Pre-leg meeting media briefing, April 30

DC Council Chairman Kwame Brown is holding a media briefing April 30 at 10:00 am to discuss the agenda for the May 1 legislative meeting.   The briefing takes place in Room 412 of the JAWB.

The agenda and measures are online.

Young people need us now! Attend the Ward 1 budget town hall April 30

The mayor's Ward 1 budget town hall is being held April 28 from 6:30 - 8:30 pm at Bell High School (3101 16th St NW) (more information on the Facebook event page).

This event is the perfect opportunity for child and youth advocates, those who support out-of-school time (OST) to turn out, stand up, and speak out!   Attend the event and tell Mayor Gray and Ward 1 CM Jim Graham about the incredible value of quality afterschool and summer programs, how they provide safe and fun environments for children to learn, develop, and play.   And how these programs allow parents to work without worrying about what their children are doing.

If you can't attend the town hall meeting, be sure to email CM Graham and the at-large members Monday!   The emails are in the flier below.

AttendWard1BudgetTownHallForTrust

Recap of the April 23 Trust budget hearing

If you missed the Committee on Human Services FY 2013 budget hearing for the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation April 23—along with the OST Social Media Monday activity—you can catch up with the hearing Storified by the DC Alliance of Youth Advocates (DCAYA) and me.

The key takeaway?

I was impressed by the testimony of several groups and am committed to sustaining $3m the Mayor has proposed for out of school time programs

— Jim Graham (@JimGrahamWard1) April 23, 2012

No matter the promise, be sure to let the DC Council know you support the mayor's proposed $3 million in funding for the Trust.   Details are below.

TrustAdvocacyMarkUp

Budget update, April 29

The public hearing on the FY 2013 BSA and BRA is now being held at Noon April 30 and not 10:00 am as originally scheduled. You will be able to review the witness list and link to page to watch the hearing from this page on the DC Council website.

Get rid of old prescription drugs safely April 28

Police departments across the region are participating in the National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day April 28 from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm.   Orchestrated nationally by the Drug Enforcement Administration and organized locally by law enforcement agencies, this initiative is a terrific opportunity to safely dispose of unwanted, unused, or expired prescription drugs.

Metropolitan Police Department district stations along with other DC-based law enforcement agencies are accepting prescription drugs Saturday.   The list of locations is on the DEA website.

In addition to reducing drug abuse, the take back program appropriately disposes of drugs collected.   Before the take back program was approved by Congress, individuals regularly flushed unwanted drugs down the toilet.   This is bad for the environment.

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Upcoming learning and advocacy opportunities

Update on SYEP 2012

Yesterday at the regular mayor-council breakfast, Mayor Gray updated the DC Council on the status of the Summer Youth Employment Program for 2012.   According to WTOP's Mark Segraves, only three CMs were at the meeting for the beginning of the SYEP presentation, Council Chairman Kwame Brown, David Catania, and Yvette Alexander.   The SYEP meeting handout is full of information but the most interesting part of the SYEP discussion was about GPAs.

@kwamebrowndc asks if students who failed school are able to get SYEP. The answer is yes,

— Mark Segraves (@SegravesWTOP) April 25, 2012

Kwame Brown on failing students getting city-funded summer jobs: "I just don't think we should reward kids for failing."

— Alan Blinder (@alanblinder) April 25, 2012

Next year students who don't successfully pass their classes will most likely not be able to participate in SYEP.

— Mark Segraves (@SegravesWTOP) April 25, 2012

Lisa Mallory says Summer Youth Employment Program may implement a minimum GPA for 2013, as David Catania is suggesting.

— Alan Blinder (@alanblinder) April 25, 2012

Catania wants to consider a minimum GPA to qualify for SYEP. "how meaningful is your participation if you're flunking out of school?"

— Mark Segraves (@SegravesWTOP) April 25, 2012

Catania on some SYEP participants: "We bribe you not to cause trouble."

— Alan Blinder (@alanblinder) April 25, 2012

Gray indicates he's open to toughening rules for SYEP participation, especially with a focus on grades.

— Alan Blinder (@alanblinder) April 25, 2012

Catania says M. Brown view that Summer Youth Employment Program is a chance for failing students "is a dream land."

— Alan Blinder (@alanblinder) April 25, 2012

CM M Brown says "shouldn't give up" on kids who aren't doing well in school. Catania says Brown's in a "dreamland"

— Mark Segraves (@SegravesWTOP) April 25, 2012

Barry: "I could hardly sit in my seat and listen to this backward thinking... this conservative thinking."

— Alan Blinder (@alanblinder) April 25, 2012

Barry: "What do you gain by cutting off at a grade point average?"

— Alan Blinder (@alanblinder) April 25, 2012

Barry to Gray and others: "You are absolutely out of touch and out of tune on how we're going to solve these problems."

— Alan Blinder (@alanblinder) April 25, 2012

Do you have space others can use for free? Or space that's affordable?

Nonprofits spend a lot of time, too much time, looking for free and affordable space for meetings, events, and more.   In a 2009 survey, respondents agreed that an online resource listing free and affordable space would be useful.

And so (finally), this online resource.   You'll see it's currently empty.   For it to be successful, owners of space will have to populate this list.   So please share far and wide.   And be sure to provide info for your free/affordable space.

Election update, April 25

• Ward 5 Candidates Forum, April 25:   This candidates forum organized by SOME (So Others Might Eat) is being held from 2:00 – 4:00 pm in SOME’s Dining Room (71 O St NW).   At least 10 of the candidates are expected.   Direct questions to Cassandra Hetherington via email.
• Ward 5 Council on Education candidate forum, April 27:   This forum, brom 7:00 - 8:30 pm at Ross Auditorium at Providence Hospital (1150 Varnum St NE), will focus on education issues.   Hosts from the Education Town Hall Show, Thomas Byrd and Jeff Smith, will moderate, guiding questions relating to candidates' background, experience, and their philosophies regarding how they plan to enhance the current education system.   Have an education question for the candidates?   Submit questions by April 25 via email.

OST Social Media Monday - Witnesses using social media

Updated: 4/23, 8:54a

A number of the organizations scheduled to testify at the April 23 Committee on Human Services (Ward 1 Jim Graham, chair) FY 2013 budget hearing for the Children and Youth Investment Fund (the pass-through for the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation) use Twitter and Facebook.   This means you can include their Twitter handles and post comments to their wall or tag them in posts during OST Social Media Monday.   Watch the 10:00 am hearing via the DC Council website (select Room 412) and be sure to use the hashtag #saveCYITC (not case sensitive).

• DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation (@DCTrustCorp, Facebook)
• DC Alliance of Youth Advocates (@DCAYA, Facebook)
• Higher Achievement DC Metro (@HigherAchieve, Facebook)
• Hung Tao Choy Mei Leadership Institute (Facebook)
• Kid Power Inc. (@kidpowerdc)
• Latin American Youth Center (@THELAYC, Facebook)
• Life Pieces to Masterpieces (@LP2MP, Facebook)
• Sasha Bruce Youthwork (Facebook)

Social media to save the Trust–It's OST Social Media Monday

The FY 2013 budget hearing for the Children and Youth Investment Fund (the pass-through for the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation) is today at 10 am in Room 412 in the JAWB (watch here).

This hearing is a big deal.   The $3 million in proposed FY 2013 funding will serve thousands of kids in DC and the organization has a special interest in funding organizations in Wards 7 and 8 where 37,611, or 33% of the city's 115,400 youth ages 5-21, live.

Participating in OST Social Media Monday is important and this is what you can do:

1. Share your testimony:   If you are testifying, tweet/Facebook a link to your testimony.
2. Tweet/Facebook important quotes:   Did a CM say something important?   Did a witness?   Share that with your followers and friends.

   And how do you share?   First, post or tweet with the hashtags, in order of preference of use, #savecyitc and #dcfy13.   Second, if you are tweeting, mention CMs using their Twitter handle.   If using Facebook, post comments to a CM's wall.   Not sure where the CMs are online?   Refer to this Google Docs list.

3. RT and share:   If you find something to share, retweet it or like, comment, or share on Facebook.

To keep track of tweets related to the hearing and the effort to save the Trust for kids, try using the great tool TweetChat.

Ending Homelessness in DC: Just How Close Are We?

Get ready for social media Monday: Tweeting and blogging the 10a Trust hearing AND positive youth development

The FY 2013 budget hearing for the Children and Youth Investment Fund (the pass-through for the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation) is Monday, April 23 at 10 am in Room 412 in the JAWB.

This hearing is a big deal which is why the DC Alliance of Youth Advocates has been encouraging young people, parents, providers, and concerned residents to testify about the value of the Trust.

But we can't stop with the testimony, as good and valuable as that is.   We need to spread the word of the value of positive youth development, quality programming, and staff development—via a social media blitz!

The fabulous Anne Abbott of DCAYA will be curating DCAYA member blog posts, loading posts on the DCAYA blog Youth-Friendly DC, and tweeting the budget hearing.   If you will be tweeting the budget hearing, please use #dcfy13 AND #saveCYITC (neither is case sensitive).   This way, DCAYA and others—maybe the media, even!—can track tweets.

But more about this by Monday morning including CM Twitter handles.

Stand up and speak out for DC's youth RIGHT NOW!

If you care about young people—how they develop, their social and emotional stability and growth, being and feeling safe, how well they are developing their sense of self—then the time is NOW to stand up and speak out.

On Monday, April 23 at 10:00 am, Ward 1 CM Jim Graham, chair of the Committee on Human Services, is holding a budget hearing on the Children and Youth Investment Fund (that funds the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation).   We expect the CM to hammer the Trust representatives with questions about internal changes, outcomes for youth, what capacity building efforts have yielded, and more.   Naturally, this all results from that thieving SOB known as Harry Thomas, Jr. who stole money the Trust had granted to a nonprofit.

I believe that DC's children and youth deserve better than bearing the brunt of bad decisions made by adults.   If you agree with research that shows children and youth who are actively and appropriately engaged in OST have better short- and long-term outcomes, then STAND UP AND SPEAK OUT NOW.   Please email your Ward CM and all the At-large CMs and urge them to leave the Trust alone.   The $3 million will help thousands of young people across the city who need a chance to learn and grow and achieve with the help of caring and well-trained adults.

Now there is little question that the at-the-time executive director made some bad decisions.   Were the appropriate systems in place to prevent such illegal and otherwise questionable activity?   Clearly not.

But who suffers if the DC Council unfunds the Trust in FY 2013?   Thousands of children and youth between the ages of 5 and 21.   As it is, only about half of the young people in the city participate in out-of-school time (OST) activities.

The fact is that the Trust was making strides to improve the quality of OST programming across the city, expand access east of the Anacostia River where a huge population of youth live, and implement evaluation practice.   If the DC Council eliminates funding for the Trust in FY 2013, all of this good work for the city's young people is gone.   Poof.   Into thin air.

I believe that DC's children and youth deserve better than bearing the brunt of bad decisions made by adults.

Please share this post and the call to action flier and send those emails today.   Time is of the essence.

Want to leave a comment?   Click the title of the blog post.

Recent DC budget drama Storified

Get your skill on! A new workshop series

The new series of advocacy-related workshops for nonprofits starts May 10 with "Who does what in the legislative and executive branches?"

The new series includes five workshops.   They are:

• Who does what in the legislative and executive branches? (May 10, 10:00 am - Noon)
• Getting the word out (May 17, 10:00 am - Noon)
• The basics of social media for advocacy (May 24, 10:00 am - Noon)
• Making the most of public hearings (May 31, 10:00 am - Noon)
• Advocacy communications beyond testimony (June 7, 10:00 am - Noon)

Anyone individual registering for all five workshops receives a 15% discount!

Details about the workshops are on the Helping Others Better blog, in the flier (PDF), and below.   Register here.

If your organization wants a personalized workshop, details about how to make this happen are on page two of the document embedded below.

A shout out to the Healthy Families/Thriving Communities Collaborative Council for hosting the workshops!

Mayor Gray's April 18 regular presser includes DCPS announcements

Mayor Vincent Gray will talk education reform at his regular biweekly presser today at 9:30 am in the Mayor’s Press Briefing Room (1350 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Room G-9) (watch online here, via OCT link).   DC Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson will highlight the Gray Administration’s efforts to build on the successes of education reform in the District by highlighting the new DCPS five-year strategic plan "A Capital Commitment."   According to the release, "DCPS’ aggressive new strategy to rebuild the District’s traditional public schools into a high-quality, vibrant system that earns the confidence of the entire community."

Henderson will also talk about "Proving What’s Possible" (PWP) program.   DCPS believes this new $10 million grant program will "dramatically improve student outcomes."   A recent DCPS press release has this to say about PWP:

All DCPS schools are eligible to apply for either of the two types of PWP grants. Major Grants ($250,000–$400,000) are designed for schools with the largest population of students in need of academic improvement or a group of students who need to make the largest academic gains. Targeted Grants ($50,000–$100,000) are designed for schools that want to focus on supporting a targeted intervention for a subgroup within a school.

Of course, this new initiative is not necessarily all good news.   Followers of education and OST expect CMs to ask questions about this significant change at today's Committee of the Whole FY 2013 budget hearing on DCPS and the Deputy Mayor for Education at 10:00 am (deets on the DC Council hearing page).   Some of the outstanding questions and concerns are:

• Limited or little public input into the change
• Concern about school capacity to prepare well-written and well-grounded proposals ("Schools are encouraged to propose research-based approaches that have a track record of success in urban schools.")
• Integration of positive youth development principles in programming; there is no reference to PYD in the DCPS release.   Up until recently, DCPS afterschool program staff had been learning about PYD from the DC Children and Youth Investment Trust Corporation through its Advancing Youth Development Curriculum and meetings and coaching around this important issue.   There appear to be no such requirements for AYD training for staff in "Proving What's Possible."
• Lack of evaluation.   DCPS had opted in to the Trust's evaluation system Program Assessment and Assistance System (PAAS) and the move to PWP now puts the DCPS commitment to evaluation into question.

Want to leave a comment?   Click the title of the blog post.

Rally for housing for all April 18

Huge cuts to affordable housing are planned for FY 2013.   According to Housing for All, these cuts will negatively impact communities, work, and our vision for a DC where all people can afford to live.

Join the rally Wednesday, April 18 at 6:00 pm and speak out for affordable housing.   The rally takes place at the John A. Wilson Building (1350 Pennsylvania Ave NW).

Learn more about those supporting affordable housing and invite your friends and colleagues to attend the rally on the event's Facebook page.

Want to leave a comment?   Click the title of the blog post.

Social media and child abuse

Ribbon graphic by Niki_K [GFDL or CC-BY-SA], via Wikimedia Commons

Yesterday I had the pleasure of talking with professionals from across the country who work as part of citizen review panels (CRPs).   CRPs, according to the University of Kentucky,

are groups of citizen-volunteers who are federally mandated to conduct an evaluation of their state's child protective services agency. This site contains information about each state's CRP, including annual reports, training materials, and other useful information.

The 2012 conference is being held in DC this year and the DC CRP invited me to talk about using media and social media to improve outcomes for child victims of abuse and neglect.   My PPT presentation (also embedded below) was just the start of the conversation.   Session participants asked some great questions and jumped in with thoughtful answers.

Social Media and Improving Outcomes for Child Victims of Abuse and Neglect

View more presentations from Susie Cambria.

If you would be interested in having a similar conversation to jump start your goal-driven social media efforts, email me.

Is your coffee mug lonely?

Mug Rugs for Safe Shores

In recognition of Child Abuse Prevention Month (April) and of the great prevention work done by Safe Shores – The DC Children's Advocacy Center, I am selling Susie-made art quilt mug rugs to benefit Safe Shores.

What are mug rugs?   Coasters given a fancy name by women who need something to make other than table runners and baby quilts.   (That does not describe me, by the way.   I have plenty to do; I just wanted to raise some money for Safe Shores.)

The deal is this:   Each mug rug is worth a $20 donation to Safe Shores.   You tell me which one you want via email, you send me a check for $20 made out to Safe Shores, I send you the mug rug so you too can recognize Child Abuse Prevention Month, and I send Safe Shores all the checks.

All mug rugs are made of 100% cotton with 100% cotton batting.   They are machine pieced and quilted.   Note, if you or the person you are giving this to is allergic to cats, please don't buy.   The cats sun themselves on my sewing table.

Mug Rug 2 is 6.5"x5" and the others are in the 5.5"x5" range.

So get a mug rug today to keep your coffee mug company!

Register today for the Community Broadband Summit, April 28

The April 28 Community Broadband Summit will focus on technology learning, sharing, and networking and will feature Mayor Vincent C. Gray.   Attendees will have the opportunity to attend expert panel discussions, community forum, technology expo, and much more.   More information, including to register, is on Connect.dc.

Want to leave a comment?   Click the title of the blog post.

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Ready by 21 webinar series

The Ready by 21 Webinar Series provides free learning opportunities in the areas of partnerships, goals, data and decision-making, and strategies.

Upcoming sessions include "Connecting the Dots: Data Sharing in States and Communities to Better Connect Youth Services", "Aligning Policies, Increasing Impact", and "A Blueprint for Moving from Planning to Action."

FY 2012 supplemental budget briefing, April 10

Mayor Vince Gray will brief the DC Council April 10 from 3:00 – 5:00 pm in the JAWB.   Follow local journalists, such as Patrick Madden and Mike DeBonis, for a play-by-play.

BBP in Ward 8 April 14!

Congress Heights on the Rise has done it again with the great news that Busboys & Poets will be in Ward 8 April 14 in a pop-up.

Want to leave a comment?   Click the title of the blog post.

Recognize Child Abuse Prevention Month and support Safe Shores!

In recognition of Child Abuse Prevention Month (April) and of the great prevention work done by Safe Shores – The DC Children's Advocacy Center, I am selling Susie-made art quilt mug rugs to benefit Safe Shores.

What are mug rugs?   Coasters given a fancy name by women who need something to make other than table runners and baby quilts.   (That does not describe me, by the way.   I have plenty to do; I just wanted to raise some money for Safe Shores.)

The deal is this:   Each mug rug is worth a $20 donation to Safe Shores.   You tell me which one you want via email, you send me a check for $20 made out to Safe Shores, I send you the mug rug so you too can recognize Child Abuse Prevention Month, and I send Safe Shores all the checks.

All mug rugs are made of 100% cotton with 100% cotton batting.   They are machine pieced and quilted.   Note, if you or the person you are giving this to is allergic to cats, please don't buy.   The cats sun themselves on my sewing table.

The largest, Mug Rug 1 and Mug Rug 2, are 6"x6.5" and 6.5"x5" respectively.   The others are in the 5.5"x5" range.

Want to leave a comment?   Click the title of the blog post.

ANCs on Twitter

Activist extraordinaire Bob Summergill has pulled together a list of ANCs on Twitter.   If you're like me, you'll let him do the work of gathering so you can just follow his list!

Summergill welcomes additions; just tweet him, @summersgill.

Want to leave a comment?   Click the title of the blog post.

Are you an organ donor?

Department of Motor Vehicles Director Lucinda Babers will be talking organ donation April 5 at 2:00 pm during a web chat (participate in the web chat here).   A representative from the Washington Regional Transplant Community will join in to answer questions.   The chat is one way DMV is celebrating National Donate Life Month.

Collaborating for better information sharing

Some of what you will find in the new 211 Emergency Assistance Immigrant and Refugee Services Public Benefits Seniors Shelters Veterans

Imagine a world in which all social service and support information was at your fingertips.   Imagine a world in which you could find an after school arts program for your child with just a few clicks of the mouse.

With your help, that world is possible.   And soon.

Residents, providers, advocates, government representatives, and techies are working together to make the search tools easier to use and more fruitful.   That's right, we are collaborating to make social service program information more robust and more accessible than ever.   The DC Community Resource Platform group (you can join the Google group here) is moving forward on a number of fronts to ensure that social service program info is available to anyone who needs it.

We need you to help us make this happen.   I hope you will consider taking action in one or more ways:

1. Tell us if your organization has an internal and/or external resource directory:   Please share that information here.
2. Share your organization's internal and/or external resource directory:   If you feel like sharing, email print-only directories to Susie Cambria.
3. Join the group:   Stay apprised of progress, meetings, and work to be done by joining the DC Community Resource Platform Google group.
4. Tell us about your experience finding social service information:   Take this survey about your experiences seeking social service information for your clients, neighbors, family members, and yourself.   The results will inform the work to improve the resource and referral system as we move forward.
5. Learn more about what the group is doing:   Much of the information gathered so far along with meeting notes and next steps are on the community resource portal wiki.

Mayor Gray's April 4 sked

Mayor Vince Gray will announce members of the Financial Literacy Council today at 10:00 am at his regular biweekly presser.   The announcement is being made as part of the mayor's declaration of April as "Financial Literacy Awareness Month."   The presser is taking place at Edgewood Terrace (635 Edgewood St NE, 9th Floor).

Later in the day, Mayor Gray will answer questions at the Ward 3 FY 2013 budget town hall.   The event takes place from 6:30 - 8:30 pm at Alice Deal Middle School (3815 Fort Dr NW).

Budget update, April 4

• Budget hearing sked change:   The Committee on Human Services has changed the time for the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services budget hearing.   The new time is 10:30 am on April 4.
• Ward 3 budget town hall, April 4:   Mayor Vince Gray's budget town hall will be held from 6:30 - 8:30 pm at Alice Deal Middle School (3815 Fort Dr NW).   The public is encouraged to attend.

  Information about the other ward-based budget town halls is in this blog post.

• Benchmarking study online:   The required benchmarking study for FY 2013 is now online.   There is some useful information in it so be sure to check it out (FY 2013 Proposed Budget and Financial Plan Benchmarking Study).

Want to leave a comment?   Click the title of the blog post.

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DCAYA staffing news

Maggie Riden was recently names ED of DC Alliance of Youth Advocates and the org is now trying to find a new policy analyst.   Check out the position description here (PDF) and share with those you think might be interested.

More free webinars from Wild Apricot!!

Wild Apricot's list of free webinars for nonprofits is here!   The offerings are heavy on fundraising.   Two non-development standouts: 1) April 18 webinar about nonprofits and lobbying (please sign up!!) and 2) April 26 webinar about voter engagement.

Budget update, April 3

• Budget hearing changes:   The Committee of the Whole (Council Chairman Kwame Brown, chair) has rescheduled nine budget hearings.   The new dates are:

  *Board of Elections and Ethics, April 20
  *Office of the State Superintendent of Education, April 24
  *District of Columbia Public Charter School Board, April 24
  *Council of the District of Columbia, April 27
  *Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, April 27
  *Office of the D.C. Auditor, April 27
  *Office of Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining, April 27
  *Office of Cable Television, April 27
  *Office of Budget and Planning, April 27

• CFSA budget hearing:   The Committee on Human Services (Ward 1 CM Jim Graham, chair) conducted the FY 2013 budget hearing for Child and Family Services March 2.   The prepared testimony of Brenda Donald, agency director, is here in PDF.   You can watch the hearing using this OCT link.   The agency responses to the committee's questions are online here.
• A Call to Action from Rob Fleming, Editor and Publisher of Progress Notes:

  What?
  Hearing on the Mayor’s proposed 2013 budget

  Why?
  

  *DC has the worst alcohol and drug problem in the nation (1). One in every nine residents has an Alcohol and Other Drug Disorder. This has gone on for most of the last 10 years (2).
  *This means that nearly everyone knows someone with an AOD disorder.
  *AODD is a treatable brain disease that impairs judgment and underlies a host of other (expensive) social problems, including crime, traffic accidents, homelessness, high medical costs, and low workplace productivity (3).
  *AODD costs every DC resident more than $1,300 in increased taxes (4) and still more in private costs and misery. This means that everyone in DC has an AOD problem.
  *DC has the second-worst gap between those who need treatment (58,000) and those who get it (alcohol gap: 44,000; drug gap: 17,000) (5). DC’s Wards 1 and 2 are among the three worst substate areas in the country (6).
  *Prevention and treatment can save four to twelve times its costs in avoided social services, higher labor productivity, and increased taxes.
  *DC spends only three percent of its AODD budget on prevention and treatment at the Addiction Prevention and Recovery Administration (APRA).
  *Changing this will take a political decision, because the costs and benefits can only be reconciled at the level of the Mayor or Council.
  *Good politicians are responsive to their constituents, and DC politicians hear more about potholes, crime, taxes. They don’t hear about AODD.
  *They need to hear from you. Without your voice, APRA’s budget could be cut and will certainly not get the increase and re-direction we need to get out of last place.

  How?
  

  *Call or write your Councilmembers. Tell them we need a better, more comprehensive, approach to treating Alcohol and Other Drug Disorder if we want to avoid its costs and capture the benefits of increased sobriety.
  *Testify at the Budget Hearing, Thursday April 5, starting at 10:00 AM in Room 123 of the John Wilson Building at 1350 Pennsylvania Ave. Contact Molly Moulton, Committee on Health, at 724-8170 or e-mail mmoulton@dccouncil.us to get on the witness list or go online at http://action.dccouncil.us/page/s/sign-up-to-testify . Even if you do not testify, show up to show support for better AODD treatment.
  *And if anyone asks how we pay the current costs to get these future benefits, tell them that DC’s taxes on alcohol are some of the lowest in the country. Raising them just a dime a drink would raise more money ($42 million) (7) than DC’s entire Addiction Prevention and Recovery Administration spends, money raised from those most likely to need AODD services.

  More?
  See the DC Recovery Community Alliance website at www.DCRCA.org/Advocacy

  Sources
  (1) State Estimates of Substance Use and Mental Disorders from the 2008-2009 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health available at http://www.samhsa.gov/data/2k9State/Cover.htm
  (2) Past results from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health are available for download at http://www.samhsa.gov/data/NSDUH.aspx .
  (3) District of Columbia Epidemiological Profile: Consequences of Alcohol, Tobacco, And Other Drug Use at http://www.cesar.umd.edu/cesar/pubs/20080314.pdf
  (4) Shoveling Up II - The Impact of Substance Abuse on Federal, State and Local Budgets (http://www.casacolumbia.org/articlefiles/380-ShovelingUpII.pdf)
  (5) 5 State Estimates of Substance Use and Mental Disorders from the 2008-2009 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (http://www.samhsa.gov/data/2k9State/WebOnlyTables/DC.pdf )
  (6) Substate Estimates from the 2006-2008 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (http://www.samhsa.gov/data/substate2k10/Cover.htm )
  (7) Alcohol Justice Tax Calculator at http://alcoholjustice.org/tax-calculator.html?view=alcoholtax

Reminder: Let's get foster kids gussied up for prom!

When you donate formal attire to Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA) for Project Prom 2012, you can clean out your closet and ensure that young people in foster care are properly decked out for their prom.

CFSA is accepting only these hard goods:

• formal gowns
• tuxedos
• formal shoes
• formal purses
• wraps
• formal jewelry
• new hosiery

Collection location and dates
April 2 - 6 from 9:00 am - 5:00 pm.   Drop off your donation at CFSA (400 6th St SW in the Children's Donation Center on the first floor).

Project Prom Boutique Day
Project Prom Boutique Day will be held on Saturday, May 5 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm, at CFSA.   Teens will have the opportunity to be pampered by personal shoppers who will assist them in finding the perfect dress or suit and accessories to match.   Make-up artists and hair dressers will be available to give beauty advice and demonstrate techniques.

More information or to volunteer
Contact Angela Robinson, Project Coordinator for Partners for Kids in Care, at 442-6013 or via email.

Budget town hall fliers

Mayor Vince Gray is holding ward-based town hall meetings in April to present key elements of his FY 2013 proposed budget to residents, businesses, and other stakeholders.   The schedule is online at budget.dc.gov and the fliers are below.

Townhall ward-1-2013

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Taking action for OST in the FY 2013 budget

On March 30, I released What's in the mayor's proposed FY 2013 budget for OST? (PDF) in the blog post OST funding takes a hit in FY 2013 proposed budget.   The analysis found that funding in FY 2013 continues the downward trajectory of funding for out-of-school time services for children and youth.

But things can change and the DC Council is in the midst of hearing from residents and stakeholders about the mayor's proposed budget and changes that should be made.   You can help CMs understand the issues related to underfunding.   You can help turn the trend around.   The details are in Taking action for out-of-school time in the FY 2013 budget (PDF).

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