How Did HCPP Start?

The Homeless Children’s Playtime Project (HCPP) began in 2003 by a coalition of concerned community members, led by social worker and child advocate, Jamila Larson and lawyer Regina Kline. After discovering there were twenty children living in the largest homeless shelter in the country located just a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol building, they helped establish a playroom and begun providing weekly activities, snacks and supplies. In 2005 when families were moved from the CCNV shelter and sent to D.C. Village, HCPP followed the children there and the organization was granted 501(c)3 status. HCPP continued to run as an all-volunteer organization and expanded to serve Hope Apartments and Turning Point Center at the request of the programs.

When D.C. Village closed, HCPP moved to Northwest Church Family Network which had a playroom but lost its funding for a children’s program. In the fall of 2009, they hired their first regular staff, a fulltime Executive Director and part-time Program Associate and expanded to D.C. General Emergency Family Hypothermia Shelter and Park Road Emergency Family Shelter. In 2010, HCPP phased out operations at Hope Apartments and moved to the District Alliance for Safe Housing (DASH) to Cornerstone, a new transitional housing program for survivors of domestic violence and their children.

Take Me to Your Leaders!

HCPP has always been a largely volunteer-run organization managed by an Executive Director and a Program Associate along with a team of Site Coordinators who oversee each site. You can read about all of these creatures along with our governing Board of Directors below!

Jamila Larson, LICSW
Executive Director, Co-Founder
jamila.hcpp(at)gmail.com

Lana Tilley
Program Associate
lana.hcpp(at)gmail.com

The HCPP Site Coordinators

D.C. General

Becky Huban, originally from Connecticut, is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a degree in communications. She became involved with HCPP in 2009, after teaching 2nd grade in Prince George’s County and realizing the need homeless children have for a safe and relaxing environment. “I am constantly amazed by the strength and resiliency of these children living in incredibly stressful situations. It is a privilege to be a part of their lives and help give them the opportunity to relax and have fun!”

Aileen Collins is originally from Chicago and has been involved with HCPP since she moved to DC in 2009 to work for a small nonprofit that focuses on better health care for low-income, minority teens. Having previously worked with children as a tutor and mentor, Aileen started volunteering with HCPP as a way to engage with her new community and continue to work with children. "The kids we serve never cease to amaze me with their creativity, energy, and resiliency. Even when I’m having a tough day, it’s all worth it when a child runs up to me for a hug, excited for Playtime. The volunteers get just as much out of Playtime as the kids do. It feels great knowing that we’re able to provide them with the safe environment they deserve to relax and have fun every week.”

Ashley Wiegner (bio to come)

Park Road

Haley Adams is from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and has a Masters degree in public policy from American University. She became involved in HCPP in 2007 because she felt upset seeing homeless people on the street and wanted to do something about it. “I think kids are the best place to start!” One day, she saw a 6-year-old crying, saying classmates had teased him about his ugly and dirty shoes. A 10-year-old girl at the shelter was consoling him, telling him it doesn’t matter what other people say, just what his family thinks and that everyone here at the program cares about him. “The next thing you know, he was off playing with a big smile on his face!”

Stephanie Sprow is from Buffalo, New York and has been involved with HCPP since 2009 after graduating from the University of Michigan and coming to Washington to work for the Children’s Defense Fund. She wanted to volunteer with younger children as she did at a Detroit Head Start Program and says HCPP has helped her realize how important play is for children. “I have watched so many of the children at my site grow up and reach developmental milestones (learning to walk and talk, learning to share, and listening to rules and recognizing the consequences if they are broken). The children never want to leave the same volunteers every week!”

NCFN

Kathleen Fawcett is originally from Hagerstown, Maryland and she became involved with HCPP in 2008 after a shooting in her neighborhood near NCFN inspired her to get involved in her neighborhood. Despite her busy schedule as a third year law student at Catholic University and working as a law clerk, Kathleen often organizes special events like holiday parties for Playtime. “I get ten times out of playtime than what I put in. It is the best part of my week!”

Ashley Carter is from Queens, New York and she is a Communications Coordinator for a national organization. She has a degree in Foreign Language Media from American University and started volunteering with HCPP in 2008. “The children have taught me to be patient and get at the underlying issue at hand…I love working with the most challenging children because you can draw out the genius in each one.”

Katie Bergfeld comes from St. Louis, Missouri and has a Masters degree in International Affairs from American University. She works as a Senior Research Analyst at a consulting firm and has been involved with HCPP since 2009. “I live near NCFN so it’s a great way for me to give back to my community. I often see the children walking in the neighborhood with their parents. I see one child nearly every day waiting for the bus with his mother. Everytime I see him, he squeals, jumps up and down and waves.”

Meg Newman is originally from Boston, Massachusetts where play services for homeless children reign. She has been involved with HCPP since 2004 at the first playtime site in the CCNV shelter. She aided with the transition to DC Village and then served as Program Coordinator where she led HCPP’s expansion to Turning Point, DC General and NCFN. Meg is a student at Georgetown Law School and thrilled to return to playtime after a year sabbatical while she coordinated DC's free tax assistance coalition while attending law school at night. "Playtime has been a constant source of joy and inspiration. It grounds me and allows me to soar to the outer limits of my imagination!"

Turning Point

Lana Tilley is originally from Berkeley, California and began volunteering with Playtime in 2007 while working for a homelessness policy non-profit. Now the Program Associate in the HCPP office, she looks forward to evenings filled with imaginative adventures at Turning Point and DC General. "The consistency that playtime creates for children and their parents is so valuable. The trust that develops between volunteers and families is a result of the visible happiness each child gains from playtime each evening, and feels really special!"

Anna Fogel hails from New York City and she began volunteering with Playtime in 2009 because she longed to be involved in the community to balance out her day job in international development consulting in microfinance, housing and small business finance. Anna loves helping to build the vocabularies of the children we serve by introducing new foods at snack time. “Most of the kids had never heard of cantaloupe and by the end of snack, they were all asking for it by name (part of the activity was just learning how to pronounce it!) The next week one of the kids came in and asked me if we were having cantaloupe for snack because it was one of his favorite fruits!”

Frances Patton is from Evanston, Illinois and has a degree from Mary Washington University. She works as Special Events Coordinator at the Newseum. She joined HCPP in 2009 because she wanted to give back to the community and she loves kids. “It was the perfect fit! I may walk into Playtime with work on my mind and the second I walk in the door, a child runs up to me and we start playing and I am reminded why I am here!”

HCPP Leadership Alums: A special shout-out to former Site Leaders Michelle Smith, Kate Chambers, Julie Gallagher, Nicole French, Katie Vinopal, and Angela Kim who have helped develop and sustain HCPP from the beginning. Our organization would not be what it is now without you and we wish you well with all your future endeavors!

The HCPP Board of Directors

Jamila Larson, LICSW
President, Co-Founder
Member of the Board of Directors
jamila.hcpp(at)gmail.com

Jamila has been running the Playtime Project as a volunteer since its founding in 2003 and assumed the role as first fulltime Executive Director in September 2009. For the previous five years she served as the Community School Director for the National Center for Children at the J.C. Nalle Elementary School in southeast Washington where she managed a mental health and after school program. In 2005 she was awarded “Employee of the Year” as a “Voice for Children” by the agency whose 180 staff provides comprehensive child welfare services in the D.C. metropolitan area.

While a college student in Minnesota, Jamila founded a program similar to HCPP at a Minneapolis homeless shelter which earned her the “Social Work Student of the Year” award in 1995 and continues now in its sixteenth year. Jamila originally came to Washington to work for the Children’s Defense Fund where she researched and wrote about best practices for strengthening low-income families for four years before getting her Master’s degree in Social Work. She then served as a Clinical Social Worker at Bright Beginnings, a Head Start program for homeless families, and then as Regional Director and Consultant for LIFT. She serves as a mentor to two children and writes a regular column for the Children’s Defense Fund and Media Voices for Children.

Kirsten Lodal
CEO and Co-Founder of LIFT (formerly National Student Partnerships)
Chair of the HCPP Board of Directors
klodal(at)liftcommunities.org

Years of volunteering with children’s services organizations left Kirsten Lodal repeatedly asking one question: why aren’t there more supports for poor parents who are trying to create a better future for their children while dealing with the overwhelming struggles that accompany living in poverty? As a response to that question, she founded LIFT in 1998 while a sophomore in college. Her idea was simple: to train talented, driven student volunteers from campuses across the country to serve as relentless advocates for people – especially women and children – living in poverty in the United States. Recognizing that poor families have to confront an inordinately complicated maze of bureaucracies to access help, these volunteer advocates would do whatever it took to help families find stable housing, employment, childcare, healthcare, food – anything they needed to chart a path out of poverty.

Over 11 years later, Lodal, now 30, has turned LIFT from a concept into a growing national movement to combat poverty and expand opportunity for all families in the United States. LIFT currently runs volunteer-staffed service centers across Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., which have helped over 30,000 families find the stability necessary to transform their lives. Lodal has played a leadership role in numerous poverty policy initiatives, and she actively participates on several boards, including her current role as the Chair of the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project. She is also a frequent and passionate public speaker; Lodal’s leadership with LIFT has been featured by the NBC Nightly News, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and CNN. She is the proud recipient of the Jefferson Award for Public Service. Lodal graduated from Yale University in 2001 and has completed the Executive Management Program at the Columbia Business School’s Institute for Not-for-Profit Management.

Regina Kline
Co-Founder, HCPP
Advisory Board Chair
gkvfg(at)yahoo.com

Gina graduated from the University of Maryland law school in 2008 and currently serves as a law clerk for a judge in Washington, DC. She received a degree in Political Science in 2002 from Columbia University and was a member of the founding group of students who organized and built the nation’s only student-run nonprofit serving the needs of low-income individuals, LIFT. Gina served as Site Coordinator for the NSP-DC office as an Americorps*VISTA volunteer where she helped low-income and homeless individuals find housing, jobs connect with critical social services. Gina then went on to work for the Appleseed Foundation and the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless where she advocated for families whose rights were being violated because of their homeless status. She is passionate about protecting civil rights for all people.

David Graling, CPA, MBA
Finance Committee Chair
Member of the HCPP Board of Directors
patty(at)legalclinic.org

David Graling is the President and Managing Director of Gelman, Rosenberg & Freedman, Certified Public Accountants. He joined the firm in 1982. Mr. Graling has more than 30 years of experience in all areas of public accounting and his client base includes nonprofit organizations, for-profit businesses and individual clients.

He consults with clients on optimum business structure, tax saving strategies and obtaining financing and provides advice on tax compliance, estate planning, and family-owned business. His extensive experience with nonprofit organizations includes auditing, structuring of nonprofit organizations, internal control evaluation and management consulting. Mr. Graling is the Past Chairman of the Board of Directors of CPAmerica International and is Past-President of the Greater Washington Society of CPAs. He is the former Treasurer of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce and Past-President of the McLean Citizens Association, and remains active in local and community affairs. He is also the current Treasurer of the Military Order of the Carabao, and is a member of the Army and Navy Club finance committee. Mr. Graling belongs to the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Maryland Association of CPAs and the Virginia Society of CPAs. He earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Business Administration at George Mason University.

Patty Mullahy-Fugere, Esq.
Executive Director of Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless
Member of the HCPP Board of Directors
patty(at)legalclinic.org

Patty has been involved in low-income housing and homelessness issues in the District of Columbia since 1980. She is one of the co-founders, and presently is the executive director, of the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, which advocates on behalf of people struggling with homelessness and poverty in the nation’s capital. Ms. Mullahy-Fugere was recently appointed by the DC Court of Appeals to the newly-formed Access to Justice Commission. She serves on the steering committee of the Fair Budget Coalition, and on the Board of Directors of the Washington Council of Lawyers in addition to the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project.

Patty is actively involved in the D.C. Consortium of Legal Services Providers. Previously, she served on the D.C. Bar’s Public Service Activities Committee, the D.C. Bar’s Pro Bono Initiative Working Group, the management committee of the Campaign for New Community, as well as on the boards of directors of Calvary Women's Shelter, the Coalition for Financial Accountability, and the Legal Resource Center for Non-Profit Housing Sponsors. She is an adjunct faculty member at the Georgetown University Law Center, where she teaches a course titled “Homelessness and Legal Advocacy".

Bob Edwards
Host, The Bob Edwards Show on Sirius XM Satellite Radio
Member of the HCPP Board of Directors
Bob.Edwards(at)siriusxm.com

In a career that has lasted more than 30 years, Bob Edwards has interviewed nearly 20,000 newsmakers. Born May 15, 1947 in Louisville, Kentucky, Edwards spent the early part of his career as a newscaster for Indiana station WHEL/New Albany, followed by a stint in Korea with Armed Forces Radio and Television. Edwards was working for WTOP/Washington when he joined National Public Radio in 1974. Later that year, Edwards was asked to join Susan Stamberg as co-host of a new NPR news program, All Things Considered.

In 1979, NPR launched Morning Edition, a morning companion show in the style of All Things Considered. Edwards was asked to host the show for the first 30 days until a permanent replacement could be found. In fact, Edwards served as the host for nearly 25 years. During his tenure on Morning Edition, Edwards won two Gabriel Awards from the National Catholic Association of Broadcasters, in addition to the Alfred I. du Pont-Columbia University Award in 1995 and a Peabody Award in 1999. Edwards stepped down as host of Morning Edition on April 30, 2004. Later that year, Edwards moved to XM Satellite Radio to launch The Bob Edwards Show. Bob Edwards was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2004. He has volunteered his time to the Homeless Children’s Playtime Project which he introduced to the country in 2008 through his award winning radio documentary: The Invisible: Children Without Homes that won the Alfred R. Murrow Award for Best Radio Documentary.