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Good afternoon, I'm Angie Whitehurst, we're in Washington, D.C. at the Church of the Epiphany 1317 G Street Washington, D.C., District of Columbia. I am interviewing Jeremiah

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Standback. Yes. Who has been homeless for one time, 8 years, and is now successfully stabilized and in— studying to be a nurse.

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Yes. So tell me your name. I'm Jeremiah Standback, I'm a Washingtonian, um, I live in D.C. currently.

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I'm age 39. Um, like I said, I've been here all my life. It has not been a good role half the time, but right now it's steady, on par.

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But it's been a struggle, and I can tell you, to say the least, it's been a struggle from the the first half of being homeless. Alright, I have four questions I'm

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going to ask you. And, um, some of them might overlap, but that's okay. First question, what do you think

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are the biggest causes of homelessness in Washington, D.C.? From my from my point of view the big one, the biggest causes of homelessness is resources. Lack of resources in the city.

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Retaining resources, counseling. It could be on the part of me, that could be my downfall causes. Just like, not— the lack of not

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knowing things. You know, if I could be— if I'm saying it right. The laws, the laws of resources.

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Okay. So the second question is: what are the most critical issues that a movement to end homelessness should focus on, and why? Uh, state the question again.

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What are the most critical issues that a movement to end homelessness should focus on, and why? Keep up. Keep the main movement— to keep

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up, keep up at it. Stay on par. Stay focused on it. And why?

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Because if you lock off it, people will retract from it and they won't feel that you're for them. So I think the movement should be, focused, driven, and ultimately stabilizing the community.

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So I think it basically should be focus-driven on the person and the community, and the movement should be utilizing every age, every creed, every gender, every race. It should be embedded in a solid

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bedrock, to say the least. And the movement should be strong, not just for a moment but throughout times and generations so it can be very impactful.

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If I'm saying too much about that— the movement should be very strident and very impactful, to say the least. Ok third question.

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We'll let them pass by [rattles in the background]. If you could get 50 people to join you in doing something to end homelessness, what would you have those people do? Wow.

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Great question. If I get 50 people today, I'll tell— I'll go from ward to ward, and we'll go ward to ward not just preaching, but being a spokesman for sections of D.C.

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If I have these people, not just be officers, to say the least, but be a, uh, um, what's the word I'm looking for? Ambassador. These would be 50 ambassadors, and we'd utilize these ambassadors to

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go throughout the cities and and spread what is the awareness of homeless, and what can be our highs and lows. So these 50 people will be our ambassadors, and they'll be reaching to the critical and most chronic people in homelessness.

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So I'd utilize these 50 people, and these 50 people will be the face of our ambassadorship, to say the least. The movement will grow, and I'll take the 50 people and we ensure that we'll make another 50 people.

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So I want these 50 people to multiply to another 50 people, and that 50 people to another 50 people, and that awareness alone will reach more from ward 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 to 5 to 6 to 7 to 8.

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And I think that will generate a bigger picture of homelessness, because I think we have a small footprint, the homeless, and people don't know the little, little details, the little details become big details.

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So these 50 people, I will encourage them to not just reach in daytime, noon, and night. [sirens pass] Um, yeah. Like I was saying, and we won't just be in the daytime.

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We'll be in the noon, and night, and even the twilight hours. And these 50 people will, you would know these 50 people because they would be, like I said earlier, stating they would be our ambassadors.

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So I'll— mostly what I'm saying, I'd want to multiply the ambassadors so there would be a greater movement. That's a fantastic answer, thank

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you. Is there anything that you would like to add about your experience, anything else that you think could be done, or should be done to end homelessness?

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Just to be aware to our—we don't have, lack of representation in D.C.—to our local council members, to at least come out here once a month to walk amongst the streets and see the awareness of the our senior citizens, our teenagers out here, because we have a lot of

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teenagers out here just lost. And the drug use, and the food drives, and just bringing more awareness and making more abundance: and food drives, and safety drug uses, and sex

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practices. I'm— that should be a broader stage amongst the homeless because that is something it's hurtful in our community—not saying the community, but in the homeless

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community—that is awareness, just awareness. Like, we're not trying to be singled out, but we're trying to be out there to say we need help, we need stability, we need a bridge, and maybe our council members or our local

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representatives, representation can help us, and not try to put us on a pedestal, but help us to reach— this affects not just D.C., it's affected all 50 states. So just help us.

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Help is not just— anyone could be in this predicament, senior to adolescence. So I'm— just awareness, and that's all I want to reach out to, because I wouldn't want to wish

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this homelessness on no one, because it's detrimental in some cases. What I went through, I can tell you I was lost for the first four years, and I was in denial too.

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So you want to put that in, too. I was in denial, I thought I was— I can make it out here. But when the night fell, I was in

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a crisis, and I was in the critical mass, and I was not afraid for my life, but I was like, "what area I could turn to at night time?" That was my biggest mass, at night, where I could lay my head down.

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It's going to be on concrete, it's going to be on asphalt, it's going to be under the crane or a tractor. I was sleeping in places that you

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wouldn't imagine to be sleeping. And I do have lower back problems. So, like, it's not not about me. I can say I'm recovering right

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now, I'm going in the nursing field, but in them eight years, the awareness was not utilized. And people, when people see that you're dressed well, they didn't they didn't take that you was

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homeless. So I think, going back to your question about the 50 people movement, I think that that should be utilized.

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It should be more people, more sponsors and whatnot. And I think awareness should be a big key to homelessness ending.

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Thank you so much Jeremiah. Thank you. And I'm so, being so talkative, but I'm very passionate about this, and thank you for

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interviewing me. Thank you. Yes thank you.