Volume 13: Issue 3 $ suggested December 16 - 29, 2015 2 donation Street sense Read more and get involved at www.streetsense.org | The DC Metro Area Street Newspaper | Please buy from badged vendors Miriam’s Kitchen to Cease ID Services in 2016 | pg 3 A Closer Look at Homeless Encampment Closures | pgs 3-5 Happy fromHolidays street paper vendors around the world! pgs 8 - 9 STREET PAPER EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Pope Francis pgs 6-7 Street Sense is the street media center of our nation’s capital. We aim to serve as a vehicle for elevating voices and public debate on issues relating to poverty while also creating economic opportunities for people who are facing homelessness in our community. 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Be Active in the Community! © STREET SENSE, INC 2015 StreetSense.org/calendar STREET SENSE 3 December 16 - 29, 2015 NEWS Miriam's Kitchen to drop I.D. referral services in 2016 By Olivia Aldridge, Editorial Intern For years, Miriam’s Kitchen has been a The others are Foundry United Method- role in connecting homeless individuals ed to, thus removing the complication of resource for homeless individuals seeking ist Church and Chevy Chase Presbyterian with such services. According to Kathleen coordinating separate and often difficult- referrals for identification (I.D.) services Church (USA). Stephan, community resource and qual- to-plan trips to other agencies. Miriam’s in the District. The referrals support cli- Foundry provides an I.D. and Walk-in ity assurance coordinator at Bread for advocates for several key service improve- ents with instructions and fi-nancial as- Ministry every Friday and on the first and the City, providers such as Bread play an ments from the city, including expanded sistance (to pay fees) as they pursue the third Saturday of each month for up to important role in helping cli-ents under- access to the voucher for non-driver I.D. government documents through regular 36 individuals with appointments. Chevy stand the processes they will have to go and the creation of similar vouchers to ob- chan-nels. Beginning January 1, Miriam’s Chase Presbyterian’s Transi-tional Assis- through in order to receive new identifica- tain birth certificates and driver’s licenses. will no longer offer this service. tance Program is open Tuesday, Wednesday tion documents. Part of the Interagency Council on Bob Glennon, director of social ser- and Friday mornings, offering 15 ap-point- “It's difficult for folks to get this infor- Homelessness Emergency Response and vices at Miriam’s Kitchen, explained the ments per day. Both churches offer assis- mation. The system’s not transparent,” Shelter Operations committee (ERSO) reasoning behind de-cision. “Our Mission tance in obtaining birth certificates and said Stephan, who noted that there was agenda is to consider improvements to at Miriam’s is to end chronic homeless- D.C. non-driver identification cards. These a marked increase in the past year in the the application process for I.D. and birth ness in D.C. Part of the decision was how cards are for individuals who do not qualify number of requests made to Bread for certificates. DHS is working with the Dis- we want to spend our time and energy to receive drivers licenses, such as adoles-