Save Our Safety Net: What the People are Saying

In just a day, more than 1,000 people have signed our petition calling upon City Council to Save Our Safety Net. Please make your voice heard--sign the petition to stop cuts to safety net services--and help us spread the word.
Here are some samples from the many comments we've received from the petition:

~These cuts would disproportionately impact low-income families who are working hard and still struggling to make ends meet. Don't make DC's achievement gap any wider...save the safety net.

~Please save programs critical to the well-being and economic advancement of low-income DC residents.

~Slashing funding for critical safety net services disproportionately impacts low-income DC residents at at time when we need to be dedicating as many resources as possible to reducing inequality and health disparities. A safety net is KEY to prevention and saving money in the long term.

~These are not programs to cut. Our community needs them.

~As a public health professional, I strongly urge you to consider the grave losses when the most vulnerable families in the District are compromised because of funding cuts.

~We have to protect the most vulnerable in our city, it is 100% wrong to abandon social programs at a time when people need them most.

~DC's vulnerable residents need somewhere to turn.

~In this time of economic hardship, we should be raising revenues and cutting back on programs that don't affect the most vulnerable residents. Otherwise we'll be digging ourselves into a deeper hole of debt by causing huge demands in the areas of shelter and homeless services, emergency room costs, police and foster care.

~As a resident of DC for the past 10 years, I would rather pay higher taxes than see cuts to services and benefits for my most vulnerable neighbors.

~Please examine revenue resource options before slashing funding for important support and low-income programs.

~Social services are the first thing people need in this recession.

~We can't afford to ask the least fortunate to bear the brunt of the economic downturn. It's a matter of justice.

~Investing money in building communities and strengthening families is the smartest use of government funding. It will yield tremendous results and long-term benefits for the future of DC.

~Individuals and families are reliant on these services for survival. They cannot be cut!

~Hitting the worst off the hardest makes no sense.

~Cutting core safety-net programs will only send our city's low-income residents into further poverty, and make it even harder for the city to climb out of the economic crisis. Please consider other ways of raising revenue before slashing the safety-net services.

~I am a social worker at a community health clinic. I refer participants to these vital services everyday. These supplemental programs and supports are essential to ensuring that families can survive in this increasingly expensive city. I seriously fear for DC's health and safety if we start cutting social supports.

~It is crucial that the Council not balance the budget on the backs of the District's most vulnerable citizens. Cutting the safety net will ultimately cost the District more in emergency services to people made homeless or otherwise forced to suffer through these cuts.

~It's ridiculous that the economic crisis that already disproportionately affects the poor will now be affecting them even more harshly.

~DC's low-income and/or elderly citizens will be thrown into increasingly difficult situations without this safety net!

~We won't take these budget cuts lightly. It matters that you all care and stand up for what is right, because you are OUR leaders. Do the right thing---create solutions to our problems by not creating MORE problems.

**Mayor Fenty has proposed massive cuts to programs that help low-income residents in DC. Please visit Save our Safety Net to learn more.