D.C. Council to Restore Funding to D.C. Futures Program

This week, the D.C. Council is gearing up for the first reading of a budget bill that, among other things, restores funding to a program that has allowed hundreds of District residents to attend college for close to nothing. 

Since the fall of 2022, District residents who enrolled in the D.C. Futures program have been receiving financial support and mentorship as they work toward an associate’s or bachelor’s degree at Catholic University of America (CUA), Trinity Washington University, or University of the District of Columbia. Many of them have done so while juggling work and familial obligations. 

When the impending depletion of  federal COVID funds threatened D.C. Futures’ longevity, some of these students testified before the D.C. Council in support of the program. D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) said that testimony compelled the allocation of local funds to ensure that all 1,500 program participants can graduate within the next four years without incurring debt or tapping into other funding sources. 

“We thought it was wrong to shove these students out of school,” Mendelson told The Informer. “These are students who don’t have the money, or enough money to be able to go to college and get a degree. Of course, getting a degree means they will get better paying jobs and pursue their dreams. These are students who otherwise wouldn’t have that opportunity.” 

D.C. Futures Students Receive Answers to Their Most Pressing Questions 

The council’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget bill allocates $4.3 million toward D.C. Futures for the next fiscal year, and a total of $14.33 million between FY 2025 and FY 2028. The amounts doled out each year incrementally decreases as more students graduate. 

Amid questions about the program’s future, D.C. Futures issued a call for 2024-2025 academic year applications earlier this year. Those applications are due on Sept. 6, less than a month before the start of Fiscal Year 2025. 

D.C. Futures enrollees receive “last dollar” funding that covers tuition, fees and cost of attendance as they take on at least two courses per semester. They also have access to mentorship opportunities, monthly stipends and emergency funds that can go toward an outstanding balance and rainy day expenses. 

In January, D.C. Futures enrollees started conducting weekly meetings at the Willard InterContinental Washington, D.C. Hotel and over Zoom after some of them heard from their mentors about the program possibly ending. 

Those meetings led up to students’ appearances before the D.C. Council earlier in May during the Committee of the Whole’s budget oversight hearing. 

Several days after the hearing, on May 15, D.C. Futures participants who are enrolled at CUA received an email from Twila Lindsay, assistant dean in the university’s Metropolitan School of Professional Studies, that raised doubts about whether the program would continue beyond the Fall 2024 semester. 

Those who spoke to The Informer said that they expected to hear from JMG Productions, Inc., a local nonprofit and D.C. Futures program facilitator,  about the impending budget cuts, but there hadn’t been much communication other than what individual mentors told them in confidence. 

Joelle Goode, founder and executive director of JMG Productions, Inc., didn’t respond to The Informer’s request for comment. 

Lifelong D.C. Residents Seek Equity through D.C. Futures

For D.C. resident and D.C. Futures enrollee Cynthia Brown, preserving D.C. Futures is a matter of survival. 

“You’re taking money from Washingtonians who want to work in D.C.,” Brown, a business management major at CUA, said in criticism about D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget proposal. “We’re not transplants. You care more about the Wizards and Caps to bring money to D.C. but what about us?”

Brown, a lifelong D.C. resident, said she entered D.C. Futures for professional advancement like what her less experienced, but credentialed colleagues have been able to achieve after moving to the District from other cities. 

Since embarking on her journey in 2022, Brown has consistently appeared on the Dean’s List at CUA’s Metropolitan School of Professional Studies. 

“We’ve put in a lot of work,” Brown said. “A 3.7 GPA is hard to come by when you have to work and [take care of] a family.” 

Throughout much of the budget season, Brown pondered how she and hundreds of other enrollees would continue their matriculation through CUA, Trinity Washington University, and UDC with D.C. Futures. 

The situation, she said, also raised questions about the Bowser administration’s priorities. 

“They’re advertising D.C. Futures as they talk about taking away funding,” Brown said. “I’m going to work, live and play in D.C. just like [others] who do it. I’m a Washingtonian, born and raised.” 

Aliscia Gerken, a full-time UDC student and D.C. Futures participant, credits D.C. Futures with placing her on a path to becoming an attorney and connecting her with D.C. residents of various generations and walks of life. 

Since the fall of 2023, Gerken has been working toward a bachelor’s degree in administration of justice at UDC, all while working, taking care of her son and organizing other public school parents around budget priorities. 

Though she’s been able to work in the federal government , Gerken said the lack of a degree from an accredited institution has pigeonholed her into a salary that’s not sufficient to support her family. In the weeks before the council’s budgetary adjustment, Gerken continued to mull over the possibility of applying for jobs that provide tuition assistance. 

However, as she explained to The Informer, that type of arrangement may be hard to come by in the current economic climate. 

“I’m working every day and struggling. I can’t really go any further professionally,” Gerken said as she weighed in on Bowser’s FY 2025 budget proposal. “If we’re not properly educating citizens, how can we prevent crime? Education should be the priority [so that] public safety and housing could fall into alignment. We have one of the highest minimum wages in the country but the cost of living is out of control. Generations of native Washingtonians are not seeing the pie.” 

One D.C. Futures Enrollee Reflects on Her Household Budget Crunch

For one D.C. Futures participant, the lack of funding restoration would’ve endangered her family as they attempt to maintain financial stability. 

“We cannot afford to add any more financial obligations to our existing budget,” said the Gen-Xer, who requested anonymity, about her and her husband. 

As the Gen-Xer, a Human Services Administration major at CUA, continues to make mortgage and utility payments, she too is looking for other funding sources to continue her education so she can obtain her bachelor’s degree by the spring of 2025.

For decades, this woman has worked jobs in the District with dreams of attending college and eventually entering the education field or nonprofit sector. She told The Informer that, if D.C. Futures hadn’t received funding in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget, she would’ve made withdrawals from her retirement account.

Though she said she would rather not do so, this woman remains adamant about finishing college, especially after not being able to do so as a young adult. 

“This academic achievement is a personal goal but it’s a stepping stone for women with younger children to be able to better themselves,” she told The Informer earlier in May. “For whatever reason, there are budget cuts happening. In order for a city to thrive, there needs to be infrastructure happening. I’m aware of that. I just want them to revisit the program.”