By Sequnely Gray, on October 26th, 2012 
Listen up!! The Mayor and his administration have done it again!
Children from Zena’s Child Development Center in Southeast lobby DC’s City Council to fund the subsidized child care program.
Another one bites the dust in The Division of Early Care and Education. Just this past week the Assistant State Superintendent for Early Care and Education was tossed to the winds and terminated from her position. That makes 5 turnovers in the past 2 years. The Division of Early Care Education oversees all community based child care centers and the child care subsidy/voucher program. These child care centers and the child care subsidy/voucher program serve the families that are in greatest need. The Division of Early Care Education also helps make it possible for small businesses like child care centers to employ community members within the communities they operate. Without this position being filled there will definitely be no accountability, providers will for sure continue to struggle with operating their businesses and parents will be completely forgotten about.
What’s the answer? FIGHT BACK!! PARENT, PROVIDERS AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS. COME TOGETHER AND JOIN EMPOWER DC’S CHILD CARE FOR ALL CAMPAIGN!! LET’S PLAN FOR ACTION TO HOLD THE CITY ACCOUNTABLE!!
JOIN US TO FIGHT THE ATTACK ON CHILD CARE! WHEN: SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2012 WHERE: The Dorothy I. Height Library 3935 Benning Road NE (walking distance front Minnesota Avenue metro station) TIME: 1:30 – 3:30 CAN YOU WORK WITHOUT CHILDCARE?
Contact Sequnley Gray at childcare@empowerdc.org or 202-234-9119 ext. 103 for more information.
By Liane Scott, on October 25th, 2012 
DC Urban Moms and Dads Co-Founders Maria Sokurashvili and Jeff Steele. A popular and informative blog for DC utilized by many DC-area parents.
DC’s Subsidized Child Care Program is set up to help low-income parents cover the cost of child care while they work, look for work or go to school. A good idea, right? We’re always hearing about how tight the city’s budget is, but if our elected officials want to collect revenue in taxes from parents who can’t afford child care, keeping them from working is not the best way to go. Despite this obvious conclusion, convincing DC government to fully fund the Subsidized Child Care program is a constant battle. As it turns out, convincing some DC residents that it’s important is also a challenge.
It may be those parents who fall into that “donut hole” of not making enough to pay for child care but not making so little that they are eligible for the subsidy who are hardest to convince. I was one of those parents when my daughter was younger. It sucked not to get the subsidy when I really could have used it, but I wasn’t so bitter about it that I didn’t want parents who were even worse off than I not to get the subsidy either. Unfortunately, I came across at least one mother in the donut hole who felt otherwise.
Two years ago, I put out a request to help support Empower DC’s Child Care For All Campaign on an online forum devoted to the concerns of DC parents, DC Urban Moms and Dads. The request was not dissimilar to the request I’m making below.
CAN PARENTS WORK WITHOUT CHILDCARE? JOIN US TO FIGHT THE ATTACK ON DC’s SUBSIDIZED CHILD CARE PROGRAM WHEN: SAURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2012 WHERE: The Dorothy I. Height Library 3935 Benning Road NE (walking distance front Minnesota Avenue Metro Station) TIME: 1:30 – 3:30 For more information, contact Sequnely Gray at childcare@empowerdc.org or 202-234-9119 ext. 103.
This was of course two years ago. The organizer to contact was Ben Parisi, not Sequnely Gray, but the basic goals of the campaign have not changed. Two years ago, at least one anonymous poster on the DC Urban Moms & Dads forum, took exception to my request. The online argument that ensued illustrates some of the confusion over the program which I tried to clear up. I’m not sure how successful I was, but I do think the exchange is… Well, perhaps you should judge for yourself.
FORUM DISCUSSION FROM DC URBAN MOMS AND DADS
Liane: I don’t know if forum readers will find this useful or not as I suspect most of you don’t fall into this category, but in the event that you know someone in the District who simply can’t afford child care or anyone interested in helping out low-income parents, the following notice might be useful. I post on behalf of Ben Parisi, Empower DC’s Child Care For All Campaign Organizer.
http://www.grassrootsmediaproject.org/2010/11/does-vince-gray-really-support-early-childhood-education/
PP Social Worker: I agree that it is a huge issue. I am a social worker in DC and see this all of the time. Thanks!
Anonymous: Its actually the middle income families who have the bigger issues – the lower income can get child care subsidies or go to sliding fee day cares – the middle class are in a bind as child care for one with deductions/taxes can be as much as one parents take home so you can’t afford to work nor can you afford to stay home.
Liane: Well, that’s the point. If the child care subsidies program isn’t funded then the lower income parents aren’t getting the child care vouchers that they need or they’re getting vouchers that don’t cover the cost. I’m not saying the middle income families aren’t screwed over by this issue as well, but I just don’t know if it’s actually a bigger issue. Being a true progressive, I think the state would do well to work to help not only poor folks with their child care needs, but also the folks on the verge of becoming poor folks, a number fast increasing in the current economic climate. But if you want to hear from someone who really deals with this issue on a regular basis, consider checking out this post – http://www.grassrootsmediaproject.org/2010/10/ben-parisi-is-pissed/ He makes a lot of good points.
PP Social Worker: Not just middle income. I have a mom that is making just above minimum wage (not middle class . . . → Read More: Subsidized Child Care for Middle Class Parents. Hm?
By Liane Scott, on October 15th, 2012 
On September 20, 2012 education stakeholders and advocates from all across the nation gathered to demand that a moratorium be placed on public school closings. If you weren’t able to make it, the short video below, produced by Grassroots Media Project producers Stephon Scarborough and Ben King, will give you a sense of what you missed.
Mayor Gray and DCPS will be announcing DCPS school closures this Fall. If you want to help fight school closures in Washington, DC, join Empower DC’s Education Outreach Day Saturday Oct. 20th. We are working to to push back against the narrative that Mayor Gray and Schools Chancellor Henderson are using to justify more school closures. Here are the details:
EDUCATION OUTREACH DAY Saturday, October 20, 2012 @ 1:00 PM Meet in front of the Minnesota Avenue Metro Station If you are able to join us please contact Empower DC Education Campaign Organizer Daniel del Pielago at 202-234-9119 ext. 104 or Daniel@empowerdc.org.
For more on the resistance to school closures, I’ve cross-posted the following Washington Post article by Emma Brown
DCPS to propose school closures as resistance simmers By Emma Brown
A long-anticipated round of proposed school closures will be announced in the next few weeks, Chancellor Kaya Henderson said Wednesday.
Then there will be a series of community meetings where residents have a chance to challenge the proposals. And by December, DCPS hopes to make final decisions about which schools will be shuttered. Protesters rally against the coming round of school closures at DCPS headquarters Thursday morning. (Emma Brown/The Washington Post)
“We want to build in the time to hear from you,” Henderson said, speaking Wednesday before residents of River Terrace, a community that’s still smarting from the closure of its elementary school last spring.
In 2008, then-Chancellor Michelle Rhee moved swiftly to close 23 schools, sparking angry protests, political backlash and long-lasting distrust.
Henderson is banking on the idea that communities will be more willing to accept closures if they’ve had the chance to hear and respond to her proposals and rationales.
But resistance is simmering. Dozens of protesters gathered at DCPS headquarters Thursday morning to rally against the coming closures, calling them a veiled attempt to destabilize communities and speed gentrification of poor neighborhoods.
Parisa Norouzi, executive director of Empower DC, which organized the rally, said she doubted that DCPS will really listen to residents. “We have no reason to trust the process that Kaya Henderson has laid out,” she said.
Parents — many pointing to a report issued this year that recommended closing many public schools and replacing them with public charters — described the closures as part of a larger attempt to destroy the city’s traditional public education system.
“The answer is not charter schools, the answer is fortifying traditional public schools,” said Schyla Pondexter-Moore, a Ward 8 parent of four. “I think children deserve a quality education at a school they can walk to.”
Henderson, meanwhile, has long argued that closures are a matter of fiscal reality. The city operates 225 public schools — including traditional and charter schools — for 76,000 kids. Meanwhile, Fairfax County has the same number of schools — and more than twice the kids.
The D.C. protesters were joined Thursday by activists from Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia and other cities where charter schools are thriving and public schools are closing.
This reporter left the rally just before noon, when perhaps a hundred activists were chanting and singing in front of DCPS headquarters. Organizers said their numbers later swelled into the hundreds as they marched to the U.S. Education Department to call for a five-year moratorium on school closures nationwide.
By Liane Scott, on October 9th, 2012 Come Learn About the Threat to Public Housing and How We Can Fight To Preserve It!! Empower DC’s Affordable Housing Campaign Will Be Hosting a Public Housing Information Session Where: 1419 V Street NW When: Thursday, October 11, 2012 6:30 – 8:30 PM For more information, contact Schyla Moore-Poindexter at 202-234-9119 ext.101 or housing@empowerdc.org. ONE DC (Organizing Neighborhood Equity) is also putting the word out about a community meeting in Ward 8 this Saturday, October 13. The video below, shot by Judith Hawkins of It Is What It Is Mobile Talk Show, goes into the details.
By Liane Scott, on October 2nd, 2012 
On behalf of the many friends and colleagues of longtime DC homeless advocate Brian Anders, who passed away on August 28, 2012, Empower DC Co-Founder Parisa Norouzi requested that the city council pass a resolution honoring Brian’s life. Unlike so many other requests made by members of the progressive community, the council agreed. The resolution is being sponsored by Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham and was on the Consent Agenda of the council’s first legislative session (Wednesday September 19, 2012). Unfortunately, we still don’t know when it will be presented or when (or even if) community members will be permitted to speak about Brian in memoriam.
Interview of Brian Anders by Pete Tucker on the Closing of La Casa Shelter. [haiku url=”http://www.grassrootsmediaproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Brian_Anders_2010-10-04.mp3″ title=”Brian_Anders_2010-10-04″]
As a reminder why this resolution is so appropriate, I’ve cross-postied an an audio podcast of an interview of Brian Anders discussing the closing of La Casa Shelter produced by Pete Tucker for his website The Fight Back. Following that is an article about Brian by David Zirin, that was originally published in The Nation. Perhaps after reading the article and listening to the audio you’ll find the time to call or email your councilmember and remind them to put Brian’s resolution prominently on the council’s agenda. Click here for a link to the names and addresses of DC’s City Council. Also, mark your calendar for a celebration of Brian’s life, October 13, starting at 6:30PM at the Potter’s House. More on that later.
The Last Wish of Brian Anders Dave Zirin on September 4, 2012 – 10:23 AM ET
We are all taught from birth that the world is shaped exclusively by the wealthy and powerful. The brave souls, who put their bodies on the line and organize people to pressure the powerful, are erased from the historical record. Last week, we lost one of those brave souls, and he deserves to be remembered. A man died in Washington, DC, who did more to affect change than any of the empty suits that scurry about on Capitol Hill. His name was Brian Anders, and although he’d reject this description, he was very special.
Dynamic, charismatic and razor sharp, Brian could have done anything with his life but was compelled to be a fighter for social justice on the streets of DC for nearly thirty years. The bulk of his work was focused on fighting for the rights of the homeless and affordable housing by any means necessary. If there was a protest, a speakout, or an occupation, Brian Anders was there. Brian was also an African-American Vietnam War veteran who wrestled with his own PTSD for decades and always, particularly since 9/11, made every effort to connect imperial wars abroad with the war on the poor at home. He saw the connections and put his passion, his pain and his personal history at the service of getting others to see that connective tissue as well.
Brian always reminded me of Julian Bond’s line about Muhammad Ali: “He made dissent visible, audible, attractive and fearless.”
Brian Anders worked with everyone but was associated most closely with two remarkable institutions. In the 1980s, he was at the heart of organizing at the homeless shelter CCNV (the Center for Creative Non-Violence) and over the last decade sat on the board of the social justice organization Empower DC. Both entities, due in no small part to Brian, have distinguished themselves by the fact that they don’t fight on behalf of people but organize affected communities to fight for themselves.
As his friend Kirby ably described in her remembrance of Brian, CCNV became in the 1980s “a vibrant community of anti-war and social justice activists, who succeeded, through direct action, in forcing the federal government to hand over the massive building at 2nd and D St. NW, so that CCNV could turn it into a shelter and community center for people without housing.”
CCNV’s activism was at the heart of the passage of the 1987 McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, one of the precious few federal actions that has actually aided the homeless. He showed all the professional politicians what real politics could look like when removed from the lobbyists and big-money donors, and reclaimed by the people.
But Brian’s most lasting contribution was how he affected those closest to him.
Fellow Empower DC board member Farah Fosse said at a service/rally for Brian after his death, “He spoke truth to power, motivated people, worked tirelessly for justice, provided direct services . . . → Read More: Resolution Honoring the Life of Brian Anders
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