As students head back to school, community leaders in the District are coming together to create a plan that will allow kids to get to school safely, and they’re hoping to get more support from residents in Wards 7 and 8 in order to pass the Safe Passage to School Expansion Act of 2021.
The legislation would provide funding for buses that would transport kids to and from metro stations that they ride daily for school. It would also provide grants to community organizations to facilitate the transportation efforts.
Salim Adofo, an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner out of Ward 8 says they’ve begun holding community meetings.
“We basically want to put things in place so that we can get our kids to and from school safely,” he said.
Councilmember Mary Cheh is also on board, and showed her support at a recent meeting held in Southeast D.C.
Adofo says the community will need to come together and lobby their council members to move it forward.
“We’ll get what we organize for. If there are more people in the community, especially in Wards 7 and 8, that make it happen then we will be in a better position,” Adofo said.
Adofo said there’s still a lot of work to be done, including getting the bill passed and securing funds within the budget to make it happen.
“I do think since we’ve had some violent incidents happen in the last few weeks, the need is even more heightened. This bill is on the right track,” Adofo said.
The plan is to hold another community meeting in the coming weeks before the bill goes to the council on Oct. 12.
