Doing Great Together: DCAYA's Do More 24 Digest

"Do More 24™ is a local movement that brings together nonprofit organizations, companies, and people committed to making a difference. Through focused online giving on June 4, 2015, Do More 24 provides the opportunity for people to create solutions to our region’s most difficult social challenges by determining which issues matter most to them and channeling their funding towards tackling those problems."

Do More 24 is one day away and this year, DCAYA decided to take a step back and feature some of our members! Below you will find some amazing youth-serving organizations in DC. Browse through the stories and be sure to give to a few of your favorite organizations on Thursday June 4th for Do More 24! 

To find out how you can Do Even More 24, check out the full list of participating organizations (including DCAYA and more of our members) here!

Disclosure: The following organizations are DCAYA members who submitted content for this blog. 

Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington
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Mission Statement: The mission of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington is to help boys and girls of all backgrounds, especially those who need us most, build confidence, develop character and acquire the needed skills to be productive, civic-minded, and responsible adults.

Issue Area: Expanded Learning

Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington's Impact: 
Poetry was my outlet for everything I had inside that was negative. The first time I performed my poetry was at an event for Nick Cave through FBR Branch Boys & Girls Club. From that day on, I continued to write and perform my poetry. For 12 year old Ayanna, walking into FBR Branch, from that day on her life would be changed. Today, 17 year old Ayanna aka Sunshine is appreciative for all that they have done for her. My first program, SMART Girls, asked us for a rose as a positive event from the day, and a thorn as a negative event. Well, if you were to ask me, my past was a thorn but the Club was the bud to my rose. For a long time I was angry, but I couldn’t identify why. Maybe it was from childhood trauma, maybe it was from being teased in school. With help from Ms. Green’s many Club programs for empowering women, I realized how important I am and to cherish my life. You all don’t know how many times I’ve come to the Club ready to burst into tears and do so because to me the Club is home.

Chess Challenge
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Mission Statement: Chess Challenge in DC seeks to promote the academic, social, and leadership development of underserved youth in the District of Columbia. Using the game of chess, children learn to think strategically; develop self-discipline and positive social skills; and increase their self worth.

Issue Area: Expanded Learning

CCinDC's Impact:

Erikah M. joined CCinDC in 2009 while a fifth grader at Leckie Elementary School. She showed immediate promise as she quickly and enthusiastically grasped the basic concepts of chess and began applying the same strategic thinking to her own life. Erikah chose to remain with CCinDC after her transition to Hart Middle School where she became one of the chess team captains, assisting with student recruitment and instruction.
She continued to excel in her academics, as well as her chess skills, during her years at Hart and is now a sophomore at Banneker Academic High School, a top DC public school. Throughout Erikah’s participation in our program she was vocal about how chess positively impacted her life. We were so impressed by her accomplishments and determination to succeed that she was named the first recipient of the Chess Challenge in DC Richard England Promise Award. This year Erikah chose to fulfill community service hours by returning to our program at Hart as a volunteer. It is clear that Erikah is motivated to succeed and we know that her commitment to mastering the game of chess has helped her in this quest.

College Bound
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Mission Statement: The mission of College Bound is to prepare public and public charter school students in the metropolitan D.C. area to enter college, earn a degree, and achieve their personal and professional goals.

Issue Area: Expanded Learning

College Bound's Impact:
To be a student of College Bound meant I had to become a student first. I seldom took academics seriously and here that wasn’t an option. The culture of the students that surrounded me shocked me initially. I knew I had to make something of myself with only a little time to do so. My first step into success was actually buckling down academically; I lacked good academic news to share at site, so there stood my motivation. I had to develop a new mindset and with the help of my mentor I did just that. I’m pretty positive I would have barely made it to college without the assistance of College Bound, but I know that I would not have been prepared! I would have ended up like many students who drop-out. Instead I’m on track to attend college this fall with no reservations about what’s ahead.

 Covenant House Washington
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Mission Statement: Covenant House Washington has served over 35,000 homeless and disconnected youth within the national capital region since 1995 through a variety of different services which include a 36 bed immediate housing center, transitional housing programs, street outreach, workforce development training and job placement, education classes, prevention services program for middle and high school students, and a nationally accredited Child Development Center. Our mission is to serve homeless and disconnected young people with absolute respect and unconditional love.

Issue Areas: Youth Homelessness, Youth Workforce Development, Disconnected Youth, and Expanded Learning

Covenant House Washington's Impact:
I came to Covenant House Washington after being evicted from my home. My job at the time did not have maternity leave and once I entered my ninth month of pregnancy, they let me go. With the loss of my job I was unable to pay my rent, and eventually found myself on the street and pregnant. Looking back, that was one of the hardest times of my life. I was alone, with little money, and no place to stay for me and my son.

When I found Covenant House, I found my strength again. I felt like they were offering me a second chance at life, and this time the stakes were much higher because I had a son to take care of. I’ve learned that being on the streets can either break you or make you humble yourself toward life. I chose to humble myself and ask for help. While living at Covenant House I was able to get back on my feet and find stable employment. My goal was to not just find a job, but a career which would offer me health benefits for my son and a consistent, secure lifestyle. Nearly 9 years after first walking through the doors of Covenant House, I now have a great career as a banker and am able to care for my son without any doubts or fears for the future.

I owe a lot to Covenant House for helping me get back on my feet. They offer so many troubled young people a chance to get their lives back on track. They taught me discipline and helped me find clarity about your goals. My life is definitely better off because of it.

DC School Reform Now
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Mission Statement: DCSRN helps families, particularly in underserved communities, navigate the DC school choice application process.

Issue Area: Disconnected Youth

DCSRN's Impact:
Charles Hudson, Sr. is a military veteran and single father who lives in Ward 8 with his son CJ, a rising sixth grader who wants to be a pediatrician when he grows up. He knows how important the middle school years are for any child and wanted to find a school with a rigorous, structured academic environment that would nurture CJ’s interest in science. Before Charles received DCSRN’s free services, he knew little about the DC school choice application process. After working with one of DCSRN’s parent advocates and applying to 13 quality schools, Charles was ecstatic to learn that CJ was matched to The SEED School of Washington, DC, a quality public charter boarding school located close to where Charles and CJ currently live.

After informing his parent advocate that he lacked transportation to SEED to submit CJ’s enrollment paperwork—which parents must submit in-person during school hours—DCSRN provided him a free shuttle ride to-and-from the school. Charles was immediately impressed with the academics of the school and quickly became comfortable with the boarding aspect upon learning that the Head of School and many faculty and staff live on campus with the students. A boarding program would also enable Charles to work longer days which would allow him to afford to move sooner. This is important to him as he has safety concerns about the neighborhood in which he and CJ currently live.

Like any parent, Charles simply wants the best for his child. He is relieved to know that his son is now positioned to receive a quality education in a safe environment.­­

Fihankra Akoma Ntoaso (FAN)
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Mission Statement: Fihankra Akoma Ntoaso (FAN)'s mission is to cultivate a focus on youth well-being and positive development in an environment infused with safety, security, and love. We provide youth in foster care opportunities to gain a sense of personal and group recognition.

Issue Areas:Youth Workforce Development, Disconnected Youth and Expanded Learning

FAN's Impact:
Twelve year old Dante has been a part of the FAN program since the summer of 2013. At the time, Dante lived in a foster home with his brother Virgil. Whereas the older Virgil was soft-spoken and even-keeled, Dante was animated and boisterous. Dante loved being a kid. He would ask for help opening a juice box, or talk wondrously about cartoon he had just seen. Dante's home-life changed rapidly when he was put back into custody of his biological mother. He was forced to grow up quickly. He now rode the metro alone to school.


Whereas most other times in his life Dante had to act like an adult, his time at FAN was spent being a kid. He giggled at knock-knock jokes, and still found a sense of wonder in coloring books. He felt like he belonged with the other kids—running and playing and learning. Inside the group he felt a part of something, gaining important lessons in belonging and structure. As a result of returning to regular participation in FAN’s after school program, Dante’s mother reports that his school performance and behavior improved to the point that he was named student of the week at school.

For Love of Children (FLOC)
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Mission Statement: For Love of Children (FLOC) provides educational services beyond the classroom to help students succeed from first grade through college and career. FLOC brings together students, volunteers, families, and community partners in proven programs that teach, empower, and transform.

Issue Areas: Disconnected Youth and Expanded Learning

FLOC's Impact:
A’Tyra first came to the FLOC Scholars program two years ago when she was a freshman in high school. She was a shy young lady and it took her some time to warm up to staff and other students. A’Tyra was not planning on going to college; she wanted to go into the military. Eventually, staff started to realize that A’tyra’s shyness might be stemming from the fact that she was several years behind in reading and math. She struggled in school her first year of high school and ended up repeating the 9th grade.

Unfortunately, last year was no better. A’Tyra was looking at repeating the 9th grade again and started talking to staff about dropping out of school if she had to be in the 9th grade for the third time. FLOC staff supported her mom in finding another high school for her to transfer to and encouraged her to enroll in NTP.

This year A’Tyra is at a new school, at FLOC three nights a week (NTP and Scholars) and has made the honor roll. She is in the 9th grade for the 3rd time but with additional support she is finding confidence in herself. When asked this year what she plans to do after high school she said, “I want to go to college now, I am thinking about becoming a lawyer!” Even though she is tired from all of the work she is putting into school, she is not giving up. A’Tyra is persevering and moving towards her goals.

Homeless Children’s Playtime Project
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Mission Statement: Homeless Children's Playtime Project's mission is to send children experiencing homelessness to camp experiences they'll remember for a lifetime and to nurture healthy child development and reduce the effects of trauma among children living in temporary housing programs through our 18 weekly programs in Washington D.C.

Issue Areas: Youth Homelessness and Expanded Learning.

Homeless Children Playtime Project's Impact:
My name is Jaclyn Borowski and I have been a Site Captain with Playtime at the Turning Point Center for Women & Children for 1.5 years. I joined Playtime because I was new to the area, had always enjoyed working with children and was looking for an opportunity to give back. A few months after joining Playtime, a 4-year-old boy named "Marquan" joined our program. Initially when we tried to get him to participate in activities with the other children, he'd lash out and throw things and scream and run back and forth, working himself into a frenzy. After our Site Manager did a developmental screening that led to an evaluation, we learned that he was on the autism spectrum. It was amazing how much changed once we understood Marquan's needs and how much more we could appreciate his progress!

Marquan started receiving help through school and the results have been tremendous. He now interacts with the other kids in the sweetest ways, telling one girl that her hair looks nice, asking another boy if he'd like to play. Marquan has learned my name and is now able to look at me and engage with me in ways that I never would've imagined before. The progress we've seen in the last year has been a true testament to the benefits of early childhood intervention.

Hope and a Home
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Mission Statement: Hope and a Home empowers low-income families with children in D.C. to create stable homes of their own and to make lasting changes in their lives. We seek to break the cycle of poverty for qualified families through the programs and services we offer.

Issue Area: Youth Homelessness

Hope and a Home's Impact:
LaTrice was a 2nd semester high school senior when she and her family entered Hope and a Home. She failed to meet the requirements for graduation so Hope and a Home assigned her a tutor to help her over the summer. She went on to receive a high school diploma and was accepted to Livingstone College on a full scholarship arranged by Hope and a Home and the Mike Young Education Fund. We are happy to report she’s just completed her sophomore year and has been on the Dean’s List each semester. She also was an RA this year and will continue in that role during her junior year.

Kid Power
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Mission Statement: Kid Power inspires youth leadership by promoting academic advancement, physical and emotional wellness, and positive civic engagement in underserved communities throughout the District of Columbia.

Issue Area: Expanded Learning

Kid Power's Impact:
Felicity joined Kid Power in 2004 as a 4th grader at Miner Elementary, a school in a high crime neighborhood with struggling test scores and student achievement rates. Felicity often found herself in trouble for speaking out of turn and getting into verbal altercations with her peers. With the Kid Power’s commitment to one-one-one mentoring and belief in meeting students where they are academically and emotionally, Kid Power staff worked closely with Felicity to help channel her passion, energy, and strong will. Through Kid Power’s innovative after-school and summer programs, Felicity developed a strong love for acting and an awareness of her personal social responsibility of being a good citizen and neighbor.

Over the years, she became a fearless leader, pioneering the youth-led social entrepreneurial project CookieTime, and a talented actress, earning leading roles in a variety of productions. Felicity attended Duke Ellington School for the Arts and just finished her sophomore year at Emerson College for performing arts in Boston! She has continued to volunteer with Kid Power and is an integral part of the Kid Power family. Felicity recently told her mother that she wants to work for an organization that gives back to the community because she is passionate about helping others the way Kid Power helped her and her peers.

Latin American Youth Center (LAYC)
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Mission Statement: The mission of the Latin American Youth Center (LAYC) is to empower a diverse population of youth to achieve a successful transition to adulthood through multi-cultural, comprehensive, and innovative programs that address youths' social, academic, and career needs.

Issue Areas: Youth Homelessness, Youth Workforce Development, Disconnected Youth, and Expanded Learning.

LAYC's Impact:
Life made Alejandra, 21, grow up rather quickly. Just before her 15th birthday, Alejandra's mother was deported to Mexico and she went to live with her their father, who had been absent for most of Alejandra's life. Alejandra got a job, sometimes two, as a dishwasher and prep cook to help support the family. A short three months later, Alejandra's father kicked her out because Alejandra is gay.

For the next few months, Alejandra slept in her car, laundromats in apartment complexes, the park, and later with friends or observant teachers. After three months of uncertainty, the family of one of her friends opened their home to her, and she has been living with the family ever since. Around this time, Alejandra came to the Latin American Youth Center and began to work with a case manager. Alejandra continued to go to high school while working overnight, and she graduated on time. "Without LAYC, I may not have ever finished high school," said Alejandra.

An artist, Alejandra has been attending a community college, and has completed three semesters worth of general studies toward her Bachelor's degree. Alejandra just received a full college scholarship for the strength of her character and her artwork. Alejandra will pursue a Bachelor of Arts in the fall and hopes to one day run an art therapy studio for homeless youth.

Sasha Bruce Youthwork
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Mission Statement: Sasha Bruce Youthwork (SBY) meets the urgent needs of disconnected youth and their families by providing safe homes, life skills, and workforce development programs throughout the D.C. Metro area.

Issue Areas: Youth Homelessness, Youth Workforce Development, and Disconnected Youth

SBY's Impact:
Raynice was a teenage mother in a tough spot. Sleeping on a hard floor with her newborn child, living with grandparents, and trying to finish school seemed overwhelming.

But this did not stop her. Raynice graduated high school at the top of her class, and began college. But at nineteen years old, another challenge came. Raynice lost both her mother and grandmother within two weeks of one another. With support suddenly gone, she found a family shelter. Soon after, she came to Sasha Bruce. Raynice found stability at SBY for her and her daughter, along with staff that, in her own words, “have become like my family, my new support system”.

Raynice is now a senior at Trinity Washington University studying Business Administration, with an International Affairs minor. Her story reminds us; the call to connect youth to opportunities is necessary. In her own words: “Sasha Bruce is helping me break the cycle in my family, giving me a new opportunity to become what I aspire most to be: a great mom, the first person to graduate college in my family, and an entrepreneur.”Now, Raynice can extend a hand to someone else in need. And her daughter can too.

Year Up National Capital Region
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Mission Statement: Year Up’s mission is to close the Opportunity Divide by providing urban young adults with the skills, experience, and support that will empower them to reach their potential through professional careers and higher education. We achieve this mission through a high support, high expectation model that combines marketable job skills, stipends, internships and college credits.

Issue Area: Youth Workforce Development

Year Up's Impact:
The "most important thing I have learned on this journey is that it takes hard work and dedication to be successful and that you have to lead by example." said James McGriff, a graduate of Year Up National Capital Region Class of July 2013. James came from "an environment where all [he'd] seen was hardship." James said that he "still had high expectations for [himself]." He enrolled in Year Up, and "the technical and business skills [he] gained at Year Up helped [him] get an internship at FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority)." James now works at FINRA as a full-time Desktop Support Specialist. He is also enrolled at Prince George's Community College.

Young Playwrights’ Theater
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Mission Statement: Young Playwrights’ Theater inspires young people to realize the power of their own voices. By teaching students to express themselves through the art of playwriting, YPT develops students’ language skills, and empowers them with the creativity, confidence and critical thinking skills they need to succeed in school and beyond.

Issue Area: Expanded Learning

Young Playwrights' Theater's Impact:
"Everything is real. It’s not made up.”

Dominique Butler has powerful stories to tell, and he tells them with authenticity and emotional honesty. I was thirteen [when I started writing],” he says. “My grandfather passed away, so the only thing for me to get over it was just to write.”

Dominique started writing poems and stories, then got a chance to write his first play in YPT’s In-School Playwriting Program. He seized the opportunity and wrote a play called Like Father, Like Son, about a young man whose father is in and out of prison. The play resonated with readers and was selected to be featured in YPT’s 2015 New Play Festival. When Dominique found out that professional actors would be performing his words onstage, he was blown away.“I really couldn’t believe it,” he says. “This is the first time that something like this has happened to me. I didn’t really think nobody wanted to listen, for real.”Now that Dominique knows the world is listening, he is eager to keep writing. He has plans to attend college soon, and when he does will keep in mind one crucial lesson he learned from this process: “My story matters.”

To find out how you can Do Even More 24, check out the full list of participating organizations (including more DCAYA members) here!

Oh SNAP! What can you really buy for $4.15?

Photo found on the USDA webpage "Supplementary Food Assistance Program"

On the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) webpage there is a colorful picture of a mom holding a baby and picking up a red apple with bright green veggies in the background. Under the picture there is a description, “SNAP offers nutrition assistance to millions of eligible, low-income individuals and families and provides economic benefits to communities.” SNAP, formerly known as the federal Food Stamp Program, is supposed to act as a safety net for financially struggling families who cannot afford food.

Our friends at the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project took on the “SNAP Challenge" a week long educational exercise where participants can only spend $4.15* a day on food, simulating a SNAP food budget.

The Playtime Project staff shared with us their reflections during their in-office "SNAP Challenge":

Grocery item #1: Oodles of Noodles, $0.67

I am doing the Food Stamp challenge for lunch this week and was not prepared for how impractical it is to eat lunch for $2.50. I went to the grocery store and looked at a cucumber for some veggies...more than $2.00. I went to the canned bean aisle. Again, most of the beans were more than $2.00! I got the beans thinking I would divide it up for a couple meals with rice. The next morning as I was dashing out the door, I realized I needed to season my bland lunch so I sauteed a slice of onion and bell pepper. If I really wanted to save money, I would have to buy dry beans and bulk to soak them. I don't feel like I have the time and patience to do that now, so how practical is it for single parents in homeless shelters to soak beans and saute vegetables on their way out the door?

As I looked around the store feeling more and more deflated about my options, I could "get" in a more visceral way, how much sense it makes to buy "Oodles of Noodles," chips and soda to keep bellies full. It takes energy and time and creative thinking to cook healthy food on a budget and I could feel myself giving up and giving in to what is more practical for a busy live. It is easy to take for granted how many choices money can buy.

- Jamila Larson, Executive Director and Co-founder

Grocery Item #2: Elbow Macaroni, $2.88

As I think over the past couple of days during the Food Stamp Challenge, I have a greater appreciation for the quality and abundance of food I have been privileged to have over the years. Shopping on $22.50 for the week was difficult. While I usually purchase numerous fresh fruit and vegetables, I realized that on a food stamp budget that just wouldn't be possible. Instead I purchased items that I felt would keep me full for the week. That meant a lot of carbs (with rice and pasta), and canned chili/beans. The items I bought did not provide a lot of diversity for meals, I was going to have rice or noodles for the next week.

- Joel Schwarz, Development Manager 

Grocery Item #3: Dried Bag of Black Beans, $1.72

As a employee for a direct service and advocacy organization working with families experiencing homelessness, I consider myself to be relatively well informed about the diverse and broad issues affecting the homeless population. That being said, participating in the SNAP challenge has given me a greater appreciation for the daily challenges that living in poverty brings. The foods which were most affordable and within my budget for the week were those that required a lot of preparation - a bag of dried beans, rice, pasta, and soup. I am fortunate to live in a house with an appropriate kitchen and 9-5 job that afforded me the time and resources to make those decisions. I'm also a single, young professional without children, whose needs I would also need to meet. It is hard to imagine a family that might have the time and energy to make the same food choices that I had made. Week after week, month after month, it is easy to understand that individuals and families would prioritize getting children to and from school, after school programs, searching for an apartment or job, and other necessary tasks over elaborate meal preparations.

It is no surprise that children who experience homelessness go hungry at 2 times the rate of their housed peers. Obesity and nutritional deficiencies are common among the children we serve, but I find that it is the limited choice in food and nutrition over lack of will that contributes to the problem.

- Kelli Beyer, Communications and Outreach Manager

*SNAP benefits are affected by a person’s income, number of family members, additional assistance benefits, and a variety of other factors that require complex calculation. $4.15 represents the average daily benefit.

This piece is part of our month long blog series for "Homeless Youth Awareness Month." Continue reading to learn more about the challenges homeless youth face in the District. A special thank you to Homeless Children's Playtime Project for sharing their experiences with us during Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week.  Read the Playtime Project's blog to learn more about their ongoing work to bring healthy play experiences to children experiencing homelessness. 

Interview with Jamila Larson - Fight for Our District's Children

This fall, the DC Alliance of Youth Advocates turns 10! On September 26th, youth advocates, business leaders, and councilmembers will come together to celebrate the accomplishments of the past and our aspirations for the future. As a coalition, DCAYA’s story lies in the experiences of our members who make up the collective power of the alliance. Each week leading up to the 10-Year Anniversary Celebration, we will feature an interview from an advocate or young person who helped build DCAYA into the strong coalition it is today. PURCHASE TICKETS

Jamila Larson has worked side-by-side with the DC Alliance of Youth Advocates to gather support and draft local legislation that will prevent and protect vulnerable youth from sexual exploitation.

Join Jamila and DCAYA at the 10 Year Anniversary and meet the inspiring executive director who is changing the law to better the lives of DC youth.  More about the DCAYA 10 Year Anniversary.

The following interview has been edited for length.
________________________________________________________________

Why did you start Homeless Children’s Playtime Project?

When I was working for the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF) in the mid 90’s, the CCNV shelter was only a block away from my office. I heard in the newspaper that a child discovered a woman’s dead body in the bathroom, where she had died of whooping cough. So I figured the least I can do is walk over on my lunch break and check things out and see what we can do at CDF. I took a walk there thinking I’d head up a toy drive for the holidays. So I visited and really wasn’t prepared for what I saw: Rows of metal bunk beds, sheets for doors, children languishing in the hallways half dressed, not a single toy, just a smoky TV lounge for adults. I asked the woman giving me the tour if anyone ever donated any toys; she said, “Yeah, from time to time, but we keep them locked in a closet so the kids don’t make a mess.” That’s when I realized that it really wasn’t going to do enough just to donate toys, that we actually needed to donate ourselves and advocate for child-friendly spaces in family shelters.

At that point, the demographics of homelessness were shifting more towards families and away from single men. Since then it’s just been growing, and now for the first time in history, families with children make up the majority of homeless people in DC. It’s really been shocking as housing prices have skyrocketed over the past decade and families have really been squeezed out of the housing market.

So, we started setting up playrooms in shelters and staffing them with dedicated volunteers that we trained, trying to accommodate requests from other shelters the best we could. Now we serve about 600 children a year at five different shelters through thirteen weekly programs. The social justice component is very important to our mission and we try to educate our volunteers and empower our parents to speak out every year about the city’s budget to try to make a difference in expanding affordable housing opportunities for families. (We want to work ourselves out of business.)

What do you see in the kids you work with?

I was at DC General last night and it always impacts me to go there because it’s kind of like ground zero for family homelessness in DC. I see so many precious children with boundless energy and boundless potential stuck in a situation beyond their control. One of the young people that I saw last night was the brother of the sex trafficking victim (see story below) and he has been in the shelter for about two years now. He’s 17, he’s a senior in high school this year and he just looks beaten down. He’s just been there for a really long time, he’s been through a lot in his life, and especially these last two years. He was helping his mom look for his sister when the police wouldn’t. I remember him when he was in elementary school, when virtually every young child has so much joy and so much hope for the future. When you ask any kid in elementary school what they want to be when they grow up, they are in touch with their boundless potential. To see their worlds become more defined as they become older, confined by the poor quality of their schools, by expectations of society, lack of opportunity, by the compounding years of trauma that they’ve had to go through; it really wears all but the most hearty souls down and you can really see it in their faces.

How did you begin working closely with DCAYA?

We have been members for a number of years, but it wasn’t until the incident a year ago when one of our teens went missing, that I really realized I needed to reach out to DCAYA. They had far more expertise than I did in terms of the legislative issues that affect youth.

[Background: A 14-year-old girl Jamila knew from Homeless Children’s Playtime Project went missing from DC General. She was eventually found, sex trafficked out to LA. For full details, read Jamila’s blog “Missing: The Will to Find & Protect Our Missing Youth.”]

I think I’m fairly used to encountering road blocks in the field, but this was more devastating than any I had ever encountered. The concept of a child in our nation’s capital going missing and being in danger and not having her hometown look for her was incredibly jarring and really hard to swallow. This was a child I knew from the first grade. The fact that she was in the worst situation you could possibly imagine and literally, her hometown didn’t care because they weren’t looking for her; the silence was scary to me. Then, when we finally went up the chain of command and met with [authorities], that was even more upsetting because I felt so disrespected and dismissed, almost like I was on trial. Even worse was the way they spoke about the child and her family. I then understood another layer of how these systems interact with these vulnerable children and families…the reception that they get, the attitude, the judgment was really shocking. I felt like I was up against this machine and it felt impenetrable. It felt like a really lonely battle.

We were fortunate to find this child and bring her home, but we don’t just want to care about one kid and check that box. Once we discover an injustice that disproportionately affects our children, we want to do what we can to speak out to make sure that changes are made and lessons are learned from the neglectful way that this case was handled.

So the more you dig, the more you see, and it’s really ugly and scary and it’s been an issue that’s grabbed me and I felt quickly in over my head. Then I met with Maggie (the executive director of DCAYA) to have coffee and talk about this case and ask her for help. Venting about the case to Maggie was just so refreshing because you never know when you have coffee with someone what would come of it. Maggie was able to hook me up with Katie (a policy analyst at DCAYA) who really has the policy expertise and strategy to know how to build coalitions and how to tackle something like this. Katie started setting up meetings with legislative folks in the Wilson Building and wanted me to tell my story.

What was so amazing was the Council folks like Mary Cheh and others responded to our call for help and agreed with us that changes needed to be made to the law. Now we’re just hammering out the details to the “The Prevention of Minors Sex Trafficking” legislation. It’s just the most humbling experience to start with one of the most troubling and worst cases that I’ve experienced in my 18 years as a social worker and then actually connect with the people who can help change the laws to prevent other children from being lost. It is just extraordinary. I can’t imagine a more powerful ending to the story, to change the law on behalf of not just one, but hundreds of children every year in our city who go missing.

A special thank you to Jamila Larson for being a part of the 10 Year Anniversary Celebration. Your passion and commitment to the youth of DC is an inspiring example of true advocacy. Join Jamila and DCAYA on September 26th and help homeless youth fulfill their bright futures.

For more on youth issues in DC you can FOLLOW us on Twitter,LIKE us on Facebook,SUBSCRIBE to this Blog and VISIT us at www.dc-aya.org.

Services - Not Prosecutions - For Victims of Child Sex Trafficking

Last year, the DC Alliance of Youth Advocates published a blog by Jamila Larson, the Executive Director of the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project: “MISSING: The Will to Find & Protect Our Exploited Youth”. A young girl who Jamila had worked with in the past, Shawna, had been missing for months. While searching for Shawna with the girl’s family, Jamila found many holes in the safety net meant to keep vulnerable, unstably-housed children safe. In the end, social workers found Shawna across the country, being pimped out for commercial sex. Shawna was only 14 years old. Read the full story.

Right now, DC’s current policy and procedures toward child sex trafficking victims only worsens the exploitation of young people. As policy stands:

• A minor, like Shawna, who cannot even consent to sex due to her age, can be arrested and charged for being pimped out or engaging in survival sex. 
• When a young person in the child welfare system (CFSA) or the juvenile justice system (DYRS) is trafficked for commercial sex across the country, that child is considered to be “absconding” or a “placement violation.” The young person is not considered “missing.” 
• Service providers who work most closely with at-risk minors may not file a missing persons report, even if they know a minor is missing and has possibly been trafficked. 

On July 10th the Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety is holding a public hearing on the “Sex Trafficking of Minors Prevention Amendment Act,” a bill which aims to overhaul these policies.

Overall, the bill focuses on common sense approaches to minors who are sexually exploited for commercial gain. By following a rights-based framework that values service provisions over arrests and detention, the bill aligns DC law with federal law and works to identify minors who are being trafficked or are at-risk of being trafficked.

There are still relatively minor provisions within the bill that DCAYA recommends changing, but overall it is an excellent bill.   You can find the full outline of the “Sex Trafficking of Minors Prevention Amendment Act” here.

The advocates, policy organizations, direct service providers, law firms, and government agencies behind the “Sex Trafficking of Minors Prevention Act,” realize that DC needs to immediately improve how victims of child sex trafficking are treated. On July 10th Shawna’s cry for help will finally be listened to.

If you would like to testify at the hearing with DCAYA and supporters please contact Katie Dunn at katie@dc-aya.org.



DCAYA brought together many local and national organizations specialized in addressing cases of child sex trafficking to craft the legislation including: Homeless Children’s Playtime Project, Fair Girls, Sasha Bruce, HIPS, and Courtney’s House, Polaris Project, Rights 4 Girls, the Renewal Forum, Amara Legal Center, The Human Trafficking Pro Bono Center, and members of the Human Trafficking Taskforce of the DMV. The bill was written and vetted by the offices of Councilmembers McDuffie, Grosso, Wells, and Cheh-- and tweaked through feedback from the Metropolitan Police Department, Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, the Child and Family Services Agency and the Office of the Deputy Mayor of Public Safety and Justice.

A Mom's Testimony

DC Alliance of Youth Advocates will post captivating, moving, and educational testimonies throughout the Performance Oversight and Budget hearing season. To watch the full hearings visit the DC Council website: http://dccouncil.us/videos/archive/. 

A young mom of four from Northwest, DC put her own well-being at risk to avoid raising children in a shelter situation. It wasn’t until her son was the target of her husband’s aggression that she reported the abuse and sought help. For thirty days, the DC mom and her children were placed in a hotel room, after which she had to find alternative accommodations.  Her only resort was to rely on a friend, who had five children of her own. The overcrowded apartment became too much, once again, she is left finding shelter this winter for her and her family. A situation she never wanted her children to endure. Listen to the mother's testimony below:

The video is pixelated to protect the privacy of the public witness.
 

While heartbreaking, this story is sadly not unusual. There are a record number of D.C. families seeking shelter this winter, 50% of those families headed by a parent 24 years of age or younger. Marta Bersen from the Washington Legal Clinic identified driving factors in her testimony, as well as solutions she believed the Department of Human Services (DHS) should adopt to halt the crisis in the short term and remedy the problems in the long term. Watch Marta Bersen's testimony here. 

Councilmember Jim Graham asked the Director of the DHS, David Berns, how much it is costing the city to react to the homeless crisis. Director Berns stated that it is hard to tell, but cost was clearly a factor when the DHS made the decision to start using cots at recreation centers to house the overflow. According to Director Berns,  “Once we switched from making the placements into the hotels and into the rec centers the demand has virtually disappeared.”. Watch David Bern's full response here.

While opening the Parks and Rec Centers may have seemed like a quick fix to Director Berns, both Marta and Jamila Larson from the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project mentioned the fear families have regarding their children sleeping next to strangers. Marta explained, “The law requires the safety, health, and stability of homeless children. Most families have left the rec center after staying one or two nights. This means that while they felt unsafe staying in their cars, at Union Station, with abusers, or in ER rooms, they felt less safe sharing space with strangers in DC rec centers.” Watch Jamilia Larson's testimony here.

The mother echoed this point at the end of her testimony as she broke down from the weight of her dire situation, “I would have endured getting hit every day than to be homeless with four children. Because that’s hard. To be with your four children and not know where you’re going to be next.”.* 

*DCAYA would like to clarify that individuals in domestic violence situations are encouraged to seek domestic violence services as some resources are available. Please contact DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence or MPD Domestic Violence Unit if you are experiencing domestic violence.

For more on youth issues in DC you can FOLLOW us on Twitter, LIKE us on Facebook, SUBSCRIBE to this blog and VISIT us at www.dc-aya.org.

MISSING: The Will to Find & Protect Our Exploited Youth

Our nation's capital has one of the highest rates of domestic child sex trafficking in the nation, according to the FBI. I only learned this after a 14-year-old child I have known since the first grade, “Shawna,” was found alone in a Los Angeles hotel room this spring after missing for weeks.  Through her, I found out about this dangerous and flourishing world. Then, I found out about something even more disturbing. Our community leaders and residents do not care enough about these kids to devote the resources to find them. The systemic neglect that we tolerate feels like a betrayal that rivals the crime.  

I have known Shawna since she was 6-years-old when I worked at her school in southeast Washington, DC. She had more personality than Rudy Huxtable, as she bounded down the hallway, her uniform perfectly pressed and her hair in neat twists bouncing behind her. You could see the warm confidence in her eyes. No matter what life handed her -- father in jail, homelessness, bullet through her kitchen window as she did the dishes -- she reached beyond the “survival mode” typical of her peers and was always helping other people. I was stunned when she went missing, and troubled that despite the dangers facing Shawna, the system let her down. The many holes in the legal, political, human resource, and law enforcement systems leave so many young people vulnerable to the worst kinds of crime against children.  

In our community, young teens go missing every day. "Runaways" are particularly vulnerable to predators who exploit their need for love, protection, housing and belonging. Dismissed as “bad kids,” their needs are often misunderstood and judgments are made about their families. According to the National Runaway Switchboard, an estimated one-third of the 2.8 million youth who flee their homes each year in our country are lured into prostitution within 48 hours of going missing. Many face turmoil at home and their families may not have the resources they need to find their child and bring them back to safety.

Who are these children? Sadly, the public doesn’t know. Go to the DC Police website and you won’t find names or photos of any missing children. If one digs deep enough, there is eventually a link to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), our country’s premiere nonprofit organization designed to help find and bring children home. However, its missing children list is woefully outdated. For most of this year, there were just three photos of missing DC youth, one of whom is a woman whose dead body was found three years ago (and is still listed as missing). The other two are infants, one of whom went missing in 1983. A 14 and 15-year-old were recently listed as "endangered runaways," missing since July and October 2013. Yet there is no press about these two girls or any of the other youth in similar peril anywhere except the notices tucked away on this webpage. How can anyone claim that our community cares about our children going missing when we don’t even show their faces?

A disproportionate number of runaway and homeless youth have been kicked out of their homes for being gay or transgender. Many other kids have been suspended or expelled from school like Shawna was when she went missing. School suspension policies that leave children wandering the streets contribute to their vulnerability to sex trafficking. Many older youth who are abused or neglected don’t show up at the door of the child welfare system. Our city leaders do not seem to understand that teens do not always fit into boxes. For youth who cannot stay with their families, there is a housing shortage resulting in hundreds being turned away from youth shelters each year, some as young as 12 years old. When this happens, many end up finding shelter through “survival sex” in exchange for a bed. 

When Shawna's mom felt like DC police were not taking her daughter's case seriously, her tiny room in DC’s largest family homeless shelter became "central command." She made her own missing person posters, fielded calls about sightings and tips herself, and followed up on leads at all hours of the night. “We encourage families to conduct their own search efforts,” a police lieutenant explained to me. During her search, Shawna’s mom had a hard time eating and sleeping. She was literally on her own and missed weeks of work without pay. Shawna's two worried brothers also missed school, becoming “detectives,” searching for their sister around town and putting up missing person posters. The eldest brother even planned to be the runner to rescue his sister should she be spotted. "I ran track for two years," he explained, "so we decided I'll be the runner." Every time mom got a tip, she would rush the boys into a car she borrowed, pick up their father, and drive to whatever scary park some stranger thought Shawna was spotted.

Although Shawna had run away for a day or two before, her mom knew this time was different. None of her friends had seen her and Shawna had told several of them she was going to Atlanta or Las Vegas to become a model. This alarming lead compelled me to file a report with NCMEC who was in the process of generating a flyer that would be shared beyond our jurisdiction. Surprisingly, the DC police department was not similarly moved by reports that Shawna might be outside the area to initiate a broader search beyond the city. Moreover, I was told they do not generally inform families of their right to report a missing child case to NCMEC in order to prevent the organization from being overwhelmed.

After Shawna was found by child welfare authorities in California, I sought help from many amazing local and national organizations that specialize in sex trafficking. Following dozens of conflicting phone calls, I learned that unless Shawna was abandoned by her family, got arrested, or ended up overseas, there were no funds to help her get home. Even with a master’s degree in social work, I got so tangled up in the many bureaucracies that my head still hurts. Parents battling poverty need to work extra hard and so do agencies helping them to bridge critical gaps. How can one expect a parent in crisis to take the lead on managing a search without support? One hotline worker actually suggested that Shawna, a teenage victim of sex trafficking, could take Greyhound and travel alone for 65 hours cross-country from California to DC. In the end, the volunteers with our organization that runs a teen program in the shelter raised money to buy Shawna’s plane ticket and bring her home.

Nothing of substance came from my meeting with the DC police and the Mayor’s Office for Public Safety. When I asked why 14-year-old Shawna did not get a missing person poster or mom did not get a return phone call for ten days, all I heard from them was victim blaming and a full-throated defense of the bureaucracy. The homeless working mother of three was criticized for not reporting the case immediately and for reporting it to the wrong agency. When police were not able to reach her by phone, why didn't they make a simple home visit to get the case moving for Shawna? They knew where her mom lived – the D.C General Emergency Family Shelter.

The police even criticized Shawna for telling her pimp that she had permission to go to California and for not being forthcoming with authorities, which anyone in the field will tell you is “textbook” behavior. I’ve learned enough about this issue to know that the dynamics of sex trafficking mean that you should expect the girls to lie about what happened. Under federal law, it does not matter if the child is a willing participant or crosses statelines. A majority of victims show anallegiance to their pimps and do not cooperate in the investigationinitially. Most victims were sexually abused as children and have estranged relationships with their parents, which makes them vulnerable to exploitation even if they do not realize it. Survivors often go back to their pimps and run away repeatedly until they get the help they need and are ready to take the road to recovery. These cases are often complex and can be difficult to investigate, prove and prosecute. But, that does not mean we should give up on any child or toss the case aside because it's too hard.

If our community really cares about child victims of sex trafficking, one would see pictures of missing kids on telephone poles instead of just missing dogs. There would be no need for the website BlackAndMissing.org to bring attention to the cases of missing African Americans. There would be pictures of local missing youth plastered on the ad space in the Metro trains and in the newspaper. We would hear weekly updates on missing kids on the local evening news. Pictures would be prominently featured on the homepage of the DC police department website and social media, and flyers would be readily available.

Shared Hope International, an organization that works to strengthen trafficking laws and build better policies to protect victims and prosecute traffickers, buyers, and facilitators, gave DC a “D” rating this year. While some progress has been made, we as a community can make a much stronger commitment to confronting child sex trafficking in our city. We can crack down on the online purchasing of commercial sex acts and devote more resources to the investigation and prosecution of these crimes. We can mandate a missing and rescued children reporting system, require law enforcement training, and other common sense laws that many other states have enacted.

Tonight, on K Street and all around our area, children coerced into prostitution will be working. Adult men will rape them, and the worst these perpetrators can expect is a modest fine, not much more than if they ran a red light. There is no fear of being charged with statutory rape; our laws do not differentiate between buying sex with an adult and buying sex with a minor. And yet children as young as thirteen are still being thrown in jail in DC on prostitution charges, treated as criminals instead of victims.

Courtney’s House is a survivor-run organization that provides life-saving support services to help children recover from sex trafficking.  Their outreach program searches the streets and the internet for suspected victims or children at risk of being trafficked. Director Tina Frundt welcomes new youth from across the region to the house every day with the magical combination of unconditional love and tough love. She told Shawna, “You can run, but I can run faster.” Isn’t that the message we, as a community, should send to our children? That no matter what, we will look for them, and we will bring them home?

In the District of Columbia, there's a hole in our safety net literally big enough for missing children to disappear through. We're not talking about a missing wallet; we're talking about a person. When a child is missing in our community, no matter his or her life circumstances, shouldn't it be personal for all of us?

In addition to being an amazing writer and powerful voice for some of our most vulnerable youth, Jamila Larson is the Executive Director of the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project . This incredible program, and both their amazing staff and dedicated volunteers  make sure that regardless of housing status, DC children and youth have the chance to play, explore, grow, and thrive. 

For more on youth issues in DC you can FOLLOW us on Twitter, LIKE us on Facebook, SUBSCRIBE to this blog and VISIT us at www.dc-aya.org.