Mary Katharine Ham attended a rally yesterday to save DC Opportunity Scholarships and got some really good pictures of some adorable kids.
At least 1,300 school kids and several hundred adults (many of them single parents who had to get off work) gathered at Freedom Plaza to rally for the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program in Washington Wednesday. Funding for the program was cut by Congress this spring, and it must now be reauthorized by the D.C. Council and a heavily Democratic Senate to continue. The political road looks very rough, but these kids and their supporters are prepared to “fight, fight” to “put children first,” as the chants of the day indicated.
Former Washington, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams, recording artists Ginuwine and Mya, council member Marion Barry, parents, students, and activist Virginia Walden-Ford were on hand to testify to what the program means to the District’s underprivileged children. This really tugs at my heartstrings, but emotion is not the reason to support this cause. Common sense is. Unlike so many of the trillions of taxpayer dollars being spent by the government, money invested in this program will yield an incredible return.
