EXPANDING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL
Unemployment Down to 6.5%: The unemployment rate in the District of Columbia has declined from 8.9% to 6.5% since 1993. Poverty Has Fallen: In the District of Columbia, the poverty rate has fallen from 26.4% in 1993 to 21.8% in 1997--down 4.6% under President Clinton. [Census Bureau] Business Failures Down 15.8%: Business failures have dropped 15.8% per year since 1993, after increasing 40.7% per year during the previous four years. A $500 Child Tax Credit to Help Families Raising Children: To help make it easier for families to raise their children, the balanced budget included a $500 per-child tax credit for children under 17. Thanks to President Clinton the balanced budget delivers a child tax credit to 43,000 families in the District of Columbia. Home Ownership Has Increased in the District: Home ownership in the District of Columbia increased from 34.5% to 39.4% since the fourth quarter of 1993. Over $25,000 of Reduced Federal Debt for Every Family of Four: The national debt will be $1.7 trillion lower in FY99 than projected in 1993 -- that's $25,000 less debt for each family of four in the District of Columbia this year. EXPANDING ACCESS TO EDUCATION
Nearly 3,300 Children in Head Start: Nearly 3,300 District of Columbia children were enrolled in Head Start in 1998. In FY99, District of Columbia will receive $19.5 million in Head Start funding, an increase of $7.8 million over 1993. More High-Quality Teachers With Smaller Classes for The District of Columbia's Schools: Thanks to President Clinton, the final FY99 budget provides for the first year of the President's new initiative to hire 100,000 new, well-prepared teachers, to reduce class sizes in the early grades to a national average of 18. The District of Columbia receives $5.6 million in 1999 to hire about 145 new public school teachers. And, under President Clinton's proposal, District of Columbia would receive $7 million in FY2000 to support a total of 178 teachers. $1.8 Million in Goals 2000 Funding: This year [FY99], the District of Columbia receives $1.8 million in Goals 2000 funding. This money is used to raise academic achievement by raising academic standards, increasing parental and community involvement in education, expanding the use of computers and technology in classrooms, and supporting high-quality teacher professional development. Over $2 Million for Technology Literacy: This year [FY99], the District of Columbia receives over $2 million-doubling its funding over FY97 -- for the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund which helps communities and the private sector ensure that every student is equipped with the computer literacy skills needed for the 21st century. $24.1 Million for Students Most in Need: The District of Columbia receives $24.1 million in Title I Grants (to Local Educational Agencies) providing extra help in the basics for students most in need, particularly communities and schools with high concentrations of children in low-income families [FY99]. This is an increase of $2.3 million over FY98 funding. $22.4 Million in Pell Grants: This year [FY99], the District of Columbia will receive $22.4 million in Pell Grants for low-income students going to college, an additional $1.0 million over last year. With this increase, a total of 11,300 District of Columbia students will benefit. Expanded Work-Study To Help More Students Work Their Way Through College: The FY99 budget includes a significant expansion of the Federal Work Study program. The District of Columbia will receive $8.8 million in Work-Study funding in 1999 to help The District of Columbia students work their way through college. Over 600 Have Served in the District of Columbia through AmeriCorps: Since the National Service program began in 1993, 625 AmeriCorps participants have earned money for college while working in the District of Columbia's schools, hospitals, neighborhoods or parks. [through 11/98] Tuition Tax Credits in Balanced Budget Open the Doors of College and Promote Lifelong Learning: The balanced budget included both President Clinton's $1,500 HOPE Scholarship to help make the first two years of college as universal as a high school diploma and a Lifetime Learning Tax Credit for college juniors, seniors, graduate students and working Americans pursuing lifelong learning to upgrade their skills. This 20% tax credit will be applied to the first $5,000 of tuition and fees through 2002 and to the first $10,000 thereafter. 31,000 students in the District of Columbia will receive a HOPE Scholarship tax credit of up to $1,500. 38,000 students in the District of Columbia will receive the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit. [fully phased-in FY2000 estimate] Expanded Job Training to The District of Columbia's Dislocated Workers: Thanks to President Clinton, the FY99 budget includes a significant expansion in the dislocated worker program. The District of Columbia will receive $5.9 million in 1999 to help 3,520 of The District of Columbia's dislocated workers get the training and reemployment services they need to return to work as quickly as possible. FIGHTING CRIME AND VIOLENCE
Crime Falls 23% in the District of Columbia: Since 1992, serious crime in the District of Columbia has fallen 23%. Violent crime and property crime have also declined 36% and 18% respectively. [1992 and 1997 Uniform Crime Report] 809 More Police: The President's 1994 Crime Bill has funded 809 new police officers to date in neighborhoods across the District of Columbia. [through 7/99] Reducing Crime with Drug Courts: Working to reduce drug-related crime in the District of Columbia, the Clinton Administration has awarded a Drug Court grant to the community of Washington, D.C. Drug courts use the coercive power of the criminal justice system to combine drug testing, sanctions, supervision and treatment to push nonviolent, drug-abusing offenders to stop using drugs and committing crimes. Over $1.6 Million to Combat Domestic Violence: Through the Violence Against Women Act, the District of Columbia received $1.7 million in federal funds in FY98 to establish more women's shelters and bolster law enforcement, prosecution, and victims' services. $400,000 in Grants for Battered Women and Children: In FY98, the District of Columbia received $400,000 in HHS's Family Violence Prevention Program grants to assist women and children fleeing domestic abuse. $2.2 Million to Keep Drugs & Violence Out of District of Columbia Schools: The District of Columbia receives approximately $2.2 million in FY99 for the Safe & Drug Free Schools Program, which invests in school security and drug prevention programs. MOVING DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA RESIDENTS FROM WELFARE TO WORK
12,405 Fewer People on Welfare: In 1996, President Clinton signed a land mark welfare reform bill which promises to move thousands of DC residents from welfare to work. Since 1993, there are 12,405 fewer people on welfare in the District of Columbia - a 19% decrease. [through 12/98] Child Support Collections Up 71%: Child support collections have increased by $14 million-or 71% -- in the District of Columbia since FY92. [through FY98] Encouraging Responsible Choices-Preventing Teen Pregnancy in The District of Columbia: Since 1993, President Clinton and Vice President Gore have supported innovative and promising teen pregnancy prevention strategies, with significant components of the strategy becoming law in the 1996 Personal Responsibility Act. The law requires unmarried minor parents to stay in school and live at home or in a supervised setting; encourages "second chance homes" to provide teen parents with the skills and support they need; and provides $50 million a year in new funding for state abstinence education activities. Efforts are making a difference, adolescent pregnancy rates and teen abortion rates are declining. And between 1992 and 1997, teen birth rates declined 22% in The District of Columbia. $13.9 Million for District of Columbia Welfare-to-Work: In 1998, District of Columbia received $4.6 million in Federal welfare-to-work state formula grants (the state matched $2.3 million in funding), helping District of Columbia welfare recipients get and keep jobs. In addition, $7.0 million in competitive grants were awarded to District of Columbia localities to support innovative welfare-to-work strategies. Part of the President's comprehensive efforts to move recipients from welfare to work, this funding was included in the $3 billion welfare to work fund in the 1997 Balanced Budget Act. Helping People Get to Work: Through the Access to Jobs initiative, the Clinton-Gore Administration is working with communities across the country to design transportation solutions to help welfare recipients and other low-income workers get to and from work. Washington, DC has received a total of $1 million this year to fund an innovative transit project. INVESTING IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA'S HEALTH
Health Care for Uninsured Children: The balanced budget included the largest single investment in health care for children since the passage of Medicaid in 1965 -- an unprecedented $24 billion over five years to cover as many as five million children throughout the nation. This investment guarantees the full range of benefits-from checkups to surgery -- that children need to grow up strong and healthy. It ensures that prescription drugs, vision, hearing, and mental health coverage now offered at the state level are extended to millions of uninsured children. To expand health coverage to 16,000 uninsured children in the District of Columbia the balanced budget provides $13 million in 1998. This compares to the 1995 Republican plan vetoed by President Clinton that would have denied health care coverage to 10,700 children in D.C. Helping Over 16,000 District of Columbia Women and Children with WIC: The Clinton Administration is committed to full funding in the Special Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). In FY98, the District of Columbia received $9.9 million in total WIC grant funding, helping 16,600 women, infants and children in need receive health and food assistance. More Toddlers Are Being Immunized: As a result of the President's 1993 Childhood Immunization Initiative, childhood immunization rates have reached an historic high. According to the CDC, by 1996, 90% or more of America's toddlers received the most critical doses of each of the routinely recommended vaccines-surpassing the President's 1993 goal. In District of Columbia in 1997, 94% of two-year olds received the vaccines for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis; 89% received the vaccine for polio; 91% received the vaccine for measles, and 90% received the vaccine for Haemophilus influenzae B, the bacteria causing a form of meningitis. Increased Funding for Ryan White by $105.9 Million: Between 1993 and 1998, the District of Columbia communities received $105.9 million in Ryan White formula and other HIV/AIDS program funds. This funding provides people living with HIV and AIDS medical and support services, including the AIDS Drug Assistance Program which helps those without insurance obtain much needed prescription drugs. [HHS, Health Resources and Services Administration, 12/98] Tobacco Plan Will Cut Smoking and Premature Deaths by 34% in the District of Columbia: The Clinton Administration's tobacco proposal, combined with the recently enacted state tobacco settlements, will cut youth smoking and resulting premature deaths 34% in the District of Columbia. by 2004. Between 2000 and 2004, 2,500 of the District of Columbia's youth will be kept from smoking and 800 will be spared a premature tobacco-related death. [Treasury Dept., 2/99] 160,000 Americans in the District of Columbia Cannot Be Assured They Have Patient Protections: Even if the District of Columbia enacted all the protections in the Patients' Bill of Rights, 160,000 people in the District of Columbia cannot be assured they have the comprehensive patient protections recommended by the President's Advisory Commission. This is because the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) may preempt state-enacted protections. That is why the President has called on Congress to pass a federally enforceable patients' bill of rights so that everyone enrolled in managed care may have a basic set of protections. Notably, 80,000 the District of Columbia women are in ERISA health plans and are therefore not necessarily protected. Women are particularly vulnerable without these protections because they are greater users of health care services, they make three-quarters of the health care decisions for their families, and they have specific health care needs addressed by a patients' bill of rights. PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT
Revitalizing Brownfields Project in the District: As part of the Clinton-Gore Administration's efforts to clean up Brownfields, the EPA has awarded grants to Washington, DC for environmental clean-up and economic revitalization. This project is intended to jump-start local clean-up efforts by providing funds to return unproductive, abandoned, contaminated urban properties to productive use. $7.8 Million in Safe Drinking Water Funding: This year [FY99], thanks to President Clinton, District of Columbia will receive $7.4 million for the Drinking Water State Revolving Funds to provide low-interest loans to municipalities to build, improve, and prevent pollution of drinking water systems. In addition, District of Columbia will receive $356,000 in Public Water Supply Supervision grants to help monitor drinking water quality and enforce health standards. SPEARHEADING URBAN RENEWAL EFFORTS
Helping to Revitalize the District of Columbia: In December 1994, the District was designated an Enterprise Community, and was awarded $3 million to create jobs, housing, and economic opportunity for its residents. Expanding the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Will Help Develop 1,100 To 1,300 New Affordable Housing Units in District of Columbia Over the Next 5 Years: Last year, the President and Vice President pushed for a 40-percent expansion in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. This year, the President and Vice President will try again to enact tax incentives to develop affordable housing. In the District of Columbia alone, this proposal would mean an additional 1,100 - 1,300 quality rental housing units for low-income American families during the next five years. PROVIDING DISASTER RELIEF
$4.6 Million in Federal Emergency Assistance: Since 1993, the District of Columbia has received $4.6 million in disaster relief. [FEMA, 12/98] EXPANDING FUNDS FOR TRANSPORTATION IMPROVEMENT
Over $497 Million in Federal Highway Aid: Since 1993, the District of Columbia has received over $497 million in federal highway aid. Included in this funding is $256,000 for scenic byways. These funds have helped generate 20,927 jobs. [through FY98] Over $731 Thousand in Aviation Funds: From FY93-FY98 the District of Columbia received over $731 thousand in Airport Improvement Program funds to help build and renovate airports, and, when necessary, to provide funds for noise abatement to improve the quality of life for residents who live near airports. Over $490 Million in Transit Funds: Since 1993, the District of Columbia has received over $490 million in Federal Transit Funding.
Last Updated July 1999
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