Hope everyone is doing all right in the earthquake aftermath!

Teens Find a Safe Haven: Alternative House provides homeless students shelter (Great Falls Connection): “ Jones is part of a growing number of teens in Fairfax County who are considered homeless or ‘unaccompanied’ — without parents, guardians or reliable shelter — but remain in the school system. In 2009, according to Alternative House, there were 104 homeless or unaccompanied students; in March 2011, Alternative House counted 225 such students. ” Since 1972, Alternative House has evolved into a dynamic system of services designed to keep young people off the streets by offering safe and accessible places where they can get help. (You can help out here!)

DC Public Schools expand salad bars (Washington Post: District of DeBonis): “District students head back to school today, and at a few DC Public Schools, they will walk into brand-new or brilliantly renovated facilities. But at many more schools, students will find smaller but significant upgrades: new salad bars. This year, 27 DCPS schools will feature cafeteria salad bars, about double the number from last year. It’s the latest upgrade to school meals under nutrition chief Jeff Mills [...] Over the summer, he said, he tested more than 30 local greens in search of the best roughage for the salad bars.” The menu looks quite tasty too. Partnerships between DCPS and local food providers also sound like a smart (and economically beneficial) move.

Ward 5 needs more, smaller ANC’s (Greater Greater Washington): “The Ward 5 Redistricting Task Force recently began the process of deciding if and how to redraw the ward’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs) [...] A more responsive system could be created by revising ANCs to be based on historic neighborhood boundaries, future economic development prospects, and common-sense issues of geography. This would improve local governance by ensuring that commissioners were voting on issues that they were engaged in and would impact their constituents [...] Issues can also arise when commissioners deal with changes or challenges from areas outside their borders that do not affect the larger ANC. ” Have you experienced this in your neighborhood? And could positive changes be enacted more quickly and effectively were the Task Force to reduce ANC size?