Author: Chris Sabbatini
MCN Build Paints BFC’s Old Southeast Center
Every day, volunteers help Bread for the City keep running. But it’s not everyday that we have volunteers paint the entire exterior of a building! However, on June 8, Bread for the City’s long-time Corporate Partner, MCN Build volunteered to paint the outside of our old Southeast Center to improve its appearance. Nearly 20 volunteers worked outside in almost 90 degree weather for 5+ hours. This was a great opportunity for a community service project by the MCN Build Foundation, which resulted in getting a fresh new look to our facility.
STAY DC Eviction Prevention Funding Letter to Mayor Bowser
We, the undersigned 33 organizations are writing to ask you to use reserves, underspending from government agencies, and/or other funds not dedicated to help DC residents living on low incomes meet basic needs (including but not limited to affordable housing efforts) to provide eviction prevention funding. The stakes are too high to shut down our eviction prevention efforts now. We estimate the unmet need for rental arrears is approximately $74.9 million, and we ask you to identify at least this much funding to meet this need as well as the need for utility arrears which we are not able to estimate.
Children’s Law Center and Bread for the City co-hosted this event during D.C.
Bread for the City and Children’s Law Center co-hosted this event to discuss their respective legal services work East of the Anacostia River and the importance of pro bono in serving D.C. neighbors.
BFC Statement: No Camping Zones
Bread for the City joins fellow non-profit leaders in DC in requesting that the DC government halt the CARE Pilot Program and stop the creation of “no camping zones,” which are reminiscent of other types of zoning that, throughout our history, have disenfranchised, displaced, disrupted, and destroyed Black neighborhoods and communities. Housing ends homelessness. Bread for the City is opposed to the creation of “no camping zones” and the systematic clearing of encampments.
BREAD FOR THE CITY’S HOLIDAY HELPINGS WILL PROVIDE MORE THIS HOLIDAY SEASON
Bread for the City (BFC) is excited to announce its annual Holiday Helpings program, a nearly thirty-year tradition that supports area DC families in need through the holidays. Last year, the program transitioned from its tradition of giving out turkeys and other staple holiday food items to embrace a necessary direction to better support over 16,000 DC households by providing critical monetary resources. In alignment with last year’s progression, BFC will work this year to increase its support in communities hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Breaking Bread: Housing Justice in DC
Join us for a previously recorded Breaking Bread conversation series on housing justice in DC, including dialogue on protecting tenants’ rights, affordable housing development and preservation, public housing redevelopment, and more.
Incorporating Racial Equity into Trauma-Informed Care
Organizations like Bread for the City work with staff to ensure their understanding of the historical trauma experienced by Black communities at the hands of the health care system and what it means to be antiracist. Bread for the City requires all staff, including medical providers and board members, to attend an Undoing Racism Community Organizing Workshop hosted by the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond. Bread for the City patients who are interested in attending the training can do so free of charge.
Bread for the City opens medical center in Southeast
Starting next week, residents in Wards 7 and 8 will not need to come to the Northwest Center, which is located in Ward 6, for medical assistance. Bread for the City is opening its health care center in the newly named Michelle Obama Southeast Center of Bread for the City, 1700 Good Hope Road, SE on Monday, October 4, 2021. The new facility will bring BFC’s primary medical, dental, and vision care services east of the Anacostia River for the first time in the organization’s history.
Rebecca Lindhurst wins the 2021 Scoutt Prize
It feels good to be rewarded for your hard work, especially when it’s benefiting the community. Congratulations to Rebecca Lindhurst, she was selected by The District of Columbia Bar Foundation as the 2021 Jerrold Scoutt Prize recipient. It’s awarded to attorneys who have a history of working in the nonprofit sector, especially those providing direct services to low-income communities. Rebecca is a Managing Attorney for Bread for the City’s housing practice and Community Lawyering Project and has worked for the organization since 2002. I interviewed Rebecca about receiving this award and why her community work is important for residents in DC.
A Day in the Life of a Nurse at Bread for the City
Before reading this blog post, I want you to stop and think about the word “Nurse.” Like most people, I’m sure a few images enter your subconscious thoughts. Bedpans, stiff white scrubs, or maybe you have seen a few too many episodes of Grey’s Anatomy and envision a steamy scene with Dr. McHottie. (Tempting for a mid-afternoon daydream!) But for me, nursing is much more of a phenomenon than that.