05.24.2023

BUSINESS MODEL

How It Works

Each vendor functions as an independent contractor for Street Sense Media, managing their own business to earn an income and increase stability in their life.

VENDOR CODE OF CONDUCT

As self-employed contractors, our vendors follow a code of conduct.

1. I will support Street Sense Media’s mission statement and in so doing will work to support the Street Sense Media community and uphold its values of honesty, respect, support, and opportunity.

2. I will treat all others, including customers, staff, volunteers, and fellow vendors, respectfully at all times. I will refrain from threatening others, pressuring customers into making donations, or engaging in behavior that condones racism, sexism, classism, or other prejudices.

3. I understand that I am not an employee of Street Sense Media but an independent contractor.

4. While distributing the Street Sense newspaper, I will not ask for more than $2 per issue or solicit donations by any other means.

5. I will only purchase the newspaper from Street Sense Media staff and volunteers and will not distribute newspapers to other vendors.

INTERESTED IN BEING A VENDOR? New

6. “I will not distribute copies of “Street Sense” on metro trains and buses or on private property.”

7. I will abide by the Street Sense Media Vendor Territory Policy at all times and will resolve any related disputes with other vendors in a professional manner.

8. I will not sell additional goods or products while distributing “Street Sense.”

9. I will not distribute “Street Sense” under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

10. I understand that my badge and vest are property of Street Sense Media and will not deface them. I will present my badge when purchasing “Street Sense” and will always display my badge when distributing “Street Sense.”

The Street Sense Media Story, #MoreThanANewspaper

Originally founded as a street newspaper in 2003, Street Sense Media has evolved into a multimedia center using a range of creative platforms to spotlight solutions to homelessness and empower people in need. The men and women who work with us do much more than sell this paper: They use film, photography, theatre, illustration, and more to share their stories with our community.

Our media channels elevate voices, our newspaper vendor and digital marketing programs provide economic independence. And our in-house case-management services move people forward along the path toward permanent supportive housing.

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

1317 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20005 (202) 347 - 2006 streetsensemedia.org

info@streetsensemedia.org

VENDORS

Abel Putu, Aida Peery, Akindele Akerejah, Amia Walker, Amina Washington, Andre Brinson, Andrew Anderson, Angie Whitehurst, Anthony Carney, Archie Thomas, August Mallory, Beverly Sutton, Brianna Butler, Carlos Carolina, Carlton Johnson, Carol Motley, Charles Armstrong, Chon Gotti, Chris Cole, Chon Gotti, Conrad Cheek, Corey Sanders, Daniel Ball, David Snyder, Debora Brantley, Degnon (Gigi) Dovonou, Don Gardner, Dominique Anthony, Donté Turner, Doris Robinson, Earl Parker, Eric Thompson-Bey, Erica Downing, Evelyn Nnam, Floyd Carter, Franklin Sterling, Frederic John, Freedom, Gerald Anderson, Greta Christian, Henrieese Roberts, John Alley, Henry Johnson, Ivory Wilson, Jacqueline “Jackie” Turner, Jacquelyn Portee, James Davis, Jeanette Richardson, Jeff Taylor, Jeffery McNeil, Jeffrey Carter, Jemel Fleming, Jenkins Daltton, Jennifer McLaughlin, Jermale McKnight, Jet Flegette, Jewel Lewis, John Alley, John Littlejohn, Josie Brown, Juliene Kengnie, Katrina Anige, Kenneth Middleton, Khadijah Chapman, Kym Parker, L. Morrow, Laura Smith, Lawrence Autry, Levester Green, Mango Redbook, Marcus McCall, Mark Jones, Marc Grier, Mars, Martin Walker, Mary Sellman, Maurice Spears, Melody Byrd, Michael Craig, Michael Warner, Michele Modica, Michele Rochon, Morgan Jones, Nikila Smith, Patricia Donaldson, Patty Smith, Phillip Black, Queenie Featherstone, Rashawn Bowser, Reggie Jones, Reginald Black, Reginald C. Denny, Ricardo Meriedy, Richard “Mooney” Hart, Rita Sauls, Robert Warren, Rochelle Walker, Ron Dudley, Ronald Smoot, Sasha Williams, Shuhratjon Ahmadjonov, Susan Westmoreland, Susan Wilshusen, Sybil Taylor, Vennie Hill, Warren Stevens, Wendell Williams, William Mack

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Mary Coller Albert, Blake Androff, Nana-Sentuo Bonsu, Jonquilyn Hill, Stanley Keeve, Clare Krupin, Ashley McMaster, Matt Perra, Michael Phillips, Daniel Webber, Shari Wilson, Corrine Yu

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Brian Carome

DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNICATIONS

Doris Warrell

DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS

Darick Brown

DIRECTOR OF VENDOR EMPLOYMENT

Thomas Ratliff

VENDOR PROGRAM ASSOCIATES

Aida Peery, Clifford Samuels, Chon Gotti

VENDOR PROGRAM VOLUNTEERS

Roberta Haber, Ann Herzog, Madeleine McCollough, Dylan Onderdonksnow, Amelia Stemple, Tyler Bruno

MANAGER OF ARTISTIC WORKSHOPS

Maria Lares

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Will Schick

DEPUTY EDITOR

Kaela Roeder

PRODUCTION EDITOR

Athiyah Azeem

STAFF REPORTER

Annemarie Cuccia

ARTISTS-IN-RESIDENCE

Ariane Mohseni (Film), Bonnie Naradzay (Poetry), David Serota (Illustration), Lalita Clozel (Film), Willie Schatz (Writing), Leslie Jacobson (Theater), Roy Barber (Theater)

ARTS EDITOR (VOLUNTEER)

Austine Model

OPINION EDITOR (VOLUNTEER)

Candace Montague

EDITORIAL VOLUNTEERS

Josh Axelrod, Ryan Bacic, Lilah Burke, Chelsea Ciruzzo, Lenika Cruz, Alison Henry, Kathryn Owens, Andrew Siddons

The Cover

COVER PHOTO AND DESIGN BY ATHIYAH AZEEM

Advocates protest mayor’s claim that only 221 people experience homelessness in DC

ATHIYAH AZEEM AND ANNEMARIE CUCCIA Production Editor and Staff Reporter

SSM FAMILY UPDATES

• There will be a private screening of “Homelessly In Love” at the Street Sense Media offices on Friday, May 26, at 1 p.m. This will be for vendors and staff only and will be followed by the May vendor meeting at 2 p.m. Come for the movie, pizza, drinks and fellowship!

• The Street Sense Media offices will be closed Monday, May 29, for Memorial Day.

• Receive extra newspapers for referring someone you know to new vendor orientation. Every Tuesday and Thursday at 2 p.m.

Advocates protested outside Mayor Muriel Bowser’s home on May 20 after she said only 221 people are currently experiencing homelessness in the District at a U.S. House of Representatives oversight hearing.

The most recent census of people experiencing homelessness in D.C. counted 4,922 people, with 821 of those living unsheltered.

Jewel Stroman, an advocate for people experiencing homelessness, said she organized the protest with eight others to hold Bowser accountable for seemingly downplaying the number of people experiencing homelessness in D.C.

“I feel like at this point we have to be in her face,” Stroman said at the rally.

Bowser made the statement during testimony to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee on May 16, after Rep. William Timmons (R-S.C.) asked her if there was a “major, major problem in Washington, D.C., as it relates to homelessness.”

“We have 221 people, as of today’s count, who are living on the street. Those are the people that you are referring to,” Bowser responded.

Timmons, who said he was asking about homelessness in D.C. to see if the federal government could help the city address the issue, initially cited the recently released Point-inTime (PIT) Count numbers, which found that on one night in January, about 5,000 people were experiencing homelessness in the District. He repeated the results to Bowser.

“There are not 5,000 people living on the street, sir,” she responded, arguing that with the city’s outreach teams, D.C. knows how many people are currently experiencing homelessness on a day-to-day basis. “Those are the facts,” Bowser added, before Timmons moved on.

It’s not clear what Bowser was referencing when she said there were 221 people living outside. The PIT Count found a total of 4,922 people experiencing homelessness, with 821 of those people living unsheltered, or on the street, as Bowser said. While there is a possibility that number has decreased since the count took place in January, there has not been a specific effort that would have housed hundreds of people. Bowser’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the source of the number, or to clarify if she had misspoken.

Stroman said advocates tried to talk to Bowser when she left her home earlier on the morning of the protest, but the mayor did not answer her and other advocates’ questions. At

least four Metropolitan Police Department officers arrived in front of Bowser’s house as the protest continued into the afternoon. Bowser returned around 3 p.m. and did not answer any questions while being ushered inside by police.

“This is a chance for her to explain why she said it,” said Tiffany Aziz, another advocate present at the rally. “We’re not out here today to be harmful. We’re here to bring up a true concern that is affecting an underserved population today.”

There’s already a division between the mayor and the D.C. Council, advocates and homelesss services providers on the scale of homelessness in the District. Bowser’s proposed fiscal year 2024 budget cut several programs aimed to prevent and end homelessness, as she suggested the true need for the programs was low. The council restored the funding.

Many of the advocates at the protest have experienced or are currently experiencing homelessness. Still facing a homeless services system that is slow to provide aid, advocates were enraged at Bowser’s comment.

“Only 221 people? You mean at the park? The bus stop? Where?” said Kisha McDougald, one of the advocates.

McDougald and her family had to leave an apartment she was referred to by the District of Columbia Housing Authority (DCHA) this year because sewage leaked out of their bathtub. Before that, McDougald lived in an apartment referred to by DCHA for three years, which flooded and had mold growing on the walls.

McDougald received funds through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program to move into a third apartment — one of the programs Bowser proposed to cut funding for but the council ultimately restored.

McDougald is still waiting for DCHA to inspect the new apartment before she and her daughter can move in. She is paying over $220 per month to store her belongings in a storage unit while waiting, which is more than she owes in rent each month with her housing voucher. Hearing Bowser’s comment while dealing with these issues pushed McDougald to protest, despite the fact that she needs to rest for extended periods of time after recent spinal surgery.

Aziz, who works for the D.C. government and volunteers to help address the issues that people experiencing homelessness face outside of work, says they encounter the same issues McDougald does on a frequent basis.

“I hear the cries. I see the injustice,” Aziz said. “Just driving to work every day I see people that are unhoused. I see them!”

• Street Sense Media is going to the Washington Nationals game on Friday, June 16, at 7 p.m. See Thomas if you want to go!

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

BIRTHDAYS

Ronald Dudley

May 30 ARTIST/VENDOR

Tiffany Aziz, Ana Rondon, Kisha McDougald and others protest outside Mayor Muriel Bowser’s home on May 20. Photo by Athiyah Azeem

‘It’s just calm:’ How community organizers harness nature for youth healing in Ward 8

COLLEEN GRABLICK DCist/WAMU

At 11 years old, Glenn Washington probably knows more about the water quality in the D.C. region than most of its residents.

He’s collected trash from the Anacostia River, tested the health of the water in the Potomac River and, most recently, spent a morning gluing tiny numbered tags on freshwater mussels the size of this thumb — all in an effort to keep the region’s waterways healthy. Mussels are like nature’s water purifiers (one single mussel can filter 15 gallons of water in a day) but locally, their population has been threatened by pollution and stormwater runoff.

“The mussels can finish cleaning their water and do their part, while we do our part,” Glenn, with a temporary tattoo of a mussel stuck squarely in the middle of his forehead, told DCist/WAMU in Southeast D.C.’s Oxon Run Park on a rainy Saturday morning.

Glenn was one of a dozen kids at the park with the mentorship group Right Directions, tagging mussels for the Potomac Riverkeeper.

The 400-some mussels the kids successfully tagged are just a drop in the bucket (literally) for the Riverkeeper’s 50 Million Mussel project — an initiative to revive the region’s freshwater mussel population and consequently improve the quality of our local rivers. The mussels will be stored in a nursery until they’re ready to be placed in the Potomac River.

To the kids, the goal of the day was to learn about mussels — and successfully navigate a superglue tube without getting their fingers stuck together. But for Victor Battle, founder of Right Directions and a violence interrupter in Ward 8, the value of these activities can’t only be measured in liters of purified water.

“I think when we started today, we asked them if they knew what a muscle was, and they pointed to their arm,” Battle said, in between glances back at the mussel tagging station, where kids were huddled around tables. “So the education is a lot… when you talk to them, they can definitely tell you a lot that they’ve learned. It’s just exciting to see them doing something different, to get outside of the neighborhood.”

Most of the children Battle mentors live in Washington Highlands, about a 20-minute walk away from the park. With the help of an environmental justice grant, he founded Right Directions earlier this year, aiming to spark curiosity and entertain the kids while also teaching them about ways to preserve the natural environments in their own neighborhood.

As part of the mentorship program, Battle and his kids have already gone to the Georgetown Boathouse, where they earned certificates in water testing, and soon he’ll be taking them out on a fishing trip on the Anacostia River. Eventually the kids will be presenting what they’ve learned in the various activities to their families and community, and hopefully launching a recycling program in D.C. Public Housing, according to Battle.

But Battle — who has worked as violence interrupter since 2017 with Cure the Streets, a program run out of the D.C. Attorney General’s office — has other ambitions for the group as well. Alongside the nonprofit Friends of Oxon Run, Battle’s nature-based work is helping kids heal from exposures to violence and trauma, which he says serves as a gun-violence prevention measure and creates a sense of pride and responsibility in their neighborhood.

“The bigger thing is, in low-income communities a lot of violence is high, so a lot of the kids from the community get used to the violence and it becomes their norm,” Battle said. “Right Directions is working to try to change the norm…so this is also helping gun violence prevention. If they’re here, they can’t be in the communities committing a crime or being a victim of a crime.”

Battle’s group is just one of many violence reduction and intervention programs working in neighborhoods across D.C., including Washington Highlands. So far this year the city has seen a 9% increase in homicides from last year as it heads into summer — historically a time of year when violence increases. While some of the city’s violence interruption programs focus on employing trusted members of a community to intervene and prevent conflict, other violence intervention models use a therapy-based approach, reaching individuals who have been exposed to violence with behavioral health care.

Battle works closely with Brenda Richardson, a coordinator

Emily Franc with the Potomac Riverkeeper showing a full-grown mussel to Demari Anderson. Photo by Colleen Grablick

with the Anacostia Parks and Community Collaborative and the vice chair of Friends of Oxon Run, a nonprofit that supports the park. Since 2020, Richardson has been leading a series of outdoor learning events in Oxon Run, the city’s largest Districtowned park. She created the series to give kids and parents what she calls a “trauma break” from the physical, emotional and financial tolls of COVID, which fell hard on the city’s Black and lower-income residents.

“I think it’s important to be mindful that people who’ve experienced collective trauma and race fatigue are exhausted,” Richardson told DCist/WAMU. “You see things with wounded eyes and you listen with wounded ears.”

What started as a one-off event with about 20 kids, a falconer and a kestrel in November 2020 turned into a recurring monthly staple for Ward 8 families; Richardson hosted a bird watching hour, a music and math session, star-gazing and even a fashion show. One of the events literally involved hugging trees. Known as “forest bathing,” it’s the practice of using senses to connect with nature. Imagine feeling grass between your toes while walking barefoot, or wrapping your arms around a tree and pressing your chest against its trunk.

“This may sound crazy but it’s not, there’s energy coming through the tree to your spirit when you hold a tree, it reduces stress and anxiety,” Richardson said. “You have time to be in a space where you don’t have to be guarded, where you don’t have to be worried about your safety. Because we’re always in fight or flight and that’s just not good for our physical and emotional well-being.”

While events like mussel tagging do serve an educational purpose, Richardson says even just spending an hour outside can be healing, especially for children. Originally trained as a social worker, Richardson is partnering with Dr. Olga Osby, a social worker and academic, to publish a research paper about the benefits of nature-based, trauma-informed healing and its abilities to interrupt cycles of violence.

Osby, a Howard alumni who began her career as a social worker with families living in public housing in the District, is

using Richardson’s programming in the park as case studies in her research, linking environmental justice, racism, and trauma.

“Getting kids out into nature is a way of helping them let down some of their guard… to connect with something larger than themselves as an escape from these oppressive environments, where there may be little to no green space at all,” Osby said.

The Trust for Public Land gives the city high scores in park access — 98% of District residents live within a 10-minute walk of a park — but a recent report from George Washington University’s Redstone Center about D.C.’s park system said the favorable marks rely on a false definition of “access.” While most residents may live within a short distance from a park on a map, in reality barriers like roads and highways cut residents off from the parks. (For example, Interstate 295 makes Anacostia Park inaccessible for nearby neighborhoods.) The city’s park system also has an equity issue, according to the report; outdoor spaces in predominantly Black neighborhoods like Wards 7 and 8 receive less maintenance and upkeep, and less community engagement compared to those in whiter, wealthier parts of the city.

In addition to Richardson’s trauma-focused work, as a coordinator with Anacostia Parks and Community Collaborative (and half of the two-person nonprofit Friends of Oxon Run) she’s also dedicated to gaining park equity in the city, and calling on councilmembers to invest more in parks east of the river. Earlier this year she testified at a D.C. Council gun violence roundtable, calling on Councilmember Brooke Pinto and her colleagues to incorporate park programming and trauma-focused activities into their gun violence reduction plan, and fund community organizations already doing this work.

“We have already discovered, based on our youth learning model, the benefits of the exposure to nature in the local parks,” Richardson testified. “It includes reducing stress and anxiety, strengthening community, sparking creativity.”

Existing research has already established that kids who suffer

from adverse childhood experiences are able to successfully recover through nature-based play. Research has also identified that noise pollution, air pollution, and a lack of access to safe outdoor spaces can be linked to a higher likelihood of depression later in life.

But as Richardson told DCist/WAMU, one of the best parts of holding these events is that the kids don’t even know it’s happening while it’s happening. To them, they’re just playing outside, tagging a mussel, cleaning up litter. She says she measures the results — albeit not scientifically — by hearing their laughter and watching them run around outside.

“They don’t even get it, and that’s the beauty of it.”

On Saturday, that laughter and joy was there, even if a handful of kids did slowly migrate away from the picnic tables and tedious tagging task, and into the neighboring trees and amphitheater steps to chase each other or see how many steps they could clear in one jump. Despite constant reminders from Battle (“Why aren’t you tagging!”) sometimes they’re just going to be kids — which is also a part of the point.

“If one of them goes to a car and does something, it’ll be all over the news. But we don’t get a lot of publication of this right here,” Battle said, gesturing at the kids huddled around a table and a pile of shells, and others milling about the grass. “They’re doing something positive; these mussels may live longer than them. Their grandkids might benefit from this.”

And despite his age, Glenn Washington is thinking in the big picture too. His passion for aquatic life comes from a passion for swimming — and he hopes that one day, the waters in the rivers here will be clean enough to swim in. Until then, he says his local recreation center pool will have to do.

When he’s on land, he’ll be reveling in his favorite part of being outside: the quiet.

“The thing I like about nature is it’s calm. See? You can hear the birds. You can see the flowers. It’s just calm, nothing else.”

This story was originally published by DCist/WAMU

Kids tagging mussels. Photo by Colleen Grablick

Cassidy Murphy was on glue duty.

Photo by Colleen Grablick

The laws DC is funding in this year’s budget

ANNEMARIE CUCCIA Staff Reporter

D.C. is poised to implement new protections for domestic workers, street vendors and young people in foster care, thanks to funding in the fiscal year 2024 budget.

Over the last year, the D.C. Council has voted to create a domestic workers bill of rights, remove restrictions on street vending and protect the Social Security benefits of foster care youth. But each measure required funding, so even after enactment they sat in limbo — technically law but not fully enforceable. Now, the council has voted to add funding for all three of these laws in next year’s budget. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s proposed budget left them unfunded.

Those recently enacted laws weren’t the only ones caught between policy support and a lack of funding. In December, the D.C. Council approved At-large Councilmember Christina Henderson’s Give SNAP a Raise Act, which would add a local Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit to D.C.’s residents’ monthly checks. But with a price tag of $200 million over four years, it hasn’t yet been funded in what both the council and mayor acknowledge is a tough budget year.

The council gave initial approval to the fiscal year 2024 budget on May 16, restoring funding for many social safety net and housing programs that Bowser proposed cutting. While not much is expected to change before the final vote on May 30, councilmembers have said they’re looking for a way to increase local SNAP benefits, as well as to fund repairs to schools and recreation centers in Ward 8.

Stage set for SNAP debate

The federal SNAP program distributes monthly subsidies to about 146,000 low-income households in the District to help pay for groceries, with the amount determined based on income and family size. The average benefit for D.C. residents on SNAP is estimated to be about $6 a day. Households received increased SNAP benefits during the pandemic, but the extra amount — $93 a month on average — lapsed earlier this year.

Even with SNAP, 11% of Washingtonians are still food insecure. A new local supplement could narrow the food security gap, Henderson told her colleagues in December prior to a vote on her legislation, which she and seven other councilmembers introduced in January 2022. If implemented, the Give SNAP a Raise Act would add an average benefit of $47 monthly for D.C. recipients.

Although the legislation remains unfunded thus far, Ward 5 Councilmember Zachary Parker said at the May 16 meeting that hope for SNAP isn’t lost. He hinted at a proposal in the works from Ward 4’s Janeese Lewis George to fund at least a small SNAP increase. Lewis George’s office has not released details of the plan.

“If we can [fund the legislation] this year, I think it can make a world of a difference for hundreds of thousands of Washingtonians,” Parker said.

Workplace protections for domestic workers

About 9,000 people work as domestic workers in D.C., cleaning homes and providing child care. They’ve long lacked the legal protections other employees have, and employers often refuse to pay them minimum wage or to grant paid leave or workers’ compensation. This leaves domestic workers, who are primarily women of color, vulnerable to various forms of exploitation, from harassment to working overtime without extra pay.

In response to years of advocacy from the local chapter of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, the D.C. Council passed the Domestic Worker Employment Rights Amendment Act of 2022 in December. The bill, which was introduced by former At-large Councilmember Elissa Silverman, explicitly grants domestic workers non-discrimination protections that are required in other workplaces, requires a contract between domestic workers and their employers, and funds trainings on the rights of domestic workers.

Domestic workers who pushed for the legislation said it would improve working conditions, as employers would have to agree to give them set hours, breaks and days off. There’s also a provision against retaliation, the fear of which leads many domestic workers to stay silent about poor treatment.

Bowser allowed the bill to become law without her signature but declined to fund it. In response to a councilmember’s question at a budget briefing in March, the mayor said legislators would need to figure it out themselves if they considered the bill a priority for funding. The budget given initial approval by the council includes $250,000 in fiscal year 2024 to implement the anti-discrimination and contract requirements and another $400,000 for outreach.

Reformed regulations for street vendors

Hundreds of D.C. residents make a living by selling food, clothes, art and necessities on the city’s sidewalks. Street vendors are supposed to get a license before setting up shop, but various barriers — including for vendors who have been incarcerated, owe fines, or can’t afford the hefty fee — mean that many people operate unlicensed.

The Street Vendor Advancement Amendment Act of 2023, passed by the council in April and now in the midst of congressional review, will decriminalize vending without a license, alleviating the fear of arrest for many vendors. From 2018 through 2022, at least 463 people were arrested for vending offenses in D.C., according to the nonprofit Beloved Community Incubator. The legislation, originally introduced by Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau, will also establish pilot zones where vendors can legally operate.

The bill also makes it easier for vendors to get a license, which is still required. Applicants will no longer have to undergo a criminal background check. Some fees will be waived, and those remaining will drop from over $1,000 to $175 for a business license and sidewalk vending permit.

The council added $920,000 to Boswer’s proposed fiscal year 2024 budget to fund the bill’s implementation, including creating the new zones, forgiving past fines, offsetting lost licensing fees and setting up a way for vendors to get licenses to sell food they prepare at home.

Preserving Social Security benefits for foster youth

Since 2004, D.C.’s Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) has been applying for Social Security and disability benefits for eligible children in foster care in the District. The benefits, which can be more than $700 a month for children who are either orphans or disabled, are then used by CFSA to help pay for the cost of raising the child.

While this practice is allowed under federal law, many child welfare advocates oppose it. Children don’t have to pay to be entitled to foster care. The benefits, if they were given to a young person when they age out, could help pay for college, get a first apartment or create a safety net. Moreover, the agency doesn’t always keep up with the benefit applications. If a young person gets a job but doesn’t know to report it, they may end up owing money to the federal government.

This is what happened to Ashley Strange. When she left foster care in D.C., she learned she’d been “overpaid” benefits — which had actually gone to CFSA — and thus had to pay back the U.S. government.

Strange helped inspire the Preserving Our Kids’ Equity Through Trusts (POKETT) Amendment Act of 2022, which passed in January and banned this practice. The bill also required CFSA to screen all young people leaving foster care to see if they’re eligible for federally funded housing vouchers, which can prevent foster youth from becoming homeless. An investigation this spring by Street Sense Media and The DC Line found that D.C. routinely fails to distribute all available vouchers for foster youth, even as young people say they need the housing assistance.

In order to implement the newly enacted law, the council had to add money to the budget to make up for the income CFSA would lose from seizing the benefits of youth in foster care — an estimated $1 million annually. The council also added $1.6 million to support transitional housing plans for young people leaving care.

The council will take a final vote on the budget on May 30. Its second vote on the Budget Support Act, which includes the legal language underlying the budget, is expected in early June. This article was co-published with The DC Line.

Council changes to mayor’s budget:

Mayor cut funds to: Council restored to:

Emergency Rental Assistance

$8 million million

$43

New Permanent Supportive Housing Vouchers

230 Access to Justice Grants including eviction prevention $13 $31.6 Project Reconnect

0 new vouchers

$1.2 $2.4

20 new vouchers for returning citizens

new vouchers million million million million $11 for survivors of domestic violence million

$667,000 for an LGBTQ workforce program

DC closes long-standing downtown encampment

ATHIYAH AZEEM Production Editor

When Gigi Dovonou moved into the encampment in front of the Church of the Epiphany and Street Sense Media, he believed he was getting his life back. In a tent, he was sheltered from the elements and could rely on support from fellow encampment residents.

So when the The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS) closed the encampment on G Street on April 27, he felt hurt and lost.

“I thought my pain and my sorrow was over, that I had a little bit of relief,” Dovonou told Street Sense. “I thought my life is about to change, but now I gotta go back to the start.”

DMHHS closed the four-year old encampment due to environmental and safety concerns, according to the sign posted at the site. G Street businesses complained about littering and public urination and defecation near the encampment, Rev. Glenna Huber, rector of the Church of the Epiphany, said. But the DowntownDC Business Improvement District (BID), the Church of the Epiphany and Street Sense Media did not request DMHHS to clear the encampment. The church and Street Sense Media, which is separate from its independent newsroom, opposed DMHHS clearing the encampment without ensuring residents had safe places to go. The closure displaced seven residents. Only two moved into shelter.

According to Huber, the encampment along G Street has existed since 2019, but its residents have changed over time. At the time of the closure, four residents were artists and vendors with Street Sense Media. Dovonou joined the encampment in January when Nikila Smith, another artist and vendor, left to move into a women’s shelter. She offered Dovonou her tent.

“This is the first time I got angry in eight months,” said Smith, as she helped residents pack up their belongings and move before the clearing began. She saw DMHHS workers throw away her former tent.

DMHHS stored two bags of Dovonou’s belongings upon request, but threw most of his and other residents’ tents and belongings into a garbage truck.

Huber and Darick Brown, the director of programs and a case manager at Street Sense Media, asked Pathways to Housing DC to help house encampment residents in April 2022. The District contracts Pathways, a housing services nonprofit, to provide outreach services to people experiencing homelessness in parts of Wards 2, 5 and 6, including the G Street encampment.

While Pathways connected some residents like Smith to shelter beds months before the clearing, seven residents remained on the clearing date. Only Dovonou and Mars, another resident, moved into shelter after the clearing. Other encampment residents either remained on the street or are staying at a friend’s place.

Dovonou helped Mars after the National Park Service cleared his old encampment in McPherson Square. (Mars is using an alias to protect his identity and safety while experiencing homelessness.) Mars moved into the encampment in front of the church and joined Street Sense Media’s vendor program. Now, he feels disgruntled and angry at having to move again.

“When you’re homeless and you only have a tent, that’s your home,” Mars said. “They shouldn’t be able to move you out of your house when you buy one, and they shouldn’t be able to move you out of your tent when you don’t have any other place to put it up.”

Living on G Street

Both Dovonou and Mars say living in tents outside of the church and Street Sense Media was relatively peaceful.

“I think the church had our back, since it was right behind us, and Street Sense was right there. So people pretty much left us alone,” Mars said.

Before living in a tent, Dovonou often was not able to get enough sleep. He used to sleep on the ground outside Martin Luther King Jr. Library, where the sounds of people and vehicles driving past disturbed his rest. But he also did not want to go back to a shelter — the last time he stayed at 801 East Men’s Shelter, he witnessed people fight, which made him feel unsafe.

Multiple residents at the G Street encampment said they do not stay in shelters due to a lack of safety and cleanliness. Shelters in D.C. also have more rigorous rules on when residents can come and go, and limit the number of belongings they can carry inside, which can erode a sense of autonomy.

Dovonou joined Street Sense Media’s vendor program in November and began staying in the church’s hypothermia overnight shelter, run by D.C.’s Department of Human Services (DHS), when it opened that same month.

Through the winter, Dovonou spent the days in his tent, which he turned into a home. He said he kept his area clean, and used it to get some peace and quiet while reading books

or working on his future housing goals. He hung out with Street Sense Media vendors, who would frequently walk past to access the company’s offices. When the hypothermia shelter program ended on March 31, Dovonou began spending nights in his tent.

There were some hiccups — Mars and Dovonou say they witnessed a person that slept across the street throw things, potentially human excrement, on the church’s property. Mars and Dovonou would also hear a couple living in a tent nearby argue through the night.

Dovonou wondered if the complaints businessess made about the encampment could have been avoided if the residents kept the area clean and quiet.

“People don’t like to see homeless people already,” Dovonou said. “You got to show how you take care of your house when you’re on the street.”

However, Umi, who declined to giver her last name and frequently helps encampment residents pack their belongings during encampment clearings, says the appearance of tents alone drives complaints and encampment closures.

“Washington, D.C. seems to be about hiding homelessness instead of alleviating it,” Umi said, as she helped an encampment resident move her belongings. “All they do is move people, and we have to move her to another encampment.”

Pathways to Housing DC volunteers deliberate before the encampment clearing outside the Church of the Epiphany begins. Photo by Athiyah Azeem

Complaints from neighboring businesses

The DowntownDC BID’s director of homeless services Kilpatrick Byrd first informed the Church of the Epiphany and Street Sense Media of complaints from neighboring businesses about the cleanliness of the encampment on March 24, 2022.

The BID, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that oversees developments in the downtown D.C. area, collected a range of complaints from businesses and tourists and compiled them through the help of church and Street Sense Media staff. The biggest concerns were about public urination and defecation around the encampment.

“A G Street stakeholder meeting was established in early 2022 to provide a safe, fair, and open platform for all,” Byrd wrote in an email to Street Sense. Representatives of these businesses would raise their complaints to Huber through these online meetings.

On April 3, 2022, Huber and Brown invited Byrd to the church to talk about what steps would need to be taken to get encampment residents off the streets and into housing. DMHHS conducted a trash-only clearing at the encampment on Aug. 16, only removing trash and non-essential items from the area. Huber said she understood there were legitimate health concerns. But she did not like being a “lightning rod” for complaints, receiving pressure to house the residents and remove the encampments.

“The businesses said ‘Well if you care so much about the homeless, then why don’t you house them in your parking lot?’ I said ‘Cool, great, why don’t you help me pay for it?’” Huber said. She said as the church is a nonprofit, it has limited funding and resources.

Some churches have converted their parking lots into sleeping spaces for people experiencing homelessness, calling them safe-parking programs. The Lake Washington United Methodist Church in Washington state launched a program in 2011 to allow women and families experiencing homelessness to park their cars and sleep in their parking lot overnight. Families are given 24-hour access to the church’s kitchen and bathrooms.

However, a safe parking program requires people to have cars to park and sleep in. Around 35% of District residents are car-free.

Huber ultimately believes the onus is on the government to house people living on the streets. She says the church maintains the stance that they would not participate in efforts to remove the encampment, and has connected with Pathways case managers to help encampment residents get housing since 2022.

“The church had been adamant about not kicking the can down the road,” Huber said. “If you’re gonna clear the encampment, then people need a place to go.”

Public restroom access

Mars and Dovonou say they did not see people from their encampment publicly urinate and defecate, as the nearby businesses complained. But they said bathroom access was a challenge.

The nearest restroom options in the area are Street Sense Media’s bathrooms, and the Downtown Day Services Center a block away. But Street Sense Media only allows vendors to use the bathrooms between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays. The Day Services Center is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, putting a limit on when and where encampment residents can use the restroom.

Mars said he often went to the nearby Panera Bread or Starbucks. He would usually be left alone, but employees would sometimes ask him to leave if he spent too long in

the bathroom. He would also use the Day Services Center’s facilities to shower, get lunch and access mental health services. Dovonou would use Street Sense Media and the Day Services Center’s bathrooms during their operating hours, but had to be prepared for when they closed.

“On the weekends, I try to make sure I don’t eat much food so I don’t have to go to the bathroom,” Dovonou said. He says he urinates in bottles when he cannot access bathrooms at night and disposes them.

The People For Fairness Coalition (PFFC), which advocates for people experiencing homelessness, has pushed the District for better bathroom access for people living outside. The D.C. government is considering implementing public restrooms like portable toilets across the city as a way to give the public 24 hour access to restrooms — but progress is slow.

Ward 2 Councilmember Brooke Pinto introduced the Expanding Access to Public Restrooms Act of 2023 on Jan. 31. If passed, the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation would need to include public restrooms in parks. The bill is currently in committee.

The council passed a similar bill named the Public Restroom Facilities Installation and Promotion Act in 2019, which PFFC supported. The act asks the city to ask BIDs and Advisory Neighborhood Commissions to identify two locations in the city to install public restrooms with 24/7 access. Restrooms should be targeted at areas with high incidents of public defecation and urination, and near public transportation and homeless shelters, the law said.

The most recent update is a May 2022 report, in which the city has identified Gallery Place and Starburst Plaza as two of the top locations for consideration, but has not yet made definitive decisions on where to install these two restrooms. Next year’s budget is set to remove funding for the program.

Some encampment residents could try to rely on the Medical Necessity Restroom Access Act passed in August 2022. People with eligible medical conditions that require access to a bathroom can now apply for a Medical Necessity Restroom Access (MNRA) card, which can be shown to access customer or employee bathrooms.

Yet while a disproportionate number of people experiencing homelessness have severe and chronic illnesses that require restroom access, obtaining an MNRA requires a medical professional’s attestation, which can be difficult to obtain without medical insurance or government identification.

Limits to case management efficiency

Residents at encampments largely have to rely on case managers to find housing and shelter before their encampment closes. But G Street encampment residents say they rarely

saw their case managers and thus made little progress towards housing before they had to move.

Mars first encountered this problem when he lived in McPherson Square, which the National Park Service closed in February, two months earlier than originally scheduled. Around 70 encampment residents were displaced and only 22 people obtained temporary housing by the date of clearing. Only two moved into permanent housing.

Mars told Street Sense he rarely saw his case manager over the months before the clearing at McPherson Square. Mars said case managers would ask encampment residents their personal information to fill out forms that help case managers and the District determine who should receive assistance first, and whether they are eligible for a housing voucher. But encampment residents would not hear the results of the assessment from case managers for months at a time.

At G Street, Huber and Brown say they connected with Pathways to provide the residents with case management resources after their meeting with DowntownDC BID in April 2022. Yet, similar to McPherson Square, four people who stayed at the encampment say they rarely saw case managers. When the April 27 encampment clearing was announced three weeks earlier, Mars and Dovonou saw Pathways case managers at a higher frequency than they did before.

Adam Maier, director of housing partnerships at Pathways credited the slow case management processes to staffing shortages and high caseloads in an interview with Street Sense in October. With 16 encampment closures in 2023 alone, and 4,922 people currently experiencing homelessness according to the 2023 Point-in-Time Count, case management processes are struggling to keep up with the District’s housing needs. Pathways did not respond to questions about the encampment closure by the time of publication.

“We knew it was inevitable. We knew it was going to happen,” Huber said. “I had hoped we could get more people into housing.”

Mars received a bed at 801 East Men’s Shelter through a Pathways case manager by the day of the eviction, where he stayed for a week. Pathways then worked to find him a bed at Prestige Healthcare Resources, where he currently resides and receives treatment for his mental health. Pathways has begun processing paperwork for permanent supportive housing, but the process of getting a voucher and moving into housing can take more than a year — and Mars can only stay at Prestige’s housing for 90 days.

Daniel Ball, another encampment resident and artist and vendor with Street Sense Media, was offered a place at a men’s shelter by Pathways — but declined as he found the place to be “filthy,” according to Sybil Taylor, his partner. He was then offered a bed stay at a 90-day detox program, which he rejected as, according to Taylor, he wants to stay in contact with her and the vendor community. By the day of the eviction, Ball did not have a shelter to go to, and city employees threw his tent in the trash.

“I feel so bad for Danny. He’s my heart,” Taylor said. She said Ball is currently sick and staying at a friend’s place to recover.

A member of PFFC helped residents throughout the eviction. She knew that Dovonou needed dialysis, so she got him a bed at Christ House, a shelter for unhoused men who require health care and treatment. Dovonou said he will need to go to Indiana by June 5 to attend a court trial — but is enjoying a peaceful stay in the meantime.

Dovonou is trying to keep a positive outlook on his future.

“Whenever a situation arrives, you need to adapt yourself,” Dovonou said. “I will look for work. Keep moving, keep moving. No matter what’s happening.”

“If you’re gonna clear the encampment, then people need a place to go.”

~ Rev. Glenna Huber, rector of the Church of the Epiphany

Homelessness is as American as apple pie

LORI SMITH Artist/Vendor

Is homelessness a rehabilitation problem?

I don’t think so.

Homelessness is not an image problem, as previously discussed.

Neither is homelessness a matter of rehabilitation.

Homelessness means you don’t have a “home.”

What is a “home?” It is defined differently, depending on who you ask. For many, not having a “home” means being unhoused. For others, it is defined more broadly, such as being unsheltered. When we place “home” in the broader context of humanity, we also see that people have diverse ideas about what they require for shelter and a “home.”

Even within the United States, historically, a “home” has run the range from the permanent to the nomadic, from Pueblo cliff dwellings and teepees on land held by Indigenous farmers, to covered wagons and urban cities with planned neighborhoods, or people retiring into RV lifestyles. The importance of a “home” lies in its provision of the needs required. It provides for the safety and health of those inhabiting it.

Homelessness is American and a part of the narrative that formed this United States. Homelessness is as apple pie as America itself. It is, in fact, a story that has never left us.

The United States formed out of settlement. Settlers arrived from other continents and took the land by what today we would define as “squatting” — the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a space that the person does not own. We know that the land of the United States was already held by Indigenous people that were displaced by foreign settlers who arrived, occupied, settled and then retroactively claimed the land “formally” as the original peoples were pushed out.

This country did not start out with rows of ticky-tacky houses. The division of land for the benefit of settlement, also known as the “Rectangular Survey System,” developed formally with the Land Ordinance of 1785, and has been used as the primary survey method in the United States ever since.

Consider George Washington, who not only holds the title of the “Father of Our Country” but was a Founding Father and surveyor. Born in 1732, by the age of 11, he had already inherited Ferry Farm in Virginia, his boyhood home. For thousands of years, Indigenous Americans had inhabited the area. Archaeologists have unearthed artifacts that are over 10,000 years old, tools associated with bands of peoples that gathered and hunted there, and pottery associated with native farmers of the area.

The first formal European claim to the land was recorded in 1666. By 1710, it had been subdivided to form multiple farms. Washington’s father, Augustine, acquired the plantation in a purchase in 1738. Augustine held political office locally, owned several thriving plantations and was active in businesses that were industrializing the region. This is a pertinent example of the transfer of land from Indigenous Americans to the immigrants and the politics of power that came with it. When Augustine died, he left Washington the plantation and all its slaves.

Immigrants who arrived in the Americas were often indentured servants. They were not free, and were expected to subsist off watered gruel and lentils. Persistent malnutrition was commonplace. Economic forces had pushed these immigrants out of England, where people were also pushed off their land and basic daily expenses, like food prices, were high.

Landless, displaced English moved into the forests, improvised haphazard temporary shelters and camps as they became homeless and quickly became despised as criminals and thieves. Others moved to cities, with no respite there either. Desperate, many began to sign contracts promising their indentured servitude for the costs associated with their passage to the Americas, a 10-week journey. Within a year, a quarter to one-half of these died of disease. Only 7% of indentured claimed the land that they had been promised.

While indentured laborers were being imported to America, so were slaves. Jamestown, Va., America’s first permanent English settlement, held the majority of the first African slaves, Kimbundu-speaking peoples from what is today Angola. However, it would be a mistake to believe that this surge in servitude and slavery was new. Europeans were already actively importing Africans in the slave trade to their home countries. Enslavement was a global phenomenon, one that translated over to colonization, settlement and conquest in the Americas easily.

There were people with money, or “capital,” and people without. There were those who were part of the business class, and those who were not. There were those who “acquired” and held land, and landless people without property. The gap between rich and poor had broadened, and it was wealth that colonized and settled the Americas, exploiting poverty, displacement and slavery in the process.

By the time Washington inherited Ferry Farm and was engaged in his studies as a surveyor, he was already part of a well-oiled machine dividing the land that would become the future United States. Methodical and well-funded, it took the land section by section, pitting poor against poor, displacing

original peoples with displaced imported peoples. In the politics of power, wealth never lost its foothold or failed in achieving its goals. In the United States to hold land, to hold property, defined right, defined personhood, and how one was valued and treated.

Washington was born to a land in chaotic upheaval from a competitive land grab, supported by indentured servitude and slavery used to facilitate and develop it further for profit. It required force to maintain and people were pitted against each other in miserable competition to enable it. Far from the fairytale fables that later United States citizens were taught to embrace, the reality of Washington’s boyhood was stark and harsh. It was a reality that had grown like a tidal wave over the hundred years leading up to his birth. As a land speculator himself, and a man of means already, Washington amassed an additional 65,000 acres between 1747 and 1799. It wasn’t exclusive to plantation owners. The entire continent was surveyed, both under the English Crown and later for the newly formed United States.

Currently, our nation is bereft with new homeless daily that continue to outpace those able to exit homelessness. People highlight gentrification, those pushed out of their homes and communities for new property development and rent people can no longer afford. Poverty, homelessness, displacement and pushing people out is nothing new. Just as England profited in its land grab with displaced persons, “property development” and “real estate investment” are promoting a similar modernday phenomenon for an example of which we can look back in history. It is how the United States has always operated, systematically and methodically. Our law was codified on it. How we treat each other and our status is closely tied to whether we hold land and property, or are treated as property or “contracted,” if we are seen as holding any value or status at all.

The inherent values a human being holds, with the inalienable rights therein, as laid out in our constitution, are in conflict with this much older system. Until we come to terms with this greater question of which measure we use and value more, that of valuing people in terms of property and assets, or of valuing them as people and human beings first, we are in danger of never rectifying ourselves as a nation with the principles and values by which we pretend to operate, versus the reality of the system we are.

Lori

Smith is an artist and vendor with Street Sense Media

Desert land

BRIANNA BUTLER

Artist/Vendor

Bright crescent heat blazing on orange sand. Hear the crunching sand as the wind picks it up and thrashes it in the air. It looks amazing as it twirls in the air.

When it gets to be too much for you, cover your eyes with shades. Underneath the crisp sand are small animals happily eating insects. Some have venom that would take out 10 humans at once!

In the deep thick sand, a trail of footprints tells the story of a camel journeying through the desert, carrying water and food to the humans living there. The camel is prepared for the long journey it must face with a big stomach that holds water and keeps it hydrated.

Sometimes, there is greenery where cacti grow up and sprout. That plant has good nutrition and holds water for humans who know how to extract it. At night, it gets very cool. Other animals come out and grasp the night’s coolness. Some people celebrate by dancing on the sand. And the camels? They rest under the shining moon.

Fall back

CHRIS COLE

Artist/Vendor

Fall back before I push you. You're standing too close … Too close to my electricity. Honey, you are doing the most! You're too close to my aura, Too close to my jewels. Too close for me to breathe, You're so close that now I cannot see. You're so close that you are inhaling my breath, And that should not be.

Don't let my electric fence burn you. The water I got gets boiling hot. Don't let this pot scald you. Believe it or not, I'm ready to pop.

I asked you to step back. It's not that I don't like you, Or think that you are wack. Right now I need some space to grow, I don't like feeling trapped.

Not to say you're wasting space. It's neither yours or mine to own. Now we are getting off topic — Didn't I ask you to leave me alone? You are messing with my happiness, And that I will not condone.

I am assertively asking you to not occupy this space. Please, go on home.

My tent, my regrettable remorse

GIGI DOVONOU Artist/Vendor

Once upon a time, I was living on the street.

My first location was on G Street — right there in front of the MLK Library.

I had to live outside in all types of weather in all of the seasons.

I didn’t have any privacy and was left behind.

Every day and night I had to survive all the noises of the passerby.

I couldn’t close my eyes.

It had been eight months since I no longer had the right to eight hours of sleep.

My life was so painful and pitiful, but then my sister from another mother gave me her tent. That day I thought my life was going to be so beautiful and a new hope was reborn.

I was living in perfect harmony with myself in that historic tent that I called my home. My neighbors always fought and threw broken glass. They became a headache for visitors to the city who passed.

I had to pick all the items every time.

I knew for sure sooner or later the city would take all the tents out.

From that moment I realized that my foresaid beautiful and peaceful life will change. Where will be my next destination? That was the question that tormented me.

I knew we were in serious danger and at risk to be evicted.

If it was me alone, I know that even for 20 more years I would be living on that beautiful avenue without any single problem. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

Sometimes when there is too much freedom, it kills the freedom itself.

And all human beings need to know that where your freedom stops, the freedom of others starts. My neighbors did what they wanted based on their freedom but the city also did what they did based on their power. They evicted me from my tent, my temporary house, before I had a chance to meet an alternative.

I really regret things ended like that, and that remorse haunts me again and again.

I can’t stop remembering those moments when I had come home to my tent and got myself calm and felt myself belong to a world where I have somewhere to lay my head down.

Some people have an apartment, house or a hotel and complain, some others just get a tent on a sidewalk and are happy.

My next engagement as a citizen is to teach everyone about homelessness and how each gain should be an accomplishment and each accomplishment is a part of life.

And thank you Michelle for capturing the moment. I recommend everyone watch it and support me in continuing to build up a better life for me and for my beloved children.

Like many, I never expected to experience homelessness and houselessness but that experience happened and become a part of my life story. The only thing I have now is to work to end homelessness.

All my thanks to Street Sense Media and the reverend at the Epiphany Church in downtown D.C.

And I want to send all my gratitude to Rochelle from the People For Fairness Coalition who took me to Christ House where I’m able to have a decent life.

At Christ House, I have a bed, and three meals a day, and am able to take a shower without hustling anymore. How sweet it is to have a place to live!

Living alone and maintaining a clean lifestyle

MICHELE ROCHON Artist/Vendor

Celibacy is important. There are benefits to patience.

Celibacy is not just for priests, nuns or other clergy. It is a mandatory requirement for every Christian believer and has to be implemented every day, every hour, every minute and every second.

I created rules for myself. No male company inside my apartment, but maintenance, technicians and family members.

It teaches how to be in a covenant relationship and shows real commitment and trust. Do not allow past thoughts to create your future. Celibacy sets the tone for discipline, future, perseverance and patience.

Lefty’s limo (old school)

FREDERIC JOHN Artist/Vendor

I’ll be the first to admit, I’m the “MxM Man,” that is, mnemonics and mentorship. Those are my motherships to creativity. Now, in July of 1975, my obsession with channeling B.B. King on vocals and guitar led me down a uniquely venturesome path. Having apprenticed since June 1972 on the Smithsonian Mall for the Folklife Festival, by this time (fourth year of humping ice and changing music cassettes), I was no richer monetarily but a Midas of blues experience. Besides, Mr. Ralph Rinzker, the festival head honcho, had “spotted” my talent for helping southern blues folk around D.C.

This social knack hit a high plateau in ‘75, for I was now a fully vested D.C. driver. My culture-craving parents had wisely (I thought!) handed me the keys to their 1972 forest green and black vinyl-top Chevy Impala with “four-barrel” 390 horsepower under the hood.

My “protectors” in the Chicago blues cabal had been the Williams clan. There were five, rangy, pompadoured brothers, up from the delta of Greenwood, Miss., who had firmly planted their music roots in the steel and concrete of the Windy City.

“Boy! You got a bad ride. Let’s drive around,” growled Lefty Dizz (born Walter Williams), the eldest and most extroverted of the aforementioned fratelli.

His brother Woody, next in line, had a sweet but rasping tenor and specialized in Wilson Pickett and Sam Cooke’s songbook. Other siblings included “Greedy Man,” who pounded any piano he could get a hold of with both hands.

Lefty had no problem bringing “company” in the form of affluent young Chevy Chase debutantes, but one night he dismissed all his brothers and new admirers and announced “We’re hittin’ the Harold. The proprietor wants me to do a set or two…” Herein it’s relevant for me to explain Lefty was a three ring circus of his own design.

Not only did he play a clean rhythm on his scarred Telecaster (including trips to Africa and Europe with Junior Wells and Buddy Guy), but his waves framed his face like Hendrix, and he purred a vocal just like Albert King! The crowd wouldn’t let him go ‘til after midnight. Lefty went off-mic repeatedly, making them weep particularly on “Perschal Manager…”

My life after foster care

JEANETTE RICHARDSON

Artist/Vendor

I would like to share a story about my dark past life when I was a foster child and afterward, and being in and out of problems.

Nobody really cared about me. The government markets Black children when their parents reject them. Foster parents only care about the checks they get from the government to take care of them.

I came back to D.C. after high school and our parents were not there, so I stayed with my sister and her boyfriend. I found a job at a family health food store. It was a nice area to work and the people were nice. Then I started meeting people and also meeting male companions. We dated for a little while, but I found out they were married and that’s not right to do. You are not supposed to do that, because God commanded it as a law of righteousness of everlasting life — thou shall not commit adultery.

Mr. Fentanyl meets an overdose

LATICIA BROCK

Artist/Vendor

I want to take your life. I’m not your friend. Why would your brother give you something when I might want to see you again this weekend?

I’ve counted over 50 ambulances. Every time I turn around, you’re taking what’s mine. I’ll take your shoes off your feet to sell and leave you with socks. As soon as you sleep I’ll empty your pockets.

Dog, I thought you were my man, fifty grand — I know you overdosed but I’ll sell you Fentanyl again. I’ll take your shoes and all your clothes.

Mr. Fentanyl meets an overdose.

To my wife Rosé.

Lefty and I slid out of the Childe Harold, he bought a pint of his favorite Old Grand-Dad at the all night liquor shop off Dupont Circle. Finally, my permissive 22-year old self let Lefty drive the Chevy back to the Hotel Brighton up the hill. “Stop, John,” the meister commanded. “I have to meditate.” At dawn, Lefty opened the side door, nodded silently, and disappeared into the hotel. Needless to say, I ran off six months later and temporarily joined Lefty’s southside Chicago circus.

A word of clarification: with my Mom and Dad’s blessing, I roomed on South Greenwood, hosted by Koko Taylor’s drummer Vincent, got baptized in olive oil at his mother’s church, and helped Lefty emcee at the Chocker Board Lounge on South 43rd Street (with “Sleigh Ride” by Lloyd Glenn on the house juke box).

P.S. My Japanese-made Teisco solid body guitar was never far from my side.

Happy Memorial Day to the brave ones

ROCHELLE WALKER Artist/Vendor

M is for all men.

E is for the Earth we stand on.

M is for all the memories of soldiers.

O is for all over the freedom we know.

R is for all the races brought to us long, long ago.

I is for inner peace.

A is for all those who sacrifice their lives

L is for fighting on foreign lands.

D is for Memorial Day — it’s a day of honor.

A is for all who are going to fight in a war and die for all.

Y is you, me and us, remembering all who serve.

Happy Memorial Day!

Memorial Day

MELODY BYRD Artist/Vendor

Memorial Day is a celebration. Many people come to a safe place and there are big crowds. It’s a nice day.

Giving voice to the voiceless and inspiring change

CHON GOTTI

Artist/Vendor

It's a joy to work with the Street Sense Media team, A group of passionate individuals living out their dream, Using their skills to give voice to the voiceless, Telling stories that inspire and leave us breathless.

From the streets of D.C. to the alleys of Baltimore, They bring to light the issues we cannot ignore, The struggles of the homeless, the marginalized, And those who are too often demonized.

Their cameras capture the beauty in the chaos, The hope in the struggle, the light in the shadows. Their words give power to those who have none, And their work reminds us we are not alone.

With every article, every video, every photo, They inspire change, they make us grow, They challenge us to see the world in a new way, And to take action, to make a difference every day.

It's a joy to work with the Street Sense Media team, For they remind us that journalism can be more than a scheme. It can be a force for good, a way to build community, To shine a light on the world and bring about unity.

So let us celebrate this team, this group of heroes, Their work is not just for the homeless, But for us all, to help us see, That change is possible, and it starts with you and me.

I am your amazing Street Sense vendor and staff member Chon Gotti, I would like to thank all of our beautiful customers for first listening to our stories while reading to understand our glories. On behalf of our Street Sense Media family, we love all of you.

Money

GRETA CHRISTIAN

Artist/Vendor

You can have a lot of money if you know how to spend it

You can use money for everything:

Your safety

Your health

Your family

Your rent and other bills

Your groceries

Your life

But remember: you have to use your money wisely!

Coffee

KYM PARKER

Artist/Vendor

When I wake up in the morning

It’s the first thing I think about That smell is beauty

The aroma

That’s life, that’s joy

Coffee

The smell of it, that taste, Can send us all to recieve It’s the beauty of God

That made the cocoa bean

It’s like a starfish

Maple syrup and jam

Things that feel good in your tum, Things that feel good in your soul

The things we can prize on all life

Some people drink tea, they are

The weaker beans in this life

I love God always, I love coffee, I love tea, the fact that She created all of this I have a taste Everybody feels it in their heart.

Denise

QUEENIE FEATHERSTONE

Artist/Vendor

This acrostic poem goes to my sister and friend Miss Denise Vinson. You see, reader, I want each and every one to know about how Denise stood by my side, not looking down on me. Not judging me, but always there to help me during this trying time in my life of being homeless. Denise is a single mother of four kids. She stood her ground while raising them. She kept upholding strong standards unto them in every sense of the word. And now, she is truly reaping the benefits. Denise’s two oldest have now completed their master’s degrees and her two youngest are in college. Please take a moment and read this acrostic poem to Denise.

D = Decisive

E = Eminent

N = Noble

I = Instructive

S = Scholarly

E = Enthusiastic

I am feeling the moments

JET FLEGETTE

Artist/Vendor

I am creating moments of joy without realizing it. Sometimes I think deeply about the past, and sometimes I cry because I realize that the bittersweet memory I’m having was taken for granted when it was created. It's funny how moments we take for granted are destined to be the most important moments that are often played over and over again in the movie of our mind. I used to have a dog named Bella who was with me for 16 years. Bella gave me joy I did not know I needed, Bella also gave me pain that helped me to grow. Somehow love is not really love until you feel the loss. Losing love should not harden one’s heart but, instead, allow compassion to grow.

Silent partner

JOHN ALLEY Artist/Vendor

There is a silent partner working for you, in you. Even if you stay home, they’re within you. There is an absence, something without you in you. That absence can't be possessed and still works if you stay still. You can try and quit but the only way out of this silent partnership is to stop working and keep you from cashing all this silent labor. Well, you got to get this partner fired! The only problem is that if you achieve it you might be unable to die. If you break up this silent partnership, people will know immediately. You no longer exist without this silent partner. You are no longer in the silent workforce. So wonder, keep wondering. Some secrets are meant to not exist, amidst the noise, silently; they are not for you.

CROSSWORD

Waste

Puzzle by Patrick “Mac” McIntyre

FUN & GAMES FUN GAMES

Across

1. City NNE of Paris where de Gaulle was born

6. Mmes. of Madrid (abbr.)

10. Cornerstone abbr.

14. Playwright Chekhov

15. “Can’t ____ Falling in Love” (classic Elvis hit)

16. Hearing prefix

17. “____ Blade” (1996 film that earned Billy Bob Thornton a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar)

18. Musical play starters

20. Cirque du ____ (world’s largest contemporary circus producer)

22. Rock’s ___ Speedwagon

23. Down Under ostrich cousin

24. Something a college student might pull

27. Middle running backs in oldtime football

T-formations (abbr.)

28. French possessive pronoun meaning “his”

29. Sewing machine inventor Howe

30. Linen fabric (ELIOT anagram)

32. Equip with weapons again

33. Bellicose god

34. Having too much on one’s plate, say

39. Common bus. abbr. seen after Smith ____, Ringling ____ or Warner ____

40. Greek letters that don’t sound like much?

41. Is situated next to

43. Big pharma company

44. Ltr. additions (abbr./acron.)

47. “____’em, boy!” (canine attack phrase)

48. Utterly thrilled (with/by’) (3 wds.) (4,3,4) (HORMONE VOTE anagram)

51. The first A in N.C.A.A. (abbr.)

52. Inebriated, slangily

53. San ____, Calif. (border town opposite Tijuana)

54. Fridge fillers...or - as two words - a literal hint to 18-, 24-, 34- and 48-Across?

58. Samuel who authored the U.S. Supr. Ct. majority opinion overturning Roe v. Wade

59. Walked (on)

60. Female name that’s a Roman numeral followed by its value

61. Native Alaskan people

62. Cold War entities until 1991 (abbr./acron.)

63. Win, lose or ____

64. Viral social media posts

Down

1. Ropes for cowpokes

2. Head over heels (2 wds.) (2,4)

3. Volleyball players need to exhaust them in a Scrabble game (2 wds.) (1,5)

4. One with a natural social distancing bent

5. Profession of Edison, Ford and Tesla

6. “___ ‘nuff!”

7. Increase, with “up”

8. Dimming and undimming of lights in a theater lobby, e.g

9. Mall binge

10. ___ de Cologne (Fr.)

11. Can’t-miss (4-4) (ERIE SURF anagram)

12. Shook all over

13. Employs for improper ends or purposes (SUED SIS anagram)

19. Legal wrong

21. Flower with a light purple shade

25. Copter’s forerunner

26. More affectedly dramatic

31. Quaker ___ (big name

LAST EDITION’S PUZZLE SOLUTION

in Cereals)

32. Take a break

34. The International Space Station crew, for seven

35. Personally confirm something’s (or someone’s) legitimacy (2 wds.) (5,3)

36. Political satirist and comedian Sahl

37. Like over-eager trigger fingers, maybe

38. Draws a bead on a target (2 wds.) (5,3) (A MISTAKE anagram)

39. Commonest types of solidified lava (LAB ASST. anagram)

42. Likely the favored performance motif for a 4-Down

43. Astronomical streaker

44. Speaker’s or conductor’s platform

45. Military aircraft mission (TORIES anagram)

46. Nose-in-the-air types

49. Brilliant, in color and clarity

50. Pooh’s creator

55. Seahawks six-pointers, for short (abbr./ acron.)

56. Genetic info carrier (abbr./acron.)

57. Put in stitches

*This crossword puzzle is the original work of Patrick “Mac”McIntyre. It is provided to us courtesy of Real Change News, a street paper based in Seattle, Wa. Learn more about Real Change News and the International Network of Street Papers at realchangenews.org and insp.ngo.

ANDRE BRINSON Artist/Vendor

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

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

Downtown Day Services Center 202-383-8810 // 1313 New York Ave NW https://www.downtowndc.org/program/the-center/

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

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

Foundry Methodist Church // 202-332-4010 1500 16th St., NW 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

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

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

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

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

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

Unity Health Care 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

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

Morning Kitchen Team Member

Chick-fil-A // 220 Riggs Rd. NE

Full-time // Part-time

Prepare and present hot and cold food items, maintain cleanliness of the restaurant and assemble, wrap and package food for final assembly in the drive-thru or front counter.

REQUIRED: Able to lift up to 50 lbs

APPLY: tinyurl.com/chickfila-forttotten

Store Associate

CVS // 4555 Wisconsin Ave. NW

Full-time

Greet customers, operate the cash register, provide customer support and restock shelves.

REQUIRED: Must be able to lift 35 pounds.

APPLY: tinyurl.com/CVS-team

House Cleaner Please Assist Me

Part-time

Perform deep cleaning duties with attention to detail and care to maintain private residences and carry out essential household chores.

REQUIRED: N/A

APPLY: tinyurl.com/cleaner-assistme

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

Hiring? Send your job postings to editor@StreetSenseMedia.org For further information and listings, visit our online service guide at StreetSenseMedia.org/service-guide