CHANGES TO DC BUDGET SCHEDULE AND DDS BRIEFING

In today's DDS forum, Andy Reese announced that the mayor's budget release to the council will be slightly delayed, to April 5.  As a result, DDS will have only a short window to brief on its proposed budget, and that briefing will be on April 6 at noon.  The hearing before the DC council's Facilities committee on April 8 will now be for public witnesses only, and a separate hearing on April 23 has been scheduled for government witnesses.

Also at the March 27 forum, Brian McKie of the Department of Human Services went over the looming changes, especially work requirements, which will begin affecting SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits in May and TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) in October.  The slides from this presentation will be on the DDS website, here, next week, but there are likely to be questions about the very complex (and discouraging) changes, so people are encouraged to consult the Department of Human Services website at https://dhs.dc.gov/ and to use the call center at 202-727-5355.

Also in today's forum, there was a briefing about how ranked-choice voting will work beginning in the June primaries.  Again, the slides will be available here next week.

In light of all this complex information from today's forum, it's nice to look back on yesterday's great DDAM capstone event at DDS - here's one photo including the mayor, Andy Reese, and Donna and Ricardo Thornton

and two more at this link, showing award recipient council member Brianne Nadeau and accomplished violinist Braxton St. Hill.  Sorry I couldn't include all the great speakers and performers!

Full Agenda of Disability-related Events this Month and Next

This year's Developmental Disability Awareness Month events have been rich and exciting - I enjoyed the Lifeline/Project ACTION! gathering on March 14, learned a great deal from the panelists at the "Her Story" event on March 18, and was so happy to attend the DD council meeting in person the following day. (Check out the DD council website here.)

There's more to come!  This Thursday from 3-5 p.m. will be the capstone DDAM event at DDS headquarters, with the mayor and other dignitaries in attendance.  And on Friday, March 27, we'll have the regular DDS forum, on Zoom, where there will be a presentation on ranked-choice voting and updates on various benefits programs. Charlisa Payne (charlisa.payne2@dc.gov) can answer any questions you might have about either of these.

But hard on the heels of DDAM is budget season, and the mayor will be issuing her top-line budget on April 1, with the DDS briefing before the council coming on April 8.  There will also be a DDS budget briefing sometime before the 8th, so keep your eyes open for that.

I've also been asked by Yetta Myrick of DC Autism Parents to share this flyer about conversations starting this Wednesday, with respect to the need for greater accessibility of DPR locations and programming to all people with disabilities.  Please try to participate in at least one of these!

DDS performance review: Remote Supports and Waitlist Delay

The DDS performance review took place as announced last Thursday.  There were many witnesses for both ODR and DDS, and the DDS portion of the hearing didn't begin until early afternoon, lasting beyond 5 p.m.!  There clearly is growing interest and attention to all sorts of issues affecting DC's disability community.

The testimony of DDS Director Andy Reese is here, and my own is here, but there were many other witnesses and you can hear the entire hearing at this link.  The Facilities Committee video is about the tenth on the list (2/26/26) and testimony concerning DDS starts about 3 hours and 20 minutes into the video.  I don't have copies of others' testimony to share, but there were other important speakers, including ODR  interim director Peter Stephan.  It's always worth listening to the question-and-answer portion, which in many ways is the most interesting part of the hearing.  

But to provide the most important DDS headlines, Andy Reese announced another delay in implementation of a waitlist for services, seemingly until the fall, and he promised more details in his budget testimony later this spring.  He and others also spoke encouragingly about the remote-supports pilot program, now getting under way, as a promising route to greater independence among people receiving supports as well as a potential source of cost savings.  I, too, am looking forward to the remote-supports rollout, but I'm aware that some of the cautionary notes about implementation sounded by Jimi Lethbridge of the Quality Trust (who sadly is about to retire!) near the end of the hearing do need to be heeded.  There also was an interesting give-and-take between council member Lewis George and Shannon Austin during the Q and A for DDS, which I though was helpful in laying out the background and perspectives of the new RSA head.

Now things will move forward toward the mayor's issuance of her proposed budget early next month.  A lot is riding on the uncertainty around our tax season and how much revenue will actually be available.  I hope you'll stay on top of further developments and make sure to let your views be known when the DDS budget hearing is scheduled.

DDS Performance Review is This Week - Not too Late to Testify!

I wrote last month about the upcoming DDS and ODR performance review council hearing, and that will be happening on Thursday of this week.  You can register here to testify.  I know many have concerns about plans for a waitlist, as well as abrupt withdrawals of nutrition, fitness and other services that can be very important for those relying on them.  Any such changes need to happen after discussion with the person's team, and the person supported also needs the opportunity to appeal - so if you or someone you know is affected, I hope you'll plan to testify, whether in person or by Zoom.  There's also a new director for RSA who needs to hear about people's experiences with their transition and employment services, and that's also a topic at this hearing.

Last Friday's memorial service for Mat McCollough was very touching and a great reminder of how many people the former head of the Office of Disability Rights had reached, from the mayor, who spoke at the start of the service, to members of his family, and friends far and wide.  It's hard to imagine ODR testifying this Thursday without him at the table.

On Friday, the monthly DDS forum will take place at noon. (Contact Charlisa Payne at Charlisa.Payne2@dc.gov to get the Zoom link)  Following last month's detailed presentations on remote supports (find them here, toward the bottom), this month there will be further discussion of how remote supports are starting to be implemented under the pilot program, as well as programming in recognition of Black History Month (February) and Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month (March).

I want to take a moment to acknowledge that starting last year, DC has found itself in far more difficult budgetary circumstances than we've customarily been used to, in light of Congressional actions affecting Medicaid, and, more specifically, DC's ability to raise and spend our own local tax monies.  I won't get into more detail here, but if you'd like to read more you can look at some of the posts in my weekly newsletter called DClives.

These budget woes make the work of disability advocates harder as we try to protect the services and supports on which people rely.  With limited resources across the board, it's even more important to stand up and be heard.  This Thursday, and from now on throughout the FY2027 budget season.

Get Your Spurs On – New Challenges on the Disability Front this Year!

So much upheaval as the year gets under way.

First, the untimely death of Mat McCollough, the longtime head of our Office of Disability Rights and, above all, a stalwart of our local community.  To say he will be missed is such an understatement.  I have no word as yet about a memorial event but I know that planning is under way.

Second, planning continues in DDS to initiate a waitlist, with the startup now expected at the beginning of February.  Advocates and the DC council all question the necessity for a waitlist to be instituted at this stage, but DDS director Reese continues to underscore the necessity of doing so.  In the meantime, advocates continue to report that people are having supports discontinued abruptly, without people being notified in advance or given notice of their appeal rights.

Third, the waitlist and the cancellation of certain supports will certainly we foremost in the minds, and testimony, of advocates at the ODR and DDS performance review hearing before the DC council’s Facilities Committee on February 26 starting at 9:30.  I don’t yet find a signup page but will share that when I have it, since many voices will be needed at the table this year!

Fourth, I strongly encourage you to tune in a week from today – for the January 23 monthly DDS forum, where these and other topics will be on the agenda.

The new year has begun, and you have a lot to do to keep our local disability community moving in the right direction!

And the New Year Begins!

There will be a lot of news to come in 2026, but for now I'm feeling celebratory and will just redirect you to my new DClives post, which leads with the photo of the 5k shared by DDS a few days ago:  State of the District.

I hope your 2026 is getting off to a satisfactory start, despite the challenges...and I look forward to seeing you at the DDS forum on January 23!