Highlights

Discover the latest insights and solutions for making Greater DC a place of opportunity for all.

 

States should answer a few questions before taxing e-cigarettes

By:
Richard C. Auxier
Should states tax e-cigarettes at all, and by how much? Should states impose a unit tax on the vape/e-cigarette or the refillable nicotine cartridges or both?
Creating healthy and safe communities

The future of education data and research in the District of Columbia

By:
Alexandra Tilsley

There's no dearth of data in education, but data aren’t useful unless they’re timely, actionable, and accurate.

Strengthening public education and the labor force

DC, Maryland, and Virginia: We need to talk about Metro

By:
Matthew Eldridge, Rayanne Hawkins

The nation’s second-busiest heavy rail transit system, the Washington, DC area’s Metro, is in crisis.

Building strong, inclusive neighborhoods

Without access to resources, neighborhood public health interventions are limited

By:
sade adeeyo

Twenty-three percent of DC’s 179 neighborhoods are deemed economically challenged. The majority of those neighborhoods are located east of the Anacostia River. These challenged neighborhoods have some of the District’s highest rates of unemployment, low education attainment, and single household incomes. Unequal distribution of poverty isn’t new—and the patterns, people, and problems often look the same. The impacts of these geographic disparities, however, go beyond income.

Creating healthy and safe communities
Advancing racial equity

Make schools the center of the community

By:
Jasmine Simington

Traditional schools are failing our most vulnerable students, who often face multiple barriers, both inside and outside of the classroom, to strong academic performance.

Strengthening public education and the labor force
Meeting basic needs

When the room is quiet: Fostering a safe space for young men

By:
David Blount

Several teenage boys sit leisurely around two grayish, plastic folding tables in matching plastic folding chairs. A few boys reach eagerly to grab chips with salsas and cheese dips. It’s quieter than the usual sessions.

Creating healthy and safe communities

What happens when communities develop their own programs and policies?

By:
Reed Jordan, Elsa Falkenburger

This post is part of a series on community-based research in Washington, DC.

Building strong, inclusive neighborhoods

If we had a more equitable DC…

By:
Leah Hendey

The disparities in the District of Columbia are sobering.

Advancing racial equity
Building strong, inclusive neighborhoods

Data Walks: Getting data into the community’s hands

By:
Elsa Falkenburger

Two years ago, my colleague, Sade Adeeyo, and I were in the initial stages of launching our community-based participatory research project in the DC Housing Authority’s Benning Terrace development. We were holding monthly meetings with community residents who were working with us to plan our project Promoting Adolescent Sexual Health and Safety (PASS). PASS focuses on topics that can be uncomfortable to discuss and problems that are so prevalent that they are often normalized, such as harassment or victim blaming people who have experienced sexual assault.

Building strong, inclusive neighborhoods

How to keep affordable housing in high-opportunity neighborhoods

By:
Reed Jordan, Erika C. Poethig

Affordable units in high-opportunity neighborhoods give low-income families access to resources such as quality schools, transportation, and jobs, improving chances at upward mobility. Affordable housing is one of a range of housing policies and programs that have the potential to promote economic mobility. Yet without local action, affordable housing units are often at risk of loss from the housing supply.

Building strong, inclusive neighborhoods
Meeting basic needs
Advancing racial equity