Blog

by Kimberly Kroll, intern

Progress toward closing the achievement gap in D.C. public schools is slowing as the mayoral race speeds to a halt. Addressing the District’s poverty issue may be the only solution to reviving the progress towards a gap-free education environment.

Although there has been much progress in closing the achievement gap between Caucasian and African American students throughout the past three years of Fenty’s administration, 2010 test results released by Chancellor Michelle Rhee last week show a lack of movement toward closing the gap this year.

Fenty claims that the achievement gap is being closed rapidly, but evidence shows that this is not the case in some areas. Although scores of secondary students have markedly improved since 2007, very little of that progress has come this year. Additionally, success in elementary schools has not been as high as in secondary schools —it has even lowered in some cases.

Washington Post reporter Bill Turque reports that this year the math achievement gap widened between fourth grade students, and the gap in secondary math widened by almost 2 percent. Elementary reading scores have fluctuated, ultimately returning to almost exactly the same level they were at in 2007. Secondary reading scores have halted, closing most of the 15-point gap from 67.2 to 52.2 percent between 2007 to 2009, only one point of which was this year.  Further, the reading gap between Caucasian and Hispanic secondary students has grown over 9 percentage points in 2010.

Walter Smith, member of Defeat Poverty D.C. and executive director of D.C. Appleseed, said today on WAMU that the achievement gap cannot close any further until the issue of poverty in the District is addressed.  He commented further that students who must endure unsafe housing, hunger, and illness related to economic hardship are disproportionately disadvantaged when it comes to achieving in school.

In order to pull these children out of harsh learning environments, their parents must be provided with jobs where they can earn enough to support a family, Smith said. Mayor Adrian Fenty and Councilman Vince Gray who are vying for the mayoral position must address poverty if they want to make progress in the education reforms that they have put at the core of their campaigns.

Fenty and Gray both made their mayoral promises open to the public in op-ed columns published in The Washington Post Sunday.

Fenty’s piece lists his past successes, says he will continue to reform the education system, and briefly mentions continuing to battle unemployment.  “We’ve created thousands of jobs, financed more than 11,000 units of affordable housing and delivered more than a dozen new parks and recreation centers in neighborhoods that had not seen real investment in decades,” Fenty wrote. But what about the children and families who are still suffering? Fenty vows to continue to work towards solving the problems plaguing D.C., mainly the achievement gap and unemployment, but lacks an explanation as to how he will do so.

Gray seems a bit more attuned to what is necessary for creating healthier environments for students by calling for more jobs and safer neighborhoods in hand with education reform in his piece. Although Gray opens with education reform, he lays groundwork for how to further improve education in the District by extending reform to the college level. Gray also explains how he plans to put D.C. residents back to work, cut down on crime in residential areas, and reform the way the mayor’s office is run.

Walter Smith believes that reducing poverty will not only improve education but also help build the city’s workforce and tax base, increase business, reduce crime, and lower expenses for social services. Poverty is the barrier to further closing the achievement gap. With so many residents facing economic hardship, the gap between students will not budge.

University of California professor of education and public policy, Bruce Fuller, says that although teachers are highly influential in making a difference in the lives and education of poor children, this influence is limited. “Part of this hitting the wall may be the troubling fact that we may need to somehow attack family poverty before we see greater progress in closing achievement,” Fuller told Washington Post reporters.

Seventy-five million dollars in grant money were awarded to the D.C. area by President Obama in an education reform contest, according to Washington Post reporter Nick Anderson. Hopefully the winner of the mayoral election will wait until after poverty has been tackled to decide how to dish out the grant for improving schools and closing the achievement gap.

Compiled by Dianna Heitz, from previously published reports.

Fairfax County Homeless Population Falls

Homeless activists in Fairfax County have made progress since 2007 in their efforts to end homelessness in the region. An annual tally of the county’s homeless population, taken in January, amounted to about 1,500 people, a drop from 1,800 a year ago, the Washington Post reports.

A community partnership was formed as part of the county’s plan to end homelessness in the area by December 2018. Its goal is to engage the community in the effort and coordinate resources among county, nonprofit, faith, business and community leaders.

“We are seeing partnership in a totally different way,” said Amanda Andere, executive director of FACETS, a Fairfax-based nonprofit. “We are meeting together on a regular basis. . . . We’re applying for grants together.”

The next item on the partnership’s agenda is to attract more area-businesses to have them help the cause.
Former Homeless Man Uses Internet to Raise Awareness

About 15 years ago, Mark Horvath was just another homeless man on the streets of California. And after getting his life back together as a video producer, he found himself again out of the job in November 2008, CBS News reports. But this time, Horvath didn’t let himself fall back into the cycle of homelessness.

With a camera and a laptop in hand, Horvath went to homeless shelters, the streets and various tent cities to interview the homeless. He launched InvisiblePeople.TV as a space to share their stories and educate the public about the plight of the homeless, CBS reports.

“The goal is to make the ‘invisible people’ in society more visible by bringing them out of the shadows where they are ignored,” Horvath told CBS. “We’re using social media to expose the pain, hardship and hopelessness that millions of people face each day.”

‘Homeless Park’ in Maine Town Raises Concerns

Residents in a central Maine town say they are upset that a landowner who can’t build on his quarter-acre plot is opening up his land as a so-called “nature park” for the homeless, the Boston Herald reports. Already, an 84-year-old homeless man and his dog have set up camp on the property in Skowhegan, where a banner reads: “Nature Park, Nature Trails for the Homeless People of Somerset County.”

The land’s owner, Bruce Obert, said that zoning laws have barred him from building on the land. He says that since h can’t build, he decided to turn his land into a park for the homeless, complete with a picnic table and a portable toilet, the Herald reports.

Calif. Senate Approves Homeless Civil Rights Protection

Attacks on the homeless could violate California’s civil rights law under a bill approved by the state Senate, the Associated Press reports.

The bill that passed would allow the state’s roughly 157,000 homeless sue for higher damages if they are a target of assault because they are homeless. The bill, AB2706, designates the homeless as a protected class. It stops short, however, of declaring attacks on the homeless as hate crimes.
It passed on a 21-12 vote, without debate. It now returns to the Assembly for final action, the AP reports.

Shinseki Pledges to Help Homeless Vets

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs head Eric Shinseki says the department is committed to increase veterans’ access to benefits and services and to clear up the backlog of disability claims, the Providence Journal reports.

Speaking at the Paralyzed Veterans of America’s 64th annual convention, Shinseki said that the VA’s $114 billion budget for 2010 – 16% greater than the previous year – provides “much-needed firepower” to begin addressing those issues. He added that his department will ask for $125 billion in 2011.

Canada Town Builds home to Solve Youth Homelessness

A new transitional housing facility for local female youths is being built in Saskatchewan, a result of collaboration between its local government and Canada’s national one. Aimed at helping teenage girls vulnerable to homelessness, especially those of Aboriginal ancestry, age twelve to fifteen, the project will create a Saskatoon facility with ten new transitional beds.

“Our government is giving a hand-up to Canadians with housing needs, and is helping those seeking to break free from the cycle of homelessness and poverty,” said Maurice Vellacott, Member of Parliament for Saskatoon-Wanuskewin. “We are pleased to be working with the Saskatoon Downtown Youth Centre, which will provide female youth who are homeless or at risk of homelessness with transitional housing to help them on their way to achieving independence.”

by Jeff McNeil, vendor

Dear Mr. Obama,

I know when you came into office you inherited a country in disarray. I for one am still bitter that being in a self proclaimed democracy the American people would elect George Bush and Dick Cheney twice.
I also believe that you are getting poor advice from your economic advisors. They are using outdated information to gauge the impact of how the economy is affecting the American people.
I like to demonstrate a new way to gauge the economy,

The Street Sense vendor indicator, by using this method my indicators measures the overall health of the economy. Street Sense is a D.C. newspaper that offers the poor and homeless, income while providing opportunities for individuals who might not be able to seek employment.
The vendors who sell the paper receive income through donations, I am a vendor who sells regularly, and I have customers basically in all parts of the Washington area.

My indicators basically works this way

1. moods
2. size of donations
3. frequency of customers
4. overall health of those who beg for money

A. the mood indicator I regularly sell on K and L Street early in the mornings. I can tell when people have money when I see a lot of smiles instead of scowls. When people come and chat with you, this means they usually have time and there jobs are relatively secure. When they are moving fast that means stress, tension and nervousness. A layoff might be around the corner. When they are mean, that means there annoyed and irritated which may mean a sign of financial stress.
please take note of this indicator, the sentiment lately has been awful, people no longer stop and talk to me they usually grunt by me like I am a nuisance, I believe it’s the financial strain and fear of losing there jobs that they act this way.

B. Donations for a Street Sense vendor, their income comes from contributions through people who are willing to give a dollar or two. When the economy is good paper sales is usually robust and the donations are hefty, when people are struggling they are going into there change or they say things like this is all I have. Sometime you get the angry buyer who is pissed because he donated a dollar to you.
Lately donations have been paltry, regular customers say can I pay you later and with the recent high jack from the metro my regulars are financially strained.

C. customers, vendor relationship. This is a depressing indicator, I been around a few years, and I pretty much know many people in the Washington D.C. area. I have built bonds with many people who have lost their jobs and it saddens me, because one day you see someone and then one day they disappear because they got laid off, not only does it effects them. It filters down to the hot dog vendor, to even a vendor who sells newspapers, such as me. I urge you for more stimulus to give relief to those who lost.

D. The Georgetown indicator whenever someone begs for money in Georgetown, I look at there weight, and if there thin and frail I know there hurting and will give what I have, when someone who begs has a round belly and very jolly this tells me that things are pretty good for them.. Georgetown is a good area to check this data, lately many of the beggars have been frail and skinny which means that even the wealthiest areas in Washington are feeling the strain of the economy..

by Bobby Corrigan, volunteer

Given these harrowing economic times, it’s common to read about the unemployed in our city. We’re sometimes told that since DC is the hub of government, the unemployed here have it easier than the rest of the country. However, the current unemployment rate of 10.5 percent in our nation’s capital suggests the opposite. Clearly, lots of people are having difficulty finding a job in this city. DC’s homeless, whose current crisis is often the product of unemployment, are one group finding it especially difficult.

When envisioning a homeless person, many would likely conjure up a grossly stereotyped image of a bearded man adorned with more coats than appropriate for the weather, begging with a change cup in hand, and with seemingly no understanding of personal hygiene. They may also think that person does not have a job and is not looking for one. This could not be further from the truth.

According to a 2002 national study by the Urban Institute, 45 percent of homeless adults reported having worked within the past 30 days. Coincidentally, unemployment is the second most commonly reported reason for homelessness among adults. Despite these statistics, employment for the homeless is a policy issue that has taken a back seat to current nationwide housing first efforts. In fact, one would be hard pressed to find recent data on homeless employment rates, evidenced by the fact that the Urban Institute’s 2002 study is the most recent reliable data found. It’s simply not given much attention because homeless employment initiatives typically cost more than programs that house the homeless. It’s akin to brushing a problem under the rug; out of sight, out of mind.

Even with the relative lack of attention given to this issue by the DC government, many situationally homeless individuals pull themselves out of homelessness through hard work and diligent saving. And despite their demonstrated willingness to work when given the opportunity, the lifestyle circumstances experienced by the homeless make it incredibly difficult to find and keep a job, let alone the full time, stable jobs that so many of us enjoy.

Take a moment to picture yourself as a homeless job seeker. Imagine sleeping on a bunk bed in a large room shared by dozens of individuals. Imagine being roused from sleep at night by a stumbling drunk or a rambling person suffering from mental health problems. You may sleep with an alcohol-filled spray bottle to keep bed bugs at bay. Envision yourself being wakened by a punch in the face for snoring in your sleep.

During the day, things aren’t much easier. Homeless job seekers often have very limited storage space in which to keep appropriate interview clothing. They also lack basic resources such as funding for transportation to and from job interviews or even to get to work once they have a job. Some have criminal records or disabilities that prove to be major barriers to employment. Others can’t afford to keep their professional certifications or licenses current. Many don’t have access to a computer or printer.

Fortunately, there is help available for homeless job seekers. Many private nonprofit organizations, such as Jubilee Jobs or DC Central Kitchen, provide vital resources to these individuals. Also, to be fair, the DC government recently awarded $2.5 million worth of grants for job training programs to serve 1,300 DC residents, including the homeless. However, in spite of these ongoing efforts, it is important to remember that the playing field for homeless job seekers remains uneven.

Bobby Corrigan is a case manager at Jobs Have Priority, Inc.

Instead of cutting food stamps, Congress should spend less on wars

Oh S.N.A.P.!

by Tim Young, volunteer

As Congress attempts to corrects defecits around the nation, tough decisions have been made. One of the most critical and questionable, however, has been the decision to cut nearly $20 billion from food assistance programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). They say that this money has been redirected to other good programs, such as fire and police departments and education systems, but it proves to be just rhetoric when we take a closer look.

Current numbers show that nearly one in every seven families is receiving benefits from food assistance programs. These statistics work out to at least two families on your block surviving with assistance from the government. At current rates, each family receives roughly $134 dollars per month. After the recent cuts, they will receive $59 less per month by 2013.

Though Congress tells us that it is meeting with state and local needs, are we not forgetting about something much larger – namely, the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq? Virtually no one can forget the wars that were started by the GOP, which ultimately led to its downfall and the rise of Democratic leadership. The major campaign promise from President Obama was to end these wars and so rectify the errors of the past administration.

At the end of July, Congress passed a bill which allocated $33 billion to continue the same war – one the administration promised would end at that exact same time. Isn’t that an odd coincidence? We were told that at the end of this July only “combat” troops were being removed. That rhetoric changed, however, as “administrative” troops were moved into the region in their place. If you take out the not-so-catchy adjectives, this administration has decided to withdraw troops and replace them with…troops. Furthermore, troops aren’t replacing weapons with paperwork, so it would appear that our military presence in the Middle East is unchanging contrary to the Obama administration’s promises.

So it’s up to your imagination as to where that money is going. Sure, it looks nice if you say that your tax dollars fund projects such as education or the local fire department, but since all dollars are created equal (and arguably of less value everyday), one can just as easily say that his/her neighbors are being forced to give up eating so that our country can continue to fight a war that we should have never been involved in and were promised would end.

Given the very basic numbers that I have presented here, if Congress had only given an extra $13 billion to fund the war, there would be no need for any cuts whatsoever to food service programs in our nation, and we could still provide for state deficits and needs. With the unemployment rate being reported at almost 10% nationwide and calculated at well above 17 percent when including those not reporting and working less than full-time, isn’t it time we stopped funding unnecessary international projects and started to help those who are in need here at home?

By Adam Sirgany, intern

Hattie was less than pleased when Harold brought the mutt home, covered in mud and stinking of shit and gingko leaves. It looked like its eyes were infected and by the touch, it was nothing but fur on a skeleton. Harold had, of course, forgotten the cigarettes.

A good bath -first for the dog and later for herself- calmed Hattie. But it wasn’t until the dog had had a bowl of milk and squinted its eyes to sleep that she began to feel motherly toward it. “It is hard to hate something with a yawn bigger than its face,” she explained pointedly to Harold when he teased her about the change of heart. “Besides taking care of babies is what I do.”

She named it Peanut and called it P. A fitting name for a little tan dog, thought Hattie. “My Sweet P.” P, Barnum thought, should stand for Pain in the Ass. The little shit never did out grow his constant yelping. God damn. It’s not like he was attention-deprived.
When the yelping did stop, Hattie insisted on a new dog right away. She called the mutt Allie –a name Harold thought showed just how much she considered the things her kids. Hattie didn’t like that. “Almond.” She insisted. “They’re pets, Harold. Allie is short for Almond. The Almond of my eye” She looked to the ceiling affectionately.

“She isn’t an Almond. You just need a new Peanut. Call it what it is.” What it was had failed to make Harold think of almonds or even peanuts and instead made him think of winos covered in the lint from his argyle sweater. The only endearing thing about this too-thin dog was the shape of her face, which made passers-by imagine she was smiling at them. Though the hair around her mouth made some think she was smiling from having the mange.

When Allie passed on, probably of old age, Hattie took some time to mourn. Mourning, though, was followed closely by Beau, a basset hound with the most pitiful look Harold had ever seen. Hattie said he just hadn’t spent much time looking at himself in the mirror in the late 1980s.

Nonetheless, Hattie liked sad eyes. It was Harold’s own that had caught her attention as he had walked out of her hospital back in ’58. They were fetching enough that she never bothered to check what he’d needed penicillin for – Amen.

Harold hadn’t thought much about Hattie’s eyes at the time. He couldn’t have recalled the color –He knew now that they were stained oak. Sure he thought she was a good-looker in that white, cotton nurse’s dress of hers. And when you’re walking out of the doc’s office with a bottle of meds for VD, it’s time to start considering good-lookers in white dresses. And he did.

“Hey. Can you help me out?” Barnum approached her as she eyed him over the counter of the nurse’s station.

“Yes, sir.” She was professional and polite.

“Can I get your name?” he asked.

“Hattie Jameson, RN. Is something wrong, sir?” She set down her paperwork.

“Well, Hattie Jameson, I’m Harold A. Barnum and I have got to know what a pretty thing like you is doing bustin’ her hump in here,” he asked, bent at the hips with his forearms on the nurse’s station.

“Working.” She resumed transferring a patient’s blood pressure from one chart to another.

“Oh you know what I mean.” He pushed off the counter and grabbed it with his hands. “Don’t you have someone to pay the bills for you, a nice-looking lady like you? Or have the women’s liberators made it all the way from New York down here?”

She set her pen to the side and leaned over her desk as if to tell him a secret. A wave of brown hair dropped across one temple. “I’m from New Jersey, and I’m not a women’s liberator.” She seemed disgusted the term. “But I do like my job. I make children feel better.” Her face said her point was finished.

He pouched his lips at her. “Can you make me feel better?”

“This time of the afternoon, I change catheters and colostomy bags. Would you like one of those? Sir.” She stood up from her chair.
“How about you just tell me when you want me to pick you up for dinner. I took the whole day off of work to come here, so I can get you anytime.”

She paused for a moment. “I’m done at 6 and I like to shower after work. I won’t be ready until 6:20,” she explained to a tap of a pen on her thigh. “You will not be here before 6:20.”

Harold Barnum was back at the hospital to pick up Hattie Jameson at 6:12 by his watch. He married her in June of ’59 by the calendar.

That was about 35 years before the vet diagnosed Beau with cancer. Hattie refused to put him down. She nursed him as best she knew how and he lived until May of ’96 – 8 months longer than that no-nothing-quack gave him.

Beau was followed by Coal, a frumpish pug who had as much interest in the Barnum’s as a teenager might his parents. He was quiet and kept to himself. Coal was the only dog Harold ever liked on a personal level. Anyhow, the seizures were a hoot to watch and he never seemed any worse for them.

Hattie was less amused. Then again she wasn’t amused by much in those days. Tired after coming home from the maternity ward, she slept most of the evening. Harold suggested she ask one of the doctors at work about it. That and the bruises. He knew for a fact he hadn’t caused them.

Hattie didn’t think that was necessary. Everyone aged. Only Hattie was aging in dog years. She and Coal were getting old together. He went first, in his sleep.

She stayed around. Watched Harold bring a German Sheppard home and befriended the little guy. Despite the fact that she couldn’t run around with him as much as she had the rest, she was a good ball roller and her lap made for a better head rest than his bed ever did.

Porter was resting in that lap the day leukemia finally exhausted Hattie completely. He was awakened by the feel of dissipating heat. And he barked at her until Harold had come home and the men in the white van had come and tossed her around like a chew toy and taken her away. He barked until Harold had talked out his tears with his friend Jim Beam. Until Jim had gone and Harold had fallen asleep in the T.V. chair.

When Harold fell asleep Porter stopped barking and waited. But he knew something new and unpleasant had happened in his house. Hattie had disappeared. He missed her. It made him sad. So he woke Harold. Harold might know what to do. Harold didn’t. He just struck Porter across the snout.

That was the first time Harold Barnum had ever hit Porter. And it was the only time. For several months. Until Harold was sleeping and Porter was anxious and wanted to go outside and woke Harold to take him. Then Harold had hit him again. The dog stumbled into the kitchen. Porter took several moments to let the sting leave his nose. Then he began to bark again.

“Alright, Porter. Let’s take you outside. For Chrisake. Knock it off will ya.” The man lowered the leg rest of the TV chair, and his legs fell to the floor barely bent. Clawing the muffin-tops of the chair arms, Barnum drug his legs backward and pushed himself up to a poorly engineered stand. Porter barked in applause.

Several minutes later -after having stopped in the kitchen for a glass of water, in the bathroom to give a BM a fair go, and once more in the kitchen to eat a peculiarly pliable windmill cookie- Barnum managed to reach the entryway and to get an arm in his mackinaw. Porter sat down and scrutinized the man as he finished putting on his coat. Barnum picked the dog’s leash off one of the pegs on the coat rack. “Common now. There ya go.” He leaned over the dog with cautious precision and smiled to himself when the metal clip went click and actually caught the loop of Porter’s collar.

Barnum opened the door and the two were immediately met with a freckling of water across their faces. Both paused to consider the situation. No. “No.” Barnum began to close the door. Porter, who stood pointed into the downpour like a proud Sir Edmund Hilary, whimpered.

KaBOOM! leads a new playground project in Anacostia to promote health

by Tim Young, volunteer

“Monkey Bars! A Slide! Swings!” exclaimed Ashley Blake, one of the nearly 20 new playground designers in her Anacostia neighborhood. Blake, 6, was joined Tuesday, August 24 by her playmates and neighbors at the People’s Co-Op on Elvan’s Road as they drew and yelled out their demands for the new playground they will have built for them.

KaBOOM! is an organization which believes that building playgrounds improves the lives of children and ultimately adults. It has chosen The People’s Co-Op to be one of the recipients of a playground project in Washington, D.C.. “Our goal is to build a playground within walking distance of every child in America,” said spokesperson and kid design coordinator Evan Mynatt.

KaBOOM!’s co-sponsor for the construction is the government office of Kraft Foods, who provides most of the food products that the children get excited about. Mynatt began the design time with a couple of easy questions, “Who here eats Lunchables? How about Mac ‘N’ Cheese? And I bet you all drink Kool Aid!” Each was met with building excitement and screams of “YES!” Kraft Foods hopes that their investment in projects such as these will improve the health of children around the nation.

The parents and community leaders of the People’s Co-Op are also excited for the playground’s construction. “This project is exciting,” began Andrea Giles, “this is the first time something like this has happened to our community, and I know it will keep the kids active and out of trouble.” Other adults weighed in on what they would like to see built in the playground. “I would like to see swings and a sliding board,” said Clara Reynolds. Another adult, Dion Byers says that “(she) will be the first one on the swings.”

The playground will be built in conjunction with Kraft Foods’ Delicious Difference Week, October 4-9. In 2010, KaBOOM! is helping communities construct 180 similar playgrounds around the nation in conjunction with multiple corporate sponsors. They have built over 1800 similar projects since the program began.

“Communities go through a tough selection process in order to be chosen for a playground,” said Lisa Palmer, Director of Corporate Development for KaBOOM! Palmer went on to say that KaBOOM! aides communities that are dedicated to improving the lives of its children. “The people of this community have excited and inspired us (while developing the playground) and have done a lot to make this project come to life.”

The KaBOOM! playground is one of many ongoing projects which are improving the Anacostia area. It is nearly impossible to drive through the South Eastern section of Washington, D.C. and not see a new art building or growing small business. There are multiple new building and housing developments along the road to the People’s Co-Op, which bring an unmistakably fresh look to the community. These improvements have begun to attract new community members to the area while paying homage to Anacostia’s rich cultural traditions.

People’s Co-Op resident Wanda Reynolds excitedly summed up everything that has been going on in the region in four words, “It’s a Positive Change!”

Back on My Feet builds homeless individuals’ confidence and strength

by Mary Yost, editiorial intern

The camaraderie of a sports atmosphere is invaluable to homeless individuals who may not remember the benefits of being part of a team. A re-identification happens when these individuals participate in team runs, which provide them with the confidence to move forward in many aspects of their lives.

“Someone comes in having been in involved in a vicious cycle of homelessness and they have had trouble with the justice system, or whatever the case might be,” said Autumn Campbell, D.C. director of corporate communications and special events for Back on My Feet. “When they come into the program, they identify themselves as homeless, addicts and deadbeats. We help them by encouraging them to participate in a stable team atmosphere. Once they are in that atmosphere, they show up at 5:45 a.m. engaged, happy and exuding positive attitudes. Their re-identification happens when they become athletes, teammates and friends.”

Back on My Feet is a nonprofit organization that began in Philadelphia in 2007. It promotes the self-sufficiency of homeless individuals by encouraging them to run as a means to build confidence, strength and self-esteem.

“Every morning you are greeted with a smile and a hug,” said Lewis Smiley, who has run for two months with D.C.’s Clean and Sober Streets team. “We meet our trainers, walk across the street and get into a circle. The trainers ask everyone, ‘How is everything going?’ and then tell us how many miles we will run that day. Then we say the Lord’s Prayer and exercise.”

Back on My Feet is not completely running specific. “Running is the vehicle we use to move members toward self-sufficiency,” Campbell said. “It is a means to changing the way a lot of our resident-members think about their situations and view homelessness as a social issue.” Once the participants re-examine their lives, they can channel their energy toward improving their situations.

The program offers connections to job training, employment and housing benefits. Members can earn these services through the currency of commitment, teamwork, respect and perseverance by maintaining a 90 percent attendance rate at the morning runs over a 30-day period and entering the Next Steps program.

“We partner with employers and recommend individuals to those job partners,” Campbell said. “We say, ‘Let me tell you about Michael. He has a 90 percent attendance rate at 5:45 a.m. on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. He has also taken computer and financial literacy classes. He will be a good employee for you and we can recommend him to you.’”

Anna Mahlum created the program after she developed a friendship with the homeless men she passed on her morning runs. “Running is such a beautiful metaphor for life,” she said in a press release. “Life is about choosing different roads and our program teaches the importance of choosing roads filled with opportunity, hope and happiness.”

Back on My Feet was launched in D.C. in March 2010. The newest team began at LA CASA in Northwest, D.C., on Monday, July 28.
“Residents begin with one mile when they start at Back on My Feet,” Campbell said. “As the teams mature and become more established, they begin running farther distances.”

Despite the different distances ran, the camaraderie of the team is maintained. “The majority of the people who come, run as a team together, so we get to bond a certain way,” Smiley said. “I used to work as part of a construction team, but this is different because nobody has a separate agenda.” The team collaboratively works together to achieve their goals.

This team atmosphere encourages participants to continue running when challenges arise. “Even when you want to stop running, my teammates and the coaches cheer me on and say, ‘Yeah! You can do it!’ so I have the motivation to finish,” Smiley said. “It helps us get our lives and bodies back on track.”

For more information on Back on My Feet, visit their Web site at www.backonmyfeet.org.

At Back on My Feet’s 20in24 fundraiser, winner Serge Aborna ran 146.7 miles in 24 hours. In second place was Sabrina Moran who ran 125.18 miles.

by Mary Otto

This winter in Washington, there may be one less shelter available to homeless people in search of a bed.

In the midst of drawing up the annual winter plan designed to keep homeless people from freezing to death, city officials and homeless advocates are grappling with the possibility that La Casa shelter, one of the few bilingual low-barrier overnight shelters in the District, could soon close.

Each year, the city’s Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) develops a winter plan that lays out how local human service agencies and organizations will meet their obligations to protect homeless people from life-threatening winter weather. A hypothermia hotline is set up, outreach workers distribute blankets and vans are deployed to get people to safety. Hundreds of additional cold weather beds are set up in churches, shelters and other facilities.

The recession and a growing homeless population have added to the usual challenges this year. The annual homeless count, conducted last January found 6,529 homeless people in the District, a 5 percent increase over 2009. Some pressure on the shelter system has been relieved by the fact that over the past two years, roughly 1,000 homeless people have been moved from shelters to apartments and provided with social services through a permanent supportive housing program championed by Mayor Adrian Fenty. Calculating these factors against shelter use last winter, ICH planners say they expect to need more beds this winter: 1,446 for men, 431 beds for women and 350 living units for families for the coming winter.

The possible closing of La Casa, in the wake of the construction of a new residential development project, is making their planning process more difficult. Located on the 1400 block of Irving Street NW, the aging brick LaCasa facility with its fading murals and rows of aging trailers behind a chain link fence appears out of place these days in the rapidly gentrifying Columbia Heights neighborhood.

All around the old shelter rise big new national retail stores and sleek apartment projects. Yet currently 72 homeless men are bunked in the trailers. And according to one version of the draft winter plan, an additional 75 hypothermia beds will be provided at the facility.

“We’re operating under the premise that we will be open,” said Glen Rother, acting program director for La Casa, which is operated for the city by the Coalition for the Homeless of Washington, D.C.

But posters taped to the walls and chain link fence outside the shelter speak of an uncertain future. The posters advertise a September 30 zoning commission hearing to discuss a request by developers to build 143 apartment units on the site, up from the 69 units already approved. The new apartments would be built as an addition to the Highland Park mixed-use residential and commercial development already rising right next door to the shelter. Whether or not the 143 apartments win approval from the zoning officials, the ultimate scheduling of the project at the La Casa site is “up to the developer,” a zoning spokeswoman said.
The developer, Bethesda-based Donatelli Development, Inc. did not respond to questions from Street Sense about the progress of the project.

La Casa shelter , which offers services in both English and Spanish fills a deep need and will not be easily replaced. Homeless people often try to stay in familiar surroundings and emergency shelter space has been at a premium in that neighborhood, said Chapman Todd, who is division director for program operations at Catholic Charities and who serves on the ICH.

“There has been no area more pressed in recent years than Mount Pleasant/ Columbia Heights,” Todd said. “The loss of capacity in that neighborhood without a replacement of those beds is a unique challenge.”

If La Casa closes, the department is preparing to provide an additional 85 slots in permanent supportive housing, according to Laura Green Zeilinger, deputy director for program operations at the D.C. Department of Human Services.

“If we do not have La Casa (the plan) is not to replace shelter with more shelter, “ said Zeilinger. “We are creating 85 housing opportunities.” Another 75 men could be shifted to beds set up in the cafeteria of the closed DC General Hospital, she said. “If we don’t have La Casa we’ll use the D.C. General cafeteria as our over flow space, “ she said.

Even with the prospect of the addition of permanent supportive housing units, some advocates have expressed worry at the idea of losing beds in the city’s emergency shelter system, particularly in Northwest Washington.

“I’m concerned that housing is a sufficient backup plan if La Casa goes off line,” said Scott McNeilly, staff attorney for the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, and a member of the ICH. “We need to think about a building in that area.”

And Robin Brown, program coordinator at the Harriet Tubman Womens Shelter said she was concerned that dedicating the D.C. General cafeteria to overflow beds for men could be hard on women. In the past, women have found refuge from the cold in the DC General cafeteria after being turned away from other shelters.

“I see a lot of turnaways for the women,” said Brown.

And as in previous years, finding space for homeless families remains a concern. Last winter, up to 200 homeless families were housed in rooms at DC General Hospital. And needs have steadily increased since then. Between April and June, 517 families applied for shelter, according to figures compiled by the ICH.

Work on the winter plan will continue. “This document is still very much a draft,” said Todd. Final approval is scheduled for a meeting of the Interagency Council on Homelessness to be held at 11 a.m. on September 23 at Miriam’s Kitchen, 2401 Virginia Avenue, NW.

Mayoral Candidate Vince Gray’s campaign team registers homeless voters in Franklin Square

By Brittany Pope, volunteer

On a sunny afternoon in late August, Franklin Square Park is abuzz. DC mayoral candidate, City Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray is scheduled to make an appearance, and many supporters line the benches awaiting his arrival. Despite the diversity of the crowd, they share common concerns — most are struggling with unemployment and homelessness.

Just as Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign focused largely on a desire for “change,” the same sentiment seems to be widely felt among the people gathered to await Gray. They say they hope that their issues, the needs of the homeless and poverty-stricken will be brought to the forefront of the September 14 Democratic primary race between Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Gray, his main rival. Here in this park, overlooking a former homeless shelter, discontent with the mayor seems pervasive.

“I want to see what Gray can do, how he can turn things around,” commented a woman who wished to remain anonymous. Having spent the last year homeless on the streets of DC, she has frequented the city’s homeless shelters and spoke on the “universal problems” plaguing the system, including “rodents, maintenance problems and frequent police activity.” She believes that homelessness is rapidly growing in the city, and looks to Gray for hope.

Homeless Outreach Coordinator Tony Murphy is leading the Gray campaign outreach in Franklin Square by passing out flyers and voter registration forms.

“We want to get as many people registered as we can!” he proclaims. Since 2005, Murphy has been working with the homeless and ex-offenders, engaging them in the voting process and providing transportation services to polls. He works the streets, identifying the needs and concerns of the homeless and encouraging them to vote. Murphy is convinced Gray is a man with a “vision of compassion for everyone.”

And Gray does have a long history of working with the needy. He was appointed as Director of the DC Department of Human Services in 1991, and became the first executive director of Covenant House Washington in 1995, a program that offers support, counseling, hot meals and job training to homeless teens and young adults.

The “change” these Gray supporters wish for, is a more focused attention on the plight of the poor and homeless—something they claim the Fenty administration lacks.

But Fenty has been quick to fight back when he has been accused of neglecting the poor. In an Aug 18 debate on WAMU’s Kojo Nmamdi show, Fenty accused Gray of mishandling the homeless services budget when he was head of human services.

And the Mayor often proudly points out that over the past two years, his Permanent Supportive Housing program has placed over 1,000 homeless people into apartments and provided them with services to address the problems that led to their homelessness. Fenty says his goal is to get 2,500 housing units for the homeless by 2014.

But even as he has pursued the permanent supportive housing initiative. the Mayor has also been shaking up the much-criticized DC homeless shelter system, raising anxiety among some who remain dependent upon it. Looming over Franklin Square is Franklin School, a National Historic Landmark that in 2002 was converted into a shelter for homeless men. Two years after he was elected Mayor, in 2008, Fenty closed the shelter, amid protests and street marches. Some of the men who had stayed there were moved into permanent supportive housing, but others were moved to other shelters.

Bitterness lingers among some who cite a continuing need for emergency shelters at a time when a declining economy and a national recession are pushing more individuals and families into the streets. Distrust of Fenty has been further fuelled among some gathered at Franklin Park by a flap over the city’s Summer Youth Employment Program.

“I heard Fenty was changing funding from homelessness to the youth program,” worries Street Sense vendor Mark Wole.

In August, the DC City Council blocked an effort by Fenty to shift $4.3 million in federal money for poor families to enable the youth program to run for an additional seven days. City Councilman Michael Brown said the money would be better spent housing 250 homeless families. Fenty has continued to insist the federal money was intended to fund such initiatives as the Summer Youth Employment Program.

The crown perks up when Vincent Gray arrives at Franklin Square Park, shaking hands and exchanging words with his supporters. Carlos Coleman, who is deaf, looks to Gray to create more jobs and housing for the hearing impaired.

Gray’s sparks hope in the hearts of the people in the park—maybe the change they need is fast approaching. “We are a unique population,” says the homeless woman who wishes to remain anonymous. “And we need something to suit our needs.”