April News 2022

HIPS is deeply concerned by the recent spikes in overdoses and fatal overdoses in the District. 
Whether it’s from an overdose or through drug related incarceration, losing folks we care about is hard, like really hard. Showing your love and support by using nonjudgmental harm reduction principles is a way that you can look out for yourself and others. 
Stand with HIPS and together we can destigmatize, decriminalize and work towards a safe supply.
Remember to look out for each other and practice these harm reduction basics:

• Don't use alone - have a friend who can check in, even if just by text/facetime.
• Use test strips to check for fentanyl. Need some? CLICK HERE
• Keep Naloxone on hand. Need some? CLICK HERE 
• Be careful when mixing with alcohol or other drugs.
• Know your rights and support public health not punishment.  
• Recently there have been confirmed reports of fentanyl contamination in crack cocaine and bags being sold as "K2".  Even if you don't use opioids, be aware your supply might be contaminated.

Every fatal overdose is a community failure.  We can prevent them. Please join us.  
Love, Naloxone & lube,
HIPS Team
PS: Help us increase the amount of peer based education, safer using materials like test strips and naloxone, safer smoking kits, and continued advocacy for overdose prevention and drug users health, led by those with lived experience. Please donate what you can

  We Knew Housing in DC Was Rough But...   

Most folks have an idea of available options for those experiencing homelessness. If you think that generally those options suck, you’re right. But it’s not all bad news. Recently there has been a flood of funding in DC designed to get folks off the streets and into a home. The problem is that the system isn’t set up to handle it. We asked Abigail Goldner Morris, HIPS’ Mobile Housing Specialist to explain.  
Only a few months ago, the wait for permanent supportive housing could be years – in some cases 10 years or more, if ever. This new effort is speeding the process up for people who are considered “chronically homeless”. That “chronic” status is defined by HUD as living outside for 12 out of the last 36 months and having some sort of disability, which is broadly defined. As Abigail puts it, “Living on the streets is a disabling condition. You can’t live outside for that long and not become disabled in some way.” For those folks who qualify, the wait time can be as little as 6 months – which is much faster than before but there are still no guarantees. In the meantime, there are sometimes temporary solutions – like shelters, for the short-term, but those are often unsafe for people in our community and the rigid rules and often crowded facilities are barriers for many. 
Despite these struggles, the increase of funding has translated into more services for more people. Abigail has seen a rapid increase in these vouchers awarded; “I’ve seen 15 HIPS clients matched to vouchers in the last three months, compared to five in the prior nine months.” The challenge is the delays and workload increase for caseworkers. “I’ve talked to caseworkers who have over 30 clients now, when the usual 20 or more was already too much.”  More staffing and 
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 funding is needed to provide the wrap-around services and find other options for people who aren’t eligible for permanent supportive housing. Even the smallest thing, like an old felony charge, can reset the clock for housing.
HIPS helps to fill those service gaps – it’s what we do and have been doing unconditionally since 1993. We are grateful to Abigail and all our staff for what they do – which includes a great deal of emotional work that comes with its own costs. And all of this work to change how our communities are seen and supported without judgment rests on the shoulders of our donors and supporters. Thank you, you’re awesome. ​

More Amazing Community Support

Meet Our New Board Member

Kristin Foti 
She/Her/Hers

Kristin is Principal of Foti Creative where she enjoys helping nonprofits like HIPS raise resources for their essential missions. Prior to launching Foti Creative in 2015, Kristin spent ten years as the Chief Development Officer of Bread for the City in DC.
We asked Kristin a few questions to learn more; 
What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Sitting on a beach with a good book and no  responsibilities is the perfect day.

What is your most treasured possession?
We recently moved into a new house and I took a piece of molding from an entryway with me! It was where we tracked our kids’ growth over the past eight years and I just couldn’t leave it there for someone to paint over.
​

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Which talent would you most like to have?
I wish I could sing and dance! I am obsessed with live theatre and wish I had one ounce of the talent I see on those stages.

Welcome Kristin! ​

HIPStar Chibundo Egwuatu    
Sex Worker Advocate Coalition (SWAC) Coordinator     
​(Any pronouns)

I was an intern here at HIPS during the summer of 2019 and am glad to see some familiar names in this listserv! I have a BA in Anthropology from the University of Central Florida (UCF) and an MA in Anthropology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). I was born in Cobb County in Georgia but have spent most of my life in central and south Florida! Before HIPS, I taught at UIUC, was a union organizer, and did anti-jail building and bail abolition work in Illinois (we got cash bail abolished earlier this year!). Before that, I did direct action food justice work. I currently organize with a group called Decoding Stigma that looks at sex work and tech. I enjoy going out dancing, fashion, music, and unsettling movies; I love okra, boiled peanuts, and strawberry Nutrament."

​We asked Chibundo a few questions...

When and where were you the happiest?
This may be my oldest proper memory. I must have been about 2. We were in Atlanta, and I loved going to Atlanta because we had moved from there and I recall not wanting to do that (excuse the brusque language here, I am trying to stay as true to my thoughts as I remember them in my current expression). I was wearing a velvet and taffeta dress with a big red hand outline in sequins. I did not like sequins because they scratched me and it made people (adults) think they could touch me (as in, take off my hat, pinch my face, pick me up - I did not really talk at this time but I had a lot of feelings lol). It was cold. I hated the cold and still do to this day - my nose was dripping, my feet hurt from hard shiny shoes and I Did Not Want To Be In This Car nor At This Party. In the midst of all this particularity (mine) and situational change (up to my parents), I was to be at an Igbo party in a big hotel (I am first gen, my parents are Igbo migrants). I remember it because I had never seen an inside so big - the outside was big in a way that made sense, and this inside, the gilded, honey-lit hotel, had an inside that rivaled that understanding. The contrast of this inside of pure warmth, honed into shapes I had never seen, and the cold outside, my dripping nose was the only evidence of this before - I imagine it was the forbidden fantasy of reentering the womb realized. This is all background for the actual memory - a revolving door. I was in awe. I came in through it and had no idea what I was looking at - a gold revolving door with glass smudged by fingers at heights I could barely reach, smeared by fingers I could. I spent the early part of the night wanting to go back through it, but not as I did not want to get in trouble. At some point later in the night, I had fallen in with a small roving gang of children, excited to touch, push, pull, and feel whatever we could while our parents danced and drank. I had no doubt had my fill of party food -jollof rice, moin moin, chin chin, puff puff, roasted meat, juices and

sodas I was not able to drink at home. I remember I had a fur jacket that made it hard for me to move my arms. I ran around with other children from the party in this revolving door several times and I do not think I have felt such pure ecstasy since. I remember seeing the red sequins from the front of my dress reflecting off the glass, I felt closer to the light of the gold-piped door, a part of the feeling this place evoked, more integral to the joy as I moved from witness to a part of the scene.
​
Which talent would you most like to have?
I would like to try to learn the harp, again. Like with dance, I appreciate opportunities to express/feel without using words. I started learning to play after my union won our strike (12 days! the longest in Illinois academic history) and got a new contract; I was a building captain and one of the folks on my picket line was a composer in the music department. When we won, we all went to a bar in downtown Champaign as rowdy union people are wont to do - I made a joke about Joanna Newsom, to which the composer asked if I wanted to play the harp. I said yes, not expecting anything to come of it, but next thing I know I had an audition in the harp department with Dr. Ann Yeung, a living harp legend! I admitted during the interview that I had no skills lol but she took me on anyway. For the last two years of grad school, being able to go to the harp room and fumble (even fumbling sounds nice on a pedal harp) was a great reprieve from writing, reading, teaching, etc. My loss of what little skill I gained is a blow I intend to repair.
Thank you for sharing Chibundo.

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