Washington, D.C. – The following statement is from Christina Henderson, candidate for D.C. Council At-Large, regarding the D.C. Council’s consideration of a resolution to disapprove the D.C. Public Schools security contract managed by MPD: 

“Students have been telling us for years that the presence of police officers in their schools makes them feel like criminals and that too often police presence does not de-escalate situations. We know that does not contribute to a positive learning environment for our young people and I’m glad Councilmembers are finally listening. If we are serious about dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline that disproportionately affects Black children in D.C., we have to reduce the presence of police officers in our public schools. I applaud the move by Councilmembers Grosso, Nadeau, McDuffie, Allen, and White and look forward to the debate on this matter in the coming days. 

“When I am elected I will work to end policies and practices that push young people out of school and into the criminal justice system while increasing investments in restorative justice practices, trauma-informed training, and critical personnel like school psychologists. It’s time for D.C. to invest in more effective approaches to school safety.”

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Christina served as Councilmember David Grosso’s first Legislative Director and later as the Committee Director for the D.C. Council’s Committee on Education. In this capacity, she worked on student discipline policy, including bills to require the Office of the State Superintendent of Education to publish suspension and expulsion data disaggregated by various demographics and legislation to prohibit the suspension and expulsions of pre-kindergarten students in D.C.

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First-time candidate reports 420 donors across all eight DC wards, with an average contribution of $63

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Petworth -- Today, the District of Columbia Office of Campaign Finance has officially certified that Christina Henderson, a candidate for DC Council At-Large, has met the requirements for certification as a participating candidate in the Fair Elections Programs.

In her campaign’s first fundraising report filed on January 31, Henderson reported $26,482 in donations from 420 individual donors since the campaign’s November launch. Of those donors, 274 are District of Columbia residents, representing all eight DC Wards, whose donations were approved to be matched 5-to-1 as part of the Fair Elections Program.

“I chose to participate in DC’s new public financing program because I believe we have to get big money out of city politics,” said Henderson. “I’m pleased that we have qualified, and encouraged that we did it with grassroots contributions from residents of all eight wards, with an average contribution of $63.”

The Fair Elections program is a voluntary public financing program for local political campaigns in the District of Columbia. Participation in the program requires a candidate seeking certification to demonstrate a base of support for their candidates by collecting a minimum number of aggregated dollar amount and qualified small dollar contributions. For the office of At-Large Councilmember, a candidate must submit a minimum of $12,000 in qualified small-dollar contributions from a minimum of 250 individual residents of the District of Columbia.