Good evening everyone. We are now back and you're going to continue our public hearings. I first want to thank Council member Mink and the county council for Recognizing immigrant day of resilience while we were on our break and thank everyone who is here for that Now we're going to continue our public hearing on the FY 26 operating budgets and the FY 26-31 public services program and fiscal policy for the following Montgomery County Government, Montgomery County College, Maryland National Park and Planning Commission, WSSC Water and Montgomery County Public Schools. Council committees will conduct work sessions on the budgets beginning Wednesday, April 9th, and the full council work sessions will begin on Monday, May 5th. The committee's schedule is available on the council website. Everyone who has registered to speak has and should be afford the opportunity to testify. Please keep applause and noise to a minimum. So as not to interrupt or distract speakers, we want to actually hear everyone in the right to the public to provide the right room please don't hold up signs that will block someone's view and please keep the aisles clear so folks can enter and exit easily. As a reminder of our public hearing testimony guidelines your comments must be limited to issues relevant to the public hearing topic for which you are testifying and are appropriate for a public meeting. You'll hear your tone when your time is up and we appreciate everybody abiding by their allotted time. We have about 60 people testifying this evening and so we're all glad you are here tonight and I do apologize if I mispronounce any names this evening, especially as we get later into the evening. Just please correct me. Our first panel I like to call up Michael Ritchie, Tina Patterson, Allison Gillespie, Louise Alejandro Amaya Flores, and Michael Larkin. All right, Mr. Ricci, you can begin when you're ready. Madam President, members of the Council, good evening. My name is Mike Ricci. I am honored to appear as the chair of the county's Recreation Parks Advisory Board. We meet regularly to discuss the great services these agencies provide. Everything from summer camps to senior centers, foot salt, fitness classes, pools to pickleball. That was my Hakeem Jeffries impression. We talk about ways to make things even better. Unfortunately, the budget submitted to you does pose a threat to that mission. It underfunds parks beyond even the most extreme black swan scenarios that the department had contemplated. Recreation for its part was able to narrowly escape deep reductions, but only just. Unfortunately, we are put in the position each year of coming back and having to defend to you, which should be obvious. And I know that you agree that these truly are core services. And the pandemic proved this beyond a doubt. So when you wonder, Fund, Parks and Recreation, you are not cutting extras, you are cutting access, support, opportunity, and quality of life for our residents. Now I recognize that in this current fiscal climate you have to weigh many competing priorities to put it mildly. And so allow me to leave you with two things. First, an open invitation to join any of our advisory board meetings. We meet next Monday night. In fact, if you want to have another meeting somewhere next Monday night, because, and this is point number two, point number two and the last point is that I think you would find another opportunity to see what we see up close, which is that the people who work in these agencies, their leadership especially, how much they deeply, truly care about the people they serve and the work they do. You know, they are in the community morning, noon and night. You go to an event, you go to any of these rec centers there, there. They sweat this stuff. They follow up. They follow through. They care, which says a lot these, these days. So I urge you to commit to the people who are committed, invest in the people who are invested in this work in these missions. We ask you to fully fund recreation in parks. and in so doing to please send what needs to be a clear and unmistakable message that the work these agencies do is truly essential to the health, the safety, and the well-being of our residents. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Patterson. Thank you. Good evening, Council President Stewart and Council members. As was stated earlier, my name is Tina Patterson and I am the board president of Montgomery Community Media. The county's only independent nonprofit media organization dedicated to serving our diverse communities. I'm a resident of council district two. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today. Montgomery County is fortunate to have a trusted local media source like Montgomery Community Media, an organization committed to independent journalism, civic engagement, and media ed. County is fortunate to have a trusted local media source like Montgomery Community Media, an organization committed to independent journalism, civic engagement, and media education. In an era of growing misinformation and shrinking local newsrooms and news deserts, Montgomery Community Media plays an essential role in ensuring that residents have access to accurate community-centered reporting. We cover the stories that matter most to Montgomery County. Stories that national and even regional outlets often overlook. Residents are clamoring for community-centric information, particularly now, as changes in the federal government continue to deeply affect our residents. These stories are critical to ensuring that their voices are heard and their challenges are brought to the public's attention. We hold public officials accountable, amplify community voices, and provide critical updates during emergencies. However, the media landscape is shifting dramatically. Organizations like ours face increasing financial pressures, even as a demand for independent, reliable information continues to grow. Without sustained investment, Montgomery County risk losing a vital pillar of its information ecosystem. One that fosters transparency, public discourse, and an informed citizenry. As an instrument of this informed and engaged citizenry, we ask you to stand up and support our free speech and Montgomery community media. Beyond journalism, Montgomery community media is deeply committed to training the next generation of media and content creators. Through our internships, next-gen, and fellowship education programs, we equip young people and aspiring professionals with technical, skills, storytelling expertise, and ethical foundations needed to thrive in today's digital media landscape. From high school students launching their podcast to community members producing their first documentary, we are cultivating diverse voices and future leaders in media. The continued support of this council ensures that Montgomery Community and Media can sustain and expand its informational programming, keep pace with technological advancements, and remain an accessible, inclusive platform for all county residents. As you deliberate on this year's budget, I urge you to continue investing in Montgomery Community Media. Thank you. Thank you, Allison Glossby. Good evening. I think many of you know me for my civic engagement. I'm a former PTA president, former neighborhood association president. I currently sit on the board of a group that advocates for safer streets for biking and walking across the state. I raise two kids here and I currently serve on the board of the Montgomery Parks Foundation. Tonight I'm here speaking as an individual and not on behalf of any of those groups or the foundation, but all of that, including my Parks Foundation membership, has informed my perspective. I am deeply concerned about the level of funding put forth by the County Executive for Parks in this budget. For reasons not entirely clear to me, the incredible park system we have has been targeted for a larger cut than any other Department or entity and it just doesn't seem right. I'm sure you all know the details the department requested a 7.2 budget increase but the executive recommended only 3.1. In contrast many other county departments received an average 6.7 increase in order to maintain the same level of services. If these cuts go through the parks department will will suffer greatly, and I think the result will be a lot of really unhappy residents. I, the quality of life surveys conducted by our county on a regular basis site, how many people love our parks, and at a time when so many of our democratic institutions seem to be under attack, it's important to remember parks are available and free for everyone and can be used by anyone, rich, poor, old, young, and we should honor that and not squander it. I put in a whole lot of testimony, written testimony, but I want to say sometimes people put forth a false dichotomy that there's this choice sometimes between things like schools and parks and I think that's bunk. You cannot have good schools without good parks. 90 of our schools in this county sit next to parks and our main those part those fields are maintained by park staff the trees are maintained by park staff. Many parks programming help families when schools are closed. I also would like to point out that in areas like the area where I live in Wheaton, families depend on parks to be their place space. And one line on them that would be very hard hit would be regional park, which is very beloved to me. It's closer to more residents in another park, and it is a substitute backyard for many people. For many people including me parks are not just a luxury item. They are the glue that holds the community together, the space that makes our relationships with our neighbors stronger. I'm aware this is a tough budget year. Is there ever an easy budget year or budget decisions ever easy? I think however it's a bad idea to squander one of our best investments and I do hope that one day we will sometimes see a budget that values the incredibly valuable asset of the parks and what they represent to our county. A budget that holds each department in parity. This budget singles out parks from where cuts than any other and that is not acceptable to me. I hope it's not acceptable to you. Thank you. Thank you. I'm discussing Mr. Flores. Good evening honorable members of the Montgomery County Council and the general public. First ofarily, I thank God for giving me this opportunity to be here with you and thank you for the opportunity to invite me to come here and to help me to represent the young people of Lomb ranch. First and foremost, I thank God for giving me the opportunity to be here with you and I also thank the community cheer organization for inviting me to speak to you in representation of her youth in Long Branch. It's a honor to direct me to all of you in this moment so significant for our institution and our community in the first place. I want to thank the Council of the Contado of Montgomery. It is an honor to address all of you at the Montgomery Council for its dedication, tireless work, and the commitment demonstrated every day in caring how its responsibilities. The work that is in vain, not only is it fundamental for the good of our citizens, but also essential to guarantee the future that we all aspire to build. The work you do is not only essential for the well-being of our citizens, also crucial to ensuring the future that we all aspire to. The work you do is not only essential for the well-being of our citizens, but also crucial to ensuring the future that we all aspire to be. In this opportunity, I want to direct my wishes to you to talk about the program, the LVSE AI. On this occasion, I want to speak to you about the Long Branch Collective Action for Youth Program. Which has a direct impact on the future of the youth. This program brings a chance of extra-collar, extracurricular, university-related and youth leadership opportunities, and financial education, all of which offer the necessary tools to thrive in a rapidly changing world. Camille Risher is much more than just an organization. The support is an investment in the entire development of young people through the education, the professional orientation and the strengthening of their emotional abilities. Community here is much more than just a support organization. It is an investment in the comprehensive development for young people, through education, career guidance, and the strengthening of their emotional and social skills. Help prepare young people to be leaders, committed, responsible citizens and people with the necessary knowledge to take care of... Aida a prepara a los jóvenes para ser líderes comprometidos, ciudadanos responsables y personas con el conocimiento necesario para tomar decisiones acertada en su vida. Community Chair helps prepare young people to be committed leaders, responsible citizens and individuals with the knowledge necessary to make sound decisions in their lives. The Healthy Long Branch Program is a cheer initiative that aims to improve the quality of life for long branch residents by fostering connections within the community and linking them to the county's resources to address issues identified as priorities by the community, such as public safety, neighborhood cleanliness, pedestrian safety improvement, collaboration with schools, and the maintenance of safe and affordable housing. El respaldo necesario para asegurar que Community Reserve no solo se den marcha sino que crezca, llegue a más jóvenes y pueda adaptarse a las nuevas necesidades que surgen con el tiempo. Con su ayuda podemos asegurar que los jóvenes y su familia tengan acceso a un futuro mejor lleno de oportunidades y éxito. However, for these programs to continue being effective, we need your support. I respectfully ask that you continue providing the necessary support to ensure that community cheer not only stays operational but grows. Reaches more young people and adopts to new needs that arise over time. With your help, we can ensure that young people and their families have access to a better future full of opportunities and success. I deeply appreciate your time, your consideration, and above all, that continue support that the Council provides to our communities. Together we can continue working towards a better future. Make up, bless you all. Thank you very much, Michael Arcan. Good evening Council members. My name is Michael Arcan, and I'm speaking on behalf of the Action Committee for Transit, also known as Act. I'm a member of their board. Act urges this county council to prioritize bus frequency and reliability in the FY26 Transit Services budget. More of the revenues cited in the budget should be directed at running all day express bus service on planned flash bus rapid transit routes until flash is fully operational. Act technologies that there are positive steps being taken to improve transit. The Great Seneca Transit Network is an important initiative that will provide bus service for employment opportunities in the important life services corridor. Unfortunately these improvements cannot mask real problems that are only getting worse. The on-time performance target in the FYI-28 budget was 88.9 percent. In this budget, it's 71.5 percent. Despite constraints, the right-on-reimagined study did reveal the climbing ridership and longer waits on many routes. It's depressing ridership every day. Our county general plan for I've 2050, the climate action plan, all espoused great visions for world class transit, but our budget is not fully supporting that vision. Residents cannot be left in a holding pattern while the lumpy construction of bus rapid transit continues. Time spent waiting for a bus that arrives late blocks access to jobs, health care, education, our parks. That's another reason the fully restored parks funding, by the way. Freaking transit also means access to food. We know that lack of transportation options are directly linked to hunger. Not just in our community, but also all throughout the country. I have been the volunteer as Shepard's table about once a month. Lately has been once every two months, but I have learned that there are residents afraid to get on the bus because they don't have any money in their pocket. Act recognizes that free fares can be an anti-poverty measure. However, a free bus is not a replacement for a bus that never arrives or arrives in excess of 30 minutes. With financial hard times facing our residents due to federal job and budget cuts, more people will be unable to afford a private car and maintain a car. The buses will be critical for our most vulnerable community members. Riders should not be left waiting for frequency that provides the freedom that they need. And our climate also cannot wait for transportation alternatives that will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Thank you for your time tonight. Thank you very much. Thank you to our first panel this evening. Now I'll call up our next panel. We have Raymond Heinzmann, Roger Patton, Stacey Tejana, Bridget Howe, Hannah Hutton. Mr. Heinzman, you can kick us off when you're ready. Here. I'm sorry it's a warning. Take your time, get settled. Sweet. Yep, just press the button and you are all set. Good evening everyone. My name is Ray Heisman and I live in Forest Glen with my wife and my three children. Thank you for hearing our opinion about the upcoming county budget. I understand and empathize with your difficult position of navigating the financial and political pressure and prioritizing our goals, being accountable and doing it within budget. I am here to ask you to fully fund the parks department. I to contribute to parks with hundreds of volunteer hours building and maintaining our trails. My son earns his SSL hours volunteering in the parks. And when trying to help understand people in the community, I asked the parks for help and they responded. I also have participated in grant applications raising money to expand trails and connect communities because it is in connection that the value of the parks are realized. Across all aspects of life, we are asked to do more with less. I had dinner with five friends the other night at Solarir Social and Silver Spring, and half of us have a new future with half of our income. And it past few months, every time I walk down the street in my neighborhood or at the park with my kids, I find myself being asked or asking one of my neighbors, are you and your family okay? What can I do to help? Income down, costs up, priorities, and accountability changing. Parks are the places where connections happen. If we as a community want to be able to cope with our fast-changing worlds, we will need to do it together. I do not have all the answers, but being able to share ideas and worries with my neighbors makes the unknown less scary. The place I connect with other people in my community are parks. And that is when it is hit, that is when it hit me. If we want to prevent insanity, we must promote community. Community is promoted in the parks. All communities are serviced by the parks. All people have access to the parks. Parks are a place where we all can learn physical and social skills, learn respect for each other and nature, and improve physical and mental wellbeing. When an unemployed parent removes daycare from the family budget, it's the parks that will pick up the slack. Those parks need to be well maintained and ready for us. As 2.8% of the operating budget, it seems silly to cut something that so efficiently has a positive effect on our community. So to prevent insanity, we'll promote community and fully fund the parks department. Thank you. Thank you very much. Roger, head in. Actually, it's patent's patent my relatives couldn't spell very well. These are grim and uncertain times Montgomery County will certainly be hurt by the reckless actions of the Trump administration which will likely produce a recession during which our county revenue is well declined while our needs will grow. I don't envy your job of constructing a budget under these circumstances, but giving this gloomy outlook, you might be surprised that I'm here to ask that you fully fund the budget request of parks and recreation departments. These departments provide essential third places for our residents. As sociologist Ray Oldenberg has pointed out in this book, The Great Good Place, Third Places, that is often frequented places other than home and work, play a central role in our social lives. Moreover, as Robert Putnam argued in his book, Bowling Alone, they are essential to maintaining and growing our communities. And countless studies have demonstrated that parks and recreation centers provide third places that promote the physical and mental health of their users while providing a richer social life. And all of this, in all of this, it's largely free to their users. I live next to Reismer and Hills Littinsville Park and I'm a past president of the citizen advisory board for the Caulfield Community Center. Both these facilities are heavily used, and each year they take a beating. During COVID, community use of the park skyrocketed, as would have the use of the Caulfield Community Center, if not for the fact that it was rightly repurposed as a homeless shelter. While the analogy between the Trump administration and a plague probably cannot withstand per long examination, it is true that the demand for these facilities will soon explode just as it did during COVID. To meet this demand, it's important that these departments be fully and fairly funded, at least to the degree that Falling Gravity is allowed. You know better than I, the specific needs for these two departments, and I will not attempt to rehearse them all here. But both departments must provide ongoing maintenance and essential programming, and both must be fully funded to, I'm sorry, and both must be fully staffed to do so. The budget for these departments are relatively small, yet their impacts are great. These are difficult times in which to construct a budget. But as you work through the process, I ask you to keep in mind the role that these two departments play in growing our communities and the correlative need to maintain the services they provide. Thank you. Thank you. Stacy, Torani, this Stacy here. All right, I'll come back to her later. And we have Brigid Howe. Good evening Council members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight. While I've won a few different hats in civic engagement in my lifetime here in Montgomery County, I'm here tonight wearing my nonprofit Montgomery Executive Director hat. As you know, nonprofit Montgomery is an alliance of nonprofits providing services to Montgomery County residents. For the past several months, we've worked on our State of Montgomery County Nonprofits 2025 report, which we launched on March 20th. In that report, we put forward 10 recommendations and a call to action for the greater community to support a thriving nonprofit sector here in Montgomery County, which can then support residents, including our most vulnerable. You can access the report on our website, www.nomprofitmoco.org. The recommendations we listed first included several around sustainable funding. And this aligns with the requests that I'm sharing around the operating budget this evening. Each year, as you know, nonprofits go to the county executive and the county council to ask for modest cost of living adjustments to county contracts and grants and to address the increases in the cost of doing business. Our hope, echoed by the recommendation in the report, is that we'll eventually reach a point where these adjustments are just built into the contracts and of course pending appropriations and we don't have to come to you with our hat in our hand every single year. But we're not here yet or we're not there yet excuse me so here I am. The county executive has included a 3% cola for nonprofit contracts and continuing grants in his recommended budget. We do appreciate that. That 3% will go toward the increased rents that organizations are seeing, professional services fees that keep growing, increased insurance expenses, increased IT costs. And of course, it will go toward increases in salaries for often underpaid nonprofit staff. While the 3% is absolutely appreciated, and I strongly urge you to make sure that that is maintained, it's not quite enough when you look at the last 15 years of funding increases. Non-profit contracts still really haven't caught up with the contractions from the Great Recession, coupled with the significant increases in inflation over the past few years. And now in the unprecedented national environment that we're in, we're looking at increased needs and decreased spending. Another area where our request today aligns with our report is in funding for the Office of Grants Management. While we do look forward to offering some thought partnership over the next few months about the ways the The grants management office can operate more effectively We do want to make sure that they have the funding that they need to be able to support Organizations and that that is appropriately allocated Non-profits and government have a long history in Montgomery County of collaboration and connection We want to continue that partnership and strengthen the services that are provided All of that said, I've been at this table a few times before and I can't think of a time when I've been more concerned about the political, financial, and social context beyond our county. This year's operating budget and a lot of the policy decisions that you all are making every single day have to be considered within the context of constantly shifting priorities, federal priorities, funding challenges, job losses for county residents, etc. This is not easy work. Please know that we'll be part of a vital part of addressing the challenges for our county's residents and please make the budget decisions to ensure that they're able to do so. Thank you. Thank you very much. had a hug. Good evening council members my name is Hannah and I'm here today representing myself. I'm speaking in support of the Montgomery County Recreation Department budget and asking for your continued investment, especially in a time when every dollar has to stretch further. So, let me tell you a story. There was a girl, there was a really shy girl who was terrified of talking to strangers. She avoided eye contact, hid behind her parents and public and mumbled when she had to speak up. But through recreation programs something changed. She played sports, went to art classes and summer camps, and slowly like many shy kids. I'm sure you all know some. She started to come out of her shell through activities like counselor and training programs Teen works and internships. She overcame her shyness and entered the workforce with the soft skills needed to succeed I hope you guys are shocked to find out that that girl is me And thanks to the mentoring and professional development that I received, I found myself calling parents about swim lessons, coordinating programs and speaking up in meetings. That's what Montgomery County Recreation does. It doesn't just fill time, it shapes futures. So let me ask you guys, do you remember your first jobs or your child? Was it a camp counselor or a lifeguard somewhere? These first jobs really matter. They build responsibility, accountability and communication skills and they often happen in our recreation centers and parks. This is the workforce development that our community relies on. Recreation is also is where community happens. Seniors find connection, teens find belonging, families come together through sports, arts, and cultural events. Council member Freedzen, I think I saw you at the acoustics and ails on Friday, yeah. Cultural events. So when the budgets are tight, it's easy to see recreation in parks as optional, but it's not. It's one of the smartest, most cost-effective investments that we can make. So today, I'm asking you to protect the recreation department funding because it supports the health, resilience, and future of Montgomery County. Thank you for your time and for your commitment to the people who call this county home. Thank you. All right. Thank you, everyone on that panel. I will call up the next panel. We have Mark Dizzler, Glenn Feldman, Jacqueline Williams, Michael can start when you're ready. Thank you very much. My name is Mark Disler. I live in Rockville. I oppose any tax or fee increase in the FY26 budget. my question to the council is, when is enough enough? I agree with council member Freedzen's March 14th Statement on the impact on families. We should also be concerned about the county's overall economic competitiveness in the region and how increasing taxes and fees can adversely affect it. Currently, we face disruption at the federal level, including layoffs and tax increases in the form of higher tariffs. We also face state tax and revenue increases that even now, if the changes are not confined entirely to the wealthy, property valuations here are going up significantly, already resulting in higher tax burdens on county residents. And the county exec would pile more onto all of this. It's your constituents that are caught in the middle of all of that. Moreover, these proposed increases must be viewed within the context of other county policies as a whole. That however they may be desirable individually, cumulatively, are very likely to have a negative impact on economic activity here. We should be concerned about a slow downward spiral of our attractiveness to businesses which provide jobs and to diverse families who we want to afford to live here. This county already lags several area jurisdictions in various economic indicators. At some point, considering the economic health of the county and as painful as it is, we can't do everything we would like to do as fast as we would like to do it. Further, I hope the council will closely scrutinize our spending for waste, abuse, and misallocation of resources. Gatheur's Berg, council member Neal Harris said in part, quote, there seems to be no fiscal restraint in this proposed budget. We should be able to do better than this." There are different ways to avert tax and fee increases, whether by rejecting a portion of some specific proposed increases or by across the board reductions of a small percentage of proposed spending, I would shield fire, emergency, police, and immigrant services for many cuts. This council can't stop this misguided trade war or state revenue razors, but you can stop economically unsound tax and fee increases proposed locally in the face of layoffs, looming recession, and likely stagflation. It's very bad timing. So I'll end where I started. When is enough, enough? Thank you. Thank you, Glenn Filman. Mr. Filman, could you push your button to turn on your microphone? Thank you. Good evening, President Stewart and Council members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight. My name is Glenn Feldman. I'm a lifelong resident of Rockville 2853. My three children are MCPS graduates as M.I. I own two small local businesses. Headlight Restoration Montgomery and Montgomery Keepsakes and I work for a third business. And I'm here to speak on behalf of myself. The county's proposed budget has a $790 million surplus or cushion, which the proposal says is to offset potential losses of state and federal funding. That was a gross underestimation. At the time it was made a month ago, two months ago, it's probably seems right. But now we're poised to lose hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars in education dollars alone, money caught back from the COVID funds, money withheld because of the county's DEI policies, hundreds and hundreds of million dollars more from a host of other programs too. Meantime thousands of our neighbors are or soon will be laid off. Thousands. Government agencies in the county that are located here that purchase goods and services from the community won't be doing that. The employees who spent their money at local businesses won't be doing that. And on top of all that, the stock market is tanking, thanks to the tariff situation. Economists say Maryland is more likely to enter a recession than any other state in the country. Montgomery County is facing a financial crisis worse than anything any of us have probably ever seen in our lifetimes. Now is not the time for a status quo budget that pays for increases in the backs of taxpayers who are facing financial distress. Now is the time to make really hard choices, to make reductions, to suspend certain activities, to make decisions that will be unpopular and that will disappoint people. Frankly, the more people who are disappointed, probably the better off you're doing in these times. Like many others here tonight, a month or two ago, I had some really specific things I wanted to come in and request, large requests, projects that are important to me, and I can't do that in good conscience. You have too hard a job to do. Everyone in this county has to be prepared to make sacrifices. And so with that in mind, there's just two small things I'm going to mention with my limited time. First, as you know, in addition to my business pursuits, I'm also the creator and publisher of the Manganian. In that role, I've taken on the ceremonial office of Mayor of Glenmont. I ab over the past few months, spent a great deal of time and effort working with state and local agencies to clean up rubbish and pollution from commercial properties and state controlled land in the Glenmont area. When neighborhoods get trash you crime goes up, that's a fact. The kids who go to Kennedy who have to walk through that trashy parking lot get to school and I'm sure they feel pretty gross about it. Please spare funding to the agencies or there are sections who's working this area is essential, including HCRA, DEP, MCDOT, and Montgomery Parks, especially Montgomery Parks. We need them to keep the parks clean. In closing, as Montgomery publisher, it's fitting to share a quote from King Lear, a warning from the full of the King that has apropos to these budget discussions. Have more than now showest, speak less than now noist, lend less than now oist. Thank you. Ms. Jacqueline Williams. Good evening. Excuse my, I have a cold today. Sorry about that. Jacqueline Williams, the co-chair of the African American Health Program Executive Committee. And I joined with the Asian American Health Initiative and the Latino Health Initiative, who will be testifying tomorrow, by the way, to initiate, to present a clear and present and urgent request to reserve the Essential Safety net for our vulnerable residents, including displaced federal workers, my fully funding with no cuts to the budget, the Maggam Academy County Department of Health and Human Services. This includes level funding, of course, for the African American Health Program. The past several years has demonstrated the critical role the three minority groups we call them M-HPs. Play in partnership with the HHS and safeguarding public health and positioning community members for a positive life outcomes. HP together with the AHI and LHI did a phenomenal job during COVID in saving lives. HP is also proud of our diabetes prevention program certified by CDC at the highest rating that is the 4 plus for the last two years. And our signature smile program, a home visitation program for black infants and black pregnant women implemented by HV's registered nurse case managers. Further, our prevention programs ranging from a variety of curated, healthy nutrition options, exercise choices, weight management, walking clubs, and aging summits, age, age fees, mindfulness program, and a variety of other calls we competent classes are all lifestyle strategies for living a healthy life, long life, or our black care residents. These efforts were possible because the county investment in HP, and we thank you very much for that. When there is an investment in equity, specifically health, our entire community benefits. Now as we navigate new challenges at the federal level such as poverty, disease, prevention, paternal, child health, education, management of health crisis, we must not retreat from the progress we have made with AHP, the AHI and LHI, and we feel helped Montgomery County residents emerge from this twice as stronger than ever. Fully funding DHS ensures that minority communities which together make up the majority of Montgomery County continue to have access to lifesaving services, culturally responsive outreach, and trusted messengers who bridge longstanding gaps in care. It means reinforcing the very infrastructure that allowed us to respond swiftly and effectively when crisis struck. Cutting funny now would not only jeopardize these gains but also deepen risks that have worked so hard to address. We urge you to affirm your commitment to health and community well-being for all by fully funding DHS and Dishers budget. The investment you make today, we determine the resilience and strength of our county for the years to come. Thank you for your time, your leadership, and your dedication to a positive future for all residents of Montgomery County. Thank you. Thank you. Michael Wilson. Good evening. First and foremost, I'd like to thank Madam President and the County Council for providing me an opportunity to speak this evening. My name is Michael Wilson, I'm currently the pole marker of the Gatesburg Rodville alumni chapter of CAP AlphaSive Attorney Incorporated. CAP AlphaSive is one of nine historically black fraternities authorities that make up the divine nine. A chapter, affectionately known as G. Rockwood's charter January 20th, 1989. A chapter is dedicated to providing leadership, the community service, and the Gatesburg Rodville community, as well as other areas of Montgomery County. We currently have 50 active members in the chapter, many of whom reside service in the Gatesburg Rockville community, as well as other areas of Montgomery County. Recurring to have 50 active members in the chapter, many of whom reside here in the county, neither work or own their own business here in the county. A chapter is committed to a number of goals during each fraternity year to include, and increase in partnership opportunities with other community service organizations, enhancing mentoring and tutoring with middle school and high school age students, providing scholarship opportunities to college bound seniors, providing services to senior citizens, and supporting veterans and their family members through supplies and monetary donations. GROC manages a number of programs during the year to support our yearly goals. One of our premier programs is the Gatesburg Rockville Catholic. This is a subset of the fraternities guy-right program, a national service initiative designed to help young men grow, receive, and develop their leadership talent in every phase of human endeavor. The program provides these young scholars volunteer and life enhancement enrichment opportunities to include college tours, debate competitions, leadership training, and volunteering at food distributions across the county. This year we have approximately 41 middle school and high school age young males students in the program. I checked it has facilitated a number of blood drives and partnership with Mount Calvary Baptist Church as well as Montgomery County African American Health Program, as well as participate in National Night Out events and made donations to the Fisher House at Walter Reed National Medical Center to provide supplies and other items for family members to reside there while their family members are receiving treatment. Chapter members also serve in other capacities through the county, such as myself, while I currently serve as a chair for the Montgomery County Commission for Veterans Affairs. Additionally, we have our Kapper Youth and Community Foundation, which is 513C that provides books and scholarships to college-bound students, providing food and other supplies to local shelters and financial donations to save Jude in efforts to change the way the world treats childhood, cancer and other daily diseases. Our chapter is funded primarily through chapter member fees, fund raises, and donations. These funds support our ability to carry out the programs and activities mentioned this evening. Over the past years, we have grown our level of services, which has constantly required additional resources. That being said, we are requesting the county council consider as part of the FY26 budget to provide the Gatesburg Rockville chapter, monetary support that will provide us the additional resources to continue to meet the increased need of young youth mentoring and community services in the community. G Rock has a stellar financial management record and is capable of providing such information to the county. Again, I want to thank the county council for your time and consideration of this request. We appreciate your support as we continue to be the Rock of the V's. Thank you. Thank you so much. And next is the tree swallows. Distinguished members of the Montgomery County Council. Good evening. My name is Dr. Dietrich Simwales. I am the president of Aided Theta Sigma, alumni chapter of Sigma Gamma Rosalority Incorporated. I am here tonight before you to advocate for the free use of Montgomery County own facilities for the divine nine organizations in your fiscal year 26 operating budget. Going on centuries, the Divine Nine has been a bedrock of service scholarship and social justice in our communities. We are not merely social clubs. We are engines of positive change. We mentor youth, provide scholarships, organize voter drives, and uplift our most vulnerable. Consider the countless hours our members often juggling full-time jobs, dedicating themselves to food drives, tutoring, and financial literacy workshops. These are just acts of charity. They are investments in our community's core. The financial burden of securing venues limits our impact. Rental fees for county facilities are prohibited. Granting us free access is a strategic investment in our county's future, enabling us to expand our reach and deepen our impact. Consider increased community engagement, larger-scale events reaching more residents, enhanced youth development, more frequent mentoring and educational workshops, strengthened social fabric, community gatherings, fostering unity, fiscal responsibility, investing in community solutions, reduces long-term county burdens. In these challenging times, the divine line are ready to serve. We are an asset, a trusted partner, a beacon of hope. Granting feet free facility access is a wise investment in Montgomery County's wellbeing. I urge you to recognize our immeasurable value and approve free facility use for the divine nine in your fiscal year 26 budget. Let us empower our vital work, building a stronger, more equitable Montgomery County for all. Thank you for your time and your consideration. Thank you so much. Thank you to our panel for your testimony. Our next panel includes Nunani Jaledo, Marcella Campoli, Lorena Wu, Zayn Kureshi, and Ella Wong. includes Unani Jaledo, Marcella Campoli, Lorraine Wu, Zeyn Koreshi, and Ella Wong. I'm going to do a little bit of the High School. I'm here today to urge you to vote favorably in granting Montgomery County Public Schools its fiscal year 2026 proposed operating budget. So today is actually my first time testifying and it happens to be for this issue that I care about a lot because the truth is simple. Funding defines the quality of our education. Even small cuts to the budget would result in consequences that would result in consequences that seem insignificant on a larger scale. but when it comes down to our education, no implication is too insignificant to care about. When the budget doesn't meet our needs neither do our schools. For example, at my school springbrook, one challenge we face consistently is the lack of proper HVAC system ventilation. During summer months, our classrooms and hallways become unbearably hot. It has even led to our school having to be shut down for a day to fix it. This matters because our environment absolutely affects our education, especially when I wear the hijab and I feel the effect of the heat twice as much and not just physically but mentally. I remember a specific instance where I felt dizzy, nauseous and completely unable to focus, just because our school didn't have the resources to maintain a proper temperature. Dealing with this for months on end made me uncertain not just about if I could keep up with it physically, but if my grade was going to survive too. And that's just one issue that I face out of money. This is what it looks like when students in schools get less than what we deserve, and we absolutely deserve better. If we were fully funded, there would be so much that we could be able to improve. With the proposed operating budget, we'd see a lot of progress in the quality of MCPS schools. Funding education shouldn't be the last priority, it should be the first thing on our minds. Education is an investment, and MCPS students are fully worth the investment. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have Marcella Campoli. Good evening Council members. Thank you for the opportunity to provide this testimony today among the youngest. My name is Marcella Campoli. I'm the co-chair of the Latino Health Steering Committee, speaking in partnership with the African American Health Program. Thank you, Jackie, and the Asian American Health Initiative Steering Committee. We are here with a clear and heartfelt message. Please fully fund the Department of Health and Human Services. This is not just about budgets, it's about people. It's about our families, our neighbors and the communities who rely on these services every single day. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we witnessed something truly powerful. Instead of dividing us, Montgomery County brought our communities together. That unity allowed us to reach more people, save more lives and reveal trust, especially in places where trust had been broken for generations. Our minority health initiatives partnered with the HHS to make sure people got the care, information and vaccines they needed in their own languages and from people who truly understand their culture and their lived experience. That success was only possible because of the, of the count to be lived in us and invested in us. And that investment paid off. But now, with new challenges, less federal support, rising cost, and more families struggling, we can afford to take step backwards. We have to keep moving forward. Fully funding the HHS means continuing the important work of closing health gaps, reaching our diverse communities, and helping families live healthier, safer lives. Let's be honest, communities like ours are not longer the minority in Montgomery County. We are the majority, but we are also among the most vulnerable, often facing language barriers, limited access to care, economic hardship, and long-standing health inequities like housing. Cutting funding now wouldn't just hurt our families and do hard-earned progress, widen existing gaps gaps and leave our communities even more at risk. So tonight, in behalf of the Minority Health Initiative, I ask you from the heart, please keep investing in us. Please continue supporting the judges. The choices you make now will shape the future of our county, not just for us, but for everyone who called this place home. Thank you again for your time, your leadership, and helping make Montgomery County a place where we all truly belong. Thank you. Thank you. Lorraine Wu. Good evening, County Council and Council Member Bakl. My name is Lorana Wu and I'm a freshman at Pulsville High School in the Global Ecology Program. I'm here today to urge you to support the Montgomery County's public schools fully-asked funding, which will benefit every student, staff, and employee at MCPS. As a student in the Global Ecology Program, I'm incredibly grateful to be part of a community and learning space that prioritizes environmental conservation and the future of our globe. However, not all MCPS students logistically have access to the same opportunity, an issue created by funding. A program similar to my own, the curriculum for Agricultural Science Education Program, or the case program at Sherwood High School, which cultivates the growth of future farmers and emphasizes hands-on learning may be shut down due to budget and funding problems. The closure of this program may potentially jeopardize the future of agriculture in Montgomery County. But this is not the only instance of economic downfall. Without the full funding of the MCPS budget, students will not be provided with sufficient learning opportunities, causing academic performance to decrease and graduation rates to drop. This directly correlates with lower job opportunities and because business is settled where talent is, this means decreased economic profit for the county. According to the Education Law Center of Pennsylvania, nationally, for every dollar that is invested in education, the return is estimated to be between four to sixteen dollars. Education funding is a high yield future focused investment that must occur for the welfare of Montgomery County. MCPS has and will continue to work to ensure that no penny in our budget goes to waste. I urge you to vote favorably in granting MCPS its fiscal year 2026 proposed operating budget for the economic gain and opportunities of everyone of our 160,000 students. Thank you for your time today. Thank you very much. Zane Koreshi. Good evening County Council. My name is Zane Koreshi and I'm a current junior Alvaraisan High School in Kensington, Maryland. Maryland, residing in downtown Silver Spring. I'm here to urge you all to vote and support a fully funding the MCPS proposed budget as a tool to provide safe, equitable learning environments to all 160,000 of our students in the county and all of their families, its teachers, and its workers. This budget and this money that MCPS is asking for is special. It's not just powering the school system that we students attend every day, but it is ensuring that MCPS can provide equitable and inclusive opportunities to all students. In this budget, we see money in and mark towards grants, transportation, special education, and college and career readiness materials, all things that give every student in this county a fair shot at success. As a student at Albert Einstein High School, I've witnessed firsthand the many shortcomings of a school system that is not fully funded. My 20-minute morning commute from downtown Silver Springs to my home high school in Kensington and my daily ride home from practice on the Metro bus demonstrate the immense need for funding for transportation in our school system. From the recent dissolving of our school's teacher academy program, to the demolition of two tennis courts to build more portable classrooms due to poor handling of overcrowding, a school system that does not receive adequate financial support deals irreparable harm to the school experience every student deserves to have. The schools that are able to pull more funding are not the ones getting affected by budget cuts. Schools like mine and schools of my peers and other underrepresented areas of the county that are already facing issues with infrastructure, lack of resources, and the need for more language and special education specialists are these schools getting affected the most by these budget cuts. Cutting funding from the budget cuts resources, tools, and necessities for not only the adults in the building, but the 160,000 students that depend on the school system for their next meals, for their trusted adults, for their bus ride home, for their book from the media center, for an escape from home. This budget is meant to ensure that every student is not only able to attend school, but thrive and succeed, knowing that opportunities and resources are available to them in a safe, equitable learning environment. Thank you all for your consideration, and by fully funding our schools, we can leave up to an idea with Montgomery County where no one is left behind. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Kretchie. I just want to make sure Ella won. Is she here? I'll hold her name and we'll call it. Thank you to this panel and I'll call up the next panel. Debra Monk, Susan Fox, John Harding ready. Good evening, Councilmembers. I'm Debra Monk and I'm Chair of Interfaith Works for the Directors. I'm also a small business owner and I'm Dominique N. Council members. I'm Deborah Monk and I'm chair of Interfaith Works for the directors. I'm also a small business owner and I'm here to make a deal. First of all, I would like to tell you about the passion of my heart. As a former MCPS teacher and administrator, I've personally seen how education can change the trajectory of one's life. I'm also aware of the economic benefits that we heard so eloquently from our students, both to an individual, the family, the society, when a person is able to improve their employment opportunity status and income through education. So for this reason, I was particularly drawn to interfaith works. Now you may be aware of our shelters and our housing programs. You may have even volunteered at our Essential Services Center, sorting clothes. However you might not be aware of our Vocational Services program or VSP. This program is unlike other programs that aim at helping individuals obtain employment. Yes, we get jobs for people. But in my view, a more important function is that we give individuals the opportunity to access training that will enhance not only their employability but also their income. Over the years, through grants and private donations, VSP has been able to offer certification trainings and other educational opportunities to our most vulnerable residents. However, initially we found that the completion rate in these programs was less than we had hoped, even when I W paid for the training. These individuals had too many barriers like childcare, transportation, job responsibilities. Three years ago, again through private donations, IW was able to offer paid internships of $15 an hour for every hour that a person participated in training. The results have been amazing. The completion rate soared to 94%. Over the last five years, IW has helped more than 500 Montgomery County residents secure employment, collectively earning $12 million money that's gone back into our county economy. On average, our VSP clients earn 8% above the minimum wage and the demand for this program is so great that currently we have a four month waiting list. An additional investment, and here's the deal. A 430,000 from you, the council, could increase VSP service capacity by 15% in FY26. Now, as I mentioned earlier, I am a small business owner. And the way I see it is this is actually a business decision. Sure, it's nice to help the vulnerable members of our community, and there are many worthy nonprofits who can benefit from your resources. But I am asking that you look at this as an investment opportunity that can yield large returns to the county financially. It's a lot cheaper in the long run to teach people to fish than to give them a fish to sustain them only for one day. We have proof that our vocational services program works and all we need is your investment to expand it to more residents. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next we have Susan Fox. Good evening, County Council. Thank you for this opportunity to speak. My name is Susan Fox and I have been a county resident for 30 years. I am here this evening to speak to you about interfaith works also. But since Deborah has told you so much already, I want to tell you a small story, mostly about how Deborah recruited me to be on the Interfaith Works Board. I've been working with refugees and newcomers in our county for 10 years in my job, and I had been taking many of my refugee families to the Interfaith Works Central Needs Center where they can get a box of food once a month and free clothing. They register, it's a very low barrier place, it's in Twinbrook, you have to be a resident of Rockville and lots of our refugees have moved to the fields of Rockville. I teach ESOL to them and we also help our families. So I knew all about the Essential Needs Center. I met Deborah on an ill-fated vacation. She recruited me to be on the board, and I had no idea about what interfaith works does in this county. They do so much work in this county. They run every shelter, every homeless shelter for Montgomery County. You just heard about vocational services program, but boy, the connections program, I was blown away because this is also something that many of of the most needy in our county need. Some refugee families, newcomer families, but a lot of the people who are in poverty in our county, but are working poor in our county need the connections program that IW has as one of their prevention programs. And when we say a prevention program, we mean a program that is a cost effective way of keeping people in their own home so that they don't go into our shelter system. These are people who work every single day, they are in their own home, but sometimes they need a little boost. And that's what our connections program does. It gives a family a little financial boost to pay a bill, like to pay their rent for one month, or maybe a portion of their rent, or maybe an electric bill or something, just to get over a hump until the next month when they don't need that help anymore. And our connections program is from donors, grants, and the state. And this year we're asking the county council if they could support our connections program with $580,000 so that we could serve an additional 1150 households. I really thank you for your time and you know how much IW means to the county. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have John Harding. Good evening. My name is John Harding and I am the Vice President of Softball for the Montgomery County Little League, also known as MCLL. Today I am one of the many voices, a testifying in support of Montgomery County Parks Department. I'm about as local as they come. My grandmother graduated from BCC, my mother graduated from Churchill, I graduated from Whitman, my wife graduated from Quince Orchard, and now I have four incredible children who all attend public and elementary and middle schools in Gathersburg. All of my family has been incredibly blessed by the efforts of this council and by the parks department in particular. Growing up, I played baseball and football in Montgomery County Parks. And now you can find me coaching my kids as they get to enjoy their own Montgomery County Parks experience. Unfortunately, this incredible experience is at risk. The county's executives recommended budget dramatically cuts Parks funding request, making it impossible for parks to even maintain the current surfaces and keep fields playable. Let me be clear, this budget reduction would have a direct and negative impact on the over 4,000 players and families who participate in MCLL each year. These children rely on safe, accessible, and well-maintained parks to play, grow, and thrive. This is exactly the wrong time to be reducing parks budget. Given the increased demand from Montgomery County Parks fields, from organizations like MCLL. As a little bit of background, MCLL is the only chartered little league in Montgomery County, and it's run almost exclusively by volunteers. Our goal is to provide players the chance to learn the fundamentals of baseball and softball in a safe, positive and fun manner. Since our charter in 2013, MCLL has grown from 740 players to over 4100 players. In that same time, our softball program has grown from just 45 players to more than 800. That's a 17 times increase. This explosive growth demonstrates a surging demand for community-based youth sports and reflects our success in introducing thousands of new families to the joy and life lessons of baseball and softball. But with growth comes strain. This spring alone, MCL will host more than 1200 games on Montgomery Parks fields. And every season there's a challenge to find enough playable space for our teams to play. Field availability is tight and competition for space is intense. When budgets fall short, maintenance suffers and fields become unplayable. If the Parks Department funding is cut, it will force us and other youth leagues to turn families away, cancel games and shrink programs that we've worked years to build. MCLL has always tried to be good partners with parks. We have a longstanding field improvement agreement with parks and we have even proposed funding and constructing new fields and lighting at South German town at our own expense. That, while that proposal remains pending, we hope that parks will accept our offer to assist in the near future. This is not the time to underfund the park, underfund the parks department. This is the time to invest. Invest in the fields our children play on. Invest in lighting and infrastructure that meets the modern family. Invest in the places our families gather. Invest the system that brings joy, health, and unity to our communities. Thank you. Thank you. Next we have Amber Lesnavich. Excellent job on my last name. Good evening council members. My name is Amber Lesnavich and I am here tonight as a teacher and a parent of amazing students of the 160,000 MCPS students to urge you to fully fund the MCPS 2026 budget including potentially closing future federal funding gaps teachers are notorious for making it work However, making it work is not working. The solutions we have that are non-monetary do not meet the real problems children and teachers face every day. For example, in spring 2024, MCPS was under a spending freeze. And my high school ran out of paper. We had no paper in a school. Teachers had to reach out to their friends and families to ensure their students had the materials they needed to learn. A solution to no paper, educational technology. Unfortunately, my students in particular computers are not an option. In my sheltered EML-US history, I had students from remote areas of Guatemala who had never touched a computer, let alone learned with one. I had other students with untreated learning differences that made using a computer an extra barrier to learning and accessing English and US History content. In my classroom technology caused more problems than in solutions. Another stopgap that was non-monetary solution was to add a single student into each classroom. Unfortunately one extra student in a classroom is not just an extra body. That student represents extra time, effort, and care, all of which are non-fundable resources. If an elementary school classroom goes from 26 to 27, that means that a teacher has to divide their attention even further. A student may only receive 30 seconds of individual attention during a reading lesson each day. At the high school level, spending five minutes grading an assignment that students worked two weeks on for 155 students less 13 hours. 13 hours of my time that I'm not spending planning, calling families, emailing, doing meetings, making copies if we have paper or other duties. We cannot accurately assess our students progress if we do not have time to do so. We are in it for the kids, but we feel like we are failing our kids because we cannot provide them the attention that they deserve. Finally, the long-term ramifications are dire. So far this year I have lost 10 of my EML students to drop out. These students dropped out because they saw a better return on investment for leaving school and getting a job than continuing their MCPS education. My students, my kids, who practiced their English with me at lunch, who hugged me when they were no longer on my roster, who came to visit me, who grew with me. They left. They left MCPS because they felt they were not worth it. We need to show our students that we care. We have the ability. We need the willingness to do so. I urge you to pass a budget to show these children that they matter, that their education matters, and that their future matters. Thank you. Thank you. Mike Neck. Applause. President Stewart, members of the council, thank you for the opportunity to join you this evening. I'm speaking on behalf of councilmember Elvarnas proposed with a creative center of collective impact in Montgomery County. I know for my time sitting on your side of the day us that you and we are facing unprecedented challenges. Everyone that comes before you during this year's budget deliberations will have worthy and legitimate requests. Unfortunately, there aren't resources to address all of those requests that you will see now or later this year or in the next year. Unfortunately, by taking only a tactical approach, there won't be ideas or capacity to identify more holistic approaches to help move us forward. Collective impact is a model and process used in communities across the nation to bring stakeholders together to identify the most pressing issues to be addressed and work side-by-side to develop paths forward. For 13 years, my government moving forward is showing how collective impact can work on a small scale by bringing government, business, nonprofit, and civic representatives together to make important systemic changes to our workforce and early care and education organizations and strategies, but it's not sufficient. We need to invest in collective impact now to build the capacity to learn, work, implement, and move forward together to overcome the unprecedented challenges that we face today and build a shared vision for Montgomery County's future. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. And thank you to that panel. Next panel we have Abraham Alush, Samantha Ross, Aziz Sunny, Lauren Diggins, and Adif Wale Muhammad. And we'll start with Abraham Alash when you're ready. Hi everyone, thanks for the councils to give me this opportunity to speak today. My name is Abraham Alashie and I live in my talk for almost two years. I'm a 20 years old and I'm the head of the household for all family of six people. That's mean I'm the only supporter for my family because they are new in this country. I'm organizer and housing justice Montgomery and volunteer and refugee's eviction support. I would like to urge Montgomery County to fund 50 million to help all the 4,732 households ask and asking for emergency rental assistance. As I mentioned before, I'm 20 years old. I have worked with many and many families there have been phasing eviction. The top problem in my community is a lack of rental assistance. And when I see a lot of people they are in this same situation, that's make me sad and make me lose my sleep and make me some time to rest and over thinking about how we can help them. And this, as I say before, to help those people, we should provide the parental assistant for them. for them. I'm going to provide some pictures to explain more what I'm talking about. This pictures for families at Inclave, they are lost everything. Their stuff is been street and the kids, they are lost their toys. And the thing we we try to do, to try to hold those children to grow up without extra trauma because when they are see their stuff, their kids and all there are home stuff in, in a street and they are see their parents crying because they are can do anything. Because of my experience, I know how much of the home is the important things in a life. And if the county get that emerging rental assistant, hundreds and hundreds of families will be safe. If emergency rental assistant is fund, that's as mentioned before, is we're going to help the kids to grow up without extra trauma and they will grow up safe in the life situation we are living right now. And respectfully, I'm asking the council to vote in favor for 50 million in emergency retail assistance to help families have the peace of mind that come with a stable housing. Thank you so much. Thank you. Samantha Ross. Good evening, members of the Council and President Stewart. My name is Sam Ross and I'm a senior at Montgomery Blair High School. I'm here to ask you to fully fund MCPS's budget request for the fiscal year 2026. I'm going to put this in the plan as terms possible. If we wanted to start listing every shortcoming of MCPS, we would be here all day. I attend a school built for 2800 students currently holding 3200. There is a backlog of HVAC repairs that affect thousands of students across the county. High needs students are not having their needs met because we just do not have the staff to hire them. We need to walk the walk of improving our school system instead of just talking the talk. We know it is hard. Our community is at a unique time of financial reckoning, surrounded by the uncertainty of the current federal administration, the uncertainty of the current state administration, although I will say hats off to them, they passed the burfa earlier today. I was a little worried, and an ever growing need in our schools. This is a time when I urge you to step up and do the hard things to balance our checkbooks and our priorities. It is crucial to remember who is in this budget. Not what, who. The most important increases in this budget are an increase of special education, paraeducators and security staff. These positions are dedicated professionals who wish to improve MCPS. Their students are the ones that we have been letting down for years. If we want to see the increases in achievement and outcomes that we always talk about, it has to come with more than just telling MCPS to do more with less. Even if these positions are preserved, as well as the state and contract mandated salary increases in expansion of services, there are still gaps that MCPS cannot push back for longer. I will give you one example of many that President Stewart knows well. When I was in elementary school, in my school, the smallest piece of land that MCPS owns, Pidy Branch Elementary was just beginning the process of becoming a major capital project for MCPS. The much needed update to the former community center building, deeply inadequate for students, especially those with disabilities, has been simply listed as being done in TBD for the last 10 years. While MCPS cannot give a date, the community knows that the construction will be determined when money is finally allocated to our community. When it is not pushed back because MCPS needs to honor personnel commitments and larger projects because they have not been supplied their full request. The same sentiment reaches far beyond the 1.97 acres of Piney branch. Educational materials need to be the most research, need to be the most recent research back materials available. Mental health and restorative justice must not fall to the wayside as we grow more and more comfortable with the end of pandemic shutdowns in the rejection of equity focus from our federal administration. A lot is being asked of MCPS and a lot should be asked for the most important institution in the county. But the cycle of request and not having the request funded has led us to this point. I am very confident in MCPS this year that they have fulfilled their commitments to being more receptive to being transparent and the recent reorganization of central services to showing that their commitment is with the students and not with their pocketbooks. I want to close today by saying that in two months I will graduate.. I will no longer be a student of MCPS. But this county is my home. I'm going to college for a teaching degree and I want MCPS to be my home forever. And I hope that you can kick that off by fully funding the budget request. Applause. Asie, asie is sunny. Good evening, council members. My name is Aziz Sani and I've been a Montgomery County resident for the past 30 years. I am part of the millennial demographic who are working professionals attempting to lay and establish roots. However, I and many others like myself of various socioeconomic, racial and educational backgrounds have found it incredibly difficult to find quality, affordable housing in this county. Unfortunately, this plight has become an intergenerational rallying cry. We've noticed rent skyrocket, but wages have slowed and stagnated. so much so that the rudimentary idea of housing seems more of a luxury than an elementary human right and expectation. As a proud member and volunteer of Housing Justice Montgomery, we have five demands to bring to your attention today, which are? We demand 50 million to ensure that all 4,723 households that asfer rental assistance receive an average grant of $10,581. We demand 9.5 million to cover the cost of sheltering and housing, an estimated 642 residents, and the new 200 clients in 2026. So there is enough to find everyone's exit out of homelessness. We demand 13.8 million to support both current clients and new individuals that experience the toughest conditions to exiting homelessness. We demand 2.4 million to provide families who are evicted at least six months of storage to be able to recover, resettle, and restart. And last but certainly not least, we demand 150K for Montgomery County Government to fund retrofit programs via nonprofits like rebuilding together, ensuring that residents can live with dignity, quality, and safety in mind. The five aforementioned demands are to serve as mortar for our communities, and many of us here today who stood, stand, and will be standing after me. We are the bricks of the community. We provide strength and support to those next to us. We come in various shapes and sizes, and most noteworthy, we are interdependent. For one missing brick, we can structure. The harmonious craftsmanship of brick and mortar establishes diverse, resilient, and unified communities. Without these five demands, emergency rental assistance programs, rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing, moving and storage assistance, and disability retrofitting, we would effectively be attempting to build a house of bricks with no mortar. In conclusion, providing quality affordable housing is not an act of fairness or mercy, but a direct reflection of more aptitude, ensuring that everyone has a community they call home. I leave you council members with this quote, the home is the center of the universe for family and the heart of society itself. Thank you. Thank you. Lauren Diggins. Thank you. Lauren Diggins. Lauren Diggins. Lauren Diggins. Lauren Diggins. Good evening members of the council. My name is Lauren Diggins. I'm a Montgomery County resident and a member of Housing Justice Montgomery. I'm here today to express my deep concerns about several critical issues that are affecting my community. Issues that are especially difficult for working single parents like myself. First, I want to address the poor living conditions in many of our communities. Many residents including my neighbors and I live in housing that is substandard, unsafe, and often disgusting. I lived at the infamous enclave. I dealt with issues from mold to rodent infestations to intimidation for management regarding my numerous concerns and complaints. These are issues that have persisted for far too long. Families should not be forced to choose between putting food on the table or having a safe and healthy place to live. The lack of affordable safe housing is a public health issue and a moral failing on all part of the community, on all of our parts of the community. Secondly, I want to focus on the gap in help for working single parents. I face challenges every day just to balance the responsibilities of working and raising children. The current systems in place do not recognize the unique financial day-to-day struggles that single parents endure. Programs like subsidized child care, housing assistance and food programs are either inadequate or difficult to access and the bureaucracy involved can be overwhelming. The case measures higher to help families with these subsidies like empathy to their clients and some just simply aren't doing their jobs. We need real tangible support that takes into account the pressures we face and offer us a path towards stability. Lastly, I fell myself unhoused after losing my job and sought out help from Seth. I had to defend my previous salary in order to get emergency help. I was in place at the Red Roof fan on Shady Roo Road with a family of four in one room. As grateful as I was to have a roof over my family's head, the conditions there were poor and unsafe. I unfortunately was there for six months, despite there being openings in programs such as Rapid Rehousing and Shark. South leaders such as Denise Anderson are examples of the system working against people in need. I was finally offered the sharp program after four months. I was provided documentation of the parameters to find housing. Sharp encourages people to find a home suitable for their family size. I have a family of four and the maximum allow rent was $2,900 for a four bedroom home. Unfortunately Denise denied me and stated that she would not approve me for a house that size. Unfortunately, after numerous back and forth, she finally approved me, but at that time, sharp loss funding, which left me and my family unhoused for another two and a half months. I asked Montgomery County Council to prioritize these issues in the budget discussions. We need to allocate more resources to worse creating safe, clean and affordable housing options for all residents. The $3.2 million repulsed for the Sheriff's Office for Evictions should be reallocated to help those families to stay in homes. Thank you for your time and for considering the needs of working families in Montgomery County. I re-qually, Mohamed. Good evening, there are council members. Over the years, I have dedicated my self-disappointing communities in various ways, particularly through sports education, through our programs. We have seen incredible success. Students who want struggles with regrets have risen to the honour role roll. Secured full-ride scholarship to colleges and even found stable employment, this success would not have been possible without the support of the programs that engage youth and empower. However, today I'm here to speak about a more urgent and deeply concerning issues. Despite all the progress we have made, I'm witnessing these students and their families devastating setbacks due to eviction and housing instability. Families are being forced out of their homes and relocated to unfamiliar communities, leading to homelessness and instability. All the hard work and progress we have made with these students are unrevealing before our eyes. They have lost their sense of security and their goals for the future. They are not the same young people anymore. I personally know a family that has been living in a hotel for the past eight months. Their children are not attending schools and they have no sense of normalcy or direction. What futures await these children? How can they thrive when their basic needs for stable housing and educations are unmet? Furthermore, many children in our community refuse to go to schools because they feel embarrassed and underwhelmed to the shame of being evicted. These families are new to the country. They have no credit history, no financial foundation and no means to secure stable housing. They are being forced to starve over from zero and without the support, the cycle of poverty and instability will continue. That is why I am urging you to move to move $50 million to program like eviction, prevention, rapid rehousing and sharp. This funding will directly impact the 4723 household that SEPH anticipates needing assistance, providing each household with an average grant of 10,581 assets when this program was actually able to provide what residents needed with federal funding. This support is not just about housing, it is about restoring stability, dignity and hope to these families, it is about giving these children the opportunity to return to school with confidence and security. It is ensuring that the progress we have made is a community as not erased by circumstances before their control. I strongly urge you to allocate these funds and help these firms rebuild their lives. This is not just an investment in housing, it is an investment in the future of our children in our communities. Thank you. Thank you so much. And thank you to the panel. I'll call up the next panel is Dr. Sufi, Michelle Red, Ebony Cox, Elizabeth Tuen, and Sharon Friedman. Dr. Sioux, if you want to start. Good evening, members of the Montgomery County Council and fellow residents. My name is Lokman Safai and I am a community leader representing the Abhond community and Sabar's plan. I am resident in Nclave apartments and help many refugees, family in our community. I appreciate the opportunity to testify today to the FY26 operating budget. I want to begin by acknowledging the efforts of the Council and county leadership in managing our resources to support vital services for our residents. The cost of leaving in Montgomery County continues to rise, making it difficult for working families, working families, seniors and young professionals to afford housing. As we consider the FY26 budget, I urge you to prioritize affordable housing and rental assistance in particular I call on the county to fund 50 millions in emergency rental assistance to support 4,723 households projected to need help in FY26 with an average grant of $10,581 per household. And 2.4 million for item storage up to to sex month after eviction. These are not just budget numbers, they are lifelines for people in our community. 50 million will help me and many others who have the same condition to stay at their apartments and prevent evictions. Right now the level of assistance and quantity of affordable housing, no wear meets the need. Just think about the number of apartments you can think of having two bedroom apartments for under 1500, practically none. I would like to bring your attention to the real human impact of recent stop orders that have led to thousands of layups in our county, including myself. The abrupt nature of these layups has left many of us without a safety net. We were dedicated to our work into serving the residents of this county. And now we are struggling with our uncertainty while trying to cover our basic needs like rent, food and health care. I urge the Council to allocate emergency funding to support those affected, whether through extended benefits, directly leave our bridge employment programs. This is not just about the budget map, it's about protecting the people who have faithfully carried out the work of this government and now find themselves left behind. I kindly request the Council to ensure the FY26 budget reflects our shared priorities, equities, sustainability and the common opportunity. For all, I appreciate your time and commitment to Montgomery County future, and I look forward to your leadership in making these investment in reality. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much. Michelle Red. Let's see, we can give you some assistance to get your mic on. You're good. Hello. We can hear you. Hello in a good evening County members. It is a pleasure to be before you. I will be testifying on behalf of Michelle Red. My name is L'Trita Holston. My name is Michelle Red, and I currently live in Breeds Cheney area. I use a wheelchair. I want to speak today about the severe lack of affordability. World chair to take a shower in over 10 years. That is not a mistake. 10 years. This makes me feel like I do not matter. Like I'm a miserable. No one should be treated like a third or fourth class citizen. It is demeaning and cruel. And if you are lucky or blessed enough to find an apartment with an accessible bathroom, kitchen, counters and stove, you might as well have a house built because it is not affordable. Or you're put on a waiting list for years. I feel diminished and humiliated as a human being. I've worked since the age of 15. I've worked for private companies, county offices and federal agencies. And now I'm living in an apartment where I can't even safely cook food for my granddaughter. When I try, I often burn myself because a stove is not accessible from a wheelchair that makes me feel less of a human Because of these experiences I am urging the county with all my heart to fund $150,000 in the FY 26 budget to support retrofits to Inassessible apartments like mine This could be done through grants that already exists to fund local nonprofits like Rebuilding together, which are already doing this kind of work in the text, single-player meal in our community. If this retrofit funding is included in the budget, I will finally be able to live in a home that is safe, accessible and dignified. I could finally take a shower. I could finally feel like a person, a whole person, not like a pet being thrown in scraps. fund is not just for me but for the many others who are living in solids and in pain. It places them in the bill. That's a mind. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for that testimony. Ebony Cox. Good afternoon. Thank you, Council members for having me here today. I would like to address to the council that I'm writing to urge the Montgomery County. To allocate the essential 50 million. needed to assure that the 4,723 household seeking rental assistance receiving an average grant of 11,000 this funding is critical for protecting the most vulnerable members of our community. We also need 90 million to cover the cost associated with sheltering and housing approximately 640 current clients and 200 new clients project it by 2020 16. The funding will ensure that all individuals receive assistance they need to escape homelessness. In addition, we need also 13 million to support both existing and new individual who facing the most severe challenges in achieving housing stabilization through the permanent supportive housing programs. I also advocate the expression of moving assistance and and investment of 2.4 million is necessary to provide families evicted by this service often with within at least six months of storage. This support gives them a chance to recover and rebuild their lives. I strongly recommend Montgomery County allocate 150 million to find critical retro 15 efforts to nonprofit organizations such as rebuilding together. These upgrades will help ensure that residents can live with dignity and safety. And additionally, it is also improving that we prioritize funding for NFAF works, specifically for staff training that addresses the challenge faces by the residents with mental health issues and shelters. Staff should receive annual training at least once or twice a year on how to effectively manage behavior issues with compassion rather than escalation. More overall, more overall, interfaith work employees should process the certificates and skills to support residents with moderate to severe conditions. This will help build a safer and more supportive environment for people experiencing homelessness. My experience has suitable beginning in 2020-19 when my apartment was declared unsuitable due to a roof leakage. The housing opportunity commission instructed me to vacate my unit by the end of the month, or I'll be responsible for the rent. Shelters were so full, I had to live in my vehicle or pay for motels to find until I found a new unit. So, you guys will just consider housing justice agreement. We will appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Alesa Beth Tuen. Thank you council members for this opportunity. I am Elizabeth Tuen acting co executive director of the Montgomery County Food Council. I am here on behalf of the food council and our partners and community members who are committed to creating a more sustainable, equitable, and resilient food system. We recognize the difficult decisions County Council faces and allocating limited resources to meet the growing and diverse needs of our community. You have heard tonight about the many Montgomery County residents who are making difficult decisions of their own every day, stretching limited household resources to cover essentials like housing, healthcare, childcare, and food. We know you see this and we deeply appreciate the county's ongoing support for those experiencing food insecurity. The Food Council urges you to consider the civil health support by fully funding the Office of Food System Resilience Budget and the network of community organizations that support our residents in need. Specifically, we ask you to consider these three priorities. First, we have heard from our food assistance community about the growing demand for food as more families face increased financial strain and rising living costs. We know that food is often the first expense that families reduce when times are tough, and it's critical that they have access to healthy and culturally relevant food. Second, it is crucial that we sustain and strengthen the county's SNAP outreach organizations. These community-based groups play an essential role in increasing SNAP enrollment, bringing millions in federal dollars into the county's economy, and helping residents access one of the most effective tools we have in fighting hunger, improving health outcomes, and promoting long-term financial stability. Third, the food council and our community of stakeholders recognize that emergency food aid is not a long-term solution. We are committed to partnering with the county and in particular the Office of Food Systems Resilience to create innovative programs that go beyond traditional food distribution. The Farm to Food Bank program for instance is a proven locally driven solution that connects surplus produce from Montgomery County farms to families in need. But to build on the success of this, we need further investment in infrastructure such as cold storage and aggregation facilities. These are all essential for strengthening our local food economy, enhancing our emergency preparedness, and developing a resilient food supply chain. We are all looking for ways to meet growing demand, closing gaps in federal assistance, and creating long-term solutions. We call on the county council to continue investing in food security in the initiatives of the Office of Food System resilience and in the nonprofit network that helps to carry out these critical efforts. We also stress the importance of transparency and openness in the budgetary process, ensuring that all stakeholders, particularly those who serve our most vulnerable residents, have a clear understanding of funding decisions. for your time and your continued commitment to our resilient food system and our resilient community of Montgomery County residents. Thank you very much. Next Sharon Friedman. Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to speak and for all of your good work to move our county forward. My name is Sharon Friedman. I live here, work here, raise to family here, and like you, I'm deeply invested in the future of our county. Tonight, I ask you to invest in the Collective Impact Center as another way to invest in our shared futures here in the county. When I retired from the then Montgomery County Mental Health Association, I had time to reflect on my career as a non-profit leader and community activist. And I and many others came to the conclusion that Montgomery County needed a new way to move our community forward. It was clear to us that we needed to listen, to learn, to hear all the voices of the community, to connect the positional leader with the experiential leader, to lead with equity, to build trust, to co-author solutions, and to act in a new way. For over 10 years Montgomery moving forward did justice with its cross sector leadership group that has included business, nonprofits, education, government, and philanthropy representatives, along with hundreds, if not thousands, of additional community leaders. MMMF has defined problems, convened experts, and developed calls to action to drive systems change to move our community forward, to build a stronger and a more just Montgomery County. As I now reflect on the reckoning ahead, brought on by the current turmoil, we know working together is our only way forward. It cannot be business as usual. We can no longer afford inefficient solutions, duplicative or cross-purpose efforts, or the overconfidence that one sector alone can lead the way. We must move forward with an authentically community-driven effort that brings a strong equity lens with it. MMF's brand of collaboration collective impact is made for this moment. And the collective impact center at Montgomery College can be that place. A national model, where diverse stakeholders, where the renter and the property owner, where the parent and the education leader, where the business leader and the community activists come together to listen, learn, define problems, and co-author solutions. In a place where process is paramount, and often slows our progress, collective impact can quicken the pace of good change. I ask you to invest in collective impact, just as I and others have done through Montgomery moving forward for the last decade. I ask that you invest in the Collective Impact Center to meet this moment head on to move Montgomery forward. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you to this panel. The next panel is Tracy Espinoza, Ruby Tomozis Rashid smell high school. And I'm the vice president of a student led immigrant, and I'm the vice president of a student-led immigrant rights organization in Montgomery County called Student Sphere. Tonight, I ask that you pass the FY26 MCPS operating budget keeping Greya in mind as we discuss. Greya, the Career Readiness Education Academy, has faced several budget cuts over the past few years that have left its students vulnerable, but you have the power to change that. Since we last testified to the Board of Education about this matter, Greya has lost two of its most fundamental staff members in their program. They're only full time instructional specialists and full time parent community coordinator. Gréa is dying out right in front of our eyes and we cannot let this happen. Anna Marquez, a student leader at Greia, acknowledges this drastic shift in staffing at Greia. She says, El recorte de maestro nos ha afectado mucho porque no solo fue uno, fueron varios. Staff cuts have already affected us deeply. It wasn't just one. It was multiple. Expressing the benefits of CREA as someone working a day job and stated, I had to work on the day. But I wanted to continue studying. When I heard the program, I was happy because I told you, I can work on the day and study at night. I needed to work on the day. I was able to work on the day and study at night. I needed to work at in the day, but I wanted to keep studying. When I heard of the program, I was very happy because I thought I can work during the day and study at night. Anna also said, I will say, for these new students who can work in the day and study, because the study is good. For these new students, they can also work in the day and study at night because education is good. Often, MCPS praises itself for working towards addressing the opportunity gap and disparities between schools, but that discussion never included or considered Greia as they don't have access to hot meals. They don't have access to a school psychologist, social worker, or counselor. They don't have access to the basic necessities all MCPS high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools have. MCPS has finally listened to Greia's voice this year and has increased its budget, but now it's up to you to pass it and put an end to the cycle of discrimination. The proposed budget cuts for MCPS don't just affect numbers on a page. They threaten the well-being of students and the future of those students in Greia. We urge you to do what's right and fully fund the MCPS budget and fully fund Greia. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Rashid Lee. Yes, hi. Good evening, Councilmembers. Thank you so much for having me here. My name is Rashida Lee. I currently live in a shelter in Derwood, Maryland. And I've been in a shelter for about nine months. I am a mother of two children that attended MCPS schools later went on and graduated from college and have lived in a county for over 20 years. I am also a proud member of the Housing Justice Montgomery. After the loss of my job, I was no longer able to pay my rent. I felt very defeated. I had to leave my apartment and move into a shelter. If the housing assistance programs in Montgomery County were better funded, I believe I would still be in my apartment today. That's why I'm here to ask you to fully fund 50 million to the Rapid Rehousing Program and the other programs that have been mentioned. This is very essential resource to ensure that people in the homeless community have access to safe, stable housing quickly after entering a shelter, which is much needed and greatly appreciated. Would you all bring hope back to those that have been left behind. Thank you. Thank you very much. Sally Sternbach. Good evening. My name is Sally Sternbach. I live in Rockville and have been in the county for 45 years. And for the record, I headed Montgomery County's Department of Economic Development before retiring in 2016. I saw a sign that expressed my feelings exactly at the hands-off demonstration on the mall this weekend. It said, now you've pissed off grandma. OK. And I am as angry and shaken as you must be. When 2200 Montgomery County residents are fired from their federal jobs in one day, it is traumatizing. And that doesn't account for the contractors, the local businesses, which supply them and the government, and the recipients of federal grants and funds. And this, my friends, is just the beginning. Indeed, Maryland has been identified as the first state likely to slip into a recession. Hear that again, the first state likely to slip into a recession. So it cannot be business as usual. We cannot add to the burden of these residents, and yet that is exactly what the county executive's budget does. The proposed increased taxes and fees are completely out of step with reality. Montgomery County has generally been able to fund most of what it wanted to do. True there is never quite enough money, but we are used to saying yes. As a result, our county budgets and employee base have grown steadily over the years. Unfortunately, as responsible and rational elected officials, you have now the duty to say no, or later when we can fund it without doing harm. This is not the time to pile on more costs. This is not the time to increase taxes and fees. The projects these revenues were intended to fund. shall wait until better days. We need to take care of our own residents first. So do no harm. Do not raise the taxes or fees. And as the Post-Script let me add that it is not possible. It's impossible to generate economic prosperity through increased taxes and fees. So we're counting on you to be our responsible and rational guardians. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks you, Jacob Matthew Goodman. There we go. Good evening, council members. My name is Jacob Goodman. Tonight I am addressing a fundamental issue that is not reflected in the FY26 budget. As someone with a rare vision impairment who relies on public transportation, this issue is very important to me. In the transportation section of the budget, there are not any specific line items that relate to improving accessibility of bus stops or improving the efficiency and timeliness of bus routes throughout the county. among other factors relating to the maintenance of the Ride On Bus Network throughout the county, let's start with accessibility concerns. One of the biggest accessibility concerns is that there is a lack of adequate sidewalks, curb cuts, seats, shelters, and ramps at bus stops that are owned and maintained by MC. This can make getting to the bus stop difficult for individuals with disabilities and many other people who rely on the bus. Another major accessibility concern is the lack of proper street lighting around many bus stops throughout the county. This is not only an inconvenience for riders who cannot easily see where the bus stop is at night time. It's an inconvenience for drivers who may otherwise move quickly past or almost skip the stop entirely because they did not see a rider there. The June 2024 Transportation Performance Audit does not go far enough in addressing accessibility barriers for people with disabilities throughout the county. When it comes to transit access, I would implore you to propose a more exhaustive audit, focus more on accessibility of bus stops. This is an audit I'm happy to lead as a consultant if you are not hiring for full-time staff at the moment. Additionally, many buss, and I'm serious about that. That's not a joke. I'm currently doing all on three anyway. Additionally, many bus routes, such as the one that I took to get here tonight, the Route 56, only run every 40 or so minutes, and sometimes even every hour, even though they are supposed to run every 30 minutes. By the time this hearing wraps up at 10, the last Route 56 would be gone. I'm lucky in the respect that I can currently afford to take ride-chair options when buses aren't frequent, but not everybody can afford this. And especially if they do not drive, they're stranded. The frequency problem is atrocious. It needs to be addressed in adding more budget line items about this. And we need to have a larger fleet of buses. You know, higher more drivers, get a larger for fleet of buses, and the lack of service problem is fixed. You know, the ride-on reimagined study has many gaps in it that are not addressed by the ... that don't ... because of a lack of coordination with Womata on the Better Bus Network, there are many gaps in that. I will email all of you this testimony from tonight and a testimony I gave at mc.hearing with consultants that I don't think did too well within the next week. This budget should prioritize the transit and transit's accessibility more. If we want to be more sustainable and accessible as a county, we need more funding for transit and transit accessibility Not more highways and highway expansions. You may Sorry, Mr. Goodman. Sorry your time is up. Okay. Thank you very much And I'll email all of you the rest of this budget because it is worth hearing. Thank you so much That's it for this panel Individuals of disabilities will not be silenced. Next panel is Caden Hahn, Janelle Martinez, Kent Soven, Nina Yuzik, and Joe Schifrin. Okay, first up is Caden, huh? Good evening and thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here. Hi, my name is Kaden and I'm a high school student at Whitman. I'm the co-founder and president of the Whitman Mountain Bike Club. I lead club mountain bike rides all over Montgomery County. The parks and trails here are a huge part of our lives. I'd ride with my friends and other kids from my school and the high school bike club I run. We love to ride these places like the bike parks and wheat and in Germantown and all the trails that connect our neighborhoods to nature. These aren't just places to ride though. They've helped me and many others my age, build confidence, stay active and find community. I also volunteer with the group called more to help maintain and build trails and jumps like the ones at Germantown and Wheaton. I've put in hours with the shovel because I care about these parks and I know a lot of other teens do too, but now I'm worried. The parks department asked for a 7.2% increase in the fiscal year 26 budget just to keep current services going and support a little bit of programming but the county executive only recommended a 3.1% increase less than half of what most other departments received. How are they supposed to keep trails safe and parks clean with less money even as more people are using them? Cutting funding to park isn't just a number on paper, it affects real people. Kids from all over Montgomery County spend their weekends riding these trails. These parks have helped kids and my generation learn how to interact with each other while building healthy habits and saying off screens. This is what investment in parks does for Yalfe like me, so please restore the full funding the parks department requested. Parks and trails are where we grow physically, mentally, and socially. They deserve to be protected. Thank you. Thank you very much. Janelle Martinez. Good evening Council members. My name is Janelle Martinez. And thank you for allowing me to testify today as the deputy executive director of the National Center for Children and Families and the administrator of the Black Physicians and Health Care Network or BPHN. BPHN is a program of the National Center for Children and Families and is a unique person centered and culturally specific health care, education and outreach response, which fosters integrated wellness and optimal health in Montgomery County's Black communities. communities far this fiscal year, BPHN has touched 99,266 people. A total of 1,496 clients received direct care and services through BPHN. 72% of those clients were insured while 28% were uninsured. BPHN has provided over $420,000 of financial assistance in which 78% of that was with dental treatment and 22% was for extended mental health treatment. We are proud to say that right now BPHN has a total of 200 black providers in our network, which includes primary care doctors, specialists, dentists, and mental health professionals. These brief data points demonstrate the power and scope of this program, but more importantly, they demonstrate an immense need in the community. Reaching nearly 100,000 people in less than a year is a reminder of what is at stake if BPHN isn't allowed to continue our work. BPHN is an extremely relevant and successful minority health initiative, but the program is shaping under the guise of equality with other health programs when it comes to uninsured or underinsured. This year, BPHN has had to fall in line with new county guidelines and CPT codes with a schedule of fees much lower than a private insurance company would provide. This has caused an immediate gap in access to health and the quality of care. For example, we used to be allowed to provide up to six visits per occurrence, and that is now reduced to a total of six visits for the year. What that means for a patient, if that visit uncovers underlying health conditions such as diabetes, which has resulted in kidney damage and how blood pressure, we have to decide what condition to prioritize as treating all three as out of the question within the timeframe and the limit of six visits. Additionally, BPHN is no longer permitted by the county to pay for root canals, local anesthesia for tooth extraction, or even the full cost of dentures for dental care services. These guidelines may certainly put BPHN on equal footing with other minority health programs, but it does not meet its overall mission of health equity. Equality is not equity, and reducing our ability to provide to services for people in dire need is not helpful for ensuring better community health for Black residents in Montgomery County. Finally, I also implore the council to advocate for three or five-year contracts for this model. Having to wait and wonder every year about sufficient funding levels does not allow BPHN to innovate or expand. Continuity and stability is what has been requested of BPHN, but we need to be able to plan beyond one fiscal year in order to properly provide these services and offer that reassurance to you. Thank you, Council members, for your time. Thank you. Next we have Kent Sovine. Hello, thank you, Council President Stewart, Anesthamed, Council members. Thank you for your time, for me to speak to you. My name is Kent Sovine, Executive Director of CHIR. I want to thank the Council for your support over the years in the midst of the Challenging Grant Program transition. On behalf of cheer, I am requesting a continuation of the Montgomery County Legacy Grant Program through physical year 26 as recommended by the County Executives budget. Currently cheer is supported by two legacy grants, Long Branch collective action for youth known as LBK and Healthy Long Branch known as HLB programs. The invitation of LBK is based on our organization's leadership and our partners' efforts for over more than four years. Our collective achievement have included community asset mapping, training, after-school programming, college field trips, youth leadership opportunities, resource sharing, and regular engagement with partners, families, and community with involvement of long branch youth. Legacy grant funding has been essential in furthering our work with the long branch community and its partner organizations to support youth and their exploration of careers, financial literacy, college readiness, and leadership. Healthy Long Branch, which is HLB program, is based on research that shows that people in poor neighborhoods can improve their health by becoming connected and empowered people. HLB also funds cheers in power and leadership development program and projects. These initiatives support community leaders and the formation of new engagement of groups in targeted neighborhoods. Along with our team of partners through our LBK and LHLB efforts, cheer was recently one of only two successful grantees in Montgomery County of Governor Wes Moore's enough grant program to end childhood poverty. Bring you together an expanded set of stakeholders from within the community. Together with the enough team, we will build a neighborhood action plan with community-based strategies to address the root causes of childhood poverty in a long branch in Tacoma Park areas. This work is expected to bring additional program interpretation funding and resources to Montgomery County, addressing many of the identified challenges facing the long branch community. These legacy grants that I'm talking about for physical 26 are critical to continuing the important work of LBK and HLHLB And to bridge the expansion of our work under the enough grant. Chair asks for the legacy grants to be extended for physical year 2026. We appreciate your consideration of our request and look forward to providing any additional information needed about our work. Thank you. Thank you very much. Nina Yuzik. County Council presidents, two members of the council. Thank you for allowing me to speak today. My name is Nina Yuzik and I resided in Montgomery County since August of 2001. My family moved here because of my husband's job with the federal government. During this time, my family and I have been active users of MCPL and I have been a volunteer and active LAC member, a past chair of the LAC, as well as a volunteer mentor in English conversation groups and a teacher of the AARP driver safety programs. With the exception of the jail, I have been to every one of our 21 branches multiple times. Each has its own personality. Each has its particular strengths. But every library serves all the members of this community, from before birth until the end of life. Our library is welcome everyone regardless of your origin, your language, your gender, or any other defining characteristic. Our libraries do not just provide safe spaces for people to meet, to learn, to study, but places where people may feel part of a community, make friends, develop skills, and grow intellectually, culturally, and emotionally. For these reasons, I have come today. I'm very concerned about what has happened to our crown jewel in the two decades I have lived here. We have gone from being number two of the 24 public library systems in the state of Maryland in 2005 in per capita expenditure, where the expenditure here was at $1.52.72 per person, to number 18th in the state in 2024, with an expenditure of $39.12 per capita. As the county has continued to grow in population and diversity, and you, our elected officials, are focusing more on this diversity and equity and funding agencies. More has been demanded of and expected by our dedicated professional librarians. Well, they have significantly less to work with. Well, we have faced significant budget issues over the past two decades, and are currently in a major crisis due to what is going on down the street in DC. Our libraries have held strong. I am very aware of the economic and certain seats due to the federal workforce situation and how this affects tax revenues. Unemployed residents do not add to the tax coffers. Yet as you focus on equity and diversity, please keep in mind that no, and I mean no county agency is as accessible to everyone who lives here, regardless of language, status, economic situation or age. We have programs that start at birth and extend as we age. During the decade that I volunteered with the English Conversation Group and ONLY, we serve people for more than 60 countries and 30 different language groups. MCPL is one of a handful of libraries in the country that's part of the senior planet consortium, providing free assistance and programs for our aging communities, both virtually and in person. I urge you to not only provide MCPL with the proposed budget, but to begin the process of increasing its funding to make the crown jewel of Montgomery County the shining beacon it once was. Thank y'all, Kier. Next. Jou Shiffrin. Good evening. My name is Jou Shiffrin. I live in in County District 1 and I'm giving this testimony on behalf of Jews United for Justice. The Jewish value, Dymachsoro, calls for ensuring that everyone has resources sufficient for their needs. A budget is a moral document that should address those needs, including protecting funding for housing and education in a difficult budget year. J-o-f-j joins MCEA, SEIU Local 500, young people for progress and other organizations in calling for fully funding the MCPS budget as proposed by the Board of Ed to honor union contracts and meet students, educational, social, and emotional needs. Additionally, we urge you to use your oversight responsibilities to hold MCPS accountable in creating a culture based on restorative approaches to ensure the health and wellbeing ofbeing of students. This includes full-time restoratives, justice staff, robust training and clear guidelines. To ensure there is sufficient revenue to fully fund MCPS, JUFJ supports the county executives proposed 3.5 cent property tax rate increase. To ensure that there's sufficient revenue, in addition, J.O.F.J. joins Housing Justice Montgomery in calling for funding to support people whose housing is most at risk and those currently experiencing homelessness. We support HJM's entire budget platform and especially want to highlight the following requests. Housing Justice Montgomery has calculated that we need $50 million to help everyone who requests rental assistance. We urge the council to maintain the proposed $1.9 million for rental assistance and dramatically increase those funds this year and in future years. Rapid rehousing is a tool used to make homelessness brief and non-recurring. We support the 4 million in the proposed budget plus an additional 5 million to support current and new clients is trying to escape homelessness this year. Permanent support of housing is another tool that has proven to end homelessness for our most vulnerable unhoused neighbors. We support the 13.4 million in the proposed budget to ensure that community members with chronic health conditions can permanently escape homelessness. Additional information about housing justice Montgomery's other budget requests can be found in my written testimony. We look to the council to pass a budget that reflects the values of safety, security, and accessibility for everyone who lives in Montgomery County. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much. And thank you to that panel, our last panel in person this evening includes Roman Gomez, Vivian Urbina, Rafia Akabar, and I'm also looking to see if Stacy Torani came and Ella one. Mr. Gomez, you're going to kick us off. Good evening, dear Conson members. My name is Roman Gomez. I am a pro member of Hacoyasif of Montgomery. I have come Montgomery County, my home for 28 years. I come to this country from Mexico, search for opportunities and families. I found them in this country. Today, I stand before you, that someone who has lived through the hardest of housing stability and the winners of finishing this plan impact people's life. has an issue for place to live. It is a foundation for safety and dignity, health and ability to plan the future without stable housing. Everything else becomes struggle, big access to education, healthcare employment and even pace of mind. This way, I urge you elected leaders to support critical investment or nearly 50 million dollars more in service that provides housing stability. This funding will support energy emergency rental, rehousing, permanent supporting housing moving and the stories assistant and disabled justice justice. These services are not just lifetime and they are necessary for families like me and for thousands of Montgomery residents facing the same harness. Thank you a lot of time. I have a lot of time. In consideration, I would like to congratulate you. Thank you, Mr. Gomez. Thank you. Good evening. Good evening, Irvina. Good evening, members of the County Council. My name is Irvina Irvina, a junior at Watkinsville High School, located in the city of Gays-Despick. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to speak here today. I'm here to ask you the County Council to fully fund the MCPS budget to ensure that MCPS programs, such as Grea receives their needed resources. Grea is an is an academic and career readiness program for English learnings between the ages of 18 to 21. At the moment, there are around one-third of students within the program and more applications pending. However, the program has been put to a pause to accepting students due to the severe underfunding of the program. For GRIA's night program, students have received lunches at the beginning of the school year. Nor did they receive hot lunches now. Over the span of five years, they've gone from eight full-time teachers to one in January to now zero full-time teachers as of yesterday. They have no administration, nurses, or social workers, and now no parent community coordinator. To add on, this passage that was removed of English teacher position, which is a crucial position for the program. The program, Graea, is to give these students an opportunity to earn their GED while working. They have to take four exams to earn their GED and one of these exams is an English exam. How are these students supposed to pass an English exam without an English teacher? Many students see this program as a stepping stone to many great opportunities. When asked, a student in Kraya named Fatima Montejo said, this program for many students is an opportunity to work during the day and study at night. Without this program or the proper funding, most of these students may not be able to achieve their GED due to the lack of resources MCPS was providing. Now with the MCPS new budget proposed, students in Kurea can accomplish the program's goals. However, this can only change if you all fund the MCPS budget. If the new budget is passed, this would increase support and resources for Kurea. The students in the program Kurea are MCPS students. They have the right to have their program funded. I urge you the county council to to pass the proposed MCPS budget to be able to fund the program. Set up students is exceed not to plunder. Every student deserves a right to equal education, especially at MCPS. As a student, I've seen firsthand how resources or the lack of them can shape someone's future. Without full funding, greater students and others like us will be left behind. You have the power to change that by fully funding the MCPS budget. Thank you so much for your time in consideration and have a good evening. Thank you. Raffia Akbar. Good evening. My name is Raffia Akbar and I'm a senior at Quincyard High School speaking as part of the student-led immigration immigration rights organizer organization fair. Today I also want to highlight Grail, a career ready as education academy. Unfortunately Grail faces an extreme underfunding which hinders opportunities for their students. Basic commodities such as meals, teachers and administration are unaccountable. Why are Grail students at such a disadvantage when it comes to pursuing their right to education? In 2023, Dhania Perez-Fenthes mentions these are students that came from high trauma, interrupted education, and extreme poverty, and they are absolutely rocking the GED career education classes, referring to GRAS students who work to support themselves and family, lacking support as young people themselves. Yet we still see GRAS students continue to demonstrate resilience and ambition as they pursue their educational goals despite barriers. For this also mentions that Graya heavily relies on community donations and many of their activities are funded personally by Graya staff, when interviewed a majority of the students mentioned the lack of resources and funding. This program is essential in helping students pursue their dreams, ambitions, and pursue success. MCPS provides itself on its diversity while housing a growing diverse population and yet there are many students and families who face disproportionate barriers between their education. It's important to provide all students with the material they need to succeed, both academically and mentally. Threa provides a safe and accommodating community community in which students with non-traditional circumstances have that opportunity. Without proper funding for Greya, there will be a continuous growing opportunity gap. And I think it's also important to note that according to the Fred Economic Data in 2022, the number of disconnected youth in Montgomery County has steadily declined from 15% to 5% since 2016. The same year that the GERA evening program launched highlighting the valuable potential of GERA if it was properly funded. Furthermore, since Fair last testified for GERA, they lost two of their most fundamental staff in their program. They're only full-time instructional specialists and full-time parent community coordinator. MCPS students have the right to a free public and greater students are full-time MCPS students deserving of equitable education to pursue their career goals just as any other MCPS, just like me. As an MCPS student myself, I've witnessed first hand how budget cuts and education impact those around me and myself. Without a fully funded MCPS budget, critical programs and initiatives will be lost, setting back our education system and disadvantaged students and educators will be hit the hardest. I urge us also consider the moral consequences of our policies. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Thank you so much. That is all we have for in-person testimony this evening. Thank you to everyone who came to give testimony in person. We are now going to turn to a virtual testimony. And first we have Joel Tailebaum is our first virtual person. There he is, Mr. Title Bomb. Good evening, Councilmembers. As the first of several virtual testimony givers, I am honored in a way to start us off with a feeling that we should lean back a little bit and observe what you our council members are going through as you have full days of testimony and you have big challenges ahead of yourselves. I feel that we should give you more credit and take a little less demands from you. I also think that you and therefore the county and its people are caught, as I like to say, between a rock and a heart place, a cliff and an adbalamous pit, not to mention the snake pit of the federal governments, cuts and clawbacks. So you have complicated and sometimes agonizing choices to make, and I empathize strongly with you. I have, just a few things to say, and I want to talk mainly about the need, as I see it, to better fund both the recreation department and the Montgomery Parks, as a twin type of operation to provide openness, freedom, sports, fresh air, and all the things that people need in the way of programming to maintain themselves and have a community. Those before me has spoken more eloquently. I especially like Michael Ricky's and Roger Payton's testimony about the same services. I feel that unfortunately in the past, the REC department has been at the tail end of funding and has received the small amount of operating budget of any others and that parks which has grown a good deal more as has the REC department and capital investment, now has its operating budget being cut. I say restore the cut to the parks, improve the operating budget to improve the functionality of the wreck department, and spread the best and greatest good to the greatest number of people for the least amount of input. I sympathize with everyone who's going to go through the suffering of the incoming situation. It feels like you all are like Indiana Jones with a big, a big rock coming straight at you, but I know that you will find a way and I really appreciate what you're trying to do. Please accept my support and my empathy. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Next we have Courtney Evans. Hi, can you hear me? Yes, we can. Okay, getting any council members. My name is Courtney Evans and I'm here as a parent and a representative of Montgomery Virtual Academy Parent Teacher Coalition. But two asks. The first is to fully fund the MCPS operating budget. The second is to help us ensure that funds are used to truly educate every child in this county, because right now we're falling short. We have kids that are fully funded but only partially educated. Last year in the Montgomery Virtual Academy was eliminated to save $5 million. 53 of the 200 positions cut across the county came from the NBA. A school was 750 students enrolled for the upcoming year and a waitlist. That's higher enrollment than 68% of MCPS schools. And for many children, it was the only school they could access. We were told the blended learning program would replace it, but the BLP was modeled after home and hospital teaching, not a classroom. It segregates students with medical conditions and offers them less education in no community. It is isolating, inequitable, and ineffective. One former MBA student who was sent back to home and hospital teaching told her mother, quote, School was supposed to be the great equalizer, but for me, it's the most discriminating part of my life. She said that losing access to the MBA feels like being punished for things that she can't control and is hard to hear. Because MBA worked, state testing data that we obtained through an MPI A request shows that MBA students performed as well or better than peers in demographically comparable schools. Early literacy scores in first and second grade were exceptional. Black Hispanic and farm students were learning to read at or above the county average. Students with IEPs had a 100% graduation rate. It was the least restrictive environment for many. NVA changed lives. Virtual learning definitely isn't for everyone, but it's the only thing that worked for many kids with a variety of help, life, and learning needs. I have one haunting memory that I'd like to share. Late last summer, another NVA looked at me with desperation and asked, is there any hope? And I told her, yes. Because I believed and still want to believe that if we tell the truth and lift up the voices of those most impact that our public institutions will respond, especially in this county. So we did lift them up. We delivered 50 pages of testimony from students, parents, and educators describing the small miracles they witnessed in their children and their classrooms. They begged to keep the only school that had ever truly seen these kids and met their needs. And yet here we are. This budget includes $330 million in new requests but not $1 to restore school that served these students. Instead it includes $2 million in central funding for discretionary program that doesn't offer a full education or give vulnerable kids the opportunity to just learn with their friends. As a moral document this budget shows the community who we're willing to show up for and the kids were willing to leave behind but we don't have to leave anyone behind. These students already generate per people funding we just have to allow that funding to follow them to a school where they can attend, where they can attend, restoring what worked in a more fiscally efficient way. So yes, please fully fund that MCPS operating budget for all the wonderful reasons mentioned in others' testimony. But please also help us ensure that students rely on virtual access to their education or not left behind. Thank you so much and we appreciate you. Thank you. Next we have Victoria Bell Dessano. Hi. Any of the council members? My name is Victoria Bell Dessano. I'm the director of the Parting Faculty Union at Montgomery College under SEIU Local 500. In 2007, I organized grassroots campaign in the led to the creation of our union in 2010. Since then, I have played various leadership roles in the union. This fall semester will also mark my 20th anniversary of teaching English at the Tacoma, Marksville, or Spring Campus of M.C. So last year when I testified before this council, political conditions were quite different. Our creation institutions are literally under attack from powerful forces at the federal level. To come apart, Silver Spring campus is the most diverse of Montgomery College's three campuses and is located just seven miles from the White House. A majority of our students are immigrants from countries all over the world. For the first time in my 20 years of teaching, there's been a sense of fear in the campus community. For the first time fellow professors are discussing what to do with ICE shows up on campus. And the college recently responded to our concerns by circulating some guidance. Montgomery College president and germane Williams recently issued a statement legally defending the college's mission and his underlying commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. A commitment that in the recent past was celebrated and needed no defense. Like our full-time college, hard-time faculty are concerned as to how changes in federal funding might negatively affect our students, many of whom rely on federal loans or Pell grants. More than ever Montgomery College is relying on the County Council to support our educational mission and the students we serve, which includes historically underserved communities. Like others here before me, I urge the county council to fully fund Montgomery Colleges this school year 2026 budget request. I also want to mention that professors are not just a city around doing nothing and response and this is not in my testimony. But I'm responsive with them going on. Many of us went to Washington, D.C. for their protests on April the 5th. There are other events coming up. So we are responding and the best ways that we can. Thank you so much for hearing my testimony. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Next we have Maureen Modi. Good evening everybody. This is Maureen Modi, Executive Director with American Diversity Group. Thank you all council members for giving me this opportunity. This is my first testing in Montgomery County. We run a free medical clinic for the people who have no money, no insurance and have been going on since pandemic and we have been hit badly by the fundings this year due to state diversified our funding opportunities from American diversity group to a different county and we were on public-private partnerships and we are not getting any funding this year because of the conditions that we have on the federal. And this is my first time rocks to support American diversity group free medical clinic in the East County. We have been inundated with the population so far. We were seeing until January about 15 to 20 patients and now with the influx and the time that we have it, I've been seeing almost 40 to 50 patients on a weekend. We had only one provider in the month of January and now we have three providers. And we need your support company, remember, to help us to support our county community who are struggling right now with money, with all the crisis season. We also provide them with food as well. So food as medicine is like a clinic that people love it. And we do a complete holistic approach with the free labs and specialty as well. So I need you help and support this time to see if I can be able to get the funds to sustain and help out our uninsured population in the clinic who have no money or no insurance and we'll be able to provide the care they need and make them healthy life in our Montgomery County and I would not take much of your time just your blessings. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next we have Tracy Washington Crank. Good evening to the distinguished council president Miss Stewart, council vice president Mr. Joondo and members of the Montgomery County Council. I appreciate this opportunity to come before you today. My name is Tracy Washington Craig. I am a single mother of three school-aged children. I've accomplished both my bachelors and master's degrees and achieved over 30 years of professional experience. And yet I too have experienced the painful reality of homelessness right here in Montgomery County and therefore I am requesting your unequivocal support tonight for the 1.01 million dollar funding request for interfaith works. The requested funding will advance two of their vital community programs, the Connections Program and the Vocational Services Program. I know the significant impact of interfaith works across this county. Yes, I am a member of the board, but more importantly, I have witnessed IW staff coordinate eight emergency needs for countless households, financial assistance, rental assistance, utility assistance, interfaith works is known for simply being there. In fact, 60 to 70% of connections referrals come from county government. Montgomery County depends on interfaith works. And with the additional $580,000 requested for FY26, Interfaith Works could serve an additional 1,150 households with urgent needs. Finally, the Interfaith Works budget request will also enable more vocational services for county residents as well. Interfaith Works serves some of the most vulnerable in our county. Individuals who are often unsuccessful with mainstream employment services. The Underfaith Works Budget Request will enhance this type of critical support to our community, increasing their service capacity by 15% in FY26. So I'm here tonight to urge your support for the unwavering efforts of Underfaith Works to fight homelessness among Montgomery County by preventing it. IW's budget request for $1.01 million in FY26 will help ensure that people like me who are committed to succeeding in life will have a chance among Montgomery County. I thank you very much for your consideration and for your support of this request. Thank you. Next we have CERA, I am Buhatan. Okay. Good evening, members of the council. My name is Sura A. Blotting. I am an eighth grader at Kingsley Middle School and I am currently serving as the Montgomery County Junior Council Vice President. Today I'm here in favor to urge you to be in favor of a full budget at MCPS's request. As a student, I have witnessed an experience firsthand what a partial budget does to students on their day-to-day school life basis. As a student in the French World Language Program at my school, I'm very grateful for all the opportunities this class gives me, including rigor and focus on deep learning. However, this year my friend Cedra has been forced to take on a class she really knows anything about. Computer all the opportunities this class gives me, including rigor and focus on deep learning. However, this year my friend's teacher has been forced to take on a class she barely knows anything about computer science and has a class size of 33 people for her most advanced class with the same amount of pay that she had last year. This issue became clear to us last year with us students worrying if our education was at jeopardy without our teacher. Now only have I experienced this with my French program, all arts programs around the county are being threatened, similar to Wooten High School with their instrumental music program being threatened, as their teacher is facing a part-time job next year instead of receiving a full-time job. These cuts will not only be detrimental to jobs but also students. Without full funding to our arts and language programs, students are a risk of not learning, of not earning any education on what they enjoy doing, and are frankly invested in learning. This can lead to low performance in classes and going into high school or college without the needed skills to continue onto arts programs. Not only that, our arts programs give students so much, the drive to come to school, their escape from home, and the enjoyment of seeing their favorite teachers every day. MCPS must continue to work and make sure that not even a penny of our budget goes towards. I urge you to vote favorably in granting a full budget at the Montgomery County Junior, I mean Montgomery County Public Schools requests for fiscal year 2026 for the insurement of students learning in the arts and opportunity ensuring that all students in MCPS have access to what they need for whatever they would like to pursue in life. I greatly appreciate this time. Thank you. Thank you so much. Next we have Amma Felix. Good evening. Good evening, President Stewart, and Vice President Jowondo. I want to thank you for the invitation to provide this testimony regarding the County Council's FY26 operating budget. My name is Amma Felix, President and CEO of Collegiate Directions Inc., a comprehensive nonprofit organization that focuses on college access and completion for first generation to college high school students from low income household in Montgomery County. This year, we're celebrating our 20-year anniversary of service in the county. We are one of the organizations recommended in the county, we are one of the organizations recommended to the county council for FY26 Community Development Block Grant Public Service Grant funding. We are asking that the council fund the county executive's FY26 operating budget to ensure that vulnerable young members of our community receive the services they need to thrive. Why is funding needed? Colleague direction serves students whose families on average earn approximately three times less than the area median income in the community. 86% of our high school scholars receive free and reduced meals, which is an indicator that they're experiencing serious poverty. After graduating from college, many low-income students need help transitioning to well-paying careers. In fact, a recent study showed that even with identical credentials, first-generation college students from low-income households have more difficulty finding a quality first job. They accept offers more quickly, make less money, and take jobs for which they are overqualified because they are less well connected and untrained in the basics of professional job seeking. CDBG funds enable collegiate directions to focus on providing scholars with mentors who can help them successfully navigate into a career, train scholars to encore competencies that align with employer expectations and serve as a connector for internships and job opportunities. We ask for your support of the FY2026 operating budget. It will help CDI provide students who will be first in their families to graduate from college and are from low income households with the mentoring, training, and access to internships and job opportunities they need to become gainfully employed members of our community. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next we have Sterling High. Good evening. My name is Sterling High. I'm Montgomery County resident with two school-aged children and I'm testifying today on behalf of the Maryland Coalition for Virtual School Access. A statewide alliance working to ensure that any child in Maryland who needs it has access to high-quality public virtual school no matter where they live. Montgomery County is the largest in one of the wealthiest counties in Maryland, and yet we are failing to provide even basic educational opportunity for hundreds of students in this county that needs to access their education virtually. Other counties with fewer resources such as Baltimore and a Rundle and Frederick have chosen to provide this type of access, but why haven't we? Since the closure of the Montgomery virtual academy, hundreds of students have been pushed out of the system. NCPS's own data showed that nearly 300 students who were enrolled in or had applied for MBA for the school year have left the school system entirely, removing their per pupil funding from the system. But it's not just government funding that has been lost. It's families and their economic activity as well. Some unable to afford private school alternatives have been forced to homeschool their children, often requiring parents to reduce work hours or quit the workforce entirely, lowering household income and local tax revenue. Others who can afford private virtual schools are sending tens of thousands of dollars to out-of-state vendors to do the work that NCPS refuses to do and draining economic activity from this county. And many have done what they feel compelled to do, which is to move to counties that do offer public virtual schooling or to leave Maryland altogether. We were encouraged last year when council vice president Jouwando told MCPS publicly that this county needs a virtual school moving forward. But instead of restoring a comprehensive, fully synchronous option, MCPS has doubled down on a program that isolates students with medical needs and offers minimal live instruction with no real community. What does it say to these kids who just last year had a school and classmates to call their own but now are left with scraps? It says to them that since they don't fit into the traditional worldview of what school should be, that they are relegated back to the cracks of the educational system. The window to educate these children is continually closing. As a former MCPS member, a board member once said, you only get one shot at each grade. Our students can't wait for another year of missed opportunities, forced absenteeism, and learning loss. They can't afford to be left behind for another year and neither can Montgomery County. While we support the MCPS budget it to be funded, with over 300 million in increased funding, we know that for just a few million dollars, which comes from the per pupil allocation that is supposed to educate each child, we can restore a fully synchronous virtual school to the system and county. That would bring hundreds of children and families back into the system and it would show them that this is still a county that delivers on its promise of a world-class education for all students. We urge you, don't let another year slip away. Encourage the inclusion of a comprehensive virtual school on the FY26 budget and commit to sustaining it, moving forward. Let Montgomery County lead not just with resources, but it's values, vision and equity. Thank you for your time. Thank you, next we Carrie Ann Barrett. Hello council members and members of the community. I am from district five and I'm here to testify in favor of reconsideration for the budget increase that was requested by Parkton Rik. I wanted to talk to you from three different lenses. One is the employees lens. Much of the budget and some of the budget would actually go towards your employees. I personally have been able to encounter Montgomery Park staff by being in my community in Burton'sville, emailing them countless times about my park that was right in my community, and how to respond from every single time. I think the decrease in budget also speaks to them in terms of their own morale and their own retention and their benefits. The second lens I'd want to address is from the residents lens. The program offers that we get through our recreational programs and access to our parks actually allow the teenagers especially to be able to be more creative and less likely to engage in undesirable behavior. More particularly seen the programs that were offered through Thermal Direct Reational Center, such as Fashion Bootcamp, had allowed students from low-income communities to be able to participate in activities that they normally would never ever be able to do. They were receiving coaching and they'll continue to do so if the budget is actually approved. Additionally, from the residents' lens, addressing age and infrastructure, my park in particular in Matt Newell had suffered from serious degradation over the years, having been a park that was built in the 1980s. ADA standards, resolving drainage issues and enhanced safety will allow these parks to be brought up to standard. Enhancing our community as well as we grow, when particular district has seen severe investments in terms of seeing persons being asked to move to this community, having access to parks that will give their kids and the students that would attend the schools that are here, access to safe places to be able to spend time and be safe is really important. The third lens I'd want to talk about is the facilities. If the operational supplies and maintenance budget is caught, we're looking at increased construction costs based on changes that are being made at the federal level. I believe that escalating cost for construction materials and labor demand will cause but insufficient use of the funds if it is that it's not completely adequate. What I would ask you to do is to consider in not increasing if not the whole thing, but to actually consider what the funds are going to be invested in. Thinking about the safety of the residents, the safety of the students, and the kids who would actually use the park. I want to end my testimony by just thanking expressly, very deeply, to the staff who diligently work day and night to maintain and enhance our parks. You're on a wave-ren commitment. I hope that the council members here will actually get to meet and know you because it has made our community vibrant, safe, and welcoming for all residents. Thank you very much for this time. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next we have Aliyah Abbas. Yes. Dear Council President Stewart and Council members, my name is Aliyah Abbas and I am a resident of Montgomery County. I am a parent. I'm also a child marriage survivor and an activist to end child marriage. In the United States, this is not my first time testifying, but this is my first time testifying. I'm advocating for Montgomery County Public Libraries. I am the chair of Maryland J. Prasner Library for the Library Advisory Committee. Montgomery County Montgomery County libraries are one of this county's most valuable assets. The resources, services and programs that they provide to both kids and adults are immeasurable. And being a child marriage survivor who is subjected to child marriage at the age of 17 to a strange man. You know, a stranger, totally stranger. I have fought for my freedom. I've raised my children on my own and I can tell you that the library was a safe space away from the abusers for myself and my children. You know, it was our safe space. It was a space where I could just take them and have a community outside of, you know, the abuse, the abusive environment in which I was raised in and I grew up in and was subjected to such a human rights abuse of child marriage. It was a place where I could take my kids and, you just get lost into all these wonderful stories about opportunities and choices and freedom and you know the privilege to be and do whatever we wanted to be and do so it is a wonderful, wonderful place for children and for adults and for those looking for community to learn to grow. I ask that the council support the following in the 2026 operating budget from Montgomery County Libraries and additional 121,000 to increase the collection acutesitions budget ensuring that the library can continue meeting the rise into man for digital materials, including maintaining five hooplet check outs per month and additional 153,000 to increase the world languages collection. This will better serve the communities that speak many different languages in Montgomery County. Please fully support the county's executives proposed operating budget from Montgomery County Public Libraries. Thank you guys so much for letting me testify. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much for testifying and sharing your story. That is our last person tonight who is signed up to testify. So we are adjourned and we'll be back tomorrow for two more public hearings, one at 1.30, one at 7 pm, and then another public hearing on Wednesday afternoon, starting at 2.30. Again, I just wanna thank our amazing staff for organizing everything and working very hard to make sure everyone was accommodated. Thank you very much. We'll see you tomorrow. The terrain and European flavors to classic American barbecue creating a culinary experience that's unique. Let's head over and see what's sizzling on the grill. in the heart of Bethesda, the aroma of slow smoked perfection fills the air. And you want to get all the little mix and candies in there because that's where all the good stuff is between all the little bones. Silver and Sons barbecue has officially open its doors, bringing a fresh take on authentic barbecue to the community. I'll have the salad right. 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