Mayor Gray is finalizing his proposed District budget for FY2013 right now. Please join the Fair Budget Coalition in calling or emailing Mayor Gray on Wednesday, February 29 to demand that he include investments and policy changes in the upcoming budget that will make it possible for people of all backgrounds to live in the District of Columbia.
A suggested outline for your phone call or email to the Mayor is included below.
By Elizabeth Falcone, Campaign Organizer, Coalition for Nonprofit Housing & Economic Development (CNHED)
This blog post is a joint production with the Housing for All campaign.
This winter, the need for affordable housing has become a major focus of city officials and the local media.
Residents of all backgrounds and income levels raised concerns about affordable housing at Mayor Gray’s One City Summit. The One City Summit was designed to collect input from District residents about their concerns and priorities. At the summit, residents identified “lack of affordable housing/gentrification” as the number one concern raised by participants that would prevent DC from becoming One City. Mayor Gray has committed that the input from the event will shape his administration and this year’s budget.
Another major issue is the expanding crisis of family homelessness the District is facing right now. The city has seen a huge increase in family homelessness this winter and is scrambling to meet these people’s needs. They are doing so by expanding temporary housing solutions – increasing the number of families housed at DC General to 750 and housing about 200 families a week in hotel rooms.
Everyone should have the opportunity to be an effective citizen, worker, family member, or partner in their children’s education. Although our area has the highest number of college graduates too many of our citizens possess low literacy levels.
Without resources, it is impossible to significantly improve lives.
Restoring $1.2 million to adult literacy will strengthen the workforce and promote economic development for the city.
Within 18 months following completion of an adult basic education program, learners achieve significant annual wage gains. Higher wages help sustain the local economy and research has shown that a parents’ literacy level, especially a mother’s, is one significant factor in determining whether or not children will succeed in school and graduate from high school.
A literate citizenry can improve our whole community and achieve the goal of Making One City Possible.
On January 24th, WAMU 88.5, a local affiliate of NPR, aired a story called, “Breaking the Cycle when Dropping Out Runs in the Family” featuring two Academy of Hope learners, Saundra Walker and Grace McMillian, mother and daughter respectively.
Hear and read their stories here and learn the top five reasons dropouts identify for leaving school.
Ari Weisbard, DC Employment Justice Center
For many low-wage workers, it’s not a hypothetical question.
Businesses routinely refuse to pay the correct hourly wage, dodge taxes by misclassifying workers, refuse to pay workers earned overtime, and make employees work “off the clock.” More than 2 out of 3 low-wage workers experienced at least one type of wage theft in the previous week according to a 2010 survey of 4,000 workers in low-wage industries. The estimated average amount of wages stolen annually? $2,634 out of total average earnings of $17,616. That’s like an extra 15% tax on the poorest workers!
As Mayor Gray prepares his budget, one of the most effective investments he can make in DC’s economy is to beef up enforcement of basic wage and paid leave laws designed to protect workers from wage theft.
Mayor Gray is in the process of setting his priorities for this year’s budget and he needs to hear from us! He has the opportunity to restore critical funding to safety net services that have suffered deep budget cuts during the recession. Help us call on the Mayor to invest in programs and policies that help people afford to live in their community, protect our most vulnerable residents, and tackle unemployment through smart investments in training and education.
Please email the message below to eom (at) dc.gov, or call the Mayor at 202-727-6263 using the below phone script below as a guide, then send this to 10 friends or colleagues and ask them to do the same! We also have informative tweets (also below) you can send!
Find out more about the programs that have been badly cut here.
In addition to calling and emailing, continue to vote for our priorities here.
Thank you for standing with us!
Fair Budget Coalition
MakeOneCityPossible.com
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Mr. J was gainfully employed until the age of 41, when he had major surgery on his lower back. After the surgery, he began to develop chronic back pain that made it difficult to stand, sit, or walk for even short periods of time. As the back pain persisted, he was forced to quit his job. Mr. J had saved some money from work, but eventually it began to run out. He applied for IDA and SSDI, but was not approved for SSDI until several years later. The income from IDA prevented him from becoming homeless. With his IDA, he was able to locate permanent supportive housing. Mr. J reports that “IDA made the difference between being destitute with no money and being able to maintain some dignity.”
District residents used to be able to depend on Interim Disability Assistance (IDA), temporary aid provided by the city during the long SSI application process.
In the coming weeks we will focus on other investments that create opportunities to live and work in DC. See our calendar for details.
