I love Ward 8 and I am glad that I moved here.  There are so many great things that are here and that are yet to come. However, there are so many things that need to be addressed in Ward 8 and not just the issue of crime. Anyone who has ever waited in line at the Giant in Congress Heights can attest  to the sheer volume of  EBT and WIC benefit participants. A signfificant portion of the Ward 8 community lives at or below the poverty line,  and the number of teen girls with a child (some with more than one) doesn't appear to be decreasing. The schools while improving still have a long way to go. We have some serious issues in Ward 8 that need to be addressed - with action and not just rhetoric.

Some of the facts:

• Ward 8 unemployment approaches 30%,  nears 40% when you factor in the underemployed and those that have given up looking for a job
• Nearly half of Ward 8 residents are functionally illiterate
• Over 2/3 of Ward 8 households are headed by single women
• Almost 40 percent of the District's 2,100 foster children are from Ward 8
• In 2008 29% of the total city children receiving TANF (Temporary Aid for Need Families) were in Ward 8
• In 2007 84% of the total births in Ward 8 were to single mothers (20% of those to mothers under 20)

The CHotR Question of the Day: IF YOU WERE THE WARD 8 CITY COUNCILMEMBER HOW WOULD YOU  IMPROVE WARD 8?

The Advoc8te is asking for REAL solutions and that may mean not saying what is PC but what it may actaully  take to fix the problem.

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