Dear Ward 8 Residents:
 

We did it! We accomplished our mission of serving more than 2,000 students with backpacks and school supplies in the community. 
 

Saturday's event was more than a backpack giveaway. We activated the entire Barry Farm Recreation Center from the gym, the field, the courtyard and the multi-purpose room. 
 

Residents had an opportunity to engage with community-based organizations and healthcare agencies to receive: health screenings, mental health services, trauma-related services, utility assistance, educational information, and covid vaccinations. We were able to provide new shoes, backpacks, school supplies, and uniform vouchers as a part of the giveaway items to residents in attendance.
 

I have hosted an annual back-to-school event for the last 18 years. This year, we had the pleasure of also providing book bags to various other community back-to-school events to residents located at 24th & Hartford, Woodland, Wahler Pl SE, and 30th Street SE, to name a few.

If you did not have a chance to participate in our back-to-school event, please join POWAB for a celebration of life, community and health! Registration is free and required. Activities at the event include:

• Free fresh vegetables and fruit for the first 500 households to arrive
• Free Health Screenings (HIV and Hepatitis C)
• Free COVID-19 Testing and Vaccinations
• Free Lunch, Prizes, and Games
• Free Community Spirit
• Free Gaming Truck

Register here: effibarryinstitute.org/powab. 

Are you or someone you know having trouble finding food? 

You're not alone, and the DC Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) is here to help. DPR is offering free food for school-aged kids at 15 locations East of the River, as well as locations throughout the District. 

Even before the pandemic, tens of thousands of District families were impacted by a lack of access to food. DPR is offering free grab-and-go breakfast and lunch meals for children 18 and under at the following recreation centers in Ward 8:

WARD 8

Bald Eagle Rec Center (100 Joliet Street, SW)

Barry Farm Rec Center (1230 Sumner Road, SE)

Fort Stanton Rec Center (1800 Erie Street, SE)

Southeast, Tennis & Learning Center Rec Center (701 Mississippi Avenue, SE)

Check the DPR Youth Summer Meals website for a full list of locations throughout DC.

REDISTRICTING

Chairman Phil Mendelson has appointed a subcommittee to direct the Council’s redistricting work, consisting of three at-large members: Elissa Silverman, who will chair the subcommittee, Anita Bonds, and Christina Henderson. Using data from the 2020 Census, the subcommittee will make recommendations to the full Council on redrawing ward boundaries to ensure balanced ward populations and representation in the legislature. The subcommittee, along with ward-specific task forces, will also make recommendations on redrawing Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) boundaries to meet similar balancing and fair representation goals. On August 12, the US Census released unofficial results which show the District has a 14.6% increase with a total population of 689,545 residents

WARD BOUNDARY REDISTRICTING NEWS Click here to access this 2020 Census Map as a PDF file.    COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SUBCOMMITTEE ON REDISTRICTING Starting September 2021, the Council of the District of Columbia will launch its once-in-a-decade redistricting process. Normally, decennial redistricting begins in April, but a five-month delay in the release of 2020 Census data has the process officially kicking off in September. EXPECTED TIMELINE August 12, 2021: Initial "legacy" Census data released (the 2020 Census data will first be released in a non-user friendly legacy format, a few weeks before the general data release. This data will be “cleaned up” by the District’s Office of Planning and will be made available through a user-friendly redistricting website in September.) September 2021, date TBD: Official Census data released September 2021, date TBD: Redistricting website launched, which will enable the public to use Census data to create their own recommendations on redrawing ward and ANC boundaries Late September through late October 2021: Subcommittee will hold eight hearings on ward redistricting, one specific to each ward Mid-November 2021: Subcommittee mark-up of the ward redistricting bill (we are technically a subcommittee of the Committee of the Whole) December 7, 2021: First vote by the full Council on the ward redistricting bill December 21, 2021: Second vote on the ward redistricting bill December 2021: Ward Task Forces (which provide recommendations on ANC redistricting) start meeting February 2022: Ward Task Forces report out recommendations May 2022: Subcommittee mark-up of the ANC redistricting bill June 2022: Council votes on the ANC redistricting bill How can residents participate in the redistricting process? There will be many opportunities for residents to participate in the redistricting process.  But there are four main ways: Submit maps through the DC redistricting website. This website will allow members of the public to draw their own ward and ANC boundaries using the new Census data and submit these maps to the Council subcommittee for consideration. The public mapping tool will launch in September, at DC2021redistricting.esriemcs.com. Testify before the Council's subcommittee.  These hearings will be open to the public, so anyone can testify on redistricting. The hearings will be at different times of day and different days of the week. Submit testimony to the subcommittee. The subcommittee is accepting written and oral testimony, including maps. Any testimony submitted will be included in the committee report on the redistricting legislation.  Any written testimony will also be distributed to the subcommittee members before each hearing.  Written testimony can be emailed to [email protected].  The subcommittee is setting up a voicemail box for residents to also submit oral testimony in the near future. Contact your councilmember.  Every member will have a vote on the new lines, and will be actively participating in the redistricting process.   Information provided by the Subcommittee on Redistricting.

There have been 127 homicides in the District this year, up 8 percent compared with this time in 2020.

On Wednesday, D.C. police arrested a 16-year-old in the fatal stabbing of a 15-year-old outside a high school in Northeast Washington, a slaying participants in the meeting mentioned specifically because of the victim’s youth. And on Sunday, two men were fatally shot just hours and blocks apart in Anacostia, the same neighborhood where Thursday night’s gathering took place.

“What we saw last week is really alarming and disturbing,” said D.C. Council member Trayon White Sr. (D-Ward 8), noting the Northeast incident and multiple other shootings that took place over the previous weekend. “We have a lot of work to do.”

Click to read the full article at: WashingtonPost.com

“There’s an old proverb that says . . . it takes a village to raise a child. . . . Anytime we’re killing our babies in that village, our village is sick,” D.C. Council member Trayon White Sr. (D-Ward 8) said to those seated in the pews. “We can no longer sit back and think this is normal.”

The mourners responded in agreement with head nods and claps.

A young Black man who was repeatedly punched by a D.C. police officer has secured legal representation and is asking that the officers involved in his arrest be criminally charged.

“This is an indictment on the entire system,” said Bakari Sellers, another one of Johnson’s lawyers. “This graduate came back home from Savannah State looking for a job, looking for an opportunity, and could not find it.”

Johnson said that following the incident, Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White’s office reached out to her brother to offer help with his job search.

Sellers said he wanted to give kudos to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Police Chief Robert Contee for their handling of the case so far. Contee said earlier this week that he was “embarrassed” and “ashamed” about the way the arrest was handled.

Click to read the full article at: dcist.com