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Citizens United display civic “report card” in front of
Wilson
building at Sep. 16 budget protest]
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“It's gonna get ugly in DC,” Ward 8 resident Trayon White announced at a recent Citizens United rally.
Over the summer, millions in non-competitive “earmark” funds for the new fiscal year were first reduced by the mayor and then cut entirely by the Council. The Sep. 16 rally, one of several organized to protest the cuts, stressed the importance of nonprofits in the city's poorest communities. Neighborhoods east of the Anacostia are already suffering more deeply from the recession and will be hardest hit in loss of services, White and others argued.
Jauhar Abraham and Ronald Mouton of Peaceoholics referenced 60 shootings that had occurred across the city in the previous 30 days, arguing that violence will only increase as programs like theirs lose funding.
Wanda Aikens of the Ward 7 Arts Collaborative said before the rally that funding “was eliminated without understanding.” She fears that “African American men will suffer most” and that the entire community will “suffer negative behavior” as a result.
Melvin Deal, of the African Heritage Dancers and Drummers, added, following the protest: “Those of us who provide community services stand in the gap between murder and hope and engagement. People come to us for a brief moment of reprieve.”
Several rally participants suggested that earmark funding was not considered problematic until more made its way east of the river. Others said the cuts were an over-reaction to difficulties with particular charities.
“The decision had nothing to do with geography,” Council Chair Vincent Gray responded, in a Sep. 30 interview, noting that the Council had supported the earmarks, “when we thought there was money.” But the revenue shortfall necessitated large cuts.
Gray added that earmark funding is meant for one-time needs or special programming and that earlier legislation had already prohibited earmark funding for any organization in consecutive years. “We need to get these organizations into the mainstream funding process,” he said. “I would hate to think that any organization is basing its future on earmarks.”
Participants visited councilmembers' offices but were unable to meet with Gray on Sep. 16. Gray reported spending an hour with the activists on Sep. 30, however, explaining the city's financial situation.
“The City has to put priorities in place and be mindful of the impact of their decisions,” Reverend Anthony Motley, Ward 8 minister and candidate for DC Council at-large, said on Sep. 16. In these troubled times, he said, more attention to youth and substance abuse prevention will be needed. Motley advocates a re-allocation of existing funds. “We need all three branches of government working together to create a safety net for those who would otherwise fall through the cracks.” |
