DCAYA Budget Advocacy Day on May 11

The District's proposed FY2018 budget leaves significant funding gaps for a number of key programs that could better address the needs of the children and youth we serve every day.

Call to Action: we invite all our members and youth-serving organizations from throughout the District to join us at the Wilson Building on Thursday, May 11 to meet with Councilmembers and staff to advocate for a more youth-friendly District budget for FY2018!

Council markup on the mayor's proposed budget is scheduled for May 16-18, so May 11 is a critical time to reach out to members and remind them of the importance of our budget asks for DC's youth, which include:

• Transportation: $2 million to extend transportation subsidies to adult and alternative learners through the School Transit Subsidy Program
• Youth Homelessness: Up to $3.3 million more to fully fund the Year One objectives of the Comprehensive Plan to End Youth Homelessness
• Expanded Learning: An additional $5.1 million to fund the new Office of Out-of-School Time Grants and Youth Outcomes and better meet the need for quality youth development programming
• Youth Workforce Development: A comprehensive implementation plan for coordinating and funding youth workforce development initiatives to build on the progress of DC’s WIOA State Plan
• Per-Pupil Funding: A 3.5% increase in per-pupil funding in the FY18 budget to bring DCPS closer to an adequate standard for education funding next school year
• Proposed Tax Cuts: Ensure revenue is available to fund these and other critical priorities by delaying the $40 million in estate tax and business tax cuts slated for 2018

On Advocacy Day, we'll walk around the Wilson Building and visit Councilmember offices in teams. A DCAYA staff member will join each team to help support messaging and follow-up.

In order to make the most of your time as we reach out to Council staff, we ask that you RSVP for multiple time slots throughout the day on DCAYA Budget Advocacy Day. After you RSVP, you will also receive an invite to join us on an optional strategy call at 11am on Tuesday, May 9.

Thank you for all you do and we hope to see you on May 11!

And in case you missed it, check out our Actions for Budget Advocacy - Week 4 email.

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#DCFY18 Budget Advocacy: $2M in Transportation Subsidies for Nontraditional Students

Throughout budget season, we’ll be sharing talking points around the #DCFY18 Budget as it relates to our asks of Council and the Mayor for DCAYA’s key issue areas. You can reference our previous spotlight on Expanded Learning here. We’ll continue this week with Disconnected Youth.

THE ASK: $2 million to expand the unlimited bus and rail component of the School Transit Subsidy program (i.e., Kids Ride Free) to all District residents enrolled in publicly funded adult education programs.

While the Council has made progress towards expanding the program by introducing the Adult Learners Transit Subsidy Amendment Act of 2017, our ask needs to be funded in this budget cycle to ensure adult learners and re-engaging youth receive transportation support in the next year. We are requesting that the expansion is legislated through this year’s Budget Support Act to ensure the program is adequately legislated and funded.

NOW: Why additional transportation funding matters to youth, and why we believe it is a sound investment in FY18

• Significant Financial Burden: Re-engaging youth and adult learners balance many competing demands to prioritize their return to school. Unlike students under age 22—who have free Metro and bus transportation through Kids Ride Free—students aged 22+ pay the full price. In 2016, a DCAYA survey of re-engaging youth ages 22-24 found that 83% of respondents were spending approximately one-fifth or more of their income getting to and from their programs. Such high spending on transportation means there’s less money available for students to keep themselves and their families financially stable.
  
• Undermines DC’s second-chance system: Expanding the program with $2 million stands to leverage the District’s current investment of over $80 million in local and federal dollars to support educational instruction for adult learners. If students cannot afford to get to class, they can’t fully benefit from these investments in their success. DCAYA’s survey also found 21% of surveyed youth 22-24 missed class 3 or more times a month due to insufficient transportation funds. Most programs are less than 40 weeks long, so these youth missed 13% of their program’s total class time because they could not afford to get there.
  
• The Problem Will Get Worse: Metro will move forward with a fare hike in July. Currently, taking the bus to class can cost a student $70 per month. The $0.25 bus fare hike will add $10 to that monthly expense. With many DC households living on less than $10,000 a year, transportation costs for just one person could consume 10 percent of a family’s limited income.
  
• The Expansion Leverages Existing Policy: Through Kids Ride Free, DDOT and WMATA have negotiated a contractually-bound daily rate for each pupil of $0.65. Therefore, the cost of providing transportation assistance through Kids Ride Free is likely to be much more cost effective than other ways of funding such a program. 

HOW: Help advocate for transportation funding in the #DCFY18 Budget

• Please sign up to testify at the Budget Hearing for the District Department of Transportation on Monday, April 24, 2017 at 11 am in Room 500 of the John A. Wilson Building at 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.
  
• To sign up to testify, please email Aukima Benjamin at abenjamin@dccouncil.us or call 202-724-8062.
  
• Whether or not you can testify at the hearing, please email, call, and/or tweet your Councilmember(s) in support of our ask using the hashtag #KeepStudentsOnTrack. For sample tweets, scripts and Council contact information, check these out: Transportation Email, Call, & Tweet Scripts. 

NEXT: Please check back here next week for more on our Youth Homelessness #DCFY18 budget ask.


And in case you missed it, here's our Actions for Budget Advocacy - Week 2 email for more ways to get involved this budget season!

Transportation Advocacy Letter for Re-engaging Youth & Adult Learners

DCAYA and our partners at the Adult and Family Literacy Coalition (DC AFLC) have drafted a letter to the City Administrator and Mayor's Budget Director that we'd like to have as many of our members, providers working with disconnected youth, and individual supporters as possible sign on to by Wednesday, February 22nd.

It is our goal to both elevate this ask as the Mayor's team develops her proposed budget, and to garner widespread support among Councilmembers and other key stakeholders in the case this ask will require Council advocacy later in the budget cycle. The letter applauds the DME's transportation report and recommendations, and reiterates the importance of supporting the District's adult and alternative education students.

The letter reads as follows. If you or your organization would like to be included as a signatory, please click on the link toward the end of this post to contact Amy Dudas (amy@dc-aya.org)with the name and title of the organization or individual you'd like to include on the letter:

---

February 24, 2017

Dear City Administrator Young and Budget Director Brown:

We, the undersigned, want to thank you for the leadership and commitment the Bowser Administration has demonstrated in exploring the transportation needs of the District’s adult learners, alternative education students, and formerly disconnected youth. In the effort to develop an effective and efficient policy solution to the persistent barrier transportation costs pose to this population of students, the Deputy Mayor for Education’s “Report on the Need for Transportation Subsidies and Assistance for Adult Learners” identified a much-needed path forward. As providers of and advocates for adult and alternative education, we especially appreciate the Office of the State Superintendent of Education’s and the Deputy Mayor for Education’s collaboration to identify the unmet need for transportation subsidies among these students, the impact of increased transportation costs on attendance and enrollment for this population, and the options available to provide affordable access to transportation for these learners.

DCAYA's Advocacy Agenda for 2017

This week, we wanted to share our advocacy agenda, going into this year's Performance Oversight and Budget hearings. We've broken down our short term goals for the next year or so by our four main issue areas.

Youth Homelessness

One main goal is to scale up the capacity of our system to serve close to twice as many youth through developmentally appropriate and culturally competent services. To this end, we will be advocating for fully funding the first year objectives in Youth Strategic Plan, an investment of $5.7 million. Not limited to beds and transitional housing, this investment also includes building support for long term prevention and intervention strategies.

Performance Oversight and Budget Hearings Set by Council

The DC Council has approved the schedule for the coming months’ performance oversight and budget hearings. Below we have noted the hearing dates and times that will be of interest to our members and the youth advocacy community, along with contact information for testifying. You can find our resources for advocacy season and advice for writing testimony in last year’s blog.

All hearings are held at the John A. Wilson Building at 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. If you wish to testify, you may sign up here or directly contact the committee staff persons listed below. Some of these agency hearings are held concurrently with other agencies under the committee jurisdiction. You can find the full schedules posted on the DC Council’s website.

Committee on Education - Chairperson David Grosso

To testify: sign up here or call 202-724-8061

Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE)
Performance Oversight: Tuesday, February 14, 2017 at 11 am in Room 412
Budget Hearing: Wednesday, April 26, 2017 at 11 am in Room 120

State Board of Education
Performance Oversight: Wednesday, February 15, 2017 at 10 am in Room 123
Budget Hearing: Thursday, May 4, 2017 at 10 am in Room 412

Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education
Performance Oversight: Wednesday, February 15, 2017 at 10 am in Room 123
Budget Hearing: Tuesday, April 25, 2017 at 10 am in Room 123

District of Columbia Public Library (DCPL)
Performance Oversight: Wednesday, February 22, 2017 at 10 am in Room 412
Budget Hearing: Monday, May 1, 2017 at 11 am in Room 412

District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) - Public Witnesses Only
Performance Oversight: Thursday, February 23, 2017 at 10 am in Room 500
Budget Hearing: Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 10 am in Room 500

Public Charter School Board
Performance Oversight: Tuesday, February 28, 2017 at 10 am in Room 123
Budget Hearing: Thursday, May 4, 2017 at 10 am in Room 412

District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) – Government Witnesses Only
Performance Oversight: Thursday, March 2, 2017 at 10 am in Room 412
Budget Hearing: Wednesday, May 3, 2017 at 10 am in Room 412

Committee on Finance & Revenue - Chairperson Jack Evans

To testify contact: Sarina Loy, sloy@dccouncil.us or 202-724-8058

Commission on the Arts and Humanities
Performance Oversight: Friday, February 17, 2017 at 10 am in Room 412
Budget Hearing: Wednesday, April 12, 2017 at 10 am in Room 123

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)
Performance Oversight: Thursday, February 16, 2017 at 10 am in Room 500
Budget Hearing: Wednesday, April 12, 2017 at 10 am in Room 123

Committee on Government Operations - Chairperson Brandon Todd

To testify contact: Keiko Yoshino, kyoshino@dccouncil.us or 202-724-7774

Commission on Fathers, Men, and Boys
Performance Oversight: Friday, February 24, 2017 at 10 am in Room 412

Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Affairs
Performance Oversight: Friday, February 24, 2017 at 10 am in Room 412

Committee on Human Services - Chairperson Brianne Nadeau

To testify: email humanservices@dccouncil.us or call 202-724-8017

Department of Disability Services and Office of Disability Rights
Performance Oversight: Wednesday, February 15, 2017 at 10 am in Room 412
Budget Hearing: Tuesday, April 25, 2017 at Noon in Room 500

Child and Family Services Agency
Performance Oversight: Wednesday, March 1, 2017 at 10 am in Room 500
Budget Hearing: Thursday, April 27, 2017 at 10 am in Room 412

Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services
Performance Oversight: Wednesday, March 1, 2017 at 10 am in Room 500
Budget Hearing: Thursday, May 9, 2017 at 10 am in Room 412

Department of Human Services
Performance Oversight: Wednesday, March 15, 2017 at 10 am in Room 412
Budget Hearing: Wednesday, May 3, 2017 at 10 am in Room 500

Interagency Council on Homelessness
Performance Oversight: Wednesday, March 15, 2017 at 10 am in Room 412

Committee on Labor and Workforce Development - Chairperson Elissa Silverman

To testify contact: Charnisa Royster, croyster@dccouncil.us or 202-724-7772

Department of Employment Services
Performance Oversight: Wednesday, March 15, 2017 at 10 am in Room 500
Budget Hearing: Thursday, May 4, 2017 at 10 am in Room 500

Workforce Investment Council
Performance Oversight: Wednesday, March 15, 2017 at 10 am in Room 500
Budget Hearing: Thursday, May 4, 2017 at 10 am in Room 500

Committee on Transportation & the Environment - Chairperson Mary Cheh

To testify contact: Aukima Benjamin, abenjamin@dccouncil.us or 202-724-8062

Department of Parks and Recreation
Performance Oversight: Friday, February 10, 2017 at 11am in Room 412
Budget Hearing: Wednesday, April 26, 2017 at 10 am in Room 412

District Department of Transportation
Performance Oversight: Monday, March 13, 2017 at 11 am in Room 500
Budget Hearing: Monday, April 24, 2017 at 11 am in Room 500

Committee of the Whole - Chairman Phil Mendelson

To testify: email cow@dccouncil.us or call 202-724-8196

University of the District of Columbia
Performance Oversight: Monday, March 13, 2017 at 10 am in Room 412
Budget Hearing: Tuesday, April 11, 2017 at 11 am in Room 123

Watch hearings live here.

And please bookmark this post as well as the calendar on our website.

DCAYA's Top Ten Blog Posts of 2016

To wrap up the year, we thought we'd take a look back at our Top Ten most read blogs for 2016, beginning at number 10!!

10) FY2017 Budget Asks, 3/31/16

As you know, our asks take a look at the Mayor's proposed budget, incorporate our own policy analysis and research, and are a mix of requests:

• to maintain what is in the Mayor's budget,
• to increase the amount of funding to appropriate levels, and at times
• to insert funding that isn't included at all.

Our asks for the current fiscal year included Transportation Support, Educational Data Capacity, Youth Workforce Development, Youth Homelessness, and Expanded Learning. Little would we know that the latter ask, as it related to allocation to the DC Trust, would be part of a completely new landscape the following month.

9) Local Funding for Local Opportunity: The Role & Vision of the DC Trust in Expanded Learning, 3/9/16

9 months later, it's pretty interesting to see how the core values shared in this post continue to be a part of the conversation, as legislation for an Office of Youth Outcomes and Grants is in the midst of the markup process, following the dissolution of the DC Trust.. From our community providers, several themes that emerged were:

• The impact of expanded learning programs on achievement outcomes
• The capacity of community partnerships to maximize resources
• The need for stable local funding intermediaries

So although the landscape might be a different one, as our community and representatives finalize what a new youth development entity looks like, the direction and purpose of our work remains constant.

8) A transcript of the Kojo Nnamdi Show's segment on the DC Trust, 5/4/16

Our next most read blog was simply a transcript of a Kojo Nnamdi Show segment focused on the DC Trust, what went wrong and what's next. One of his guests included Andria Tobin, Executive Director of Kid Power Inc, but also a member of DCAYA's Board of Directors. On one our favorite quotes from the show, from Andria:

"So we want to make sure that there’s a really thought out plan to make sure those funds are protected for many nonprofits and youth in the District, one that is collaborative and strategic, and is flexible and innovative in the way that the Trust was designed to be."

7) Lights On Afterschool: 4 Questions with DC Afterschool Ambassador Daniela Grigioni, 10/19/16

This month's blog took a closer look at afterschool, in an interview with Daniela Grigioni, who had been selected as one of 15 leaders from across the nation to serve as a 2016-2017 Afterschool Ambassador for the Afterschool Alliance. This is the third of our blogs in the top ten which related to Expanded Learning. This is one of our four main issue areas, and has to do with learning outside of the classroom, particularly after the school day and over the summer.

6) Homeless Youth Census: Data-Driven Advocacy Calls for Greater Investment to End Youth Homelessness, 3/2/16

As with many of our efforts, the need for accurate, robust, and timely data leads to better advocacy. And the Homeless Youth Census is both a great example and a relatively recent success. Benefits of this census highlighted in the 2015 Report Fact Sheet were that it:

• Provides understanding of the number of youth experiencing homelessness in the District
• Informs the various and complex needs of youth experiencing homelessness and help bring solutions to scale
• Educates key stakeholders of where resources should be allocated

What's especially wonderful looking back at this post was another very recent success we highlighted in last week's blog post, that the DC Interagency Council on Homelessness voted to approve the 5-year Comprehensive Plan to end youth homelessness.

5) Advocacy Season Update: Performance Oversight and Budget Hearings Set by Council, 1/20/16

It should be no surprise that one of our most read blog posts was an update regarding the hearing schedule set by DC Council, which is our primary advocacy season. We've already been planning for the FY2017 hearings over the past several months, which included our regular community input sessions across our four issue areas as well as a special effort to move the Office of Youth Outcomes and Grants legislation forward so that an FY2018 budget has somewhere to put Out-of-School Time funding.

4) It's Time to #ExpandLearningDC! (version 2.0), 6/9/16

This month, we re-released #ExpandLearningDC, our policy and funding framework for afterschool and summer learning in DC, originally posted in April. The report had been updated following the vote that month by the DC Trust’s Board of Directors to dissolve the organization. This version also used updated data to better reflect trends in out-of-school time access within DCPS.

3) #ExpandLearningDC, 1/28/16

Even more read than the previous blog post, was our first Expanded Learning post of the year. As you can tell from this year's highlights, our work is definitely more of a marathon rather than a sprint. Although our main advocacy season happens during regular times each year, not only is there a tremendous amount of work that is required to prepare for and then evaluate after hearings, but there are also the unplanned events and developments that we have to monitor and respond to, like the dissolution of the DC Trust. And this refers not just to DCAYA's staff of four, but the hundreds of member organizations whom we do our work with.

2) Leading the Way in Youth Workforce Development!, 8/3/16

The runner-up to our top read blog post for 2016 was our recap of a joint program we have with the Institute for Educational Leadership, the Youth Workforce Leaders Academy aka YWLA. Through in-person learning sessions with national and local experts, online discussions, capstone projects, individual professional development action planning, and facilitated peer-to-peer learning, participants will significantly expanded and grew their expertise in providing high quality youth workforce development services This post recapped the year with our 2nd cadre, and recognized each individual in this post.

1) New Year, New Resolutions, 1/6/16

Our most read post was our first one of 2016, a light-hearted start to the year, using GIFs to animate some New Year's Resolutions we wanted to make, both personally and professionally.

And THAT was 2016! We hope you enjoyed this look down memory lane, as we look ahead to 2017. We also hope you may have learned a bit more, not just about our work highlighted at various points throughout the year, but how it all ties together. And this work is only possible, because of the year-round engagement of our members and support from our community.

If you would like to support us during this holiday season, please consider showing your support with a donation, and thank you in advance!

- Your DCAYA Team

Out-of-School Time partners letter

DCAYA has drafted a joint letter to the Deputy Mayor for Education (DME and Council that we'd like to have as many of our members, OST providers and individual supporters as possible sign on to ahead of the markup. It lays out some core tenets that have emerged from discussions to date which are important to highlight for policy makers.

The letter reads as follows. And if we can include you/your organization as a signatory, click on the link toward the end of this post (and let us know how it should appear on the letter, e.g. your name/title, a board chair/ED's name, both names, or just the organization name):


November 17, 2016


Dear Deputy Mayor Niles, Chairman Grosso, and Members of the Committee on Education:

We wanted to thank you for the collaborative leadership you have shown in the months since the
announced dissolution of the DC Trust, most recently at the DC Council Committee on Education’s
October 31 hearing on Councilmember Grosso and Councilmember Nadeau’s proposed Office of
Youth Outcomes and Grants.

As a provider of community-based out-of-school time (OST) services in the District, we especially
appreciate that stakeholder partners have been at the table with policy makers, that all partners
are clearly focused on the present need in the community, and that efforts to forge a defined path
forward for funding OST have been balanced with the intention for a system that may evolve over
time. This is all reflected in how you have both made clear an intent to create a long-term strategic
plan informed by meaningful community input and inclusive participation.

We see areas of cohesion between both the Council’s and the DME’s proposed OST system
models, and as we move into this next phase, we see the following tenets as critical to the longterm
success of youth development in DC:

1. Governed by a body with broad stakeholder representation, which has clear authority to create and approve a strategic plan informed through meaningful community input processes, and which is empowered to ensure the strategic plan is carried out as intended.
   
2. Includes a strong executive leadership position with youth development expertise, and the staff, resources and authority necessary to span the multiple clusters, agencies and partners that are integral to holistic youth development. While accountable to the broad governing body for carrying out the long-term strategic plan, this position and staff should be housed in government with a distinct level of authority and transparency, subject to regular Council oversight for performance and budget.
   
3. Is streamlined in all functions to minimize burden and opportunity costs put on providers and families, specifically A) for providers presently navigating numerous systems with varied requirements and processes in grant making, reporting, capacity building, and vetting/partnerships with government agencies; and, B) for families presently forced to navigate multiple systems to provide duplicative information and, in essence, “prove poverty” to access core youth development opportunities.

We are happy to discuss these with you further, and are confident that in the coming weeks our
continued collaboration will produce a legislative path forward which reflects the consensus of
policy makers, advocates, and the OST provider community and the children, youth and families
we serve.


Sincerely,

[DCAYA Member/Partner Organizations – click here to email DCAYA and sign on!]

CC: Councilmember Brianne Nadeau, Ward 1; Councilmember Brandon Todd, Ward 4;
Councilmember Charles Allen, Ward 6; Councilmember Yvette Alexander, Ward 7;
Councilmember Anita Bonds, DC at-large

The Future of Youth Development Programming- Testimony from Maggie Riden

Bill 21-865 is the Office on Youth Outcomes and Grants Establishment Act of 2016. This past Monday,
Maggie Riden, our Executive Director, and numerous other community members were at the Council of the District of Columbia. The Committee on Education held a public hearing on the Bill. Here is the testimony Maggie provided:

***

Thank you, Chairperson Grosso, members of the Committee on Education, and staff. My name is Maggie Riden, and I am here today on behalf of my organization, the DC Alliance of Youth Advocates, a coalition of over 130 youth-serving organizations in the District. I want to start by thanking you, Chairperson Grosso, and your colleague Councilmember Nadeau for putting forward this legislative proposal. Since the DC Trust announced its dissolution six months ago, we have come a long way in a short time. We applaud the leadership of this Council in prioritizing a strong path forward for funding youth development in the District, as well as the leadership of the Deputy Mayors for Education and Health and Human Services for acting with urgency to ensure continuity of funding in FY2017, and to begin envisioning a path forward informed by best practices in other jurisdictions.

To support these efforts, DCAYA has provided historic local context on the history of this system and current challenges; as well as summarized and provided extensive research and analysis on emerging/best practice in designing youth development systems. In addition, we have also been active in collecting feedback from community-based expanded learning partners, which provide youth development services across the District to more than 8,000 children and youth. Since April, we have had numerous phone conversations and one-on- one meetings with providers, local funders and youth development experts, and have also held four well-attended member meetings on this issue. DCAYA strongly believes that the best solutions to policy and systems challenges comes from a combination of local and national research and analysis, examination of best practice, consideration of local context and robust stakeholder input. I just want to underscore that to the best extent possible, these different inputs and considerations inform our testimony today.

Youth Voice: Make the Wilson Building Work for You(th)

This week, we're sharing the perspective of Henry Eisler, a youth participant in Mikva Challenge DC who is spending his summer writing a blog to elevate the voices of DC youth and inspire them to play an active role in the District's political system. We thank Henry and Mikva Challenge DC for their contribution to this blog!

There is a building on Pennsylvania Avenue that influences the life of every young person living in Washington, DC every day. In this building, elected officials govern, pass legislation, and make monumental decisions that determine the way the entire city functions. This building, despite what you may have been thinking, is not the White House; this is the John A. Wilson building, home to the City Council of the District of Columbia. This City Council is a group of accomplished men and women who craft and pass the laws and regulations that determine the manner in which the city operates and its residents may act. 

Introduction to the Work of the Council

As the DC City Council quickly works to finalize a budget for the new term (Fall 2016), their focus is beginning to shift towards an improved education platform that will have positive effects on young people across the city. The Council’s Committee on Education, chaired by Councilman David Grosso, has been increasingly pushing the addition of education reforms to the 2017 budget deal. These reforms primarily aim to expand school reading and library projects, support nutritional health and on-campus medical aid programs, and lower rates of truancy in schools throughout the District.

It's Time to #ExpandLearningDC! (version 2.0)

This week, DCAYA is pleased to re-release #ExpandLearningDC, our policy and funding framework for afterschool and summer learning in DC, which we originally posted here in April. The report has since been updated following a vote that month by the DC Trust’s Board of Directors to dissolve the organization. This version also uses updated data to better reflect trends in out-of-school time access within DCPS.

Read the full report and our recommendations:

#ExpandLearningDC Framework

Don't have time for the full report? Check out our executive summary and quality checklist. We've developed the checklist tool to help education leaders, policy makers, funders and parents determine universal out-of-school time (OST) quality standards for provider programs and the District-wide system as a whole.

Report Appendices: We've also prepared resources on DCPS elementary and middle schools and expanded learning outcomes to reference in your advocacy, as well as fact sheets for afterschool enrollment in Title I elementary and middle schools in each Ward!*

                             Ward 1 Fact Sheet                     Ward 6 Fact Sheet
                             Ward 2 Fact Sheet                     Ward 7 Fact Sheet
                             Ward 4 Fact Sheet                     Ward 8 Fact Sheet
                             Ward 5 Fact Sheet

CURRENT TRENDS

• Local funding for community-based out-of-school time programs has declined by 60% since 2010. This has resulted in only a quarter of the locally-funded slots for community-based afterschool and summer learning that were there for kids just six years ago, from close to 10,000 in 2010 to under 2,500 in 2016.
• DCPS schools with the highest “at-risk” student enrollment also tend to have the lowest share of available afterschool enrollment slots through OSTP. While all young people benefit from these opportunities, kids who are considered “at-risk” stand to gain the most from participating in afterschool. The present trend in funding to schools gives reason to be optimistic, but overall need in the District persists.

RECOMMENDATIONS

If we are serious about providing safe, youth-friendly opportunities focused on improving outcomes and quality of life for all our children now and in future, we must reverse these trends. To do so on the scale that is needed, policy makers, funders, intermediaries and educational leaders must embrace an approach that fully integrates expanded learning into our public education continuum.

Please read the report to find out more about these trends and DCAYA's 8 recommendations exploring what it will take for more expanded learning opportunities to reach the many thousands of children and youth in the District who stand to benefit from them!

(* Please note, we did not prepare a fact sheet for Ward 3 because there are no Title I DCPS schools in the Ward, however Ward 3 elementary and middle schools and their at-risk enrollment are included in our DCPS schools appendix.)

Joseph Gavrilovich is DCAYA's senior policy analyst for expanded learning. If you have any questions about today's blog, or would like more information on our afterschool and summer learning advocacy please contact him at joseph@dc-aya.org

You can also reach out to him to obtain an archived copy of the earlier version of the #ExpandLearningDC report.

DCAYA’s Budget Updates Part II: Expanded Learning & Youth Homelessness

The final vote by the Council occurred yesterday, and the District’s FY17 budget now goes to Mayor Bowser. Today we continue to reflect on the work of our members and partners throughout this year’s advocacy season, and provide an update on successes for youth, families and children within the FY17 budget. Last week’s blog focused on Youth Workforce Development and Disconnected Youth, and we continue this week with a look at Expanded Learning and Youth Homelessness.

Expanded Learning

A Path Forward for Funding Afterschool and Summer Learning

After the mayor proposed $4.9 million to the DC Trust for community-based afterschool and summer programming in FY17, our initial ask was to double that investment in order to serve up to four times as many children and youth in need of quality expanded learning opportunities. While we were optimistic about the strength of the proposed amount compared to recent years, it was not enough to reverse a downward trend for out-of-school time programming we have seen each year in the District since 2010.

While we will continue to advocate for scaled-up, multi-year funding beginning in FY18, the advocacy priority for FY17 quickly shifted with the announced dissolution of the DC Trust on April 26. Since then, DCAYA and our community-based partners have worked hard to preserve the $4.9 million intended for expanded learning programs. Our coalition has held more than a dozen meetings with members of DC Council and their staff, as well as the Deputy Mayors for Education and Health and Human Services, to build support among policy makers for an established, nonprofit intermediary with youth development expertise to administer out-of-school time (OST) funding in FY17. We continue to be an active partner in this effort, as Deputy Mayor Brenda Donald presents this recommendation to Mayor Bowser.

We’d like to thank the Deputy Mayors and members of Council, as well as all of our expanded learning partners (simply too many to list here) who stepped up to provide resources and insight in the wake of the Trust’s collapse. Most especially, we’re grateful to those members who met with policy makers and offered public testimony to advocate for the preservation of out-of-school time funding. We'd like to give a special shout out of thanks to Fair Chance and Gretchen Van der Veer for helping coordinate our members and Fair Chance partners to do a final round of walk arounds with DC Council on the importance of out of school time programming.

Sustaining 21st Century Community Learning Centers

Earlier this year, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) announced that due to internal efforts to streamline grant making processes and decreased federal funds, there would be no new competition for the federal 21st Century Community Learning Center (CLC) grant program in the 2016-2017 school year. This action immediately affected three community-based OST providers who all stood to lose approximately $995,413 in the coming school year. The disruption of these services, which have all demonstrated quality programming and remarkable outcomes for students, would have caused significant ramifications next year for up to 1,000 at-risk students and undermined years of investments.

Recognizing that families, youth and children deserve more than a haphazard and inconsistent delivery of these key critical services, DCAYA and these three partners launched a targeted advocacy effort to find support and funding. These efforts paid off with Council identifying $800,000 to sustain 21st Century CLC’s in FY17. We’d like to thank these organizations and their families for rallying to support the students, as well as Superintendent Hanseul Kang and everyone at OSSE for their support in working toward a solution, and Councilmembers David Grosso, Brianne Nadeau and Charles Allen for their outspoken support for sustaining this important and life-changing funding stream.

Youth Homelessness

Building Capacity for a Youth-Friendly System

This year, DCAYA advocated to an additional investment of $800,000 to create more transitional housing and independent living options for youth experiencing homelessness. While the mayor’s proposed budget included significantly more funding for crisis support and prevention and diversion services, which we had advocated for and certainly applaud, more funding for meaningful housing interventions will be needed in future years if we are to meet the intent of the 2014 End Youth Homelessness Amendment Act and make homelessness among unaccompanied minors and transition-aged youth rare, brief and non-recurring by 2020.

DCAYA continues to work in a leadership role with the Interagency Council of Homelessness (ICH) and the ICH Youth Subcommittee, and we are optimistic that with the Fall release of the ICH’s Strategic Plan to End Youth Homelessness, we and our partners will be positioned to make an even stronger ask next budget season. We’d like to thank ICH Executive Director Kristy Greenwalt, DHS Director Laura Zeilinger, and DHS Deputy Administrator for Youth Services Hilary Cairns for their continued leadership and support for scaled-up funding, as well as Kimberly Henderson with Child and Family Services Agency, for her role co-chairing the Youth Subcommittee. We are grateful to our members and partners from Sasha Bruce, Casa Ruby, the Latin American Youth Center, Wanda Alston, Covenant House and the DC Center for the LGBT Community for their leadership, advocacy partnerships and public testimonies.

Dignified Housing for Homeless Children & Families

In February, the mayor made good on her promise to voters to deliver a plan to close D.C. General and move homeless families into safe and dignified housing throughout the District, and the plan was met both with intense support and praise, and resistance and criticism. The months that followed saw some of this teased out as policy makers, advocates, and members of the community worked toward a middle ground.  We are pleased that Council has since passed a revised plan that calls for the use of government-owned properties in Wards 3, 5, 6, 7 and 8, and the purchase (instead of leasing) of the sites in Wards 1 and 4. These revisions effectively respond to resident concerns about cost while maintaining the overall intent of the plan. We believe that the housing these families will receive, along with improved access to local amenities and on-site case management services, will have life-changing results for their children well worth this effort and its capital expenditures.

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ICYMI: DC Council's FY17 Budget Discussion Storify'ed

Regarding the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation

This week's blog post is our statement released yesterday in response to the news about the DC Trust dissolving. In light of these events, we will be revising and re-releasing our #ExpandLearningDC report and fact sheets here in the coming weeks (the report was originally released on this blog on April 13). 

In the meantime, as we all work together to find a way forward, DCAYA is recommending that stakeholders use our checklist of standards for quality out-of-school time programs and systems as a shared framework. Our statement from April 26, 2016 follows.

This morning, we learned that the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation (DC Trust) will be dissolving. While the exact timeline and process is still to be determined or announced, now is the time to move forward on next steps with urgency. We want to provide you with a few immediate updates on what we’ve learned today. This is followed by a more detailed set of recommendations for the path moving forward, and a final reminder of why the programs the Trust has funded remain so vital.

Immediate Updates
Based on conversations with the Council and the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, Brenda Donald, we are confident that:

• Current out of school time grant commitments will be honored. 
• The $2,000,000 allocation for this coming summer will remain stable and move quickly (likely through the Trust as a part of the final wind down).
• Council will work to ensure the Mayor’s proposed $4,900,000 for FY17 is protected. The Mayor has demonstrated a clear commitment to young people with the proposed FY17 budget to fund OST programming. The continuation of the youth development work that was central to the mission of the DC Trust, “ensur(ing) that every DC youth develops the skills to grow into a healthy, caring and productive adult” is paramount.
• Mayor Bowser will deploy both Deputy Mayor Donald and Deputy Mayor Niles to work closely with Council and the community to develop a transition plan for next school year. DCAYA recommends that funding be directed to a local intermediary organization or funding institution with established grant-making expertise and an understanding of the District’s youth development landscape. Alternatively, funding could reside within a one-time special commission for children and youth that is established for the FY17 school year and summer until a more long-term intermediary is designated. In either scenario, we must work collaboratively to ensure programming is not disrupted next fall. 

Taking a thoughtful approach to the management of youth development funding is critical, and as we work with policy makers, our members, and the community at large to explore and consider next steps and solutions, we must remain aware of the unique space such an intermediary exists in. Because of this, while there might seem to be easier options to consider, such as shifting these funds to Local Education Agencies (LEAs), we would be remiss in our own work if we didn’t push to find a better, sustainable solution rather than rush to institutionalize an easier, short-term one.

While next steps remain a bit unclear today, know that we’re working closely across DC government to ensure that there will be opportunities for public feedback and input on what has and has not worked historically. As these and other opportunities are made available, we will communicate them to you and your fellow DCAYA members.

The Path Forward
We are dedicated to protecting this funding, to ensuring that it will stay intact, and to guaranteeing that it remains true to its original purpose. We have been searching for alternative OST funding structures, even before seeing the news regarding the DC Trust’s dissolution. We believe the value of a public-private intermediary should be central to our thinking about the future of OST and youth development funding. We are committed to being a thought partner in this work, and will frame future conversations with these thoughts in mind:

1. When effectively designed, intermediaries can have tremendous value. We know how valuable having a grantmaking intermediary for local Out-of-School Time (OST) funding is to our members and community based organizations in general. A strong public-private intermediary professionalizes the non-profit, youth serving sector through the provision of high quality youth development training and technical assistance. It can ensure grantee accountability through consistent oversight; and finally, when effectively designed an intermediary entity can make sure public investments are made to high quality youth development programs with demonstrated impacts on academic achievement, diminishing the learning gap, reducing truancy, combating youth crime, promoting healthy behaviors and supporting transition-aged youth.
2. The DC Council’s oversight of the intermediary should set a reasonable cap on annual overhead and administrative costs. This action would serve to reassure providers and the public that the funds are dedicated to OST, and that the dollars are reaching the most number of children and youth through community-based program implementation. A threshold of 10-15% would meet the recommendations “reasonable cap” standard.
3. As longer-term solutions are considered, all stakeholder partners should establish and use a common checklist of quality standards for OST programs and the system as a whole. Any and all funders, programs, schools, parent-teacher organizations, government leaders, LEAs and agency partners would have access to the tool. Any CBOs receiving OST grants from the funding intermediary would be expected to meet the quality standards. Similarly, all policy and funding decisions impacting OST would be assessed according to this checklist.

The Value of Out of School Time Opportunities

The annual share of funding for out-of-school time programs has declined by 60% since 2010. As a result, only one quarter of the locally-funded slots exist now for community-based afterschool and summer learning that were available to kids just six years ago, a reduction from close to 10,000 in 2010 to fewer than 2,500 in 2016.

If we are serious about providing safe, youth-friendly opportunities focused on improving outcomes and quality of life for all our children now and in future, we must protect the $4.9 million presently proposed for OST programming in FY2017 and work collaboratively to design a strong, efficient and transparent system moving forward. While there are other funding sources for out-of-school time activities in the District, the funds which are allocated to the DC Trust explicitly for OST uniquely offer community-based organizations the ability to nimbly partner with multiple schools to maximize the number of kids they serve annually. As such, this funding stream directly reflects the value we as a District place on our kids’ learning in the hours after school and in the summer. In ensuring the stability and flexibility of this funding, the District will remain on track in serving children and youth with quality, community-based expanded learning opportunities.

While today's news is heartbreaking, know that we will work diligently with each and every one of you to ensure that the children, youth and families that rely on these critical services are protected. Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions, and we'll be in touch as things unfold.

- Maggie Riden, Executive Director, on behalf of your team at DC Alliance of Youth Advocates

EXTRA: DCPS Budget Oversight Responses Show Promising Trends for Afterschool in FY17

We are posting this special extra blog this week to follow up on our #ExpandLearningDC report. You can also download our statement here.

At the request of the DC Council’s Committee on Education, DCPS has provided a narrative of their proposed FY2017 budgets for afterschool and extended day at individual schools ahead of the chancellor’s budget oversight hearing on Thursday, April 21, 2016.

The school district’s responses to the committee show some promising new investments in afterschool programs in DCPS Title I elementary schools and education campuses going into the next school year:

• DCPS will bring afterschool programs back in three elementary schools in Ward 7 in FY2017. Anne Beers, Randle Highlands and Smothers elementary schools all had Office of Out of School Time (OSTP) programming in school year 2014-2015 which was discontinued in the present school year. All three schools will see this programming restored in the coming school year, with 380 new seats for afterschool student enrollment and 37 new afterschool FTE positions between the three schools. This means a total of 52 schools will offer OSTP afterschool programming in the coming school year. (This is up from 49 as reported in our policy brief.)
• DCPS projects adding more than 800 new afterschool spaces for student enrollment in FY2017. In addition to the seats for restored programming at the three new schools, DCPS plans to add 452 new afterschool seats in existing OSTP schools. Some of the biggest gains from the current school year into next will be seen at Bruce  Monroe at Park View, Noyes, Bunker Hill, Leckie and Stanton elementary schools. The total number of OSTP afterschool slots budgeted for in the coming school year is 7,700. (This is up from 6,790 at the end of last school year, as reported in our policy brief.)
• DCPS’s total proposed budget for afterschool programming in FY2017 is $5.4 million, a 33% increase from the current school year. Funding will cover programming at three additional schools and the new afterschool enrollment spaces, as well as 183 new FTE positions to provide afterschool coverage at the schools, for a total of 804 FTE positions system-wide.

Help Us #KeepDYOnTrack this Advocacy Season!

This week, we're kicking off our series on DCAYA's big budget asks for FY17. Expanding transportation subsidies for older students was not included in Mayor Bowser's proposed budget-- but we are prepared to keep advocating for our youth who have re-engaged in education! Earlier this year, DCAYA worked with our partners at Raise DC's Disconnected Youth Change Network (DYCN) to conduct a youth survey on transportation. Below you'll find the advocacy resources we identified. 

You can find the full report of our findings here: Issue Briefing on the Transportation Needs of Re-engaging Youth.

THE ASK: An additional investment of $950,000 will ensure that youth (ages 22-24) who have overcome multiple barriers to re-engage in their education at a Local Education Agency (LEA) are able to attend school without the persistent worry of how they will afford to get there. This estimate is based on the average weekly cost of transportation that students reported to DCAYA via the DYCN Youth Transportation Survey ($30/ week on average) and OSSE’s reported number of youth aged 22-24 enrolled in DC schools (LEAs) in 2015 (721).

TALKING POINTS:

No District-wide support for the transportation needs of students 22+

·   No youth 22 or older has access to any citywide transportation aids. The District's Student Transit Subsidy Program (includes Kids Ride Free and subsidized passes) is available to youth ages 5-21.

Absence of transportation support significantly affects 22-24 year old students

·        Transportation is a significant expense for District youth. 54% of survey respondents 22-24 reported spending over $30 a week or $120 a month travelling to and from their programs.

·         Despite the high cost of transportation, youth are prioritizing their education. The majority of older youth surveyed reported spending 45% or more of their weekly income getting to and from their educational programs.

 ·         Transportation costs are high for all youth, but those living east of the river are the hardest hit. 83% of all youth 22-24 reported spending approximately one-fifth or more of their weekly income getting to and from their programs; notably 55% of these youth live in Wards 5, 7, and 8.

Impact of DC’s second-chance system investments relies on access to affordable transportation

·     When transportation costs are so high, showing up to class is half the battle for re-engaging youth. 21% of older youth reported missing class 3 or more times a month due to insufficient transportation funds. Most programs are less than 40 weeks long, so youth are missing 13% of their program’s total class time because they cannot afford to get there.

·     The loss of economic productivity and social costs associated with disconnected youth are profound. The roughly 7,500 currently disconnected students[1] in DC cost taxpayers (in lost earnings) roughly $13,900 each annually, for a total of $104 million every year. When you add in the annual per-student social cost (subsidized health care, income assistance, higher rates of criminal justice involvement) of $37,450 associated with disconnection, that’s an additional $281 million a year.[2]

THE NEXT STEPS:

      1. Testify and elevate youth narrative: Council needs to hear from you and your youth about the ways transportation costs affect student persistence and success. Over the next several weeks, we ask that you prepare testimony and work with your youth to provide examples of the need for expanded transportation support for youth 16-24. 

District Department of Transportation (DDOT)
Budget Hearing: Friday, April 8, 2016 at 11 am in Room 500

To testify, contact Aukima Benjamin, abenjamin@dccouncil.us or 202-724-8062

Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education (DME)
Budget Hearing: Wednesday, April 13, 2016 at 10 am in Room 120

Sign up here or call 202-724-8061

Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE)

Budget Hearing: Monday, April 18, 2016 at 10 am in Room 412

Sign up here or call 202-724-8061

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)

Budget Hearing: Monday, April 25, 2016 at 10 am in Room 412

To testify, contact Sarina Loy, sloy@dccouncil.us or 202-724-8058

2. Contact councilmembers to elevate ask & youth narrative

COUNCILMEMBER	AGENCY OVERSIGHT (HEARING DATE)	COMMITTEES	EMAIL	TWITTER
Mary Cheh*	DDOT (4/8)	Transportation & Environment (Chairperson)	mcheh@dccouncil.us	@marycheh
Jack Evans*	DDOT (4/8) WMATA (4/25)	Transportation & Environment Finance & Revenue (Chairperson)	jevans@dccouncil.us	@JackEvansWard2
Brandon Todd*	DDOT (4/8) DME (4/13)	Transportation & Environment  Education	btodd@dccouncil.us	@CMBrandonTodd
Kenyan McDuffie*	DDOT (4/8) WMATA (4/25)	Transportation & Environment  Finance & Revenue	kmcduffie@dccouncil.us	@CM_McDuffie
Charles Allen*	DDOT (4/8) DME (4/13)	Transportation & Environment Education	callen@dccouncil.us	@CharlesAllenW6
David Grosso*	DME (4/13) WMATA (4/25)	Education (Chairperson)  Finance & Revenue	dgrosso@dccouncil.us	@cmdgrosso
Vincent Orange	WMATA (4/25)	Finance & Revenue	vorange@dccouncil.us	@VOrangeDC
Elissa Silverman	WMATA (4/25)	Finance & Revenue	esilverman@dccouncil.us	@tweetelissa
Yvette Alexander	DME (4/13)	Education	yalexander@dccouncil.us	@CMYMA
Anita Bonds	DME (4/13)	Education	abonds@dccouncil.us	@AnitaBondsDC

*Indicates high influence for our budget ask

3. Use Sample Tweets (.@Councilmember)

(.@Councilmember) Please fund Kids Ride Free expansion for youth 22-24 to help #KeepDYOnTrack. #DCFY17

(.@Councilmember) Surveyed youth 22-24 lack transportation supports, over half spending 45% of income getting to class #KeepDYOnTrack #DCFY17

(.@Councilmember) 21% of surveyed youth 22-24 miss 3+ days of class/month bc they can’t afford transportation #KeepDYOnTrack #DCFY17

(.@Councilmember) Showing up is half the battle: students 22-24 are struggling to afford their trip to class #KeepDYOnTrack. #DCFY17

That's all for now! We hope to see you at the Wilson Building this advocacy season!

Amy Dudas is the disconnected youth and workforce development policy analyst at DC Alliance of Youth Advocates. If you have any questions about today's blog, or would like more information on our transportation advocacy please contact her at amy@dc-aya.org.

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[1] OSSE. (2014) “Bridging LEAs to Resources for Enhanced Student Outcomes” Online at: http://osse.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/osse/publication/attachments/OSSE_T1S3_FINAL%20PRESENTATION_%20110714_YDA.pdf

[2] Belfield, Levin, & Rosen (2012). The Economic Value of Opportunity Youth. Civic Enterprises. Online at:

http://www.civicenterprises.net/MediaLibrary/Docs/econ_value_opportunity_youth.pdf.