News June 2022

Happy Pride!  HIPS is stepping out, Marsha P Johnson style - spreading our queer agenda of liberation and decriminalization at Capital Pride this weekend!  Check us out as part of the Pride Parade, or come visit our table at the Pride Festival on Sunday and hear more about how #decrim is necessary for LGBTQA+  community health and joy.  

More Amazing Community Support 

HIPStar Ronald Armstrong
Harm Reduction Specialist
(He/Him/His)

Ronald is a proud DC native who enjoys working in the city he loves. Ronald started with HIPS in 2021 after working in the DC nonprofit community for several years as a peer specialist and client support group facilitator. As a Harm Reduction Specialist at HIPS Ronald’s primary focus is the syringe exchange program. Like his prior experience, this position interacts directly with folks, which is the part of his job he enjoys most.
Finding one word to describe Ronald would be hard – but certainly genuine would be among them. When asked to share a little about himself for the HIPStar spotlight he readily did, but he also had an agenda. He wanted to talk about obstacles to getting care and how mental health plays a part in his work in the community.
He began by explaining that “men don’t ask for help”. Culturally, asking for help is rare, it’s seen as a weakness. Also, there is a level of trust that is needed - that goes both ways. “No one trusts us – because we’ve not always been trustworthy,” he explains, “but we have also heard promises from people that don’t happen.”
A lack of understanding also contributes to the barriers. Why people choose to use substances can be for various reasons – sometimes it is from prior traumas or experiences. “Using is just how we express ourselves.” Ronald explains. It is not a lack of willpower or weakness. In other cases it is self-medicating for undiagnosed mental health issues. Ronald has seen first-hand how having the right medicine as part of a care plan can make big differences. “There was a guy I knew who was on the streets for years. Every time I saw him I gave him a little something, got him something to eat.” When he got the right support services, that included having a place to live and the correct mental health medications, things began to change. His situation improved significantly.
Wrap around services, like the ones HIPS provides, are necessary to give folks the choices they need to make the changes they want when they’re ready. HIPS delivers nonjudgmental services to everyone wherever they are. When Ronald talks with someone that is feeling desperate he tells them “This isn’t the end – it doesn’t need to be like this.” Coming from Ronald, expressed in his straightforward genuine way, it’s hard not to believe him – and he knows from experience it’s true.
HIPS is lucky to have him on our team. Thanks Ron! ​

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Sydney Digg, Data & Reporting Coordinator 
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers or They/Them/Theirs
Sydney moved to Washington D.C. from Pennsylvania to attend school at American University. Sydney recently earned her BA in Legal Studies with a minor in African American and African Diaspora Studies. While at American, Sydney centered her studies around the impacts of the criminal legal system on BIPOC and low-income communities. Outside of academics, Sydney enjoyed being a part of a campus a cappella group (Pitches Be Trippin’), and writing for student-run media publications. Sydney has worked at a number of local non-profits in the District and is excited to continue advocating and providing support for local communities in their role at HIPS.

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Meet Our Board Members

Kelly Stevens, Chair, HIPS Board of Directors
She/Her/Hers
Kelly (she/her) is a native of the Washington, DC area with over 15 years of professional experience supporting the organizational development, workforce strengthening, and stakeholder engagement of nonprofits and government agencies across the country. Kelly is the Principal of Zahara Consulting where she specializes in people-centered approaches to championing equity and driving meaningful and sustained change within systems.
Which talent would you most like to have?
I’ve been obsessed with those DIY people on IG who seem to be able to make just about anything out of anything. So, if I could have any talent it would be the ability to create anything that comes to mind out of materials like wood and metal. Essentially, I just want to be like a Macgyver of home renovations. Sadly, this is where I am in life, people....this is the dream. 
What is your most memorable journey and why?
I can’t help but to feel a deep appreciation for his life journey that I am on. Even with all of its challenging and confusing moments, I’m still grateful. Grateful for all of the heartbreaks that forced me to trust in myself and my self-worth, for all of the set-backs that inspired me to figure out what resilience and perseverance looked like for me, and for all of the curveballs that encouraged me to trust, grow and learn through the uncertainty. All of those moments made me who I am today, and I am at a point in my life where I wouldn’t change a thing.  
What is your favorite saying or quote?
Someone really smart shared this saying with me a couple years ago and I never forgot it: “Ask why until it makes sense to you, or until it no longer makes sense to the other person”. I reflect on the significance of that saying often.

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Juneteenth commemorates African American freedom and emphasizes education and achievement. It is a day, a week, and in some areas, a month marked with celebrations, guest speakers, picnics and family gatherings. It is a time for reflection and rejoicing. It is a time for assessment, self-improvement and for planning the future. "I think that Juneteenth is a necessary moment of observation because our government and, to a certain degree, our nation and our culture has not really acknowledged the trauma of 4 million enslaved people and their descendants. It hasn’t acknowledged the impact this institution has had on this country and continues to have on this country. There hasn’t been a national accounting, and I think the Juneteenth holiday is kind of a reminder of that. And it will continue to be a reminder and a haunting until we do. It’s necessary, but it isn’t sufficient in terms of what we need to when it comes to acknowledging this history."-Karlos Hill, Associate professor and chair of the Clara Luper Department of African and African-American Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences, University of Oklahoma
HIPS will be closed for services on Monday June 20th, in observation of Juneteenth. 
We'd love to hear about how you are observing Juneteenth, and we offer up.... anti-racist resource guide, list of local black owned businesses, and local Juneteenth celebrations as a great place to start!  ​

Get Involved

For more information check out our events calendar ​