DC Action for Children Newsletter June 5, 2020 Read “Silence is Complicity,” Executive Director Kimberly Perry’s statement on the current state of our nation in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, and the urgent need for anti-racist action to demonstrate that Black lives do matter. Read Under 3 DC Coalition Director Ronald Jarrett’s testimony to the DC Council on the...

Testimony to DC Council on Out of School Time Programming | Matthew Hanson, Chief of Staff, DC Action for Children Out of school time programs play a vital role in social and emotional functioning of children and youth. Now, more than ever, this matters. The isolation, exposure to adverse childhood experiences, and loss of opportunity our young people are facing...

Testimony to DC Council on Child Care Subsidies | Ronald Jarrett, Coalition Director, Under 3 DC Racism defines almost every aspect of society. We have seen how generations of inequality have resulted in a nation struggling to maintain a civil society today. The time has come to let go of outmoded paradigms, protocols, and biases in all of our social...

When watching the video of George Floyd’s murder, I heard him call for his mother. My heart sank and broke into pieces. And, then the rage ensued, again. Four-hundred-years-of-injustice kind of rage. Since the more prominent murder of 14-year-old Emmett Louis Till by brutal, public lynching in 1955, thousands of Black boys and men, and Black girls and women have...

Testimony to DC Council on Paid Family Leave | Kimberly Perry, Executive Director, DC Action for Children The COVID-19 pandemic reinforces the need for inclusive, accessible health programs. Fortunately, the District is almost ready to launch a new program that will help. DC’s new Universal Paid Leave Program is slated to launch July 1. Many of us in the advocacy...

DC Action for Children Newsletter | May 2020 The Mayor and the Council are working together to pass a budget, and the decisions made this year will have a major impact on the future of the District. DC Action staff and coalition members are advocating to invest more in education, and protect programs that provide health and economic lifelines to...

DC Action for Children and DC Alliance of Youth Advocates Have Merged! by Kimberly Perry and Maggie Riden It is our pleasure to announce the merger between DC Action for Children and DC Alliance of Youth Advocates. Under the leadership of Kimberly Perry, Executive Director of DC Action for Children, the unified organization is fully operational and working towards a...

Testimony to DC Council about Home Visiting Programs | Ruqiyyah Anbar-Shaheen DC Action chairs the Home Visiting Council with other advocates, community-based providers, and agency leaders. This body works to strengthen home visiting in the District by building a cross-sector network of support for programs, advocating for resources and funding for their stability and growth, and collaborating to address system-wide...

Testimony to DC Council about Children’s Services Coordination for Children Experiencing Homelessness | Kimberly Perry In light of traumatic incidents at the family shelters shortly prior to this public health crisis, DHS must work with community leaders to develop a Children’s Services Coordination Plan in each family shelter setting (including the hotels). Instead of asking for additional funds, we urge...

Testimony to DC Council about SNAP | Rachel Metz Even before the pandemic, SNAP filled a major need in DC, particularly for children. In fiscal year 2019, 94,000 District residents participated in SNAP, which is about 13 percent of the District’s population.28 Of those 94,000 participants, 37,000 - just over one-third - were children under age 18 (with about one-third...