jonetta rose barras: When will we exhale?
That was the question I asked myself hours before the polls opened Nov. 5 for the general election. Vice President…
After monthslong fight between mayor and council, emergency rental assistance gets more funding
Thousands more District residents who are behind on rent will get help this year than previously expected.
DC will put an extra $20.6 million into the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) in 2024, the Department of Human…
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Council looks to Europe’s social housing as a new solution to DC’s affordability crisis
It’s no secret that it’s expensive to rent in DC, especially for people who make below the city’s median income of $152,000 for a family of four. Despite DC investing hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in building and preserving…
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Community pantries step in with solutions to more than just hunger
By Winnie Chan, Michelle Collins, Shane Gomez and Emily Hawkins
On a brisk spring morning, more than a hundred people snake their way around a group of semitrailers in the shabby parking lot at Lakeforest Mall in Gaithersburg, Maryland.…
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Within days, DC’s rental assistance program maxes out during first application window
The need for rental assistance in the city is high. DC's Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) reopened on Oct. 1 after closing in March due to the volume of applications. But by Oct. 10, the program closed again, due to high demand,…
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Recent reforms are helping DC distribute unused vouchers for foster youth
After years of letting federally funded housing vouchers for people leaving foster care and facing homelessness go to waste, DC is implementing a new law to ensure every young person who needs a voucher gets one.
The federal…
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District Links
Why everyone benefits when DC youth have free after-school programming
Amid continued scrutiny of the District's 911 call center, local officials yesterday launched a "Make the Right Call" campaign in hopes of reducing the number of non-emergency calls that contribute to what they described as "an overtaxed…
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District Links: Senate panel OKs bill to allow redevelopment of RFK Stadium site under DC control; DYRS legislation prompts broader debate; and more
A Senate committee has advanced legislation that would lease the expansive RFK Stadium campus to the District for 99 years and allow for mixed-use redevelopment that could include a new home for the Washington Commanders.
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District Links: Anacostia’s Go-Go Museum celebrates opening with mayoral ribbon-cutting; AG reportedly probing lottery, wagering contract; and…
Mayor Muriel Bowser, at-large Councilmembers Kenyan McDuffie and Robert White, and community leaders helped cut the ribbon today for the new Go-Go Museum & Café in Anacostia in a salute to the history and popularity of DC's home-grown…
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Still Broken: DC's Child Welfare System
Still Broken: DC’s Child Welfare System
Over the summer, the DC government announced it had reached a settlement in the 32-year class-action lawsuit that…
Children at risk: 32 years and billions of dollars later, DC fails to protect thousands from abuse and neglect
Outside the three-story, red brick apartment building at 935 Division Ave. NE, it must have seemed like an ordinary…
Children at risk: Abuse and neglect investigations are opened too late and closed too soon
One day in April 2020, a person renting a room from Diamond Taylor and Tyvez Jackson in their apartment at 2812…
Children at risk: City’s child fatality reviews don’t prevent future deaths as intended
Gabriel Eason’s name appeared in broadcast media and newspapers for a few weeks following his death in April 2020…
Children at risk: Foster care in DC is no safe haven
The child who arrived at the home of Magdalena and Gabriel Acevedo entered the city’s foster care system, managed…
Children at risk: As DC’s child welfare system trends toward destruction and death, will city leaders embrace transformational change?
“I'm going to make you two promises in this trial,” DC defense attorney Jonathan Zucker told the jury in his…
jonetta rose barras: When will we exhale?
That was the question I asked myself hours before the polls opened Nov. 5 for the general election. Vice President Kamala Harris was right: After having dealt with then-former President Donald Trump for eight years, I, like many Americans,…
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jonetta rose barras: Plotting the political future with ranked choice voting
District voters may be trying to decide whether to mark yes or no for Initiative 83, a general election ballot measure that could partially open political party primaries to non-members and install a candidate selection system known as…
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jonetta rose barras: The DC Council violates the law to investigate its alleged law-breaking member, Trayon White
When I was growing up in a five-generation household in New Orleans, the elders passed around wives’ tales, family lore, adages and ethics lessons as frequently as they did crawfish bisque or jambalaya. My grandmother often warned that,…
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jonetta rose barras: The aging homeless among us
I saw her multiple times from the window of the Number 33 bus as we drove past Tenley Circle NW: an older white woman seated on the bench fronted by stacks of black containers, her luggage inside a large cart. It didn’t matter the weather…
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From murals to martial arts: New Smithsonian exhibit reflects on Chinatown’s history and Asian American influence in DC
At most art museums, visitors typically view and admire the final product, with few opportunities to witness the creative process or the heavy lifting that occurs behind the scenes. However, Sightlines: Chinatown and Beyond, the…
For Mosaic’s ‘Lady Day,’ Roz White transforms into Billie Holiday in a captivating performance
She riffed about parole officers, sang to white audiences about racial injustice, and used cuss words as adjectives — that’s Billie Holiday, compellingly reincarnated with fresh depth and dynamism in Mosaic Theater Company’s production of…
Artomatic transforms abandoned building into a free artistic oasis
In its latest incarnation, Artomatic once again serves as a beacon of creativity, transforming a vacant building into an artistic hub. From sculptures fashioned from trash in the Potomac to a time-lapse video capturing the Rosslyn skyline,…
Quicksilver resumes some in-person arts activities for seniors after months of physical isolation
At a time when the world has been preoccupied with the health of seniors, dancer and choreographer Nancy Havlik has continued teaching an unlikely approach to the physical and mental well-being of people over the age of 65 — dance.
…
Teenage spirit: High school sophomore’s desire to help people in need starts close to home
Local Templeton Academy sophomore Miguel Coppedge started a fundraiser last year to benefit children in foster care and families experiencing homelessness. His charity donations are destined for St. Ann’s Center for Youth, Children and…
For one little girl, sexual assaults changed her life until she took control. Now she’s a successful public defender.
“On the day my grandmother caught him fondling me, I was wearing my favorite pink cotton dress. Now pink is a trigger for me.”Roz Overstreet-Gonzalez
Growing up, Roz Overstreet-Gonzalez lived a typical life in San Bernardino,…
What We're Reading: DC Headlines
Washington Post: Two in five D.C. students were chronically absent last year, data show
High schools suffered the most, with 60 percent of older students missing weeks of school
DCist: Chronic Absenteeism Remains Stubbornly High In D.C. Schools
Chronic absenteeism and truancy rates improved slightly in D.C. schools, but is still significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels, according to new data on the 2022-2023 school year.
Washington Post: First-time home buyers banked on D.C. aid. Then the city changed the rules.
Six years ago, as Alfred Swailes was entering retirement, he started to think: Would he ever be able to own a home in the city where he spent his whole life?
DCist: Capital One Arena Forever Changed Chinatown. Can It Reverse Downtown’s Post-Pandemic Slump?
On December 2, 1997, 26 years ago this week, the MCI Center opened at the corner of F and 6th Streets Northwest in the District’s Chinatown neighborhood. City officials celebrated, hoping the arena…
Axios: D.C. traffic deaths hit 16-year high
D.C. traffic deaths are up more than 60% this year from the same time in 2022, reaching the highest total in 16 years.
DCist: D.C. Attorney General Warns Retailers Not To Discriminate Against Residents Who Use SNAP Benefits
D.C.’s Office of the Attorney General is warning retailers such as grocery stores and convenience stores to not discriminate against residents who are paying for food with Supplemental Nutrition…
Washington Post: D.C. residents weigh in on Bowser’s bill to address crime trends
Dozens of D.C. residents, business owners and activists on Wednesday sounded off at a hearing on a crime and policing bill introduced last month by Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), offering mixed opinions…
Washington Post: In downtown D.C., a long-vacant historic building could pose opportunity
In its past life, the Webster School in downtown Washington had been many things: a segregated school for White children built in 1882, an “Americanization” school for assimilating immigrants after…
DCist: New Bill Would Reduce Responsibilities Of D.C.’s Embattled 911 Agency
A new D.C. Council bill would transfer some 911 dispatching responsibilities away from the troubled Office of Unified Communications and back to the D.C. fire department. The bill, which Ward 1…
City Paper: Litigious Dupont Lawyer Ed Hanlon Claims Brooke Pinto Repeatedly Violated Campaign Finance Law
Hanlon believes Pinto improperly mixed Council and campaign business, filing complaints just as her reelection bid heats up.