Every Tuesday at 12:30pm, staff and members of Georgetown Ministry Center gather together for our weekly House Meeting. These meetings are an open forum for anybody to raise concerns, questions, suggestions, and observations. Sometimes we discuss small additions to the center, such as acquiring a drain board for under our coffee maker. Other times, we have weighed serious matters, such as the behavior of certain individuals and how to properly acknowledge it.

During today’s House Meeting staff covered subjects including the Veterans Affairs Homeless Outreach Program, Medicare, and Medicaid. But, the meat of this House Meeting comes from the questions and concerns from our members. One of our members, who is deaf, let us know that one of his homeless deaf friends was accosted by Park Police for sleeping in a park, and that because the individual was deaf, could not understand or communicate with Park Police, which escalated the situation.

Others chimed in about the lack of Park Police’s sensitivity training, how they, too, have been treated unjustly by police. And so, at next week’s meeting, we will be covering how to deal with such a situation, assert one’s rights, and file a police report.

It was a calm, thoughtful, and informative meeting for staff and guests alike. If you have any input for next week’s meeting, please feel free to email or call us (or come by next Tuesday at 12:30pm)! We’d love to hear from you.