped

enforcing the “no camping” law in 2020 during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Historically, NPS strictly enforced its “no camping” law, using Park Police to forcibly evict unhoused people with little to no warning. Now, as the CDC guideline against clearing encampments wanes, NPS is reverting back to “normal.”

However, Scott Circle wasn’t the first encampment NPS evicted since the onset of the pandemic. In July 2021, NPS evicted an encampment at 2nd and D Street NE. The next month, NAMA evicted people from Burke and Gompers Parks in northwest D.C. Residents from the 2nd and D Street NE camps had moved a block away to 3rd Street and Massachusetts Avenue NE, after being evicted also in October, 2021.

Nearly a year later, in June 2022, NAMA evicted a large encampment from Columbus Circle in front of Union Station where 30 or more people lived, as well as an encampment on 11th and I Street NW. On Aug. 24, 2022, NAMA evicted another camp from Massachusetts Avenue and 9th Street NW. Most of these areas were fenced in, preventing unhoused people from moving back. Over a year later, these fences remain. Then NAMA evicted the encampments at Scott Circle on December 14, and Fort Reno on Dec. 16, 2022.

The number of evictions NPS conducted is likely much higher. We only heard about the Fort Reno eviction because someone reached out. While helping residents at Fort Reno, we overheard Parks Police discussing another encampment being evicted at the same time. The next NPS eviction we know of will be at McPherson Square, where 60 or more unhoused people live.

Many of those residents moved there from Union Station, Burke and Gompers, or Scott Circle -- now another eviction looms. Notice signs informing unhoused people of the upcoming eviction were posted on Oct. 24, 2022. However, the sign simply says the eviction will occur “no later than Wednesday, April 12, 2023.”

An ineffective policy

As the eviction wound down at Fort Reno Park, one remaining resident packing up the last of his belongings pointed to a nearby cluster of city workers. “What I want to know is where I’m supposed to go now? Where’s my voucher?” One DBH employee stepped forward and quietly muttered something about talking to his case worker about getting a voucher and that he could stay in a shelter that night. “Would you stay there? No, then why are you telling me to go there?” he fired back. The DBH worker stood and stared, silent. While some people argue that clearing encampments is a humane option that pushes people to sleep inside instead of risking hypothermia in a tent, the fact of the matter is the alternatives are often worse (you can read more about why shelters are inadequate elsewhere). Of the six residents of that camp, only two walked away from the eviction with a clear idea of where they would be sleeping that night. Sleeping outside or in a tent instead of a shelter is a rational and calculated decision unhoused people make about their own needs and safety, not something they need to be punished and discouraged to do by constant harassment and violent evictions.

To learn more about Remora House, visit their Twitter page @ RemoraHouse_DC

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This uncertainty only adds to the daily stress and anxiety experienced by unhoused people.

Park police remove a tent from an encampment in Northwest, D.C. Photo by Sophia Thomas

Pressure pressure pressure

ANDRE BRINSON Artist/Vendor

Pressure is in all of our lives. It has certainly been in mine from childhood until now. Pressure is always a tempting force in life. The foolish things I’ve done in life because of peer pressure — I wish I never fell into it, the temptation of the fast life. Happy is he who has always persevered. Staying strong in a world that deals you blows in life.

Praise Him because…

DONTÉ TURNER Artist/Vendor

He’s been good to us; He woke us up this morning; He provided shelter; He provided food; He provided us with a family. He’s love; He’s the Savior.

He kept us with a sane mind; He’s given us grace and mercy; He’s a friend in need; He’s always there.

He is worthy to be praised!

Some people don’t keep dogs on the leash. They let them run around. But dogs can bite people and if that happens, the owners can get into some trouble. After all, there’s no getting out of trouble when a dog bites someone. It can also bite you in the ass. So keep your dog on a leash, and stay out of trouble. If you keep your dog on a leash, you don’t have to worry about nothing.

This little light of mine

MICHELE ROCHON Artist/Vendor

In my teenage years, and throughout my early twenties, I never envisioned myself getting older. Yet, all of the decades of my life have provided a range of hands-on experiences that stand out clearly in my mind. All of the triumphs, weaknesses and strengths. Oh, what a feeling!

Now, I feel like a ripe wine awakening every day, knowing I got a chance to turn the page in my life and write a new chapter. The chapter I am in today consists of the environments and people who give off energy, positivity and knowledge. Growth never stops, I am growing with new knowledge all the time. And I always know that God is on my side. As the Bible tells us, if I am for you, who can be against me? The greater one is the one inside of me!

My new year’s resolutions

MELODY BYRD Artist/Vendor

I am trying to achieve good Street Sense paper sales and donations. Also, I am trying to obtain stable housing. I like very nice weather. This year, I plan to get more articles in our paper, and leave behind the drama.

Happy new year

WARREN STEVENS Artist/Vendor

Happy new year to all my friends and family. I hope this year will be a better year for us all in 2023. I hope it is a year of no gun violence. There have been a lot of shootings in high schools and recreation centers. Young people are getting shot and killed everyday. Congress needs to step up and take action to address this unnecessary violence. People need to have places safe from fear of gun violence. This has been on the news everyday. I think we all should get together and end crime in D.C., Maryland and Virginia.

Ruminations on aging

FREDERIC JOHN Artist/Vendor

From where I rise, at 69 (almost 70) years of age, I often feel like the new kid on the block at my “senior” residence. My closest friend, Sergei, died on Jan. 4 at 99. He had a perpetual gleam in his gray, faraway eyes and from his mouth always an elfin chuckle.

No, Sergei did not appear to act or feel his age very often. My own outlook, I must confess, is that way – at 17, I was a runaway teen traveling freely from war protests to open-air rock forts to crumbling, forgotten downtowns of Eastern cities, ripe for the click-capture of my Instamatic… All was sheer wonderment.

And today, nothing bores me. All is fascination. Much the same as my Aunt Louise, who hung on in the earthly realm until the tender age of 103. She, a proper Connecticut matriarch (and anti-nuke activist), sang in her church choir in New Canaan until right shy of the century mark.

One could almost envy Good Queen “Bess,” the recently departed Elizabeth II, for the sturdy and loyal escort that clung to her nobly-draped casket between Balmoral and Buckingham. And no internment until Monday the 19th! Now that’s a marathon celebration.

Fact is, regardless of one’s position on the British Royalty’s role in the grand scheme of things, the Lady lived 96 years. Seventy of them as an “absolute monarch.” And you know what? She did not wear the crown heavily.

Au contraire, from the Beatles’ ditty, “Your Majesty,” to some tabloid quibbling in view of her “distancing” from Princess Diana, to the Queen’s ever-present flock of little Corgi dogs: the Queen was indefatigable. She held her own counsel, even when Mr. Trump ran past her to the dinner table on his visit.

And besides, she loved the horses, whether at the home grounds of Ascot Races or Keeneland back in Kentucky (which her family co-owns). Always with the pastels, tasteful brooch, and those blessed hats!

Our most senior resident of all at my spread, Miss Mary J., took the thoroughbreds out at Charlestown, West Virginia, all the way to her 102nd! Perhaps a love of equestrian strengthens the genes. I needn’t remind the reader that I served as homeless Count Tolstoy’s trackside guide for nearly five years, and Sergei could pick ‘em even when he wasn’t able to see the horse itself!

Life for life

FREDERIC JOHN Artist/Vendor

In dusky shade as the orb descends Come the tiny swarm They are not my friends Perspire, slap, wipe my brow Odge has netting, she is safe for now; Next in the stream’s morn “Hello well met,” and fresh marmalade.

Two-and-one-half decades spent ‘Neath a shallower ceiling. A clear beam thrown I hold up, beside her Behold a smug jumping spider! The broom handle ascends Our comfort for its pleasure portends.

Dr. Martin Luther King

PHILLIP BLACK Artist/Vendor

Dr. Martin Luther King was not a role model for Black people — he was a role model for all people. He did so many good things. Plus, he had a family, which is very hard because of the type of work he did. There will never be another like him.

Hypothermia

Hey boy, did you know the cold can kill you?

Hey girl, did you know you are getting old?

Hey child, you shouldn’t be outside below five degrees. Hey man, you were told not to be so cold to that child.

My apology

REDBOOK MANGO Artist/Vendor

I’m sorry I don’t get the job done.

I’m sorry you’re having a problem.

I’m sorry that I was never there.

I’m sorry that you just don’t care.

I’m sorry is not an option.

I’m sorry is transduction.

I’m sorry I really wasn’t.

I’m sorry you had to live like that.

I’m sorry I never came back.

I’m sorry is never supposed to be used.

I’m sorry you’re still getting abused. I’m sorry is a bad word to say. You may apologize, but you’re not sorry starting today.

Your body is your unconscious mind

VENNIE HILL Artist/Vendor

Something for the week to focus on: your health, well-being and recovery. First of all, when I am fully awake, I can change my ways in the right direction. Yesterday, I decided to change my ways of eating by eating healthier things, more fruits and vegetables. Your body is your unconscious mind.

The best way to predict it is to create it. Things don't manifest unless you put some action to them. The hardest thing about change is not making the same choices. Some people think that their pain is motivating when you could use joy for the same reasons. You could go to bed at the same time every night, and if you change the time for a certain amount of time it begins to turn into a routine.

How do you begin? By using your mind to do so. I recognize that I need to take better care of myself. Basically, put me first. A habit is doing things the same way all the time, so what you used to do shall go in the past. Your familiar will become a whole new familiar. How do you do this change? Through routine, through practice; you could use meditation. Use your trauma, for instance. Practice on something that you don't think you can make it through, until the point that it gets comfortable thinking about it, imagining it happens so often, until the point when it happens, you will be totally prepared for it. Try these steps of putting yourself first and practicing good thinking, and let’s see how you feel about yourself next week.

I have a dream

SYBIL TAYLOR Artist/Vendor

“I have a dream that, one day, segregation between Blacks and whites will end.” That we all get along regardless of race or color. This is a powerful message to everyone — we are all created equal and have the same blood. With different color, we all are created in God's image. Let's all celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King.

Playlist: What the World Needs Now Is Love by Tom Clay We Shall Overcome by Pete Seeger

Gladiators serve a purpose

ERICA DOWNING Artist/Vendor

Train to fight for your dreams. Serve a purpose that makes a change in the world. No longer will you be a procrastinator, because you are a gladiator with purpose, a cultivator of skills who will turn into a navigator of your industry. Build yourself into a motivator and mediator for those who strive for the same — a kingmaker. A playmaker and educator who leads others’ curiosity to the path less traveled. The pacemaker that shifts the standard and raises the bar without being a dictator. You will be the gladiator, coordinator, general that leads the development of the next generation of change makers. You are an indicator, a beacon of hope for the future; stop hiding.

When I was a little boy

MARC GRIER Artist/Vendor

I loved to play football, American football. I played as a little boy, when I was around 8 years old. I also played as a high schooler. I was blessed to have a scholarship in college. But life happens and I received a nasty injury to my leg. So I had to find another way. It took me a long time to get over my injury. But now I am older, much older and life goes on. God has blessed me with these days. So I will live my life to the best of my ability.

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Become a Street Sense Media volunteer and help further our mission to empower people experiencing homelessness. Get to know the vendors and make a difference in their lives and yours!

We’re looking for someone to help us transcribe editorial submissions from our many artist/ vendors.

If interested, please contact editor@streetsensemedia.org 202-347-2006 (x202)

For more information about these opportunities and other volunter positions, visit StreetSenseMedia.org/volunteer

Arias and instrumental breaks, typically

Word before “admiral” or “axle”

Follow, as a tip (2 wds.) (3,2)

Persians purr, perhaps

Food in a soft or hard shell

Word before party or song

“Okay ____” (“I’m fine with that”) (2 wds.) (2,2)

URL starter (abbr./acron.)

You might leave a hairdresser’s salon with one (2 wds.) (3,2)

POTUS #16, familiarly

Hybrid app-based ridesharing option (2 wds.) (4,4) 56. Fingers-crossed initial attempt to ‘cure’ many a computer issue 60. Witchy woman 61. Music to a preacher’s ears

Actor Peter of “Casablanca” 64. End of a nonprofit, maybe (abbr./acron.) 65. Ethnic minority group with autonomous regions in Turkey and Iraq

66. Good person to ask for directions or points of interest 67. “For ___ a jolly …” 68. Big name in printers 69. ____ville (where Superboy grew up)

Down

1. Hardly an angelic child 2. Poland’s Walesa 3. Ibuprofen target 4. Morbidly grim rhyming slang phrase for COVID 19 (2 wds.) (6,6) 5. A loud one may be symptomatic of sleep apnea 6. Brooks of “The Producers” or Gibson of “Braveheart” 7. NYSE banner events (initialism/abbr.) 8. Late ‘90s stock market bubble related to the massive growth in the use and adoption of the internet (2 wds.) (6,4) 9. Thespian 10. 9-Down who did star turns on TV’s “Star Trek” and “Boston Legal” 11. One in a hundred in D.C. (2 wds.) (6,4) (TEASES NATE anagram) 12. “Call” (2 wds.) (MINI anagram) 13. A darker type, literally 21. Long baths 23. Sailing phrase that came to refer to delivering a knockout punch in

boxing...or a hint to the answers that include shaded words? (3 wds.) (5,3,4) (HOME BREW TOOL anagram) 26. Lit into (2 wds.) (3,2) 27. Cain’s son and Methuselah’s father 28. What some who go in last are called (2 wds.) (6,4) 30. Huge radio lovers of the mid ‘70s into the early ‘80s 31. Longtime NBC News correspondent and anchor Garrick 33. Flinch, say 34. Leather razor sharpener of yore 40. Say “@#$%!”, in comics/cartoons lingo 43. Fresh way of looking at something (2 wds.) (3,4) (WEE TANK anagram) 50. Obstruct water flow, as in a river or stream (2 wds.) (3,2) 52. With all the ____ and whistles (enhanced to the max) 53. “Looks like trouble!” (2 wds.) (2,2) 54. Going starkers in Shropshire, say 55. Prefix with European or China 57. Sea creature with big calves? 58. Kind of surgeon or history 59. Apple-shooting archer William of Swiss legend 62. Paydirt for identity thieves (abbr.)

COMMUNITY SERVICES

Housing/Shelter Vivienda/alojamiento

Case Management Coordinación de Servicios

SHELTER HOTLINE

Línea directa de alojamiento (202) 399-7093

Education Educación Food Comida

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Health Care Seguro

YOUTH HOTLINE

Línea de juventud (202) 547-7777

Employment Assistance Assitencia con Empleo

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

Clothing Ropa Transportation Transportación

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE

Línea directa de violencia doméstica 1-800-799-7233

Legal Assistance Assistencia Legal Showers Duchas

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

JOB BOARD

Concessions Stand Worker

Nationals Park // 1500 S Capitol St. SE

Full-time / Part-time

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

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

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

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

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

Martha’s Table // 202-328-6608 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

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

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

Sells concessions, including soft drinks and various food items, to customers at events.

REQUIRED: N/A

APPLY: tinyurl.com/nationals-concessions

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

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

Unity Health Care 3020 14th St., NW // unityhealthcare.org

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

- Community Health Centers: 202-469-4699

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

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

Dishwasher

Cheesecake Factory // 1426 H St. NW

Part-time

Provide guests with cutlery, plates and glassware. Keep pots, pans and kitchen tools clean and ready at all times for the line cooks.

REQUIRED: Physically able to lift up to 35 pounds and stand for long periods of time.

APPLY: tinyurl.com/cheesecakefactorydishwasher

Retail Associate

Walmart // Multiple locations

Full-time / Part-time / Seasonal Keep shelves stocked, operate the cash register and provide quality customer service to patrons.

REQUIRED: N/A

APPLY: tinyurl.com/walmart-associate

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

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

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