WE INVITE YOU TO CO-INVEST WITH OUR LEADERS
Jennifer Speight
Jennifer Speight is a Washingtonian. She worked
full time at the State Department for 4.5 years
and didn’t make enough for daycare and rent in
the District. She and her daughter now reside in
the D.C. General Family Shelter, but Jennifer is
not resigned by any means to stay there long nor
is she content to allow any of her fellow residents
to stay there either. “Maintaining a family is a
job in itself, doing so in an overcrowded shelter
next to a Methadone clinic and a jail is not what
any Washingtonian deserves. Sharing a bus stop
with junkies and piles of feces isn’t what any
Washingtonian deserves. Sharing a building with
raccoons and bats is not what any Washingtonian
deserves. Just because we’re homeless doesn’t
mean that we deserve this.”
Jennifer got involved in the organizing efforts of WIN at DC General, and quickly began to lead and
organize other residents for change. She helped organize an action with other current residents at D.C.
General to publicly hold the Department of Human Services and Director Zeilinger accountable for better
conditions within the shelter and for more effective housing services for homeless residents in D.C.
Jennifer also spoke directly to Mayor Bowser at WIN’s 500 person action thanking the administration for
the work they have done to end family homelessness, but urging that the work is not yet finished. Her
opportunity to address the Mayor was something she never thought she would have the courage to do.
She boldly asked that the Mayor fully fund the ICH plan and fulfill her promise to permanently shut down
D.C. General and build smaller short-term family housing in every ward in the District.
“This work is personal for me. I do this work for my daughter. The other day she asked me 'when are we
going home?' I don’t want my daughter to call D.C. General Shelter home. We need a real home and a
real community we can call our own.” She reminds all Washingtonians: “My struggles are your struggles.”
We must fight for DC to be an inclusive city for all.
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