Chairman Gray Commits Support for Green Jobs, Basketball League
May 20, 2010
On Monday, May 17th 550 youth and adult leaders from Washington Interfaith Network (WIN) and DC Youth Power Network (YPN) hosted a public accountability session at Foundry United Methodist Church with Chairman Vincent Gray and other members of the City Council. The focus of the action was on getting commitments from Chairman Gray and other key Councilmembers to support WIN’s strategy to retrofit thousands of commercial, rental, and government buildings to create a pipeline of living wage green jobs for DC residents. Receiving support for the DC Youth Basketball League—YPN’s proposed strategy for building long-term relationships with youth from across the city—was also a key aspect of the action.
YPN youth leader Kevin Oliver delivered a powerful speech about the difficulties of finding employment in the District and the vital need to invest in activities like the DC Youth Basketball League. Kevin received raucous applause when, turning to Mr. Gray he said, “Mr. Chairman, let me be very, very clear: I-NEED-A-JOB!” Chairman Gray committed to meeting with YPN’s youth leaders within two weeks of the action to discuss strategies for fully funding the DC Youth Basketball League and even committed to coaching one of the League’s teams once it us up and running
