In today’s rundown: Your chance to attend a D.C. community forum with the leading candidates for mayor and city council chair this week. | Filling the gap for Virginia’s uninsured children. | One reason the unemployment rate in one local ward is at about 30 percent.
— On Thursday, Defeat Poverty DC is hosting a community forum where moderators will question the leading candidates for D.C. mayor and D.C. council chair. The program will be from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. at the UDC Auditorium, Building 46E, 4200 Connecticut Ave., NW. To attend, RSVP to dcforumrsvp@gmail.com. Defeat Poverty DC is a coalition of residents and organizations — including The Women’s Foundation — that are putting economic opportunity on the 2010 political agenda.
— With about nine percent of Virginia’s children uninsured, local health care workers are helping out, offering free screenings, physicals and immunizations. They’re also encouraging uninsured families to find out if they qualify for programs like Project Connect, Virginia’s Child Health Insurance program. Click here for more.
— Employment in D.C. is improving — the jobless rate fell about half-a-point to 10 percent last month. But in Ward 8, unemployment remains high — at an estimated 30 percent. As WAMU reports, the disproportionately high numbers could be related to “returning citizens.”
