The nation’s capital has always been a tale of two cities — affluent Washington, DC on the front page of the paper and the persistent poverty of the District of Columbia hidden in the Metro section. Nothing illustrates this divide more starkly than DC being ranked by Portfolio.com as the second best city in the country for young people aged 18-34. Among the factors Portfolio.com cited were the high percentage of young people with bachelor’s degrees, high average per capita income and the low regional unemployment rate.
Residents of the city’s poorest neighborhoods, Wards 5, 7 and 8, might be excused for being incredulous. For them, the unemployment rate far exceeds the national average and the poverty rate is as high as 36 percent. For the one in three children who are growing up poor in the District, the opportunity to graduate from college and earn a decent wage is very far away.
Consider this reality:
- 57 percent of 9th graders will not graduate from high school and only 9 percent will graduate from college;
- The 27% unemployment rate in Ward 8 far outpaces the citywide rate of 12 percent;
- 1 in 5 adults in DC live in poverty, defined as a family of four living on less than $22,000 per year;
- Housing in DC is so expensive that a single parent with two children earning minimum wage ($8.25/hour) must work 135 hours per week just to afford a two-bedroom apartment.
The fact is that the long-term prospects for many children who grow up in the District are bleak. Our young adults do not have the same foundation, support or opportunities as the young people described in Portfolio.com’s study.
As the local election season heats up, join CLC in urging the Mayor, DC council members and their challengers to articulate clear and actionable strategies to bridge this divide. Let’s push them to make it a priority to rewrite the tale of two cities.
