H.O.M.E. Word – A blog from Project H.O.M.E.

Sean Quebedo threw down the Queen of Hearts, punctuating his win over Joy Johnson in a friendly game of cards. 

"I'm out!" he declared, reveling in his victory. Johnson, one of the Hub of Hope's housing specialists, smiled broadly as the witty, fast-talking Quebedo played up his good fortune. "A woman's a man's best friend!" he said, presumably referring to his winning Queen. But he could have just as easily been referring to Johnson, whose company he obviously enjoyed. The game itself hardly mattered, really; they had played before, and they would surely play again. Who was keeping track?

The game was merely a pretense for what was really occuring between these two people as they sat at a plastic folding table in an old hair salon situated in an empty corner of the Suburban Station concourse: Understanding.

As Project H.O.M.E. and its partners shutter the Hub of Hope – a winter initiative that provided essential outreach services to the men and women who called the station's concourses home during the winter months – for the season, we can look back over a successful term that saw 360 unique individuals access Hub services. Hub staff handled 292 medical visits, allowing 134 unique people access to essential medical care; staff also placed 95 folks in residential or treatment programs around the city. All of this was accomplished during the work week, with the bulk of the interactions occuring between 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

But perhaps most importantly, folks like Sean Quebedo had a place to call their own, a place where they were welcome. They had a place where they were no 

Joy Johnson and Sean Quebedo.

longer an anonymous face, but a human being with a medical history, paperwork that needed to be completed, and hopes for the future. 

On a typical evening, the doors would open at 7 p.m. and shortly thereafter men and women would start to drift in – some hoping for help applying for identification or to have their blood sugar checked, others hoping for a hot cup of coffee and a comfortable place to sit as they wrung the cold from their bones.

As for Quebedo, a retired Navy veteran who had spent the better part of the last 15 years on the street, the Hub provided a new beginning: in early March, he was excited about his impending housing placement and job prospects. He attributed his improved station to the "professional and positive" Hub staff who showed a remarkable ability to help "different people with different mentalities" get what they needed most – a renewed chance.

A special thanks to our partners:

Bethesda Project
Catholic Social Services
City of Philadelphia
Horizon House
Jefferson University Physicians
JeffHOPE
Mental Health Association of Southeastern Pennsylvania
Pathways to Housing PA
Public Health Management Corporation
SEPTA Police
Student-Run Emergency Housing Unit of Philadelphia

Kim Covello is a volunteer for Project H.O.M.E. and an occasional contributor to the HOME Word blog.  Her last post was about the 100,000 Homes Campaign.

Instead of dealing drugs in the streets of Boston, Esterlina Fernandez now rises at 4 a.m. on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday every week in her apartment at Project H.O.M.E.’s new James Widener Ray Homes, so she can catch the bus to meet her friends from Back On My Feet for their 5:30 a.m. run. Not many people with normal lives adhere to such an exercise routine, let alone a formerly displaced, homeless woman who only moved to Philadelphia a little over a year ago.

At that time, Esterlina was living in Boston, alone, her relationship with her children severed due to her drug dealing and eventual eleven years spent in jail. Esterlina was dejected, depressed, full of rage, and suicidal.  One day, she was at the end of her rope, when she saw Will Smith on TV performing one of his first hits, “Summertime.” Through her tears, she watched Will rapping those lyrics about summertime in Philly: “Back in Philly we'd be out in the park, a place called Plateau, is where everybody'd go…”  Esterlina said to no one there, “That's it! That's what I'll do; I'll go to Philly and start over. I'm comingggg, Will!!”

So she sold her belongings and took a Greyhound bus to Philadelphia.  It was April 3, 2011. She arrived and went straight to the hospital for her diabetic condition. Esterlina spent those first nights in the overnight cafés for persons who are homeless on the streets – places that have some tables and chairs (no beds) and stay open all night. Esterlina was horrified by the things that went on in the cafés. She would just go there to rest at night, but she always had a pen in one hand and a pencil in the other, ready in her own way, to defend herself. At first, people told her to go back to Boston; that Philly had too many people in shelters already.

But there was no going back for Esterlina. She was determined that Philadelphia was going to be her salvation. An angel arrived soon by the name of Edna. Edna sent her to Eliza at the Sheila Dennis House, a women's shelter on North Broad Street. Every day, Esterlina would walk from Broad and Lehigh to Center City to look for people to talk to, who could help her, anything. Many days, Esterlina would visit Love Park, a place that still holds warm memories in her heart.

One day, as she journeyed to Center City, she watched the Broad Street Run, one of the largest ten-mile races in the country, with over 30,000 people running down Broad Street. She thought it was the most amazing thing she had ever seen.  “Beautiful!” she thought.

Soon after, Esterlina met Kate, who was giving sneakers and socks to Esterlina's friend, Wilma, fellow resident at the Sheila Dennis house.  Kate worked with Back On My Feet, an organization dedicated to creating independence and self-sufficiency by first engaging homeless people in the world of running, to build confidence, strength, and self-esteem. Members can advance to the “next steps” program by adhering to a strict running schedule and other requirements. The organization has impressive results, with 75 percent of members, like Esterlina, maintaining attendance at 90 percent of their morning training runs.

So Esterlina started running in the early mornings with Back On My Feet. Soon after, she enrolled in Self, Inc. to address leftover alcohol and drug abuse issues still clinging to her. Esterlina completed the program and has been clean for over a year.

Esterlina started looking for more… more people to meet, more work to do, more ways to get involved and give back. She got involved in advocating for the rights and dignity of persons who were homeless:  During the “Sidewalks Not Solutions” campaign, which Project H.O.M.E. spearheaded, she marched on City Hall in a self-made costume:  She was a queen in a box, with the message “I want to think outside the box, instead of living in it.”

In fact, costume design is one of her amazing talents.  Volunteering to hand out water at one of the Back On My Feet races, Esterlina dressed in a “foot costume” that she made out of cardboard and paper. For the Back On My Feet Christmas party, she dressed as a Christmas tree and had more sparkle than the real one. Esterlina has a gift with cardboard and paper, and people started noticing. A community partner of the Leeway Foundation helped Esterlina, who has less than an eighth-grade education, write a grant request. The Leeway Foundation awarded Esterlina $2,400 to organize costume workshops for homeless women at the Sheila Dennis House. The grant specified that Esterlina “teach people to make costumes for public demonstrations … to challenge the stigma surrounding homelessness.”

Esterlina didn't rest on her laurels. She treaded new paths. She took a construction course at opportUNITY, learning from her instructors, Steve Pettiway and William Webb, how to lay floors, put up drywall, install windows and doors, and build a roof. Graduation is on April 20. Esterlina, also working to rebuild a relationship with her children and grandchildren, enrolled in a 12-week parenting class.

Esterlina Fernandez speaking at the March 5 Grand Opening of the James Widener Ray Homes, where she lives.

Recently, one of Esterlina's dreams came true:  She moved into her own apartment at James Widner Ray Homes. At the March 5 formal opening of the apartment project, Esterlina stood at the podium, in front of over 150 people, and eloquently told her Philadelphia Story. Edna, Eliza, Kate, and all who knew her, felt a sense of pride and inspiration as she candidly recounted her move from Boston, and then cut the ribbon with Mayor Nutter.

Permanent housing wasn't Esterlina's only dream. She has lots of dreams, and her determination is palpable, which is no surprise. While in prison, she saw her “auntie on TV with Oprah” holding a photo of Esterlina's mother as a baby. Oprah had invited her auntie on the show because Esterlina's family are believed to be sixth-generation descendents of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings, one of Jefferson’s slaves at Monticello.

Esterlina is determined to have gastric bypass surgery. She believes it will end her diabetes and save her life. She wants it so she can move better, do MORE, and end her last-place finishes of all the races she's done in Philadelphia with Back On My Feet. “I'm so tired of being last,” she cries into her tissue. But her tears are always mixed with hope “I know I'm going to get it [the surgery], I just know it.”

Esterlina dreams of having a home for seniors, where she can help the elderly with the obstacles of their everyday lives. Esterlina continues to go to Love Park, visiting with her old friends, the homeless men and women there, bringing them sandwiches and candy. “There are a million pieces of me,” she says, “to give and to share with every person [out there] who's not having a good day…”

Esterlina and her friends at the Sheila Dennis House have been working long hours with pieces of fabric, cardboard, paper and other materials to make life-size costumes for the Walk Against Hunger, a walkathon that raises money to support more than 100 food pantries, soup kitchens, and hunger relief agencies in southeastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. This Saturday, April 14, you can catch Esterlina and her friends dressed as a life-size chicken leg, broccoli bunch, oatmeal bowl, banana, can of soup and a cookie. If you want to find Esterlina, just look for the sweet face in the middle of the chicken leg, leading her bunch of foodie friends down the center of Martin Luther King Jr., Drive.

Nhakia Outland is a graduate student in social work at Temple University.  She is interning with Project H.O.M.E.’s Education and Advocacy Department.  She was one of the main organizers of the 2011 Homeless Memorial Day service.

On December 21, 2011, I took part in Homeless Memorial Day with my oldest son Nhaki. He is a 7th grader at Grover Washington, Jr.  Middle School in Philadelphia.  When I first approached my son about accompanying me to Homeless Memorial Day, he said without hesitation, “What do homeless people have to do with me?”

Project H.O.M.E. advocacy intern Nhakia Outland

I was so in shock that this had come from my son’s mouth that I had to take immediate action. As a parent and social worker, I have always tried to incorporate my children into my passion for advocacy and instill in them the importance of diversity and community.  So when Nhaki said this, I immediately knew I had to bring him to Homeless Memorial Day to enhance his awareness and education about what homelessness looks like.

I set out just to educate him about these issues, but so much more came from this experience. It opened up an opportunity to have a conversation about homelessness and how it impacts everyone.

At the event, which was held outside Broad Street Ministry on a rainy Tuesday afternoon, my son took the occasion to talk to many homeless and formerly homeless people. He went around introducing himself and asked questions about how they become homeless.  Like many young people, Nhaki had believed that “the homeless” are the stereotypical image of the individual on the sidewalk with filthy clothes. He soon learned that many homeless people are just like us. I explained to my son that we are fortunate. When I lost my job three years ago, I did not know what would happen to our lives.  I explained to him that we could have slipped into homelessness, if it were not for economic resources and good support systems.

Out of this experience my son learned to have a greater concern for others. He also capitalized on this experience and went back to school and spoke to his English class about his experience at Homeless Memorial Day. He explained to his class that he learned so much from meeting former and current homeless people. He now wants to engage in more activities such as Homeless Memorial Day. He is already thinking of ideas for his 8^th grade service learning project next year.

As a mother, I am extremely proud of my son. But more importantly, as a social worker, educating the future generation about societal problems is very important. He learned a valuable life lesson, that one can only learn from being exposed to differences. Homeless Memorial Day was a day that allowed us to meet on common ground. It was good to have that mother-son bond that is slowly slipping away due to the dreaded teenage years.

I also learned something myself that night. I learned that as a parent it is our duty to make sure that our children understand that they are fortunate to have basic needs that they sometimes take for granted. I also learned that just because I have always worked in the social service field and have incorporated my children when I can, I cannot assume that my children are always aware or care about issues that are of importance in the world, especially when it does not directly affect their everyday lives.  This opportunity made me aware of the fact that today’s children need to be educated about issues such as homelessness and actually see the effects of homelessness firsthand. Maybe this will stop some of the senseless hate crime beatings directed towards homeless individuals or the criminalization and feminization of poverty and homelessness. 

Eighteen years ago this week was an intense time for the Project H.O.M.E. community. 

It was spring in Philadelphia. The thaw in the weather was not translating into a thaw in harsh attitudes against homeless and mentally ill persons. For over four years, our efforts to develop our first permanent housing facility at 1515 Fairmount Avenue had been blocked by a combination of civic groups and political interests. We had struggled in the courtrooms, marched in the streets, and debated in the arenas of public opinion, but this particular NIMBY (“Not In My Backyard”) fight was especially fierce.

Federal courts had ordered Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell to use his authority to enforce fair housing and permit the development of 1515, but political forces were still resisting. We recognized that this struggle was about more than a single building. Evoking the religious traditions of Passover and Holy Week, we declared a “Week of Liberation.” For five days, with hundreds of supporters, we vigiled in front of Mayor Rendell’s office in City Hall, praying, singing, and expressing our concerns. Dozens of supporters undertook a hunger fast throughout the week. Our message was that the struggle to “Free 1515” was about basic human and civil rights in our society. 

On Holy Thursday of that week twenty-three persons, all of whom were wearing the names of homeless persons who have died on our streets, engaged in nonviolent civil disobedience. “We decided that the business of city government could not continue when homeless persons were living and dying on our streets while permanent housing was being blocked,” remembers Project H.O.M.E.’s Will O’Brien, who helped organize the campaign. “For all of us, it was a profound experience of nonviolence and acting on truth.”  The Week of Liberation culminated with an ecumenical prayer service and rally outside City Hall on Good Friday.

Three months later, following a second federal court ruling, Mayor Rendell finally intervened to end the dispute. 1515 was free, and would soon be both a home for 48 formerly homeless men and women and a vital community center. It would also become a beacon in the struggle for fair housing and civil rights in this country.

Below are some of the news clippings from that week.  Alos, you can see some of the television news coverage at our YouTube page.