Helping Other People Clothe People

Bread for the City’s clothing bank (in our Southeast center) is always hopping with fresh, free inventory and lots of folks coming through in search of business and casual wear. We get plenty of donations from the community, which we greatly appreciate.

For our allies over at So Others Might Eat, the need is more acute. SOME works with a clientele that is generally more chronically homeless than the people we see here at Bread for the City, and one of the many challenges of homelessness is that you can hardly keep clean sets of clothes lying around. (I wonder how these people in Baltimore store their running shoes.)

SOME’s Tracy Monson tells us:
“We need all types of men's summer clothing for the more than 30 gentleman whom we outfit each day.”

Contact Tracy if you’d like to donate your summer clothing.

And, because they are just that awesome, SOME let me know that other organizations like Martha’s Table are also in need.

National Poverty News Roundup for 14 July

[I'm going to be unavailable for several weeks, so these semi-weekly updates are going to go on hiatus until sometime in August. But they will resume then.]

If we take seriously two propositions about the contemporary media landscape -- that visibility is key to driving policy, and that virtual spaces are at least as important as traditional print outlets if not more important -- then it follows that online visibility for poverty and homelessness are critical to focusing public attention and crafting compelling policy solutions. I've talked about the wired-but-homeless before, but here's a different twist: courtesy Computer Sim Games, I recently found out about Alice and Kev, an experiment in The Sims 3 involving a poor and homeless family (a father and a daughter) whose creator/player is attempting "to help them survive without taking any job promotions or easy cash routes." And blogging the experience, of course. I find the unfolding story oddly compelling -- not because it is a "realistic" depiction of homelessness or poverty, of course, but because it is among the most creative uses of virtual spaces to raise awareness of these issues I have seen. Yes, it's fascinating to see people using Second Life for stakeholder conferences, and the kinds of "apps for democracy" that people are coming up with are quite innovative. But homeless sims? That's a special kind of creativity.

Speaking of policy, lots of intriguing things seem to be happening around urban policy and planning in the past few weeks. This Brookings report indicates that the populations of cities nationwide continue to grow, perhaps as people flock inwards from the suburbs in search of the employment opportunities afforded by economic diversity -- and the opportunity to cut their commute-times. How convenient, then, that the 2010 budget contains funds for a number of new inter-agency initiatives, including a renewed focus on sustainability and the revitalization of neighborhood networks. Perhaps we are seeing the instantiation of what Rob Goodspeed calls "the new normative planning," characterized by a commitment to "high density, mixed-use urbanism" and a real move away from the automobile-dependent landscape architecture of suburbs. That architecture, as we have learned, is implicated in a variety of problems, from impoverished inner cities to the need to import food from long distances away -- with a correspondingly high carbon footprint. Maybe mixed-use city spaces should press urban gardening even further, along the lines of this recent initiative to allow beekeeping within the limits of New York City. Or maybe the lessons of Will Allen's urban farming operation should be taken to heart. In any event, the kinds of cities that are being envisioned and developed will not look like the cities of the past, and with any luck, they will not be beset by the same problems of persistent poverty.

As food pantries across the country continue to report an increase in client visits, it is heartening to hear of local and federal initiatives to keep feeding families with school-aged children during the summer months when the school-year free and reduced lunch programs are on hiatus. It's heartening to hear that the G8, a summit meeting often known for a focus on macroeconomic stability, has committed to a multi-year initiative to combat global hunger. And it's deeply heartening to hear of local initiatives like this book club in Boston, primarily made up of homeless men. Such humanizing moments should not go unacknowledged or forgotten; working for the end of poverty also, and perhaps ultimately, means working for the end of a refusal to acknowledge the humanity of others, and what more human activity is there than getting together in a small group to discuss a topic of mutual interest?

Covington & Burling Recognized for Two Decades of Service

Pro Bono Counsel Anne Proctor accepts award from
Executive Director George Jones

Executive Director George Jones recognized Covington & Burling LLP yesterday for their 20 years of service to Bread for the City. Here is a quick snippet of some of Covington's great work:

• Covington provides pro bono legal counsel on a number of BFC’s corporate legal issues; including helping establish the 1986 DC Free Clinic Act, which provided us with medical malpractice coverage.

• Covington Partner Tony Herman serves on our Board of Directors, providing wisdom, guidance and fundraising prowess.

• To date, the firm and its associates have donated over a quarter million dollars to our programs.

• And Covington continues to provide Bread for the City with a loaned associate who works part-time for a six month rotation as a member of our legal team. These associates work primarily in housing law matters, preventing evictions and battling housing code violations. Heck, just last Thursday our current Covington associate, Ashley Weed, prevented the eviction of a mentally ill client from his apartment.

Thank you Tony, Anne, Ashley, and all our Covington friends for all that you do for Bread for the City. Quite simply, you’re the best.

The Future's so bleak, I gotta wear sunscreen

We recently posted about the shelter crisis in DC here at Beyond Bread – but the magnitude of the problem did not hit me until the latest request for Helping Other People Help People came in from Miriam’s Kitchen.

Ashley Lawson, Volunteer and Development Coordinator over at the Kitchen, shared with me:

Right now we need small bottles of sunscreen since most of our guests are in the hot sun all day.

For the many people who are unable to work, being without a home means having no place to go during the day- to take shelter from cold or heat, to use a bathroom, or to eat. During particularly bad summers, the “Hypothermia Hotline” becomes the Hyperthermia Hotline, allowing for a van to come pick up those in need of emergency help. Organizations like Miriam’s Kitchen, N Sreet Village, and others provide spaces for a percentage of people for have their needs met during the day, when shelters are closed.

It’s not enough.

Residents of our city are without shelter, homelessness is rising at the same time our budget for shelter has been decreasing. The funding for safety net programs is being threatened.

Help Miriam’s Kitchen protect our most vulnerable citizens by contacting Ashley, and then tell your council members that now that you’ve done your part, it’s time for them to do theirs.