Norton Gets Additional $331 Million for DHS, $74 Milliion for DC Public Schools, & More (3/11/09)

Norton Gets Additional $331 Million for DHS, $74 Million for D.C. Public Schools, Millions More for District Organizations

March 11, 2009

WASHINGTON, DC - The Omnibus Bill approved last night in the Senate, and expected to be signed today by President Obama, includes big dollar additions for the District, including $331 million, which, together with the $750 million Norton already has, will build the first Department of Homeland Security building on the campus of St. Elizabeths in Ward 8; $74 million for D.C. Public Schools; $39 million for inauguration costs; and $35 million for Norton's Tuition Assistance Grants, which provides up to $10,000 per academic year to District students attending public colleges nationwide and funding for private colleges here. Norton also got the additional appropriations for children, the poor, and for healthcare, such as $237,000 for capitalization of My Sisters' Place, $285,000 for Unity Health Care for facilities and equipment, $285,000 for the Family, Health, and Birth Center, and $48,000 for the Whitman Walker Clinic. She was also particularly excited about the $350,000 for the Gang Intervention Unit and $100,000 for the DC Youth Advocate Mentoring Program.

"The DHS money for the first of five DHS buildings comes just in time to help us staunch rapidly rising unemployment rate in the District with jobs," Norton said. Construction of the first building is expected to create 38,000 jobs and stimulate business development along the Martin Luther King corridor where the campus is located.