February 25, 2026
Good morning, Chairman Mendelson, members, and staff of the Committee of the Whole. My name is Jessica Nguyen, and I am testifying as a Policy Fellow on behalf of the OST Coalition housed by DC Action. The Out-of-School Time (OST) Coalition represents over 100 community-based organizations delivering high-quality youth development programming to thousands of District youth and families across all wards.
Today, I want to focus on one urgent issue: the preservation and protection of OST funding in the face of federal interference and an anticipated District budget shortfall. The District currently funds more than 20,000 OST seats through the Deputy Mayor for Education and OSSE. These grants make programs affordable and accessible to families who otherwise could not pay market rates for afterschool or summer programming.
In my capacity as a Policy Fellow supporting the OST Coalition, I have met one-on-one with dozens of providers, many of whom are also testifying today and may even make up a majority of the public witnesses in this room. Across those conversations, providers have consistently shared how critical Learn24 funding, technical support, and provider trainings have been to sustaining their operations. Preserving and ideally expanding Learn24’s grant-giving capacity would allow more community-based providers to participate in the system and increase the number of OST seats available, bringing us closer to equitable access in high-quality programming for families and youth across the District.
At the same time, many providers rely heavily on public dollars to keep costs low for families, and even small reductions in District grants can have outsized consequences. A modest budget cut does not simply “tighten belts”. It can eliminate program slots, destabilize staffing, and force trusted community-based organizations to scale back or close entirely. Without recurring and sufficient funding, OST programs cannot plan multi-year initiatives, recruit and retain qualified staff, or sustain quality programming. When experienced providers leave the system due to funding instability, the District loses institutional knowledge, trusted relationships, and community anchors that cannot easily be rebuilt.
Beyond just giving kids something to do after school, protecting OST is also about supporting economic stability for working families. Without public investment, parents can face costs of $7,000 to $10,000 per child annually for afterschool programming and care. District families are already under financial strain. For DC Black families specifically, whose median income is approximately $57,000, that could represent nearly one-fifth of annual income, an unrealistic and inequitable burden.
Reducing investment in prevention and enrichment does not save money in the long term. It shifts costs downstream, increasing pressure on behavioral health systems, juvenile justice, child welfare, and academic recovery efforts. Destabilizing the OST ecosystem is fiscally short-sighted. And importantly, OST programs already cannot meet demand. Grant reductions would immediately reduce available slots, disproportionately impacting low-income communities and pushing youth out of safe, structured environments after school hours.
We also request clarification regarding DCPS’s proposed $8.1 million for elementary and middle school afterschool programming. How will this investment be structured and coordinated with existing OST systems?
In this moment of federal uncertainty and fiscal constraint, we urge the Deputy Mayor for Education to recognize OST funding as essential infrastructure, not discretionary spending. Now is not the time to pull back from a system that families depend on and that strengthens our city’s economic and social fabric.
Thank you for your leadership and commitment to the District’s young people and families.