N Street Village
1333 N Street, NW
Washington, DC 20005
http://www.nstreetvillage.org/

Anticipated Project(s): Smart Start to Wellness
The 2009-2010 N Street Village ISCOPES team will work to strengthen the foundation started by last year's team. Through careful evaluation of last year's projects, the team will continue to develop, teach, and evaluate 1 hour presentations on self-care, enhancing Wellness through health promotion/disease prevention topics. The presentations will be given to women participating in N Street Village programs, who are adults that are living in shelters or transitional housing. The women may or may not have primary care and many have addiction and mental health issues. Two areas that are of concern to these women: (1) understanding their health insurance i.e. public vs. private insurance (2) preparing for doctor visits (initial/follow-up).

Expectations of Team Members
Twelve students will break into teams of three members each. Classes with the women will be on Tuesdays from 10:30am-11:30am at the N Street Health and Wellness Center. It is expected that each team member will be available during this time and will co-lead approximately 2 classes per semester. The team also has the option of alternating between morning and evening class time with the day center and the night shelter. Team members are expected to attend and actively participate in ISCOPES' team meetings, functions, and program events, as well as be committed to the team’s projects and the team process.

Past Projects
The 2008-09 N Street Village ISCOPES team project was to design a curriculum best suited for the needs of the community. These presentations were called, "Smart Start to Wellness." The presentations included topics of hand washing and flu prevention, when to go to primary care versus the ER, diabetes and diet, and women's health issues including contraception, sexual assault, and STD, HIV prevention. Each class at NSV was given for a group of 20-25 women and ran for approximately 45 minutes. The classes were a mixture of skits, hands on presentations, and question answer sessions, all incorporating a different aspect of health care each week.

Site Description
N Street Village, Inc. is a non-profit social services community founded in 1973 by Luther Place Memorial Church in response to the explosion of the homeless population after the de-institutionalization of chronically mentally ill patients. N Street Village is a caring community that provides a spectrum of services to meet the needs of homeless and extremely low-income women as they move to stable housing and maximum self-sufficiency. Every day (we are never closed) we provide food, clothing, showers, transitional and permanent housing, mental and physical health care, and support to re-enter the workforce. N Street village presently serves over six-hundred women.

Our primary responsibility is to help homeless and low-income women gain and maintain their highest possible level of self-sufficiency and satisfaction in their lives. The N Street Village community emphasizes and promotes a client's strength, dignity, ability and personal responsibility. We support, motivate and empower our clients through active and compassionate engagement. Clients are offered caring relationships as well as concrete resources and services through their interactions with dedicated and responsive staff and through the careful cultivation of an inclusive and hospitable community.

The N Street Village Health and Wellness Center's philosophy is that "wellness is a process nurturing the well-being of mind, body, and spirit through relationships of caring and mutual respect." We served over 700 women last year. A variety of activities are provided by qualified volunteers and licensed professionals housed in Wellness Center. Some classes offered include arts and crafts; Yoga Nidra; chiropractic; self-defense; massage; art therapy; and fitness. The Wellness Center also offers dental and eye care as well as case management; individual counseling; and on-site wellness assessments.