By Grassroots DC, on February 11th, 2014 
Posted on behalf of Empower DC
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, February 10, 2014
CONTACT: Parisa Norouzi, Empower DC (202) 234-9119 x 100
DEPOSITIONS BEGIN IN DC SCHOOL CLOSURES CASE
Chancellor among key government witnesses to be deposed, public invited to submit questions
Depositions of key government officials have begun in the case against the closure of DC public schools.
The case of Shannon Smith et al Vs Kaya Henderson et al was filed last March by members of Empower DC as part of an effort to stop the closure of 15 DC Public Schools in low income communities of color. After a hearing on May10th, Federal court Judge Boasberg did not grant a temporary injunction and the closure of 13 DC Public Schools was allowed to go forward last fall, however the court has yet to issue a final ruling on the merits of the case and litigation on the issue continues. The Judge upheld the plaintiff’s core complaints, saying in his opinion “..the parents and guardians have alleged sufficient facts to state claims of discrimination under the three civil-rights provisions at the heart of their case: the Equal Protection Clause, Title VI, and the D.C. Human Rights Act.”
Today, as civil rights attorney Johnny Barnes prepares to depose Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson under oath on February 21st, Empower DC launched a call for the public to submit “Questions for Kaya.” People impacted by the closures or others with information pertaining to the inner workings of DCPS are invited send in questions via twitter (to @empowerdc), email (to Daniel@empowerdc.org) or by calling an anonymous phone hotline (202-234-9119 x 106).
Communities throughout the nation have mobilized to fight the closure of dozens of public schools, predominately in low income communities of color, in cities including Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and Baltimore. To date, Empower DC’s suit is the first in the nation to have withstood dismissal and entered the discovery phase.
“We have begun pouring through thousands and thousands of internal DCPS documents and emails received during discovery,” said Attorney Barnes. “The content provides a window into the infrastructure that was responsible for decision making within DCPS. We look forward to these depositions with expectations that we will learn even more about that which motivated the closing of schools.”
“In this case Empower DC exemplifies David going against the Goliath of not just DCPS and the District government, but the large, powerful and wealthy network including the likes of the Waltons and the Gates’ who drive privatization-based school reform throughout the country,” said Parisa Norouzi, Executive Director of Empower DC. “It is no secret to us that there is more then meets the eye with regard to public education in DC. Being the nation’s capital we have been used as a laboratory for the so-called “reform” movement. The proceedings of our lawsuit will bring that to light.”
Empower DC’s members continue their campaign to save community schools, and the neighborhoods that depend upon them. “Our members never gave up their fight,” continued Norouzi. “The Supreme Court has ruled in the past that a court is empowered to order that schools be reopened, where discrimination has been found. We continue to believe that it is possible schools like Ferebee-Hope Elementary will be reopened at the end of this fight – as would be the fitting tribute to the parents and students who have been champions for their community.”
By Grassroots DC, on February 9th, 2014
By Grassroots DC, on February 4th, 2014 
Cross-posted from Truth Out Written by Rania Khalek
Barry Farm, a public housing complex in southeast Washington, “is the line in the sand,” says Schyla Pondexter-Moore, a community organizer. “If you take away Barry Farm, you’re basically just giving away the whole Ward 8.”
A row of public housing units in Barry Farm. (Photo by Rania Khalek)
Barry Farm is the latest battleground for grass-roots housing advocates in the nation’s capital, where intense gentrification has altered the city’s demographic landscape dramatically. Because Washington was America’s first city to have a black majority, it came as a shock to many in 2011 when DC’s black population dropped below 50 percent for the first time in more than 50 years. In the past decade, the district lost nearly 40,000 black residents, many driven out by skyrocketing rents fueled by an influx of mostly white professionals flocking to increasingly gentrified neighborhoods.
Until recently, Wards 7 and 8 – the district’s poorest, most segregated and longest-neglected wards – largely were untouched. But as developers become desperate for new real estate to flip, residents living east of the Anacostia River (the unofficial dividing line between the city’s haves and have-nots) are seeing the beginning stages of gentrification take shape, starting with plans to demolish public housing, like Barry Farm. And if the past decade has taught them anything, it is that gentrification usually leaves longtime low-income residents out in the cold – literally.
Demolitions and Broken Promises
If the DC Housing Authority and developers have their way, all 434 public housing units at the Barry Farm complex will be razed to make room for “mixed income” housing, part of a four-phase $400 million redevelopment plan under DC’s New Communities Initiative, a public-private urban revitalization partnership modeled after the federal Hope VI program.
But if the past is any indication, New Communities is far more likely to displace Barry Farm residents indefinitely, as the former residents of DC’s Temple Courts public housing complex can attest.
Prior to its demolition in December 2008, the Temple Courts property, in Ward 6 at North Capitol Street and K Street Northwest, was plagued with drug-related crime, which the city used as justification to tear it down. Then-Mayor Adrian Fenty promised that the squeaky-clean $700 million mixed-income community that developers planned to build over the ashes of Temple Courts would include at least 570 affordable units that would allow all families displaced by the demolition an opportunity to return by the 2009-10 school year. Five years later, what used to be Temple Courts is now a parking lot that charges $8 an hour. Consequently, only 22 of the more than 200 families that were forced out have moved back in.
As noted in a joint WAMU and NPR investigative series, similar promises were made to residents living in more than 700 public housing units at the Arthur Capper and Carollsburg complex in southeast Washington a decade ago. “What is there now, among other things, are million-dollar homes and parking lots for the baseball stadium nearby,” the investigation revealed.
CLICK HERE to read the entire article.
Copyright Truthout.org. Reprinted with permission.
By Liane Scott, on January 23rd, 2014 
Last September, the DC Beat Club–a digital music workshop that travels to neighborhood libraries and community centers in the DC area–came to Potomac Gardens. After participating in September’s Beat Club, Larry Jackson a 13-year-old Potomac Gardens Resident, has come by every week asking if he can rap and if we can put it on Youtube. This past Saturday, January 18, 2014, Grassroots DC hosted the DC Beat Club for the second time and Larry’s wish came true. DC Beat Club founder Barrett Jones and his friend Audrius Reskevicius with his own video camera and laptop, helped Larry put together the following video. Enjoy!
The DC Beat Club is part of Grassroots DC’s efforts to teach music and radio production to Potomac Gardens Youth. We plan to build up this partnership in the very near future.
In other news, Saturdays have become pretty busy at Grassroots DC. We’ve begun pre-production on a documentary called Potomac Gardens Inside and Out. Our first step is to conduct surveys of the residents living around the public housing complex. In February, we plan to put the same survey questions to the residents within Potomac Gardens itself.
In addition to the Beat Club and the surveying, students from Monday’s video production class have begun to use the open lab time to work on their video projects. Brenda Hayes, producer of radio program This Light: Sounds for Social Change, which airs Sunday nights on CPR radio, stopped in to do some audio editing. Knowing there would be a crowd, I served chicken and collard greens. If Grassroots DC can afford it, we may make that a regular thing. In any case, Saturdays are generally a good time to stop by and get involved. Doors are usually open by 10 am, but it’s good to call first, 202.608.1376.
By Stuart Anderson, on January 16th, 2014 
Join us in commemorating the legacy of peace making and justice making of Martin Luther King, Jr.!
As part of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace Walk on Monday, January 20th there will be a feeder rally and walk in Barry Farms at 9:15 am. We will gather at the Birney Child Development Center (1230 Sumner Road SE), walk through the community and rally at the Exeter academy. We will then join the main group of Peacewalkers.
Our theme this year is celebrating “Global Peacemakers: I am a Peace Maker”. Afterward there will be an awesome program held at Covenant Baptist UCC at 12:30 pm.
Please note with exception for the program at Covenant, this is an outdoor event. Dress accordingly. The closest metro is Anacostia.
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