Sponsored by DC Lawyers for Youth (DCLY) and DC Alliance of Youth Advocates (DCAYA)
Part 1: “An Ounce of Prevention…”
Question 1
Investing early in our youth will make it less likely that they will get arrested. This is the best outcome for our youth and all the system’s stakeholders. Lowering arrest rates will reduce the volume that the courts and social services have to process, freeing up resources and enabling our courts and social service programs to focus on those youth most in need. Communities with varied and viable options for youth in their free time are more stable and see less juvenile crime. Currently, D.C. does not have any guaranteed, dedicated funding for out-of-school time programs. What, if anything, would you do to ensure that the District invests funding in organizations and programs that provide youth with positive outlets after and out of school?
There is little to praise in the current D.C. budget, given the additional cuts in the so-called safety net (really a survival net). Here is an example of the Council’s misplaced priorities (Fenty’s proposed budget was even worse): they cut $1.3 million for Adult Education, $0.5 million for Child Care, $1.3 million for Emergency Rental Assistance and $6 million for Interim Disability Assistance in the FY2011 budget (compared to FY2010)— in a depression for so many residents no less — while they voted eight to five to defeat a very modest tax hike for wealthy residents (the Graham amendment) that would have avoided the new hurtful budget cuts and helped to partially restore the $50 million for affordable housing and other essential needs already cut in the FY 2010 budget. Unfortunately both incumbent At-Large Council candidates, Mendelson and Catania, voted for no tax hike for wealthy residents but did vote for new regressive fees that have the heaviest burden on low income residents. The fact is that substantial funding can be found to restore and even expand our survival budget: curb corporate welfare and making our tax structure both progressive and more capable of funding essential needs (see my Tax/Revenue Plan at: www.dcstatehoodgreen.org/testimony/fairtax). Revenue generated by this progressive tax approach must be dedicated to out-of-school time programs as well as other underfunded programs such as affordable housing, poverty elimination. Additional information on this and other questions can be found on my website: www.davidschwartzman.com.
Question 2
In the last year, there have been some high profile crimes committed by youth in D.C. Some of these crimes were committed against adults, some against other youth. There is also evidence that suggests that juvenile violent crimes have gone down over all in the District. What steps are necessary to reduce youth crime and what steps would you take as Councilmember to reduce the number of crimes committed by youth? What role, if any, do you feel the community should play in reducing crime rates and in preventing youth crime?
First priority: begin an aggressive program to eliminate child poverty. Here’s what I will vigorously support once elected to the City Council: Raise the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefit to above poverty level, provide substance abuse treatment for all in need, job training for 21st Century Jobs. . Substantial funding can be found to restore and even expand our survival budget: curb corporate welfare and making our tax structure both progressive and more capable of funding essential needs (see my Tax/Revenue Plan at: www.dcstatehoodgreen.org/testimony/fairtax). Make millionaires pay their fair share of DC taxes. With my progressive tax plan a family making $45,000 would pay $1000 less in DC taxes a year, A modest tax hike for the top 5% income bracket would generate more than $116 million additional revenue a year to
better fund essential programs in our budget. The time is long overdue for our Mayor and
City Council to give tax justice to DC taxpayers just as President Obama promises
for federal income taxes by cancelling Bush's tax cut for the rich. Public Property for Public use first. No real estate sweetheart giveaways or handouts to big developers! Tax exemptions and abatements for the corporate sector must be transparent and yield real community benefit with take-back if they don't. Stop taxpayer- funded subsidies for economic development serving no one but the profiteers. No more cronyism in public contracts.
Police brutality must end. We should demand full transparency calling for an independent investigation of police shootings of our youth (e.g., DeOnté Rawlings and Trey Joyner). You can find more on my approach by going to my Testimony to the City Council, June 16, 2008 (http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org/testimony/public_safety_civil_liberties). Community-police partnerships are demonstrably effective. We need an independent Civil Review Board to hold our Police Department fully accountable for potential abuse and violation of civil liberties and rights, such as the unconstitutional Trinidad Blockades. I demonstrated and lobbied with ACLU-NCA to oppose using civil injunctions against alleged gang members and juvenile curfews. Funding for a comprehensive education-and-outreach approach should be restored. Existing funding to such groups as the Peaceoholics should be subject to full Council review. The blatant politicization of the Peaceoholics by the Fenty campaign should likewise be investigated.
The drug war must end. It was instigated by President Reagan to target and disenfranchise African Americans, creating “The New Jim Crow” as documented by Michelle Alexander (see http://www.statehood4dc.com/schwartzman/newjimcrow and http://www.statehood4dc.com/schwartzman/a_capitol_concern). I support drug treatment on demand - not incarceration. Addiction is a public health issue, not a crime. DC government can and should take initial steps to decriminalize drug use.
Part 2: A Youth-Friendly City
Question 1
Wards 5, 7, and 8 currently have disproportionately high 1) rates of violent crime, 2) percentage of families in poverty, 3) unemployment rates, and 3) percentage of residents without a high school diploma. In a Youth-Friendly City, youth have full access to resources and services regardless of who they are and where they live. What would you do to ensure the most underserved communities in the District of Columbia receive resources and services consistent with the level and resources offered in other parts of the city?
First, every group working with youth should be independently evaluated and brought into the schools. Every school counselor, advisor and administrator should be made aware of all of the non profit groups that provide youth with services. Similarly, police officers should be prepared to share the same information with youth with whom they come in contact on a daily basis.
A critical initiative would be the implementation of a green jobs apprenticeship program in our public high schools and underserved communities. Green jobs means working to solarize the District energy supplies, energy conservation, and urban farming. Note that vocational education is not sufficient, apprenticeship programs would guarantee a job upon successful completion of the program at graduation. 21st Century science, math and environmental education must be the rule, not the exception in all our public schools. Every student must be challenged to go on to a college education. For this to become a reality, we must move from a top down dictatorial style of administration now being implemented by the Fenty/Rhee administration to a collaborative educational process fully involving parents, teachers and students themselves.
Question 2
In the District, there are many stakeholders working with and on the behalf of youth. Schools, non-profit organizations, city agencies, recreation centers and programs, churches, and youth advocates all in their own way work toward the positive development of youth. However, even with all these stakeholders, the District does not have a clear, unified strategy for youth development. Do you think that a city-wide youth strategy that clarifies goals and unifies stakeholders is necessary and/or something that should be formed? How would you work toward forming a comprehensive city-wide youth strategy?
Chairman Gray has taken important initiatives to more fully involve youth in representing their concerns to our elected government. We should continue this approach after the election. If elected my office in the Wilson Building will be an organizing center for all worthy groups committed to realizing economic, social and environmental justice, especially for our children and youth. Further, greatly expanding outreach to youth is critical to encouraging their involvement in civic activities. I will have a community liaison with the special responsibility of leading focus groups in our schools, particularly in DC history classes. I will volunteer to teach such a class myself.
A city-wide youth strategy is imperative. Once elected I will urge the DC Youth Advisory Council (DCYAC) to convene Youth Town Hall meetings around the District, bringing the stakeholders together, including of course active participation of youth, in order to prepare a DC Agenda for Youth, with recommendations for funding priorities and legislation.
Part 3: Ensuring Stable, Safe, Productive Communities
Question 1
Communities and citizens across the District have expressed the concern that they believe the juvenile justice system is a revolving door for “young criminals” who should be punished rather than rehabilitated. At the same time evidence-based models show that reform models actually reduce repeat juvenile crime. What do you think is the proper balance between these two very different ideas of how to deal with juvenile offenders? What, if anything, would you change about how the District deals with those youth who are committed to the city’s juvenile justice agency or under any type of court supervision?
For more than 5 years, the District's Department of Youth and Rehabilitative Services has engaged in a reform process that has greatly improved outcomes for DC youth caught in the criminal "justice" system and reduced recidivism. Juvenile crime rates are consistently lower for the last several years, but these statistics are often misrepresented by those seeking a more punitive approach.
I support continuing the District's reform efforts, initiated under former DYRS Director Vinnie Schiraldi. It is important to recognize that youth are different from adults. All research indicates that immature brain development affects youth behavior, and that punitive approaches will do nothing to address the underlying problems. We need to expand education, counseling, drug treatment, and support services for youth caught in this system. We need to also understand the role of policing, where more than 90 percent of juveniles arrested are people of color in DC, an astounding and unacceptable figure.
I oppose the recent moves by the Mayor and the Office of the Attorney General to fire Mr. Schiraldi's replacement and install OAG's own Robert Hildum, an advocate of repressive and ineffective "get tough" policies. I am concerned about Peter Nickle's apparent conflict of interest in working against the reforms he helped to initiate when he was plaintiff's counsel in the long-standing Oak Hill litigation. Now, changing sides, Nickles is trying to return us to the bad old days of large prisons for juveniles, with minimal attention to rehabilitation efforts. This is not a strategy I support.
Question 2
These forums only happen during an election season. For many District residents, these elections activities are the only time they hear how you as a candidate will deal with youth issues. I’d like you to put yourself in the position of the elected candidate, four years from now. What would you say to District residents about how you approached youth issues during your term? What positive results will you be able to point to in your re-election campaign?
This is an outstanding question. I prioritized the elimination of child poverty by helping to organize from my Office in the Wilson Building a powerful city-wide coalition to curb corporate welfare, the long-term drain from our budget, to aggressively tap into federal funding and finally to make our DC tax structure both progressive and much more able to fund essential needs. As a result of these efforts and the final achievement of DC Statehood, child poverty was for all practical purposes finally eliminated, with a significant reduction in income inequality, the prime driver of bad health and erosion of democracy. A major contributor to a more just DC was my legislation resulting in the creation of the second state bank in the United States, the DC Municipal Bank which has leveraged our tax revenue and fines into green economic development and affordable housing, instead of giving our taxpayers money to Wall Street to invest (note the precedent of The Bank of North Dakota). (This may appear as a pipe dream, but the numbers add up, multi-million dollars in additional revenue per year can be created by this approach. Consider the nearly $1 billion of public funding for the baseball stadium. The regional corporate elite was able to finance that on the backs of DC’s low-income and working class majority.) Now we succeeded in financing a much more just D.C. These advances in economic, social and environmental justice achieved in the last four years have empowered our struggle for full citizenship rights, only obtainable by DC Statehood. We are now a state. We now have the power to tax the income of non-residents who constituted some 70% of the workforce in 2010. If I run for re-election it will be for a seat in the newly created legislature of New Columbia, the 51st state in the United States of America. Finally, the only DC party with ballot status that refuses to take donations from big developers and other corporate sources. the DC Statehood Green Party, has grown to rival the Democratic Party in membership and influence because it has sunk deep roots in every neighborhood in DC.
