The Budget Priority List: Future Michigan State Freshman and DC family shelter resident Chris Feaster
District Dime readers, we are in the final days before the DC Council votes on the fiscal year 2013 budget. At DCFPI, we often say that a budget is not simply a collection of numbers; it is a statement of our priorities as a city.
Chris Feaster is one of those priorities. Since last year, Chris and his mom have been living at DC General family shelter. In a few months, Chris will move out of DC General, not because the District has an apartment for him to live in but because he will be a freshman at Michigan State University.
You’ve heard plenty from us this budget season. Take a few minutes to hear Chris: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=605184483327&saved
Chris is grateful for having a roof over his head, but it certainly hasn’t been easy to study, fill out college applications, and stay positive while living in DC’s packed-to-capacity family shelter. Somehow Chris stayed on task, looked beyond the tough circumstances in the short term and envisioned a better future ahead.
He asks the DC Council to do the same for next year’s budget. By putting $6 million toward the local rent supplement program and $7 million into homeless services we can move families like Chris’s family forward:
- $7 million toward homeless services fills a gap in human services budget that, if not filled, would lead to serious cuts in services including shutting down 750 shelter beds.
- $4 million to tenant-based rent supplement will serve 250 homeless families and $2 million to project-based rent supplement will create 200 permanent supportive housing units.
- If the DC Council devotes $4 million to local rent supplement in the FY13 budget (not just the wish list) to serve 250 homeless families, the Department of Human Services believes it will be able to start placing families into housing immediately. This will create enough space this summer to stop using motels and start sheltering families with no safe place to sleep.
But if the DC Council funds neither:
- Shelters will close: DHS says without this funding, they’ll have to close shelters, amounting to half the beds for single men and women next spring. Food, transportation, job training, outreach and other supportive services will be cut.
- No families will get into shelter except when it is below 32 degrees. More families will be referred for neglect investigations because of concerns that their children are at grave risk staying in cars, parks, or other unsafe settings.
- There will be little movement out of emergency shelters. DC will have to depend even more on expensive motels next winter.
I am Christopher Feaster’s mother. Without a degree, enough certification and tenure, I have suffered at the hands of this economy with 3 job layoffs in 4 years. Being in the same apartment for the majority of that time means I just could not keep up. DC General Family Shelter has been a life saver while I continue to interview and try to find employment. Although I am a marketable employee, it is hard going against competition with degrees, more experience and more tenure in an economy where every one is out of work. It is going to take time. I know this. I can deal with that. But in the interim I need places like DC General to have funding.
I have been able to lay my head and get 3 meals a day here. Being a Type I (insulin dependent) Diabetic means that eating everyday is a necessity, employed or not. I no longer receive TANF or food stamps, so the meals are a blessing. I need job training types of programs like the Edgewood Brookland Collaborative to continue to receive funding so that I can continue to work with their job counselors and continue receiving news on jobs that I may not come across in my regular search, tips on how to make my resume better, and use of their computer to do my searching. I need transitional programs, such as The Ten Program through Catholic Charities, to continue to receive funding so that when I leave here I can receive further help after finding a job that will continue to guide me through a transition back to self-sufficiency rather than one step to help ensure that this never happens again.
I plan on sitting down tonight to send this message to any and everyone who will listen and implore them to think about those who need the money for these services. I am not claiming to be a victim. I am simply a single mother who would like to continue receiving the help that I am currently getting and to have those same services in place for who need my space once I move on.
Thank you,
Nkechi Feaster
A citizen who happens to be homeless.
Hi Nkechi,
First, congrats to you and Chris for an incredible achievement. A few things: Can we publish your letter? Also do you have a resume we can forward if we might know of someone looking for a great employee.
Keep up your spirits. You and Chris are inspiring many people, including me.
Elissa.