Press Releases

“Our students have endured constant change, including substantial loss, these past two years. We have heard consistent calls to increase access to mental health services on school campuses,” Councilmember Henderson said. “This legislation would allow all school psychologists serving in DCPS and public charter schools who meet the OSSE certification standards to continue their practice. Today, an inequity exists between these behavioral health professionals, and it must be remedied.”

“Higher education is often priced as if it were a luxury good. This legislation would financially support immigrant families and their children, opening a door that is too often closed to those without citizenship,” Councilmember Henderson said. “The DC ACHIEVES program would be the first of its kind for our students, providing tuition and non-tuition funds specifically for undocumented District high school graduates. No student should be denied the opportunity to pursue postsecondary education.”

Henderson added that the pandemic has brought an urgency to the issue. “The past two years have brought to light the importance of quality, adequate benefits necessary for a healthy workforce. Today, the District government offers zero paid medical leave. This legislation would change that, establishing the public sector as a competitive employer for top talent,” said Henderson. “Furthermore, incorporating medical leave into our benefits begins to resolve an equity issue for government employees who must recover from their own severe illness. I look forward to supporting benefits that retain and attract a talented workforce at the District government.” 

Given the anxiety that residents have expressed about these matters, we request that WMATA fully restore weekday service to normal levels without sacrificing COVID-19 protocols, rider safety, and staff safety. At the very least, we request that WMATA ensure timely and reliable service in the buses operating based on its Saturday Supplemental service schedule and maintain weekday service to lines which the WMATA website indicates do not operate when the Saturday Supplemental schedule is in effect—

Watch this video recap of all we accomplished in my first year as your At-Large Councilmember. I look forward to using this momentum going into 2022.

I am writing today as a follow up to the FY2021 $1 million investment that the Office of the Chief Technology Office received for a Wi-Fi Improvement Pilot. While I was not on the Council at the time of the appropriation, I am very interested in the progress and outcomes related to the pilot. I understand that the scope of the pilot was to install public Wi-Fi hubs at two properties in the D.C. Housing Authority (DCHA) portfolio: Potomac Gardens Apartments and Hopkins Apartments. As FY2021 has now concluded, I would like information regarding the pilot’s progress, what we have learned from this project, and how we can use the lessons from the pilot to close the digital divide across the District.