08/15/2025
Statement from Community Connections DC Office of the President & CEO regarding the Executive Order "Ending Crime and Disorder on American Streets."
Community Connections DC began by helping people deinstitutionalize from St. Elizabeth Hospital. Dr. Maxine Harris and Helen Bergman wanted to work with adults experiencing
mental illness who were marginalized and a group of people that most people weren’t interested to serve or work with. Throughout the years our work has been to ensure the individuals and communities we serve feel welcomed, safe, and not terrified.
For the homeless population, institutionalization and incarceration interrupts recovery, worsens health outcomes, severs social supports, and perpetuates the cycle of homelessness.
Evidence overwhelmingly supports community-based, housing-focused, trauma-informed interventions as more humane, effective, and cost-efficient alternatives. It’s so easy to critique instead of construct, especially when the answers are not apparent
and the way forward is not clear. Building stronger pathways out of homelessness means prioritizing not only shelter but also belonging. In this sense, if housing is the foundation,
then connections and relationships are the thing that keeps people in homes.
While much remains unknown about the executive order, we will continue working closely with our agency partners to provide the quickest and most effective response to the populations we serve. Community Connections remains a strong advocate for our
unhoused population. We support affordable housing, an increase in housing vouchers, and alignment with the Mayor’s outreach initiative. Our exceptional homeless outreach and
entire team actively engages with the unhoused population to share updates and prepare for city activities, weather events, and other timely information for safety and wellbeing of
our unsheltered population.
Let’s construct an ecosystem that offers constructive alternatives to big-government top-down approaches. Let’s ensure we provide radical hospitality not hostility in order to restore hope and healing. Although we may serve different communities, we all share the
same core purpose of creating spaces where authentic connections lead to meaningful change.
Together, Community Connections is changing lives, we invite you to join us.
