Last month, DC Action sent our FY25 budget recommendations to Mayor Bowser and the DC Council, emphasizing the need to center racial equity in budgetary decision making. Systemic racism hurts all of our residents, especially our children and youth. Black and brown families in particular, who live in neighborhoods with a history of underinvestment due to racial discrimination, deserve the District’s attention and advocacy for just and equitable investments in income, health, education, and housing security. 

Read More

At a recent hearing of the DC Council Committee on Health focused on Medicaid, DC Action Home Visiting Program Coordinator Mary Katherine West testified about the major positive impact the Home Visiting Services Reimbursement Act would have on the District’s infants and their parents. “Alongside other federal and local sources, Medicaid reimbursement would provide an additional and maintained investment into home visiting that programs can count on year after year. In the past year, programs have faced the consequences of uncertain and unstable budgets,” West explained in her testimony. “By strengthening and stabilizing programs, Medicaid reimbursement would facilitate more seamless service provision beyond the almost 1,400 families served in FY 2022…If passed and fully implemented, the District would join 28 other states, including our neighbors in Maryland, who have fully implemented pathways for home visiting providers to receive reimbursement from Medicaid. This is a common sense and practical solution to increasing funding for home visiting that recognizes the value of home visiting for families and their little ones while providing cost savings to the District.”

Read More

DC Action partner SPACEs in Action held a special event to show the District’s early childhood educators how important their work is and how much they are appreciated by families, community members, and advocates–not to mention children! High-quality, accessible, affordable early childhood education is a cornerstone of every healthy community, and must be funded accordingly. SPACEs in Action created this video to highlight the urgency of pay equity and adequate funding for early childhood education in the District.

Watch Video

Saiida is excited to dive into research and data analysis and contribute to lasting and effective change as a Diane Bernstein Fellow in Child and Youth Advocacy for the Fall of 2023. Originally from Southern California, Saiida is a second-year Honors Political Science and Afro-American Studies double major on a pre-law track at Howard University. She serves as the chair of the Political Action Committee of the Howard University Chapter of the NAACP and on the Executive Board of the Black Women in Pre-Law Society. Saiida has a passion for intersectionality, radical socio political theory, and institutional reform. Saiida shared her research on the intersection between race and gender and how the constructs contribute towards our understanding of privilege at conferences of the National Association of African-American Studies and the National Council of Black Political Scientists.

About DC Action

DC Action is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, multi-issue advocacy organization making the District of Columbia a place where all kids grow up safe, resilient, powerful and heard. DC Action uses research, data, and a racial equity lens to break down barriers that stand in the way of all kids reaching their full potential. We are home to DC Kids Count, Under 3 DC, DC Out-of-School Time Coalition, Youth Voices Youth Power Project, the DC Home Visiting Council and the Youth Economic Justice and Housing Coalition. Our collaborative advocacy campaigns bring the power of young people and all residents to raise their voices to create change.

Donate to Our Work

WeAreDCAction.org

info@dckids.org

Copyright © 2023, DC Action, All rights reserved.