Ward 8

A dozen homeowners who purchased properties in Southeast DC that fell apart soon after they were constructed filed a new lawsuit last month against the city, the developer, and a housing nonprofit. The lawsuit builds on claims made in…

Last Friday, Karl Morrison — one of the 46 homeowners displaced from their properties at 1262 Talbert St. SE because of dire safety concerns — received the keys to his new two-bedroom apartment in Navy Yard. A housing certificate…

Ephrame Kassaye frequently sees the same families and children shop at his store in the Washington Highlands neighborhood in Ward 8. He stocks the aisles of Chesapeake Big Market, located next to an elementary school and a child care…

On a Friday afternoon in early September, Britney Bennett, a single mother of two children aged 6 and 13, sat on a blue couch in Davina Callahan’s living room and sighed. “They’re not even telling us what’s going on with our homes…

Life for more than three dozen low- to moderate-income Ward 8 homeowners just went from bad to worse — much, much worse. The engineering consulting firm they hired, The Falcon Group, is recommending a complete evacuation of all units at…

“When I go to sleep at night, I kind of sleep with one eye open, so I’m never really sleeping, because I don't want building to collapse and not be able to get myself and my baby out,” LaDonna May, a condo owner at River East at Grandview…

In what’s known as a hot spot for maternal mortality in the United States, Mallory Mpare is seeking to make a difference for pregnant people of color in the District through a mobile health clinic that brings comprehensive care to parents…

There’s not much left of Deatrice Belt’s old neighborhood, the public housing community on Eaton Road SE known as Barry Farm. There’s the old basketball court, a surface now cracked and covered over with weeds, where people used to gather…

Challengers Stuart Anderson, Mike Austin and Yaida Ford are seeking to defeat incumbent Trayon White for the Democratic nomination for the Ward 8 DC Council seat. Stuart Anderson Neighborhood: AnacostiaOccupation: Family…

When DC Public Schools first administered the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exams in 2015, Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School was significantly behind in both English language arts (ELA) and…

In his backyard in Congress Heights, Nathan Harrington has a collection of bowling balls. He found them in the woods. He doesn’t know for sure how the 10 or 12 colorful spheres ended up out there, but he guesses it has something to do…

The economic development solution for what ails communities east of the Anacostia River is complicated. There are legitimate concerns about displacement of residents. Simultaneously, there are real issues about expanding the middle…

I grew up in Anacostia, the heartbeat of Southeast. Every day of my childhood, I lived the life my students now live.  Over the past year, we experienced incredible heartbreak with the loss of Gerald Watson and other students who have…

A new collaboration between Unity Health Care and Sibley Memorial Hospital is bringing much-needed cancer care closer to residents in wards 7 and 8 — a response to calls from community members, health educators, and advocates for more…

The health concerns pervasive in wards 7 and 8 vary greatly — from food deserts to access to specialty medical services and urgent care. But a collaboration between Sibley Memorial Hospital and the DC government is providing guidance and…

Ketcham Elementary School in Ward 8’s historic Anacostia neighborhood just turned a cluttered old library room into a bright new STEM lab, replete with new iPads, robots and 3D printers — all thanks to a partnership with two regional…

Alabama Avenue SE from Bowen Road to Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue — a heavily trafficked, wide, and therefore dangerous road in wards 7 and 8 — is in the final design phase for big changes. Big more in terms of the length of the affected…

Under a Monday afternoon drizzle in Congress Heights, community advocates and politicians teamed up with a local nonprofit and a developer to break ground last week on Iona East, a new adult day center to serve District residents east of…

On the evening of May 27, 2015, Charnice Milton was on the bus, heading to her home in Ward 7’s Benning Heights neighborhood. A journalist working for Capital Community News — which publishes the local news outlets Hill Rag, East of the…