Following her successful re-election for a third term, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has set up a transition website at https://together.dc.gov. There you can find members of her transition team and instructions on how to apply for jobs with Mayor Bowser’s administration and District government.

Mayor Bowser’s team is also seeking “transformational” and “big” ideas for the mayor’s third term, with a focus on:

• Expanding democracy
• Fighting for the middle class
• Ending gun violence
• Reimagining our downtown
• Getting all students on pathways to success and
• Positioning DC as a strong, sustainable, and resilient city

Early last year, I shared a news article on social media about the completion of the city’s homeless shelter in Ward 1, which capped a multiyear effort to replace DC General with smaller shelters throughout the city. I wrote then that the the mayor’s first-term plan to open homeless shelters in each ward was truly masterful and that if she had that kind of vision and commitment in addressing so many issues in the District, the city would be well served. The urgency of the plan was of course heightened by the disappearance of eight-year old Relisha Rudd from DC General, which is still disturbing to me to this day.

All that to say, it can be easy to be deeply cynical about politicians and government, but we also have the ability to be courageous and create better functioning, humane communities. And sometimes even “small” things can have great impact.

If you have thoughts, big or small, about how government should better function over the next four years, it is worth sharing them at https://together.dc.gov.

There will also be an in-person engagement forum on December 3, 2022, at 10:00 am.