“DC Doesn’t WORK Without Child Care!” is more than a slogan for Empower DC’s Child Care for All Campaign, it’s the harsh reality facing thousands of low and moderate income working families who rely on child care assistance to ensure their ability to work.

Many of our readers and community members remember the powerful story of Laceiy and Sharan, and how their lives were changed by a construction job training program, Washington Area Women in the Trades (WAWIT), that is supported by The Women’s Foundation’s Stepping Stones Initiative.

I watched Sister Mary Bourdon begin the Washington Middle School for Girls a little over 10 years ago, first as an after school study hall with 12 girls in a basement apartment, then into a two campus school, serving almost 100 students in grades 4-8.

And when I say serving, I mean:

“Good friend forgive me if I offend, I know I am not the only one with problems. I also understand that there are many people with greater problems than mines. But for you to take the time to consider mines, that I am most grateful. It is good that when one has climbed the ladder of success to the top, that he or she reaches down and help those that are not able to.” 
– YK

Your vote can empower women to move out of homelessness

Recently, Connie, a woman who lives at Calvary Women’s Shelter, wrote the following:

This online voting for the Washington Middle School For Girls has been the most incredible experience.

In response to my blanket email to everyone in my address book, I am hearing from people I haven’t heard from in years.  None has been more poignant than the response from a distant cousin who was brought back to a conversation she had with her aunt when she was 10 years old.

According to an annual survey conducted by the Community Partnership for the Prevention of Homelessness in the District, the number of homeless people in the district has increased 3 percent over last year to 6,228.

Inspired – and alarmed – by my colleague Lisa Kays’s blog post earlier this week about off-the-charts HIV/AIDS rates in the District of Columbia, I read the Department of Health’s recent report.

The report is powerful for what it includes – and what it doesn’t.

As a follow-on to my colleague Gwen’s thoughtful post on the Rihanna domestic violence situation and the way it’s being handled in the media, I thought I’d throw in this piece from Feministing, about the reactions of some Boston teens to the story.

Well, so much for a break from the doom and gloom.  The latest update on the status of HIV/AIDS in Washington, D.C. is in and the news is not good.

The District now has a rate of 3 percent of its residents who are HIV-positive, a rate that surpasses that in West Africa and means that The District has surpassed the criteria for a "generalized and severe epidemic."