Last year, Quentin Adams of Bowie, Maryland, was living his dream developing websites and apps as a contractor for the federal government.

But when that job ended due to government job cuts, it began one of the darkest chapters in his life.

“They called me in the office and said, ‘Yeah, your last day will be Friday.’ This was like Thursday. And I’m like, ‘What?’” Adams said.

Adams, 61, had spent over a year building web applications for the now-shuttered U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID.

At the beginning of the year, he was making six figures, and “I’m paying people $200 a month to clean my house,” he said.

Now, he’s delivering food and other online purchases for Uber Eats and Door Dash to survive.

“I go from that to $300-400 a week, not being able to afford a car

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