Opening Remarks
Dear Neighbor,
Today, the Council of the District of Columbia voted to pass the Fiscal Year 2022 Budget and Financial Plan! Our $17 billion budget and financial plan will guide our spending and initiatives as we work across Ward 2 and the entire city to strengthen our local economy, house our neighbors experiencing homelessness, increase opportunities for affordable housing, make our education system more equitable, our public safety systems more just, and build a greener and more transit-friendly city.
At the start of this process in March, I shared our Ward 2 Budget Priorities Letter with Mayor Bowser ahead of the release of her initial proposal. I was pleased to see that the Mayor and her Executive Administration made critical investments in many of our shared priorities and helped secure $2.8 billion in federal stimulus funding; $755 million of which the District was initially shortchanged in previous federal stimulus packages.
I would like to thank Chairman Mendelson and all of my Council colleagues for their diligence in improving upon the budget proposal and for hosting the many public hearings through which we heard directly from residents and community stakeholders.
I would also like to thank every public witness who testified at our budget hearings, submitted a written testimony, called, emailed, or otherwise advocated for our community. This budget is stronger because of you.
I am confident that this budget and financial plan will allow us to reach our shared goals, and I am pleased to share with you the details below. While I am proud of what we have accomplished, I know there is more work to be done and I look forward to continuing to partner with you on things that matter most to our community.
Yours in Service,
Brooke
Budget Priorities & Highlights
Ward 2 Projects
- $115 million FY22-27 for the K Street Transitway, providing additional protected bike lanes in downtown DC
- $74.2 million between FY22-27 to modernize the School Without Walls at Francis Stevens
- $50 million for repairs to public housing properties, including Horizon House and Claridge Towers in Ward 2
- $33 million for the Pennsylvania Avenue Streetscape project
- $28 million to fully modernize Jelleff Recreation Center
- $27 million for the Dupont Deckover Project
- $10 million to purchase property in Georgetown to establish an EV charging station that will be critical to electrifying our transportation system
- $3 million for the design of a new Shaw Middle School
- $2 million for the Golden Triangle BID Innovation District
- $1.5 million to address teacher pay parity at Duke Ellington School of the Arts and a requirement that DCPS must work to update Ellington’s funding model
- $1 million in FY2021 to support the National Children’s Museum
- $800,000 to make small businesses in Ward 2’s Great Streets corridors eligible for grant funding through the Department of Small and Local Business Development
- $731,000 plus significant federal funding to fully fund the Dupont Deckover Project
- $700,000 to returf the field at Volta Park
- $500,000 for a Georgetown livability study to analyze multi-modal transportation options
- $375,000 to support the design of a welcome center in Georgetown along the C&O canal
- $300,000 to support the Dupont Underground
- $250,000 to renovate the Thomson Elementary School playground
- $150,000 for a parking pilot program that will reduce congestion, prioritize limited parking spaces for residents, and improve turnover which will help our small businesses
- $73,000 to expand the Glover Park Clean Team from Whitehaven Pkwy to R St.
- $45,000 for an additional full-time employee for the Dupont Circle Clean Team
Affordable Housing and Homelessness Supports
- $400 million for the production and preservation of affordable housing through the Housing Production Trust Fund
- $95 million for permanent supportive housing vouchers to house over 3000 neighbors experiencing homelessness
- $11.7 million to establish a new Department of Buildings and break up DCRA.
- $5 million to fund the Generating Affordability in Neighborhoods (GAIN) Act, to offer tenants earning less than 30% or 50% of the Median Family Income rental units at a cost equal to no more than 30% of their income
- $1.4 million for a first of its kind reentry housing and services program which will offer 70 shorter term single rooms and apartments, with a preference for returning citizens, and wrap around services for all residents, including workforce development programs for returning citizens
- $479,000 for dedicated housing vouchers to prevent the isolation of LGBTQQIA+ seniors
- Improve the application process for housing vouchers to move neighbors experiencing homelessness into housing more quickly
Education, Youth Development, and Public Health
- $168 million in childcare subsidy investments, including for a pilot program to ensure that childcare workers are paid more
- $32 million for Baby Bonds to invest in our youth and address racial wealth gap.
- $18.5 million for the Out of School Time fund to provide youth with safe and supervised intellectual, artistic & social activities
- $8 million for the School Based Mental Health Initiative to increase school-based mental health supports in all DC Public School (DCPS) and DC Public Charter School (DCPCS) location
- $5 million in federal dollars for free HIV/AIDS testing
- $3.25 million to ensure that every DC public school has a full-time librarian
- $1.6 million to fund the Student Access to Period Products Act, legislation that I introduced to provide free period products in all public and private educational institutions throughout the District of Columbia
- $1.5 million to reimagine Cobb Park
- $750,000 to support a teacher pipeline for DCPS and DCPCS schools.
Public Safety
- $25.9 million to the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE) for new violence interrupters, and to expand the Pathways Program to serve 100 more residents
- $105.9 million for the Office of Victim Services
- $22.5 million for the Access to Justice Initiative to provide free legal services to low- and moderate-income residents
- $6.7 million to expand the MPD’s Cadet Program from 100 to 150 and add 60 new officers to the Metropolitan Police Department
- $1.2 million for the creation of a Deputy Auditor for Public Safety
- $997,000 for Restorative Justice Program at the Office of the Attorney General to address the root problems of crime and conflict and offer juvenile prosecutors an alternative to traditional prosecution
- 4 new Cure the Streets Program sites for a total of seven sites across the city
- $603,000 to the Office of Human Rights to hire 4 staffers to support case processing and 1 Attorney Advisor to oversee the implementation of the Bella Evangelista and Tony Hunter Panic Defense Prohibition and Hate Crimes Response Amendment Act of 2020
Small Business Support and Employment Services
- $105 million to expand the Universal Paid Leave fund to expand medical leave benefits from 2 weeks to up to 6 weeks and add 2 weeks of pre-natal leave benefits
- $40 million in the Hotel BRIDGE Fund to support the post-pandemic recovery of our hospitality industry
- $40 million for rent relief for small business
- $41 million to support exclude workers and to exempt those funds and other unemployment funds from taxation
- $8 million to expand IT training opportunities for District residents
- $5 million for one-time, $500 payments for 10,000 District residents who had to wait two months or longer to receive their unemployment insurance payments
- $2 million to support the Golden Triangle BID’s business innovation district