Tick Tock Sheptock

I usually don't blog just 2 days apart; but, certain recent developments in the case of the homeless woman who died in front of a homeless shelter warrant me blogging so close together. As it turns out, the Washington Post and the Washington Times have covered the story (which can be found on-line) and the family of the deceased might sue DC Government and/or the shelter in court. Furthermore, DC Mayor Adrian Fenty is on record as saying that the woman "chose" to forgo shelter and sleep outside. (I doubt he ever met her.) As the Washington Post article stated, the deceased was recorded on audio tape just 2 days before her death stating why she was not in the shelter (though I'm not sure as to whether or not it was as detailed as what she told me). Below is my June 9th post, which is followed by some "Additional Comments" about this wrongful death..... June 9th: This will, no doubt, prove to be the single most emotion-provoking blog post that I've...

As promised, here is part 2 of "why Some Homeless People Have Difficulty Finding Work". The good news is that there is a sustained effort to put the able-bodied homeless to work. However, we still have much work to do getting the homeless to work..... On Thursday, June 4th, about 2 dozen people met with Joe Walsh, the director of DC government's Dept. of Employment Services (DOES) to discuss how his department could better assist the homeless in finding employment. They included others in DC Government, some homeless service providers, a formerly homeless homeless advocate (Steve Thomas of "Better Believe Steve") and myself. We discussed the matters set forth in the previous blog post as well as this one. I gave Mr. Walsh an article from the June 3rd edition of the Washington Times which explained that many homeless people work but don't make enough money to pay rent, with the average rent for a 1-bedroom in DC being $1,400 and the minimum wage being just ov...

Due to the recent public interest in the homeless issue as a whole and employment for the homeless in particular, I decided to re-post my May 3rd blog post and then to add some recent developments in my next post.. thank you for the outpouring of support. My May 3rd Post: With this particular blog post I hope to educate the public about the many reasons as to why some homeless people don't work. (Many actually DO have jobs.) I hope to foster some understanding amongst those who are not homeless as to how they can better help their homeless neighbors. After all, we are all just a paycheck away from being homeless. I am reaching out to prospective employers in hopes that they will offer jobs to the homeless community, seeing that the Fenty administration is failing to do so. Which employers and concerned citizens will rise to the challenge? That remains to be seen..... In my previous blog post, I commended D.O.E.S. (the Dept. of Employment Services) for responding positively to the h...