Support your neighbors experiencing homelessness and stand with the Village in establishing permanent housing solutions.
Explore our recommended books, movies, and podcasts on advocacy issues such as racism, discrimination, and public policy.
Donate to frontline organizations like the Village that provide homelessness and housing solutions in your community.
Homelessness is the sharply visible peak atop the iceberg that is poverty. Our crisis of inequity keeps housing and other basic resources—education, healthcare, employment, and adequate income—out of the reach of millions of Americans, in addition to safe and healthy neighborhoods. These longstanding inequities are the ruins of our past and make present structural racism and economic discrimination possible.
At N Street Village, these statistics do not surprise us. 80 percent of our clients are African American, 53 percent are over the age of 50, and half have no income when they arrive at our door.
We use four guiding principles to redesign these structures of inequity:
The voices of those affected lead the creation of solutions.
Racial justice is the prize upon which we set our eye.
We aim for economic justice for all D.C. residents.
Collective investment and accountability spur timely, effective impact.
N Street Village is an active participant on D.C.’s Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH). The ICH is responsible for developing the District’s plan to address and end homelessness as we know it.
Mayor Bowser’s administration endorsed and resourced a bold vision in our citywide strategic plan, Homeward DC, that launched in 2015. An iteration of this plan, Homeward DC 2.0 was recently released in 2021. Homeward DC 2.0 builds on the original progress of Homeward DC, with a strong focus on accompanied adult homelessness.
The proposed investments in Homeward DC 2.0 include increased prevention and diversion resources, new Permanent Supportive Housing vouchers, and $102 million in renovations of the District’s permanent and temporary supportive housing and shelter services.
We know that homelessness is solvable when we have a common vision, we keep a laser-like focus on outcomes, and we have the resources to get the job done. Together, we can ensure that homelessness in the District of Columbia is a rare, brief, and non-recurring experience.
Learn more stories of healing, hope, and transformation from Village clients:
My name is Sharon Baker and it’s been a long time coming, but I finally get to tell my story.
I have to remember where I came from in order to know where I want to go. I was born into addiction and was never interested in drugs because I saw what it did to my family.
Read Full StoryWhen Rosalind was in 5th grade, her dad committed suicide. After that, her mother, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, became increasingly physically and verbally abusive. Rosalind took the brunt of it.
Despite the increasing violence at home, Rosalind was a great student. She finished high school and went on to Morgan State College, where she made the Dean’s List and graduated magna cum laude. Between her studies, she married her first husband.
Read Full StoryWith young children in tow, a recent divorce, and a move back to DC, Sherrilyn (who had a government job at the time) got involved with drugs in her early thirties. It was not long before she was spiraling out of control–she lost her job, lost custody of her daughters and lost her housing. Frequently in and out of jail due to drugs, she tried to get clean, but somehow always wound up homeless and using again.
Read Full Story
The need for you – our Village supporters – is urgent.
The homelessness crisis is only the tip of the iceberg with respect to poverty issues that affect our city. That’s why we are asking you to pledge to stand in solidarity with us and our neighbors experiencing homelessness to work together for better, more permanent housing solutions in our city.
I stand with my homeless neighbors and support permanent housing solutions for every ward in D.C.
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