DCentric

Good morning, DCentric readers! Ready for some links?

Cutting D.C.’s child-care subsidy isn’t the way to fix the city’s budget gap “For the District’s single working moms, good child care is what makes their world possible. They can work, bills get paid, life proceeds. Take affordable day care away, and it all collapses like a cheap gingerbread house. Yet this is exactly what the D.C. Council is thinking of doing to help close a $188 million budget gap, whittling away at an already shrunken program that subsidizes care for about 12,000 children of working parents. The people who would suffer are those doing everything right. They are the last ones who should be targeted in a frenetic budget-cutting spree.” (The Washington Post)

Food Bank Sees Small Signs Of Turning Economy “But there are small signs that the hardest times may be passing. Executive Director Charlie Meng says though the center serves about 10 new families each month, that’s better than the 100 new families applying for assistance each month one year ago. And as volunteers sort through cans of donated food, they’re seeing expiration dates that haven’t passed. “It’s a sign that people are willing to spend money because all of it is newly bought. So they’ve gone to the store to buy specifically for AFAC,” Meng says.” (wamu.org)

The Unlicensed Meat Salesman and The Culture Of Fear “The District’s neighborhood listservs provide one particularly valuable service to jittery residents: they’re searchable repositories of suspicious activity. Shady newspaper salespeople, magazine peddlers, people dressed as utility technicians — just a sample of the alleged scam artists who prowl the city’s residential streets in search of their next victim. Recently though, we’ve noticed another class of accused scammer popping up on the listservs: the guy who sells meat out of a van — who some residents aren’t just afraid will swindle their money, but perhaps also their digestive health.” (DCist)

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Good morning, DCentric readers!

Wells lessens blow for grandparents in D.C. cuts “A subsidy program for grandparents who take care of their children’s children has not been cut as deeply as Mayor Adrian Fenty proposed, after some late maneuvering by Ward 6 Councilman Tommy Wells. Fenty proposed slashing the subsidy program by half, or nearly $2.7 million. But Wells was able to find $900,000 in the city’s Child and Family Services Agency budget to reduce the cut to less than 25 percent instead of 50 percent. “We’re delighted some of the money was restored,” said Judith Sandalow, the executive director of D.C.’s Children’s Law Center. The budget, though, “it still taking from the poorest people in our city who are” taking care of our children and keeping them out of foster care.” (Washington Examiner )

After graduating from Project Empowerment, three students test the job waters “As a child, Taylor, who grew up in Woodland Terrace, fought boys without a second thought. She says she felt no pain when she was stabbed in the head as a teenager. She punched a man in a bar because his friend hit her friend. “I’m from the ‘hood,” she says. “If one fight, all have to fight.” But now, she says she realizes that what stands between her and success is as little as a glance and a bad decision. “If I get mad, everything I’ve been working for is going to be over,” she says. “And it ain’t worth it.” (The Washington Post)

Where locals spend their money: D.C. edition “Washington has been analyzed through the lens of fashion, political leaders, and race, but what about spending habits? Using data from Mint.com, which ranks establishments based on visitor count and average purchase amount from four million Mint users, The List analyzes where District residents spend and what it says about them. (For example) The great cupcake debate is over Locals spend on average $10.13 at Baked & Wired. Georgetown Cupcake didn’t even make the list.” (tbd.com)
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