Tink, Tink, Tink! Don’t Play With Our Babies.
A public message board to cultivate power, strategy and solutions that supports our scholars and their schools in the Greater Anacostia community of Washington, DC.
Details:
School Highlights
Mutual Aid
Policy Point
Community Events
Our CARE Anacostia Schools
Boone Elementary School | 2200 Minnesota Ave SE
Ketcham Elementary School | 1919 15th St SE
Savoy Elementary School | 2400 Shannon Pl SE
Kramer Middle School | 1700 Q St SE
Anacostia High School | 1601 16th St SE
Welcome to our second community message board highlighting the schools in the greater Anacostia community. CARE Anacostia is a chapter of CARE DC, an education racial justice movement rooted in a grassroots approach to revolutionize and transform public education. If we want real change for our youth, our community must mobilize our own resources and lead the strategies that bring that change to life.
Our children and communities will feel DC’s budget cut. That is not a question. Alongside the drastic reductions to early childhood programming, government benefits are also facing steep decreases. These cuts will directly impact our children’s homes, their food security, and the basic elements required for a healthy and stable foundation.
Here is how CARE Anacostia is responding.
In addition to promoting advocacy opportunities, we are modeling the Citizenship Education Program, a historic civil rights strategy that was designed to politically educate families and expose the systems that try to make our people victims rather than citizens. This three day series at our schools will create intentional space for families, complete with family style meals, childcare, and translation services.
A special edition is coming soon to share why our families must be prepared, informed, and equipped for what is on the horizon.
Program Highlight
CARE Anacostia’s Educator Advancement Team now includes 10 educators in this year’s cohort. The ideas and vision our educators bring to elevate their classrooms are deeply worthy of investment.
This week, we are sponsoring eight educators to attend the Black Literacy Matters Conference to further hone their craft and gain new knowledge, strategies, and tools to strengthen literacy for our amazing students.
School Highlights
Anacostia High School is gearing up for a powerful Literacy Night. The goal is to shine a bright light on the power of literacy and bring our little Anacostians into the high school so they can see their future inside the very classrooms they will one day learn in. When young people build love for Anacostia High early, it grows pride, excitement, and determination to claim Ana as their school and their community.
Ms. Hodge, a former CARE Anacostia E.A.T. participant, is setting the stage, clearing the table, and working hard to create an aspirational and inspirational night for the young minds of Anacostia. But she cannot do it alone. She needs her community beside her.
Look below for several mutual aid opportunities to support her vision.
Mutual Aid Opportunities
This is where we bring truth to power. For Anacostia’s Literacy Night to flourish, a few affordable essential items are needed.
Here is a vision of some upcoming needs:
Multicultural books - Click here and here for options (send them directly to Anacostia High School c/o Ms. Hodge/Librarian)
Drinks, cups, plates, utensils for 300 people
General $200+ donation (You can make a donation through CARE Anacostia, note it for Anacostia’s Literacy Night. Click here to donate)
The Literacy Night will be Wednesday, March 18th. Use the form below if you are interested in volunteering or if you have questions about making a donation or the night.
Also, get your cookies: Savoy Elementary School Girl Scouts are selling cookies. Supporting young entrepreneurs creates economic mobility. Click on the link below to secure your cookies.
Savoy Elementary School, Cookie Purchase: Click here: #40295
Support Black Girls, Support Economic Mobility - Get Your Cookies!
Policy Point - Eliminations of Critical Early Childhood Funding
What’s at Stake!
Essential early childhood programs will close
Educator positions will be eliminated
Working parents will lose dependable child care, leaving families scrambling for stability.
Students will lose consistent, high‑quality support that keeps them on track academically and emotionally.
Early Childhood Education classrooms will be consolidated, overcrowding rooms and reducing the attention our youngest learners need.
Reading Interventionists will no longer be able to step in when a child shows signs of struggle, because they are losing their jobs.
LEAP Reading Coaches will be eliminated, leaving early childhood educators with fewer tools, fewer mentors, and fewer supports to elevate their classrooms.
The Problem:
DC is staring down a $1 billion dollar budget gap. DC is not a state, which means no state level protections and direct accountability to Congress. Every single year the Mayor must hand Congress a balanced budget. No gap allowed. When money comes up short, cuts hit the community. We see this cycle often, but this year hits different. This crisis is tied to the collapse of federal funding. Many of us remember when $1.1 billion dollars disappeared overnight last year. The fallout from that cut is still hitting us, and it is landing directly on our children.
Correction: DC is facing a manufactured $1.1 billion “shortfall.” This was not a collapse in federal funding and the money did not disappear. Congress passed a continuing resolution that blocked DC from spending its already‑approved FY25 local budget and forced spending back to last year’s levels. In plain terms, Congress capped DC’s ability to use its own tax dollars. (Thank you, community member, for this note.)
Where it get’s real:
Elementary schools in our community that depend on limited funding, or even a single funding source, will be forced to make severe cuts to early childhood programming. And we all know what that means. When the foundation cracks in early childhood, the whole school feels the aftershock.
When a child’s education is compromised, their future is compromised too.
This kind of break in the foundation pushes great educators out of the classroom. It leaves upper grade teachers inheriting challenges that are not the child’s fault, but the system’s. Our babies deserve better than systems that fail them before they even start.
Immediate Fight Back - March 18 RALLY
On March 18th at 9am, early learning programs across the District will at least partially close, and providers, educators and parents, and allies will rally at the Wilson Building to make the consequences of underfunding impossible to ignore.
RSVP to join:
A Day Without Child CARE
Community Events - Take a Stand! Recess at the Capitol Part 3!
Join Our ALLIES!
THE KIDS ARE BACK! RECESS IS NOT OVER — WE’RE BACK FOR DC
Our children and families should never be caught in political crossfire. Congressional decisions are directly impacting DC schools, healthcare, safety, and basic stability — and our kids are paying the price.
We’re returning to the Senate on March 13th to make one thing clear:
Protect DC Kids and Families!
Join DC parents, students, educators, and community leaders as we stand together for our city. When you protect DC families, you protect the nation’s capital.
📍 Senate Hart Building Lobby
📅 Friday, March 13th
⏰ 10 AM - 2PM
RSVP Here: https://bit.ly/RecessAtTheCapitol3
Our kids are not a bargaining chip. Our families are not collateral damage. Our Kids are not Your Battleground #RecessIsNotOver #ProtectDCKids #ProtectDCFAMILIES #RecessAtTheCapitol #FreeDC
CARE Anacostia will continue to move with grassroots strategies like the Citizenship Education Program, and we are committed to opening wide the door for the coalitions and collective power rising across the city. This is a moment for unity and action. Join the fight. Do something now. Every bit counts. Our children’s future depends on us standing up and fighting for them today.
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