Read the latest Ward 5 news in the
Councilmember’s weekly newsletter:
Read the latest Ward 5 news in the Councilmember’s weekly newsletter:
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LATEST WARD 5 WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
June 20, 2025
Dear Ward 5 neighbors,
The school year wrapped up this week for DC Public Schools, coinciding with many conversations about how to best support youth through the summer months. Thousands of our city’s young people are participating in the Marion Barry Summer Youth Employment Program, which kicks off on Monday. Countless others will enjoy camps and other programs, like Late Night Hype, with the Department of Parks and Recreation. Families will receive support through the return of programs like SUN Bucks and the DC Youth Meals Program. And to help keep our young people safe, the Mayor has proposed adjustments to curfews for youth ages 17 and younger.
Of course, these conversations come while my office is hard at work preparing for the Committee on Youth Affairs’ budget markup on Monday. While we discuss how to support our young people through the summer months, I am also thinking about the long-term implications of the Mayor’s budget proposal which:
- makes major cuts to the Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA), hindering their ability to investigate cases and keep children safe;
- eliminates the Office of the Ombudsperson for Children (OFC);
- limits re-entry services for youth returning to our communities after being in the care of the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS); and,
- completely eliminates the District Child Tax Credit.
LATEST WARD 5 WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
School's Out For Summer
June 20, 2025
Dear Ward 5 neighbors,
The school year wrapped up this week for DC Public Schools, coinciding with many conversations about how to best support youth through the summer months. Thousands of our city’s young people are participating in the Marion Barry Summer Youth Employment Program, which kicks off on Monday. Countless others will enjoy camps and other programs, like Late Night Hype, with the Department of Parks and Recreation. Families will receive support through the return of programs like SUN Bucks and the DC Youth Meals Program. And to help keep our young people safe, the Mayor has proposed adjustments to curfews for youth ages 17 and younger.
Of course, these conversations come while my office is hard at work preparing for the Committee on Youth Affairs’ budget markup on Monday. While we discuss how to support our young people through the summer months, I am also thinking about the long-term implications of the Mayor’s budget proposal which:
- makes major cuts to the Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA), hindering their ability to investigate cases and keep children safe;
- eliminates the Office of the Ombudsperson for Children (OFC);
- limits re-entry services for youth returning to our communities after being in the care of the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS); and,
- completely eliminates the District Child Tax Credit.
Progress Report: January 2023 - January 2025
Check out the latest Progress Report from Councilmember Parker! Our office has been hard at work alongside Ward 5 neighbors to build healthy communities through transformative policy, fighting for Ward 5, and making government accessible and transparent. View the full report and see more of what we achieved together here.
COUNCILMEMBER ZACHARY PARKER
Since taking office in January of 2023, Zachary has delivered for Ward 5 residents through responsive constituent services and significant budget wins. He has introduced dozens of transformative pieces of legislation, including bills to establish the District’s State Superintendent of Education’s School Support Office to improve low-performing schools, and the District Child Tax Credit which provides low-income and middle-class families fully refundable tax credits for children 17 years of age and younger.
LEGISLATION
Since taking office, Councilmember Parker has introduced more than 30 pieces of legislation, and co-introduced more than 150 additional bills. Learn about Councilmember Parker’s legislation, co-introductions, and committee assignments on the Legislation page.
COUNCILMEMBER ZACHARY PARKER
Ward 5 Councilmember Zachary Parker is an educator and a public servant. He taught 7th-grade math in New Orleans, post-Katrina, with Teach For America, and spent nearly a decade supporting DC school administrators at Ward 5 schools like Dunbar High School and Mundo Verde PCS.
Zachary sees firsthand the human impact of a system that leaves our most vulnerable behind. He grew up watching his oldest brother struggle with a one-size-fits-all school system that did not have the resources to support him, and now sees the challenges he faces in life because of it.
And Zachary suffered alongside his middle brother through a long and exhaustive battle with a healthcare system that treated him more like a problem than a patient before he ultimately passed away at 36 from kidney failure. These shouldn’t be the experiences families have when interacting with our public institutions. Zachary has dedicated his life’s work to transforming the systems that failed his brothers and so many like them.
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Building a stronger, healthier Ward 5 every day.
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