Dear Neighbors, I hope everyone has had a joyful and safe back-to-school week and thank you to our amazing school leaders and educators who made this week so special. It was a joy to be with you all last weekend and on Monday as we returned to classrooms! Aside from being in community with you all, my team has been working hard on constituent services requests, event planning for the fall, and preparing for the Council’s legislative session to restart. Here’s my latest dispatch for what you need to know heading into this weekend: Ward 4 News Ward 4 CARE

Dear Neighbors, This week has been all about getting ready for the start of the new school year! Check out all of our back-to-school events tomorrow, our Ward 4 Summer Saturday community events, my update on ANC candidates, and plenty of other community resources and local news: Ward 4 and Legislative News Four Back-to-School Events in Ward 4 on Saturday Does your family or a family you know still need school supplies before school restarts? Or do you just want to partake in celebrating the start of the new school year? We have no less than four back-to-school giveaway events this

Dear Neighbors, I’m excited to bring a series of updates to you, including the reopening date and soft launch for Takoma Aquatic Center, a new Ward 4 small business in Petworth, and the application portal for early childhood educators to receive their well-deserved $10,000-$14,000 raises. Find all of that, as well as community resources, neighborhood events, and local links in my newsletter: Ward 4 News Takoma Aquatic Center Reopens on September 6 The wait is almost over: this week DGS and DPR announced that Takoma Aquatic Center will reopen for our community on Tuesday, September 6! And better yet, the pool will

Dear Neighbors, My update this week reports on our school readiness tours at Ward 4 DCPS schools, offers free Nationals tickets for Ward 4 seniors and their loved ones, details a progress update on Takoma pool, shares the draft design for the Georgia Avenue Bus Project, and shares useful resources and neighborhood events — including Emery Heights Community Day. Take a look! Readiness Tours to Support Our Ward 4 Schools Our students, teachers, and school staff deserve safe, comfortable learning environments. Like last year, I’m dedicating a full week in August to school readiness tours at all of our Ward 4 DCPS

Dear Neighbors, Here is my weekly update, covering issues like gun violence, running for ANC, Monkeypox vaccine walk-up clinics, parking issues related to CitiOpen, a new farmers market in Ward 4, other neighborhood events, and local news stories you may have missed. Ward 4 News Officer Shooting and Gun Violence in Our Community Our communities deserve peace and safety, yet we continue to bear the unacceptable toll of gun violence. Today, body-worn camera footage was released of an officer killing 31-year-old Kevin Hargraves-Shird on Saturday, July 30 in Manor Park. The officer had been pursuing a white car that police say was linked to

Dear Neighbors, I hope you’re doing well and making the most of summer! This week I want to put the Georgia Avenue Bus Project on your radar, share the final details for CitiOpen, highlight an upcoming job fair to fill nearly 1,000 vacancies in DC government, make sure you know about a shift in DPW residential trash and recycling collection next week, remind you about back-to-school immunizations and mobile clinics, and keep encouraging you to run for ANC (many seats still don’t have candidates). In standard Ward 4 fashion, we have plenty of great events coming up, including the return

Dear Neighbors, I’m writing to share ways to beat the heat this weekend (including extended pool hours and citywide cooling centers), logistics ahead of Citi Open, more hard-fought traffic safety improvements, opportunities to serve as an ANC Commissioner, changes to the residential trash collection process, the public input process for the future of Upper Beach Drive, and many great Ward 4 events coming up soon. Ward 4 News Extended Pool Hours This Weekend and Cooling Centers Today, Saturday, and Sunday (July 22-24) DPR has extended pool hours at Upshur Pool and many other outdoor pools to 10am-8pm to help neighbors stay cool! Banneker Pool, Hearst Pool, Langdon Park

Dear Neighbors, From new legislation to support school readiness, updates on Dance Loft and Beach Drive, and info on running for ANC, to our recess schedule, valuable community resources, and countless Ward 4 events — here is my dispatch for the week! Ward 4 and Legislative News School Readiness Emergency Legislation Passed This fall, DC students deserve to return to safe, supportive learning environments. Last year, there were major issues with school readiness for the full return to in-person learning. We had dozens of buildings with broken HVAC systems, staff stuck in a backlogged clearance process, and schools with visibly broken

Dear Neighbors, Check out all of my updates ahead of our last legislative session before summer recess, as well as Ward 4 news, community resources, city services, and local events below. Ward 4 and Legislative News Legislative Updates As We Approach Summer Recess As we work to wrap up our legislative work before summer recess, one of the issues my team and I have been focused on is addressing maintenance issues at our rec centers. We did the readiness tour of all Ward 4 rec centers and community centers in May and have been working with DGS and DPR to

Thank you to every community member who joined the Ward 4 Summer Safety Strategic Meeting on Wednesday. I’m grateful we had the Office of the DC Attorney General, MPD’s Fourth District, the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement, the InnerCity Collaborative, the Department of Behavioral Health, and the Office of Victims Services and Justice Grants all present as representatives of a multifaceted, interagency approach to addressing crime and gun violence in our community. Agencies laid out specific actions they are taking to step up their efforts in Ward 4 over the summer and fielded questions and requests from neighbors on