PUBLIC SAFETY

Target Violent Crime and Support Survivors

• Focus resources on the most serious violence, including armed carjackings and illegal guns.
• Hold federal partners accountable for effective prosecutions and qualified judicial appointments.
• Fully fund survivor-centered, low-barrier services for crime victims.

Accountable Policing

• Support a well-trained, adequately staffed police force.
• Strengthen transparency, oversight, and community engagement.

Safe Streets for Everyone

• Design streets that move people safely whether walking, biking, using transit, or driving.
• Invest in safe routes to school and child-centered street design.

Prevention and Second Chances

• Expand youth programs, mental health supports, and job opportunities.
• Target resources to youth involved in child welfare or juvenile justice systems and those at risk of dropping out.

HOUSING

Build More Homes, Faster

• Streamline permitting, zoning, and approvals to cut red tape and speed construction.
• Use public land and smart incentives to increase housing supply across all eight wards.

Protect Tenants and Prevent Displacement

• Defend rent stabilization, fair leases, and protections against unjust evictions while ensuring buildings are well maintained.
• Ensure new development strengthens neighborhoods and helps longtime residents stay.

Expand Opportunity and Stability

• Invest in the Housing Production Trust Fund with strong oversight.
• Fully fund workforce and middle-income housing for teachers, nurses, and first responders.

HEALTHY COMMUNITIES

Invest in Accessible, High-quality Healthcare

• Expand access to quality prenatal and postnatal care to improve maternal and infant health and reduce disparities.
• Increase access to primary, mental health, and preventive care through community-based clinics and public health programs.

Support Emergency Services to Protect Residents

• Ensure fair compensation, training and leadership development, and sufficient equipment and facilities for fire and EMS first responders. 
• Improve transparency, staffing and management of DC’s 911 Call Center.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Make it Easier to Start, Run, and Grow a DC Business

• Streamline licensing, permitting, and inspections.
• Improve agency coordination to eliminate duplicative paperwork.

Fair Taxes and Predictable Costs

• Reduce excessive fees and taxes that fall hardest on small businesses.
• Support targeted tax relief for neighborhood-serving businesses.

Stronger Commercial Corridors

• Support flexible use of commercial space.
• Back local retail, restaurants, arts, and service businesses

ENVIRONMENT AND TRANSPORTATION

Cutting the cost and increasing the safety of your commute

• Support multi-modal transportation options that reduces our costs and serves residents in all eight wards.
• Put DC residents and businesses first by exploring implementation of DDOT report on congestion pricing that has been working in other jurisdictions.
• Support electrified transit options that reduce costs and dangerous air pollution.
• Support pedestrian safety and a low-stress network for biking.

Energy Affordability

• Support the Healthy Homes Act and programs to support low-income residents cut energy costs and reduce pollution in their homes.
• Support tough oversight of the Public Service Commission to ensure that the District’s monopoly utilities are not leaving residents and businesses with crushing costs of power and heat.
• Support robust implementation of the Carbon Free DC plan which has been successful in reducing costs and doing our part to reduce climate and air pollution.
• Ensure that quality affordable housing development is affordable when residents pay their energy bills with more efficient and gas free construction.

Parks and Open Spaces

• Prioritize development that supports outdoor recreation and exploration for DC residents.
• Support our recreation centers and playing fields and ensure that they are well coordinated and managed to support our school and community use.

Youth Agenda

DC’s young people deserve to see a future for themselves in this city, and the District has a responsibility to help create the conditions for them to succeed. That means investing in young people before they reach a crisis. By working across government, schools, nonprofits, businesses, families, and youth themselves, we can help more young people build stable, healthy, and connected lives.

Too many young people feel disconnected from opportunity and uncertain about their future. Every young person deserves access to strong schools, mental health support, safe spaces, after-school programs, career and college pathways, and trusted adults who believe in them.

Government also has a responsibility to respond when situations become dangerous. Lisa supports targeted, temporary public safety measures, including curfews, when necessary to keep residents safe. But enforcement alone cannot be the foundation of youth policy.

The long-term solution is opportunity, connection, and hope. Investing in young people strengthens families, improves public safety, grows our economy, and builds a healthier city for everyone.

Inspire Youth Through Proven Programming

The District should support programs that show youth the many opportunities available to them and help them achieve ambitious life goals – programs like Higher Achievement Program and DC Scores, which provide structured mentoring, academic support, arts, athletics, and exposure to various career paths.

Invest in Programs that Teach Youth to Manage Conflict

DC’s youth deserve to be in public spaces, enjoying time with their friends. But many need support to build social emotional skills, manage conflict, navigate relationships, and reduce their involvement in violence. The District should invest in evidence-based programs that teach de-escalation, emotional self-management, and decision making, both within schools and in the community.

Connect Schools to Employers

Career exploration cannot wait until graduation. DCPS, charter schools, UDC, and community providers should align around the skills employers need and build stronger partnerships between educators and industries like healthcare, hospitality, and the trades. As President of the DC State Board of Education, Lisa championed career-readiness initiatives and will bring that focus to the Council.

Expand Apprenticeships and Paid Training

Apprenticeship is the most direct line between a DC resident and a DC employer. Lisa supports passage of the DC Young Adult Corps Act and is calling on the Committee on Executive Administration and Labor to move it. The District should grow paid training slots in the sectors that are actually hiring: trades, healthcare, IT, hospitality, and the emerging life sciences and climate technology fields.

Invest in Young People In and Out of School

Too many families are unable to afford quality after-school, evening, and summer programming, all of which have proven to improve outcomes for kids. The District should expand safe afterschool and late-night spaces, and listen directly to young people when shaping the programs meant to serve them.

Invest in Mental Health Services for Young People

Young people cannot succeed when anxiety, depression, and trauma go untreated. The District should expand school-based mental health care, support community providers, and continue the DBH-MPD co-responder model so youth in crisis receive care and support – not criminalization.

Open Doors for Returning Citizens and Older Youth

Young people returning from incarceration are far less likely to reoffend when they have stable housing, training, and a job. Removing employment barriers, supporting reentry providers, and partnering with employers willing to hire fairly is both workforce policy and public safety policy.

If you grow up here, the District should help you build a life and a career here.