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Bread for the City

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Bread for the City is a comprehensive front line agency serving Washington DC's poor. The agency began as two organizations; Zacchaeus Free Clinic, which began in 1974 as a volunteer-run free medical clinic, and Bread for the City, a project by a coalition of downtown DC churches created in 1974 to feed and clothe the poor. Bread for the City now offers food, clothing, social services, legal representation and medical care for free to eligible DC residents.

History

Bread for the City began as two seperate organizations. One was its namesake, Bread for the City, started in 1974 by the Emmaus Fellowship, a coalition of five churches in downtown Washington, DC, in order to feed and clothe the poor. Also started in 1974 was the volunteer-run Zacchaeus Free Medical Clinic, an outgrowth of the Community for Creative Non-Violence (CCNV), a group of activist ministries working to ensure that every DC resident had access to food, shelter, clothing and medical care[1].

The Zacchaeus Free Clinic opened under Dr. Jack Bresette in cramped basement quarters with three examine rooms, a small lab and pharmacy, and a $30,000 budget. Both the clinic and Bread for the City were located on rent-free property owned by Luther Place Memorial Church, and were run by volunteers. In 1977, Bread for the City hired its first full-time director.

During the 1980's, Bread for the City experienced a growth in demand for its services and began to serve around 3,000 clients per month[2]. It opened satellite offices throughout Northwest DC, and in 1991 it opened its first satellite office in Southeast DC. During the early 1990s, the two burgeoning organizations developed the Jane Addams Social Services Program to help clients of both organizations apply for public benefits. In 1990, BFC and ZFC were awarded two federal grants to operate outreach activities to help elderly and disabled individuals apply for Food Stamps and Supplemental Security Income. The launch of this program began the integration of the services offered by the two agencies, a process that would ultimately lead to their merger.

After one year of running the Jane Addams Social Services Program, it became evident that many eligible clients were being denied public benefits. The Young Lawyers Section of the Bar Association of The District of Columbia approached ZFC with a proposal to supply volunteer attorneys, and the organization leveraged their support to battle these unfounded denials. The Bread for the City Legal Clinic grew from this initiative, and a full-time legal director was hired in 1993.

Because they were working closely together, sharing many clients, and outgrowing their properties, the two organizations purchased together an abandoned lumber warehouse at 1525 7th Street in the Shaw neighborhood and launched a $1.2 million capital campaign to finance the building’s extensive renovation, which was completed by April 1994. By 1995 the agencies officially merged, and in 2000 they shortened their name to Bread for the City. In 2001, Bread for the City launched a campaign to extend its services to Southeast DC, and in October, 2002, began operations in a new Southeast Center.

In response to the need in the District for financial management services for residents living with mental illness and subsisting on Supplemental Security Disability Income, BFC started its Representative-Payee Program in 2002 in cooperation with the DC Department of Mental Health in order to prevent vulnerable adults from mishandling their income and becoming homeless.

In 2004, Bread for the City won the Washington Post Award for Excellence in Nonprofit Management, acknowledging the organizations core values of dignity and respect and its success in community organizing[3].

Programs

Bread for the City offers food, clothing, social services, legal representation and medical care for free to eligible residents of Washington, DC.

Food

Bread for the City provides a three-day supply of groceries once a month to clients who fit the following criteria:

  • Are below 200% of the Federal Poverty level, AND
  • Are elderly (over 60), or
  • Have children under 18 living with them, or
  • Have a disablity that prevents them from working.

BFC has recently focused its efforts to provide healthier food options to clients, working with a nutritionist to provide a healthy variety of foods. Bread for the City has eliminated trans fats from the food bags and replaced red meat with fish, pork and poultry. In 2005, the agency created the Fit for Fun program, offering regular medical visits and check-in calls, one-on-one nutrition and exercise consultations, and monthly classes meant to teach clients how to make nutritious meals from the ingredients typically found in the bags[4].

Through its Glean for the City program, started in the summer of 2009, Bread for the City has collected neartly 30,000 of fresh surplus produce from local farms[5].

Clothing

Bread for the City operates a clothing room in its Southeast Center that accepts and distributes clothing donations for free.

Social Services

Bread for the City offers long term case management for clients applying for public benefits, seeking housing or employment, or dealing with substance abuse, mental and physical health. BFC is one of the only organizations in the DC area that allows clients to see a case manager on a walk-in basis.

Through its Representative-Payee Program, BFC assists DC residents with long-term mental disabilities who have been referred by the Department of Mental Health or an affiliated Core Service Agency in managing their Social Security benefits (retirement or disability), Supplemental Security Income, and/or Civil Service Pensions.

Since 1993 Bread for the City has offered legal advice and representation to its clients. BFC has 8 full-time staff lawyers and over 100 volunteer lawyers and paralegals, who assist and represent clients in landlord-tenant disputes Social Security Disability Benefits appeals, and family law cases.

BFC also lends its building space to the Employment Justice Center, which protects and promotes the legal rights of low-wage workers in the DC metro area.

Medical Clinic

Formerly Zacchaeus Free Medical Clinic, Bread for the City's medical clinic offers free medical care to low-income and uninsured residents of Washington, DC. The clinic has two full-time staff doctors, a physician assistant, a nurse practitioner and clinical nurse, and over 50 volunteer physicians, nurses and medical administrators. Medical services offered to clients include adult general medicine, pediatrics, OB/GYN care and job physicals. The clinic provides examinations, medications, lab tests, and referrals at no charge.

See Also

References

  1. ^ http://www.breadforthecity.org/Page.aspx?pid=210
  2. ^ http://www.breadforthecity.org/Page.aspx?pid=245
  3. ^ http://www.charitablechoices.org/charities/BFTC/default.asp
  4. ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/18/AR2007091800466.html
  5. ^ http://breadforthecity.blogspot.com/2009/09/volunteer-spotlight-parker-farms.html
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