All right.

Good afternoon.

I'm Al March Council Member Christina Henderson.

Chair of the committee on health.

Today is Tuesday, April twenty eighth, twenty twenty-six.

The time is twelve oh four PM.

We're in uh room four twelve of the John A.

Wilson building.

This is a hybrid hearing.

We have some witnesses that will be testifying in person as well as via the Zoom internet platform.

Um, this hearing is also being broadcast live on Channel 13 as well as on my YouTube page at CMC Henderson.

Before we start today's budget hearing for the Department of Health, we are going to hear testimony from one nominee to the Board of Nursing, Miss Brianna Jones.

Um, given the limited time that the committee has to consider nominations before they're deemed approved, we needed to schedule this round table on Ms.

Jones's appointment during the budget oversight season.

So I hope folks will bear with us.

It should not be a terribly long process.

Okay, so PR 26-600 nominates Miss Brianna Jones to the Board of Nursing as a nursing home administrator, assistant living administrator or home health aid administrator licensed in the district member.

She's filling a vacant seat formerly held by Ronald Chaley for the remainder of an unexpired term to end on July 21st, 2027.

Ms.

Jones is a licensed nursing home administrator with extensive experience and long-term care leadership and operations across the district.

She currently serves as the administrator of Inspire Rehabilitation and Health Center, where she leads the interdisciplinary teams and oversees daily operations for a 180-bed facility.

Prior to this role, she worked across multiple long-term care settings in the district, developing a particular expertise in regulatory compliance and facility turnaround.

She is passionate about improving access, equity, and quality outcomes for diverse older adult populations and long-term care settings.

Ms.

Jones holds a Bachelor's of Science degree in health science from Howard University and a Master of Health Administration from the University of Maryland College Park.

She also has a Master of Science and Aging and Health from Georgetown University and she's a Ward 5 resident.

So I'll welcome Ms.

Jones to provide her testimony.

Good afternoon.

Okay, so before you begin, I need to swear you in.

So if you could raise your right hand, do you swear or affirm under penalty of law that the testimony you're about to provide to the Council of the District of Columbia and this committee is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

I do.

Great.

When you're ready.

All right.

Good afternoon, Chairperson Henderson and members of the committee.

I am Brianna Jones, and it is my pleasure to receive your consideration for my nomination to serve on the Board of Nursing as the licensed nursing home administrator.

I am grateful to Merrill to Mayor Maryl E.

Bowser for nominating me and honored to have this opportunity to serve the residents of our district.

When I received the call regarding this nomination, I immediately reflected on my time as a senior at Howard University, where I managed to attend a Board of Long-Term Care open session.

I was inspired by watching an interdisciplinary group come together grounded in passion, guided with by empathy, and united in a shared commitment to improving systems that support healthy aging for older adults across the district.

While I had always known that long-term care and older adults were my calling, that experience solidified my desire to contribute beyond just a professional role.

Although the Board of Long-Term Care has since incorporated been incorporated under the Board of Nursing, that calling has remained with me.

I am now a quality assurance and performance improvement certified licensed nursing home administrator.

Though I am a native of Georgia, I have I have been professionally shaped here in the district.

I earned a Bachelor's of Science from Howard University, a Master's of Health Administration from the University of Maryland College Park, and a Master's of Science in Aging and Health from Georgetown University that I completed as a life care services senior living management scholarship recipient.

I have been honored for leadership and service, including recognition from Howard University, College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences with the Health Management Health Management Leadership and Community Service Award in 2016, as well as the Provost Distinguished Service Award in 2021.

My early career began in academic health care administration within the College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences, where I supervised administrative teams, developed standard operating procedures, and led data-driven program evaluations to strengthen organizational effectiveness.

In addition, I managed an $8 million budget, overseeing recruitment and staff development, and led large-scale projects, including accreditation readiness, and physical facility transitions.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I played a key role in the college's emergency response efforts to support safe continuity of operations and educational training for our students.

However, through the pandemic, I felt a clear personal call that it was time to transition fully into long-term care.

As older adults were among the most affected populations, I knew I was ready to serve more directly in this space.

I pursued my administrator and training program under a seasoned administrator with more than 20 years of experience.

After obtaining my license, I advanced quickly into an assistant administrator role for one of the largest skilled nursing facilities in the district.

That experience was invaluable in shaping my leadership, resilience, and operational expertise.

While I recognized early on that direct clinical care was not my path, my commitment to health care has always been rooted in supporting those who provide that care.

My leadership philosophy centers on ensuring frontline staff are equipped, supported, and empowered.

I continue I consistently ask do they have the resources they need?

Are they trained and licensed or processes accessible and meaningful?

How can organizations and government and the government better support the workforce beyond just the day-to-day operations?

I am also a strong advocate for ensuring individuals receive care in the most appropriate setting based on their needs.

While expanding access to supportive services that allow older adults to remain in their homes and communities whenever possible.

Throughout my career, I have led with a focus on regulatory compliance, quality improvement, resident-centered care, and workforce sustainability.

I bring firsthand knowledge of challenges facing long-term care, including staffing shortages, health disparities, reimbursement pressures, and an evolving regulatory and an ever-evolving regulatory environment.

I also bring experience collaborating with regulators into interdisciplinary teams and community partners to drive accountability and improvement.

In the district, the demand for long-term care continues to grow with projections showing that approximately 70% of adults age 65 and older will require long-term care services, while the district's older adult population continues to increase.

At the same time, we are facing significant workforce challenges.

Local data shows that health care worker shortages have intensified post-pandemic across all service areas, particularly among direct care workers and home health aides.

We are also seeing a shift in clinical complexity of residents entering skilled nursing facilities.

The district has identified a lack of adequate long-term care programs for individuals with complex psychiatric and behavioral health needs as well, highlighting a growing gap between resident acuity and available services.

Additionally, WorkFirst Pipeline data shows that roles such as nursing assistants, psychiatric aides, and licensed practical nurses remain among the highest demand health care positions in the district, reinforcing the urgency for work first workforce development and retention strategies.

If confirmed, I would be committed to advancing thoughtful, forward-thinking conversations that strengthen care delivery, support the workforce, and improve outcomes for residents and families across the district.

I would also work in addressing behavioral health needs among older adults, advancing culturally responsive and equitable care, supporting aging in place through community-based services, and enhancing family and caregiver support system programming.

I would be honored to contribute my expertise, perspective, and dedication to the Board of Nursing as I firmly believe this work is both a calling and a purpose.

Thank you, Chairperson Henderson, for the opportunity to testify before the committee.

I would be happy to respond to questions from you and the members of the committee.

Thanks so much, Ms.

Jones.

A few questions for you.

So you briefly served on the former Board of Long-Term Care Administration in 2024, as you mentioned in your testimony and just for the public, that board is now combined with the Board of Nursing.

What did you take away from that experience while serving on the long-term care board that you hope to bring to this particular nomination?

So I never served on the Board of Long-Term Care.

I attended an open open member session in 2016.

Okay.

All right, we'll check the records on that.

But I do hope to bring just a spirit of collaboration.

Looking forward to the long-term care position under the Board of Nursing because it will facilitate a more collaborative interdisciplinary approach.

Okay.

One of the concerns that was raised when we consolidated the boards in terms of long-term care to the Board of Nursing, was that the voice of long-term care would sort of be diminished, if you will.

How are you planning to sort of approach that to ensure that the needs of the constituency for whom you're representing are going to get their voices heard?

I actually view it as a more positive aspect because nursing, the Board of Nursing supports our workforce.

And so it's an opportunity for us to work more collaboratively and to collab working together just to put forth better initiatives for our workforce overall.

So you're currently an administrator at InSpire uh rehabilitation.

So the organization or your company rather has an existing relationship with the Department of Health Care Finance and DC Health.

And then given that the Board of Nursing has some uh some authority over facilities like Inspire, how do you intend to manage any potential conflicts of interest that may arise?

Um I think it's uh positive to be open and honest about any potential conflicts um up front and recruit recuse myself where needed.

Okay.

Um so uh CMS, the Federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services repealed.

Um there was a bid and error rule um that had minimum nurse home staffing requirements.

Um this was repealed in February of 2026, eliminating requirements for 24-7 registered nurses and minimum staffing hours.

The district has its own standard in place in terms of staffing standards.

In your view, um, what does the federal rollback mean for federal for facilities and residents here in the district and what role should the board be playing in sort of responding to some of these rule changes from the federal government?

Um I think that DC Health can continue to do what they feel is best for their residents, which is upholding the minimum requirement for staffing.

Um I asked this of all of our nominees.

Um hopefully you've had a conversation with um DC Health about the uh time requirement for this very important and yet also volunteer position that you are not paid for and yet requires a lot of time.

Um you're currently serving as a full-time administrator for a 180 bed facility.

Um I'm gonna assume that DC Health will talk to you about the time commitment, but I need to hear verbally that you're able to meet the time commitment for serving.

Yes, ma'am, I am.

Okay.

All right.

Um, I have to say you have a very impressive record in terms of your career.

Um stepping into facilities, turning them around.

I think in one case you've cleared uh 19 deficiencies across two um well, you cleared 19 deficiencies in the span of three months, which is incredibly impressive.

Um how are you able to achieve that?

And what advice can you offer to some of your colleagues in the in the in the business?

Uh I'm quality driven.

Um, that is what led me to long-term care um in general, is just improving the quality of care.

So that laser focus in putting plans in place to address um whatever deficiencies have been identified.

Um, and I can also attribute that um to my background in academia where I helped with maintaining accreditation for um nursing programs and occupational therapy programs, and so just bringing that experience to the table as well in writing those plans of correction and also trusting but also verifying every single audit, every single um component to make sure that we're doing the things that we have told our residents and those families that we say we're gonna do.

Um, I'm looking forward to a voice in terms of long-term care being on the board of nursing.

Um we've had some pending regulations that I feel like have been pending for far too long as it pertains to certified nursing assistants or certified nurse aids rather.

Um, and hopefully um with your confirmation and presence on the board, we can get some quicker movement from the board of nursing and sort of taking up some of these matters.

Um I don't have any further questions.

Is there anything you want to say for the record that I didn't ask you?

Uh no, ma'am, I just appreciate your time this morning.

Okay, so what I think is the plan, and I'm gonna look to my staff and they'll tell me if I'm incorrect or not, is that we will consider your nomination when we mark up the budget for this committee, um, which is I think like May 18th.

20.

Oh, 20.

May 20.

Okay.

Same week.

Nonetheless, um, so uh the record will remain open until the record rule will remain open until May 18th.

So if anybody has anything that they want to submit around this particular nomination, um please do so at that time.

Um I don't have any further questions.

Thank you so much for your time.

Okay, so I've been told that I have to end this hearing and then I have to restart for the budget hearing.

So the time is 1220, and uh this hearing is adjourned, and we'll be right back.

Okay, we're back.

All right, we're going to turn to the FY27 budget hearing for DC Health.

We'll only be hearing from public witnesses today.

Dr.

Ayana Bennett, who is the director of DC Health and her team will appear before the committee on Monday, May 4th at 9.30 a.m.

Dr.

Bennett and her team are watching and listening today, and they'll hopefully respond to some of the concerns or issues raised.

The Department of Health, or known as DC Health provides and services, provides programs and services with the ultimate goal of reducing the burden of disease and improving opportunities for health and well-being for all district residents and visitors.

DC Health does this through a number of mechanisms that center around prevention, promotion of health, expanding access to health care, and increasing health equity.

With over 800 FTEs, DC Health is organized into six administrations that range from community health, policy planning and evaluation, HIV AIDS, hepatitis STD and TB administration, health systems and preparedness, and environmental health.

Before we get started, I just want to review our testimony guidelines for today.

So every witness will have three minutes to testify.

It's not because we don't want to hear what you have to say, but we want to hear what everyone has to say.

And we do have a lengthy witness list today.

If you're in the room, there are clocks in front of you.

Don't ignore them.

The lights are there.

And if we see a pattern of ignoring, we'll we'll use the buzzer.

I don't want to use that.

For those who are online, if you have us in gallery view, there will be a clock that is there.

Okay, so I'm going to call the first panel of witnesses.

And we'll go from there.

Okay.

Alex Moore from DC Central Kitchen.

Leah Caslis from Children's Law Center.

Uh Joseph Liu from Capital Area Food Bank.

All right.

Ms.

Jaboule has asked to go virtual a little bit later.

Lakeisha Torrell from Unity Health.

Justin Palmer from D.C.

Hospital Association.

Okay.

Mr.

Moore, when you're ready.

Uh good morning.

Honorable Chairperson Henderson and members of the committee.

Thank you for convening today's hearing.

My name is Alex Moore, and I'm representing DC Central Kitchen, which has served the District of Columbia for 37 years.

DC Health has become one of our most steadfast strategic and important partners over the past decade.

We applaud Mayor Bowser's continued support of DC Health's healthy food access initiatives and the agency's leadership role in implementing innovative food programs and policies in our city.

The mayor's proposed budget again offers stable funding to DC Health programs that residents now trust and rely on, including the Healthy Corner Stores Program.

As you know, Councilmember, Healthy Corners brings fruits and vegetables to more than 50 small corner stores, building small business capacity, and providing 27,000 SNAP customers with healthy options in their own communities.

The Mayor's budget includes flat funding for healthy corner store programming this year, a consistent amount we believe will allow the program to meet its essential needs in FY27.

We respectfully ask you to support and protect this level of funding as the budget process moves ahead.

DCCK is just one of many nonprofits doing critical work to fight hunger and chronic disease in DC, and our work only works when it is part of a larger, more holistic set of interventions.

The mayor's budget again largely maintains funding for key initiatives by Fair Food members receiving DC Health grant funds for which we are grateful.

It's also worth noting that many of DC Health's food access grants are currently being rebid and renewed, including funding for healthy corners.

In fact, our grant application is due today.

So maybe we rethink that uh timing in future years.

Uh regardless of how these awards are ultimately decided or in whether or not DCCK is a selected for a grant, we strongly believe that these funds are vital to our city's future health and urge the council to ensure they are in the FY27 budget and beyond.

Finally, we would like to call the committee's attention to another critical food issue tied to this year's budget, the defunding of the DC Food Policy Council and proposed repeal of the very legislation that created it more than a decade ago.

We fully appreciate the countless difficult decisions that our public officials have made and must make during this challenging budget cycle.

We know some programs will be cut and physicians eliminated.

But this cut is one that provides at best a marginal short-term cost savings while causing long-term damage to our progress toward a local food system that is sustainable, equitable, and healthy.

We believe it is a mistake to eliminate DC's coordinating body for food-related emergency response at a time when emergencies seem like the new norm.

We believe it is a mistake to remove a powerful mechanism for transparency and detailed reporting at a time when what our city spends on nutrition, health, and food-related economic development must deliver measurable and even urgent returns.

I have seen the hard work of this council and its dedicated staff firsthand since this body was created.

I've seen it keep people fed and safe during the worst of the pandemic, and then pivot to shaping economic investments in food businesses from Ward 7 and 8.

This is the work of good government done well, and it deserves to continue.

DC Central Kitchen respectfully asks this committee and the council to find a way to secure the Food Policy Council's future, both through the funding it needs and a suitable location within a well-aligned district agency.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Leo.

Good afternoon, Chairperson Henderson staff.

DC Health is an agency of diverse responsibilities as seen across this panel itself, touching the lives of DC residents across all neighborhoods.

Every performance oversight season we hear of the vast responsibilities of the agency and see how these numerous responsibilities play out firsthand for Children's Law Center clients and DC residents.

My written testimony touches across these topics, including DC Healthy Homes, Community Health Workers, Licensure, Home Visiting, Healthy Steps, and DC MAP.

In particular, we want to emphasize the role DC Health plays in prevention, particularly for the district's youngest residents and their families.

When it comes to critical prevention services, DC Health's proposed FY27 budget does not paint a rosy picture.

Instead, it sets back years of investment in progress.

These cuts include a complete cut to local funds for DC Healthy Steps programming, a significant reduction of local funds for home visiting, and the potential end to DC MAP due to loss of funding.

In difficult budget times, it is easy, it feels easy to cut prevention in favor of intervention.

We, however, would discourage this mindset.

From a financial perspective, return on investment for prevention is well documented.

Moreover, these cuts will diminish the district's strong foundation and year-long investments.

Turning to DC Health's decision to completely eliminate funding for healthy steps, which will almost entirely eliminate healthy steps from the district and walk back on years of progress.

As you well know, Healthy Steps Embeds, behavioral health professionals in the primary care setting.

And the importance of the program is recognized by an inclusion in the birth to three legislation.

I will let others speak about the incredible, well-documented work they do across these sites supporting DC children and families.

I will instead focus on the abrupt loss of funding.

I want to note none of the sites were notified by the agency, and no discussions have happened with the sites on alternative routes for sustained funding.

The reality is that May through September 2026 is not enough time to move forward sustained funding efforts, especially when there have been no prior discussions with sites.

The organizations implementing healthy steps would need significantly more time to prepare and advance any new funding models that the agency is considering.

The loss of funding was a quick, rash decision that did not leverage relevant stakeholder input.

Therefore, we asked the committee to restore the 1.3 million cut to healthy steps.

We would welcome the opportunity to work with DC Health and DHCF on building sustained funding for healthy steps, but time and planning is needed.

The DC Healthy Steps Learning Collaborative would be happy to engage in these conversations.

We would also ask the committee to explore restoration of funding for cuts to DC MAP and home visiting, critical programs that build a strong continuum of preventative care and access to behavioral health services in the district.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

I welcome any questions the committee may have.

Thank you.

Joseph Sure Henderson, my name is Joe Liu, and I'm a Ward 3 resident and director of advocacy at the Capillary Food Bank.

The food bank is the anchor of the hunger relief infrastructure in the Capitol to serve the 40% of district residents who are food insecure.

Last year we had to provide 10.7 million meals in DC.

From our warehouse in Ward 5, we supply groceries to 88 other community-based organizations who in turn put it in the hands of our neighbors.

Additionally, we distribute directly at a community market in the Rosedale Rec Center, 19 mobile markets at 20 DC public schools, and 10 after-school and summer meal sites.

For older adults, we have 72 grocery plus locations and nine senior brownbag sites.

Every month we serve 5,069 seniors age 60 plus through grocery plus, and that's made possible in part through a 410,000 local funds transfer from DACL to DC Health.

It's been in place for several years, and we are grateful to the council and the mayor for making that additional funding available.

DC is one of the few states in the nation that supplements federal funds for grocery plus.

And the impact of that investment is amplified through other resources.

Through private donations, we give each of those seniors an extra 10 pounds of fresh produce every month with the help of Fresh Farm.

They get a $50 electronic benefit to get local produce at our farmers' markets.

And then homebo seniors are able to get their groceries delivered through a partnership we have with DoorDash.

But we don't work in isolation.

We're here today with a whole network of innovative food access organizations dreaming out loud, Fresh Farm, Martha's Table, DC Central Kitchen, Food and Friends, DC Greens.

We're all part of an essential cohesive system.

A critical part of that ecosystem is the DC Food Policy Council.

It's helped us strategize how and where we can do the most good for our neighbors.

Unfortunately, the mayor's FY27 budget eliminates the Food Policy Council, and last Friday, they dismissed the director.

We urge this committee to restaff the council, fund it in FY27, and consider finding it a home in DC Health or another suitable agency.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Justin.

Good afternoon, Chair Henderson and members of the Committee on Health.

My name is Justin Palmer, the Vice President for Public Policy and External Affairs at the District of Columbia Hospitals Association and a Ward 7 resident.

I appreciate the opportunity to present testimony on DC Health's FY27 budget.

DCHA is the unifying force advancing hospitals and health systems in the District of Columbia.

We are committed to promoting policies and initiatives that strengthen our system of care, preserve access, eliminate disparities, and promote better health outcomes for our patients and our community.

Our driving vision is to achieve an efficient and effective health care delivery system that supports a healthy, equitable, and vibrant community.

As we we review DC Health's FY27 budget, we believe it is critical that investments are maintained across essential services.

While we recognize shifts at the federal level have placed added pressure on community health programs that play a role in prevention and early intervention, we support continued investment in addressing chronic disease, improving maternal and infant health, and ensuring the health care workforce remains strong.

The FY27 budget should prioritize investments for parental and infant health.

Our hospitals value our ongoing partnership with the department in this space.

We are actively expanding our efforts through the perinatal quality collaborative to reduce disparities and improve maternal and infant health outcomes.

This is evident in our growing participation across hospitals, the adoptions of standardized protocols, and the use of data to identify and address gaps and recognizing hemorrhage events.

We are pleased to see the inclusion of additional FTEs to support health professional licensing and want to ensure the proposed reduction of $2 million within the FY27 budget does not impact their ability to issue licenses licenses to the additional professionals included in the HORA revision, as well as the professionals awaiting licensure implementation prior to the revisions.

As we shared during performance oversight, recent efforts to streamline nurse licensure have meaningfully improved the process for our hospitals.

We are grateful for the continued partnership with Dr.

Bennett and Senior Deputy Director Sam Hurley.

Continued investment investment in staffing will be essential to maintain this progress.

As we discussed earlier this year, addressing the workforce needs in the health sector remains fundamental to supporting the health and well-being of district residents and ensuring long-term stability of health care delivery system.

We are concerned by the nearly $750,000 reduction in the high needs health care career scholarship program.

The scholarship program plays a vital role in helping individuals obtain the credentials needed for occupations in high demand.

We also support continued investment in the health and medical coalition.

This program provides critical support across the health care system to respond effectively to public health emergencies and mash housing incidents the district may face.

Over the past year, these resources have enabled ongoing safety drills and preparedness exercises, supporting hospitals and testing protocols, enhancing coordination, and ensuring they are fully equipped to respond to rapidly rapidly in times of crisis.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify, and I'm happy to answer your questions.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you so much to this panel of witnesses.

You know, I don't think it is surprising at all that two of our first four panelists were talking about food and the important of food and nutrition, especially in light of everything else that's going on.

I was actually just talking to some of my colleagues and concerning around the SNAP work requirements that are now in effect.

And if we don't fund on the local side our food access programs, the incredible strain that we'll have on programs like DC Central Kitchen and the programs that are offered by the Capital Area Food Bank.

Let me ask both Joe and Alex.

Have your organizations had any conversations with anyone in DC government around providing additional resources to meet what will be most assuredly an additional need for some of the programs that you all are offering.

You said 40?

40.

Each family.

Each family.

We are boosting our targets for the amount of food we're distributing next year.

And we are working with DHS on ways to help SNAP clients get their work requirements in through volunteer activities, ways for us to certify and help them continue their benefits.

But that's only going to be a small portion of the need.

These are complex changes that will cut across agencies, will cut across different public-private partnerships, nonprofits will affect our local businesses.

And that type of convening power to ensure the dollars we do spend are spent well has frankly never been more important.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Frankly, I I can appreciate that they've reached out in terms of helping folks with the volunteer hours and otherwise, but we're talking about 17,000 people.

No question.

Right.

Like there's only but so much uh volunteer capacity that we have amongst our our our nonprofits and groups in in the district.

And I feel like I've been asking for once what's our plan.

It it sucks that it's happening at the same time that we have these changes happening on the federal side.

So the economy of DC is being squeezed at the same time that everybody needs a job.

Right.

And there are some pieces there.

Um Joe, how much additional did you guys ask for in your request to the mayor?

If you feel comfortable sharing.

Um I'm not sure we got very far in the process in those requests.

Um didn't uh we're told pretty early on that it wasn't possible.

Um but we are adding 10 million meals um in our budget to sort of on top of the 10.7 million that you just did last year.

Right.

An additional 10 million meals for the region, but a significant expansion of our service and reach and our support to food pantries around the area.

Okay.

Um, we know when when folks can't eat or feed their families, it has impacts in other parts of public life.

Um so this is definitely important.

And and I hear you, Alex and Joe on the Food Policy Council.

Um the executive has heard from me on this uh the last couple of days.

And so I still think it has value.

I think the work that they were doing was incredible, especially the stuff that we're about to do on food procurement, where I feel like we are paying more and getting less because everybody is doing their own thing, and there's not a central office that's kind of looking at it to help provide advice to even the contracting officers at OCP who don't have expertise in food.

Um and then we also got multiple anyway.

I won't go down that road, but just know that I'm hopeful that we can find it a a a home that has better synergies than where it's currently placed.

Um Justin, thank you for being here.

Thanks for your testimony.

Um Leah, thank you as well.

Um we'll have some questions from for DC Health on uh Healthy Healthy Steps.

I feel like every program they do starts with healthy.

We need to get a little bit more creative.

Um brand at least.

Sure, but like I got healthy DC, healthy steps, smart steps, like this too much.

Um, but thank you so much.

I don't have any further questions.

Please make sure you provide your testimony for the record if you haven't done so already.

All right.

Um, Carrie uh Stephus.

Food and Friends, uh, Brendan O'Donnell.

Food and friends.

All right.

Uh Meredith Oulette from Potomac River Clinic.

And uh Dr.

Charlene Otley.

Okay.

Carrie, when you're ready.

Good afternoon, Chair Henderson.

I'm Carrie Stalts, who's CEO of Food and Friends.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today, and for this committee's commitment to the health and dignity of our most vulnerable DC neighbors.

We're also grateful for our partnership with Dr.

Bennett and the team at DC Health.

I'm here today to request your support for level funding of $1,335,000 for medically tailored meals, which is currently included in the community health administration's budget and the mayor's FY27 budget proposal.

This investment is a lifeline for thousands of DC residents fighting serious illnesses.

Food and Friends continues to face unprecedented demand for our services.

Last year we delivered over one million medically tailored meals to over 3,000 district residents and their dependents at no cost to them.

Nearly half live in Ward 7 and 8.

We provide critical support and education that helps our clients manage complex conditions like diabetes, cancer, kidney disease, and HIV AIDS.

67% of the households we serve have a monthly income of less than $1,800.

And for each dollar we receive from the district, we raise $3.65 from other sources, making this public investment a true multiplier.

The impact of this work shows up clearly in the lives of our clients.

90% say their health has improved.

Medically tailored meals impact individuals and the district's healthcare system.

Our research shows that our clients experience a 34% reduction in hospital visits, a 45% reduction in potentially avoidable health care utilizations, and a 37% reduction in hospital charges.

Food and Friends is also at a is also at a once-in-a-generation growth point.

Twenty years ago, DC invested nearly one million to keep Food and Friends in the district as we moved from Southeast to Northeast DC and expanded our services.

As we plan for an expansion that will begin this summer, we respectfully request an investment of 1.5 million over three years or 500,000 in FY27 towards our $30 million facility expansion budget.

This represents just 5% of the project costs, but will double our capacity to serve district residents over the next decade.

This expansion ensures we remain anchored here for the next 40 years, continuing to fill a critical gap in the district's health care safety net.

And I'm excited to report that we have already raised 71% of our fundraising goal from generous donors.

I want you to hear directly from one of the neighbors we serve, Brendan, a DC resident, who will offer testimony today about what Food and Friends has meant to him.

His story speaks to what this funding actually does.

It delivers hope, healing, and dignity.

We also support the requests of uh the other groups in the Fair Food for All DC Coalition, and we're grateful for your support of our mission and look forward to continuing to serve the people of the district together.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Brendan.

Hello, good afternoon.

This is Brendan O'Donnell.

I live in World 6.

I am 47 years old.

I was told at a young age that I wouldn't be able to walk or talk.

I am a client of Food and Friends.

I am in support of CHA FLAT funding for home delivered medically tailored meals at what's that?

100.

A million.

A million three hundred and thirty-five dollars.

Wow.

When you first down in the nose, it was because I got a sore that became infected.

It turned into uh necrotizing fasciitis.

Necrotiz.

I had five surgeries, and then I was diagnosed with diabetes.

I was shocked.

I cried a little because I knew my life would change.

I love to eat, to change, and it would be hard to learn how to take care of myself in a new way.

My Dr.

Medstar referred me to Food and Friends, which is a wonderful place.

At the time, I was overwhelmed from everything.

Dialinosis is in the hospital and learning how to manage my health.

I had to learn how to organize my freezer, which is pretty organized and planned meals each week.

I would space and stay on track.

Food and friends provide me with medically tailored meals that are nutritious that keep my blood sugar in range.

The meals are provided in easy way to heat up six minutes, which makes it so much easier for me in healthy choices.

I really look forward to Thursdays to see the uh what food I will get.

I get excited when I get humas.

Favorite chicken and grits, the meals help me remember to take my uh insulin on time and eat.

It's not just food and friends, dialination has been a help also, helped me understand and manage my blood sugar, food, water intake.

It's not just food and friends.

It's dietitian is have been a big help, especially Jennifer.

She has helped me manage and understand the manage of my blood sugar and food and water intake.

When I was diagnosed, I was I needed a home health aid uh to help me uh with my insulin shots.

It was so scary to learn how uh to break my finger and give that to myself.

How I can do it on my own, stay on a schedule that made me feel so proud and more independent.

Now I am managing my diabetes better and staying on track and feel stronger.

And I believe food and friends helps me do better in physical.

Food imprints don't do uh just deliver the meals.

They are your ability to heal, to stay on uh out of the hospital, stay nutritious through the treatments, stay connected to your community when illness makes uh the world feel small for me.

The that made the difference.

Last year, food imprint served more than 6,000 neighbors across the region delivering meals over two point two million.

Wow.

Medically uh tailored meals for you.

Eighty-six percent of clients reported in parts of their health and better health.

I am one of those people.

And there are thousands more like the district who depend on their support.

Thank you for your uh countless support, food and friends, and for all for your care of residents like me.

Thank you, Brendan.

Thank you.

Uh Meredith.

Oh, sure, Dr.

Ollie.

Good afternoon, Councilmember Henderson and members of the committee.

My name is Dr.

Charlene Otley, and I'm a speech language therapist whose work centers on ensuring infants and young children receive timely hearing identification, intervention, and family support.

I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you again to discuss how our clinic can support the loss to follow-up numbers for infants in the district.

What we've already done, what the data shows may still be needed, and a concrete solution to get us there.

Nationally, about 25% of infants who do not pass their newborn hearing screening never receive the diagnostic follow-up they need.

In Washington, D.C., that number is close to 80%.

The brain develops rapidly in the first months of life.

Delays in diagnosis mean delays in access to hearing aids, cochlear implant evaluation, and early intervention, the very services that close the gap between an underserved child with hearing loss and their hearing peers.

The 136 benchmarks endorsed by the CDC and the Joint Committee on Infant Hearing are clear.

Screen by one month, diagnosed by three, intervene by six.

Research has shown that long wait times, transportation barriers, language access gaps, insurance obstacles, obstacles, and complex uncoordinated referral pathways are a systemic problem and not a family problem.

We have not waited.

Our clinic has already implemented the following to directly address DC's loss to follow-up crisis.

We offer free auditory brainstem response testing for infants who refer on their newborn hearing screenings.

There's no out-of-pocket cost to families.

We main rapid access to care.

Our average wait time for ABR testing is seven to eight days from initial contact compared to several months at some area hospitals.

We coordinate actively with DC Health on referral pathways and reduction strategies.

We conduct outreach to local birthing hospitals so they know that our free ABR program exists.

And we provide transportation and interpretation services when family need them.

These efforts have made a difference, but barriers still remain, and the most significant one is structural.

Our clinic is small, not metro accessible, and cannot reach families where they are.

That is why we are proposing a mobile audiology clinic or unit, rather.

The concept is straightforward.

Bring the services to the families rather than requiring families to come to us.

By partnering with trusted community-based locations, federally qualified health centers, daycare centers, libraries, churches, residences, and community gatherings throughout the district, we can dramatically expand our reach, reduce missed follow-up, and accelerate the path from screening to diagnosis to intervention.

My colleague Meredith Willette will now tell you more about the proven model behind this proposal, including organizations doing this work right now, and what becomes possible when barriers to access are removed.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Meredith.

I've got to turn your mic on.

Hit the button.

There you go.

There we go.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

Thank you for having us back.

My name is Meredith Willette, and I'm the clinical director at Potomac River Clinic.

What my colleague Dr.

Otley described is a solvable problem, and we know it is solvable because others have already solved it.

The model we're proposing is not untested, it's already working.

Our clinic is a member of the Mobile Audiology Consortium, a national group of organizations that operate or are actively developing fully equipped mobile audiology units that are that bring audiological testing and diagnostic services directly into communities.

Consortium members include healthcare systems, private organizations, as well as public-private partnerships.

Through this network, we've learned from real-world implementation what works, what to anticipate, and how to avoid common pitfalls that as we build our own model.

I'd like to highlight one consortium member that illustrates what is possible.

The Hearts for Hearing Organization in Oklahoma launched a mobile audiology program specifically to address one of the worst loss to follow-up rates in the country.

The result is now a 0% loss to follow-up rate for the programs that they administer.

Zero.

That is the standard we're aiming for in DC.

Briefly, I'd like to tell you two other success stories, but this time to come through the Potomac River Clinic and the DC public school system.

Erin and Grace were both born profoundly deaf, both received a timely diagnosis and their cochlear implants early.

Both received early intervention through our clinic, attended the River School, and then matriculated into DC public schools.

As a middle schooler, Grace helped successfully advocate for DC Medicaid to cover the cost of cochlear implant surgeries, and she went on to attend Tufts University and is now attending medical school there.

Aaron excelled in academics and athletics throughout high school.

He went on to study sociology and psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was also a running back on their football team.

Erin is now attending law school at Drexel University.

These are just two examples as what of what is possible for babies born with profound deafness when there is early identification, appropriate amplification, and intervention.

With DC's loss to follow-up rate, close to 80%, we cannot afford to wait.

Every month of delay is a month of brain development that a child will never get back.

A strategic public-private partnership and investment in a mobile audiology unit will enable our clinic to reach infants who would otherwise be lost to care, reduce the time between screening and diagnosis, and expand equitable access across every ward in the district.

We know what the problem is, and we have already started solving it, and we have a proven model.

We have a plan.

What we need now is your partnership.

Together, we can ensure that every child in DC who needs follow-up care receives it when it matters most.

And we can reduce DC's loss to follow-up rate to zero.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you to this panel of witnesses.

Thank you, Brendan, for being here and sharing your experience with food and friends.

Carrie, talk to me a little bit about this expansion situation.

Is it current on your current site?

It is, yeah.

An addition to our building on the land that we own at Riggs Road.

Okay.

An expansion of our services in the district.

Okay.

When is construction anticipated to begin?

Uh later this summer.

Oh, okay.

So fairly in an immediate situation.

Okay.

Um, make no promises, but you do good work.

Thank you.

So let's see if one of my colleagues want to float some money.

Um this way.

We will welcome and take it.

Uh okay.

Um Dr.

Otley and Meredith.

Um, I I noticed in your beautifully crafted testimony, neither of you said how much this costs.

That's okay.

We have your full testimony.

Um talk to me, Joe, but a little bit about like obviously you have an independent practice, but um there are other clinics, hospitals, etc.

Um, even insurance companies who have mobile units for certain things.

Um I don't know the particular politics of trying to partner in this particular area.

I mean, I think children's just cut a ribbon on a um a mobile uh clinic like a a week or so ago.

Um audiology though is not the one is not an area that we often talk about.

All right, I got mobile clinics for dental, I got mobile clinics for medical.

This is a little bit different.

I even think we have mobile clinics for optometry as well.

Um you had any of those conversations to talk to a I don't know, a care first or whoever who's they have requirements of how they have to spend a certain amount of community money.

So we have had not a lot of um leeway or access to the payers to the insurance companies.

We've not had a lot of good luck there.

Welcome any any collaboration.

Um we have had good luck with some of the community partners.

Um, when Dr.

Beers was still with DC when he was still here, they he set us up with the medical directors, and we talked about having a partnership to go in.

They were going to provide space at all the FQHCs and through children's to do the work.

They were very excited because no one has wanted to do a mobile audiology unit.

There's all the others.

The cost is primarily in the equipment and the setup of the mobile unit because it needs specified, very specific um highly individualized equipment for the audiology booth and the testing for ABR testing.

So it's not something that can transfer between units.

So it's built from the ground up on that unit.

Why then a mobile a mobile audiology unit van, et cetera, as opposed to partnering with the FQUs to use some of their spaces.

So for instance, we did a tour at Mary Center earlier this year.

Um their space on Georgia.

Um, you know, they've built out some new spaces, but like they partner with a provider to come in to do dental or a provider to come in and do optometry or XYRZ.

And I'd imagine that there's probably some crossover in those who are lost to follow-up and those who are also getting their health care at FQs.

Absolutely.

And one of the problems with ABR testing is it has to be very quiet and the baby has to sleep.

So that is one of the other things is having a contained space, which is why some of the programs go to sedated ABR testing instead of sleep ABRs, which is the ideal is to do sleep ABR testing.

So the baby, the mom or caregiver nurses or feeds the baby until they fall asleep, and then the ABR test is administered with leads on the baby while they sleep.

They have to remain asleep the whole time.

So noisy loud clinics can also pick up ambient noise, so you have to have absolute quiet and all of the equipment.

Um, only some of it is portable, so you're limited if you take portable equipment with you.

So that's why the van is outfitted as like a mobile booth, an audiological booth.

Oh, I see.

Soundproof.

Exactly.

All of the soundproof testing and all of that computer equipment and other extra complication to it.

Now, just hypothetically speaking, as we're only talking in hypothetical because I don't have any money.

Right.

Um, let's say there we were able to do a grant for a portion, not the whole.

Maybe like the equipment piece, but not the ongoing recurring costs that you have in terms of personnel.

Do you all have a plan to get to the other piece of it?

Actively.

I mean, I think we're just actively actively working on it now.

So I think it was just continue what we're doing is to continue that piece.

So I don't I feel like we've always been a clinic that no matter what, we're gonna keep doing the work even when reimbursement rates are super low, even when we're not getting money, we just want the kids to get what they need.

So that's kind of what we are.

And I do think continuing to find that public private partnership.

So we are looking to invest in this and find continued grant sources and others to help partner with it.

And I think that's what'll make it most successful in in the long term and sustaining instead of just an initial cost in order to maintain it over is finding other foundations and places that can work with us as well.

Well, there are a lot of fun people who watch and listen to this hearing, so hopefully maybe.

Um, I don't have any further questions for this panel.

Thank you so much for being here.

Thank you for the question.

And please provide your written testimony for the record if you haven't done so.

All right, um, Selim Adolpho.

Uh Gabby Hedrick.

Joanne Odom.

Lakeisha Tyrrell.

Is that you?

Okay.

Okay, hold on.

Okay, she's here.

All right.

Uh, and uh Catherine Gilbert.

Great.

Okay, Gabby, when you're ready.

Good afternoon, Chairperson Henderson and members of the committee.

My name is Gabby Hedrick.

I'm a Ward 3 resident and an assistant professor of public health nutrition at George Washington University.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.

My testimony today addresses two fiscal year 27 budget proposals.

First, the 100,000 dollar cut to the farmers market support grants, and second, the elimination of the Office of Planning's food policy team and council through the Food Policy Functions Amendment Act.

As an urban food systems researcher and registered dietitian, I currently lead a study on dignified grocery access in Washington, D.C., in partnership with the Office of Planning's food policy team.

Their partnership has extended beyond a typical advisory role.

They help shape the research aims and approach from the outset.

Over the last month, we have been conducting in-depth interviews with nearly 30 residents in the district.

And when we ask how they want to invest 10 million dollars to improve food access in the district, nearly all participants have identified farmers' markets as a priority.

One participant, a single mother receiving WIC in the district, described farmers' markets this way, this way, and I quote I just feel like farmers' markets are so diverse in what they provide, and they bring the community together together.

And you can directly ask questions about your food to the person producing it.

It is the most cost-effective way to provide people with a high quality shopping experience and to directly put money back into the pockets of the community.

And also just the vibes are great.

Farmers markets are a setting where residents can stretch federal nutrition assistance dollars through programs like Produce Plus, which I'm happy to see remains supported in this budget alongside healthy corner stores and joyful food market.

Reducing local infrastructure during a period of federal snap and wick uncertainty would compound access constraints for these shoppers.

The 100,000 dollar cut to the farmers market support grants would shrink a program that brings markets to low food access neighborhoods, which therefore reinforces systemic barriers to healthy food access.

Our research project would not be viable without the food policy team and council.

The study is one of only seven projects funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's healthy eating research program out of more than 300 applicants nationwide.

The food policy team functions as a bridge between data, community experiences, and policy implementation across all eight wards.

Their engagement and subject matter expertise contribute to the methodological rigor of the work and also to the translations of our findings into policy change.

Eliminating that team would end this research partnership and would also reduce the district's capacity to attract federal and philanthropic research dollars, engage residents at scale, and coordinate across agencies.

Restoring full funding for the farmers market support grants would promote program reach and low food access neighborhoods.

Preserving the Food Policy Council and a dedicated food policy team, whether at the Office of Planning or housed within an alternative agency such as DC Health, would maintain the district's capacity for cross-agency food systems coordination.

The specific organization of the home, the specific organizational home matters less than whether the function, staffing, and council structure are preserved and adequately resourced.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Joanne?

Good afternoon.

Joanne, got to turn your mic on.

Hit the button right in front of it.

There you go.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Chairperson Henderson and members of the committee.

My name is Joanne Odom.

I'm a clinical social worker, a perinatal mental health specialist, and the Healthy Steps Implementation Lead with the Medstar Georgetown University Hospital Kids Mobile Medical Clinic.

The first thousand days of life represent a period of rapid brain development.

Healthy Steps expands what pediatric primary care can offer by embedding developmental and behavioral health expertise within preventive care visits.

While the pediatrician focuses on the child's medical care, the Healthy Steps Specialist supports the caregiver child relationship, helps reduce parental stress, and strengthens engagement in care.

The impact of this model is clear for the families we serve, of which 53% live in wards 5, 7, and 8, 71% are covered by Medicaid, while 17 to 25% are uninsured or experience intermittent insurance coverage.

Despite these disruptions in insurance coverage, 79% have received expected EPTSDT visits, and 84% received recommended vaccine dosages.

Healthy Steps strengthens behavioral screening and caregiver support.

91% of caregivers received at least one depression screening in the first 12 months of life.

Amongst our children with highest risk, 71% remained adherent to care, and 86% of their well child visits included the Healthy Steps Specialist.

These numbers demonstrate how Healthy Steps bridges the relationship between families and their care team.

This is what prevention looks like.

Families have a trusted place where they can ask their questions about their baby's development, talk openly about stress or challenges at home, and get connected to resources before strong, small concerns become large crises.

Simply put, the program is working.

A brief example to further illustrate why this matters.

A young parent in our practice presents with her newborn and discloses significant trauma history, including her own foster care placement.

She had an elevated EPDS and was connected to mental health services.

But she continued to have concerns about her ability to bond with the baby and respond to his care needs.

Over the course of the year, the Healthy Steps specialist met with the parent during the Well Child visit and addressed concerns around developmental milestones and emotional regulation.

We practiced techniques like mirroring in clinic to help her learn to reflectively respond to the baby's behaviors.

The team-based Well visits helped ensure this young parent was surrounded by support and entered parenthood with confidence and connection.

Our Healthy Steps funding represents an important investment in our behavioral health workforce.

69% of our grant funding supports salaries for clinical and behavioral health specialists embedded with the teens teams, while 14% supports the evaluation and quality improvement to maintain high fidelity implementation.

Healthy steps directly aligns with the district's first to three for all amendment and its long-standing commitment to early childhood health and development.

Reducing funding now would undermine years of policy progress and weaken an evidence-based program that bridges clinical care, behavioral health, and community support for families during these critical years.

I respectfully urge the council to maintain healthy steps funding in the FY27 budget.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify and for continued commitment to the health and well-being of district families.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ms.

Toreau Good afternoon, Chairman Henderson and members of the committee.

My name is Lakeisha Terrell, and I'm a physician at Unity Healthcare.

I have been caring for children and adolescents in Washington, D.C.

for the past 15 years.

Currently, I serve as medical director for the school-based health centers and for adolescent health services.

Since 2011, I have worked in school-based health centers to meet the needs of children and adolescents in DC.

I want to thank you for holding today's budget hearing, and I would like to also thank uh Mayor Bowser and Anaya Bennett for the dedicated staff for their work in assembling the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget.

Unity Healthcare provides comprehensive primary care, specialty, and wraparound services to more than 76,000 patients a year across more than 20 sites in the District of Columbia.

73% of our patients are African American and 18% are Hispanic.

More than 60% of patients have incomes below the federal poverty level.

Furthermore, children in these families are exposed to a variety of social and health risk, and they have few resources to address them.

I'm here today to urge the district to continue to support school-based health centers in the fiscal year 2027 budget, including sustained funding for the existing sites operated by Unity, which are unique in the comprehensive care they provide to students.

School-based health centers are located in schools.

You may think of a school-based health center as a doctor's office in a school.

The DC Department of Health oversees seven school-based health centers across the district.

Since 2011, Unity has operated two of these centers at Cardozo Education Campus and Ward 1 and HD Woodson in Ward 7 through funding through DC Health.

Since the pandemic, the funding has slowly decreased.

As a result, for the first time since 2011, the school-based health centers for the fiscal year 2025 needed to reduce the number of days that were open.

Continued support is critical to ensure these services remain available to the students who need them.

The school-based health centers can serve as the students' primary care health provider or supplement the care and services they receive from their primary care provider.

It provides comprehensive care and integral services through multi-disciplinary, holistic approach, including primary care, well child visits, sports physicals, confidential and reproductive and sexual health care, SEI, HIV testing and treatment, acute and chronic care management, social services and insurance assistance, mental health care, health education and counseling.

School based health center staff can also provide referrals to specialty care and other programs to provide every student receives the care they need to lead healthier lives.

The school based health center provides care to patients.

The school based health center provides the same care patients receive at Unity's community health centers with the added benefit of being located right where the students spend the majority of their day at school.

The school based health centers are staffed by a primary care provider, medical assistant, and front desk care coordinator and a mental health clinician.

Unities provides comprehensive care to a majority of students at the schools.

From October 1st, 2021 to September 30th, 2025, we provided care to 1,641 unduplicated students, many of whom were patients for multiple years.

We conducted almost 10,000 total visits in that time.

Due to Unity's focus in preventive care and assisting students and families with immunization compliance, our team provided nearly 6,000 total immunizations.

We also provided mental health depression screening for 95% of the students and linked to follow-up behavioral care services.

Health and education are inseparable.

Healthy students have improved academic outcomes, increase, including decreased absenteeism.

I'm so sorry, you're about a minute over your time.

Let's see if you could just wrap up.

Okay.

So just to support just increased funding for just like the care for our patients.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Catherine.

Good afternoon, Chair Henderson and members of the Committee on Health.

My name is Catherine Gilbert.

I'm the Healthy Step Specialist at Community of Hope.

I have over 15 years of experience in the early childhood field, starting in the classroom, then early intervention, and now as a healthy step specialist.

My current role is unique because it allows me to bridge early childhood development with medical care by working directly alongside pediatricians and nurse practitioners.

Early childhood is a vulnerable and intensely transformative time.

While caring for a young child is deeply meaningful, it is also stressful and isolating.

Caregivers are expected to adjust every part of their lives while also managing complex systems to meet their child's needs.

Healthy Steps meets families at this critical moment.

For some parents of young children, well child visits are the only time they leave the house, making the pediatric setting a key access point for prevention and support.

Healthy Steps allows us to meet families where they are.

I want to share two brief examples.

We called orthopedics together, and when necessary, I stepped in to help communicate and schedule the appointment.

By the end of the visit, we had a concrete plan for next steps, discussed positive parenting strategies, connected her to early intervention, and most importantly, validated her strengths as a parent.

His family didn't just need a referral, they needed support, follow-through, someone to be their cheerleader.

In another case, I followed up with a mother whose child had received multiple referrals, including for developmental pediatrics, speech and language therapy, early stages for suspected autism.

She was overwhelmed, juggling appointment scheduling while also trying to access housing.

As we talked, she began to cry while she described how isolating it had been to raise a nonverbal child with suspected autism while waiting months for the developmental evaluation.

What began as a routine check-in call became a deeper conversation focused on emotional support, problem solving, and ongoing follow-up.

Hopefully, she left the conversation feeling less alone and more knowledgeable about the systemic issues she was facing.

Healthy steps not only connects families to resources, it supports relationship building and gives parents and caregivers tangible strategies and education.

This supports not only adult mental health, but also strengthens the ability for children to grow and thrive.

DC has long recognized the facts that investment in early childhood improves outcomes and saves money over time.

Cuts to healthy steps and related early childhood supports like the child care subsidy, increased pay for providers and others, threatened to undo that progress.

These programs are not extras, they're essential.

I urge the council to maintain healthy steps funding at 1.3 million as part of the fiscal year 27 budget and to consider the lasting impact these decisions will have on families today and on the future health and well-being of our city.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

I'm available to answer questions.

Thank you.

Thank you so much to this panel of witnesses.

In the proposal from DC Health, they basically said that they could reduce the funding for healthy steps because this would be part of the collaborative care model.

Do you all have any experience with the collaborative care model?

So get to turn your mic on.

There you go.

Okay.

So there we have a collaborative of the various healthy steps sites where we've discussed a lot of things, including like how we can work towards sustainability of the Healthy Steps model.

This is prior to the notification that it was leaving.

And the collaborative care model was something that was presented.

So the collaborative care model includes the infusion of a consultation with a psychiatrist, a child and address or a psychiatrist with the primary care team.

So that's not something many of our sites are able to put into play.

The largest reasons because finding a psychiatrist to do consult is cost prohibitive and is limited in the district.

So not many of our sites have been able to successfully implement the collaborative care model.

At Medstar, we do have a relationship with the women in children's services with the Department of Psychiatry.

And we do use them for consult for especially for referring parents who have perennial mood and anxiety disorders and need um assistance with medication.

But it's it's definitely not the same thing.

And what the healthy steps specialist is doing is integrating in the clinic.

And it is an evidence-based program through zero to three that has multiple domains of fidelity, including some universal work with families, but then some targeted supports and then intensive services.

And the most important piece of the intensive service, which we've discussed, is that healthy step specialist who was a child development specialist and a behavioral health specialist working with alongside the pediatrician during those visits.

So very different than the collaborative care model.

Okay.

How does billing currently work under for healthy steps?

Well, we're really working on that.

Okay.

It's it's uh work in progress.

Healthy steps is a really unusual program because we are sort of all, you know, we're therapists, we're child development specialists, we're also working with pediatricians, and so it's a tricky thing to bill for.

Um, and yeah, like um Joanne said, we've been working on figuring out how to get reimbursed.

Um, and we're getting, we're getting somewhere.

I know.

But that is the road to sustainability.

Yes.

And we are on it.

We are on that road.

But Joanne will probably learn more now.

I'll just add, um, so we've been a healthy step specialist for about four and a half years, and very early in um bringing this program to our approach was to look at sustainability through billing.

Um, and we've uh in worked to engage so the policy council through zero to three um was also working with the district um healthy steps programs to look at um the reimbursement models in the district and how we can bring um various ways to uh um reimburse for healthy steps and what we were given through DC um healthcare finance was that like collaborative care model, even though we explained why it wouldn't work, um and that's kind of where it stalled.

And so what our learning collaborative has been um discussing in the last about six to nine months was each program has been kind of discussing what they're trying to do for billing in and individually looking at like well who's getting reimbursed for what and seeing like what codes can we use.

So we're trying, we are working, and we we need more time, and that's partially why um just receiving this information most recently when we haven't been able to get, we've been doing it individually, but haven't been able to get much traction from the system feels uh very abrupt and doesn't afford us a lot of opportunity for um a planned transition.

Okay.

All right.

Um thank you for being here.

Um, Dr.

Torrell, um thank you for being here as well.

I think what we do in terms of the school-based health centers is very um innovative in terms of like we put the health center in your school, so you have no excuses.

Um, and um I visited the Cardozo site last summer, last summer.

Um, but also in general, in terms of utilization, Cardozo has consistently had the highest utilization of all of the comprehensive high schools who have uh a school-based um health center there.

Um we know that DC Health had been transitioning to bringing some in-house, but they still had a contract, but um we are no longer seeing that contract line.

So has DC Health informed you all that for the Cardozo and Woodson sites that you will not be operating next school year, or what has the communication been?

No, we have not received um communication about next year.

Okay.

Um and then Professor Hedrick, thank you for being here.

Um, and for your I've seen you before.

You've testified before on the food policy.

I'll keep showing up.

And I appreciate that.

Um we too are concerned about the cut to the proposed cut to the farmers market program.

Um, it goes back to what I said to the very first panel.

Um we need the array of food policy programs or food access programs, and we know from a quality perspective that you get higher quality at the farmer's market than you do at a grocery store.

Um farmers markets build community, farmers markets uh helps people expand their uh taste palette, if you will, um, to try out new things, but also um for some people shopping at the farmers market also unlocks your ability to participate in other programs like Produce Plus or the MACH programs, et cetera.

And so um we made that investment this last year in the farmers market program because we saw its value.

We passed whole legislation to like redo how we did licensing for that.

And so, like, we want to keep that moving forward and we'll try as best we can.

Um, but I don't have any further questions for all of you, but thank you so much for being here.

And please be sure to provide your written testimony for the record if you haven't done so already.

Okay, uh Rachel Johnston from DC Charter Alliance, Sarah Buckley, uh Mia Anderson, and uh Lamonica Jones.

Okay, Rachel, when you're ready.

Good afternoon, Chairperson Henderson and members of the committee.

My name is Rachel Johnston.

I'm award for resident and the chief of staff at the DC Charter School Alliance, the local advocacy organization dedicated to supporting DC's public charter schools who serve nearly half of the district's public school public school students.

DC Charter Schools remain committed to keeping students healthy in school and ready to learn.

We appreciate DC Health's partnership and keeping students in school and thank the school health services program team for maintaining communication this year during the transition from children's school services to in-house management.

We also thank DC Health for continuing to operate the administration of medication program, a valuable compliment to, but never a replacement for school health suite staff.

The unfortunate reality, however, is this transition has resulted in a clear decline in reliable student health services.

Although the school health services program was flat funded this year, schools have drastically less coverage than they did last year.

Last spring, every school in the program had full-time coverage.

Today, one in three schools does not.

Too many schools now operate without a full-time clinician who can respond to emergencies, manage chronic conditions, and support student health during the school day.

At the same time, the telehealth program was paused.

While flat funding makes it difficult to keep pace with rising costs, the core challenge is not funding.

DC Health has struggled to hire and retain staff for the program.

In light of this, we have questions about the mayor's proposed budget.

The proposal changes the legal requirement for coverage from licensed nurses to health techs for 20 hours per week.

Why are we lowering expectations for serving our most vulnerable students?

Hiring challenges should not mean lower standards.

At the same time, the proposal includes a $650,000 increase to the school health services program.

How will that funding be spent?

Schools deserve clarity, particularly as coverage is declining and proposed changes to coverage requirements would reduce costs.

We recognize this is a fiscally constrained budget cycle.

So our recommendations focus on how existing funds are used and how the program is structured.

We urge the council to one, remove the BSA language that reduces credentialing requirements.

It's concerning that under the proposed change, no licensed nurses would be required in any school, and all existing nurses could be replaced by school health technicians who are not trained to manage and respond to complex or acute health conditions.

Any review of the law should strengthen and not weaken support for students' health needs.

And two, hold DC Health accountable for transparency in health funding or proposed increases will be used to serve students.

Schools need clarity on what they can expect to plan effectively for next school year.

And three, ensure funding increases are focused on expanding coverage beyond current levels.

One approach would be to pilot direct funding to schools to hire their own RN or LPN.

Several charter schools already do this successfully.

Schools that opt in could decline a DC health clinician, reducing hiring pressure and decreasing the number of partially covered schools.

This model could build on the lessons learned from DBH's Pilot 1B program.

Increases in funding should translate into stronger, more reliable services for students.

We urge the council to ensure this budget drives real improvements in coverage and quality.

This is especially critical this year as charter schools face difficult trade-offs during a highly inequitable budget proposal.

Hiring a nurse over a teacher or mental health clinician while also keeping the lights on should not be one of them.

Thank you for your time and attention, and I welcome any questions.

Thank you.

Ms.

Buckley.

Until 2023, DC law mandated that every DC public and charter school be given a full-time licensed nurse.

Despite the mandate, a lack of commitment to and funding for the program left schools without full-time coverage and left DC Health reliant on expensive contract nurses to fill gaps.

So, placing blame on a nursing shortage, DC Health asked you to change the nurse mandate and open the door to the cluster model, in which nurses would oversee four, now up to five or six schools that are otherwise primarily staffed with unlicensed health technicians who have less training and a more limited scope of practice.

The cluster model has not delivered.

Nurses fled the system, health technicians quit, and students have been left behind.

Over the past year, the school health services program is not funded or staffed at levels sufficient to provide full-time health suite staffing at all DC public and charter schools, even relying on health technicians.

Nearly 40% of schools have less than 40 hours a week of health suite coverage, and 25% have 24 hours a week or less.

Less than half of schools are staffed with a registered nurse or licensed professional nurse, and the rest are staffed with health technicians.

Our school, Amadon Bowen has been fortunate.

We were given an RN this year because we have students that need procedures that only nurses can perform.

But every school deserves full-time, competent health suite coverage with nurses that can assess student health, manage medications, and appropriately respond to emergencies.

Parents and students shouldn't have to gamble on their school being more medically needy to have access to nursing.

The current plan and budget proposal for health suite staffing leaves DC out of step with the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Association of School Nurses, both of which recommend that school districts provide a full-time nurse in every school building.

It is even out of step with the Center for Disease Control's recommendation of at least one nurse per 750 students.

Full-time staffing by licensed nurses is crucial to our students' health safety and well-being, and the current budget allocation does not provide that for DC students.

I urge the council to increase funding for the school health suites program.

Full funding of the butt and full funding of the proposed budget is necessary to deliver even on the insufficient promises of the cluster model.

Funding above what the mayor has proposed could allow if DC Health will act on the opportunity to increase the number of health professionals in the system to deliver full-time coverage for every school and to increase the ratio of nurses to health technicians in the system, which will give more DC students access to more comprehensive care.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mia?

Good afternoon, Chairperson Henderson and members of the committee.

Thank you for being here today.

My name is Mia Anderson.

I'm a sophomore studying public health at the George Washington University's Milk and Institute.

I currently live in Ward 2.

I'm here today to express my strong support for continued funding and support of the district Food Policy Council and Food Policy Team.

I'm originally from Buffalo, New York, and one of the only full service grocery stores in a predominantly black neighborhood was the site of a racially targeted mass shooting.

That moment changed the way I understand food access.

It made clear that access to something as basic as a grocery store is not just about convenience.

It's deeply connected to equity, safety, and the community's well-being.

Across the United States, we see clear structural inequities in how black and brown communities are invested in, especially when it comes to access to basic resources like grocery stores.

That is why having dedicated teams focused on this work matters and why that kind of leadership is especially important here in the district.

Through my coursework in food systems and food justice at GW, I have been learning about how these inequities shape access to affordable, healthy food across different communities in DC.

What made that learning more meaningful was having members of the food policy team come into our class and talk about the work they actually do.

Hearing directly from them helps me understand how policy is implemented in real life, not just in theory, and how it showed me how I can apply this kind of work in my own future career.

Without opportunities like that, and removing this team would not only affect current programs, but also limit how students like me can learn from and engage with real public health work, which could set back progress for future generations.

I also want to recognize the district's investment in food access programs to the Department of Health.

Programs like Produce Plus help residents afford fresh fruits and vegetables, and healthy corner stores work to bring healthier food options into neighborhoods that lack full grocery stores.

These are strong, tangible investments in public health.

And it's important that the district continues to support and expand them.

At the same time, there are still areas where additional support and coordination are needed to make sure that these resources are reaching communities effectively.

The food policy team plays a key role in that coordination.

Without them, it becomes much harder to ensure that these programs are working together and having the impact they are intended to have.

We need to continue investing in basic and essential needs and protecting the government, staff, and community stakeholders who are driving this work forward.

As someone preparing for a career in public health, it's important to me to see how local policy can directly improve health outcomes.

The district has the opportunity to lead the nation in advancing food and health equity, not fall behind.

And maintaining strong support for the food policy team is essential to making that possible.

For these reasons, I respectfully urge the council to continue supporting and funding the Food Policy Council and Food Policy Team.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.

Thank you, Mia.

LaMonica.

Greetings, Chairperson Henderson, members of the committee and staff.

My name is LaMonica Jones.

I serve as the director of DC Hunger Solutions.

We are a district-wide nonpartisan nonprofit organization working to end hunger in the district the nation's capital.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony today and for your continued leadership in advancing policies that improve healthy food access for district residents.

As a district works to advance the FY27 budget, it is doing so in the context of significant federal policy changes, particularly those stemming from HR1 that will have direct impacts on food security for district households.

For first, changes to SNAP eligibility for certain non-citizens along with expanded time limits and adjustments to utility allowance, risk excluding thousands of residents from critical nutrition assistance.

These policy shifts are likely to reduce benefits for many households, placing additional strain on already tight budgets and limiting the resources families have to afford food.

As a result, households that are already struggling to make ends meet may face further reductions in the support they rely on.

Second, as eligibility restrictions are compounded by rising costs of basic needs, provisions in HR 1 are expected to increase utility cost burdens, including impacts to the standard utility allowance, which plays a key role in determining SNAP benefit levels.

These changes will further erode the purchasing power of SNAP benefits, leaving families with fewer resources to afford nutritious food.

These shifts are already putting pressure on the district's local food system, requiring community-based food distribution partners to meet a growing and more complex level of need.

This moment calls for a strong and sustained local response.

As members of the Fair Food for All Coalition, we urge DC Council to fully fund critical local food budget priorities to ensure critical partners have the capacity to meet rising demand.

The complete FY27 budget request can be found in my submitted testimony.

These investments are especially critical as the nation moves towards updated federal dietary guidelines that emphasize increased consumption of fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole foods.

Without equitable access, these foods, without equitable access to these foods, many district residents will be unable to meet the recommendations, further exacerbating health disparities.

Finally, we respectfully urge council to reinstate the 400,000 to ensure ongoing funding for DC Food Policy Council.

The Food Policy Council plays a critical role in strengthening the district's food system by coordinating interagency efforts and aligning them with the expertise and on the ground realities of community-based organizations.

By serving as a central hub for collaboration, data sharing, and policy development, the Food Policy Council helps to ensure that food access strategies are not on they're not siloed, but instead responsive, efficient, and equity driven.

At a time when federal changes are increasing pressure on local systems, maintaining this infrastructure is essential to delivering a cohesive citywide response that effectively connects resources and improves outcomes for district residents.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Thank you so much to this panel on the various issues that you raised.

Rachel, I'll start with you.

They did the charter schools on school-based behavioral health.

Have you all started any conversations at all with DC Health about the potential for a pilot of some sort?

We haven't.

Okay.

We know that it would have to be obviously start with the council in order to put the funding aside for it.

And so we wanted to start here.

And if there's an interest in it, we would like to explore it with DC Health.

There's been a lot of transition this year.

I think we wanted to see how that transition played out for our schools.

And if it ended up having a positive impact on our schools, then it wasn't something that we needed to pursue.

But given where our schools are today, it's something that we are looking to move forward.

And it could have a positive benefit for everyone.

Our schools, DC Health, it could reduce their hiring pressures because there's less schools they have to staff.

Yeah.

Like there this could be a win-win for everyone.

Um, but I think there just has to be willingness to essentially release funding for this type of a program.

I mean, if you think about it too, I know that other lot of nurses who they prefer to just stay at one school.

Yeah, it's a win for them.

Find that to be attractive.

Um technically, this should in theory be easier than the DBH situation because we're literally confirming that someone is licensed.

Correct.

Period.

And we have 17 schools that actually do this right now.

Yeah.

They have um opted to not participate in the DC Health School Health Services program and hire their nurses separately.

Okay.

So they we already have organizations that our schools work with that they trust that other schools could then use for hiring.

Okay.

Not for nothing though.

I don't know if we open this pilot up to someone who is already paying for their own nurse.

No, no, I'm not saying for those schools.

I'm saying for a school that's already in the program, they would be the ones that would opt our suggestions they would opt out of the DC Health School Health Service Program and then use one of the other providers that a school, like one of their peer schools is using, for example.

Like we have a pipeline of organizations that we could source nurses through for this, and not, yeah, I'm not saying from a school that's already paying for it, although there is an opportunity maybe for that in the future.

What about for schools who um they're co-located on the same campus and from a school enrollment perspective, could potentially like there's certainly the two schools are under like 500.

Could that be one nurse?

Yeah, and there are some schools that actually have it already.

There's one school health suite that serves two schools that that like that model exists.

Okay.

All right.

I'm happy to pitch it.

Yeah, be great.

Happy to work with you on it.

What's the worst that they could say?

No comment?

Sure, Sarah.

I I don't know how the the behavioral health program, this funding model has worked, but I can tell you what, my Title I school can't fund its own nurse.

And if we are facing uh a situation where in among potential school nurses, they're being outcompeted in Prince George's County and in Northern Virginia.

We're gonna create a system where they're being outcompeted by our own charter schools.

I mean, it sounds like this is uh if there are problems with how DC Health is managing the school health suites program, let's address that so that we can address the problem for all of DC students.

I hear you on that.

On the school-based, um, it is mixed.

So there are DBH actual clinicians and there are CBO partners and there are CBOs who, if you could not, if a CBO could not uh find a clinician for you, you were able to apply to this pilot that was limited in who could participate and how many could participate to see if this could work.

It's all about trying to sort of approach the staffing piece.

It's not trying to create competition amongst the two because it they all would be paid the same.

But we could just open the conversation with DC Health just to see.

Absolutely, thank you.

Okay.

Mia and LaMonica, thank you so much for being here.

Mia, I don't know if this was your first time testifying, but congratulations.

Thank you.

You did a really good job.

Thank you, sir.

Um I think both of you have raised full issues.

Umonica, we have the full uh fair food, fair food, fair food coalition um requests.

Um we're gonna do our best.

Uh I mean, the programs are very popular, the programs work.

Um, it's just a question of I am every year we put one time money, and then we have to have this conversation every year about the programs that work.

And I wish that we had a more sustainable funding model and our ability to be able to meet the need.

Yeah, I think um recognizing time.

If I can, you know, our biggest concern is we're looking at the number of households that will be potentially losing eligible access to SNAP.

And without the access to those benefits, they're going to be looking to local food resources.

And we also know that the district is not in a position, no jurisdiction is in the position to make up for uh full funding for benefits that come from the federal government.

But we want to make sure that we're able to do everything that we can so that we don't position ourselves back into this hunger cliff.

We have households that are struggling with food insecurity on top of the root causes of hunger.

Um, and so we just want to be mindful of doing everything we can, knowing that our local food distribution partners also have asked that we're gonna probably go above and beyond what we've even mentioned today.

Yeah.

Um and I just want to sort of reiterate in terms of as the um as far as the committee is concerned.

I think the food policy council does excellent work.

Um we had had previous discussions about moving them before.

Um, and I hate that the executive didn't even give us the opportunity to realize some of those changes.

Um, clearly there are some uh misaligned vision uh with the Office of Planning when it comes to food policy in the city.

And so um we're gonna try to find a better home.

All right, thank you guys.

I don't have any further questions.

Thank you.

Okay, uh Siobhan Healy.

Okay.

Uh Sam Pennell.

Uh Siobhan Collie.

Uh okay.

Nick Stavely, sorry, Nick, I'm gonna have to break up your step four.

Oh, who's not here?

Okay.

Yeah, why don't you and um Miss Blessing Game go now.

Okay.

Sam, when you're ready.

Good afternoon, Chairperson Henderson and members and staff of the committee on health.

My name is Sam Panill, and I am a policy associate at Zeddick DC.

Zeddick DC is an independent public interest law center with offices in Ward 3 and Ward 8.

Our mission focuses on safeguarding the legal rights and financial health of DC residents with low incomes.

Since 2022, ZIC DC has provided direct legal services to residents facing medical debt through our medical debt project.

And we see firsthand the harm it causes.

Medical debt is the leading cause of bankruptcy nationally and contributes to housing instability, job loss, and worse health, worse health outcomes when people delay or avoid care.

These harms are not equally shared.

Residents of color, mothers, and people with disabilities are significantly more likely to carry medical debt.

In 2025, we released a report titled More Than a Band-aid, Systemic Changes to Protect DC residents from medical debt, which documents these harms and outlines policy solutions.

That report led to the introduction of the Medical Debt Mitigation Amendment Act of 2025 by Chair Henderson, and we are grateful for her leadership on this issue.

Healthcare alliance and moved many residents into a new basic health plan.

We greatly appreciate Chair Henderson's support for the Alliance program and the mayor's proposal to maintain health program funding while adding dental envision coverage.

But we must acknowledge that thousands of residents have already lost coverage or now have less comprehensive insurance and are more vulnerable to medical debt.

In short, cutting funding and tightening eligibility for public health programs will cause a cascading effect of issues.

As residents without insurance delay care, they will run higher medical costs when they do visit a medical provider.

These higher costs result in more medical debt, which can lead to job loss, housing instability, and higher mortality rates.

These outcomes are preventable, and they ultimately cost the district far more to address through other public programs later.

That is why we strongly urge the DC Council to pass and fund the Medical Debt Mitigation Amendment Act of 2025 and the FY27 budget.

This bill would standardize hospital financial assistance policies, strengthen protections against medical debt, and reduce harm from medical debt collection practices.

The fiscal impact is modest at 307,000 in FY27 and 882,000 over four years and well worth the district's investment.

Even as the district faces fiscal pressure in FY27, we must ensure that budget decisions do not deepen the financial and health burden on residents, which is why fully funding our health programs and advancing medical debt reforms is essential.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thanks.

Thanks, Sam.

Ms.

Collie.

Good afternoon.

Excuse me.

Good afternoon, Chairperson Henderson and members of the committee.

I'm Savon Coy with the Pet Food Institute, representing U.S.

dog and cat food manufacturers.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify on the FY27 Budget Support Act.

While PFI and our coalition support the goals of Subtitle V, we must respectfully oppose the pet food registration fee as a funding mechanism for the program.

We're also concerned about the legislative process.

This policy has not received a standalone hearing, and its inclusion in the budget limits opportunities for stakeholder input and careful review of its potential impacts.

In addition, DC does not have a regulatory framework to implement this program, which would create significant administrative burdens and unaccounted for costs to the city.

As written, this approach may have unintended consequences for district residents, their pets, and local businesses.

First, it could reduce product availability.

Pet food isn't a single product.

It includes hundreds of specialized formulas.

Applying fees per product may lead manufacturers to scale back what they offer in smaller markets like DC.

That can mean fewer options, especially for pets with special medical or dietary needs.

It may also reduce sales at local pet stores and push consumers to shop online or outside the district.

Second, it will likely increase costs for consumers.

Pet food is an essential good, it's not a luxury, and fees imposed upstream are typically passed on at the register.

That can create real affordability challenges for pet owners.

This is especially concerning as higher costs can lead to higher or potentially increased pet relinquishment.

Third, the policy raises equity concerns.

The bill does not include clear income-based targeting, so a regressive funding mechanism that leads to higher pet food costs may disproportionately impact lower income households while not ensuring those most in need actually benefit from the program.

As such, we ask or we encourage the council to consider more effective, proven community-supported funding alternatives, such as voluntary funding like specialty license plates, income tax checkoffs, and public-private partnerships.

In closing, we respectfully urge you to reconsider this provision, and PFI and our allies stand ready to work with you on solutions that expand access to animal care while protecting affordability and choice for district pet owners.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you.

Nick Good afternoon, members of the Committee on Health and Accommittee Terra Person at Slotch Council Member Christina Henderson.

My name is Wendy De Blassingame, and I'm here on behalf of Fresh Farm and the DC community to tell you about the meaningful impact the Produce Plus program funded by DC Health has on DC residents.

Looking back over more than 10 years, the demand for the program has always been high.

The program has gone through many changes, but going from paper vouchers to the digital cards was a big improvement.

What is consistent about Produce Plus more than 10 years later is a need and focus on serving low-income DC residents who often reside in food insecure areas.

Produce Plus also increased access for those whose income isn't low enough to qualify for federal benefits like SNAP and Medicaid, but it's still not enough to afford all of their necessities like food.

In 2025, we received almost 14,000 applications to the Produce Plus program.

And even with the increased funding, we still had a wait list of 2,000 individuals.

The program's demand is still evident after all of these years, especially inwards 7, 5, 7, and 8.

We currently have almost 12,000 applications so far this year.

We received 9.5% more applications in the first two weeks than in 2025.

DC residents get the benefit of nutritious food without having to go to a farm because the markets are located in their neighborhoods.

The source is right there for them to discuss directly with the farmer.

And stores, you don't always know where your food came from, how long it's been sitting there.

And there's usually no one to talk to an ass.

The food at the farmers markets is fresh and local, and the taste is definitely different from the food at the store.

Our community looks forward to coming to markets.

The socialization of coming to the market, especially for us seniors, is important.

It's an outlet to get out of the house and pick up some good food, nutritious and affordable food.

Some folks will stay two and three hours to talk and see people, even if they are not shopping.

This also helps small businesses like farmers to be able to feed our families.

So it all comes full circle.

I am one of many people who will tell you how important Produce Plus is to them.

Thousands of district residents rely on the critical service that the Produce Plus program provides because of the consistent support and commitment from DC Health.

On behalf of district residents, we ask you to increase funding for the Produce Plus program by 400,000, bringing the total to 2.5 million for budget year 2027.

Your support will strengthen our community and local businesses.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Nick.

Good afternoon.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak on behalf of district residents, DC Health, and our local farmers.

My name is Nick Stavely, and I am the Director of Food Access for Fresh Farm.

I am here today to also express gratitude to the Council for increasing funding for the Produce Plus program in FY25 to share about the program's impact over the past four years and to ask for additional funding in order to meet increased demand from district residents for next year.

Fresh Farm is proud to partner with DC Health to manage this program, which improves health and increases equitable access for fresh fruits and vegetables for underserved Washingtonians, especially for those in Wards 5, 7, and 8.

Day in and day out, Fresh Farm is able to push Produce Plus forward because of our close partnership with the DC Health team who work tirelessly and creatively to improve the health of district residents.

In 2025, because of the increase in funding from the council, we were able to approve 11,000 residents for the program, which is a 37 percent increase over the previous season.

These folks spent over 1.2 million dollars on fresh fruits and vegetables at over 50 farmers' markets, mobile markets, and farm stands all across Washington, D.C., a 22 percent increase in spending over the previous year.

Through our work with DC Health, we have been able to move more funding for fresh fruits and vegetables to D.C.

residents every single year since we began managing the program in 2022.

2025 also marked the fourth straight year that more than two-thirds of our program participants were residents from Wards 5, 7, and 8, areas that illustrate our city's largest disparities in health, food access, and income, and also underscore the effectiveness of our enrollment.

Speaking of enrollment, as Juanita mentioned, we opened enrollment for this season just a few weeks ago at the beginning of April, and we have received 9.5 percent more applications in the first two weeks than in 2025.

We have almost 12,000 applications at the moment, and based on current funding levels, anticipate another wait list as we head into the summer.

Consistently, under our management of the program for the past four years, the majority of all participants have spent at least 80 percent of their allotted funds, with over one-third spending 100 percent of the funds distributed to them.

Last year we were also able to leverage the Produce Plus program technology in order to help seniors take home an additional 400,000 worth of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Um time, uh also want to call out the effectiveness and importance of the other programs within the EFAI initiative funded by DC Health.

Uh comprised of organizations who are all working tirelessly to mitigate the impacts and effects of hunger.

So we know that we are heading into quite a difficult funding year.

Um all of our programs are critical in mitigating the pending and compounding federal changes as well as increased costs of groceries.

So to conclude, we are asking you to increase funding for the produce program by 400,000 for a total of 2.5 million for budget year 2027 and to maintain funding for all fair food fighter programs.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks so much uh to this panel.

Um, thank you to you all at SEDEC for the work that you all did on that report on medical debt.

Um I'm glad we were able to move that forward well-ish.

I mean, it's through the committee of health.

I don't anticipate any of my colleagues voting against it, knock on wood.

We uh the first vote is on May 5th.

Yes, Cinco de Maya.

Should be a good time.

You saved the rest of my hair, uh, seeing that it was on the consent calendar.

So when we think about things that could be a game changer for folks, especially as changes to health insurance access is happening on the federal side and even on the local side.

Um, us putting guardrails around medical debt can really be a game changer for a lot of people.

Um this is a little bit different than the proposal that Mayor Bowser put forward a couple of years ago when they um essentially, I guess bought the medical debt of um several thousand residents.

Yeah, we worked with her um for nine, I think it was a $900,000 grant.

They ended up canceling around 42 million dollars in medical debt.

Right.

I mean, the problem is that we'll just be back there in a few years.

So if we don't do that, right, we need something more sustainable long term.

Okay, great.

Well, thank you for being here.

Um Savan.

Okay, I've been waiting to ask someone about this pet registration subtitle, which I was like, I alluded to my staff, I was reading it.

I was like, where did this come from?

Also, who in their right mind actually thinks that this is actually going to be a real thing?

Because little known fact, uh, there was part of the DC code that required everyone who had a bicycle to register it.

Yeah, what's the compliance on that?

Any of y'all, anybody, any anybody registering their bikes?

No.

And I was like, okay, register pet food.

Why?

Is there something in the Pet Food Institute?

Is any other state do this?

Yeah.

So multiple states, most states uh require registration of commercial feed, which pet food would fall under.

So commercial feed includes livestock feed for production or agriculture production animals, and they're also commercial feed includes pet food and especially pet food for domesticated for pets.

Um that provides oversight and regulatory functions, um, you know, label review, um, you know, ingredients, things like that.

So they have in each state, they have a what's called the commercial feed law.

Right, but most states they have a department of agriculture of some sort of doing this work.

So this is uh mostly under department of departments of agriculture, and it involves multiple people.

Um so that that infrastructure and that frame regulatory framework is already in place for the handful, and when I'm I say handful for the handful of states that have you know a pet food tax that does that is for functions other than regulating pet foods, whether that's you know, for a spay and neuter program or for animal welfare or for maybe a combination of those things.

Um, you know, they already have that infrastructure in place in their departments to oversee pet food, so it's not as heavy of a lift for them to implement a program like this.

Um, whereas registering um pet food, I know I know I did see something on um in materials about um you know pet food safety and recalls and things like that, which is great.

I think uh uh FDA and you know PFI and our members and anyone else that's involved in public health and pet health would appreciate you know any other, you know, getting the word out on a particular recalls or or safety concerns.

But this is not something that is a regulatory in function, it's just simply a revenue raiser.

And we don't know if this is something that is gonna require several FTEs to be able to implement.

Sorry, we have this ongoing.

I don't know if it's just me.

I think it's just me that they come at not just DC Health, but literally every agency, any bill ID I come up with, they say it's like a minimum of two FTEs, even if it's something that they're already doing.

Medical debt.

Two FTEs.

Right.

I don't understand.

But this miraculously didn't require said someone that's already at the agency.

Yes.

And we've done essentially at this point since I've been chair of the health committee.

Like I feel like I've done a cavity search of DC Health.

They do not have people who have the expertise uh for this currently.

Okay.

Yeah, so what would entail is not only okay, you're you've got you're you got you're gonna be wearing a lot of different hats.

So you're a revenue collector, but also are you going to convene an advisory council on you know being able to give grants out for different projects?

What's the criteria?

Are you gonna write criteria for different you know, animal control or animal um care programs?

I mean, there are a lot of things to contemplate, and that I think that that is why we we raised, you know, um just the legislative process, but also those those hidden costs uh administrative costs.

Well, I think I'm more concerned in a jurisdiction of our size.

That would be very too easy for the people for whom you represent or the members in your organization to say we're just not gonna sell in DC.

If you want pet food, go to Maryland.

If you want pet food, go to Virginia, or I don't know, or for Amazon.

Um I see what they're trying to do in terms of our spay and neuter.

And I also don't want to minimize.

We do have an animal control and care division and administration.

Absolutely.

And there are a lot of great folks who are there.

Um but I let's put our heads together and and work on some maybe some uh community supported um things.

Uh there's a a laundry list, and as I mentioned, there's there's only five states that do that do something like this.

The others, you know, rely on other voluntary mechanisms um to raise funds for such programs, and we're happy to uh, you know, us and our our allies are happy to work with you to come up with a solution.

We're open to it.

Absolutely.

I want to do the spay and neuter programs.

I think that's super important in terms of helping people keep their pets and keep our populations low in terms of the animal shelter.

But I also feel like number one, I uh did you see the FIS?

Sorry, the physical impact statement where they said the estimated amount of money that they thought that they would receive?

I thought that was high.

I did too.

Um I did I did see that there were differences in what was in the budget versus what was in the standalone bill.

Um so I'm you know but having seen this in other in other jurisdictions um in the without guardrails on or the income targeting, um it would have the capacity to um be end up growing into a much larger uh program than maybe initially anticipated.

Okay, yep.

All right.

I don't know for folks, I'm not anti-revenue like happy for stuff somehow, but like I wanted to make sense um and not be negative on the other side.

Um, Nick, in the future, if you don't if you can't make it, you could just send Miss Blessing game because she's got it on lock.

Um so thank you guys uh for being here and um for your testimony.

I think we talked about this at um uh at the food policy hearing not that long ago.

Yeah, we did.

We talked about the program and how well it's been going.

Yes.

And the number of people who use their money.

Yes.

And all the all the different things.

Um when does the application close for this season?

Uh likely around the end of June.

That's when we've historically closed it up.

Are you already full?

Um we part of the enrollment process is this like partner referral code process so that we're able to reach uh folks through specific clinic or health care partners or um smaller non-fresh farm markets who enroll people in person when they start their markets later in May or in June.

So we get the real big rush over the website and hotline when we open the beginning of April, and then we leave it open throughout June so that we're able to reach some of those folks through those different smaller channels.

Okay, so you still have spaces available.

Yes, but maybe not through your main website.

Correct.

Got it.

Okay.

All right.

I don't have any further questions.

Thank you all.

Thank you for being here.

Okay.

Um Brenda person, Marie Brown, Rosalind Brown, and uh Richard Bibaut.

Okay.

Miss Brenda, when you're ready.

Oh.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Committee of health members and at large council member.

Christine Henderson.

My name is Brenda Person, and I'm a market champion for Produce Plus Fresh Farm.

I've been working with Produce Plus for over six years.

I started out as a volunteer with DC Green, passing now checks to clients to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables at the farmers market.

And when Fresh Farm took over, I continue working with Produce Plus.

Produce Plus is important to me because it helped me stretch my budget every month, and I can purchase fresh fruits and vegetables from the top line of fresh fruits and vegetables that are grown pesticide free.

Produce Plus helps DC residents of every age group, from young adults and families to our seniors.

It teaches folks how to spend their benefits on good wholesome produce and how to try new products that they haven't eaten before.

When I first became a customer of Produce Plus, I was a diabetic.

I weighed over 660 pounds.

I was a blob or what you want to call it.

But three years into the program, my doctor noticed that my stats started changing.

And he asked me what I was doing.

And I told him, I said I changed my eating habits, and I found out about this program called Produce Plus, and I started buying fresh fruits and vegetables.

And so now I here I am.

Three years later, I can proudly say I am a 76-year-old senior.

I am diabetic free, and I wear size 12.

And that to me is a big accomplishment.

Okay.

And I contribute all these changes by me just changing my eating habits with more fruits and vegetables that I get from the farm.

Farmers, you know, and plus when I go to the farm, you know, they tell me about my food, how it's processed and everything.

And also now working on the hotline.

And we've only been what working for the last two weeks or whatever, and we got over 14,000 applications already, and people are still calling in constantly.

And especially in Wards 5, 7, and 8, where food is limited.

This year, we got 9.5% more applications in the first two weeks than last year.

So you can see by the demand rising each year, DC Health is doing a good job supporting us, DC groups.

The Produce Plus program is critical service that thousands of district residents rely on.

And me as a market champion on behalf of district residents, ask you to increase funding for the Produce Plus program by 400,000 for 2.5 million total for the budget year 2027.

Again, thank you, Councilman Henderson, for taking the time out to hear me out.

Thank you, Miss Brenda.

And let me just say 76 where I don't see it.

All right, Miss Brown.

Hi.

Good afternoon, Committee on Health Members and at large council member Christina Henderson.

I am Marie Brown, a lifelong DC resident, and I appreciate the chance today to discuss the impact of the Produce Plus program for both for both myself and many other DC residents.

10 years ago, I started working as a market champion and also began shopping as a customer with the program.

Produce Plus plays an important role in supporting food insecure individuals and families, particularly our seniors, who I am passionate about helping.

Helping seniors to sign up and attend farmers' markets, not only improves access to fresh local fruits and vegetables, but also encourage social gatherings.

The market fosters a sense of community, allowing people to connect, make friends, and keep each other informed about what is going on.

Farm and markets also provide variety and education.

You can experiment with different ways of eating, especially through cooking, demos, and tastings, as well as a fine culturally important foods like fresh peas and llama beans.

Access to different markets means more food variety and choice.

And children are also experiencing different foods and introducing their families to them.

Produce Plus is impacting generations.

The vision and the commitment from DC Health to improve the health of district residents is a key factor in the success of Produce Plus.

This is important because even when employee residents may still face challenging times, and Produce Plus address the diverse needs of those living in a district.

Last year we received almost 14,000 applications to the Produce Plus program.

And even with increased fundings, we still had a wait list of 2,000 individuals.

The program's demands is still evidence, especially in Ward 5, 7, and 8.

This year we received 9.5% more applications in the first two weeks than last year.

And we are currently almost 12,000 applications so far.

We ask you to prioritize the Produce Plus program as we head into a new budget year.

On behalf of the district residents, we ask you to increase funding for the Produce Plus program by 400,000 for 2.5 million total for the budget year of 2027.

It is a vital improvement resource for the DC residents that needs your support and protection.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you.

The other Ms.

Brown.

Good afternoon, Chairperson Henderson and members of the committee and staff.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.

My name is Rosalind Brown, and I'm the director of healthy foods at Martha's Table.

And I'm here today to make an urgent plea for the sustained and continued funding of the Joyful Food Market Program, a school-based nutrition market program, and sustained investment in community food access efforts across the district.

The Joyful Food Market Program is an 11-year cornerstone of nutrition and community embedded nutrition and community food access embedded directly within 50 school communities across wards 7 and 8, where access to fresh healthy produce is limited.

In partnership with DC Health and the Capital Area Food Bank, we ensure that an average of 6,000 students and their families have consistent access to high quality, no cost, and choice-based groceries each month.

By boosting fruit and vegetable consumption, we directly address food access, support better health outcomes, and then also fuel the brilliance and academic readiness of our children in the district.

Nearly all of our joyful food markets are held at Title I schools in neighborhoods of severely limited access to healthy foods.

By situating markets where families are already gathered, our markets immediately remove barriers such as transportation, time constraints, and stigma for family members.

Joyful food markets are more than just more than food distribution points, though.

We embed nutrition education nutrition education activities and resources to transform child health outcomes, aiming to foster habits that reduce diet-related chronic diseases east of the river.

Our markets serve students from early childhood through middle school, ensuring continuous access to healthy foods for children, which is vital to child development, academic readiness, and well-being.

Reliable access to nutritious food is non-negotiable for children to learn, grow, and thrive.

Joyful Food Markets works alongside the broader ecosystem of food access programs in the district.

We value and we value the efforts of our partner organizations and appreciate their work, such as DC Central Kitchen, Dreaming Out Loud, Food and Friends, Fresh Farm DC Greens, and the Capital Area Food Bank.

We also stand in appreciation of the DC Food Council or DC Food Policy Council as well, and advancing a more equitable food system.

Failing to continue funding would severely compromise this collective effort and diminish our impact.

As families in the district rapidly face escalating food costs and economic instability, sustaining funding for the joyful food markets is absolute priority for our children's well-being.

These investments directly confront deeply entrenched disparities in food access, and we are grateful for the significant investment and continued partnership with DC Health, the Equitable Food Access Initiative grant.

We strongly urge the council to sustain funding so joyful food markets and those in the EFI grants system can continue to reach our 50 schools in some of districts' most underserved communities and deepen impacts in Ward 7 and 8 and remain a trusted source of healthy food for DC families.

Thank you so much for your time and commitment to building a healthy, healthier, more equitable district.

Thank you.

Dr.

Bibaut, good to see you.

Good to see you.

Good afternoon, Chairperson Henderson and staff and members of the committee.

My name is Richard Bibout, and I'm Senior Director of Behavioral Health at Unity Healthcare.

I'm also a member of the board of the DC Behavioral Health Association, a proud Ward 4 resident, and a proud father of a high school senior who will graduate from Washington Latin Public Charter School in June.

Unity Health Care provides comprehensive primary care, specialty and wraparound services to nearly 70,000 patients a year across nine health centers in Washington, D.C., multiple homeless services sites, and the D.C.

Department of Corrections.

73 percent of our patients are African American, 18 percent are Hispanic.

More than 60 percent of our patients have incomes below the Federal poverty level.

Furthermore, children in these families are exposed to a variety of social and health risks, and they have few resources to address them.

Healthy Steps is a national evidence-based program that supports young children ages zero to five and their families.

The program offers this support where families are most likely to access it, the pediatrician's office.

The program's services are delivered by a team of professionals giving families the opportunity to work not only with pediatricians, but also with child development specialists who promote positive parenting, ensure children are being connected to early intervention services and resources that address their social needs, along with connecting mothers to maternal mental health services.

At whale child visits between zero and five years of age, children and their families are screened for behavioral concerns, developmental delays, parental mental health, and social problems.

Based on the the needs identified by the screening, families are then offered both short and long-term support.

Each family receiving support sees both the pediatrician and the healthy steps specialist who is trained in child behavioral health.

The Healthy Steps program has been rigorously studied by researchers, and results show healthy steps leads to improved outcomes for both children and parents.

For example, children receiving healthy steps services show more secure attachment to their parents and less aggressive behavior.

And mothers receiving these services show fewer symptoms of depression and have more positive parenting practices.

The proposed FY27 budget eliminates all funding for local funding for healthy steps.

This would have devastating impact and would likely force Unity to eliminate its Healthy Steps program entirely.

Given the positive impacts of the program as described here in my testimony, this would walk back significant investments in the program at Unity and a critical service that children and families rely on to build a strong foundation in the early years.

We therefore ask the committee to restore the 1.3 million to healthy steps in the DC budget.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Happy to take any questions.

Thank you.

Thank you so much to this panel of witnesses.

Dr.

Bieba, I'll start with you.

Is there a okay?

So 1.3 million.

I know that's for the that's what you currently have.

Is there a like a minimum amount that would help you all sort of sustain the program for at least a year?

I don't know if you all in the health centers have sort of had this conversation.

Or is like 1.3 like you absolutely need all 1.3.

We pretty much need all of it.

I've paid attention closely to the billable uh services, the claimable services that are delivered.

Yeah.

It really would only fund a fraction and would not would really not allow us to continue the service.

You didn't ask, but earlier I know you raised the question about a collaborative care model.

Yeah.

We are involved in the delivery of a collaborative care model for people with opioid use disorder.

It's been in it's great, but it's been incredibly powerful problematic in terms of implementing over time.

And as the previous witness said, the collaborative care model is a provider-to-provider consultation model with psychiatrists to pediatricians for the government.

Which having that person on site.

Exactly.

Doing hands-on care coordination, quite honestly, soothing a distressed child during the pediatrician vision.

They are in the room at the same time with them.

We're also reaching out to expectant mothers when they first enroll in care while pregnant as a as a an attempt to establish a relationship, making it easier for them to seek support later if they experience postpartum depression.

Those services, and again, we were working with DC Primary Care Association.

We've worked with consultants to maximize the billing, but it would really decimate not to have the grant support.

Okay.

Ms.

Roslyn Brown.

Your testimony said continue the funding for the Joyful Food Market.

I believe that there is funding there currently.

Is this I think it's flat?

Yes, it is flat, and we're just here today to stand in agreement with the Fair Feed Coalition and then also to ensure the sustained funding of that.

Okay.

All right.

Um and then, of course, we talked about uh the super success of the Produce Plus program.

Um thank you guys so much.

I really appreciate it.

Um, and please make sure you provide your written testimony for the record if you haven't done so already.

Okay.

Uh I would uh telegraph to the virtual folks.

Um we're gonna finish the in-person, um, which I think might amount to maybe one or one and a half more panel.

Um, and then we're gonna take a five minute break.

So, okay, uh County Gillam.

Oh, okay.

Uh Abigail Nelson.

Abigail's here.

Grace Friesen.

Grace is here.

Uh Lauren Kalmet.

Lauren's here.

Shaylor Barnes.

All right.

And Ms.

Stamper will get to you.

You'll be our last in-person person.

All right.

Okay.

Ms.

Nelson, when you're ready.

Yep, you're on.

Okay.

Thank you, Councilman Henderson, members of the committee and staff.

My name is Abigail Nelson.

I'm a resident of Ward 6 and co-chair of the DC Good Food Purchasing Program.

This is a coalition of over 30 organizations in the District of Columbia committed to transforming the way public institutions purchase food to create a transparent and equitable food system.

I am respectfully making two requests of the committee and council.

First, to oppose the mayor's Food Policy Functions Amendment Act of 2026, which would eliminate the Food Policy Council and staff at the Office of Planning.

Second, to pass and fund the implementation of the Food Policy Council Procurement Amendment Act of 2025.

When I moved to DC five years ago, I joined the GFPP coalition because it reflected my decades of work on food access and values-based purchasing for institutions.

In my experience, the most successful changes in food systems were through collaborations between government agencies, organizations, food businesses, and the people working in the institutional food purchasing supply chain.

This is exactly what the Office of Food Policy and the Food Policy Council have been doing.

Coordination is more important than ever.

With federal SNAP changes underway and food insecurity still affecting many DC residents.

They provide essential in-house expertise on food systems procurement and program alignment.

The Food Policy Council and Office of Food Policy are the critical bridge between government and community in building a more equitable, healthy, and sustainable food system.

For example, over the past decade, they have engaged more than 10,000 residents and woven food into major district efforts, from sustainable DC 2.0 to neighborhood and comprehensive planning processes.

In addition, I am also respectfully requesting the committee and council to support the Food Policy Council Procurement Act of 2025.

This legislation would assist government initiatives by centralizing food procurement assistance and help the district leverage 62 plus million dollars in annual food purchases.

The DC government has an opportunity and responsibility to leverage their purchasing power to foster a healthy, sustainable and equitable food system.

Values-based food procurement prioritize a defined set of values rather than just low-cost and government food purchases.

This work is funding this program in fiscal year 27 will enable the continued important work that has already begun in the Office of Food Policy under an 18-month federal grant.

This work isn't was not done being done before and will not continue without a permanent locally funded program.

Thank you for your leadership on these issues and for the opportunity to testify.

Thank you.

Grace.

Good afternoon, Chairperson Henderson and members of the committee, and thank you for the opportunity to testify today.

My name is Grace Friesen, and I am a Ward II resident and third year undergraduate student at the George Washington University studying public health and nutrition.

I'm here today to express my concerns about the elimination of funding for DC's food policy team and to highlight the importance of continued funding for food assistance programs.

This past spring, I got the wonderful opportunity to take a food justice class that dove into the history of DC's food systems.

In this course, we discussed that the struggle for just food access in the district has been ongoing, but that through purposeful and thoughtful work, advancements have been made to move a step closer to a system that provides dignified access for all residents.

It is through programs like the Farmers Market Support Grants and Medically Tailored Home Delivered Meals that these advancements are made.

I was recently able to volunteer on a program similar to the Medically Tailored Home Delivered Meals program and saw firsthand how policy implementation can serve as a bridge that connects people to safe necessities.

As a student who would like to someday pursue a career in food policy, it is incredibly inspiring to see real world progress being made.

Through the same class, I was also given the opportunity to listen to the DC food policy team discuss their work in the food system, and it was a privilege to learn from such knowledgeable and dedicated people.

As the capital of our nation, DC serves as an example of what the United States represents.

It is exactly because of this that local government agencies need to prioritize access to basic necessities and coordinate to protect the people and policies that are meant to do so.

The United States stands among the richest countries in the world, and yet so many of our people face food insecurity.

Cutting funding for teams meant to address this problem will only make matters worse.

Instead, the district has an opportunity to pave the way for food justice and set an example for the rest of the nation to envision a future where those living in the United States can freely and safely access our food system regardless of pre-existing barriers.

It is through the food policies team's dedicated efforts and collaboration with agencies like DC Health that this future is possible.

To conclude my testimony, I would like to acknowledge the progress that has been made and the threat that the proposed budget cuts pose to this progress.

While the proposed budget depicts the policy team as a sum of money, you must remember that it is more than that.

That the contributions to data collection and analysis, policy development and evaluation, and engagement with the community positively impact the effectiveness of the food system.

The absence of this team would be a brutal loss to current progress and disrupt the possibility of a just and equitable food system.

Therefore, I respectfully urge the council to seek collaboration with other DC agencies to ensure that the food policy team is protected and to continue invest in policies that and programs that better our food system.

Thank you again for the opportunity to testify today.

Thank you.

Lauren?

Thank you, Chair.

As the advocacy voice of the responsible pet care community, the Pet Advocacy Network represents the interests and expertise of retailers, companion animal suppliers, manufacturers, districtors, pet owners, and others involved in the many aspects of the pet care across the United States.

Our association promotes animal well-being and responsible responsible pet ownership, fosters environmental stewardship, and ensures healthy pets availability through our local, state, and federal work.

In addition, we routinely advocate for legislative and regulatory proposals to protect the health, safety, and availability of companion animals.

We support the goal of expanding access to veterinary care and improving outcomes for animals, and we appreciate the thoughtful consideration of these issues.

However, we must respectfully oppose the proposed reliance on a per-product pet food registration fee as a mechanism to achieve these goals.

We have concerns regarding the legislative process surrounding this provision.

It has not been considered through a standalone hearing, and its inclusion in the Budget Support Act constrains opportunities for comprehensive stakeholder engagement and thorough evaluation of its potential impacts.

In practice, this type of fee can limit product availability in a small market like DC.

Pet food includes a wide range of specialized formulations for different life stages, medical needs, and dietary restrictions.

When costs are applied at the product level, companies consider reducing lower volume or specialized offerings, including veterinary diets that many pets rely on.

This also impacts local retailers who depend on a diverse product mix to serve their customers.

As availability declines, customers may look outside the district for more options and lower prices.

At the same time, pet food is an essential purchase.

Added costs at the regulatory level are likely to be reflected in retail prices, increasing the financial burden on pet owners.

While the proposal aims to expand access to care, it does not clearly prioritize the resources based on financial need, raising questions about whether support would reach Washingtonians most in need.

There are alternative approaches that support these goals without increasing the cost of essential goods, including voluntary funding mechanisms and public private partnerships.

For these reasons, we respectfully urge the committee to reconsider this provision.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Sheila.

Thank you.

Oh, hold on one second.

You got to turn your mic on.

There you go.

Thank you.

Hello, DC Council Committee on Health.

I am Shaither Barnes Jr.

Thank you for allowing me to testify as you determine your response to the proposed budget for DC's Department of Health for fiscal year 2027.

I'm here to explain the importance of the committee's support of maintaining and increasing the Department of Health's budget in accordance with the agency's institutionalization of the structural solutions.

Because addressing racism at the public health crisis in American cities, especially diverse cities, like the District of Columbia is the necessary pathway to provide every person with equitable access to the just application of general welfare.

The problem is all people do not have equitable access to attain their highest levels of health due to an unjust application of general welfare.

Any applications of health care that do not include the whole person, including the administration of health care by state actors, have largely provided greater access to general welfare for white people while creating disproportionate access to general welfare for black people and other non-white people, evident through the human experience and desperate health outcomes.

Pandemics have shown to exacerbate these racial health inequities.

Nationally and nearly in all states, substantial health and health care disparities have continued to exist between white, black, Hispanic, American Indian, and Alaskan and Alaska Native communities.

Like other cities in America with higher black populations, Southeast DC faces desperate health care instruct infrastructure concerns, including ineffective administration, insufficient funding, and understaffing.

In a statement, the District of Columbia's mayor Bowser said it is not just about building one hospital, it is about the entire health care system of American cities.

DC has one of the highest rates of people with health insurance, which remains no greater than around half of the entire population.

The 50% of DC residents with health insurance does not account for discrepancies in insurance coverage based on race or other discriminatory factors that that does not account for uninsured people who, although insured, cannot afford effective or necessary health care services.

To supplement collaborations and lead as a government, the district will invest through the health department in the following recommended structure structural solutions.

Defining racism as a public health crisis, making health equity legal and sustainable, collaborating with and encouraging other nonprofit organizations and federally funded programs to take action to build health equity, investment in housing security, decolonizing education, investment in the equity delivery of health services, restorative justice, imprisonment reform, policing and sentencing, applying an integrated holistic participatory approach, investment in more accessible and affordable, health care coverage, mandating the inclusion of health in all policies, and best and investment in environmental justice.

These recommendations all come from a forthcoming legal brief by Rich Reaches Out, which is titled Systemically Addressing Racism as a Public Health Crisis and Holistically Defining Healthcare to structure provide every person with equitable access to adjusted just application of general welfare.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much to this panel of witnesses.

You know, we're certainly going to ask some questions.

Um pet food subtitle.

I know my colleague had introduced a permanent bill on this, and so you're to your point around like we didn't even get an opportunity for a hearing to really understand all the varying implications, but I'm glad that you guys are here to sort of um raise this particular issue.

Um Ms.

Nelson, you know, I think the food procurement bill is a really good idea.

We have plans to move forward with that.

Um it's not going to be included in the in the budget because I really believe in having a strong record to back up bills.

Um, we're gonna make some adjustments on the food policy work.

I just know that that's already going to happen, but you can have my commitment that I believe in the work that they were doing and the work that they were planning to do, and I think that it adds value, particularly when we talk about all the various programs and all the various agencies across the government who deal with food who, but for a convener aren't really having these conversations.

Mr.

Barnes, thank you for being here.

You know, I think health equity is at the basis of a lot of the work that we do.

DC Health has a whole office on health equity.

Um at the hearing, I look forward to hearing more about their plans as they were taking time to essentially rebuild and restructure the work of the Health Equity Council and others.

Um I don't have any specific questions, but thank you guys so much for being here.

If you can please provide your written testimony for the record, that'd be great.

Okay, our last two um Aaron Johnson from Brandywine and Patricia Stamper.

And then again to the virtual people.

We're gonna take a five minute break.

Okay.

Um Aaron, when you're ready, I will try to main make mine quick.

Um I don't know if I can do that, but I got a lot in here.

So good afternoon.

It's good to be here with you guys.

Um thank you for the opportunity to testify on behalf of Brandywine, as you know, the district's contractor for animal services.

Uh just to kind of recap what I went through, I think earlier before in February was uh in just this first year of the partnership.

We made some real progress.

We achieved 93% live release rate.

We cared for over 7,000 animals, reunited more than 500 pets with their owners and completed over 2600 adoptions in this last year.

Our animal control team responded to more than 19,000 calls, underscoring the scale of need across the district.

We also got the DC Village campus open, and that has significantly strengthened our capacity to serve the animals and the residents.

We've also made some progress with the dangerous dog investigations, working with DC Health to improve tracking and shorten the time from investigation to the determinations.

Uh and we're looking ahead.

There are some key opportunities to improve some outcomes that we are looking forward to.

One example that we uh think is a great idea is modernizing the licensing program through microchip-based systems, which would uh strengthen the compliance, improve enforcement, and most importantly, increase return to owner rates.

Um so we're very proud of the progress that we're making, and we're committed to working with uh DC Health and continuing that building.

As we turn to FY27, there is the subtitle 5C that everybody is talking about for the pet food registration.

We are for this and we support it.

However, I think there are two different bills, or there's the bill and then the budget one.

I think in the general sense, we support it in the fact that it is looking for that revenue stream that helps create that capacity for care for animals and the people in the district.

Um and we think that that's a critical component of improving animal welfare outcomes and reducing long-term costs to the district by being able to expand the low-cost and no cost spay neuter clinic services as well as educational programs.

Um there is some evidence from other jurisdictions that do demonstrate the sustained investment, spainator programs uh leading to measurable reductions in shelter intake, euthanasia rates, as well as the straight animal population.

Uh Delaware is another example of that.

They have a similar uh registration for funding some of the spay neuter Maryland next door is another one that has the pet food fund.

Um that has they've been able to award almost a million dollars in grants just from that, um, which supported more than 14,000 spay neuter surgeries for pets of low-income residents and community cats, demonstrating how uh dedicated fee-based funding system stream can directly expand access to care while reducing intake.

I will try to just sum it up that um we are open to different suggestions on the voluntary stuff.

Um I don't think they're as effective and they're inconsistent, and they don't provide the sufficient enough means to be able to for the scale that is needed uh in the district.

Um my time is run out, so I will keep it short and just say thank you for letting me be here and be able to speak to you guys.

It's great to see you guys, and we appreciate uh you all.

Thanks, Aaron.

Uh Patricia.

Good afternoon.

Chair Prison Henderson and members of the committee.

My name is Patricia Stamper.

I'm a Ward 7 resident, a mother, an educator, a homeowner, and a community advocate.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify in person today.

I'm here to urge the council not to weaken the district's food access infrastructure.

Specifically, I'm asking the council to protect funding for farmer market support grants, preserve the Food Policy Council, and maintain a dedicated food policy team that can focus on food access, food equity, and community voice.

Food access is not just about groceries.

Food access is public health.

It is family stability.

It is child wellness.

It is senior wellness it is disability justice.

It is racial equity and in communities east of the river it's also about dignity.

When families cannot easily access fresh, healthy, affordable food, the harm shows up everywhere.

It shows up in children's health, school readiness, chronic illness, stress on parents and caregivers, transportation costs, and household budgets that are already stretched thin.

In Ward 7, we know what limited access feels like.

We know what it means to travel farther for quality food.

We know what it means when some neighborhoods have multiple full service grocery options while other communities like mine, Marshall Heights, BINCO, are expected to make do with less.

That did not happen by accident.

Food deserts are not natural.

They are created by policy choices, planning choices, disinvestment options and investment choices, and years and decades of disinvestments and failed promises, Capitol Gateway.

And because policy helped create the problem, policy must also be part of the solution.

This is why these programs matter farmers markets, produce X and community food initiatives and food policy coordination help close real gaps.

They help families stretch their food dollars they support local growers dream it out loud.

They give residents more choices about what they eat, how they care for their families.

I've lost 10 pounds riding the metro in the last seven days and because I've been eating super healthy because of the food options that I have and based on my budget is called the pantry down the street.

They connect public health planning and communities in a way that government should be strengthening not cutting.

I understand that this is a difficult budget season.

I have a difficult health care makeup I have high blood pressure obesity and I get stressed when I don't eat three meals a day and two snacks.

They tell residents what government values who needs and are urgent and who burdens are unacceptable or unacceptable.

At a time when families are facing higher cost uncertainty around federal benefits and increased pressures on household budgets, the district should be using its budget to protect the DC residents from harm, not to exasperate it or deepen it.

Eliminating the food policy council does not eliminate food insecurity I urge this committee and council protect the farmers market supports grant preserve the food policy council give Dream and I loud they money so I can have my lovely farmers markets.

Amen thank you thank you thanks so much to this panel of witnesses Ms.

Stamper there's been a lot of testimony about the food policy programs and the food access programs in general and I think there's definitely um some agreement and synergies around um all of the programs have value including the farmers market um but also the work of the food policy office also has value too in terms of how they were trying to coordinate some of the efforts there.

So we're going to do as best we can um on that Mr Johnson um I don't want to like jinx myself but this is like the first hearing in a long time that we have not had any testimony about the thing.

I'm not even going to mention it but you know what I'm talking about which I think is is well but I want to ask about the hotline that has been something that has come up in terms of um you know people calling usually after hours someone at the hotline is sort of saying we don't think that this is an immediate thing and so you got to call back tomorrow how are you guys enhancing those services such that frankly I feel like if somebody is doing the work of finding your number in the middle of the night it is an emergency to them or it is an urgent problem to them.

And so to hear somebody on the other line say yeah call back tomorrow at nine that's not helpful.

I think um to be honest I think you'd be surprised how many calls we actually do get at nighttime it's more than I think I've seen in a lot of places.

Um it it's more than I think I've seen in a lot of places.

I don't know if you've heard much feedback as of recently.

Uh I don't know if that's the case, but we did internalize our dispatch services, so it's no longer a third-party company.

That's good.

And I think that I think as I said before, you know, they have turnover in those centers.

And so being able to get the consistent messaging out to the folks and getting the right messaging to them is a lot more challenging.

Um so I hope that it has improved, and I hope that that change has been helpful.

Um, because we really did look at that and thought that that was probably the best move um for everybody.

Okay.

Um probably the most frequent complaint that we get is the wait time to pick up stray dogs.

Um have we is there a way to improve on that?

Um it's something we can certainly look at, look at our response times for the different call types.

Um I need to kind of run the numbers for the year too and kind of look at what has been high.

We don't have historical data, so it's kind of hard to see too.

You know, are we getting more bites?

Are we getting less bites?

Are we getting more, you know, menacing call?

You know, so those are stats over time that I love to kind of trend and look at because it kind of really gives you an idea of what's working, what's not, and how can we improve that?

But I I certainly can go back and look at response times and kind of see how that's trending and what it looks like.

Yeah, that would be super helpful.

How many calls do you get at night?

Like people just out and they're like, hey, I saw a dog.

Quite a few.

Uh it happens more often than you think.

We we do get a lot of calls too, though, where people live in complexes, and there isn't necessarily a great area for them to take their dogs out and stuff.

So sometimes they love to just open the door, let them out, and that happens, and so then people find them, they think that they're a lost dog that's away from home.

But in actuality, that is their home.

They live there.

Um, but they have let them out to do their business, and then we get a call where they get tied up and then somebody doesn't know where they are because they're not back at the door because somebody tied them up.

So there's a lot of that kind of stuff that does happen.

That's just so much.

Like we don't we okay.

You know, when you live in the country, sure, open the door and let them run.

But like what?

We live in a city.

What do you mean you're gonna open the door and let your dog just kick me?

So as a former commissioner at AC7CL6, that happened a lot.

I've actually witnessed dogs die from because I lived used to live on a one-way street, 4,900 block adjusteries in one-way street.

And rest in peace to Charlene Clough, but she lost two dogs like that.

She let them out, she's she's a disabled woman.

She was by the time she passed away, she was under 100 pounds.

So she physically could not walk her dog out.

So we all as a community, hey, okay, her dogs are here.

Oh, she let them out.

Okay, cool, we'll watch them.

But that was a row house, so that was a residential area.

However, by my son's school, it's a dog all the time and live over there.

And nobody can catch him.

He's off of Massachusetts, Alabama near Rocky Ship.

Not you making a complaint.

I'll call Darren Thompson, come back at his dog.

And I can't, he he she live, she she the dog live over there.

It's public.

Okay, so you know what?

Yeah, when y'all leave, and we can take a break.

Share information and perhaps you might be able to locate the animal the animal.

Um I I wanted to ask what is the status of your second location?

We are still waiting for the final certificate of occupancy from DOP.

Oh we happen to know the director over there, so we could see what we can see.

Um, that's the last piece.

That's the last piece.

Lord.

Okay.

That's the last piece.

All right.

Okay.

Well, thank you so much for your testimony.

Thank you.

Thank you for your testimony.

Um if we have any follow-up questions, Aaron, uh, we'll certainly reach out.

Thanks.

Okay.

All right.

Virtual people, online people, five minutes, we'll be back.

And uh we'll then wrap this up.

Thank you.

All right.

And we're back.

Okay, so for our virtual witnesses, again, everybody has three minutes to testify.

To become a panelists, there'll be a little box that pops up on the screen that says, Would you like to be elevated?

And you have to affirmatively say yes in order for us to see you.

So we have Eric Goulet, County Gillam, Michaela Deming from the DC domestic or DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Victoria Roberts from Community of Hope.

And Eric Engel from DC Greens.

Although I think we saw Eric yesterday.

All right.

Thank you, Chair Henderson, um, and staff for the opportunity to testify.

My name is Makila Deming.

I'm the policy director of the DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the federally recognized statewide coalition of domestic violence service providers here in DC.

Dedicated service providers serve upwards of a thousand victims of domestic violence on any given day across all eight wards of the district.

We know that pregnancy is a dangerous time period for those who are experiencing intimate partner violence.

Homicide is a leading cause of death for pregnant women in the U.S.

They're more likely to be murdered during pregnancy or soon after childbirth than to die from the four leading obstacle causes of paternal mortality.

Through the training that the DC coalition provides, staff are better able to recognize domestic violence in a culturally competent way and offer trauma-informed support to families.

The training has been so well received that DC Health has requested that we provide training for their entire staff.

As we see the domestic violence homicide rate in the district tick up to a 12-year high right now, it's even more crucial to prevent domestic violence and provide early intervention resources.

And are concerned about the 15% cut to DC Health's community health services.

We're joining the VANS Victim Assistance Network's request to fund victim services at 59.6 million baseline and support the Fair Budget Coalition and DC LGBTQ Plus budget coalition and their platforms for uh racially equitable DC.

We continue to seek sustainable resources to support programming policy and community awareness about domestic violence prevention.

We're committed to being DC's leader in efforts to stop violence before it starts and welcome your support with that.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Okay.

Uh I see county has joined us.

There you are.

All right, good afternoon.

Good afternoon, when you're ready.

All right.

Uh my name is County Gilling.

I'm the president of APSE Local 2725.

I represent approximately uh 1,013 uh 1,300 district government employees, including workers at uh Department of Health.

I want to be clear about what is happening in this budget.

The fiscal year 2027 proposal removes 127 million dollars in funding for future pay increases.

That is not a technical adjustment, and it is a policy decision that directly impacts working families across this city.

Workers are being told there is no money, but that's that does not match what was public uh public that was said publicly.

On April 17th, 2026, the mayor stated that DC is not broke and that the district has approximately $2 billion in reserves.

This shows that the issue is not whether the money exists.

This is this is about what is being prioritized.

During that same presentation, uh, the chairperson, you raised concerns that these cuts will harm firefighters and psychologists, and that concern is valid.

However, many of my members received that statement as out of touch with the full scope of public health operations because it did not reflect their roles that directly uh protect residents every day.

The in Pakistan is far uh far beyond those professions.

The employees within the agency are part of public safety.

My members include food inspectors who prevent outbreaks like E.

coli and pharmacist inspectors who ensure medications are safe and controlled substances are properly regulated.

We also have health license specialists and investigators who enforce the health occupations revision act to protect the public.

In addition, we have rodent control inspectors working in unsafe conditions and using regulated chemicals that can impact their health over time.

These employees are also addressing the rodent issues that residents experience every day.

This work directly affects the quality of life and public health for these of this city.

These are frontline roles that are essential to protecting residents.

When funding for conversation is removed and impacts recruitment, retention and morale.

When agencies are told to reduce spending, the result is fewer inspections, slower licensing, reduce enforcement, and increase risk to public health.

At the same time, we are seeing a different pattern across agencies.

Layers of administrations are expanding while frontline employees are being told there's no funding.

That is not efficient and it is not sustainable.

So the question is not job loss, the question is where the investment is going.

The work for the work, excuse me, the workforce is stretched in while the structure above them continues to grow.

There's also a broader issue that cannot be ignored.

Approximately 400 million dollars in locally generated tax revenue was removed by congressional action.

Where are those funds and why are they not being used to support the workforce?

If those funds remain in district accounts, they should be leveraged.

At a minimum, they could be aim up against the two billion in reserve to support worker conversation and offset the 127 million dollar cut, proposed cut.

If that loss is accepted while workers are told there's no money, then the burden is being shifted onto the workforce.

That is not balanced.

At the end of the day, this comes down to a simple question.

If the district has the resources, while workers who protect the health and safety of this city being asked to absorb the impact.

We are actually from we are asking for a commitment for for a commitment to invest in a workforce that protects residents every day.

And I'm available to answer any questions that the committee may have.

Thank you.

Commissioner Davidson.

Hi, can you hear me all right?

Yes.

Great.

Uh thank you, Chair Henderson.

My name is Shear Davidson.

I'm the commissioner of SMD 1A08, and I'm speaking today on behalf of ANC 1A in the resolution we passed on February 27th, urging comprehensive rodent mitigation reform.

Rodent complaints have increased more than tenfold over the past decade, with studies showing that DC remains one of the most highly impacted jurisdictions above Boston and New York City.

Rodent infestations are the single most consistent complaints I receive in my capacity as an ANC.

What this looks like for residents in Columbia Heights is chewed through trash and recycling bins that residents must replace, chewed through vehicle wiring, inaccessible infested parks and public spaces, and rodents in the walls of homes and commercial establishments.

But it's not working.

The DOH rodent and vector control division is overextended, charged with conducting inspections, surveys, baiting, enforcement, community outreach, and interagency coordination with only 20 inspectors across the district.

Without sufficient capacity, our current system is overly reactive and complaint driven.

Abatement efforts are applied in a piecemeal fashion, which is not sustainable, effective, or an efficient use of funds.

Importantly, this poses a series and urgent equity concern.

Rats bring significant property damage.

The cost to replace is an outside burn, outsized burden on lower income communities.

Wealthier communities sustain bids that empty trash daily or that fund private rodent proof trash cans.

Because the current system relies almost entirely on 311 requests, the need is drastically underreported and properties remain chronically underserved in those communities with three or fewer 311 requests.

These fewer requests may be due to limited awareness of reporting options and hesitations interacting with government resources.

311 requests are merely a blunt proxy and do not equate to actual need.

So what changes are needed?

Rodents feed off of our food waste.

We need complete trash containerization as proven to be highly effective in New York City.

Garbage collection needs to be more frequent and reliable.

What you can do, do not support the mayor's FY2027 budget, which removes one FTE from the rodent vector and control division.

Instead, allocate funds to the expansion of this division to increase capacity in data collection, quality assurance, public education, abatement, and enforcement.

Hold hearings for, pass and fund the legislation that has been introduced in council, including the RAT Act and the RATS Act.

Establish a centralized director of rodent mitigation with cross-agency authority and a dedicated budget.

Review the DOH recommendations outlined in the 20 to 17 RAT stat published by the Office of Budget and Performance Management, most recommendations of which have not been implemented even almost 10 years later.

What does coordination currently look like between DOH and DPW, DOB and DPR?

What percentage of properties require repeat treatments within 30, 16, 90 days?

What is the average time from 311 report to inspection and from inspection to abatement?

What proactive education campaigns has DOH conducted in the past year?

How many have been targeted specifically to landlords and property managers?

Are revisions needed to the escalation and enforcement pathways for non-compliant properties?

What mechanisms are in place for quality assurance?

How are abatement and mitigation efforts responsive to these findings?

What services does DOH have the capacity to maintain and which would be better contracted out?

And what metrics other than 311 requests can be used to determine the need for intervention.

Thank you so much for your time.

I will stand for questions when appropriate.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, Councilmember Henderson and staff.

My name is Victoria Roberts.

I'm the Vice President of Health Services at Community of Hope.

I'm here today to discuss concerns we have about the impact of the proposed 1.3 million dollar reduction to healthy steps funding.

As a grantee, Community of Hope has been able to add an evidence-based interdisciplinary pediatric health service program to complete our other perinatal services.

This grant ensures that COH practitioners support the healthy development of infants, toddlers, and their families at our family health and birth center.

This support includes recognizing and addressing developmental delays, supporting the physical and emotional health of children and caregivers, coaching on parenting struggles and problematic patterns, navigation to improve referral completion, and connection to social service resources.

COH is midway through year two of our grant, and the benefits are clear.

One example is the completion rates of the ages and stages questionnaire, a highly reliable parent-completed developmental screening tool for children.

It assesses five key domains: communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem solving, and personal social.

And identifies strengths and potential developmental delays.

At FHBC, from 2024 to the first quarter of 2026, our ASQ screening completion rates have increased from 10% to 91%.

Part of this new workflow is ensuring that the screeners are completed prior to the clinical visit.

This new process not only means that we are more aware of potential delays and parental concerns, but also that our healthy steps specialist spends time focusing on lower scores, explaining possible impacts, and coordinating referral for further testing and support.

I can assure you that this process would not have been possible without this grant.

And if funding is removed, we would be forced to eliminate the position.

COH is working hard to explore future sustainability through Medicaid billing, but there are several obstacles.

Clinicians who are able to bill higher receive higher salaries and have many professional options and may not choose this sort of work in the clinic.

We are still exploring which interactions with families meet the criteria of a clinically billable visit.

We believe that there are CPT codes that cover about half of the type of interactions that the specialist offers.

However, we also need to ensure that we have eligible ICD diagnosis codes, as we are striving not to pathologize normal parenting struggles merely for billing purposes.

Additionally, providers need to be credentialed with each of the Medicaid managed care plans who have separate requirements and certainly different understandings of which services are covered.

COH has reviewed and not been able to implement a collaborative care model for even our more serious mental health diagnoses.

I can confidently say that there is no path in which this would be able to sustain the Healthy Steps program.

Given all of these obstacles, there's currently no viable billing strategy to support the full program.

The mission of DC Health is to promote health, wellness, and equity across the district.

The proposed cut to healthy steps funding walks back this promise.

I urge the council to maintain healthy steps funding, ensuring that the district's youngest and most vulnerable residents continue to receive early access to high quality care.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify, and I am available to answer questions.

Thank you.

Eric.

I don't think I see Eric.

Either, Eric.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you so much to this panel of witnesses for your testimony.

Ms.

Roberts, I think you just said it very clearly, there is no viable billing strategy in terms of healthy steps.

So I think that kind of makes it plain as we kind of think about where we go going forward there.

So thank you for being here.

I think it's very important.

I think it goes into our issues around public health.

And we're going to ask some questions to DC Health about their capacity on the rodent control team and then also some of the strategies that they are taking to help improve.

I'm also familiar with the RAT stats as they refer to it.

And again, it's a it's a multi-prong approach.

I'm glad that they were moving on the fertility control of recommendations, but there were other things that were mentioned, and so we'll certainly follow up with DC Health about that.

Ms.

Deming.

I can only imagine how frustrating it would be for DC Health to say, oh my gosh, this program is so great.

We want you to train all of our people, and then they cut the grant.

How much additional?

I think the original or at least the amount of money this year was 20,000.

How much would it take for you to be able to train the whole force?

We would estimate that it would take so keeping the 20,000 for the current uh purpose, which is a more intensive training, it would cost about another 20,000 to train all of DC Health staff for a more basic but still tailored domestic violence understanding and trauma-informed care.

Um and then there's another request around a more intensive training for the in-home maternal infant early childhood uh home visiting program.

And that would be another 20,000 to do a two-day intensive for all of those folks.

So to do all of it, it would be sixty thousand dollars, which I know it's not a lot of money with a size budget we're talking about, but it's a real like that's the barrier right now to being able to train everyone on those critical interventions.

Okay, thank you for that.

Um, Mr.

Gillum, let me apologize if anybody thought that my immediate reaction to a press conference that was saying uh we were losing 127 million in workforce investment, that I was only suggesting that only two bargaining units were worth anything.

It was just an immediate response, um, which is why I have actually been asking um the labor leaders, particularly in our cluster about the impact, um, because I also have asked me, because now I have Disby that is part of us as well.

And so we talked about this with them last week.

Um let me ask you this for um the folks in your local.

Um, are there any contracts that are currently um are you currently at the bargaining table?

Uh yes, that's correct.

So we started uh we had our first bargaining session for our contract, uh our conversation contract, which expired in September 30th, uh expired September 30 of 2025.

So we just started the negotiation in March.

Okay.

And then the mayor, uh the mayor just released a budget proposal to the council on April 17th.

So you guys were at the table in the middle of about to start the conversations, and then you you saw this.

Um, how many employees does this impact in the unit?

All right.

Well, I re I also work at the agency as well, so that's my home agency, but I have uh at DC Help, I got approximately 125 members.

Okay.

Uh and I uh this is what they do in the testimony in my testimony, room division, food inspectors, uh investigators.

Uh also got uh members in in IT.

So anything that does with the operations, because we're assigned to the uh HISPA administrations and environmental health.

So we we we did we are actually uh service the public a lot in what we're doing in some capacity or another.

Okay.

Um I know um at least for me and I would say the majority of my colleagues, this is definitely a priority for us.

So um it's just good for we're trying to I guess put numbers to what the impact of this would be um, particularly on our force.

Um, but I also think it's go ahead.

Chair person, I would tell you this.

Uh what actually I can't get, I'm not gonna say I can't get, but uh our collective bargaining unit is comprised of over uh 17,000 district government employees.

So we're we're um aligned with what's called conversation one and two.

Okay, and that's the collective bargain.

It represents over 17,000 employees.

So when you think about your you think about uh MPD, FIMS, uh the attorneys, and you have uh other um you got other uh career paths that uh they're to their own entity, but we're part of the collective bargaining that is over half the district workforce, and it seems like we're always being impacted when they're ready to cut.

MPD, I know they had to get their raise, uh, they got their raises through a legal action.

And as you said in uh in your response to the mayor, that now films is gonna um they were going through arbitration, now they've stopped.

But I mean, she's actually just taking money away from almost over half the workforce of DC for future uh conversation.

Yeah, yep.

Okay, all right.

Um, this is super helpful.

Um thank you so much to this panel.

If you um haven't provided your written testimony for the record, if you could please do so, that would be really helpful.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Okay, so we're gonna go to our next panel.

Uh Kurt Gallagher, Deborah Thomas, Mariah Francis, Jeremy Sherman, Rachel Clark, and Jaron Hill.

Give it a minute for folks to come in.

Again, uh, there'll be a box that pops up that um asks you if you want to become a panelist.

Also, um please check your uh the name of uh your display name on Zoom.

If it's iPhone or user 102532 or something to that effect, we're not gonna be able to promote you.

We we actually have to have your name, so we know that it's you okay.

Um I see Kurt.

Good afternoon, Chairferson Henderson.

My name is Kurt Gallagher, executive director of the DC Dental Society.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today and I have the opportunity of speaking on behalf of our more than 400 dentists who care for the residents of DC.

Today we respectfully offer three recommendations to this committee to potentially uh impact access to care by expanding the dental workforce.

Number one, reducing registration fees for dental assistance to bring the district in line with our neighbors.

Number two, passing the Future Smiles Act to support the training of new level two dental assistants.

And number three, supporting a new relationship pathways for individuals qualified to work as a dental hygienist who are not accommodated by current requirements.

Regarding registration fees for dental assistance, the cost of practice as a dental assistant in district is significantly higher than in other states in our region.

There are two reasons for that.

First of all, all dentists' dental assistants are required to register, whereas in other states, only those who perform expanded functions are required to register.

And secondly, the fees are simply more expensive.

The second highest fee is $100 less expensive than the base fee in DC.

For these reasons, we respectfully and strongly encourage this committee to update the DC code to repeal the registration requirement for level one dental assistance, to fund a reduction in registration fees for dental assistance, and finally to direct the Board of Dentistry to reduce those fees.

Regarding recommendation number two, thank you again, Councilmember Henderson, along with your co-sponsors for introducing the Future Smiles Pilot Program Establishment Amendment Act.

We strongly support this legislation because it will help to train the next generation of dental assistants.

We are just committee to hear the bill and to move it forward.

And a written testimony offers recommendations for ways to strengthen the program.

And finally, regarding recommendation number three, we encourage this committee to take action to establish a licensure pathway for internationally trained dentist and internationally trained hygienist to become a dental hygienist in the district.

We continue to hear from our members who search sometimes as many as two years without being able to secure a hygienist to replace uh vacancy on their staff.

The district can take action to ease the shortage of dental hygienists by establishing a pathway to licensure for qualified assistants who have trained in other countries.

And I want to share a really poignant example of just how unfunctional our current process is.

Last year we were contacted by a dental hygienist who was applying for a license in DC.

This person had trained internationally as a dentist.

She had worked in the state of Florida as a dental hygienist for seven years.

She passed the exam that DC requires for licensure, and despite those qualifications, could not secure a DC license.

This committee should encourage the Board of Dentistry to update its procedures to enable licensure for qualified health professionals whose training may not comport with traditional licensure requirements.

That wraps up my oral testimony, and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ms.

Thomas.

Yes.

Councilmember.

My name is Deborah Thomas.

And I am consultant for the District of Columbia Nurses Association.

And we represent nurses in the Department of Health.

The Department of Health decreate create a model that would allow unlicensed personnel to have greater responsibility in the health suites and require the professional nursing staff to provide remote delegatory support to three to four schools for each cluster.

This left most schools without professional nursing support.

Delivery of service was being inappropriately delegated to unlicensed personnel that have been trained that had not been trained by the Board of Nursing's medication employee program.

The model was discontinued in 2026 school year, and children's school services lost the contract.

Nurses were made supervisors, and the cost cluster model resumed with care being supervised and delegated by the professional nursing staff.

This may care is being delivered by unlicensed personnel to our most vulnerable children.

This is a violation of our contract language, which DOH which allows for all registered nurses and licensed faculty nurses in DOH that are not supervisors to be part of Comp 13 DCNA.

We have filed the complaint with DOH PERV and our attorney did meet with them last Wednesday, and they have another meeting scheduled for May 6th.

In conclusion, well, we're what DCNA is asking the City Council to convene a hearing to discuss the following issues.

Representation of all nurses as DCNA members to include RNs and licensed practical nurses.

An update on progress of the cluster model for delivery of services.

And following the current law passed in 2017, which states that there should be a nurse in every school.

And this is a request that the DC City City Council Committee on Health intervene on this issue before child suffers from our lack of legal accountability.

We have an opportunity to create a model of change.

A nurse in every school is just the beginning.

We can attract and create a pool of trained personnel.

The city has the resources and the educational systems to do just that.

Thank you.

Thank you.

But I do see Commissioner Sherman.

Commissioner.

Yeah, hi.

Hello.

Good afternoon, Chairperson Henderson and staff and members of the committee.

I'm also going to talk about rats.

So I'm glad that you haven't heard much about it today because I will talk about it.

My name is Jeremy Sherman.

I'm an ANC in 1A04 in Columbia Heights, and I'm also chair of ANC 1A.

Rats are among the most consistent and urgent complaints I receive from constituents.

Residents report chewed through trash bins, not vehicle wiring, rodents entering their walls and nests in public spaces and parks.

An October 2025 article in The Economist reported that rat activity in DC increased nearly 13-fold between 2014 and 2024.

13fold.

That number should alarm everybody.

The core problem is structural.

With fewer than 20 inspectors covering the entire D district, DC Health is being asked to address a citywide public health crisis through a complaint-driven property-by-property model.

That approach is inherently reactive and will never achieve the block-level neighborhood scale interventions that public health experts consistently say are necessary for sustainable rodent mitigation.

As my colleague mentioned in February 2026, ANC1A unanimously passed a resolution calling for exactly that kind of reform and specifically requesting increased staffing for the rodent and vector control division in the FY27 budget.

The proposed budget moves in the opposite direction.

It removes one FTE that was in the FY26 budget, and that's the wrong response to a problem of this scale.

There was recently a birth control pilot launched in Adams Morgan, combining liquid contraceptives, targeted baiting, and improved trash practices over a three-week window.

That kind of prevention focused intensive intervention is exactly what public health experts recommend.

And I'm glad the city's trying it.

Now the question is whether the FY27 budget positions us to learn from that pilot and expand upon it.

And I'll advocate that Columbia Heights is a natural next candidate.

We are a dense high foot traffic commercial corridor with a serious and well-documented infestation problem.

I also want to take this opportunity to urge this committee to hold a hearing on the Rodent Abatement and Transparency Amendment Act, the RAT Act.

B26492 is before this committee, and its enforcement, transparency, and accountability mechanisms are one piece of a much bigger puzzle.

I also want to recognize Councilmember Henderson, your own public trash and recycling container budgeting act of 2026.

Well, that bill and the rodent abatement through Smart Solutions Amendment Act are not before this committee.

All of these efforts work in tandem.

Better trash infrastructure means fewer food sources, fewer food sources mean fewer rats, fewer rats means fewer inspections, complaints, and less strain on an already stretched thin rodent and vector control division.

If DC makes the upstream investments, we could eventually see real cost savings in DOH's rodent mitigation budget.

I urge you to work with Councilmember Nadeau to hold a hearing on these matters as soon as possible.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify, and I'm eager to answer any questions you might have.

Thank you.

Um I don't see Rachel, but I do see Jaren.

Good afternoon, Councilmember Henderson.

Um I'm Jaren Hill Lackridge, and I'm showing up in my capacity as director of strategic partnerships at Dreaming Out Loud.

You know, at Dreaming Out Loud, we operate a hyper-local vertically integrated food ecosystem that connects farms to community-centered food access points like the Mary and Barry Avenue Marketing Cafe.

And through this work, we see every day that food is not just about access, but it's also about health, dignity, and long-term outcomes for our people.

And I want to start by thanking you, Councilmember Henderson, for stepping up last year when the federal government turned upside down.

See, that investment allowed us to really step into our role within the Fair Food Coalition and what we call the Food Avengers.

See DOL, we clearly identify ourselves as the food first responders.

And what that means is simple.

We show up when our community needs us the most.

We support our elders with consistent culture culturally relevant food and we'll literally bring food to their doorsteps.

We stand with families in moments of grief by providing meals for repasses, especially when we lose our young people to gun violence.

And we were able to stand in the gap last year during the annual Ward 7 and 8 Turkey giveaway by making produce available at no cost to residents east of the river.

And again, a lot of that work was possible because of your investment through DC Health.

So I want to acknowledge DC Health under the leadership of Dr.

Bennett since they've moved to the Great Ward 8.

See, that move mattered because it allowed them to understand firsthand the food access challenges east of the river.

And they've shown up as a literal neighbor.

And you know, you'll hear from other folks from the Dreaming Out Loud team, folks who also live east of the river in Ward 7 and 8, who will speak not just from their live experience, but how we show up and how we work in community.

But I wanted to just set the tone here in how we show up and who we are.

See, alongside partners in our ecosystem, the food Avengers, if you will, folks like Fresh Farm, Martha's Table, DC Central Kitchen, DC Greens, Hong Kong, you know them all, right?

We're a connected ecosystem that really connects the food to community because we know that food is medicine.

And the DC Food Policy Council has been a critical backbone to our ecosystem.

And the proposed elimination of that is just gonna turn everything upside down.

You know, and as we look ahead, we want to encourage the continued investment in our community-rooted organizations like DOL, who are doing the work every day.

That investment of 200,000 last year really helped us respond in real time, but that need has only grown.

So no, we would love to see that investment increase, maybe doubled if we can, so that we can continue to show up for our elders, families, and neighbors, because again, improving health outcomes here in the Great Ward 8 and across the district.

It takes more than just the system.

It's all of us showing up consistently together.

And again, at DOL, we're committed to doing that as the food first responders.

Thank you, and I'm here for any questions.

Thank you.

Um, thank you so much to this panel of witnesses.

Um, I can't remember, and forgive me, um, how much the grant was for last year or this current year.

And are you all looking and that was one time money, but are you all seeking the same amount?

We're seeking the same amount or more if possible, but at minimum the same amount.

You know, we recognize that that the federal government took 400k last year, and that number has increased and is going to continue to increase over the next couple of years.

So we'll love to have that sustained if not increased.

Okay.

Um, Commissioner Sherman, thank you for being here and raising the issue.

Um interesting thing is though, even though we have DC Health Front that does road and control, um, the rat related bills that have been introduced thus far have all been referred to other committees.

Um they're not actually in our jurisdiction.

I think it's either Councilmember Lewis George with facilities or councilmember Nadel with Public Works.

We also um had a rodent bill that we wanted to do as well.

So I don't know, at the end of the day, we there will probably be some sort of rat omnibus that will happen.

And um, I think there were conversations about um after budget uh a joint hearing of some sort.

So it's definitely an issue that's on top of mind and um and from multiple different angles, not just with DC Health, but I've seen the same questions of DGS, Department of Public Works, etc.

Um, and so um we'll definitely keep that top of mind as well.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Appreciate your work on it.

Um Ms.

Thomas, thank you for being here.

Uh Kurt, thank you for being here as well.

Um, you know, we we uh have been trying to sort of collaborate on some of these issues that we've had from the dental space.

I was very excited um and glad to see that the mayor put in the funding um to restore dental coverage um for Alliance and uh for the healthy DC plan.

But that's certainly not enough.

And um, we know that.

Um unfortunately our bill on the dental assistance was referred to the committee of the whole because it was in the office of the state superintendent of education.

So we're gonna try to work with the chairman's office to hopefully see some movement on that as well.

Um, I don't have any specific questions for this panel.

Thank you guys so much for being here and for your feedback on these issues.

Okay, thank you.

We're going to go to the next panel.

Umar Mohammed from Dreaming Out Loud.

Nick Hall from Dreaming Out Loud.

Abeya Pelt from Community of Hope.

Stacey Adams.

Dr.

Nia Broderick from Children's National.

And Kristen Yochum from Paul Public Charter School.

Again, you have to accept our invitation to become a panelist.

We'll give it just a minute.

Okay.

Looks like we have a little crew here.

Umar when you're ready.

Good morning, Chair Professor Anderson and distinguished staff.

My name is Sequoia Umar Mohammed, and I serve with the outreach and engagement coordinator at Dream Now Loud.

I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today.

At Dream Now Loud, we stood with a hyperlocal community-driven food system that links our farms, our Marcus, and the Marinbury Avenue Marketing Cafe to the overall health and wellness of residents throughout the district.

We view food not simply as nourishment, but as a powerful vehicle for better health outcomes.

Our work is grounded in a similar belief.

When food is accessible, cautiously meaningful and reliable, it becomes an essential form of care.

Our partnership with DC Health has allowed us to deepen that impact.

Together, we go beyond access and move toward meaningful outcomes.

By meeting residents where they are, we use food as a gateway to improve health knowledge, support the management of chronic conditions, and strengthen trust between community members and a broad health care system.

In practice, this looks like this.

One, provide fresh, locally grown produce to families navigate conditions such as diabetes and hypertension.

Two, host a shared meals, defensive learning, connection, and prevention.

And finally, three, offering initiatives like lunch with a doctor, where residents can engage directly with health care professionals and trusted community-centered environments.

This collaboration is essentially impactful for residents east of the river who benefit not only from access to nutritious foods, but also for stronger relationships, ongoing engagement, and clear pathways to reliable health information.

Through this work, we are helping to close gaps in care and empower individuals to lead healthier, more self-sufficient lives.

DC Health Presence and Community East of the River and its commitment to working in partnership with local organizations has made a tangible difference.

It has enabled organizations like ours to operate more efficiently, respond with greater urgency, and remain rooted in the lived realities of the people we serve.

We strongly support continued investment in partnerships that prioritize community voice, build trust, and embrace costly responsive approaches to health.

When public health was delivered through something as universal as food, it becomes visible, tangible, and sustainable.

Thank you, Chairwoman Henderson, for your time and for your ongoing commitment to improving the health of our communities.

And I yield the remainder of my time.

Thank you.

But I do see Ms.

Pelt.

Good afternoon, Councilmember Henderson and members and staff of the Committee on Health.

My name is Abaia Pelt, and I am the senior director of maternal child health at Community of Hope.

Community of Hope provides medical, dental, pharmacy, and behavioral health services, along with a robust set of maternal and child health programs at our three health centers in DC.

About half of our patients live in wards 7 and 8.

I am here today on behalf of Community of Hope to discuss potential impacts to existing maternal and child health services as a result of the proposed FY27 budget.

And I urge the council to invest in programs that have had a positive health impact on health outcomes for mothers and babies across the district.

The proposed 699,000 reduction to home visiting services is particularly concerning.

Since 2019, Community of Hope's evidence-based Parents as Teachers program has been funded with grant funds from DC Health.

Currently, all participating families live in wards 5, 7, and 8.

Most of our PAT families are facing severe challenges that may affect their parenting ability, such as housing instability, economic challenges, intergenerational trauma, and intimate partner violence.

Home visiting models like ours have been proven to reduce infant mortality, strengthen parental bonding, prevent child abuse and neglect, and prepare children for success in schools.

Community of Hope's PAT family support specialists work closely with families to encourage and support positive parenting strategies and promote family health and safety.

Our PAT program helps parents nurture their children's health development by offering parenting education, guidance, and resources through a trauma informed lens.

Children are screened for developmental delays and connected to early intervention services as needed.

Through sustained regular engagement with case managers, families are given an outlet to express need for services, including referrals to food, housing, and medical resources.

In the 2025 program year, Community of Hope was able to increase family engagement from 25% to 92% by using creative strategies to keep families engaged and communicating the purpose and benefits of the program.

Home visiting models like ours have been proven to reduce infant mortality, strengthen parental bonding, prevent abuse and neglect, and prepare children for success in schools.

In 2023, Community of Hope was awarded a three-year preterm birth reduction grant by DC Health, which supports the implementation of our centering pregnancy program.

Through centering, we provide clinical prenatal visits, health education, peer support, and connections to other services that support healthy pregnancies.

The preterm birth rate of our centering participants is 7%, which is slightly lower than our already low overall rate of 8.3%.

This is especially noteworthy given that more than 75% of our centering patients live east of the Anacostia in wards 5, 7, and 8, where preterm births have historically exceeded both the district and national averages.

Seeing that my time is up, I will end here, but we do hope that you will continue to fund our both our preterm birth programming and centering as well as home visiting, and I'm available to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Stacy.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.

My name is Stacey Adams, and I'm a mother for a DC resident.

I live in Southeast DC and I'm a homeowner.

I have four children, Aidan, who's nine, Zoe is seven, Onika is four, and Ostasia is two.

I'm testifying about the Healthy Steps program because I'm a mom in the Healthy Steps program.

I first learned about the program after I had my third child, Onika.

She just turned four last month.

I was attending her infant well child visit at Anacostia, and I was approached by a healthy steps specialist.

And they came to me and they said, um, we have mental health support.

So this was important to me because with all four of my children, I had suffered postpartum depression.

So they engaged with me.

They talked about having these mental health sessions to help cope with any of my mental health.

This was the first time I have ever heard of a program like that.

Um I was offered counseling sessions.

We talked about family issues and how I struggled, especially with having three children at the time.

I was able to express my feelings and not bottle them up.

I think the program is monumental because it addressed not only the child, but the mother.

And in return, I was able to give my all to my child.

Um not have a strong support system and struggle with postpartum depression or mental health concerns.

Healthy steps allows parents to receive this crucial support and also provides resources to raise healthy and developed children and to support the family's well-being.

This program helped me to gain and utilize skills as a parent, such as practice, practicing mindfulness, exploring different avenues to raise my children, and communicating effectively with them.

It has been four years since I have joined Healthy Steps, and I am in a different position in my life, and I firmly believe it is an important program for my community and for the advancement of low-income families who lack the proper resources and support to thrive.

I know that I'm a better mother, and I'm able to help my children more now thanks to Healthy Steps.

I hope more families can be supported.

Um, and I hope that you can provide more funding for Healthy Steps programs.

Thank you, and I am happy to answer any questions that you have.

Thank you.

Um I don't see Nia, but I do see Kristen.

Good morning afternoon, Chairperson Henderson and members of the committee.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.

My name is Kristen Yochum, and I'm the executive director of operations at Paul Public Charter School, serving over 750 students in Ward 4.

I want to begin by acknowledging the Department of Health's continued commitment to supporting school health suites.

At Paul, our health suite is a critical part of how we care for students each day.

It allows us to respond quickly to medical needs, support students with chronic conditions, and ensure that students can remain in school learning safely.

We acknowledge the transition of the school health suite staffing from Children's National to the Department of Health.

While this shift has at times been rushed and presented challenges at the start of the school year, we remain hopeful that with strong implementation, this model can ultimately lead to improved health and academic outcomes for our students.

However, we are not yet seeing that potential fully realized.

Previously, Children's National Hospital received funding through the Department of Health and used those funds to staff school health suites.

Now those funds remain within DOH and the department directly employs school-based nurses and health staff.

With that shift, we would expect to see stronger staffing pipelines and more competitive compensation.

Instead, we are seeing continuing, we are continuing to see significant challenges in recruiting and retaining highly effective licensed practical nurses and registered nurses.

At Paul through significant advocacy or more likely just good timing, our school health tech was reassigned and our health suite was staffed with a nurse who has been with us before for many years.

In theory, this level of care, this is the level of care we've been asking for.

In practice, it means that when a higher need school requires coverage that only a nurse can provide, our nor our nurse may be reassigned, leaving our health suite closed.

In a moment on the next panel, you'll hear about the impact that has had on one of our students.

While our medication administration staff can support students with routine needs, like administering an inhaler or insulin, they are not trained or certified to provide any other care.

For other situations from injuries during the school day to managing ongoing conditions like asthma or anxiety, we are left with limited options.

Calling parents or 911.

This is not a stable or sustainable model for student care.

More broadly, we're also seeing that staff who transitioned from CNH to DOH have taken minimal pay cuts to continue doing the same work.

While those reductions may seem small on paper, they matter in a workforce that is already in very high demand.

The result is instability in health suite staffing, gaps in coverage, turnover, and increased strain on school teams.

For our students, this is not an abstract issue.

When health suites are not consistently staffed, students miss class time, chronic conditions are harder to manage, and school leaders are pulled away from instruction to address the health needs.

We respectfully ask the council to ensure that the school health suite funding is sufficient to offer competitive compensation for LPNs and RNs, prioritize recruitment and retention strategies to build a stable high quality workforce and provide transparency into how these funds are being allocated and used.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks so much to this panel of witnesses.

It's helpful to sort of hear how various programs are working, like Healthy Start, not Healthy START, Healthy Steps.

See, this is the issue with all of our healthy program names.

That some of you talked about.

Kristen, I'm not sure if you heard earlier.

We're going to ask the follow-up questions around what more we can be doing to be more creative in terms of our school health program and maybe try to find some sort of synergies between that and what we're doing on school-based behavioral health.

I don't have any particular questions for this panel, but thank you so much for being here.

Okay, we're going to go to our next panel.

Louise Calderwood, Hilary Caser, Jakia Carroll, Rabia Tannawee.

Kimberly Sanchez Hernandez.

And Peter Atwill.

Okay.

All right.

I do see Louise.

So Louise, when you're ready.

Louise, if you're speaking, we can't hear you.

I'm I'm here now, Councilman.

Okay.

Are you able to hear me?

Yes, I can hear you.

Great.

I was trying to get my uh my camera to work, and it seems to be recalcitrant this afternoon.

So thank you.

It's been a long afternoon, and you have been so attentive to every single person testimony testifying in every single issue.

Um as my uh peer, Savon Cloy testified earlier today.

I'm here to speak with you about the proposed uh registration fee for pet foods that's being proposed in the mayor's budget.

And I'm with the American Feed Industry Association.

I am a director of regulatory affairs there, and I can assure you that our members are absolutely committed to the the issues within this proposal.

But as you so astutely raised, we do question a lot of the processes being considered.

The first is we would really appreciate an opportunity for stakeholder input.

Bring us to the table.

Let us chat with you about the issue.

We know it's important.

Um let us give our input.

The second piece is we we're, as you had stated, we're unclear as to who are these services intended for.

Are they intended for low-income residents, for shelter animals, for stray and feral animals?

All of these are high needs issues.

And just exactly what is this program intended to address.

Um we do have questions as you've raised with the staffing of this.

This is a new program for the cat for the uh district.

How will it be staffed?

Where will it reside?

And then another concern that we have is the potential for reduced food choices, especially for high needs animals, uh, animals that require special diets for for various medical issues.

And the district is a small market, and this is a real fee for these registrations.

So, what will happen for the potential to uh reduce the choices for residents in the district?

Not to mention these costs have to be passed on.

Pet food is already expensive.

What is this going to do to the ability for uh residents of the district to feed their animals in the most appropriate manner?

So I'm not going to take up any more of your time.

As I said, I've been so appreciative of your attention today, and I believe I had a chance to raise all of my points.

Thank you for your time.

Thanks, Louise.

Hilary.

Good afternoon, Councilmember Henderson, uh committee members, and outstanding staff.

Thank you for this opportunity to testify before you.

Hoarding disorder, although easily dismissed as not serious, HD is in fact a matter of life and death and should be addressed by DC Health.

A person with hoarding disorder in an apartment with so many possessions that are blocking the ventilation system can cause carbon monoxide to build up in other units, making tenants get sick or even die.

DC fire and emergency medical services know only too well both the human cost and the dollar cost of untreated hoarding disorder.

The serious community-wide public health problem of hoarding disorder affects all of us.

DC Health must take the lead role in coordinating an interagency approach to HD, a diagnosis defined by the American Psychiatric Association as hoarding disorder going on a decade and a half.

DBH do nothing but refer consumers to DC Adult Protective Services.

Other agencies are bearing the cost of this egregious unmet need and severe service gap.

APS, like FEMS, are not providers of behavioral health care.

And with hoarding disorder, people are so ashamed.

There's so much shame, stigma, and judgment that HD is easier just not to talk about.

DC Health must step up to address this serious public health challenge.

If we could put a very small allocation in the budget now, it would save DC taxpayer money overall.

Early intervention, harm reduction, and risk prevention for people affected by those living with HD would prevent far greater and unnecessary FEMS spending on fire because of hoarding disorder and APS spending on once-in-a-lifetime heavy-duty cleanouts.

APS place district residents with HD under guardianship and place those district residents into long-term nursing care for no reason other than that the person's hoarding disorder has gone undiagnosed and untreated for a lifetime.

What a waste of DC Medicaid dollars.

Region-wide, other jurisdictions have programs for hoarding disorder.

Now I have no personal investment in what gets done, only that DC must do something.

In the past, I have proposed peer training that would have cost $15,000 at the time for an evidence-based peer response team intervention.

Now I would like to draw to your attention that we have a DC therapist specializing in hoard re hoarding disorder.

Liza Chapovsky, DC Care Collaborative, could for a $10,000 allocation, expand access to critical decluttering and hoarding intervention for low-income seniors at risk of eviction, particularly those who are underserved, homebound, or experiencing barriers to traditional care.

Such a pilot program would serve approximately three individuals facing urgent housing instability, including those who have received cure or quit notices.

Any questions about this testimony will be gratefully accepted from you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Hilary.

I don't see Jakia.

See, but I see Rabia.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chairperson Henderson for convening the hearing counsel and staff for the opportunity to speak.

My name is Robbia Tanwear, and I serve as a senior evaluation coordinator on a DC food systems focused program.

I'll be testifying on behalf of my whole team, the Healthy Schools Healthy Communities Lab at American University, which for over 15 years has worked to advance health and nutrition equity in the district.

Like many others have already, I will be testifying in support of the Food Policy Council and the food policy team, which is currently housed at the Office of Planning.

We oppose the Food Policy Functions Amendment Act.

If the Food Policy Council and its staff cannot stay at the Office of Planning, we feel they should be moved to the Department of Health or another aligned agency.

The Food Policy Council and staff serve as an essential bridge between the government and community engaging tens of thousands of residents directly.

As you have already stated, they critically support the coordination of district agencies as well as other folks have stated in their testimonies the work of nonprofit partners, particularly around food access and equity.

The working groups and appointees in particular serve as really valuable linkages between district priorities and on the ground programs that are needed to achieve district priorities.

With budget constraints, costs on the rise, snap changes underway, and in food insecurity, all things that folks have already named, this coordination is more important than ever.

And uh particularly in this time of crisis, if the Food Policy Functions Amendment Act of 2026 were to pass, these negative impacts would be felt by residents, particularly seniors and residents in Ward 7 and 8.

In addition to their critical work in emergency response and crisis coordination, the Food Policy Council and team are fundamental in not just those responses, but in building long-term resilience and equity in the DC's food system.

They've brought in more than 200 million dollars in federal and philanthropic funds to support the food system, programs like Sunbucks, Nourish DC, and other investments that strengthen local food access, support small food businesses, and many other positive impacts.

In addition, they've informed several key pieces of legislation that have helped to advance district goals around food, the Farmers Market Amendment Act, the No Senior Hungry Omnibus Amendment Act, the Green Food Purchasing Amendment Act, and many more.

This cross-agency collaboration cannot be easily reconstructed if dismantled.

So in closing, we urge you to oppose the Food Policy Functions Amendment Act and to ensure that the Food Policy Council and its staff are preserved at the Department of Health or another aligned agency.

Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you.

Kimberly Good afternoon.

My name is Kimberly Sanchez Hernandez.

I am a student here at the District of Columbia in Ward 4, attending school at Paul Public International High School.

I am here today to urge this council to prioritize and fully fund the presence of a certified school nurse in every single DC school.

We often talk about academic achievement, closing the opportunity gap, but we cannot expect students to learn if they are not physically and mentally safe while in the school buildings.

I am here to tell you that right now, safety is not guaranteed.

I speak from my personal experience.

I have struggled with severe panic attack episodes and also experienced a pre-stroke medical emergency while at school recently.

When these episodes hit, they are not just stress, they are psychological events that require immediate professional intervention and help.

In both instances, I was left in a position where I did not have access to the proper immediate medical care that a certified nurse could have provided.

Instead of being stabilized by a professional who undertook how to support my symptoms, I was left to negative a terrifying medical crisis without the necessary medical support to rely on.

When a student experiences a medical emergency, whether it is a mental health crisis or a physical health event, and there's no nurse on site, the consequences are severe.

It leads to unnecessary emergency visits.

It creates trauma for the students and staff, and most importantly, it forces students to miss days, weeks, or even months of school.

While some schools have health techs trained to provide some support, they are not able to provide the same level of care that a nurse can.

Therefore, when we lack nurses, we are essentially telling students that their health is secondary to the budget.

We are telling them that if they have a chronic condition or a sudden medical emergency, they are on their own.

This is not the standard care that DC students deserve.

A certified school nurse is not a luxury or something that should be temporary.

There are a frontline defense for a student success.

They provide the stability that allows students to return to the classroom rather than being sent home.

They provide the peace of mind that allows us to focus on our studies rather than our survival.

With this, I asked this council to ensure that the budget reflects the reality of our needs.

Please find a certified nurse in every school.

Do not wait for another cool another medical emergency to happen before you decide that our health is worth the investment.

Thank you, and I'm open to any questions that you have.

Thank you.

Peter.

Okay, I don't see Peter.

Thanks so much to this panel of witnesses.

This is the difficulty of coming sort of towards the end.

But Louise, let me ask you this.

Are there and I'm I'm not, I I don't know yet.

I wasn't the author of the original piece of legislation that is before the council, but is anyone else in our region doing something similar that is being proposed?

Yes.

Maryland has a program that has been in place for years.

It's administered through the Department of Agriculture.

It is a grant program.

They they have, I believe it's a board, which is administered by a staff member from the Department of Agriculture.

They have a whole submission process that they go through, and the grants are awarded based on a ranking of merit and also former performance.

Okay.

And again, I'm not trying to sort of minimize the you know, there should be regulation and all the other things, but like when you have a whole department of agriculture, you're not just dealing with pet food, but in a place like Maryland, they've got actual farms.

Um setting up that infrastructure, it's for more than just one particular industry.

Correct.

And and our concern is that these are dollars being being taxed on industry that are not being used for regulatory purposes.

We we understand regulation, we understand the quality, but these are these are social issues, and they are they're dire social issues.

And you've heard of so many social issues today.

I'm so sensitive to that.

Um, the heartbreak of a lot of the testimony you've heard today, but but these really do fall into the realm of social issues, of people not being able to appropriately provide veterinary care, of stray animals, feral animals, so many animals in shelters.

They are all heartbreaking issues, but they are not regulatory or quality issues.

Got it.

No, I hear you.

And you know, we have a um in our committee now, we have the Department of Insurance Securities and Banking.

I would say 98% of the funding for Disby is in special purpose revenue that are fees or assessments that are paid that goes right back into the regulation of the securities and the insurance industry and the banking industry.

Um so we we often don't get a lot of pushback from those industries because they see exactly where their funding is going.

Um but thank you.

Thank you for being here.

Um, Hillary, thank you for being here.

Obviously, we saw you last week with uh Department of Behavioral Health.

Um, you know, between hoarding and between gambling, these are two issues that I feel like definitely on the public health side of things that we have to step up in terms of calling it what it is, um as a disorder.

And early intervention is cost saving.

Correct, especially on the back end um for families and otherwise, but we um as we said with Dr.

Bazaran, right?

Um, let's say a family member has a concern.

Well, they we don't have any information of where people can go, and it may not always be adult protective services that's needed.

Um we'll ask some follow-up questions to DC Health on that.

Um Rabia and uh Kimberly, thank you for being here.

You know, I've made some comments earlier on the food policy stuff as well as on school nurses, we're not where we want to be on either of these things.

We're not where we want to be on either of these things.

Um, and so we need some more work there.

Um, but I don't have any particular questions for the rest of the panel.

Thank you so much for being here.

Um, and if you could please provide your written testimony for the record.

All right, we're gonna go to our final panel.

Uh, Paula Edwards, Commissioner Edwards, Kashara Thomas from Joseph's House, Dr.

Rochelle Logan from the DC Primary Care Association, April Whedon from Community of Hope, and um Max Broad, DC voters for animals.

Give it a minute as folks come in.

Okay, all right.

Um Paula, when you're ready.

Okay.

Hello, Chair Henderson.

Thank you very much for allowing me to testify today.

I'm Paula Edwards, Chair of ANC4A and Commissioner for ANC 4A01.

I'm here to urge you to expand the DOH that rodent and vector control funding in the current budget with an eye towards controlling rat population using rats natural fertility controls.

Every year, DOH offers an amazing rat and vector control training that is conducted by nationwide experts, and that I found extremely helpful in addressing a real world problem.

We had a terrible rat pop rat problem in part of my SMD three years ago.

We were able to work with DOH to identify rat boroughs and have them treated.

And they also found a major rat breeding site.

We worked with the private property owner to seal off the breeding site and with the private property owners pest control company to also treat the private property.

We worked with the private trash collection services, the tenants and the residents to make sure that there was no food available for the rats to eat.

I checked with the residents regularly, and they have reported seeing no rats in this area in almost three years.

I believe that we can replicate this model using fewer poisons and fewer chemical interventions that can work their way up the food chain and into the water supply.

I also urge you not to reduce the funding for the DC animal shelters and for investigators to address conditions of animal cruelty.

In our commissions, we have been finding stray and abandoned pets frequently.

We believe that people who have experienced job losses or who are pinched by rising prices feel they have no choice but to abandon their pets on the streets.

This would be the worst time to cut the budget sheltering for sheltering abandoned pets.

We also need legislation to crack down on backyard breed.

We also need investigators and legislation to crack down on backyard breeders who contribute to the pet population explosion.

Thank you.

And I'm available to answer questions if you have any.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Ms.

Thomas.

Good afternoon, Councilmember Henderson and members of the committee.

Thank you for the opportunity to testify today.

My name is Kishara Thomas, and I'm the executive director of Joseph House.

Joseph House serves individuals experienced homelessness who are living with complex medical conditions, including HIV, cancer, behavioral health needs, and substance use disorder.

Majority of those we serve come from Wars 5, 7, 8, communities that continue to experience the greatest health disparities in a district before coming care.

I worked for a system that often spoke about serving vulnerable and underserved population that sounded well it looked it right, but in reality, I witnessed something different: a lack of true care, a system driven more by business than humanity.

At Joseph House, I don't just hear about the mission.

I see it lived out every single day.

I see it in the way we meet people where they are at their lowest points.

I see it in the patients, the dignity and respect we give to individuals who are often overlooked, judged or pushed aside because of how they have to survive.

At Joe Shaws, we do more than provide care.

We restore hope.

We take people who come to us medically fragile and help them stabilize them and help stabilize them.

We walk walk alongside them as they regain the health.

We help them rediscover things that they never had, tools, knowledge belief in their own ability to live independently.

Last year we served, we provided medical and non medical supportive services for 45 individuals.

As a nurse, I can honestly say that this is the first place where I truly feel aligned with the mission.

The first place where I know without a question that the work we do matters.

At the same time, it opened my eyes to a wider to see the gaps that still exist.

HIV rate amongst DC residents is 1.9, almost twice the rate defined by the World Health Organization and generalized epidemic.

Cancer rates amongst black communities are 54% higher than those of white communities, and mortality rate is 90% higher.

That is why I'm here today with a Pacific request.

I respectfully urge the council to continue to fund Joseph House at 400,000 and provide 200,000 in additional funding to support Joseph House and implementing our strategic plan for expansion, which will provide 25 medical respite beds, 10 scattered beds for end-of-life care, 15 permit supportive housing units with additional support.

We can expand access to care, strengthen behavioral health and substance use services, and create pathways for long-term housing stability.

This suspension will also allow us to build third-party insurances.

Our model works, our impact is measurable.

90% of our clients complete program, 100% is connected to care.

85% achieve viral suppression, 80% maintain their sobriety while in our care, 90% remain house after discharge.

I urge you to support the funding request so we can continue to expand this life-saving work.

Thank you for your time, your commitment, and to the health and well-being of the district residents.

I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you.

Dr.

Logan.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony for the FY27 budget proposal for DC Health.

I am Dr.

Rochelle Logan, Chief Program Officer at the DC Primary Care Association.

Our community health center members are a core component of how DC delivers essential health care and public health services.

DCPCA's partnership with DC Health spans multiple bureaus and programs.

We will address just a few budget-related items.

The almost 40 million dollar cut-in cuts across several administrations reflects federal and local erosion of public health that will undoubtedly have impacts on the health and well-being of the district for years to come.

DCPCA is concerned, as well as you've heard from colleagues from Community of Hope and Unity Healthcare about the 1.3 million dollar reduction in the Healthy Steps program, an evidence-based interdisciplinary pediatric primary care program that aims to provide infants and toddlers with social emotional and developmental support by strengthening family engagement with the medical home.

We know that early intervention for child development, postpartum depression, and other health-related markers of family stability are absolutely crucial supports for families in underserved communities.

High needs health care, career scholarship, and health professional loan reappointment program are crucial tools for hiring and retaining providers working in medically underserved communities.

Federal programs require local dollars, which the federal program then matches.

Reduction in our local dollar investments are multiplied when we cannot pull down the corresponding federal resources.

DCPCA urges the council to identify local investment solutions to bolster loan repayment funds and address the shortage of professionals who can provide primary care services.

Along with the DC Council and Committee of Health under Council Member Member Christina Henderson's ABLE leadership, DC Health's primary care office is an important partner in shaping innovation in primary care payment service delivery and quality.

DCPCA has identified almost 700,000 dollars in reduction in funds for home visiting.

And this is something that you've heard echoed throughout today's panels.

A critical service supporting new parents and babies.

We also note significant changes in the community health administration that may include elements of restructuring, but also appear to include funding decreases.

In particular, we are interested in information around school-based health centers, another theme that we've heard today and home visiting.

The strength and resiliency of public health sector and its ability to seamlessly partner with clinical and social care delivery, mitigated some of the most threatening aspects of the COVID pandemic in the district.

Our survival and to our ability to thrive in the future rests squarely on the public health choices we make in this budget going forward.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, Councilmember Henderson, committee members, and staff members of the committee on health.

First of all, I I'm here to talk about two things today.

Um, the first being the Food Policy Council.

And I just want to share that.

I'm astonished by the mayor's proposal to not only permanently cut the DC Food Policy Council, but for the Office of Planning, the decision to have dispense of the Food Policy Council director, who, you know, from day one was uh leapt into this role with enthusiasm, bringing bringing together community business opportunities and outside funding to better our community and broader food system.

Uh I think it would be unstrategic and counterproductive to dissolve our food policy council.

This would undo a decade of relationships, networking, and building partnerships for better food systems.

Uh the sheer amount of money that the Office of Food Policy brought in from federal and philanthropic sources was many fold greater than the modest investment our city put into food systems.

In the spirit of not leaving money on the table, I also urge the DC Council to fund and pass the Food Policy Council Procurement Amendment Act of 2025.

In this position, the food policy analysts has already been partly backed by federal funding.

And the continuity to bring food procurement under the sage umbrella of people with food systems expertise would reap exponential benefits of our local farms, food systems workers, direct sustainability and climate goals, district sustainability and climate goals and cost savings on contracts.

So all that to say uh smart people working on food systems should be uh should have their hands on food procurement contracts.

Um the next issue I want to talk about is rats.

And I want to thank the DC Health team.

Uh since the performance oversight hearing, I've met with many of the fantastic folks there, including Andre Pittman, Dr.

Ty Mori, Mateo Leib, uh Dr.

Nagesh Borsa, and sorry, Mr.

Nagesh if I Dr.

Nagesh, if I pronounce your name wrong, um Warner Dixon and others who have been collaborative and steadfastly focused on addressing this district's human rodent conflict.

I commend DC Health for being allies in the quest to promote alternatives to redenticides and reduce the rat population.

I doubly commend Mr.

Pittman and his team for looking at long-term solutions such as fertility control.

I recognize the main tool to fight rats, which is better sanitation, is not in DC Health's purview.

So humane methods of rat suppression, such as contraceptives, pose an inviting path that will not spread toxic chemicals throughout our ecosystem and communities.

That being said, the contraceptive technology is still being studied for its efficacy and impact.

I do not know the specifics of DC Health plans to use contraceptives, but I urge careful planning consultation with experts.

It would be a shame, and I want to emphasize this, it would be a shame to see this promising technology be dismissed if it does not turn out as planned if we're not using utilizing contraceptives to their fullest potential.

I'm sure the Rat Savvy team at DC Health is taking every step to promote the success of the contraceptives, as its success is very much in our collective interests.

I see I'm over time, so I won't go through all the all the bills, but I will say that we have to center sanitation.

I learned just yesterday from the veterinarian at DC at City Wildlife that rats have disproportionately large testicles because they use them to reproduce disproportionately large numbers of offspring.

Um so we we can't kill our way out of the situation.

We we need uh we need sanitation and we need solutions that um uh don't we're we're still hearing stories of animals getting poisoned by redenticides.

Councilmember Allen shared about a constituent finding a red-tailed hawk that had died.

And somebody uh also recently shared a story of a dog having dropped dead from coming in contact with rat poison.

So um I've spoken with DC Health about this and would love to see the district pursue the unregulated use of rat poisons further.

Oh, thanks, Max.

Uh Dr.

Broderick Thank you.

Hello, Chairperson Henderson and members of the committee.

My name is Dr.

Nia Bodrick.

Since 2018, I've served as a general pediatrician at the Art Primary Care Center and in Ward 8.

I'm also the medical director of community health and advocacy for children's national, and I direct the healthy sets program here.

For over 150 years, Children's National has been an integral part of the health care safety net, serving children and families across the DC metropolitan region.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony on DC Health FY27 budget.

As a practicing pediatrician in the District of Columbia for over a decade, I've had the privilege of caring for thousands of children and families from birth to young adulthood.

The early years of a child's life are an exciting and special time full of rapid growth and change.

And some of my favorite memories of families include hearing the stories of their first words, their first steps, and their first foods.

I appreciate the important brief time I have with families in the clinical space.

We know the first three years of a child's life are critical to their long-term well-being.

And as you've heard from my colleagues throughout the day, this is why integrated evidence-based programs such as healthy steps are so important.

They allow our pediatric care teams to address not only physical health, but child development, behavior, and family challenges.

Healthy steps is a nationally recognized evidence-based program built on the zero to three mission, which is ensuring that all babies, toddlers, and their families have the strongest possible start in life.

And as you've heard healthy steps and beds, licensed mental health professionals with expertise in early childhood in pediatric primary care practices.

They work alongside pediatricians like me within the medical home to provide whole family care, strengthen caregiver child relationships, and support healthy development during the most formative years of life.

Additionally, it provides critical preventive services in a trusted and convenient setting.

Specialists provide caregivers experiencing postpartum mood disorders.

They provide guidance on child development and behavior, and they connect families to community-based resources.

A national evaluation of healthy steps found that children served by the program are more likely to receive recommended developmental screenings and preventive services, including improved adherence to well child visits and immunizations, as well as a stronger continuity of care.

Eliminating this program in the district will put our youngest children at a measurable disadvantage.

The need for this support has never been greater.

50% of mothers with postpartum depression go undiagnosed, and of those who are identified, between 50 and 80% do not receive timely or adequate treatment.

More than half of children with neurodevelopmental disorders are not diagnosed by age five, and 89% of parents reporting lacking sufficient knowledge of their child's developmental milestones.

That is why continue funding for healthy steps in the FY27 budget is essential.

The Healthy Steps grant funding at Children's National receives allows us to recruit, train, and retain highly qualified specialists who deliver these critical services across the district.

Current reimbursement mechanisms alone do not cover the full cost of this care.

Children's national values, our partnership with DC Health and the Council, and look forward to continuing our shared commitment to serving the children and families of DC through the Healthy Steps program.

I'll be happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you so much to this panel of witnesses.

Um for um your comments on a variety of different issues.

Um, Ms.

Thomas, um, is Kashara still here?

Yeah, she has okay.

Um, I just want to confirm that um we have that um 250,000 for Joseph House is sustained in the mayor's proposed budget.

Is that your understanding as well?

Um I'm not sure.

Is it that separate from what we typically get from DOH?

Because last year we didn't receive 250, and that it wasn't there last year.

Okay.

The documents we have show 250 for this year and last year.

Okay.

I didn't see this year once yet.

I apologize.

Okay.

All right, we'll follow up on that just to make sure.

I mean, and when I say this year, I mean like currently, right now.

So if you have not received your money, um no, it is in FY26.

Yes, if our FY26.

Okay, so FY26 is 250.

Our spreadsheet shows that they're maintaining the 250 for next year, too, for um 27.

Okay.

All right, okay.

Um, and to your point, I mean, Joseph House uh does some life-changing work, um, which I wish that we could try try to scale it or at least just and sort of help for people to understand the types of work that you guys do and the intensive work to truly help turn around lives, um, which is really something that you guys are working on.

So thank you so much.

Um, Dr.

Logan, thank you for being here.

We heard from some of uh the FQs earlier.

Um, same with Dr.

Broderick in terms of um the testimony about healthy steps.

We've had a number of um public witnesses who testified about that today.

So I don't have any specific questions for you all.

Um, Commissioner Edwards, thank you for being here.

Um I think it's so funny that like we've had uh other commissioners as well testify, and all the commissioners are coming to talk about rodents.

So that just goes to show so what issues are arising in the ANC conversations.

Um your testimony, Commissioner Edwards, about the work that you all did to help um, you know, a specific housing um uh development.

It shouldn't take that level of intensity, but um, I'm glad that you all did it.

Um I say one thing, it does take that level of intensity.

Well, I not just the rat problem, it's the people problem from where we're going to be able to do the rats are five.

We're the problem.

What I'm saying is the level of intensity on the on the in terms of the work of commissioners.

And we can't just have one strategy.

It has to be comprehensive in nature, which is something that we're definitely working on.

Okay.

Um, I don't have any further questions for you all.

Thank you all so much for being here.

Um, if you could please provide your written testimony for the record, that would be great.

Um, I want to thank all of the witnesses who spoke today.

Um, for those who were not able to speak in person or um after listening, now you have some thoughts uh that you want to get off your chest.

Uh, the record will remain open until 5 p.m.

on May twelfth for the public to submit testimony, written testimony.

Um, you can provide that on the council's hearing management system site at DC Council.gov.

Backslash hearings.

Okay.

Uh, the committee will hold part two of the budget oversight hearing for DC Health on Monday, May fourth at nine thirty.

We will hear from Dr.

Ayana Bennett from DC Health as well as her team.

Um, there's no further business before the committee.

The time is four thirty-one, and this uh hearing is adjourned.

Thank you.