In today’s rundown: A look at what DC budget cuts might mean for social services. | How you could be affected by a federal government shutdown.

– DCentric takes a look at DC Mayor Vincent Gray’s proposed budget for the 2012 fiscal year and details some of the $187 million in cuts.  60 percent of those cuts would come from social services.

In today’s rundown: Unemployment in Ward 8. | Help for Maryland residents facing foreclosure.

– Even though Ward 8′s unemployment rate is not the highest in the nation or even DC writes the Brookings Institution’s Benjamin Orr on the DC Fiscal Policy Institute blog. The post responds to Bloomberg’s recent article that stated that Ward 8 had the highest jobless rate in the country.

After a Women’s History Month blogging blitz, we’re back with your daily rundown of news impacting women and girls locally!  In today’s rundown: How Mayor Gray’s proposed 2012 budget will impact family programs. | Low-wage jobs don’t provide families in the U.S. with economic security. | A computer skills course in D.C. for low-income adults. | Women aren’t “pet rocks.”

I know it is Women’s History Month and that we are celebrating how our history is our strength.

But I have been thinking about our present and our future. And I am feeling cranky because I am tired of:

In a first of its kind event in the D.C. metro area earlier this week, panelists discussed the obstacles to economic security faced by older women in the community.  The community dialogue, held at Nixon Peabody LLP, was co-hosted by Washington Area Women’s Foundation and Legal Counsel for the Elderly.  It is one discussion in a series that The Women’s Foundation is holding to talk about the findings of the recent report 2010 Portrait of Women & Girls in the Washington Metropolitan Area (Portrait Project 2010). The report takes a comprehensive look at the lives of women and girls in the Washington region.

Q: Which First Lady of the United States was an advocate for civil rights, worked to enhance the status of women, but opposed the Equal Rights Amendment?

A: First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt was an international author, speaker, politician and activist.  An advocate for civil rights, Roosevelt worked to enhance the status of working women, however, she opposed the Equal Rights Amendment because she believed that it would adversely affect women.

Equality and justice.  Of all the obligations that any elected official has, dedication to these guiding principles is most important.  As we all know, the push for equality among the genders is a struggle that has stretched for decades and centuries.  During the 20^th Century, we saw the failure of the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1980s, even as protections for civil rights and voting rights were enshrined in the law nearly twenty years earlier.  Equality and justice had been secured for all of us when classified by race or ethnicity, but those laws were silent on gender.  As citizens, we all have an obligation to continue to strive for girls and women to have the same opportunities that boys and men have long enjoyed.

Q: Who was the journalist, activist and spokesperson who co-founded a number of ventures, including Ms. magazine, the Ms. Foundation for Women, Choice USA and the Women’s Media Center?

Thursday March 24th, 2011 is a day that will always live vividly in my memories.  It was my Inaugural Cocktail Party as Ms. Maryland United States 2011. Not only was it special because so many came out to enjoy this wonderful occasion and wish me well, but it was dear to me because each non-profit partner that I reached out to was in attendance.

Q: Who is the woman who’s listed in the Guinness Book of Records for being the first woman to become a millionaire by her own achievements?