REALCHANGE May 20 – 26, 2020 $2 CASHorVENMO MAY 20 – 26, 2020 n VOLUME 27 NUMBER 21 n REALCHANGENEWS.ORG VENDORS BUY THIS PAPER FOR 60¢ AND KEEP ALL THE PROCEEDS. PLEASE PURCHASE FROM VENDORS WITH LAVENDER 2020 BADGES. $100,000 $90,000 $80,000 $70,000 LINE, COLOR $60,000 $50,000 $40,000 AND CULTURE $30,000 Angelina Villalobos paints the world with wild, magical tones, p.6 $20,000 $10,000 SPRING FUND DRIVE Your support will help us get through this rough time. Please contribute to help us reach our $100,000 goal, p.2 FUNDING DOWN, NEEDS UP King County is facing a $79 million shortfall in the general fund, p.3 UNLIKELY ALLIES HATCH A PLAN The Third Door Coalition proposes a $1.6 billion recipe to end chronic homelessness, p.4 ‘NICKEL BOYS’ ADDS UP We review Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about an infamous boys school, p.8 REALCHANGE REALCHANGE 2 SPRING FUND DRIVE May 20 – 26, 2020 May 20 – 26, 2020 NEWS 3 Real Change exists to provide opportunity and a voice for low-income and homeless REPORTER’S people while taking action for economic, NOTEBOOK social and racial justice. Real Change offices 219 First Ave. S., Suite 220 Seattle, WA 98104 Contact 206.441.3247, www.realchangenews.org Longtime and confusion Real Change BOARD OF DIRECTORS Yolanda Altamirano (President), Malou Chávez, vendor Ad- ov. Jay Inslee announced a new Shelly Cohen, Matthew Hayashi, dis Michael contact-tracing program that will Hannah Hunthausen, Pamela Kliment, Jim Lauinger, Maria Elena Ramirez, Mary Riski Jr. speaks to G identify coronavirus patients a group of and those who have come into contact EDITORIAL STAFF students in with them in an effort to safely open more Staff Reporter Ashley Archibald File photo by Jon Williams Editor Lee Nacozy Occidental businesses in the state. Features Reporter Kamna Shastri Park for the There are 1,371 contact tracers Art Director Jon Williams Homeless trained in the state as of May 12, includ- REAL CHANGE STAFF Speakers ing members of the National Guard and Circulation Specialist Wes Browning Bureau. ‘The news is not good.’ the Department of Licensing and local Organizer Evelyn Chow health officials. They will interview coro- Volunteer Manager Katie Comboy Photo by Jon Managing Director Shelley Dooley Williams, 2015 navirus patients to get names of people Communications and Development with whom they have been in close Associate Alexis Estrada contact. Those exposed will be asked to Founding Director Timothy Harris $397 million lost from metro Field Organizer Neal Lampi stay inside for at least two weeks after Vendor Program Manager Rebecca Marriott the date they interacted with the person Lead Organizer Tiffani McCoy WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER $42 million from behavioral health services Vendor Case Manager Ainsley Meyer who was sick. Office Manager Ari Shirazi Your Spring Fund Drive gift keeps Real Change strong in uncertain times The identity of the sick person will be Development Director Camilla Walter $79 million from the general fund between 2020-2022 kept confidential, according to a release t’s been a rough few months for Real Change vendors, but is a bright light at the end of this tunnel. This world operates best by the Governor’s Office, but tracers VOLUNTEERS Editorial Committee Susan Storer Clark, hard times are always easier when you’ve got friends. when we help each other.” will ask for age, ethnicity, address and Laura Ditsch, Willie Jones, James Jenkins, Dagmar Your support has allowed us to distribute food, hygiene We have much work to do, and the stakes are high. gender. Matheny, Paige Owens, Tiron Rowe I supplies and gift and cash cards while our vendors are out of work. The coronavirus disproportionately threatens homeless According to a survey conducted by Contributing Writers Rabbi Olivier BenHaim, Your messages to individual vendors and continued volunteer people and communities of color, and recent progress toward National Public Radio, states had plans Hanna Brooks Olsen, Wes Browning, work have told them they are loved and cared for, even when they adequate shelter and hygiene resources falls dramatically short to put more than 66,000 people to work John Helmiere, Michelle Galluzzo, Dave Gamrath, ‘In fact the news is Kelly Knickerbocker, Joe Martin, Patrick “Mac” need to stay home. of the need. following up on infections and inform- McIntyre, Jill Mullins, Oscar Rosales Castaneda, Susan Storer Clark, Megan Wildhood, Mike Wold Now, we’re asking for your help again. As suspension of We’re fighting for the basic needs and civil rights of Seattle’s ing people who may have been exposed. street sales has eliminated circulation income from news- most poor. Your support makes that work possible. That’s 30,000 more people than when Photographers and Artists Alex Bergstrom, paper sales, meeting our $100,000 spring fund drive goal Since Real Change suspended street sales to protect our the network first surveyed states at the Matthew S. Browning, Sam Day, Natalie Dupille, Jeffrey Few, Valerie Franc, Susan Fried, Seth is more critical than ever. vendors, we’ve reinvented our work to anticipate their shifting VERY BAD.’ end of April. Goodkind, Derek Gundy, Lisa Hagen Glynn, Lara Your gift to the spring drive fuels opportunity, quality report- needs, and have: The figure is still vastly below esti- Kaminoff, Ted Mase, Dave Parish, Joseph Romain, Wes Sauer, Katie Wheeler ing, and effective advocacy during these unprecedented times. • Moved our quality reporting online to keep the newspaper mates of the need. Real Change transforms lives. Just ask Addis Michael Jr. Before coming while street sales are suspended; A letter cited by NPR and signed by Copy Editors Pamela Bradburn, Mason Duke, Merry Nye, Morgan Wegner he came to Real Change, Addis panhandled to feed his addictions. • Helped our vendors with unemployment claims, advocacy public health officials suggests that the “I was self-medicating then,” he recalled. “As long as I could for stimulus checks and access to health care; country will need more than 100,000 Real Change Volunteers Yolanda Altamirano, peacefully feed my habit, I felt I wasn’t doing anything wrong.” • Facilitated direct vendor payments through Venmo and pro- people to fully conduct contact tracing Cathie Andersen, Carla Blaschka, Maridee Government revenue streams Bonadea, Pamela Bradburn, Chris Burnside, At first, he said, selling Real Change was just another way to vided cash and food support through the Vendor Relief Fund; and across the country. Cathy Clemens, Jim Freier, Candace Gallerani, stay high. But before long, Addis wanted a better life for himself • Kept our community safe by handing out masks, gloves and Guidance from the Centers for Dis- Michelle Galluzzo, Anne Jaworski, Carlo Jones, Kevin Jones, Ron Kaplan, Jesse Kleinman, and the people he cared about. hand sanitizer. are trickling as needs overflow ease Control and Prevention (CDC) says Pamela Kliment, Daniel Kramer, Joe Martin, “My customers made me feel like I was part of society. Through it all, our vendors and staff have been over- that people who have been exposed need Dagmar Matheny, John Maynard, Patrick McIntyre, Juan Montes, Carl Nakajima, Eileen Nicol, Despite the shape I was in, they lifted me up and encour- whelmed by the generosity and caring of the Real Change By ASHLEY ARCHIBALD vices like mental health is a weakness more in need of services. Washington is to stay at least 6 feet away from others for Deb Otto, Maria Elena Ramirez, Merri Jo Seil, aged me. Real Change showed me that people care. I found community. Every gift, large or small, gets us closer to our Staff Reporter during an event like a pandemic, when particularly reliant on regressive taxes on at least 14 days and to monitor their tem- Lawrence Soriano, Susan Storer Clark, Jeremy Tarpey, Moriah Vazquez, Jed Walsh, Mike Wold that I could escape the drugs.” critical $100,000 goal. funding takes a dive even as services are income and property because graduated perature and other symptoms regularly. Addis found sobriety, housing and a deepened faith in both A matching grant from the Lucky 7 Foundation means unding for mental health services more necessary. The pandemic creates taxes are unconstitutional and income Washington was one of the first states The Real Change Homeless Empowerment Project is a God and community while selling Real Change. that gifts of $150 or more will be doubled while funds last. in King County could take a $42 stress, fear for oneself, fear for a loved one taxes are banned by a 1980s state law. hit by the coronavirus. King County alone 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Real Change is a member of the North American Street Newspaper Association He believes in a future where we all care for each other as With your heartfelt support, Real Change will continue to be F million hit as the shutdown to pre- and financial insecurity, all of which are Attempts to raise money for public ser- has more than 7,000 confirmed corona- and the International Network of Street Papers. much as people have cared for him. here long after this crisis has passed. We really are in this together. vent the spread of coronavirus eats away associated with declines in mental health, vices in other ways have been unsuccessful. virus cases and hundreds of people who n REAL CHANGE ON SOCIAL MEDIA Since late March, Addis and the rest of our vendors have stayed Thank you for being there. at sales taxes, according to King County according to the Centers for Disease Con- The city of Seattle passed an income have died of the disease. Those figures home and stayed safe.