By Guest Contributor, on May 27th, 2011 Cross-Posted from Save Our Safety Net
If you haven’t already heard, we didn’t win the income tax brackets. But we did win one progressive revenue source which is helping to pay for our other collective win: Millions in restorations to safety net services! And it is directly due to OUR PRESSURE! Check out this news report from the day before the vote:
But Jack Evans is already trying to undo $13 million in possible restorations in order to repeal the progressive revenue that did make it in the budget–a progressive revenue, incidentally, that HE VOTED FOR. He even wrote an email to other Councilmembers telling them “You need to help us”. They don’t seem to give up, but neither do we. Click HERE to take action to make sure all new revenue will go towards services and not a tax repeal.
WHAT DID WE GET IN THIS BUDGET?
Let’s start with SAFETY NET FUNDING RESTORATIONS
Restorations were either funded in the budget, or promised future funding in a list of priorities if the June revenue forecast reveals the city will be getting more money than Council thought. (It is widely estimated that there will be additional funding that can be used to start funding the priorities in the order the Council has laid out.) Here’s a table to show you how restorations stand (there may be adjustments here and there as the final budget is analyzed, but this should be fairly accurate):
Services Cuts Restorations in Budget Restorations IF more $$ in June Homeless Services $20.5M $17M $2.2M Housing Prod. Trust Fund $18M 0 $18M Interim Disability Asstnce $4.8M $1.2M $3.3M TANF $5M $4.9M 0 Childcare $2.2M 0 $2M Children’s Mental Health $7M 0 $6.4M Victim’s Services $3M $4.1M** 0 Healthcare Alliance $11M 0 0 Housing 1st rent subsidies $4M 0 $1.6M TOTAL: $75.4M $27.2M $33.5M
**To help cover Victim’s Services cuts, the Council used $2.8M from the Domestic Violence Shelter Fund. For more information about the potential restorations and the list of priorities check out this post on the District Dime.
This is an incredible accomplishment. We did not get everything this city needs, we need to keep fighting to protect what we did get, and only time will tell how much of the $33.5M in future promises will actually be delivered. But as the Exec. Director of the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, Patty Mullahy Fugere, told us: “In my 20 years here at the Legal Clinic, I don’t think I’ve ever heard so many council members express concern about maintaining a safety net for our low-income and homeless neighbors. It was a very welcome change.”
And this is because of your calls, emails, and participation in the numerous rallies, council visits, and actions in the past 3 months. (Seriously folks: early last week we heard that Homeless Services would only be getting $4M. By Friday (a few hundred calls, emails and a Safety Net Reality Tour later) that number had jumped to $17 million.)
And now on to PROGRESSIVE REVENUE:
We lost the income tax by two votes from two Councilmembers we had considered staunch allies until something happened in the back rooms of the Council. Tommy Wells and Marion Barry voted against the income tax, joining Cheh, Catania, Bowser, Kwame and Orange. For their votes in our favor, we profusely thank Michael Brown, Graham, Thomas, and our two newest safety net superheroes, Mendelson and Alexander.
Though we didn’t get the income tax, we did close the exemption on the out-of-state bonds tax which is projected to bring in a comparable amount of revenue. This was pretty amazing as it was a centerpiece of last year’s SOS campaign but it was not widely supported then. It became clear this bonds tax was just a gimmick intended to be repealed when the June revenue forecast is likely to reveal the city has a bit more to spend for this year. Kwame had written in language stating that he would use some of the extra revenue from the June forecast to “buy back” the tax. But Wells impressed us when he managed to pass an amendment to take out the repeal and redirect the funds to safety net services. He gets major props for that move.
ACTION POINT: Now Evans, Cheh, Kwame and Catania are plotting to take away the $13 million earned by Wells’ amendment, money that is currently promised to Homeless Services, Interim Disability Assistance, the Housing Production Trust Fund and Children’s Mental Health. CLICK HERE . . . → Read More: DC Council Budget Vote Run Down
By Sean Furmage, on May 25th, 2011 
Homeless service advocates marching to the Wilson Building. (Photo by Roshan Ghimire).
On May 18th, around 100 homeless people and homeless advocates gathered at the Community for Creative Non-Violence (CCNV) shelter to participate in the “March to Save Homeless Services”. This event was organized to protest budget cuts that could lead to the loss of funding for a number of homeless services and the closing of city shelters next April. After marching along E street to the Wilson Building on Pennsylvania Avenue, the group met with a “Reality Tour” event organized by Save Our Safety Net DC. The marchers joined with activists interested in restoring funding for all social service programs, and not just homeless services. Over 200 people crammed into the Wilson Building to protest budget cuts soon to be introduced by Mayor Vincent Gray’s city council. If these cuts go through, vital social services for some of DC’s most vulnerable residents will be lost.
Listen to our audio report of the event!
Photo by Roshan Ghimire.
Binnie and I spoke to Robert Warren, a formerly homeless advocate for the People’s Fairness Coalition, and Blair Rush, a current CCNV shelter resident, to get their views on the budget cuts and what it will mean to them. Robert has had problems with the Housing and Urban Development Department’s Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) which provides assistance with rent to individuals and families at risk of becoming homeless as well as those exiting homelessness. As federally funded programs like the HPRP fail to provide sustainable assistance to people facing homelessness, local cuts to homeless services in DC will only make things worse for residents.
Robert Warren inside the Wilson Building. (Photo by Hazal Yolga).
Blair Rush interviewed with her service dog Kelo inside the Wilson Building. (Photo by Hazal Yolga).
Blair faces having her Interim Disability Assistance (IDA) cut off. Initially, Mayor Gray’s proposed budget cuts sought to eliminate all funding for the Interim Disability Program. Although Chairman Kwame Brown’s as yet unfunded proposals would result in some funding being restored for IDA, there are still over three million dollars of cuts on the table. This will mean hundreds of people will lose their IDA income and over a thousand will remain on a long waiting list. IDA provides a lifeline for many DC residents and cutting it will have devastating results for over a thousand people who currently receive it.
The DC Fiscal Policy Institute notes that these budget cuts are coming at a time when a large number of low-income DC residents are still experiencing unemployment and are unable to provide for themselves and their families in the wake of the recession. Cuts to homeless and other safety net services in the District will only worsen the situation for homeless, unemployed, low-income and struggling residents.
Save our Safety Net DC is organizing an emergency action where activists will gather again at the Wilson Building at noon on Tuesday, May 24th. This will be the last chance to ask the city council to vote against 19 million dollars of budget cuts to social services. So far, Chairman Kwame Brown has refused to raise taxes at all for DC residents. Activists from Save our Safety Net DC and other DC residents and advocates for restoring funding for social services argue that these harmful budget cuts could be avoided through a small increase in income tax for those residents earning in excess of 100,000 dollars per year. This would be an alternative to what many claim is the balancing of the budget on the backs of the poor.
People crowd into the corridors of the Wilson building outside councilmembers' offices. (Photo by Roshan Ghimire).
By Guest Contributor, on April 1st, 2011 
By Ben Parisi, Empower DC Child Care Organizer
On Thursday, March 17, 2011, St. Patrick’s Day, members of Empower DC’s Child Care for All Campaign and Save Our Safety Net DC came together to demand that newly elected Mayor Vincent Gray “Show Us the Green” for Child Care Subsidies.
Most of the people featured in this video, and many of their neighbors in Ward 7 and 8 supported Gray – without those wards Gray may well have lost the election. Yet many are worried that Gray will continue some of the same dangerous trends that Fenty began – including slashing the budget for child care subsidies.
The Child Care Subsidy Program is a critically important program that allows low-income families to access child care so that they can keep their jobs, enroll in school, and provide for their families. If these subsidies are cut further, parents will be left with no option but to forego employment and remove their children from quality early childhood education. Child care providers, who rely on DC’s reimbursement for serving subsidy-holders, will be left with no option but to close – as over 50 have already in the past year.
Child care like that provided by those featured in this video ensure that children are more likely to be prepared to enter school, successfully graduate high school, move on to college, and stay out of the criminal justice system. Investment in early childhood has a huge return on investment by saving taxpayer money down the line on reduced need for remedial education and pressure on the penal system.
In four years, this critical program that also employs nearly 6,000 people in DC, has been cut nearly $30 million. THE CUTS MUST STOP NOW. Send Mayor Gray the message: eom@dc.gov.
Thank you to all the Child Care for All Campaign members, to Save Our Safety Net DC, and the Puppet Underground (for the great signs in this video)!!
By Liane Scott, on December 15th, 2010 
Not so much written by the Coordinator, as posted by the Coordinator. This piece was actually written by Ben Parisi of Empower DC
On Tuesday, December 7, 2010, the DC Council voted on a last-minute measure to close a $188 million deficit in the fiscal year 2011 budget. On the chopping block were nearly $50 million in services for DC’s low-income residents. Among these critical services were affordable housing programs, child care subsidies, interim disability assistance, HIV/AIDS screening, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits, and more.
Thousands of residents demanded a simple solution of the DC council: a 1% tax increase on income over $200,000. This would have affected only 5% of DC’s wealthiest residents, most of whom have not seen any of their city services cut and have not felt the crunch of this recession as low-income people have. This tax, as small as it is, would have raised more than enough revenue to allow the Council to make the better choice by restoring all the proposed cuts to safety net programs.
A group of 100+ people and organizations, led by Empower DC, DC Jobs with Justice, Save our Safety Net, DC We the People, and H St small businesses, met at the Council Building that morning to voice their protest over the proposed cuts and to call on their elected representatives to make the better choice. Since the council gave only one opportunity for public comment, announced right before Thanksgiving, many of those residents who stood to be impacted by the cuts did not have ample opportunity to voice their opinions. Because of this, a People’s Hearing was planned to take place outside the Council Building that morning, giving spokespeople from an array of safety net programs the opportunity to address the impact of these cuts. Due to the fact that temperatures outside were sub-freezing and there were small children present, the group took its hearing inside, to the fifth floor outside the chamber where the Council would vote in a matter of hours. Immediately, security descended upon those who had gathered to raise their voices to their elected representatives. Spokespeople agreed to whisper, and the audience gathered closely around them. Still, security intervened, claiming that rules forbade gathering. With no other option, the group entered the hearing room, filling all the seats, and waited for the hearing to begin. When it did, individuals stood up and made their statements directly to the Councilmembers on the dais, since they had been given no other chance to speak with their elected representatives.
Ten individuals stood to call upon the council to make the better choice and not to balance the budget on the backs of the poor. All ten were powerful voices and represented thousands of residents struggling with similar circumstances. All ten were thrown out of the building by security.
Despite all this, 5 councilmembers heard the call for progressive income taxes to save the safety net that these groups had been making for months. They stood on the right side of this struggle, but their other 8 colleagues voted against their proposals and brought the ax down on critical programs in DC that save lives. As a result, thousands of low-income residents of our nation’s capital will suffer an especially cold holiday season.
If this angers you, turn your anger into a plan! Join Empower DC and get organized! Give us a call at (202) 234-9119, and get involved! In making these cuts, the Council was led by Chairman Vincent Gray, DC’s mayor-elect. When he is sworn in as mayor in less than a month, one of the first things he will do is draft a budget for fiscal year 2012. Let’s be prepared to make sure it turns out differently this time! (202) 234-9119
Post Script,
For the record, those who voted for a more progressive tax code were At-Large Councilmember Michael Brown, Ward One Councilmember Jim Graham, Ward Five Councilmember Harry Thomas, Jr., Ward Six Councilmember Tommy Wells and Ward Eight Councilmember Marion Barry.
Those opposed were, Council Chair Vincent Gray, At-Large Councilmember David Catania, At-Large Councilmember Kwame Brown, At-Large Councilmember Phil Mendelson, Ward Two Councilmember Jack Evans, Ward Three Councilmember Mary Cheh, Ward Four Councilmember Muriel Bowser, Ward Seven Councilmember Yvette Alexander.
Be sure to send your councilmember words of encouragement or otherwise. We are also hoping the above video will go viral, at least here in the District of Columbia. Please feel free to post it on blogs and Facebook pages at . . . → Read More: Austerity Measures in the District of Columbia
By Liane Scott, on December 2nd, 2010 
If you haven’t yet heard, and you may not have, as this doesn’t seem to be getting a whole lot of play in the mainstream press, Mayor Fenty has proposed one last round of cuts to the 2011 fiscal year budget, including more cuts to child care subsidies, TANF, adult job training, disability assistance, the grandparent caregivers program, the local rent supplement program, etc. As a low-income resident of the District, I’m feelin’ a little panicky.
It may be a last ditch effort to do as much damage as possible to the constituents that threw him out of office, but we cannot let it stand. At issue is a $188 million budget gap. On Tuesday, December 7th, the DC Council will decide how to close that gap. The budget that lame-duck Mayor Adrian Fenty has proposed would cut vital programs that help low-income and working families. (Low-income and working families who are often one in the same.) According to Joni Podschun, Save Our Safety Net, nearly 40% of the cuts (that’s $50 million) would impact human services, even though these programs make up only a quarter of the city’s budget and have experienced deep reductions–approximately $100 million–in the last three years. Fortunately there is a clear alternative. A one percent income tax increase on income above $200,000, would raise $65 million. That’s $15 million more than would be needed to keep funding of social service programs at their current level.
There are some on the council who will say this alternative is crazy. That to consider this more progressive tax income rate would be engaging in class-warfare and what’s more, it might just damage our triple-A bond rating. I’ll admit it. I don’t even know what a triple-A bond rating means but I’m guessing that it doesn’t mean much to my neighbors and I in Wards 7 & 8, suffering under a 19 and 30 percent unemployment rate respectively. Those of us who are not in poverty yet are often one pay check away from it, and may find ourselves in desperate need of those social services that the city council is considering reducing further, as if $100 million worth of cuts in the last three years isn’t enough. Thus, that panicky feeling.
What does any of this have to do with the above video of Queen Noble, former candidate for congress as a representative of the District of Columbia? This video was shot and edited by Judith Hawkins, co-producer of Valencia’s It Is What It Is Mobile Talk Show (which I suggest you subscribe to on Youtube.) It was one of the first videos that Judith edited as a member of the Grassroots Media Project. She uploaded it to Youtube and it’s since gotten thousands of hits and hundreds of comments, some positive, some negative, a lot of them very funny.
Although Queen Noble may not fit squarely into what we consider to be a sociological norm, she has brought a lot of attention to issues that are important to her and to the residents of the District of Columbia. She might not be the best candidate for public office, but one cannot imagine her cutting an additional $50 million from the city’s safety net at a time when poverty in the District is already increasing at an alarming rate, without cuts to services meant to ease that situation. Class warfare indeed. It is conjecture on my part, but I believe Queen Noble wouldn’t hesitate to vote for legislation that increases the income tax rate just one percent on the city’s wealthiest and least needy residents.
Because she is what she is, she may not be the best representative for the causes she espouses, namely reparations for descendants of enslaved Africans and reform of the DC police department, but at least she brings attention to those issues. I post her here because I want us–DC progressives in general and progressives who want to produce through the Grassroots Media Project specifically–to go to the People’s Hearing, scheduled for Tuesday, December 7, at 9 AM at the Wilson Building, and videotape someone or preferably several people who can represent the issue. If Queen Noble can go viral nationwide, is it not worth our effort to find those people who are impacted by the cuts in social services, a number of whom we hope will be present at Tuesday’s People’s Hearing, and put there stories out there? If we can make this issue go viral in Washington, DC, we might just be . . . → Read More: A Call To Action: The People’s Hearing
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