The increase in violence in D.C. and across the DMV involving teens as the perpetrators and children as the victims is shocking and unacceptable. Reports of 14-year-olds on the streets after midnight engaged in armed carjackings, burglaries, and random shootings is horrifying. Their actions are leading to unintended injuries and deaths of younger innocent children who happen to be where they should be during those hours which is at home in bed. This is clearly a crisis that has gotten out of hand, yet, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicates that youth violence is common. According to the CDC, homicide is the third leading cause of death for young people ages 10-24 and the leading cause of death for non-Hispanic Black or African American youth. Emergency departments treat more than 1,000 youth for physical assault-related injuries each day stemming from fighting, bullying, threats with weapons, and gang-related violence. The CDC has declared youth violence as a public health problem.
Observers often ask, where are the parents, and why isn’t the city doing more to stop the violence? It’s a fair question despite what many already know, and that is violence is often the consequence of poverty, racism, inequitable access to safe housing, quality health care, and affordable child care.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation recently released its 2023 Kids Count Report focusing, this year, on access to child care and its impact on parents. Additionally, the D.C. Kids Count report makes clear the fact that “all children can be lifted up to reach their full potential with education.” D.C. child advocates commend city leaders for passing the “groundbreaking” Early Childhood Pay Equity Fund that provides much-needed payments to historically underpaid child care providers. The D.C. Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) is encouraging newly hired and newly eligible early childhood educators to apply to receive up to four payments of up to $3,500 each before the September 2023 deadline. Access to these funds will help to reduce the attrition of child care workers while sustaining the number of providers throughout the city, particularly in the city’s poorest communities where quality child care is also greatly needed.
Access to quality child care and early childhood education is the only hope for many of our city’s children. It is the key to giving them a good start in life that can result in more positive outcomes.