Blog / Social Services

For the love of creativity and supporting our budding business women, Bread for the City’s WomenStrong DC program hosts regular bazaars to help our members work on economic empowerment. At the last Fall Craft Bazaar, four of our talented WSDC women sold self-made items ranging from earrings and stretch jewelry to incense, soaps shampoos, and baked goodies.

Many of the women who walk into our doors are dealing with constant stress due to finances, employment, housing, and much more. These women rarely have time to spend on themselves and to make themselves a priority. Bread for the City’s Women Strong program helps women living in SE DC deal with these stresses.

On April 22nd, we held our annual Women’s Wellness Day event where women came together at R.I.S.E. Demonstration Center to learn about the importance of self-care and also have the opportunity to be pampered. The event included education on oral health and emotional trauma, drum meditation, massages, yoga, raffle prizes, and much more!

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program ensures that children have their most basic needs met despite the economic hardships their parents face. However, under current law, DC will cut 13,000 children from all cash assistance this October, simply because their families have reached the TANF time limit.

This harsh rule ignores the reality that cutting off families before they are ready will push thousands deeper into poverty. This is why Bread for the City supports the DC Public Assistance Amendment Act of 2015, which will create exemptions and extensions for families who need more time to continue on the path to self-sufficiency. This series of guest blogs will share various perspectives on the need for a more flexible time limit. More information can be found atTANFisalifeline.org.

This past Monday, Bread for the City’s Kathleen Stephan along with several others from the BFC community testified at the DC Council oversight hearing of the DC Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

The hearings serve as annual check-ins with DC agencies about their work, and are an opportunity for community members to raise any concerns.

At the hearing, Kathleen gave an overview of why ID access is so important and the scope of the problem:

Research shows that those who experience trauma as a child have a greater likelihood of developing chronic health problems as an adult: diabetes, heart disease, COPD, and more.

In spring 2015, Kathleen Stephan, Community Resource and Quality Assurance Coordinator, began looking into why so many Bread for the City clients were suddenly struggling to obtain an ID. This blog series explores how the system disadvantages people of color living in poverty, and proposes possible improvements to policies that are currently preventing many DC residents from obtaining identification documents.

In spring 2015, Kathleen Stephan, Community Resource and Quality Assurance Coordinator, began looking into why so many Bread for the City clients were suddenly struggling to obtain an ID. This blog series explores how the system disadvantages people of color living in poverty, and proposes possible improvements to policies that are currently preventing many DC residents from obtaining identification documents.

In spring 2015, Kathleen Stephan, Community Resource and Quality Assurance Coordinator, began looking into why so many Bread for the City clients were suddenly struggling to obtain an ID. This blog series explores how the system disadvantages people of color living in poverty, and proposes possible improvements to policies that are currently preventing many DC residents from obtaining identification documents.