The Walter H. McClenon Fund, Inc.
Special Report
Community
Council for the Homeless at Friendship Place
4713
Wisconsin Ave., NW
Washington,
DC 20016
Summary
This is my recommendation that
we nominate the Community Council for
the Homeless at Friendship Place for contributions from our General
Endowment. I should acknowledge my
non-objectivity. Kay McClenon
participated in the founding of this organization. I have personally contributed to it, partly
in memory of her interest, but also because of my own feeling of is worthiness.
I encouraged its director, Jean-Michel Giraud, to serve as a Trustee of this
Fund, and I think that he should not vote on this proposal of mine.
Analysis
It is easy to like your friends,
and to sympathize with them when they seem to be in need. It is far less easy to feel compassion for
strangers who seem unattractive. “The homeless” are not all alike, but as a
group they may seem unattractive. Many suffer
from mental illnesses or addiction, or both.
Even so, they are humans, and many can be “redeemed” into useful
lives. This organization had its origins
in 1992 when a grassroots coalition of local businesses, concerned neighbors,
and religious congregations came together to help our homeless neighbors. At that
time, there were no services for people living on the streets of Upper
Northwest Washington. Friendship Place has evolved into a model public/private
partnership providing professional services with broad-based community
involvement and is the only organization offering a complete continuum of care
for the homeless in ward 3.
“Our mission is to enable homeless and formerly homeless adults in the
Upper Northwest area of the District of Columbia to rebuild their lives with
the involvement of the community. We do this through a comprehensive program of
direct services – street outreach, hospitality and basic needs, free medical
and psychiatric care, case management, transitional shelter and permanent
housing. We also work to overcome stigmas surrounding homelessness and increase
services for our homeless neighbors through a community education and advocacy
program.”
The D.C. Government’s Department of
Human Services has tried to coordinate the efforts of various community
organizations, including the Community
Council for the Homeless at Friendship Place, which cooperates with Anne
Frank House (from Adas Israel) and
The Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness (where Community
Council is one of 53 service providers) in
an impressive new program called Neighbors
First. This project will provide support
in terms of permanent housing for up to 100 residents (about 40 with Anne Frank
House). In addition to the program for permanent housing the Community Council
provides extensive support for those who still sleep outdoors. For example, in the most recent fiscal year
they provided 264 psychiatric consultations and 789 medical consultations, and
they gave away 6,000 garments and 6,500 sandwiches.
The council is a section 501(c)3
tax-exempt organization, but it does advocacy work that makes it
ineligible (By-Law III G 1) for a
contribution from the Special Endowment.
It is eligible (under bylaws III d 1 & 5) for contributi0ns from the
General Endowment. I recommend that we find it eligible and currently nominated
from the General Endowment.