On June 10, 2026, Councilmember Zachary Parker, Chair of the Committee on Youth Affairs, convened a public hearing at 2:00 PM in Room 123 of the John A. Wilson Building and virtually via Zoom. The committee heard testimony on two pieces of legislation: B26-0071, the Uniform Unregulated Transfer of Child Custody Act of 2025, and B26-0479, the Youth Villages Grant Establishment Amendment Act of 2025. The hearing was adjourned at 2:49 PM.
Good afternoon. I am Councilmember Zachary Parker, Chair of the Committee on Youth Affairs. Today is June 10, 2026. We are meeting in room 123 of the John A. Wilson Building and virtually via Zoom. The time is now 2 o'clock p.m. and I'm calling to order this public hearing. I want to acknowledge my colleague, Councilmember Brook Pinto, from Ward 2, who I'm told will be joining us virtually soon. And I'm looking forward to a robust discussion today. Today the committee convenes to hear public and government testimony regarding two pieces of legislation. First, the committee will hear testimony regarding B 26-0071, the Uniform Unregulated Transfer of the Child Custody Act of 2025, introduced by Chairman Mendelssohn at the request of the Uniform Law Commission. This legislation prohibits a parent from transferring custody of a child to someone beyond family members and certain other specified categories of individuals if the parent intends to abandon the parents' responsibilities regarding that child. The committee is joined virtually today by Chair James McKay of the DC Uniform Law Commission, and we look forward to engaging with him on the proposed legislation's intent and the need to take legislative action. We will also hear testimony on B 26-0479, the Youth Villages Grant Establishment Amendment Act of 2025, which was introduced by Councilmember Pinto and co-introduced by myself, Councilmember Nadeau, Councilmember Felder, and former Councilmember McDuffie. B 26-479 would establish a grant program with in the Child and Family Services Agency to support the creation and operation of youth villages across the district, modeled after the district's senior villages funded by the Department of Aging and Community Living. As introduced, this legislation would provide grant funding up to $300,000 to eligible nonprofit organizations to develop neighborhood-based hubs that provide daily sports social and educational programming and connections to service providers to high risk or justice-involved youth up to the age of 25. To hear the agency's position on the bill. My name is Angela Hubbard, and I serve as the first vice president of programs for the National Coalition of 100 Black Women Incorporated. Metropolitan Washington, D.C. chapter. Our mission is to advocate on behalf of black women and girls to promote leadership development and gender equity in the areas of health, education, and economic empowerment. I come before you today in support of the Youth Villages Grant Establishment Amendment Act of 2025, as many elements of this legislation align with NCBW's mission, and our chapters work with young girls in the district. NCBWDC is a nonprofit advocacy organization committed to empowering black women and girls through impactful programs, legislative advocacy, and strategic partnerships. Our vision is a world where gender and racial disparities no longer exist. And that world starts right here in our local community here in the district. The reality for black girls in the district is that they experience system involvement at rates that far exceed their population share. The data shows us that black children make up roughly 60% of D.C.'s youth population, with over 85% of children in foster care. Black girls are suspended at nearly 20 times the rate of white girls in DC schools, according to federal civil rights data. Black girls represent the majority of girls referred to the juvenile justice system, despite no evidence of higher rates of misbehavior. DC's child and family services agency reports that family instability, housing insecurity, and untreated trauma are leading drivers of system involvement, all issues that disproportionately affect black families. Once involved, black girls face harsher consequences and fewer supportive interventions. Too often families are forced to navigate fragmented systems, long wait lists, and services that are not intensive enough to prevent deeper system involvement. These inequities, under resourced communities, and systems that intervene too late and too are too harshly. NCBWDC works to combat these issues through our robust mentoring program that serves high school girls, our scholarship program for college-bound seniors that will pursue Steam majors, and our immersive girls in Steam Day career exploration experience that exposes high school girls to real world steamed careers and pathways, along with several other advocacy programs that promote educational access and increase graduation rates for black girls in the district. The youth villages model is a nationally recognized evidence-based family centered program that has demonstrated success across other states, resulting in reductions in foster care entries, lower recidivism among justice-involved youth, improve mental and behavior health outcomes, and optimize school engagement. As NB and NCBWDC advocates for policies and strengthen families to that strengthen families, reduce racial disparities and protect black girls from systems that too often fail them. We firmly believe that the youth villages legislation will do much to address the needs of black girls. It is not only just a program expansion, it is critical equity intervention. In closing, we urge the council to pass the Youth Villages Grant Establishment Amendment Act, and we look forward to collaborating with DC agencies and community partners to support and provide resources that will ensure the success of youth villages. Thank you for your time and consideration, and I am happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you for your testimony. I'm told we are now joined by Magdalena Chungus. Uh why don't we go to Mr. Stein and then we'll go to Magdalena Chungis? You may begin. Can you hear me? Uh Councilman Parker, my name's Alex Stein, and I came here specifically at this meeting because the last meeting that I was at, I thought the lack of professionalism that you had when running a meeting. Typically, when people actually decide to show up in person, you would give them the ability to speak before you would somebody online. So I was at the last advisory council, and you're letting all these people speak online instead of just letting the people that actually were there in person speak first. And so I go to a lot of council meetings.