Friend,
As someone asking for your vote to support another four years in office, I think it is important to demonstrate what I can do to solve tough problems. Last week, I sent you an email about my vision in the coming years to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. This week, I want to focus on a top priority we need urgency on both today and in the coming years - public safety. Violence has been a challenging and devastating problem that has harmed too many of neighbors in our community. You've heard me say before that solutions can't be found in "either / or" answers, but rather, the much harder work that takes a "both / and" approach to act with urgency and coordination to make the change we know is possible.
In that effort, last Thursday, in my role as the Chair of the Council's Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety, I led a unanimously approved $1.7 billion budget that I believe fully funds our public safety response - prevention, intervention, accountability, and rehabilitation. Because I know public safety is a top priority for many Ward 6 neighbors, I'm sharing just a few pieces that were funded so you get a sense of what my vision is for how we take both immediate action and get sustained, long-term reductions in violence.
There's no way to include every detail of a $1.7 billion committee budget in a single email, but I wanted to share the highlights with you.
So what does fully funding the District's public safety strategy look like? Here's a snapshot:
Standing Up Violence Interruption Efforts in the 25 Neighborhoods Hardest Hit by Gun Violence: This budget includes a 20% increase in funding for the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, our lead agency in violence prevention and intervention. That includes funding the successful Pathways Program to serve 200 residents per year. When I say we need to redirect folks immediately at-risk of gun violence, I mean we need to get them in the Pathways Program, which is an intensive job and personal development program that has a big success rate for the folks it has helped so far. And as you may know, the District also has a violence interruption program out of the Attorney General's Office called Cure the Streets. We funded 10 total sites in this budget to continue the highly-focused efforts of those teams.
Approving the Metropolitan Police Department's Full Request for 347 New Officers: In addition to the full request for new officers, the Council approved a significant increase in recruitment and retention incentives to ensure we attract the best candidates over competing regional jurisdictions, including large signing bonuses. Further, the approved budget triples the retention program that helps officers with education loans and costs, and doubles the housing fund to assist new officers with living in the District. A high priority of mine is to see more officers live in the communities where they work - currently just about 15% of officers live in the District.
Strengthening Civilian Oversight of the Police Department: Hand-in-hand with any increase in police must be improved oversight. We approach this in two ways in this budget, and you can expect to see a permanent police reform bill advance out of the Council later this year. First, we provided funding for additional staff at the Office of Police Complaints, which is a civilian-led agency that investigates police misconduct. Second, we included new laws strengthening requirements on MPD's stop and frisk data reporting and to report basic budget, hiring, attrition, staffing, and overtime more transparently.
Breaking the Cycle of Violence By Reaching Victims Faster: The District is a national leader in this innovative approach to violence interruption. You've probably heard me say many times before that it is often the same people who are at-risk of using a gun or being a victim of gun violence. Reaching victims in the hospital, immediately, means expanding the District's network of Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Programs where medical professionals and credible messengers work with survivors of violence in the emergency department to meet their needs and break cycles of violence and retribution.
Funding More Than $40 Million to Support Victims and Returning Citizens: The budget includes millions set aside for emergency and transitional housing for victims of domestic violence, emergency shelter housing for LGBTQ+ survivors of violence, mental health services for victims of gun violence, and grants for direct services to survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Likewise, we have to be direct about how important it is to recognize many returning citizens have very limited resources when they are done serving their time. If we are serious about reducing the number of repeat offenders, it requires that we do more to ensure we are working with returning citizens to make the transition into the community and be successful.
Saving the Excellent LEAD Up! and LEAD Out! Programs at the Department of Corrections: After visiting this program in person, I was eager to ensure we secured permanent funding. This is a program working with returning citizens as they make their transition back and it has had impressive results so far that prevents recidivism and sets residents up for success when they return home. When we find something that works, we need to invest in it.
Approving a Watershed Investment in a New DC Jail: I've said many times in my tenure as Chair of the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, our DC Jail is failing us and it makes our entire community less safe. The conditions inside are inhumane and the outdated facility doesn't focus on rehabilitation. Accountability matters, but if it steers into cruelty, it becomes counter-productive for all of us. This was a big ask of mine to the Mayor in the run-up to her budget, and to her credit, she included a $251 million down payment in the next facility.
Investing in the District's 911 Call Center: Our 911 call takers are often overlooked as first responders, but they play a critical and challenging role that should never be taken for granted. It is a hard and stressful job, as you are often speaking with people in crisis and trying to rely that information fast to the right agency to respond. We need to invest in both more call takers, and also in giving our calltakers more support. We do both in this budget.
Investing $25 Million Into Civil Legal Help: While this one isn't as obviously tied to public safety, the stability we grant to households who go into court with legal representation matters - a lot. Since taking over as chair, I've grown the District's annual investment from $5 million to $25 million, because we all lose when residents go into court without sound legal representation - whether its facing eviction, or any number of civil legal challenges.
Finally, I wanted to fund a $200,000 pilot program to expand counseling services to residents in the aftermath of a small or medium-sized natural or human-made disaster: When my team was working closely with neighbors after the tragic fire at 301 G St., SW earlier this year, it was clear to us residents of the building needed more. Neighbors had lost their lives, residents were displaced and scared, and the trauma from that fire was felt by hundreds in the building. But there was a missing piece in helping folks process what they had been through - the Red Cross simply didn't have the capacity to take that on. So we've included a $200,000 pilot program that would allow DC government to cover counseling sessions for survivors in the aftermath of an event to help them come to terms with their trauma in a healthy way.
Okay, that's a pretty lengthy update and we've only scratched the surface of what's in the $1.7 billion dollar budget. But I take earning and keeping your trust seriously. Building a safe and just city - one that keeps all residents healthy, confident, and thriving - is a top priority for me. Both for today and for the years to come.
See you around the neighborhood,
Charles
P.S. Remember that the DC Board of Elections will be mailing ballots to registered voters around May 16th. Take a quick moment to 1) Check your voter registration status, and 2) Update your voter information if needed!
