Press Releases

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.

This morning, I spoke with Mayor Bowser to share my concerns and asked for the following: (1) more consistent and widespread asymptomatic testing, (2) changes to the notification system for informing DCPS school communities about positive cases, and (3) transparent metrics and reasoning that underpins the decision to transition schools and classrooms to situational virtual learning.

“We know the pandemic has exacerbated food inequities across the District and investing local dollars in SNAP is one way to combat this trend. We have an obligation to provide adequate resources for participants to purchase the healthy and necessary food options for their families,” said Councilmember Christina Henderson. “More than ten times as many Black District residents are relying on SNAP when compared to their white residents. This is an equity issue. It is time to give SNAP a raise.”

Paving the Way, which was awarded the contract through the Office of Contracting and Procurement’s (OCP) competitive procurement process, is a Free-Standing Mental Health Clinic located in Ward 8. Paving the Way also partners with DBH to deliver school-based behavioral health services.

I ask that you work with DC Health to allocate a sufficient supply of rapid antigen test kits for DC students in Wards 5, 7, and 8 to acquire over the holiday break. There are three recreation centers and two libraries in Ward 5, three libraries in Ward 7, and two libraries and two recreation centers in Ward 8 designated as Test Yourself sites; I propose that you allow students and their families to show ID and pick up rapid test kits from these Test Yourself sites over the holiday break.