• Families will lose access to trusted, neighborhood-based support to access core, high demand services like food and healthcare at a time when need is growing and services are being reduced. 
• Opportunities to prevent a crisis will be reduced, increasing the likelihood of a crisis for families, especially for children’s well-being. 
• Demand for more costly, reactive systems (e.g., foster care, child welfare, emergency services) will increase.  
• Community input into programmatic decision-making will be eroded, limiting cultural context and lived experience.

This is NOT the time for cuts:   

At a moment when the federal government is increasing work requirements for family-sustaining programs like SNAP (food stamps) and Medicaid, more people will be seeking employment. At a moment when the DC government is continuing to tighten access to programs like emergency rental assistance, TANF, and cuts to programs that end homelessness long-term, there will be more need and fewer resources.  

Additionally, at a moment when increases in instances of domestic violence that threaten the safety of women and children, our community needs more upstream supports, not less.   

The total cost of the 10 Family Success Centers is $3.52 million. The Committee on Youth Affairs restored funding to 3 of them, but Community of Hope is not one of those. We urge the Council to restore all funding, including for Community of Hope. They need to hear from their voters that this is critical.

At Community of Hope, we served almost 2,500 people at the Bellevue Family Success Center from 2020 to 2025.

Short-term interventions prevent longer-term negative impacts to DC residents.