Current Initiatives
Neighborhood Initiatives
This page tracks the issues I am actively working on with residents, community partners, District agencies, and fellow commissioners.
Not every issue has an immediate fix. Translating resident concerns into action takes collaboration and persistence, often requiring agency follow-up, public advocacy, coalition-building, sustained attention over time, and staying with an issue until there is a response. I want residents to know not only what has been resolved, but what is still moving, where things stand, and how they can help shape the next steps.
These are the initiatives currently receiving my attention: how the work has evolved, where it stands today, and what comes next.
Youth, Schools & Family Supports
Why this matters
Strong schools and real supports for young people and families are the foundation of a healthy neighborhood, from safe routes to school to afterschool programs and mental-health resources.
What residents are telling me
Families and young people need safer routes to school, stronger out-of-school-time options, accessible mental-health supports, and better coordination among schools, agencies, and community partners.
How I’m helping move this forward
- Advancing Safe Passage and safe-route priorities for young people.
- Convening families, schools, agencies, and community organizations through the ANC 1A Education, Youth & Family Committee.
- Following up on school stabilization, family supports, attendance, and youth mental-health resources.
What success looks like
District investments that reach the young people and schools that need them most.
Powell Communal Farm & Food Access
Why this matters
In a part of Columbia Heights where most neighbors live in apartments without space to grow food, the Powell Communal Farm turns an unused public parcel into fresh food, green space, and a place where neighbors come together.
What residents are telling me
Neighbors want reliable access to fresh produce, safe green space, and ways to be part of something local.
How I’m helping move this forward
- Helped bring the farm from an overlooked lot to a working communal farm, in partnership with DPR.
- Recruiting volunteers and connecting families to the weekly free-produce giveaway.
- Supporting seasonal programming, food pantries, and educational days.
What success looks like
A farm that keeps producing food and connection season after season, with strong ties to nearby schools and families.
Accessible Public Spaces
Why this matters
Everyone deserves to move safely through the neighborhood. When a curb ramp is missing, a crossing is unsafe, or a sidewalk is blocked, neighbors, especially people with disabilities, seniors, and families with strollers, are shut out of daily life.
What residents are telling me
Residents describe blocked or broken curb ramps, sidewalks too narrow or cluttered to pass, unsafe crossings, and obstructions that force people into the street.
How I’m helping move this forward
- Filed a formal ADA and public-right-of-way grievance and drafted an ANC resolution requesting accountability.
- Following up with DDOT and other agencies on curb ramps, crossings, and right-of-way barriers.
- Documenting barriers block by block and submitting 311 requests, with resident input.
What success looks like
Streets, sidewalks, and public spaces that work for everyone, with agencies accountable for fixes on a clear timeline.
Rats, Rats, Rats
Why this matters
Trash, illegal dumping, and rodents shape daily life on the block: health, safety, and whether our shared spaces feel cared for. These conditions hit some blocks far harder than others.
What residents are telling me
Residents report recurring rodent activity, missed or inconsistent trash collection, illegal dumping, overflowing bins, and alleys and sidewalks that need more regular attention.
How I’m helping move this forward
- Tracking recurring problem blocks and pressing for follow-through on collection, dumping, and rodent complaints.
- Connecting rat abatement to the conditions that let infestations grow: unmanaged trash, poorly maintained containers, and gaps in collection.
- Working with residents, DPW, DOEE, property owners, and businesses on practical, block-level solutions.
- Organizing regular neighborhood cleanups that build shared stewardship of our public spaces.
What success looks like
Reliable collection, stronger enforcement, targeted rat abatement, and cleaner, healthier blocks that residents can help keep that way.
Housing & Neighborhood Growth
Why this matters
Whether longtime residents and working families can afford to stay shapes everything else about the neighborhood: who fills our schools, who runs our small businesses, and whether Columbia Heights remains the mixed, welcoming place it has always been.
What residents are telling me
Neighbors worry that rising costs are pricing out families who have been here for years, and that new development is happening to the neighborhood rather than for it.
How I’m helping move this forward
- Researching neighborhood-level economic conditions so investment decisions reflect who actually lives here.
- Advocating for anti-displacement protections and tools like community land trusts alongside new development.
- Pushing for growth that is neighborhood-serving, not just profitable for outside investors.
What success looks like
Housing and investment that let current residents stay and thrive, not only newcomers move in.
Neighborhood Economy & Small Business
Why this matters
Columbia Heights has one of the District’s most active commercial corridors. Small businesses and immigrant entrepreneurs create opportunity and give the neighborhood its character, and they deserve investment and workable rules, not to be squeezed out.
What residents are telling me
Vendors ask for clearer, fairer rules and lawful places to work; residents ask for clean, passable sidewalks, without pushing vendors out.
How I’m helping move this forward
- Submitted testimony on vending legislation and stayed in implementation meetings on accessibility, language access, and consistent enforcement.
- Elevating vendors as microentrepreneurs and culturally rooted institutions.
- Tracking local economic conditions so the neighborhood isn’t defined by citywide averages or outside assumptions.
What success looks like
A commercial corridor where entrepreneurship and safe, accessible sidewalks both thrive.
Have an Issue or an Idea?
These initiatives are shaped by what residents are experiencing in real time.