These are select posts to the Spirit of 1848 listserv (2023-2024)

August 15, 2024

Thanks for sharing. I wish to share applied public health economic analysis as part of understanding health inequity reproduction. Racial equity laws can be highly beneficial but depends on the overall health of the public health economy. An example from Washington, DC is instructive to elucidate the concept of the public health economy. This economy contrasts with the traditional growth and employment economy. Public health economic theory levels with the political, economic, and social realities to enrich public health understanding of health inequity reproduction. While it takes public health well beyond its traditional disciplinary boundaries, the notion of the public health economy seeks fuller explanations for persistent disparities. 

What Happened to City Planning?

The District of Columbia government said in 2006 that comprehensive planning should entail understanding the benefits and risks of spurring neighborhood change. Council passed a law that required an environmental assessment whenever there were changes to the Comprehensive Plan - the central planning document for the city. The legislative intent was to capture social and economic costs (what economists call "externalities"). When the District passed major revisions to its Comp Plan in 2021, the Council and mayor did not submit this assessment. Instead, the District sought to pass off a six-page document as the legally required environmental assessment. It lacked analysis consistent with laws on conducting environmental assessments. Here "environmental" is contextual or neighborhood, as opposed to just ecological, though that is a part of it too. The last assessment in 2006 was about 300 pages and conveyed a comprehensive understanding of what may arise from acute urbanization. In 2021, the city gave matter-of-right redevelopment for 200 million square feet of real estate, despite that the city was the top US city for African American displacement in the 21st century due to eroding affordability, higher housing costs, and deep income disparities.

Law
Nearly a dozen plaintiffs sued because the government was not following its own planning laws. Some plaintiffs alleged District-directed environmental racism, demographic trends in displacement, and higher housing costs. The judge denied legal standing. The standards for standing are a high bar. In this instance, plaintiffs need to prove 1) concretized, cognizable injury that is 2) traceable to or caused by the District, and 3) redressable by the court. Even if the plaintiffs did meet the standards of standing, the judge said that he could only make the District complete the required progress reports and environmental assessment. He could not make the entire Comp Plan unlawful. Despite the immense social costs, the Plan could not be legally prevented from being set in motion. The takeaway is that the government can violate its own laws and Plaintiffs must be a high bar for the court to have jurisdiction. Taking a case to the court based on violations of the law is not sufficient in the eyes of the court. This is our legal system - a reality important to all of public health. Public health economic analysis seeks to draw attention to this and other aspects of health inequity reproduction.

The District had also violated another planning law that requires progress reports every four years related to implementation of the Comp Plan. In other words, the law had intended for the Executive to provide updates on how things were going - good or bad. The District only performed two of the four legally required progress reports since 2006. These full progress reports would have likely captured the social costs caused by the District to include strengthening of racial inequity and may have caused early legislative intervention.

Economics
The economic explanation for the Comp Plan's passage in 2021 was that District policy on the economy relied on the economic elite to drive policy, much as it had since the early 2000s when it was coming from under a federally-mandated budget control board. Still in the aftermath of the Covid pandemic, the political and economic regime felt uneasy about out-bound migration trends (e.g., consequence of telework) and the vulnerability of their real estate investments in the city. After all, Washington, DC became a major city for international capital. For example, the investment arm of the Canadian public employee pension became a major investor in the public-private partnership along the city's waterfront. That redevelopment - one of the largest on the East coast - was public land that was heavily subsidized by taxpayers, in addition to being sold for $1. After securing the contract, developers successfully petitioned DC Council to lower the affordable housing considerably - which was initially one-third.

With the pandemic, too, there were more vocal calls for addressing deep racial disparities, which could severely limit the political choices that had favored their economic power over city policies. In addition, communities were much more actively engaged in political and legal spaces challenging the city's economic schema, developments, and the related environmental harm to public health. The economic elite prepared a general strategy. Get around all of these concerns by seeking approval of massive increased density - matter-of-right redevelopment. They saw the new housing that they had built as investments, threatened by the pandemic, social activism, and increased legal action (e.g., challenges to PUDs). While it was true that ten years ago the District was not building enough housing to keep up with population growth, the housing crisis was always most acute among those needing affordable housing. Later studies showed that the District actually produced too much market housing while also concentrating new affordable housing stock in low-income, super-majority Black neighborhoods. To but, the District perpetuated redlining by opening minority neighborhoods east of Rock Creek Park and west of the Anacostia River to intense redevelopment while maintaining single family zoning west of Rock Creek Park - historically redlined areas.

The effects of these policies were not fully captured in the 2006 assessment or progress reports. On the ground, District policy caused massive real estate speculation with high social costs. Public health and safety crises were growing due to landlords, who preparing to sell, divested from landlord obligations for pest control, housing conditions, and violence (e.g., ghettoization). As a tenant association president, I experienced this firsthand with my neighbors. Populations were being displaced from properties in public housing and private housing when new owners came on board or in the run up to a sale. As its primary objective, the economic policies sought to attract high-income populations to the city. However, those populations caused the area median income (AMI) to rise, which caused increased housing costs for renters and homeowners. Rental increases, even for rent-controlled properties, are pegged to AMI. Housing vouchers were also becoming inflated due to rising AMI, eroding affordability due to overpayments to landlords. This latter issue is subject of a federal investigation nation-wide. 

The DC Housing Authority also took part in the real estate frenzy - displacing wholesale public housing communities to make way for mixed-income redevelopments that did not restore the original number of affordable housing units. With its attention on securing real estate deals, the quality of its existing stock rapidly declined, causing acute public health and safety crises. In addition to mold- and pest-infested units across communities, drug houses and community violence were permitted to take root - clear signs of agency-directed ghettoization. The public health implications have been profound. I saw firsthand how these harmful policies led to drug use, mental health decline, and poor health among public housing residents. The agency is yet to restore affordable housing units from properties that were razed over 20 years ago. In several instances, public housing residents were forced to sue (e.g., Barry Farm, Park Morton). Other communities are on the chopping block for displacement. Meanwhile, the agency is under intense federal oversight following a scathing 2022 HUD audit. Public housing residents are one of many subpopulations that experiences "apartheid-adjacency" that warrant sustained public health attention.

Environmental Regulation
To supply the newly constructed buildings with concrete, the District required new industries. The District approved many of these sources of pollution next to low-income, Black communities in many cases. In the case of the Southwest neighborhood, two at a time. The removal of these polluters remains a point of the contention with neighborhoods. Neither federal nor District policy has any mechanism for assessing or weakening the cumulative impact of multiple polluters on a single neighborhood - only setting standards for each source of pollution. The EPA is in its early stages of establishing cumulative impact standards - efforts that may abruptly end depending on the outcome of the US presidential election. A report by Southwest Voice raised major issues with the city's environmental regulator, in which its air permit reviews did not comport with environmental law - lack of findings of fact, loosening requirements, and not taking into account non-attainment areas.

Political Theory

The District sees itself primarily as a corporation - spur growth and expand the tax base. This crude position was consistent with much-debunked urban planning theory that marginalized economic mobility and equity-driven policies. Like an irresponsible corporation, the city was largely inattentive to externalities insofar as they impeded economic goals to transform the city demographically and environmentally. In terms of political theory, corporate values and accountability to Wall Street and investors displaced democratic accountability and governance. Large swaths of the population were bearing the brunt of poor planning and high-income-driven policies. Urban regime theory helps to understand the economic and political alliance. In theory, expanding the tax base is a key economic measure for any city because it can increase services and programs. However, the District's huge budget - the highest per capita for any major US city - was not realizing equity consistent with its growth. The District's budget increased by $1 billion from FY24 to FY25. Yet, studies have "found the nation's capital to rank dead last in terms of racial integration" [1]. "Washington DC ranks dead last in economic racial equality" [2]. The federal government noted that DC's fourth- and eighth-grade average reading levels were unchanged in a comparison between 1992 and 2022. 

These points raise the importance of public health economic analysis. The public health economy is a transdiscipline warranting a disciplinary shift.

Sincerely, 

Christopher Williams, PhD
https://www.drchristopherwilliams.com/
https://www.publichealthliberation.com/

July 23, 2024

I was most concerned about the limited discussion of applied equity work. I surmised that these experts were very interested in addressing and measuring structural racism, but I didn't get much flavor for real world experiences in trying to affect those issues. Any lack of meaningful practice may invalidate the final product and conceptual framework. The varieties, forms, and contextual factors that sustain structural racism may not be fully appreciated or known. I am concerned that there is a rush for expediency in quantification over judgment and experience. We should also consider that yet another new tool for structural racism may not alter structural racism in the least.

Forget for a moment the measurement part. Combating structural racism is very hard work. My practice in Washington, DC - a heavily Democratic, liberal city - is arduous. We're combating structural racism on so many fronts - economic, educational, environmental, development/gentrification, redlining, resource-rich vs -poor neighborhoods. The government struggles to follow many of its own laws. I had mentioned before that it did not produce an environmental impact assessment in advance of major economic policy changes - a law that has been on the books for over 20 years. As a consequence, low-income communities have felt the burden of intense gentrification. For example, air toxins are produced at industrial factories when making concrete for new buildings and released right in their community. As I found with a request for information, these materials are being transported to as far away as Virginia (see below). In other words, populate in low-income neighborhood. Build luxury buildings in high income. The District is seeking to renew the polluter's air permit over the community's objection. Most recently in 2021, the District tried to pass off a six-page report of as an environmental impact assessment when the last assessment in 2006 was 300 pages. It was sued. Minority homeowners in a low-income neighborhood are alleging in a recent HUD complaint that Washington, DC is violating the Fair Housing Act. It likely is. It has concentrated much of the new affordable housing in the poorest and most populous Black neighborhoods while preserving single family zoning in historically redlined areas. 

An African American female veteran reporter in DC has painted a very complex picture of structural racism in cities like DC, "In the early and mid-20th century, most discriminatory policies and practices were designed and implemented by whites. These days, in the District, a predominantly Black-led government is the culprit, hindering middle-class residents from expanding their hard-earned investments and preventing low-income residents from securing the types of opportunities..." Id. You will find a city, here in the nation's capital, struggling immensely with structural racism. In fact, it is quite evident that a segment of the population experiences "apartheid adjacency," especially among low-income or public housing residents. They are subjected to ghettoization, slumlording, poor agency conduct, and wholesale displacement. The image below perfectly contrasts the city's dynamics. On the top, the District invested or used its credit (TIFF) to the tune of billions for a high-end waterfront development (the Wharf), but neglected public housing just three blocks away. Clotheslines in the middle of a major urban city symbolizes just how the District tolerates racism and poverty. These residents cannot afford dryers and no laundry facility was built. The "regime" politics of urban cities can mean that so few pathways for attenuating structural racism because political and business elites are so closely allied to seek only their respective interests. As "regime" theorists posit, low-income populations are often viewed as having little value or contribution within the larger framework and focus on economic development and expansion.

Beyond the measurement question, I am just not confident that the NIH workgroup has a strong grasp of how structural racism manifests and how difficult it is to change, even in a highly resourced and Democratic stronghold like Washington, DC - or anywhere where it flourishes.

June 28, 2024

Thanks for posting these slides. However, we need to understand and affect the mechanisms of inequity reproduction, which lies in the Public Health Economy. Public Health Liberation calls us to seek applied health to affect these disparities across the public health economy. In my public health practice, we have been battling environmental racism. This is an image from a public hearing from two nights ago on an air permit renewal. The polluter has violated federal and District laws for which they have been cited and fined. It did not have a business permit for more than 10 years. Residents, including myself, talked about the health impacts that they have been experiencing - asthma exacerbation, pollutant exposures, quality of life, etc. The DC government regulators seem posed to approve the permit. I am working with the community to challenge the permit approval in court with the assistance of an attorney. My legal research suggests lax regulation and violations of the law because DOEE should be basing its decision on its own quality monitoring data and should have made that data available prior to the public hearing. Their position is that past performance does not matter, which is inconsistent with environmental regulatory reviews. Watch a testimony here or read my letter to DC Council.

Mr. Ours: "What we are evaluating is, "Can this facility comply with our regulatory requirements?"Dr. Williams: "Based on past performance"...Mr. Ours: "No, it's not based on past performance."

June 27, 2024

Thank you for sharing. Some reflections...

• Land return for tribal restitution - These acknowledgements of ancestral land have become common, but I have never heard of any support for land return for tribal restitution. I have encouraged the District of Columbia to consider some of its undeveloped public land to be returned to descendants of native people - Nacotchtank (Anacostans) and Piscataway. I think it would be more meaningful to ask for land return than an acknowledgment. It is patronizing to do these acknowledgments.
   

• Elevating the Racism of Race - I encourage folks to read Dr. David Jones' remarks from this talk. It raises profound questions about the quality of medical literature. As I have previously posted, race inherently weakens research quality as per my dissertation, The Critical Race Framework Study. We are vastly more diverse than race suggests. We need to develop much better measures of structural racism and human diversity. At this juncture, our research looks backwards and anachronistic. In fact, I would further that we need more study of human consciousness above all else to encourage evolution and adaptation.

"It’s hard not to notice subtler echoes of that that exist in the medical literature today. And the one that strikes me, and I’ve worked on this as the medical students in publishing analyses. Is the number of articles that still continue to divide the human population into Black versus White. As if that was a scientific or evidence-based thing to do. And it’s neither of those, and yet it’s pervasive in medicine. It has deep roots in systems of chattel slavery and settler colonialism. Does that mean that everyone who publishes a table one patient demographics that uses Black/White, does that mean they’re actively racist people? No, it doesn’t mean that. It just means that these old patterns of thought are so deeply embedded into our medical thinking that that’s just, those are the habits that people fall back to."

Sincerely, 

Christopher Williams, PhD
https://www.drchristopherwilliams.com/

June 1, 2024

The Lancet Group's recommendations fall short of squaring this issue with scientific and statistical reasoning. They do not address the inherent threats that race poses to our research such as using race as a proxy for racism. If racism is the underlying theoretical construct or explanation, then, in fact, most studies are using inappropriate statistical tests and inadequate measurements. The estimates are thus unreliable. The belief in race is just that - a belief. Race is a social construct but not even a good one - no common history, culture, language, or religion within any group to include the two new races that have been added. The recommendations also suggest confusion about race and ethnicity. African Americans who share an origin story of US slavery are not, in fact, a race. We never have been. Our early history in the US shows how diverse we were in religion, language, and customs. African Americans who are descendants of US enslaved families are a US-based cluster ethnic group with a high degree of diversity, but the anachronistic lens of global races biases our views to the contrary. There is a strong conviction, doctrinally so, in this country, in particular, about global races. That belief system exists in few places in this world. Rather than pretend away human diversity, we need to evolve our science around it. We can claim that there are 11,000 different species of birds, but seven human races for 8 billion people on which to base our science. That is putting old-world ideology over scientific reasoning. 

My dissertation study findings are forthcoming after publication in ProQuest. The abstract has been released. I delve into the scientific arguments, including statistical theory, to support these positions and provide a critical appraisal tool for studies that use race. I am expecting publication this summer. 

Sincerely, 
Chris Williams, PhD 
https://www.criticalraceframework.com/
https://www.accelerateusequity.com/

My personal position is that public health would be helped by study of the public health economy rather than a politically conservative framing. Lack of attention to disparities is shared between both major parties, at all levels of government. You'll find many cities without a specific plan on HIV/AIDS disparities, including here in Washington, DC. I emailed the director of the department of health some time ago to encourage her office to define a plan. It is not much different on the research side. Findings from a keyword search of CFAR awardees' publications revealed that disparities did not garner adequate attention in research. I met with representatives from DC CFAR to discuss the study results. Following that discussion, they did a re-org and have sought more inclusive approaches to research and community engagement.

I find that public health economic theory, including hegemonic theory, is a much better framing to understand the challenges of addressing disparities. "The concept of hegemony is defined as a system of beliefs and attitudes that reinforce the existing social arrangement and mal-distribution of resources. Introduced to us in the critical race literature, hegemonic control occurs when agents with disproportionate power feign an appearance of unity of interests with groups with less power and resources." (PHL manuscript) In other words, issue-framing, gatekeeping in terms of research dollars and representation, and governmental inaction and poor program planning reflect the extent of hegemonic influence over the public health agenda and practice.

As to the question about affirmative action, liberation calls on us to go around it - pursue an inclusive public health agenda while innovating in light of the decision. "For every barrier, there is a liberation response, if not solution." 

Sincerely, 
Chris Williams

Yes, the Post has been doing a fantastic series on public health. I have thoroughly enjoyed those articles, but there are some considerations. 

1. The varying state or health of national, state, and local democracies is a major barrier to achieving health economy. There is the ideal and actual, "There never was a democracy yet, that did not commit suicide. It is in vain to say that democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious or less avaricious than aristocracy or monarchy. It is not true in fact and nowhere appears in history. Those passions are the same in all men (all persons) under all forms of simple government, and when unchecked, produce the same effects of fraud violence and cruelty." (John Adams, 1814). There is much written about democratic theory. Suffice it to say, it is a rich field of study that benefits public health discourse. I previously underscored that pathways to health equity look different based on the public health economy. What is viable in Massachusetts may not be in Texas. That should matter in terms of our public health research and practice. There are concerns about government inefficiency and waste, but there are also concerns about fealty to economic activities to produce all solutions. The fact is that market failures (e.g., housing, food supply, healthcare) are common and naturally occurring, sufficient to warrant government subsidy, enforcement, and rule-making. To what extent and how much? That is what healthy democratic discourse is about.

2. The character of public health economies vary considerably. We have yet to evolve tools that define, categorize, and affect public health economies with precision and accuracy. This is an open field of discovery. The public health economy is inherently a transdiscipline that accounts for the interaction of systems, factors, practices, and ideologies associated with public health, politics, social systems, economics, and the like. Based on my research, Washington, DC, Atlanta, Baltimore, and a handful of other US cities likely share a common public health economic typology. The urban planning literature supports this idea. Preliminarily, one feature is apartheid-adjacency - deeply racialized inequalities across geography, health, income, economic mobility, and education within a large urban concordant political-voter structure. As in all PH economies, achieving health equity requires attention to all systems simultaneously. For example, walling off economic development from educational reform, including internships and apprenticeships, is reproductive of the status quo, albeit a common practice across public health economies.

Another type of public health economy is associated with one-party domination that leans heavily towards a highly ideological and partisan political-social nexus. A lack of political diversity, combined with beliefs about the infallibility of the economy, can be averse to public health. It can mean that even when there are resources and subsidies, the public health economy may be regarded as marginally important. I recently read a headline about a southern state that "just completed (the 2023) fiscal year with nearly $700 million in surplus fund." This state also "puts far, far less into the federal coffers than it takes out as a state". It has yet to expand Medicaid. Advocacy is often treated as a dirty word, but sharing science and exchanging in dialogue with policymakers is what keeps the field relevant and ever-evolving to meet public health needs.

3. Public health leadership in the public health economy is desperately needed. Who owns the public health economy? At present, it is not apparent. Much help is needed to assist classes of agents, whether they are in government, business, education, etc., with connecting their policies and practices to the public health economy. I have engaged with our local city council here in Washington, DC on the connection between persistent and deep educational disparities and their impact on lifelong personal, family, and community health. I also researched articles in the education literature and forwarded articles that point to significant neighborhood effects on learning, as they consider an education bill. Holistic and intentional community planning is as much an economic issue as it is an educational and public health one.

We have a community organization here in Washington, DC that has committed to telling the story of the Pearl Escape of 1848. We are entering our fourth year, having just celebrated the 175th anniversary of the Pearl in April. I occasionally share our updates here. The Pearl is a multifaceted and inspiring story. Please enjoy these historical vignettes.

Harriet Beecher Stowe - After she wrote the highly acclaimed Uncle Tom's Cabin, Stowe published A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin to document and support her novel and included a chapter about the Pearl Escape (1853). She interviewed Milly Edmonson, whose enslaved teenage children participated in the escape. She described the scene as the schooner Pearl docked at the Seventh Street wharf and gave us Milly's account in her own words. [READ MORE] 

"On the 13th day of April, the little schooner Pearl, commanded by Daniel Drayton, came to anchor in the Potomac river, at Washington. The news had just arrived of a revolution in France, and the establishment of a democratic government, and all Washington was turning out to celebrate the triumph of Liberty. The trees in the avenue were fancifully hung with many-colored lanterns,—drums beat, bands of music played, the houses of the President and other high officials were illuminated, and men, women and children, were all turned out to see the procession, and to join in the shouts of liberty that rent the air. Of course, all the slaves of the city, lively, fanciful and sympathetic, most excitable as they are by music and by dazzling spectacles, were everywhere listening, seeing, and rejoicing, in ignorant joy. All the heads of department, senators, representatives, and dignitaries of all kinds, marched in procession to an open space on Pennsylvania Avenue, and there delivered congratulatory addresses on the progress of universal freedom."

"Milly Edmondson was kept by her owners and allowed to live with her husband, with the express understanding and agreement that her service and value was to consist in breeding up her own children to be sold in the slave-market." (Milly's husband was Paul Edmondson whose enslaver set him free upon her death.) Milly's account in 1853, "Well, Paul and me, we was married and we was happy enough, it it had n't been for that; but when our first child was born, I says to him, 'There 'tis, no, Paul, our troubles is begun; this child is n't ours.' And every child I had, it grew worse and worse. 'O, Paul' says I, 'what a thing it is to have children that is n't ours!'

Frederick Douglass' North Star - In one of its April 1848 issues, the North Star covered the Pearl Escape. Douglass is fully uncompromising. [Source]

"The fact is, while Europe is becoming republican, we are becoming despotic; while France is contending for freedom, we are extending slavery; while the former are struggling to free the press, we are striving, by mobs and penal enactments, to fetter it. While France is expelling tyrants, are are glorifying them, and seeking to elevate them to the highest offices. There is no sympathy that can be called national, for France, and we ought to be ashamed to affect it. We believe that Louis Philippe would be welcomed in Washington with far more demonstrations of regard than Lamartine*. We love tyrants and hate freemen. (*Lamartine was instrumental in the founding of the Second Republic of France)

Paul Jennings - Paul Jennings was enslaved by James and Dolley Madison. He worked at the White House for 8 years during Madison's presidency starting at the age of 10, then returned briefly during the Polk administration when Dolley Madison hired him out. He was literate, well-networked, and highly skilled - a husband and father. He was finally freed through an arrangement with Sen. Daniel Webster. Jennings was a free Black man in 1848 and assisted with planning the Pearl Escape. He was quite active on the Underground Railroad in Washington. His fascinating life is captured in a book, A Slave in the White House: Paul Jennings and the Madisons by Beth Taylor. Jennings wrote what is considered the first memoir about life at the White House, A Colored Man's Reminiscences of James Madison (1865).

Here is an excellent talk by Beth in 2012 on her book about Paul Jennings. [LINK HERE] Highly recommend! 

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Not sure who is leading this effort, but I want to bring attention to the inherent exclusionary practices of this event. The $100 tickets will be cost-prohibitive for people who would benefit from being in a health activist network and access to social capital. These practices, common in among public health non-profits, can be more accommodating to income-sensitive populations who bear the brunt of health inequity in the US. 

"To better understand the nature of changes to the public health economy that is needed, we examine both horizontal and vertical integration. Horizontal integration seeks to create effective representation and influence of affected and marginalized populations in public health agenda-setting and practice. It recognizes that high membership and conference costs for public health organizations have, in effect, erected barriers to the full engagement of vulnerable communities. We find that those whose health and social conditions are purportedly of immense research and policy concern have been consistently shut out of public discourse and full participation, especially among major health institutions and academic public health."  READ MORE

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Thanks for this update. I reviewed some of the projects that were funded. Watts, for example, is seeking to build community gardens. I have several critical questions that are intended to draw attention to public health planning and implementation.

1) What is the nature of the public health economy in Watts? For example, what are the social systems/social capital, economics, and city governance on inequity in Watts? What is preventing city support/subsidy for more full-service grocery stores?

2) It is not clear from the application about the role of the community in study design. What is the role of the community? Did they participate in planning? Will the produce meet their cultural preferences?

3) What is the sustainability plan after the grant ends?

4) How does liberation philosophy shape the program? Lack of liberation orientation and space-making threaten program success and sustainability. How can community gardens be used for liberation - dialogue/education, strengthening of community bonds, cultural expression and celebration, self-advocacy? This is how it becomes sustainable.

5) How are the community gardens connected to culture, history, and heritage of the neighborhood and cultural groups? I'd like to see more cultural tailoring in the application.

6) How can community gardens be connected to farmer's market or vending days to include entrepreneurial showcase? Does LA have a food voucher program? I am concerned that the community gardens idea in Watts is disconnected from established programs and opportunities in the city. Would produce from community gardens be more accessible if they were provided at places where residents already frequent?

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I recently published a story locally on apartheid adjacency in Washington, DC. Differences in life expectancy are nearly identical to apartheid in 1980 (15 years). Low literacy and numeracy in our public schools have hardly changed in 30 years, despite the fact that our education budget has increased by a factor of 20 since 1992. Our 4th and 8th grade average reading scores are unchanged compared to 1992. No doubt, this has a major impact on health literacy and behavior throughout the lifespan. In fact, one in four DC adults struggles with basic reading, and one in three adults cannot do basic math. Based on these and other trends such as political apathy and ineffective public spending, apartheid adjacency within a resource-rich US city is a major feature of the public health economy here in Washington, DC.

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Here is the answer to some of my questions, at least for California (see Appendix). For the table on the left, it concerns parental income, parental education, and ethnicity. Based on this analysis, factors outside the control of the individual account for 43% of the variance in SAT. This is likely an underestimate. "Omitting these samples may mechanically decrease the correlation between income and SAT, since they represent the two extremes of income where the covariance with test scores may be highest." (pg 138)

I wonder if this is reflected in the arguments in the two cases before the court or amicus briefs. (Is the period for amicus briefs still open?) Race is widely expected to be determined to be unconstitutional in college admissions. Roberts signaled years ago that a clock had started, as I recall from my undergrad days. My personal opinion on the matter is nuanced. A decision should acknowledge and render equal protection to historic groups (e.g., descendants of US enslaved and Jim Crow families) and generational exposure to structural poverty (e.g., many parts of Appalachia). This list of groups should be expanded.

Public health should be preparing for alternative strategies in recruitment (e.g., household- and community-level factors) along the educational continuum to ensure the growing diversification of the public health workforce, especially by income and race. Growing social inequity is also suggested as a causal factors (e.g., growing standard deviations in the SAT).

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Some select quotations 

"Today, the government’s identification of racial categories is less directly tied to discrimination, yet it remains part of a complex legal apparatus that enforces racial inequality in the education, economic, political, criminal justice, and health care systems. Dividing people by race facilitates, and is in turn reinforced by, institutions that treat people unequally depending on their racial identity. Reviewing the history of official racial classifications reminds us that these categories are not natural—and neither are the institutional inequities that race undergirds. But when Americans see black and brown people doing most of the menial jobs, dying younger from most diseases, and filling most of the prison cells, it is easy for many to see race and believe it must be part of nature."

"No sooner had the Human Genome Project determined that human beings are 99.9 percent genetically alike than many scientists shifted their focus from human genetic commonality to the 0.1 percent of human genetic difference. This difference is increasingly seen as encompassing race."

"Eugenics was mainstream, and it was financed by the nation’s wealthiest entrepreneurs, including the Carnegie, Harriman, and Kellogg dynasties. Johns Hopkins biologist Raymond Pearl observed that, by 1912, “eugenics was catching on to an extraordinary degree with radical and conservative alike.”38 The growth of eugenics as legitimate science owes much to the efforts of Harvard-trained biologist Charles Davenport. As an associate professor at the University of Chicago, he convinced the Carnegie Institute to establish a center for the experimental investigation of eugenics in Cold Spring Harbor, New York, in 1904."

"The two powerful and deeply flawed ideologies of biological race and genetic determinism are ascending in tandem in America today. Americans are so willing to accept genetic explanations for social relationships and behaviors because they believe that race is inherited biology. When scientists report genetic explanations for negative behaviors like gangbanging, absentee fatherhood, and teenage sex, which the public stereotypically associates with blacks and Latinos, it seems more plausible that genes cause social problems."

"In other words, they compared results using race as a proxy for genetic differences with results using genetic clusters created by the data itself. They discovered that commonly used ethnic labels did not match the genetic clusters and were not reliable at predicting variation in the DME genes. One glaring lack of correspondence was the fact that 62 percent of Ethiopians, who would socially be labeled as black and grouped with the Bantu and Afro-Caribbeans, fell in the same genetic cluster as Ashkenazi Jews, Norwegians, and Armenians. A gene variant involved in metabolizing codeine and antidepressants “is found in 9%, 17%, and 34% of the Ethiopian, Tanzanian, and Zimbabwean populations, respectively.”

Roberts, Dorothy. Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-First Century (pp. 159-160). The New Press. Kindle Edition. 

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To gain insight into the public health economy, I would encourage a shift à la Public Health Liberation. Here is an email that I recently sent to my department and school leadership (below). To gain insight into the performance of the public health economy, public comments in budget, oversight, and board hearings, as well as social media and social discourse in the community, are rich sources for public health leadership development. PHL has also published an article on public testimonies of public housing community leaders, as well as featured this editorial. 

Email to School of Public Health Leadership

"You may be interested in the latest issue of Public Health Liberation. It is situated in improving the public health economy through ethical reasoning, sound theories, practice, research/data-gathering, and training to accelerate health equity. It relies on specialists capable of a broad transdisciplinary synthesis of determinants of health within a community of practice. This shift toward the public health economy is vital to realize health equity in our lifetimes. As public health realism posits, the status quo is reproductive of health inequity.

The resource discussed below can also be used for public health training problems. Here is a very basic sketch.

• Values - The state of health inequity in the US is morally indefensible and highly preventable. The University of Maryland statement describes, "We have an unwavering commitment to work toward justice by preparing students and staff to be leaders, advocates, and change-makers who are committed to building an anti-racist, socially just, and equitable society." This value requires individuals to have a collective mindset rather than hyper-individualistic pursuit of self-interests. Maintaining a community of practice helps cultivate health equity leadership.

• Theories - Educators should recognize and seek to challenge the ways in which education maintains social inequality and societal power imbalances (conflict theory). Education should be based on a learner developmental model and milestones (see graduate medical education). Current models on siloed specialties and training are a major barrier to achieving health equity (i.e., improving the public health economy) because it prevents trans-advocacy beyond individual specialties.

• Practice - The curriculum should be optimized to reflect vast health inequity and their social, political, educational, and economic determinants through innovative theory-building (e.g., public health economy) and equip students with tools to be change agents through skills-building in writing, organizing, research, and advocacy. Analysis of real-time community health challenges and community immersion are features of ideal training models. The curriculum should reflect transdisciplinary studies.

• Research - Education should be data-driven on student learner outcomes on the public health economy and its drivers. The research used in classrooms should include analysis of community perspectives. Public comments in budget, oversight, and Board hearings, as well as social media and social discourse, are underutilized as rich sources to gain insight into barriers to health equity.

• Training - Educators should participate in training opportunities that help to align values, theories, practice, and research with the curriculum. Modeling health equity leadership is important for student learning and development."

There are select articles in Southwest Voice. Christopher Williams served as the founding editor in chief.

Southwest Voice Editor's Prepared Remarks for Labor Day Rally (2024)

My name is Dr. Christopher Williams – researcher, activist, and editor-in-chief of Southwest Voice. Today, I have come to join this solemn gathering to bear witness - witness to the needless suffering in our lives and the lives of DC residents. We stand in an unshakeable and abiding faith in justice, truth, and democracy.

When Jesus stood before Pontius Pilate, he proclaimed that he had come to the world "to bear witness to the truth". And so it must be. To join in the suffering for the gospel, we bear witness to the injustices around us. Just as Paul and the disciplines had two thousand years ago. Just as they had in 1848. I wear this hat inscribed with 1848 as a reminder of to always bear witness. In 1848, enslaved people from Washington, DC and Alexandria, VA boarded the Pearl schooner in Southwest. Their quest for freedom became one of the largest escapes from slavery in US history.

The injustices in 2024 are too numerous to count but we gather in this public square to lament, to wail, to tell our story, and to demand change to the whole of District government. Education. Environmental regulation. Health. Housing. Economic planning. Legislative oversight. We demand that the government itself follow its own laws and follow the US Constitution and federal law. We must end the use of public dollars that fight DC residents in court when the government violates the law.

We must also eliminate programs are not working yet hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars are paid out every year. The District has doled out tens of billions in contracts to Big Money for school renovation and construction in the last 20 years. Yet, educational outcomes are deeply unequal. It has been more than 60 years since Dr. King declared mere blocks from here that "we will be free one day". But what is free when more than 75% of Black DC students do not pass minimum math and English standards.

The District has turned our government over to Big Money – international and national pools of capital. Money laundering and dirty money are awash in this city. Big Money doesn’t care about who they are harming or how they are undermining civil rights and human rights that we, our ancestors, and allies sacrificed to secure. Big Money has an insatiable appetite for greed, racism, and classism, which District government is all too willing to embrace.

Whatever Big Money wants, they get. When Big Money wanted to exclude or eliminate affordable housing in Navy Yard, at the Wharf, and Downtown, District government said “Yes! With pleasure!” When Big Money wanted DC’s economic policies to focus on attracting high-income and white residents from outside the city, District government said "We will make it happen". When Big Money wanted government to approve and keep approving pollution permits next to Black communities, the government said, “Certainly, we’ll ignore environmental laws.” When Big Money wanted displacement of public housing residents and to ghettoize communities to make way for luxury housing with a sprinkling of affordable housing, District government offered a fund and control over the housing authority. When Big Money said that it’s bringing low-wage and seasonal jobs that don’t need a college education, the District said, “Good. We don’t need to fix our schools or to encourage business ownership.”

The District and Big Money have set about to remake Washington, DC. Their vision is to extend segregation for it never ended. To ensure that wealth-making is concentrated to the few and the privileged. To allow Big Money to build their wealth on the backs of native Washingtonians and low- and moderate-income residents, especially Black residents. This alliance between District government and Big Money must end, so today we have come to bear witness that justice, opportunity, and equality must be restored and prevail.

Southwest Voice Editor Raises Ethical and Implementation Issues with DC's Literacy Initiative

I have some immediate concerns about the Early Literacy Task Force, for which the Council budgeted funds. This discussion raises issues about appropriateness and ethics of the program.

Several major concerns:

Benefits - Only kindergarten teachers are targeted. Between summer knowledge loss (without required summer school for struggling students) and lack of training for other grades, benefits are likely to be minimal. There is no educational handoff or continuity to 1st grade, which is a major concern in terms of likely implementation success. Parental involvement was also a key program component in the Mississippi Miracle (below).

Grade Level - Kindergarten is not the appropriate grade level for intervention (at least 2nd or 3rd). The foundations for strong early literacy are not yet formed. See Mississippi example below that intervened at 3rd grade. Literacy assessments are much more reliable at 2nd and 3rd grade.

Ethical Issues - Pilot is only up to 20 schools. This raises major ethical issues for students not receiving the intervention (e.g., trained teachers). There is no universal screening, which is arguably also unethical. Mississippi had universal literacy screening and individualized plans for each struggling student. It is unethical for students in pilot schools to only receive the intervention. Even if the intervention for the task force was designed for a control and placebo group, research ensures that the placebo group would receive something. In this instance, the program is only targeted for the lowest performing schools. Lowest performing students DIstrict-wide would be more ethical. It does not appear that there can be rigorous data analysis due to this issue and the issues below.

Dose - 10 hours per instructor is arbitrary and likely not the proper intervention “dose”. When designing any intervention whether for children or adults, there has to be an appropriate "dose" to achieve the expected effect size. It is not at all clear how 10 hours was arrived at. Baseline knowledge and skills are also foundational to quality data analysis.

Trainings - The District will provide a list of approved trainings to pick from. This is a concern for several reasons. 1) The trainings are not all likely to be equal in quality. Any study results from each intervention may require training, staffing, and resources that are not built into the program. The trainings are also not likely to produce the same short- and long-term benefits. 2) Use of different trainings also introduce confounding when it comes to data analysis and makes it difficult to determine overall intervention effect. It can be analyzed, but requires lots of data points and adjustments on the back-end analytically 3) Public charter schools enjoy a wide latitude of independence. This complicates intervention fidelity by school/LEA. For quality data analysis, it would require measures of implementation effectiveness at the level of the school and instructor. Further, I am concerned that the DC Public Charter School Board does not the mechanisms and powers of enforcement. Another concern is that legislative oversight is lax.

Retention - The Mississippi Miracle (below) had a summer school and redo component. Rather than pass struggling readers on to the next grade, it required all third graders to pass minimum literacy standards. That was a key to its success. The retention rate was high in the first year, then decreased.

Data Analysis - Student changes in schools are frequent, which will create issues with analysis. Absenteeism is also an issue for data analysis and "exposure".

DC's Latest Education Report Shows Stark Educational Divides

The DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education recently released its annual report of student test performance. It shows stark difference in Black and White student test performance. Less than a quarter of (23.5%) Black students met or exceeded expectations for English Language Arts. Performance was worse for math - only 11.8% in the 2023-2024 school years. In contrast, white students met or exceeded English Language Arts by 81.7% and math by 73.5%. These percentages for each group and subject are consistent with 2022-2023 results.

As this paper has previously published, there is flourishing apartheid-adjacency in Washington, DC. This is yet another example. The District of Columbia does not have a plan to reduce these disparities. In fact, tens of billions of dollars in its education budget have gone to school renovations that have had little impact on decades-long underperformance of DC schools.

This paper is calling for federal intervention in the District of Columbia to address ongoing segregation in education. The Civil Rights Movement was meant to address not only segregation schools, but also equal opportunity. There is not obviously equal opportunity if students do not receive access to resources for academic achievement. Underperforming schools and students are underresourced. That is the logical conclusion to draw from these results. Given other forms of apartheid-adjacency in economic, social, and neighborhood life, we cannot be surprised that students struggle at school.

Council Misled in 2021 on Comp Plan. Will 2025 Be Different?

The Committee of the Whole, chaired by Phil Mendelson, embarked on revisions to the District's Comprehensive Plan in 2021 with an eye toward passing a developer-backed plan to spur even greater gentrification and redevelopment. The District sought to stay the course with its gentrification scheme of rapid economic growth to attract high income populations and to saturate the housing market with expensive market-rate units. However, the passage of the Comp Plan required several central tendencies and practices, including willful and flagrant violations of planning laws.

As chair, Phil Mendelson played an essential legislative role to execute each phase of the plan. The media also had their part to play. First, Council needed to act as if it was attentive to social costs, what economists call externalities, to allay public fears about the damage that its economic policies were having on eroding affordability, neighborhood character, and displacement risk. Through highly sophisticated wordsmithing that carried no legal import or enforceability whatsoever, the Council and mayor purported to reassure Black voices, in particular, on paper that city policies were self-correcting. They were not.  Actually, Council efforts only slightly revised the mayor's Comp Plan that was submitted to Council. Council members retained the overall goal of more intense redevelopment, the "build-build-build mindset". 

The first step to manipulating public perceptions was to pass the Comp Plan Framework, which it did in 2019. The Framework was the strongest indictment of the District against itself for bad policies, "The preservation of existing affordable housing and the production of new affordable housing both are essential to avoid a deepening of racial and economic divides in the city" [1]. Supposedly, the values and issue areas of the Framework were intended to guide the rest of the Comp Plan revision process to occur in a later Council period. Social and racial justice advocates were temporarily relieved by the strong, perhaps even decisive, language of the Framework. No doubt, they wanted to credit themselves with its unanimous passage, except that perception was misplaced. The Council kept nearly everything from the mayor's submission to Council, which should have raised suspicion given the mayor's penchant for policymaking to benefit the economic elite. Why would the mayor seem to favor a planning document that essentially criticized her economic direction and resolved to have a change in course? Political and industry insiders knew something that the public didn't.

The Framework was a farce. A public relations stunt. A paper tiger. A government conspiracy to subvert democratic accountability through false policymaking. The Framework had no legal enforceability or implementability. Communities could not challenge any District agency, development, or government policies over conflicts with the Framework. Further, government agencies were not affected, negatively or positively, by the Framework because it did not seek to regulate government agencies. The Framework did not bind future Council deliberations in any way. It was a set of central principles for Council that Council could choose to apply or not in the subsequent development of the Comp Plan. Media elites were also likely aware of the vacuous nature of the Framework. When Greater Greater Washington printed, "Housing advocates should be, frankly, thrilled with many of these outcomes" following the Framework's passage, they were likely following a script since the paper was a strong supporter of the economic course of the city. Like government officials, the key talking point was to assign greater importance to the Framework than there was, which was none legally.

End of Chevron Deference Opens Pathway for Environmental Justice

By Christopher Williams, PhD

Editor-in-Chief, Southwest Voice

The US Supreme Court decision overturning the Chevron deference doctrine opens a pathway for environmental justice in Washington, DC because courts can no longer defer to an agency's interpretation of its authorizing statutes and regulations. The sweeping impact of the court's Chevron decision in 1984 was not initially seen as a "watershed decision it was fated to become". [1] However, that decision has been highly consequential for communities impacted by environmental racism. The Chevron deference set in motion legal standards that created a high, if not insurmountable, bar to challenge government policies that perpetuated environmental harm. Where environmental regulatory agencies narrowly interpreted statues or favored polluters over public health, the courts had little room for judicial interpretation other than to defer to the agency. The immense deference that the US Supreme Court had afforded to agencies is no longer.

The most recent court decision overturning Chevron will have an immediate impact on Southwest. Public housing residents, who have been subjected to more than 80 years of environmental racism, can seek justice before a court that can provide for the effective administration of justice.

Critical Request for DOEE Oversight: Open Letter to Ward 6 Councilor Charles Allen

Dear Councilmember Allen,

I am writing to ask for greater legislative oversight of the DC Department of Energy and Environment (DOEE) and to inquire about updates on the Environmental Justice Amendment Act of 2023 (B25-0564).

The Air Quality Division (AQD) of the DOEE is hosting a public meeting tonight on the Air Quality Permit request (6451-R2) from Virginia Concrete Company, LLC dba Vulcan Materials Company, 2 S Street SW. There are major gaps in public data that warrant major oversight of the legislature.

• Complaint Database – DOEE has not maintained a public database of citizen complaints and resolutions consistent with DC law (§ 8–101.05, “Make publicly available on the Department of Energy and Environment's website a quarterly report listing all air quality complaints received and their resolution”). The website housing quarterly reports has not been updated since 2016. The outcomes report has not been updated since 2015. The lack of accessible data infringes upon the rights, roles, and responsibilities of residents as vested parties in the governmental process of deliberation on air pollution permit renewals.

• Enforcement Database – The DOEE Enforcement Database does not load and deprives the public of vital information about notices of infraction (NOIs) on environmental laws (Exhibit 1 - see pdf). No substantive data can be retrieved because the map and citations selected panel do not load. The lack of accessible data infringes upon the rights, roles, and responsibilities of residents as vested parties in the governmental process of deliberation on air pollution permits.

• Facility Inspection - DOEE acknowledges that it has a statutory obligation and affirmative role in environmental regulation (“regularly inspects facilities with pollution permits to ensure compliance with District air quality regulations”).  However, no information on inspections and monitoring consistent with this role is publicly accessible. In fact, Stephen S. Ours, Chief, DOEE Air Quality Permitting Branch and Hannah Ashenafi, Associate Director, DOEE, Air Quality Division appear confused in response to an inquiry about DOEE compliance monitoring activities related to the pollution source (Virginia Concrete Company, LLC) in Southwest DC (email documentation). It does not appear that DOEE can readily identify affirmative action and facility inspections.

• Lack of Regulatory, Legislative, and Public Access to Self-Monitoring Data – The facility in Southwest is known to produce pollutants that are harmful to human health (total particulate matter (PM), sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, and carbon monoxide). District environmental regulation via permit issuance place a cap (tons) on the emission of these pollutants per year. In addition, there are limitations on fugitive dust, discharge at certain sites, and operating of specific equipment. No single-point source data is available with respect to compliance with pollutant tons per year. Without this essential data, no vested party (the District, the legislature, or the public) can effectuate their privileges, role, responsibilities, or rights. DOEE cannot act on its purpose as set forth in law (§20-100 , “The purpose of the air quality regulations is to prevent or minimize emissions into the atmosphere and thereby protect and enhance the quality of the District's air resources so as to protect the public health and welfare”). The District cannot solely rely on the ostensible good faith of polluters to adhere to the law. In a case on federal environmental regulations, the court decides that 1) quality monitoring data must be collected and 2) that data must be made available to the public prior to a public hearing.

“This analysis shall include continuous air quality monitoring data gathered for purposes of determining whether emissions from such facility will exceed the [increment] or the maximum allowable concentration permitted under [the NAAQS]. Such data shall be gathered over a period of one calendar year preceding the date of application for a permit under this part unless the State, in accordance with regulations promulgated by the [EPA], determines that a complete and adequate analysis for such purposes may be accomplished in a shorter period. The results of such analysis shall be available at the time of the public hearing on the application for such permit.” (Sierra Club vs. Environmental Protection Agency, US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, 2013)

• Timing – The public hearing notice for the meeting occurring tonight does not provide the public with any analysis. This is in substantial noncompliance with effective and informed public participation.

Again, there is a plain lack of data on DOEE’s monitoring, inspections, and NOI citations. I strongly encourage community appeal and litigation against any approval of this permit.

Legislation that you have introduced on environmental justice (Environmental Justice Amendment Act of 2023 - B25-0564) states that, “For decades, the District has concentrated facilities that produce air pollution, hazardous waste, water pollution, stormwater runoff, and urban heat island effects in low income and predominantly Black neighborhoods…Instead of empowering and lifting up the needs of these resilient neighborhoods, we have exposed them to an outrageous accumulation of environmental hazards through our land use, planning, and permitting processes.”

I am writing for an update on this legislation. Sevel major omissions were pointed out in my testimony: integrating the lens of the public health economy, removal of sources of environmental racism and injustice, excluding Southwest from areas of environmental racism and injustice, and granting mayoral latitude to rely on ward-level comparison data despite that environmental harm is concentrated in Black neighborhoods.

May 19, 2024

I previously wrote about the $17 million investment at Randall park. The $3 million price tag for the Town Center park project between Westminster and Christ United has been announced and adds insult to injury. The District has some of the worst disparities in this country. In a recent hearing, Councilmember Henderson complained of the 20-year difference in life expectancy between the poorest and wealthiest neighborhoods. The educational gap is an utter embarrassment. The District has barely improved outcomes in 25 years and has yet to return to pre-pandemic attendance and educational outcomes. A fewer percentage of students who do enroll in college are graduating with a degree within five years. White wealth is 81x greater than Black wealth in DC. The income divide between Blacks and Whites in DC increased to $100,000 in the last decade. Already having one of the most fatal opioid overdose rates in the country, opioid overdose deaths in DC reached a record high in 2023.

A single displaced heritage tree can result in a fine upwards of $1,000s yet the District or developers pay zero consequences for Black displacement. The District is the number one city for Black displacement in the US in the 21st century - determined by combining the results of two major studies. Meanwhile, the District concedes unprecedented public dollars to corporate interests - both the District-financed baseball and soccer stadiums were the most expensive for their respective leagues when built. $500 million for Capital One Arena on top of other public financing! Any public asset from land, parks, government buildings, and schools have become the basis for corporate contract making while the material and health condition for DC's large poor and low-wealth populations hardly improves, if at all.

The District tolerated and encouraged environmental racism in Southwest and throughout many pockets of the city - unlawfully relaxing or ignoring federal and District environmental regulation standards. Then, it refused to follow the law on environmental impact assessments when it passed the Comprehensive Plan in 2021. It allowed for an increase of 200 million square feet of land/air rights for "matter of right" development and didn't care to conduct an environmental impact assessment. The Office of Attorney General is currently misleading the court to say that DC's 6-page document was an "environmental impact assessment." It sold the undeveloped parcels at 4th and M St for less than $100. It sold the land on which The Eliot sits and did not require a single affordable housing unit. It excluded affordable housing at South Capitol and M St. Over the objection of St. Dominic's call for affordable housing on its former land prior to urban renewal, DC sold its eminent domain land at Capitol Square Place to make way for luxury townhouses.

The District has steadily eroded the boundaries of Southwest to make way for luxury housing - placing the Wharf and Buzzard Point in their own small area plans essentially, adding a new Maryland Ave Small Area Plan, and using half of a public parcel on School St SW for a "boutique European hotel" instead of affordable housing. The District has not respected the ANC6D's wishes for preserving social diversity - consistently violating the "great weight" of ANCs. Now, the District attempts to convince the court that ANCs had no "great weight" on the 2021 Comprehensive Plan. It is again lying. The District oversaw and encouraged the slumlording and ghettoization of public housing. The District's poor planning caused declining housing quality for established residential communities because owners start divesting in basic maintenance in preparation for a sale. The Southwest neighborhood has a concentration of declining building conditions based upon an analysis of HUD multi-family inspection reports.

The McMillan decision says that the District shares responsibility for these injuries. Council's weak oversight of DCHA directly shares responsibility for the injuries that families and households endured. The gender-based policy violence against women-led households and women resident leaders is a moral failing and structural racism of epic proportions. I saw firsthand how poor housing conditions caused a resident to relapse into drug addiction, which then made her vulnerable to male exploitation - representative of the deep racism coursing throughout the city. Just a few of years ago, former DCHA director Tyrone Garrett refused to even spend the measly $10 million that the District allocated to public housing repairs. When community benefits are negotiated, those dollars barely get to communities most in need. We have seen $250,000 allocated to a silly, simple art sculpture in Southwest when our resident councils and organizations could have put that money to better use. We have seen public housing resident councils see fewer dollars for resident participation funds because DCHA and the District have emptied public housing units. An entire building in Southwest has been emptied out following a sale that was catalyzed by concentrated development in and around Southwest! The District allowed developers to hop from one neighborhood to another engaged in social whitening. Those same developers come to Southwest and entice churches to redevelop that only invest in the minimum number of affordable housing units. The District induces moral decline in Southwest and the city. Meanwhile, the market is flooded with luxury housing, inflating housing costs throughout the city - to say nothing of the price-fixing in the rental market that has become subject of an OAG lawsuit.

This is not right. This is not just. This is racism in its rawest form.

Dear Committee of the Whole,

I am deeply disheartened about DC's lack of educational progress. The District has failed to tackle vast educational disparities meaningfully and consistently. Educational outcomes have barely improved in the last quarter of a century. Graduation rates are inflated and not reflective of competencies. The percentage of students that enrolls in and completes college is low and declining.

My personal story supports that school districts can and do address educational disadvantages for low-income and first-generation college students. I do not feel, however, that my story is possible in DC. In fact, I can recall several classmates from my middle school class in Central Virginia who benefited from major educational reforms to get low-income students on an advanced track for high school and, thus, college readiness. We also had teachers who mentored us. One classmate is a college professor. Another is a civil engineer for the Commonwealth of Virginia. I will graduate in May with my PhD. In other words, there are innovative models out there that work.

The Washington Post asserts that, "The city is embracing a new “moonshot” goal to have 80 percent of high school graduates earn degrees by 2050." It would be foolhardy to trust that the District can achieve this under the current model. Major reforms are needed.

1) Significantly shrink or eliminate the number of charter schools - The charter school system has ballooned. It is far too decentralized to ensure accountability. Neither the DCPS central office nor the DC PCS Board has the set of authorities necessary for major reform. The DC PCS Board cannot even say if charter school provided the teacher raise that Council approved.

2) Remove Mayoral Control - This was a rash decision to give control over to the mayor during the pandemic, complicated by Grosso's ineffective oversight as Education Committee chair. The politics need to be taken out of DC education.

3) Let Teachers Teach and Mentor - The current system is too punitive to teachers when confounders like neighborhood effects, poverty, and violence are exerting major influences on educational outcomes. I went through school when it was common for teachers to have 15+ years of experience. These teachers made great schools, programs, and loved teaching, mentoring, and support. These teachers who are committed to the profession are your most valuable asset. This also means that the District should phase out programs that heavily recruit transient teachers (e.g., Teach for America model).

4) Simplify the Curriculum and Focus on the Basics - Rather than DC trying to position itself as appearing to be ahead of other states in some areas, it needs to focus on the fundamentals before adding another requirement (e.g., financial literacy). Students are struggling with the basics - reading, writing, math, and science. That should be the focus.

5) Trade School or College Readiness - The dual enrollment nursing prep program is seeing high attendance rates. That is not surprising. It provides students with a focused, skills-based curriculum in addition to regular classes. All students need 1) a skilled trade by graduation that translates to current job market needs or 2) college readiness. I do not think that 80% traditional college attainment by 2050 is feasible or desirable. We must recognize the value of trade school, which can put disadvantaged students on a middle class pathway as well. A major missed opportunity to not prepare students to benefit from 20 years of the gentrification economy, especially blue collar job opportunities and entrepreneurship. We heavily relied on outside labor to the detriment of DC residents.

6) Addressing the Confounders - I never grew up in a neighborhood with gun violence. We were poor but had safe neighborhoods. Neighborhood effects are known as a major influence on educational outcomes. The District needs to do a much better job of ensuring safe, upwardly mobile, and strong communities. A policy and moral shift is needed.

7) Program Evaluation and Evidence-Based Reasoning - The District lacks adequate educational program evaluation and evidence-based reasoning. More in the email below.

Message to CMs Henderson and Parker on March 1, 2024

Dear Councilmembers Parker and Henderson,

I thoroughly enjoyed your questions during today's oversight hearing. I am writing to request a copy of the study about the high-impact tutoring program, once available.

Here are concerns that I have based on direct observation of high-impact tutoring programs and research knowledge. I do have a concern that data may be over-interpreted.

Self-selection bias - I am concerned that the high-impact tutoring data could suffer from self-selection bias. Those students who participate in the program are not representative and may be predisposed to high-impact tutoring engagement.

Gender Difference - I observed an immense gender difference in high-impact tutoring programs. Females far outnumbered males. Females were also drawn to the program because it provided protection against sexual predation ("safe space") had no program existed. This is an important contextual factor.

At-Risk - I observed that young Black males were not engaged in the high-impact program, opting for after-school sports. This tension is an important contextual factor.

Statistical Explanations - We have a statistical phenomenon called mean regression. Following the pandemic, performance metrics are highly likely to return to pre-pandemic rates, regardless of the intensity of program intervention. What share that accounts for in improvements...I would need to get into the literature.

No Experimental Model - To truly assess causality between test scores and high impact tutoring, it would require an experimental model - control and intervention groups. OSSE will rely on non-experimental analysis, which carries many weaknesses. To lessen bias, comparing like groups (e.g., students, schools, etc) at pre and post are important due to the risk of bias.

High Variation - There is likely to be high variation in programming, curriculum, implementation, and quality across tutoring programs. In terms of economies of scale, OSSE would need to know what precisely led to increases in score for data results to be meaningful for future program delivery.

Controlling Variables - Often in research, we control for certain variables in research (e.g., sex, age, race). While this can improve power, it can cause biased estimates. It can also limit external validity. For example, controlling for the effect of race on an outcome of interest can improve internal validity, but the association between race and income cannot be eliminated in real-world program planning.

Message to Council on October 17, 2023

Dear Councilmembers,

I strongly encourage a more meaningful bill than the one proposed by Chairman Mendelson and Councilmember Parker to address deep educational gaps. To advance educational reform, a broader scope and evidence-based practice are needed. Here are resources from the education literature. The articles can be downloaded using the following Dropbox link.

The Adverse Effects of Economic Inequality on Educational Outcomes: An Examination of PISA Scores, 2000–2015 by Thorson and Gearhart - They found that a country’s level of economic inequality has large, negative effects on its student academic achievement. Implication for DC: Monitoring and balancing economic policy with educational outcomes warrant more resources and cross-agency collaboration.

A New Model for Student Support in High-Poverty Urban Elementary Schools: Effects on Elementary and Middle School Academic Outcomes by Walsh et al - Discusses one of the first evaluations of a comprehensive student support intervention (City Connects) for non-academic barriers to learning. Implication for DC: This may be a good model for DC.

Effects of accumulated environmental, social and host exposures on early childhood educational outcomes by Bravo and Miranda - Key adverse host, environmental, and social exposures accrue disproportionately to non-Hispanic Black children. They analyzed the association of economically disadvantaged highest quintile of racial isolation, blood lead levels, birth weight percentile, and mothers who reported smoking during pregnancy. Implication for DC: DC should be attuned to the effects of these exposures and increase resources accordingly.

Neighborhoods, Schools, and Academic Achievement A Formal Mediation Analysis of Contextual Effects on Reading and Mathematics Abilities by Wodtke and Parbst - Exposure to an advantaged rather than disadvantaged neighborhood significantly improves academic achievement. Contrary to expectations, however, we find no evidence that school poverty mediates these effects because the differences in school poverty linked to differences in neighborhood context appear to have no appreciable impact on achievement. Implication for DC: It's not about the school - it's about the neighborhood. DC needs more attention to the neighborhood influence on educational outcomes.

Why Does It Take a Village? The mediation of neighborhood effects on educational achievement by Ainsworth - the current study finds not only that neighborhood characteristics predict educational outcomes, theorists have proposed several mediating processes, including collective socialization, social control, social capital, perception of opportunity, and institutional characteristics. The current study reveals that these mediators account for about 40% of the neighborhood effect on educational achievement, with collective socialization having the strongest influence. Implication for DC: There are factors associated with neighborhood effects that are modifiable.

The Washington Post recently revisited the disappearance of Relisha, age 8. She and her family where sheltered at DC General. Relisha was last seen on camera after a janitor had taken her. “The children at D.C. General were neglected many years before Relisha Rudd went missing,” she said. “She was so symbolic of all the gaps in the safety net and all the ways we collectively have failed vulnerable children in our community,” according to the Post article. 

Southwest Voice is sharing a letter to DC Council in July 2023 to show how the system remains deeply broken. Two children, 6 and 8 years of age, were found walking aimlessly in Southwest. Resident leaders worked to locate the parents. In the process, major gaps in DC's shelter policies and practices were found, including its accountability for children and parental supervision. The letter also discusses scratches that raised major alarm.

July 10, 2023

Dear DC Council Committee on Health,

I am writing with grave concern about the wraparound services at the women's shelter in Southwest - The Aya. I pose several structural/policy questions at the end of this email.

1) Community leaders and I recently worked to locate the parent of two lost children outside my residence at Capitol Park Plaza and Twins. These children were 6 and 8 years of age. After making many phone calls and combing through social media, we located their mother who was a resident at The Aya. They initially did not want to take us to where they lived. A community person said that they saw the kids taking items from the Safeway. Eventually, the little girl gave us their mother's name and we surmised that they stayed at The Aya. As I understand, these kids were part of a set of 9 siblings housed there. I spoke with the program manager to convey my deep concerns about the kids roaming the neighborhood without adult supervisor. I also spoke to the mother when she arrived on the scene. We exchanged phone numbers. I asked her to reach out to me if she needed resources.

2) Since that incident, I have seen the children on two occasions. Once, five of the siblings were walking near the library without adult supervision. The second was with the mother and children sitting outside the library.

3) On Saturday, I ran into two boys from this sibling set outside of the SW library - one that I had met earlier (above). I noticed that they had rashes all over their body - arms, legs, face. The boy from (1) had what appeared to be two human scratches on this face that were about three inches long and parallel. Some of the rashes and bumps were open wounds, assumedly from scratching. Some of the bumps looked like bed bug bites. I asked the manager is the shelter had a bed bug problem. He said, "Not to my knowledge." The boy did not have these rashes when I saw him just the week prior. I asked the boys if they had eaten. They said only French toast.

I led them back to the shelter out of concern. I met a manager at the front door. To my astonishment, he explained to the boys that they were not allowed to return because their mother was not there. As I continued the discussion, I turned around and noticed that the boys had left. To where, I had no idea. I had asked them to stay close by. I asked the manager, "Doesn't the city provide funding for wraparound services?" He only knew that a caseworker was involved. As far as I am aware, the manager did not intend to call the mother. I called and spoke to the police after calling 911 when I arrived home (across the street).

Structural Questions

• What funding is the District providing to The Aya for child health and protection?

• Is it acceptable for minors to be unsupervised and prevented from entry into the shelter when their mother is not there? This is just not an acceptable practice.

• If something were to happen to these kids, whose responsibility is it - the District which prevents minors from entering the shelter or the parent/guardian? I think the District shares some responsibility.

• Do wraparound service reimbursement provide for connection to childcare? Is connection to childcare and safe harboring part of the responsibility of case workers?

• Why aren't these minors connected to summer camp and childcare services?

Sincerely,
C. Williams

Special Report: Census Tracts with >70 Black Population Carry Higher Disease Burden, Reflecting Apartheid Adjacency

Southwest Voice recently conducted an analysis showing that the most populous Black Census tracts in DC shoulder immense health burdens. Fifty-eight (58) of the 179 Census tracts have a population of 70% or greater Black residents and contain 29% of the District's population. Yet, these tracts make up 46% of all DC residents who have experienced a stroke, 44% of all of those in DC with diabetes, 43% of all COPD sufferers, and 40% of those with kidney disease. Other diseases were also unevenly distributed compared to Census tracts' residents' share of the city population: heart disease (39%), high blood pressure (39%), asthma (34%), 7 or more poor mental health days in a month (35%), obesity (37%), no leisure physical activity (41%), and currently smoking (40%). Data analysis relied on the 2021 CDC Places estimates.

Southwest Voice previously discussed apartheid adjacency in Washington, DC in our September issue. These data findings support the longstanding neglect of city leadership to attend to unmet social, economic, and health needs of large minority areas of the city, particularly in Wards 7 and 8. The map below shows the Census tracts with 70% or greater percentage of Black (green) and White populations (purple). Neighborhoods that are East of the River or in the city's East End, along with areas in the vicinity of Fort Lincoln, Gateway, Carver Langston, have super majority-minority Census tracts. The Census tract containing public housing in the Southwest neighborhood also appears.

The District is without a strategic and sustained focus on narrowing racial health gaps. To achieve health equity, it must account for the public health economy, which encompasses the performance of the growth economy, skills-match for jobs, improving DC public school system, and curbing the excesses of the gentrification economy. It must seek to heavily invest long-term in public health and community health workforce funding to reach deep into communities for health promotion, coalition-building, and new models of community- and home-based healthcare. Hospital accountability for community health outcomes, as required under IRS regulations, is wanting.

The city is on par with other cities such as Atlanta, Baltimore, Memphis, and Philadelphia, that appear to have allowed deep structural inequity to flourish among the most populous Black neighborhoods (Table 1). The legacy of US segregation and political attitudes and inattentive leadership over decades help to explain these findings.

Southwest DC Sees Concentration of Declining Building Conditions Based on HUD Physical Inspection Scores

August 6, 2023

The Southwest neighborhood has a concentration of declining building conditions based upon an analysis of HUD multi-family inspection reports. HUD assesses the physical condition of all HUD-related multifamily projects and assigns a score from zero to 100, with 100 being the best. The District of Columbia has 17 sites that have inspection scores that declined by 18 points or more between the most recent inspection and its third most recent inspection. Three sites in Southwest - Capitol Park Plaza and Twins, Tel Court Cooperative, and St. James Mutual Home - make up 18% of the city's properties with the most declining inspection scores. The 17 sites are 15% (n=113) of the analytic sample. The number of worst scoring properties varied by ward: Ward 8 (n=5), Ward 6 (n=3), Ward 7 (n=3), Ward 1 (n=3), Ward 5 (n=2), and Ward 2 (n=1).

Properties with the same address, although different names, were counted as one. Sites with two addresses for the same property were counted once. Sites without a third most recent inspection (n=7) were not included. This HUD dataset does not include public housing. The District's ward finder tool was used to determine the ward.

Southwest Voice Editor-in-Chief Statement Strongly Opposing Slavery Reparations

"I am testifying today to strongly oppose this bill. Slavery reparations are appropriate and long overdue, but the District is not ready at this time. The District first needs to repair the ongoing and acute harm from its contemporary systemic racism and policy violence, particularly over the last two decades. I have two major points.

1) The first point. The District is a prime example of government-led flourishing structural racism. Since the Emancipation Proclamation 160 years ago, the District has had Home Rule for a third of that time. Yet, it has more often reinforced the legacy of slavery and Jim Crow than sought to undo it.

· The racial difference in life expectancy between Blacks and Whites in DC is greater than 10 years and growing. This was before the Covid pandemic. Meanwhile, this racial gap is closing for the US as a whole.

· The District has repeatedly excluded or lowered affordable housing requirements to include large tracts in Southwest, Navy Yard, Downtown, and others. It has given away public land cheaply with severely minimal affordable housing. The latest Comprehensive Plan kept intact zoning for single family housing west of Rock Creek, which is supporting redlining.

· The District has engaged in environmental racism. SW is one example. The current chair of the DC Council was quoted in the Post that the District’s sudden interest in improving air quality in Buzzard Point was “probably” due to the incoming white residents. As he suggests, no one really cared about poor air quality when it was only impacted Black residents in public housing.

· DC’s racial difference in household income stands at $100,000 based on US Census data. It grew by nearly $25,000 in the last decade. That’s a conservative estimate due to use of median not mean.

· The DC Housing Authority has traumatized Black women and families through ghettoization, displacement, corrupt policies, and status as the city’s most notorious slumlord.

2) My second point is that DC’s actions during Home Rule, especially this century, weakens nearly every case that can be made for reparations. Critics need only point to DC where racism is coursing through DC policies. African Americans have a majority role in Executive and Legislative government positions. If the legacy of slavery is so strong and direct and reparations is really about a moral stance, then surely the District would have sought to diminish structural racism much more than it is doing. If DC proceeds with a slavery reparations task force, its actions could greatly harm the reparations movement precisely because DC has been deeply complicit in vicious forms of racism."

DC Housing Authority Behind Policy Violence and Public Health Crises in Southwest

The DC Housing Authority held its final listening session on ‎Thursday, ‎May ‎18 at the King-Greenleaf Recreation Center in Southwest. DC Council required the Stabilization and Reform Board to conduct listening sessions with public housing residents throughout the city as part of a December law reforming the agency's board. The event featured remarks from a panel of Southwest resident council presidents, followed by public testimonies from more than a dozen residents. With few exceptions, all of those who testified were Black women. Their experiences living in poor conditions are best understood as gender and racial policy violence against women and families. Through their tears and justified anger at times, the public health consequences of DCHA's longstanding dysfunction as the city's largest landlord and most notorious slumlord came into full view.

This issue highlights residents' testimonies, then makes the case that the DC Housing Authority is beyond repair. DCHA Director Brenda Donald's position that the agency cannot accept further funding for repairs and abatement and her subsequent conduct on Twitter strongly signal that full federal intervention and receivership are warranted. Despite residents' complaints and likely legally cognizable injuries due to property neglect, Director Donald vigorously defended her position of no new funding in an interview with Southwest Voice. Her position had been previously reported in other local news media. This paper asked, "You all are saying that you cannot spend more money for housing repairs. Given the issues today, doesn't it really make sense to accept that money?" Much of her response blamed DC Council, "Do you want to talk to the Council? The Council has put in provisions that make the Housing Authority, an independent authority, come to the Council for all contracts over one million dollars, even if we pay for it with federal money." She says that Council is slow to act on these requests. This paper's response was that the basic maintenance needs do not amount to million-dollar contracts sufficient to refuse additional funds.

The challenges facing DCHA is not a simple matter of bringing buildings up to code. From plans to displace Southwest residents to hospitalizations associated with environmental hazards and lack of emergency protocols, the deep rot in the agency tests Council oversight capacity and its political will to ensure DCHA performance. Anonymous sources tell Southwest Voice that HUD may also lack the political will to exercise its authority due to loyalties among senior HUD officials to the DC mayor and potential political ramifications. If HUD fails to act, it will demonstrate a deeply broken system that is incapable of enforcing existing laws to protect the welfare of residents in public housing.

Resident Leadership

Patricia Bishop, President of the Greenleaf Family Midrise Resident Council, began the listening session. "Stop making decisions that are going to hurt people then we will smile and rejoice to know that we have the same as everyone else." Mrs. Bishop has not only had to contend with poor housing conditions due to poor air quality, air particulates, and abatement issues impacting her physical and mental health, but also has directed DCHA staff and contractors to ventilate when applying highly industrial chemicals during renovation. In her role as president, she has been forced to stay on top of DCHA to follow through with residents' maintenance requests and re-housing needs. We previously reported that Mrs. Bishop had concerns about the psychological warfare against public housing residents by using commercial paint colors associated with institutionalized populations for use throughout her residential building.

Dena Walker, President of Greenleaf Gardens Extension and Additions, spoke next and began with her concerns about Greenleaf redevelopment. The threat of displacement and plans for mostly market rate units without a written no-displacement agreement are a source of stress for her and Greenleaf residents. Last year, the DCHA Board approved plans to redevelop Greenleaf. That action was prior to the agency receiving the scathing HUD report but has not kept the agency from moving forward. Its proposed FY24 annual plan anticipates a RAD/Section 18 application for Greenleaf Senior (211 units) and a demolition and/or disposition application for the remainder of the site. Mrs. Walker criticized Greenleaf redevelopment plans due to multiple concerns, "One of my priorities right now is to have the Build First put back on the table. If not that, then redo the Greenleaf co-development RFP (request for proposals). What that means is that it takes it back to the table. We still do not have a formalized agreement for the right to return. That should not be. The co-development team should have had land for Build First. They do not have the land. That's why it's going to take forever. Residents are very concerned and worried." DCHA is promising one-for-one replacement in Greenleaf, but as the HUD report pointed out, "PHA (is) not practicing one for one replacement of public housing units as promised. Market rate and LIHTC units are being planned for the redeveloped properties, reducing the number of public housing units." The agency has also never delivered on a Build First promise.

Mrs. Walker remarked on DCHA's current plans to downsize residents. "Where are you going to put the residents that you are downsizing? No one is saying what is going to happen with that." She is alluding to the potential for displacement out of Southwest if no accommodation is available. She continued with another point, "I want to request that we place current residents in remodeled units and not move new residents before current residents. A lot of residents are living in terrible conditions. They have been complaining forever and nothing is done. We have people with rodents. I have a tenant who has been complaining about this since March. We have 30 vacant units in Greenleaf Gardens."

Mrs. Walker followed up after the meeting with an advocacy letter to DCHA senior officials on May 22 explaining, "By the way, the unit 1110 next to Ms. [redacted] is infested with rats, roaches, flying cockroaches and bed bugs which have now moved to her unit. No one lives there (in the vacant unit next door), so the infestations are becoming more deplorable for Ms. [redacted]."

Rhonda Hamilton, President of Syphax Gardens Resident Council and ANC6D Commissioner, began, "This is my single member district. I first want to say that this is hard for me to be here because I have more questions than answers. I think it would be better for those who have the answers to be sitting at the table. I am here to listen to you all because we, as leaders, do a lot of advocating and attend meetings, but what I am not seeing is a lot of results from those meetings. I am not seeing a lot of changes in the quality of life for our residents. We deserve more help than what we are getting in terms of the living conditions - the rats, the roaches, the mold." Commissioner Hamilton continued, "The hope is that when the session is over that all of the concerns that we bring up are addressed. One of the issues that I see on my property is that we don't see a lot of money for upkeep and maintenance."

Once again, Commissioner Hamilton and others want the see the housing authority change. Faith in DCHA's turnaround is likely misplaced. Earlier, a DCHA Board member encouraged meeting attendees to look past the agency's poor record, "We got to move forward. If we keep going back into the past saying what is going to happen, what's not going to happen...we all fail." As this paper reported in December 2022, the aftermath of the public release of HUD's scathing report failed to catalyze DCHA to improve its emergency response protocol. We reported that a resident waited at least 6 hours after reporting flooding throughout her apartment. The ticketing system, much less adequate follow-up, continues to fail residents experiencing emergencies.

Resident Testimonies

"There has been mold and mildew growing in the walls. There was a gas leak in my house. My 11-year-old started having seizures when I moved into the home. If you expect the rats and roaches to go away, you have to replace the cabinets when you turnover a new unit," explained a Greenleaf Gardens resident. "Even though we have dust problems, the HEPA devices that they gave us are not working. I don't see anything that has changed for the better." This resident continued her complaints about lax enforcement of noise, building cleaning, and non-resident entry despite her increased rent. Greenleaf Senior resident Linda Brown questioned the adequacy of repairs and implied vast wasteful spending, "If you actually deal with the problem, we are having the same repairs over and over again. Deal with the problem."

"We had mold and mushrooms growing (from an upstairs water leak). We had walls crumbling. Til this day, I have piles of sand in different places in my home because they never came out to fix it. I talk to person after person, then they finally told me that they would move me to a hotel and fix all of my walls. There is no accountability. There is no integrity," a resident recounted that she still lives in poor conditions.

A retired nurse living in Greenleaf Senior lamented, "The condition of the building needs to be worked on. You are keeping us hostage in a building that is not good. You have the trash room. We are living like animals. We are human. It's not right. People worked too - all their lives. I worked in nursing for 30 years and this is the way that I am being treated. Stop putting us down and stepping over us. We are humans just like you all are."

"There are so many issues, as Mrs. Dena (Walker) said. There have to be formal agreements for people who have been here all of their lives to come back here after this redevelopment," explained a resident from Greenleaf Gardens, who became visibly emotional and speechless. Encouraged by the applause, she told her story, "I grew up in public housing all of my life. My momma raised me. I have people tell me that because I came from public housing that I wasn't going to be anything. They saw neglect from the city. How are you guys going to change that?"

Further Evidence of Harm and Neglect

Subsequent to our meeting, this paper was informed that residents in public housing in Southwest experienced a 12-hour blackout - no electricity. In the Greenleaf Senior building, the only functioning elevator stopped working on Mother's Day of this year. The other elevator was out-of-service for repair. A first-person account shared that seniors and their family members had to climb up to eight floors. Although we have not verified, our source said that a senior fell during her climb on the fourth floor and had to be taken to the hospital. That resident had surgery several days ago according to the source.

Director Brenda Donald's Twitter Conduct

Following this paper's tweet that Director Donald insists on no new funding for repairs because of Council provisions that they approve funding for contracts that exceed a million dollars or more, she first tweeted, "Reported by someone who knows nothing about running an agency". In our interview immediately after the meeting, she claimed that the months-long lag between Board and Council approvals of contracts was a hinderance to effectively spending public funds. In other words, it was not a controversial position in that she had already gone public with her position and that she had reiterated her position. Another petty tweet followed, "Why don’t you do your homework so you can see how much we already have invested in property repairs? Real reporters do the work, not lazy gotcha games," after another Southwest Voice tweet reminded her that the Office of Attorney General had basically sought to end ghettoization practices wherein it was "neglecting to make necessary security improvements to protect residents from persistent drug- and firearm-related activity at ten public housing properties." This Southwest Voice tweet was too an uncontroversial position.

Director Donald announced in early May that she intended to depart the agency before the end of her contract. While her pot-shots at Southwest Voice are baseless and ad hominem, this paper is most concerned about the health and well-being of public housing residents in Southwest and throughout the city. The harm is clear and unassailable. DCHA has not sufficiently mobilized resources and efficiencies to address the vast needs. The policy violence leveled against Black women and families, in particular, in public housing is tolerated at all levels of government - both District and federal. In fact, Black officials' central role in this harm raises profound questions about the relevance of race and forebodes no major change in racial inequity. If this is how Black families are treated in what is left of "Chocolate City," the work against racism is far more arduous than anyone has anticipated.

DC Budgeting: Urgent Need to Be Data-Oriented, Focused on Analysis and Outcomes

The DC Housing Authority held its final listening session on ‎Thursday, ‎May ‎18 at the King-Greenleaf Recreation Center in Southwest. DC Council required the Stabilization and Reform Board to conduct listening sessions with public housing residents throughout the city as part of a December law reforming the agency's board. The event featured remarks from a panel of Southwest resident council presidents, followed by public testimonies from more than a dozen residents. With few exceptions, all of those who testified were Black women. Their experiences living in poor conditions are best understood as gender and racial policy violence against women and families. Through their tears and justified anger at times, the public health consequences of DCHA's longstanding dysfunction as the city's largest landlord and most notorious slumlord came into full view.

This issue highlights residents' testimonies, then makes the case that the DC Housing Authority is beyond repair. DCHA Director Brenda Donald's position that the agency cannot accept further funding for repairs and abatement and her subsequent conduct on Twitter strongly signal that full federal intervention and receivership are warranted. Despite residents' complaints and likely legally cognizable injuries due to property neglect, Director Donald vigorously defended her position of no new funding in an interview with Southwest Voice. Her position had been previously reported in other local news media. This paper asked, "You all are saying that you cannot spend more money for housing repairs. Given the issues today, doesn't it really make sense to accept that money?" Much of her response blamed DC Council, "Do you want to talk to the Council? The Council has put in provisions that make the Housing Authority, an independent authority, come to the Council for all contracts over one million dollars, even if we pay for it with federal money." She says that Council is slow to act on these requests. This paper's response was that the basic maintenance needs do not amount to million-dollar contracts sufficient to refuse additional funds.

The challenges facing DCHA is not a simple matter of bringing buildings up to code. From plans to displace Southwest residents to hospitalizations associated with environmental hazards and lack of emergency protocols, the deep rot in the agency tests Council oversight capacity and its political will to ensure DCHA performance. Anonymous sources tell Southwest Voice that HUD may also lack the political will to exercise its authority due to loyalties among senior HUD officials to the DC mayor and potential political ramifications. If HUD fails to act, it will demonstrate a deeply broken system that is incapable of enforcing existing laws to protect the welfare of residents in public housing.

Resident Leadership

Patricia Bishop, President of the Greenleaf Family Midrise Resident Council, began the listening session. "Stop making decisions that are going to hurt people then we will smile and rejoice to know that we have the same as everyone else." Mrs. Bishop has not only had to contend with poor housing conditions due to poor air quality, air particulates, and abatement issues impacting her physical and mental health, but also has directed DCHA staff and contractors to ventilate when applying highly industrial chemicals during renovation. In her role as president, she has been forced to stay on top of DCHA to follow through with residents' maintenance requests and re-housing needs. We previously reported that Mrs. Bishop had concerns about the psychological warfare against public housing residents by using commercial paint colors associated with institutionalized populations for use throughout her residential building.

Dena Walker, President of Greenleaf Gardens Extension and Additions, spoke next and began with her concerns about Greenleaf redevelopment. The threat of displacement and plans for mostly market rate units without a written no-displacement agreement are a source of stress for her and Greenleaf residents. Last year, the DCHA Board approved plans to redevelop Greenleaf. That action was prior to the agency receiving the scathing HUD report but has not kept the agency from moving forward. Its proposed FY24 annual plan anticipates a RAD/Section 18 application for Greenleaf Senior (211 units) and a demolition and/or disposition application for the remainder of the site. Mrs. Walker criticized Greenleaf redevelopment plans due to multiple concerns, "One of my priorities right now is to have the Build First put back on the table. If not that, then redo the Greenleaf co-development RFP (request for proposals). What that means is that it takes it back to the table. We still do not have a formalized agreement for the right to return. That should not be. The co-development team should have had land for Build First. They do not have the land. That's why it's going to take forever. Residents are very concerned and worried." DCHA is promising one-for-one replacement in Greenleaf, but as the HUD report pointed out, "PHA (is) not practicing one for one replacement of public housing units as promised. Market rate and LIHTC units are being planned for the redeveloped properties, reducing the number of public housing units." The agency has also never delivered on a Build First promise.

Mrs. Walker remarked on DCHA's current plans to downsize residents. "Where are you going to put the residents that you are downsizing? No one is saying what is going to happen with that." She is alluding to the potential for displacement out of Southwest if no accommodation is available. She continued with another point, "I want to request that we place current residents in remodeled units and not move new residents before current residents. A lot of residents are living in terrible conditions. They have been complaining forever and nothing is done. We have people with rodents. I have a tenant who has been complaining about this since March. We have 30 vacant units in Greenleaf Gardens."

Mrs. Walker followed up after the meeting with an advocacy letter to DCHA senior officials on May 22 explaining, "By the way, the unit 1110 next to Ms. [redacted] is infested with rats, roaches, flying cockroaches and bed bugs which have now moved to her unit. No one lives there (in the vacant unit next door), so the infestations are becoming more deplorable for Ms. [redacted]."

Rhonda Hamilton, President of Syphax Gardens Resident Council and ANC6D Commissioner, began, "This is my single member district. I first want to say that this is hard for me to be here because I have more questions than answers. I think it would be better for those who have the answers to be sitting at the table. I am here to listen to you all because we, as leaders, do a lot of advocating and attend meetings, but what I am not seeing is a lot of results from those meetings. I am not seeing a lot of changes in the quality of life for our residents. We deserve more help than what we are getting in terms of the living conditions - the rats, the roaches, the mold." Commissioner Hamilton continued, "The hope is that when the session is over that all of the concerns that we bring up are addressed. One of the issues that I see on my property is that we don't see a lot of money for upkeep and maintenance."

Once again, Commissioner Hamilton and others want the see the housing authority change. Faith in DCHA's turnaround is likely misplaced. Earlier, a DCHA Board member encouraged meeting attendees to look past the agency's poor record, "We got to move forward. If we keep going back into the past saying what is going to happen, what's not going to happen...we all fail." As this paper reported in December 2022, the aftermath of the public release of HUD's scathing report failed to catalyze DCHA to improve its emergency response protocol. We reported that a resident waited at least 6 hours after reporting flooding throughout her apartment. The ticketing system, much less adequate follow-up, continues to fail residents experiencing emergencies.

Resident Testimonies

"There has been mold and mildew growing in the walls. There was a gas leak in my house. My 11-year-old started having seizures when I moved into the home. If you expect the rats and roaches to go away, you have to replace the cabinets when you turnover a new unit," explained a Greenleaf Gardens resident. "Even though we have dust problems, the HEPA devices that they gave us are not working. I don't see anything that has changed for the better." This resident continued her complaints about lax enforcement of noise, building cleaning, and non-resident entry despite her increased rent. Greenleaf Senior resident Linda Brown questioned the adequacy of repairs and implied vast wasteful spending, "If you actually deal with the problem, we are having the same repairs over and over again. Deal with the problem." 

"We had mold and mushrooms growing (from an upstairs water leak). We had walls crumbling. Til this day, I have piles of sand in different places in my home because they never came out to fix it. I talk to person after person, then they finally told me that they would move me to a hotel and fix all of my walls. There is no accountability. There is no integrity," a resident recounted that she still lives in poor conditions. 

A retired nurse living in Greenleaf Senior lamented, "The condition of the building needs to be worked on. You are keeping us hostage in a building that is not good. You have the trash room. We are living like animals. We are human. It's not right. People worked too - all their lives. I worked in nursing for 30 years and this is the way that I am being treated. Stop putting us down and stepping over us. We are humans just like you all are."

"There are so many issues, as Mrs. Dena (Walker) said. There have to be formal agreements for people who have been here all of their lives to come back here after this redevelopment," explained a resident from Greenleaf Gardens, who became visibly emotional and speechless. Encouraged by the applause, she told her story, "I grew up in public housing all of my life. My momma raised me. I have people tell me that because I came from public housing that I wasn't going to be anything. They saw neglect from the city. How are you guys going to change that?"

Further Evidence of Harm and Neglect

Subsequent to our meeting, this paper was informed that residents in public housing in Southwest experienced a 12-hour blackout - no electricity. In the Greenleaf Senior building, the only functioning elevator stopped working on Mother's Day of this year. The other elevator was out-of-service for repair. A first-person account shared that seniors and their family members had to climb up to eight floors. Although we have not verified, our source said that a senior fell during her climb on the fourth floor and had to be taken to the hospital. That resident had surgery several days ago according to the source.

Director Brenda Donald's Twitter Conduct

Following this paper's tweet that Director Donald insists on no new funding for repairs because of Council provisions that they approve funding for contracts that exceed a million dollars or more, she first tweeted, "Reported by someone who knows nothing about running an agency". In our interview immediately after the meeting, she claimed that the months-long lag between Board and Council approvals of contracts was a hinderance to effectively spending public funds. In other words, it was not a controversial position in that she had already gone public with her position and that she had reiterated her position. Another petty tweet followed, "Why don’t you do your homework so you can see how much we already have invested in property repairs? Real reporters do the work, not lazy gotcha games," after another Southwest Voice tweet reminded her that the Office of Attorney General had basically sought to end ghettoization practices wherein it was "neglecting to make necessary security improvements to protect residents from persistent drug- and firearm-related activity at ten public housing properties." This Southwest Voice tweet was too an uncontroversial position.

Director Donald announced in early May that she intended to depart the agency before the end of her contract. While her pot-shots at Southwest Voice are baseless and ad hominem, this paper is most concerned about the health and well-being of public housing residents in Southwest and throughout the city. The harm is clear and unassailable. DCHA has not sufficiently mobilized resources and efficiencies to address the vast needs. The policy violence leveled against Black women and families, in particular, in public housing is tolerated at all levels of government - both District and federal. In fact, Black officials' central role in this harm raisesprofound questions about the relevance of race and forebodes no major change in racial inequity. If this is how Black families are treated in what is left of "Chocolate City," the work against racism is far more arduous than anyone has anticipated.

Institutionalized: Paint Color Used as Psychological Weapon

I recently visited friends in Greenleaf Family Midrise Apartments. It was an otherwise uneventful start. I signed in with security and took the elevator. With my bike in tow, I stepped off the elevators. To my shock and horror, the recent renovations in Greenleaf had taken a turn for the worse. The distinct blue color used in prisons confronted me. The doors and trim were all painted in the same color as in the stock image of a prison above. Each door had a foot-wide blue area on the left that ran the length of the door (left).

This was "psychological," noted someone in the hallway. "Intentional," exclaimed another. This shade of cobalt blue is used for institutions, often associated with law and order and places with institutionalized populations. "I don't live in a prison, but they sure painted it to make me look like I live in one," said Patricia Bishop, President of Greenleaf Family Midrise Apartments. "When I do a walk-through with the newly elected (DCHA) Board, I will request a more positive color to represent Greenleaf." DCHA's color choice is intended to convey authority and control. It appears on the outside doors of the Metropolitan Police Department First District building on M Street, just across the street from Greenleaf (see below).

We questioned whether the contractor also painted prisons and opted to use leftover paint. We were open to several explanations, even willing to give DCHA the benefit of the doubt. This notion was dispelled following a visit to another Greenleaf property. This was no accident because Greenleaf Senior Apartments had been painted years ago in the same prison blue (see below). Walking into the lobby of the Senior building feels deeply institutional. A first-time visitor could easily mistake it for an institution with gurneys, captured populations, and guards with cell keys. Institutional colors had no business being in a residential community. I have never lived in a community in which the choice of color was not made with the utmost detail and intention. Colors matter. They set the tone and communicate subtle messages. Red is urgent. Yellow is caution. Blue is institutional.

It was self-revealing how the DC Housing Authority perceived families in public housing. DCHA feels that it has latitude to exercise control over residents that is inconsistent with normal landlord-tenant relations, part of a broader narrative about its perceived exceptionalism beyond the reach of government. As noted in HUD's damning report of the agency, DCHA failed residents with dozens of violations of federal law for years. According to the Washington Post, the HUD report "reveal(s) dangerous conditions at properties that form one of the last lines of defense for District residents who cannot afford homes, including violence, lead-paint hazards, out-of-code plumbing, water damage and mold." The rot inside the agency is irreparable without federal receivership. The HUD report did not discuss the underlying attitudes of the agency that supported their mistreatment of residents and illegalities, but those attitudes are equally important to understand DCHA's dysfunction and provide evidence that DCHA is beyond repair.

Seeing those painted walls and doors made me realize that more discussion is needed about DCHA's perceptions and attitudes about people living in public housing. I immediately recalled that Councilor Anita Bonds, former Housing Committee Chair, explained during an oversight hearing a couple of years ago that public housing was not intended for people to live in forever. She had repeated this insult many times over the years. The District government and DCHA had all the resources and tools to provide for upward mobility. Blaming residents who rely on government housing was insensitive at say the least. Residents live in public housing because they have no other choice for any number of reasons. Besides, she was wrong. There is no legislative intent or statutory language aimed at making the goal of public housing to be temporary. She was parroting language from developer circles that sought to cast low-income residents in the worst light to support redevelopment and displacement. It is remarkable that she had been in office since 2012, just reelected to her fourth term. Anita Bonds no longer serves as the chair of the DC Council Committee on Housing.

DCHA officials tend to be more careful in their public language, but that it not a reason for less harsh judgment. They tend to say what they don't mean and mean what they don't say. They often start a redevelopment by saying, "This time will be different." It is almost always a lie. They have promised "Build First" - constructing a new building first to prevent displacement - to no fewer than four properties. DCHA has not once delivered Build First. I anticipated that Greenleaf would not have a Build First site in 2018, writing in Hill Rag. Greenleaf is still without a Build First site, though DCHA claims that it is now looking at using Greenleaf's parking lot. Both the request for qualifications and proposals defined "Build First" as a nearby off-site location. The development team did not have site control for a Build First site, raising questions about procurement legalities. In 2022, a DCHA whistleblower alleged procurement violations involving the Greenleaf redevelopment in Southwest Voice.

DCHA feels that they have the upper hand because they think residents are uninformed and uneducated. They are wrong on this account. Public housing residents are highly engaged and educated about their rights and errant DCHA practices. DCHA feels that they can pull the wool over residents' eyes because DCHA shares similar attitudes with many in society. There are many influential and everyday people like Anita Bonds who feel that low-income residents are moochers, a harmful stereotype that compounds the singular, deleterious effects of just being low-income in a deeply unequal society. Public housing residents work like all of us. Those who cannot have good reason due to disabilities, age, or other limitations, which all would have been documented and supported during the application process. They pay rent. They raise their families.

DCHA thinks they are exempt from landlord laws on security, property conditions, and resident rights. Actually, they do not see themselves primarily as a landlord, which is why it took a HUD report to force the matter and why the DC Office of Attorney General sued over lax security. A basic practice of any law-abiding landlord is to anticipate water emergencies by having an on-call team that can be deployed at a moment's notice to address flooding.

In early January, a resident in Greenleaf Family Midrise Apartments recently had to wait at least 6 hours after reporting flooding throughout her apartment. Video footage shows her desperate attempt to use newspaper to absorb the water. From 11pm - 5am, she and Patricia Bishop, President of the Greenleaf Family Midrise Apartments, waited for DCHA personnel to come on-site. The first technician to arrive did not have access to shut off the water system, resulting in more delay for the key to arrive. The resident's request to be moved has not been fulfilled despite deteriorated ceilings.

DCHA's lack of an effective emergency management team reflects deep-seated beliefs that it is not primarily a landlord. It has ignored its mission to preserve and expand affordable housing in the District and safeguard the health and well-being of residents. DCHA sees itself as an "institution" exempt from laws. As with the prison blue walls, they can engage in forms of psychological warfare to wear down resident populations through property neglect, unjust practices of displacement, and allowance of criminal activity, which were allegations in OAG's and HUD's reports. DCHA also regards its public assets in the form of land, housing properties, and funding as part of an exploitative schema. "It's a criminal enterprise," explained a former senior DCHA official.

We hear that DCHA Executive Director is scheduled to appear at the ANC6D meeting on Monday. There is little that she can say to convince residents that DCHA is turning a corner.