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Performance Oversight Hearings Pave the Way for March 16 Release of Bowser's Budget
Too often the systems that have been built over generations don’t serve the needs of Black and brown residents, especially children and youth. That is why the DC Council’s performance oversight hearings are so essential. These hearings are one of the best opportunities for the public to demand greater accountability and transparency from policy makers, so our agencies are able to improve the public programs and services that our communities deserve, and for us to gather the data and information needed to make them more responsive moving forward.
Thank you to everyone who submitted written testimony or appeared before DC Council committees during performance oversight hearings. Our staff and more than 60 coalition members testified on issues including simplifying the DC Healthcare Alliance certification, OST funding, early childhood educator compensation and language access, workforce and behavioral health services for youth experiencing homelessness, expanding health and nutrition programs, and more.
Mayor Bowser is scheduled to release her FY23 budget on March 16, and brief the DC Council about the contents of her budget on March 18. DC Action will be examining the proposed budget line by line to assess funding commitments to and areas of improvement for programs that serve the District’s children and youth.
Horizons Greater Washington Offers a Whole Year's Worth of Summer Academics and Swimming
“Imagine if every young person in the District had a trusted adult who got to know them during the summer,” writes Horizons Greater Washington’s Executive Director Mike DiMarco in the latest installment of our OST voices blog series. In addition to providing robust summer programming, Horizons emphasizes the connection between OST and classroom teachers to provide continuity in the educational experiences for young people.
Testimonies on Language Access, Alliance Certificarion, OST Funding, and Early Educator Pay Wrp Up Performance Oversight Hearings
As DC Council committees rounded out the last week of performance oversight hearings, in addition to organizing dozens of supporters to testify, several DC Action staff members testified about issues that matter to District children and families.
DC Action in the News
“Throwing Away Criminal Youth Is Not the Solution,” Washington Informer, page 31, March 3, 2022
Why Carjacking Is on the Rise Among Teens in America, New York Times, March 1, 2022
READ WATCH LISTEN
READ: The Colored Conventions Movement. Long before Black Lives Matter, the Black Panthers, and the NAACP, Black activists led the movement for social justice across North America. This new book of essays chronicles the 19th-century campaign for Black people’s rights.
WATCH: This week marked the 86th birthday of former DC Mayor Marion Barry, whose legacy lives on through his “Mayor for Life” nickname. Watch this 1971 video of Barry discussing the challenges faced by Black residents of the District.
LISTEN: A lifetime of study has led Robin DG Kelley to the conclusion that racism is essential to capitalism, and that we have to rethink our economic system in order to end racism. Listen to There Are No Utopias, this episode of NPR’s Throughline podcast.