WISH LIST $100: materials for “work parties” to prepare units for new families; $500: weekly financial literacy sessions for 18 parents; $1,000: 4 weeks of day camp for 12 children.

We have all read about the need: skyrocketing rents; families at risk of losing their homes (or in shelters with no home to lose); children at risk for low academic performance, teen pregnancy, or gang involvement. But Hope and A Home means to rewrite the story. Each year its Transitional Housing Program provides 21 struggling families with housing at one-sixth the current rental rate, and prepares them for private market rent through financial literacy training, savings plans, and moving assistance. It also promotes educational success and family stability by training parents to be advocates for their schoolchildren and providing incentives for academic achievement. Its Stay and Thrive Program organizes residents on R Street in the increasingly gentrified Shaw neighborhood to work with other residents, businesses, and owners to sustain the neighborhood’s diversity. Over the past 10 years, 88% of Hope and A Home families moved from transitional to permanent housing; only 1 child left school; and all 164 subsidized apartments on R Street remained affordable. Isn’t that a record you want to support?

Dan Hall, Executive Director 1439 R Street, NW Washington, DC 20009 202-387-7091 Ext. 207 www.hopeandahome.org