Theodora Brown, of New Endeavors by Women,PRESS RELEASE March 13, 1998 home
Contact: Harold Moss 202-682-9056
“95% of the families seeking shelter…at the intake center…needs go unmet…”
-Dennis P. Culhane
This press conference is an effort to reveal the long suffering and pain of mothers and children who have lost their families due to a lack of family shelter. It should be understood that these families are like undocumented immigrants - very much afraid of exposure. For many it is also embarrassing. The brave souls that do present themselves should not be made to feel ashamed of their lives. Alcohol and drugs affects the whole spectrum of our society. The difference is that they have a home and escape critical scrutinizing.
Theodora Brown, of New Endeavors by Women,
“This letter is to inform the Control Board to act as quickly as possible. We the women of single shelters are tired of waiting. We are asking you as people to consider our plan to receive better shelter environments for our families. Many of us have been waiting a number of years on your decision and hoped you would fulfill a promise. Today, we are here to demand and continue to fight for fairness in housing for our families who are separated due to a decrease of family shelters. We are not going to take it anymore”.
February is a month for African-Americans to reflect on their history. No more significant event occurred in that history than the auctioning off of the family to different slave masters.
Many of present day problems attached to the black family can be traced to those events.
For too many years, we have continued this behavior in the nation’s capitol as a policy when it applies to homeless families.
Men and women go to different places to seek shelters, with the children being taken by Protective Services. Often the women never regain custody of their children.
This discourages multitudes of women from seeking shelter; thereby masking the true dimensions of the problem.
Members of the Olive Branch Community have maintained a 24-hour-vigil outside the Control Board since the beginning of lent (February 25th) fasting and demanding that the control board creates shelter for homeless families.
-30-