By Iman Brown and Jonathan Clark Founded on the mission of giving back, local Southwest (SW) D.C.- based government contractor, JMA Solutions, continues to step up to serve the SW community and its surrounding areas during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the initial phases of the stay-at-home order, JMA has donated food and provided monetary funds […]
Councilmember Allen Sponsors Emergency Police Reform Bill
By Southwester Staff The Thirty-First Legislative Meeting of the District of Columbia Council began with a moment of silence. Chairman Phil Mendelson asked Councilmembers to reflect on “deeply-rooted attitudes, often unconscious attitudes, within ourselves, that allow racism to persist in our society.” Thus began hours of debate over an omnibus emergency bill proposing policing reforms. […]
Delayed D.C. Sports Betting Launch May Affect SW Businesses
By Southwester Staff The DC Lottery has pushed back the launch of on-site sports betting in retail locations to summer 2021. In a June 3 budget hearing, DC Lottery Executive Director Beth Bresnahan said the pandemic “has prevented field technicians” from visiting stores to upgrade equipment and delayed shipments of necessary equipment from overseas. Previously, […]
SW DC Action Shares Its Vision for Southwest
By Coy McKinney of SW DC Action For too long our elected officials and policymakers have led us down a path we had no intention of going down. Residents overwhelmingly expressed their desires in the 2015 Southwest Neighborhood Plan, stating that we wanted our community to be “an exemplary model of equity and inclusion.” Yet […]
House Votes in Favor of D.C. Statehood for First Time in History
By Matthew Koehler In a historic vote on Friday June 26, the democratically led House passed H.R. 51, a bill to make D.C. the 51st state. The measure passed by a margin of 232-180 with one Democrat, Rep. Collin Peterson of Minnesota, voting against it. This is the first time D.C. statehood has passed in […]
The Digital Divide: A Crisis We Can Solve in DC
Part 1 of a 2-Part Series on the Digital Divide By Grace Hu, parent at Amidon-Bowen Elementary and parent lead for Digital Equity in DC Education When I joined the Amidon-Bowen Elementary PTA in 2016, I never dreamed that four years later I would be leading a coalition of parents to push the city to […]
Breaking Ground, the SW Library Begins a New Phase of Construction
By Georgine Wallace Despite the chilly weather and intermittent drizzle, the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Southwest Library on Feb. 5 was historic and joyous. Southwest residents, neighbors, ANC6D Commissioners, D.C. Public Library staff, Ward 6 CM Charles Allen, and Mayor Muriel Bowser all celebrated the occasion. Ambassadors from the SWBID were present to greet […]