Winner of more than 20 MDDC Press Association Awards for 2025
Serving Our Community in the DMV
Vol 61 No 39
Sports Page 28
The Collins D.C. Council Report:
4 A Youth Town Hall participant holds signs highlighting issues important to her, including Black mental health. Advocates are fighting to save Child and Adolescent Mobile Psychiatric Service (ChAMPS), a Catholic Charities program that provides on-site help to children facing mental crises at home, school or in the community. (WI File Photo/Ja’Mon Jackson)
Questions about Fees and Government Employee Telework Policy
By Sam Plo Kwia Collins, Jr. WI Senior Staff Writer
The Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Support Act (BSA), as unanimously approved by the D.C. Council allowed for, among other things, the potential creation of a U Street business improvement district, the full restoration of paid family leave, a definition of cer-
The Fight Continues to Save School-Based Behavioral Health
By Sam Plo Kwia Collins, Jr. WI Senior Staff Writer
The Fiscal Year 2027 budget that the D.C. Council approved allocates dollars generated from a monthly telecommunications fee to sustain, not only the operation of the District’s suicide hotline, but pediatric crisis
support, and crisis support beds. Another beneficiary of the telecommunications fee is the Child and Adolescent Mobile Psychiatric Service, also known as ChAMPS. For Mellie Harris, ChAMPS has been a beacon of light for her elementary school-aged son.
HEALTH Page 36
How the Washington Metro Area is Driving Toward an Electric Future D.C. Safeguards Air Quality Through Electric Vehicles
By Mya Trujillo WI Multimedia Reporter
5 An exhibit of some of Toyota’s electric vehicles as part of the 2022 Washington, D.C. Auto Show. (Courtesy Photo/Robert Borkowski, X)
July 9 - 15, 2026
Commuters in the Washington Metropolitan area are all too familiar with the constant expulsion of thick, odorous exhaust from traditional gas vehicles due to heavy traffic congestion. Since ozone is one of the main risks to air quality in the region, the strides being made toward transitioning to
FUTURE Page 15
WWW.WASHINGTONINFORMER.COM / THE WASHINGTON INFORMER
tified business enterprises of benefit to local businesses, and specific allocation of local funds to the Rock Creek Tennis Center. As D.C. Councilmember Matt Frumin (D-Ward 3) explained, the legislation also raised questions about what has become a strategy in raising reve-
COLLINS REPORT Page 25
Way Past Curfew: Examining Youth Safety, New Rules Amid the Summer Surge Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s Empty Threats to Hold Parents Accountable
By Tatiana Allen WI Intern Back in November 2025, Ayominde Miller-Agabyemi and six teammates traveled to Union Station from a football practice to buy meals at Chipotle. “We [were] told that we couldn’t be in [a] group because it was larger
than four people,” Miller-Agabyemi said. “We had to all go home right there and that was a problem because we were all hungry and it [wasn’t] very safe.” It was after 6 p.m. and the group remained together under the instructions of their coach, who felt that would be much safer. The young ath-
SAFETY Page 35 3 Parent and Harriet’s Wildest Dream program manager Frankie Seaborn speaks out against the National Guard at the Youth Block Party held at MLK Library on June 15. (Tatiana Allen/The Washington Informer)
JULY 9 - 15, 2026 1