By Guest Contributor, on September 11th, 2012 
We haven’t had a post about Bruce Monroe for a while, but that doesn’t mean nothing’s been going on there. Here are two reports and a video about recent developments.
Bruce Monroe’s Phase One Modernization Becomes More Robust by Daniel del Pielago, Empower DC Education Organizer
In 2008, the Bruce Monroe Elementary community was tricked by the city into leaving their school on Georgia Avenue and moving to the Parkview school building. The Bruce Monroe community fought hard to get their school rebuilt as promised, but unfortunately the city did not keep its word. At the same time, the community realized that the Parkview building was not in safe condition and definitely not conducive to academic success.
The Bruce Monroe community then decided to focus on getting much needed repairs at their new school (Bruce Monore at Parkview). The school was slated for a “Phase 1 Modernization” which repairs corridors and classrooms but not electrical, heating, or plumbing systems. For this reason, the community knew that a Phase 1 modernization would not be enough. First, the community documented the problems with the school and how it impacted students, teachers, parents, and others. Once these issues were documented, community members were present at any opportunity to advocate for their school with key government decision makers. They continuously kept their community updated on what was going on and on ways that individuals could support their effort for a more robust modernization of their school. All of this hard work and organizing paid off when the city agreed to do more than a Phase 1 modernization, focusing on the issues that the community had documented and said needed to be addressed. This brief summary does not capture all that went into this victory, but being organized and visible was key.
Renovation Preparations by Beverly West, Bruce Monroe at Parkview Elementary Parent Leader
The preparations for “Phase I Modernization” at Bruce Monroe at Parkview Elementary School started out in chaotic fashion. It was a stressful matter for everyone involved. It seems that everything was pushed back until the last moment as the teachers and many staff members struggled to finish packing and salvaging valuable resources from their offices and classrooms. Many of the teachers were also unable to complete the students’ year-end reports because the DCPS IT Department had collected their computers and printers days earlier. This was a very uneasy transition for the start of the summer vacation. At least an end-of-year student progress report would have given parents and students a foundation to work towards for next year. Please pray that the reopening of the school will go more smoothly than the closing. The building must be organized people-wise, building-wise, and Lord knows it needs to have a soothing atmosphere to have a successful beginning. In other words, total organization is needed across the school to properly educate the children.
By Sequnely Gray, on June 25th, 2012 
On May 14, 2012, members of Empower DC’s Child Care for All Campaign along with their children-otherwise known as the BABY BRIGADE-visited the Wilson Building to educate the city council on the importance of the child care subsidy/voucher program and the challenges community-based child care centers are having on a day to day basis to keep their businesses running. The child care subsidy/voucher program is a federally funded program that was designed to subsidize child care for working families and parents that want to continue their education or seek employment.
As we visited council office after council office with our babies, we were puzzled as to why no one really cared about child care. We got the same answers over and over, “we are focused on getting extra money for the TANF program so that we can get these 6,000 families assessed and back to work or school.” No one even stopped to think that most or all of those TANF families will need subsidized child care to go back to work or school. Even with working parents, providers and teen parents from Anacostia’s New Heights Teen Parents Program expressing the challenges we’ve had finding available slots for our children in child care centers, making ends meet and completing the intake process, we were still unable to get solid support on restoring the budget for child care and making the intake process more accessible.
Despite our efforts, the mayor’s proposed $5.7 million dollar cut from the child care subsidy voucher program was voted into law on June 5, 2012. This budget cut will affect about 400 hundred families who won’t have access to a voucher or will be in jeopardy of loosing their voucher. The budget cut will also make it even harder for community-based and family child development centers contracted by the Office of the State Superintendent (OSSE) to operate and provide quality child care. Mainly the community-based centers will suffer.
It is very clear that the mayor and the city council don’t know or understand the value of early care and education BEFORE KINDERGARTEN! So, it is our job as parents, providers and community members to work harder to educate these city officials and stand up and advocate for our little people. They are our future leaders and we have to make sure they have the proper tools and support they need to be successful. LISTEN UP!!! DC DOESN’T WORK WITHOUT CHILD CARE!!! SO, LET’S STRENGTHEN OUR COMMUNITIES AND SUPPORT COMMUNITY-BASED CHILD CARE CENTERS!!
In addition to lobbying the council in their offices, Child Care for All Campaign members Sequnely Gray, Toneisha Johnson and Shantise Summers also testified during the city council’s budget hearing on human services. Coucilmember Jim Graham, Chair of the Committee on Human Services, seemed to agree that the intake process needs improvement. On the otherhand, his implication that providing a subsidy so that parents can meet their child care needs is like providing substance abuse treatment to drug addicts is nuts. In the District of Columbia, child care typically costs $18,200 per year, per child. You don’t have to be anything like a drug addict to need help meeting those costs.
For more information and/or to join Empower DC’s Child Care For All Campaign, contact Sequnely Gray at childcare@empowerdc.org or call 202-234-9119 ext. 103.
By Liane Scott, on April 26th, 2012 
Above Composite by Daniel del Pielago who says: Vince Gray and Kaya Henderson are doing nothing different than Adrian Fenty and Michelle Rhee – Disinvest in schools, Close Schools, Repeat!
The April 25, 2012 edition of WPFW’s Latino Media Collective focused on the DC Public School budget for fiscal year 2013. Mayor Vincent Gray is quick to point out that there are no proposed cuts to the DCPS budget, which is true enough. While the amount the city is planning to spend on education has not changed from 2012 to 2013, the source of those funds and the ultimate destination has. The problem in a nutshell is the cost of Michelle Rhee’s pet project the IMPACT teacher evaluation system. Bonuses paid to “highly effective” teachers was coming from private sources (mostly the Walton Foundation, i.e. Walmart). Those private funds went away along with Michelle Rhee and the cost for the bonuses now gets plowed into the budget for each individual school. So, while schools are paying for IMPACT, they won’t have money for other things like librarians, special education coordinators, etc. How this is going to improve the quality of education in DC’s public schools and in the charter school system is unclear.
Latino Media Collective co-hosts Daniel del Pielago and Oscar Fernandez were joined in the studio by Soumya Bhat, Education Finance and Policy Analyst at the DC Fiscal Policy Institute and Bruce Monroe at Parkview Elementary School Parent Leaders Sequnely Gray and Beverly West.
This broadcast gives more incite into the impact of Mayor Gray’s proposed DCPS budget on students than anything you’ll find in the mainstream press. I’m just sayin’. [haiku url=”http://www.grassrootsmediaproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/wpfw_Latino_Media_Collective_on_DCPS_-Budget_4-25-12.mp3″ title=”Latino Media Collective on DCPS Budget”]
By Liane Scott, on April 19th, 2012 
Empower DC's Tax Day Delegation, storming the gates of power at the Wilson Building.
As activists, we love to participate in demonstrations and marches, especially when they’re in a good cause and there are so many good causes. But it’s also nice to step it up a notch and take specific demands to the people in power. It’s a quieter, less showy form of activism, but necessary and effective in its own way. On April 17, 2012 (tax day), Empower DC along with representatives from the Fair Budget Coalition, Jobs With Justice and DC for Democracy went to the Wilson Building to talk to our council members about how they’re spending our taxes. Our first visit was to the hearing room, where the Committee of the Whole was meeting. We’d brought along an information packet that included our take on the shortage of affordable housing in the city , the DC public school budget and the childcare subsidy program. All these issues the council and the mayor influence through policy, legislation and funding. Council members and their staff (very important cogs in the legislative apparatus) are usually pretty knowledgeable when it comes to how much money is being put into or taken out of the programs that many low- and moderate-income DC residents depend on, but they’re not so knowledgeable when asked how cutting those programs will impact DC residents. That’s why activists, organizers and community members who are impacted need to educate our elected officials.
Here’s an audio snippet of one of our office visits. The position of the recording device was not ideal, so some of the audio is a little hard to understand but it’s well worth the entire 3-minutes. [haiku url=”http://www.grassrootsmediaproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Tax-Day-Delegation.mp3″ title=”Tax Day Delegation” style=”color: #003300]
Although Empower DC child care organizer Sequnely Gray, who is featured in the above audio, expressing her concerns passionately about the plight of DC’s homeless families, she was there primarily to discuss the child care subsidy program. There is so much overlap between the issues that local progressives care about, it doesn’t always make sense to try to tease them apart. The DC residents who are most impacted by this year’s round of budget cuts don’t even have the option. The parent who needs the child care subsidy so he or she can work is at risks losing their job without it. Without a job, what happens to the money for rent or for food? When one program fails you, the others become all the more necessary. As activists and organizers it’s important that we understand all of the programs that are critical to the city’s safety net. To that end, I’ve posted below the information that Sequnely put together regarding the subsidized child care program.
Here’s a link to the Demands to Fully Fund the Subsidized Child Care Program below. I hope to post more info regarding programs that will be impacted by the budget in the weeks leading up to the city council’s vote on the 2013 budget at the end of May. Empower DC is planning more advocacy days at the at the city council. Stay tuned to this channel for more on that. In the meantime, feel free to download the child care demands and do a little advocacy on your own. Because frankly, DC residents who are also parents can’t work without quality, affordable child care.
By Liane Scott, on February 23rd, 2012 We Act Radio store front in Anacostia.
Hello all you folks out there in radio land. Empower DC’s Grassroots Media Project has just started producing an hour long program on We Act Radio 1480 AM airing out of Anacostia. The show which we’re calling The Empower DC Community Hour is part of We Act Radio’s Live Wire series. It airs live on Monday nights at 7:00 PM but you can also listen to it at WeActRadio.com as well as right here, where we’ll be archiving the program along with all the other work of the Media Project. Our first show aired February 20, 2012. Empower DC’s Youth Organizer Jonathan Stith and Ivy City Community Organizer Andria Swanson co-hosted the program. Their guests, Empower DC Education Organizer Daniel del Pielago and Bruce Monroe Parent Sequnely Gray, spent the hour focusing on the impending school closings and the implications of the Illinois Facility Fund report. Besides learning about what to expect should your family’s school be closed or to turned over to a charter management company, the show also suggests how you can get organized along with other members of your community before that happens. No one should have to face a school closure alone. As Jonathan Stith says on the show, “get organized because we’ve got your back.”
The Empower DC Community Hour for February 20, 2012
Please listen in and support the program.
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