[inaudible] if you want to ask a question we will have a sectio session you e in your question and see other questions and you can upload it to make sure we get to that question during the q a. We are recording so look for audio or video versions on the website later on i think this might appear on cspan as well and importantly, truth 6,000 is available from green mike bookstore. Com. We are working with our supplier warehouse for fast shipping for orders placed in the website so if you care about supporting the career of offers and six existence of the book it is a great way to show your support. We are offering 5 off on the book when you purchase it and you can use the coupon code a Visionary Program manager Girl Scout Program specially designed in the new york city shelters after becoming homeless and living in a shelter with five children she saw there was a great need and benefit to be offered shes been recognized for her dedication by the community and local councilman as she receives the proclamations of the Outstanding Service, achievements in the community and devoting her life to uplifting women. They continue to advocate in our continued to break the stigma so we will be talking with nikita a stewart, but reporters covering social services, they recognized her in 2184 for coverage of homelessness, Mental Health and poverty. Shes been a finalist in the investigative reporters edited aboard and after working at the Washington Post said she was with us a few weeks ago to interview about another book we are proud and excited to have her with us tonight. Ive been excited about this for a long time. I look forward to hearing more. It tells the inspiring true story founded by and for a nationwide response that sparked so she will start us off with a background in reading from the book and then she will take some questions from you. Thanks for having us tonight. One of the things i want to talk about tonight is this story goes right back before 2017 although we spotted each other across the room in 2015 and i had no idea as you all would experience homelessness and i would end up writing the book about her journey. So in 2015, ive taken on the beatup social services and i decided i would go to any shelter anyone ever invited me to. So the Council Member in queens invited me to a shelter in queens that had been made out of a hotel. So i showed up and i was surprised to see all these groves south serving thanksgiving lunch. I didnt write anything that they. Fast forward and a year later, just s she was in the shelter system and came up with an idea of truth to it coat the truth and i worried a little bit of the book from the chapter called 6,000. The truth needed a name. She suggested troop 1101. Although clever and easy to remember, it would conflict. Girl scouts were limited to four digits. The numbers always corresponded and the troops were numbered in the 1,000 is. Regular troops were 2,000, manhattan were 3,000, queen or 4,000 Staten Island were 5,000. So this new troop was unique. It belonged to girls who didnt know where they belonged. It wouldnt make sense to use a number normally applied to troops in any of the five boroughs. Given that the number had no fixed address, what would this troop no matter where it was located it was like a floating burrow in its own right or even the chateau because the rest of society was ignorant of or didnt want to acknowledge. At some point they realized it designated for specialist troops like those for girls with special needs so the girl scouts of Greater New York settled on the name truth 6,000. You realize this is big and going to be amazing. She wanted to jump up and down but while the vehicle if she couldnt recruit more girls and volunteers, what if she couldnt maintain the momentum she had achieved . Three days after the truth was officially named, she filled her anxiety as she stood on the stage and accepted a proclamation for being selected for the annual black History Month celebration. She was proud of her heritage and black southern roots. The flyer included the face of Martin Luther king jr. , malcolm x. , rosa parks, my angelou, w. E. B. Du boise from Nelson Mandela and president barack obama. The celebration was held at the neighborhood settlement house a long time nonprofit of the same name. Just so stood on the stage with her children and the troops. The proclamation made no mention of homelessness or truth 6,000 but it was a reminder people were expecting her to be great. She had to make truth 6,000 bigger than eight girls. Herbert had a ripple effect. The girls she recruit go on to build a better world and community. Ms. Burgess was an incredible role model. Not only do five children come up with the children across queens. And whereas she had truly enriched all of us with her service as one of the envious new yorkers now therefore be it the majority leader of the new York City Council honored her for her Outstanding Service and contribution to the community. Expectations were now in writing. She gave herself two weeks to find volunteers and recruit more girls. So, tell us whats next. It was time to hit the road and keep on going. I remember going back to the office and recruiting voluntee volunteers, printed them out, got home that day, had my uniform on the internet permission to taste the flyers in the hallways. The first one i was putting up its like what are you doing, im putting up flyers [inaudible] they called a supervisor and confirmed and im standing there in the hallways with all of my papers just waiting. They said okay you can go ahead. I just remember every single flight i took the elevator and each elevator, theres two different elevators and im getting off on all fours and then theres the breakfast area and commons area. I was trying to get the volunteers and i remembered i had everything set up and no one came. I had all this food and no one was there to. I said i was going to be doing in training the following day. I called and said the training started 15 minutes ago. Im coming down. Im going to go over everything with you. We are going to ask a couple of questions. We get to a lot of that in the book. What made you decide to let me follow you for more than a year and share in the details of your life . It was hard in the beginning. Just being a skeptic. I dont know, dont you write in the book of hers. But then just seeing i think its really when we went camping and seeing the way you interacted we started to feel really comfortable. If a. Around the city to expand another 30 theres not enough capacity in the systems. About fighting homelessness in this moment. I immediately jogged on it it took me a while to get in touch with a. I had no idea whether the troop was going to florida showed failed but i remember i sat down with her in the breakfast room and i asked her what you be willing to allow me to be in the life of your life and the girls and she said absolutely. But she was also secretly skeptical too but i was up to. Im just stil so amazed at your candor and honesty and allowing me into your life. When i say participated, allowed me to follow them. I interviewed people and they are like what is going on. The. I didnt do what was going to koresh or fail. But if it falls apart. [inaudible] at the difficult part of watching people end up not being able to help but knowing i would have to use my journalistic souls the chapters that warmed my heart or our heart breaking. That was one of my favorite chapters. The chapter about first deciding okay we are going to try to pass the troops here just read the whole thing. I love every chapter. [laughter] do you want to ask me a question . I guess what was the most difficult part to read about yourself or others . I think the hardest part for me is reading the decisions ive made and although they are not all perfect, i dont regret any of them. It is the happy ending [inaudible] dont give it away. You know whats interesting about that is a. You would think its no longer a shoulder so thats no surprise in the book. I thought it would end up with when you all finally found a home, like you found a home and then more things kept happening. I think the events that occur were just as important because it it shows how fragile life can be and theres just all these unexpected things that happen in your life like there is another obstacle so i think its important for people to understand that Everyone Needs housing and should have the right to housing but its not the end of the story. You just need more. I want to make sure that they touch on the importance of the impact that its had on me even before truth 6,000. As a single mom and trying to find myself and try into i guess learn how to raise my children in the best way that i could without fueling like i wasnt worth much and it came at such an amazing time and im so grateful for the women i got in mive hadin my life to push me. And getting me to become a leader and a seat in the changes they made and i made a end up taking all that and making sure everyone we came into contact with felt that love and happiness and we want everybody else to feel it as well. It really shows and makes a difference. It is a big change from walking into the shelter everyone with their heads down or im not going to be here long enough to make friends or building that community and being able to say hello to everyone. We advocated for each other and i am very grateful for that. I thought i was going to be writing about homelessness through the eyes of the girl scouts and what i really ended up writing about is this sense of belonging and a too want to give more even when you have the least. I wasnt a girl scouts when i was a child. I had to pick and choose what we could afford enough time girl scouts wasnt one of them, but i always admired the uniform like what would that be like. These past three years ive learned a lot and the girl scout promise. So, the power of an organization like the girl scouts to bring joy to so many girls is just so important and i do worry now that we are in the pandemic and so many people have lost their jobs and we know there are addictions around the corner and once again they are going to be joining the new york city shelter system. Truth 6,000 is now in 20 shelters, but there are 450 shelters in new york city and about 100 of those are single adults, more than half i believe our first families with children so that should tell you there are many other girls. The girl scouts gala is happening if you want to support truth 6,000. Being able to donate, please, by your cookies and a somewhere in the 12,000 kids and the shelters at this point 12,000 that are of girl scout age. Is a dream for us to be able to reach all these girls and the ones we do have we are Holding Virtual meetings with them during this pandemic and just making sure i think thats important for people to know this is something that started as so small and turned into something so enormous. The questions are pouring in a. Of what are the ages of the girls from the original troops now and how are they doing . The oldest is now 18 and she is going to be graduating. Unfortunately, her family is in a shelter and shes hoping to go to college. We stay in touch in fact she gives me story ideas. One of the first i did in the pandemic was about Remote Learning because she reached out to me and said mike is what am i going to do a this is going to be affordable for students. I couldnt interview her but you know, i found other children to interviewed, including a young man she didnt even know who was in her shoulder. The what is most meaningful to you and why . What are th. You want the reae away [inaudible] is in new york city especially to me this book shows that and also people are people and its about time there are obstacles and unfortunately at this point, our government is going to have to really think about how not just new york city there around the country. Finding some kind of mutual support and having that conversation and opening up. Its important for me. It is a tough situation for girls and women that are in this right now and stressing the importance of letting these to become better teachers. I have a couple more questions for you to i was in sixth grade or Something Like that and they only think about or know the full meaning so whenever you tell someone im homeless, they will think that you live on the street because the stereotype is you think that someone is outside with a box again for money or on a train. For me i was never ashamed because i knew it was something that was normal. I thought kids would judge me because i was in a homeless shelter. I think that a builtup confidence of the stereotype because what people really think it is it is not. What is your favorite doubt song . [inaudible] she bolted out swinging. When i first joined we made a remix version of the. [inaudible] [laughter] what does it mean to have a program like this in your community and not through the school we do have a Homeless Population and to be able to go where we were every day that was our home and our territory for safety. So, yeah. Okay. One more here. How was operating given the issues the majority of the its hard to get through the devices of those [inaudible] we have issues where the they may go to public or private school in one thing is we are fortunate enough to have funders that have been able to. It is a big issue we are trying to work on and figure out different ways to handle that. We are able to at least offer assistance to a near having a challenge right now and need help. The this is a repeat after me so song. What kind of events did you or do you want to do with troops around the city, do they have opportunities or want to talk about the issues of homelessness with others . Like with other troops . Interacting with other troops did it feel like it was a thing where you were trying to get a message across . I know from just these events in the book it was always a little awkward when the girls were interacting with troops from around the city and giselle depend really she just wanted them to be girl scouts on that camping trip. Do you want to inform you how important it is and in those communities are enjoying the fact and that is pretty much it but for the most part for any truth we want them to feel that two. The connected question is are you able to retain them . Yes we have a transition coordinator working with us in her job is and then to the keep in touch with me forms so when they leave or move out and they are notified with a beautiful welcome to a new home packet and for the girls to decorate their rooms and defend where they are coming from and if not with traditional troops depending on where they moved to as well and we actually have a transition girl where next week the parttime transition coordinator can keep track of the girls during this time. What word karina has message be and what would your own advice be . I dont think its anything to be ashamed of. And to pity you. And to listen to what other people say you know who you are dont let people assume it something bad. I continuously tell my children it doesnt say who you are or where you come from and then to be in a shelter and you have to be brave for your children but ive never been to the situation before so you dont know what answer to give them so to be mindful and to keep telling your kids this is an adventure we are on a trip right now these are seasons they will come and go. And how important they are and even though it is our situation and be grateful we have each other and then to support others and then to treat them the way you want to be treated. What have you found in your research as a reporter that women may need to strengthen against homelessness like Financial Literacy or budgeting . Talking about budgeting thats hard. So we have to start with demanding people should demand higher wages with people making a living wage. And the average rent and the 1300 something dollars i would ask any of the renters who are on here in new york city if its more than a studio apartment. Its just impossible. So when we talk about arming households led by single mothers or fathers we have to pay people what they are worth. May be close out whats next for you can you talk about the troops and for yourself and maybe talk about what you are working on nextdoor now . Those that is my biggest goal to help in any way that i can i know i drain big sometimes. And to make sure there is a lot of growth to serve and is much as i would like to be for the rest of my life. But i am running for Student Council that is my next goal for myself. Im not running for city council. And hopefully see soon that they are there now so the story of whats happening with Child Welfare and the pandemic and parents who are trying to get their children back who are losing them before the pandemic and how some children are experiencing abuse at this time and they dont have teachers and coaches that we usually have an eye on them and youll read about that soon. Thank you for the works that you do in your field. Support the work of the troops. Thank you so much again have a great evening. Of course people say i dont like his tweets and i dont, i will address this at one time only heres the best way i can do it. America was drowning in the middle of the ocean and the manage decline under both Political Parties of the last 20 years both parties contributed to this too Big Government management and adventurism abroad while the country is crumbling. Finally in the middle of the night when we are gasping for air a rescue helicopter brings us back up to life to allow us to breathe again. The first thing you say to that person that rescues us is i dont like your tweet history. We are breathing again. It is completely and totally irrelevant to collect the heart surgeon okay finally thank you for the triple bypass by the way i hate your tweets but im glad we are breathing again. Not to mention i could make an argument the twitter feed sets the cadence and is a public northstar for every Single Person and to keep people accountable because the press conference in the media there is a real time standard and accountability measure to see exactly what hes thinking and doing i think he is hilarious. Cocktail party say one thing to another. I dont care if he offends people here and there. Or if he punches back twice as hard. And with that manage decline a here this time and time again that is the thesis of the trump presidency. And then say go to the doctor give me the bad news first. President trump and his address basically was pretty brutal and said we are losing. The borders are wide open, trade deals are stupid, chinas laughing at us. The economy is anemic. Obama care disaster. The corruption, this is the first 30 seconds. And thats part of the doctrine and philosophy going straight to the american people. We will not tell you one thing when it is the other and second what ideas are in the nation. I will consider every conversation with me as president as classified. So that means if you wrote a
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