There wasn’t an open seat in the visiting room of the southwest D.C. funeral home. Local business owners, creatives, and advocates for the unhoused community lined up along the walls for a chance to pay their respects to Laticia Brock, who died on Dec. 26, 2025.
Some called Laticia “Precious,” others “PWEEZY,” or “Tent City Ma.” No matter what her community called her, they all remember Laticia in the same way — as authentic, hilarious, and a fierce advocate for people experiencing homelessness. Laticia was an active member of Street Sense Media, working as a vendor and poet who tirelessly fought for the rights of the District’s homeless community, and wrote over 70 pieces for the paper.
The Washington native was born on Dec. 5, 1980, to a family-oriented bunch. Laticia’s mother, Ernestine Brock, remembers her friendly personality and said she was always surrounded by people who loved her. Sometimes, that was her biological family. Laticia’s nephew, Jabaree Valentine, was her pride and joy, Ernestine said. Laticia assisted her mother in raising Valentine and made it a point to remind him of how much she loved him.
But Laticia’s family extended far beyond those she was related to. Ernestine met every friend her daughter ever made; Laticia would often make FaceTime calls, introducing her mom to any new person who’d entered her life. To Laticia, her people were her family.
“She would call me and say, ‘Ma, this is your new daughter, this is your new grandson,’” Ernestine said.
Laticia was a natural people-person. Thomas Ratliff, Street Sense’s director of vendor employment, said she had a unique talent for connecting with everyone she met.
“She did not believe in sugar coating things about life… and that said she did not judge other people for having problems,” Ratliff said. “She almost found universal connection in identifying with other people.”
Laticia’s inclusive, kind-hearted nature stretched back to her school days, where Ernestine said she always had friends. Laticia enjoyed school and entertained her classmates. Her mother fondly remembers her preschool graduation and how much love she had for her teacher. Outside of school, she pursued creative activities.
“She loved to dance and prance,” Ernestine said. “She did it like a swan, a ballet dancer.” As she grew older, Brock began to pursue another creative outlet: writing.
Laticia became involved with Street Sense in 2018, and she quickly joined Street Sense’s writers’ group, where she worked with Ratliff, who led the group. He recalled her immediate interest in poetry and how she was eager to manifest her thoughts, feelings, and ideas on paper.
“I would read her pieces back to her, and I would see in her body language that I was getting it, and that I was feeling what she was trying to do,” he said. “That’s when I realized that she was a poet.”
Laticia, who often went by Tent City Ma or PWEEZY in her work at Street Sense, wrote pieces that addressed themes of homelessness, grief, addiction, and relationships.She smoothly navigated through difficult topics with her words, which became a form of expression and advocacy.
At writers’ group, Carlos Carolina, another Street Sense vendor, watched Laticia advocate for her community through her poetry. He said she always wrote something worth reading and hoped her message got across to those who read her work.
“She really cared about the District,” Carolina said, “She really cared about the people of the city. She really cared about putting a stop to homelessness.”
According to her mother, Laticia became homeless to better understand the struggles of the community in her area. She soon found belonging at the Union Station encampment, which was cleared in 2022.
Shawn Fenwick, also a Street Sense vendor, was a member of Laticia’s Union Station community, where she was lovingly known as “Tent City Ma.” As Laticia’s best friend, he fondly remembered their times trying out perfumes at Macy’s and the many, many occasions where she made him laugh.
Fenwick, like some of Laticia’s family and friends, called her Precious. He recalled how influential she was to people and how her authenticity brought out the most in others.
Fenwick most remembered her kindness at their encampment, where she made sure he and the rest of her community were fed through her visits to local restaurants inside the station.
“She’s the nicest person anybody can meet,” Fenwick said.
To support her community, Laticia worked alongside The h3 Project, a Union Station-based nonprofit that assists homeless residents with employment and housing needs. As homeless people in D.C. struggled to get support, the group’s work, especially in substance abuse awareness, was important to Laticia.
The project’s founder, Dr. Ami Angell, said Laticia was immediately intrigued by her presence at the station and quickly became involved in the project.
“She always had that fire to bring other individuals,” Angell said.
Carolina felt similarly. As a member of her Union Station community, he witnessed her compassion and care for her people, as she made sure Carolina got the water and food he needed.
“She was a very inspirational person for our encampment community. She was like [a] big sister,” he said. “She could lift your spirits, you know.”
Laticia wasn’t only the one getting nicknames — she was giving them out, too. Carolina laughed as he recalled her calling him CoCo outside the tents.
Laticia had a gift for making people feel like they belonged, no matter the environment. Angell recalled Laticia’s presence at a recent opioid awareness event. In classic Laticia fashion, she sang all the songs the DJ played, including some she didn’t know. Angell laughed as she watched Laticia do what she did best: bring life to a room.
“It didn’t matter if you wanted to dance or not, you were dancing,” she said.
Another time, Angell said, Laticia created her own h3-themed song. Using her talents from her work at Street Sense, she masterfully crafted a tune she then performed on a blocked-off portion of a Union Station stage.
Angell watched in disbelief as dozens of high school students listened to Laticia freestyle about her love for homeless activism. As security sat confused, and teenagers stood shocked, Angell was amazed by Laticia’s unashamed pride in her community.
“She took an incredibly difficult situation and spun it around to help others,” Angell said. “She used her voice for others.”
Laticia brought that same pride and energy to the Street Sense office. She participated in Street Sense’s F.A.C.E. program, where she continued her advocacy through meetings and discussion groups.
“She cared, she asked questions, she would raise her hand,” Brian Holsten, one of her fellow participants, said. “She was very proactive in demonstrating those skills and abilities that homeless people do have intelligence and have feelings.”
Holsten was inspired by Laticia’s positive attitude and willingness to share her ideas and feelings with her peers.
“[She was] a prideful individual who really cared about others of her culture and herself to evolve from homelessness,” Holsten said. “She’s an individual who tried to be proactive and tried so hard to make every day a better day for everybody and herself, a better world.”
When visiting the office, Laticia frequently brightened the day of Street Sense Vendor Program Associate Nikkie Campbell. Despite a rocky introduction, Campbell was drawn to her.
“It was just something about her,” she said. “She became this young lady I cared about.” Like many others, Campbell was deeply impacted by Laticia’s spirit and passion for others. Campbell admired her ability to paint homeless D.C. residents in a new light, sharing her community’s love and life through her work.
“I don’t want her to be forgotten,” she said.
Near the end of her life, Laticia’s religion became increasingly valuable to her, according to her mother. After a near-death experience in November, she became closely connected to God. Ernestine believes Laticia was chosen by God to make a change and be a friend to others, which she accomplished throughout her 45 years.
With each seat at her funeral service filled with someone impacted by her, it’s clear her friendship stretched far.
“She can make you mad, she can make you sad, she can make you cry, she can make you happy. She was a friend nobody never met before,” Fenwick said.
Laticia died on Dec. 26, 2025, at the age of 45. Her father, Willie McGuire, and her brother, Robert F. Brock, preceded her in death. She leaves behind her mother, Ernestine Brock, her brother, William Brock, her sister, Jacqueline Carter, and many nieces and nephews.
This article originally appeared in Street Sense’s Feb. 11, 2026 edition.
