DC Bureaucracy 1, Poor Kids 0: Hungry Kids Lose Afterschool Program

In Washington D.C. this week, a local nonprofit had to shut the doors of a popular afterschool program for low-income kids.

Why? Because nonprofit City Gate hasn't received any of the tens of thousands of dollars they've been promised from the city to give kids a safe place to go after school. They keep getting assurances from D.C. that the money will come, but it hasn't. City Gate can't pay their bills, the nonprofit's director, Rev. Lynn Bergfalk, told us today.

So on Monday, City Gate had to shut the doors of their afterschool program at the Merrick Center in southeast D.C. This means 40 kids in one of D.C.'s poorest neighborhoods lost a haven where they get homework help, healthy meals and physical activity in a safe place. There's money earmarked by the city to pay for this need, but the check is stuck somewhere on some bureaucrat's desk.

Ridiculous, right? Rev. Bergfalk is asking for help to save this valuable program. With enough public scrutiny, we can press D.C. leaders to take action. Hold them accountable by sending them a letter on behalf of these children.  

If you've been following our coverage of the City Gate story, you know it's complex. In November of last year, we wrote about how City Gate was in financial trouble because the city owed them $60,000 for running a summer program for low-income kids. The city had promised them the money through a third-party nonprofit; when that third party fell through, the city asked City Gate to keep running the program -- but never paid them for it. Then we wrote about City Gate again when the kids visited DC City Council offices to raise awareness of the unjust situation.

But now, the situation has gotten even worse. This fall, D.C.'s Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) asked City Gate to keep running the kids' program so that kids in the Ward 8 neighborhood -- one of the District's poorest and most crime-ridden neighborhoods -- could go somewhere safe after school.

OSSE promised to investigate the summertime payment situation, and told City Gate to go ahead and keep the three-hour-a-day program open into the fall. As of today, not only has City Gate not been paid the initial $60,000 they're owed, they haven't been paid the additional $15,000.

They're now out of money and had to shut down the program entirely.

This situation sounds convoluted. But the core of the issue is that there's been money assigned by D.C. to help protect and nurture low-income children who need an extra boost. Taxpayers pay for it. Children benefit from it.

But this money isn't being used as it's supposed to be. It's being held up by red tape and inaction. The losers? Hungry children, powerless to navigate the system, and a nonprofit that has had to devote energy and resources to just getting paid instead of helping the families they've vowed to serve.

We can do something here. More than 250 Change.org members have signed a petition to OSSE and Ward 8 Council Member Marion Barry, asking them to correct this situation. Please take 10 seconds to send them an email telling them that you know about this injustice, you care, and you want to see it resolved.

Rev. Bergfalk says it best in a letter he wrote to community stakeholders: "...As far as our kids go, we've got to find a way to get beyond wishes to delivering services they are entitled to and for which money has been allocated. I think it is unconscionable for any kid to go hungry because adults can't figure out how to write the checks that need to be issued."

Photo credit: City Gate via Flickr