COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
OFFICE OF COUNCILMEMBER BROOKE PINTO
THE JOHN A. WILSON BUILDING
1350 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, N.W., SUITE 106
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20004
March 24, 2025
Nyasha Howard , Secretary
Council of the District of Columbia
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20004
Dear Secretary Howard ,
Today, along with Councilmember s Anita Bonds, Brianne K. Nadeau, Zachary Parker, and Charles
Allen, I am introducing the “Safe Passage Training and School Engagement Amendment Act of
2025.” This bill would enhance, standardize, and universalize training for Safe Passage
ambassadors by requiring monthly trainings in de-escalation and conflict resolution as well as
training on cultural competency and mental health, neurodivergence, and special needs to ensure
positive interactions with students. In addition, the bill
Following a 2016 report by the Safe Passage Working Group on the need for “safety- related
policies” for “Charter and District of Columbia Public School students” as they travel to school,
Council passed the Safe Streets for Students Act, enacted into law in 2023. The law puts into place
a cluster of programs seeking to assure the safe and secure travel of school children.
i
One of the
programs, Safe Passage, appoints Safe Passage a mbassadors—“trained and trusted adults from
community-based organizations”—to key geographic points around schools, supporting
community-building and ensuring secure and safe school-travel for students.
ii
The management of the program is a multilayered and complex coordination effort pinpointing 12
“priority areas” throughout the city. The program is operated by the Office of the Deputy Mayor
for Public Safey and Justice (DMPSJ) in concert with the Deputy Mayor for Education (DME),
community-based organizations (CBOs) , and school administrators and staff.
In conversation with advocates and community stakeholders, one consistent concern I hear is that
the training which Safe Passage ambassadors receive is outpaced by student needs on the ground.
De-escalation and conflict resolution trainings required by the bill will be designated as monthly
in order to ensure routine engagement, allow ambassadors to complement the work of violence -
interrupters, and permit an ongoing dialogue between ambassadors and CBOs on recurring issues
encountered in the line of work.
The bill would also require trainings on cultural competency and mental health, neurodivergence,
and special needs, not for ambassadors to diagnose conditions or administer specific kinds of care
but to be equipped with general guidance on how to interact positively with students of different
needs.
Last, the bill would require ambassadors to be trained on recognizing signs of abuse, neglect, and
domestic, intimate partner, or intra-familial violence. These trainings, as specified by the bill, will
help to equip ambassadors with the proper tool-set to address the situations they face.
The bill would also facilitate coordination between schools and Safe Passage ambassadors by
instituting at least two mandatory meetings per year , enhancing inter-communication and
coordination between Safe Passage ambassadors and school leadership on the particular needs of
a given student community. Strengthening the working relationship and contact between Safe
Passage ambassadors and school administrators will provide important opportunities to build buy-
in from both the school community and the ambassadors as they work to ensure safer passages for
students.
Should you have any questions about this legislation, please contact my Committee and Legislative
Director, Linn Groft , at lgroft@dccouncil.gov.
Thank you,
Brooke Pinto
Councilmember, Ward 2
Chairwoman, Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety
Council of the District of Columbia
i
Cf. RC21-0137, Correspondence from the Mayor- Safe Passage Report Working Group (Sep. 2016), available here; Committee
of the Whole, Report on Bill 24- 66, “Safe Streets for Students Amendment Act of 2022” (Dec. 6, 2022), available here
(“establish[ing] a Safe Passage program, a Safe Blocks program, a School Safety and Safe Passage Working Group to establish a
Safe Routes to School program”); ANC24-0060, ANC 7F Comments: Resolution 21-022 Supporting Safe Passage Legislation,
available here.
ii
Safe Passage Program, available here.
________________________ _____________________________ 1
Councilmember Anita Bonds Councilmember Brooke Pinto 2
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Councilmember Zachary Parker Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeau 6
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Councilmember Charles Allen 10
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A BILL 14
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IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 18
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To amend the School Proximity Traffic Calming Act of 2000 to add training requirements for 23
Safe Passage workers. 24
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this 26
act may be cited as the “Safe Passage Training and School Engagement Amendment Act of 27
2025”. 28
Sec. 2. Amended s ection 2b within section 2(b) of the School Proximity Traffic Calming 29
Act of 2000, effective March 10, 2023 (D.C. Law 24-285; 70 DCR 998) , is amended as follows: 30
(a) Subsection (d) is amended as follows: 31
(1) Paragraph (1)(D) is amended to read as follows: 32
“(D) Building relationships with school administrators, police personnel, 33
parents, and community residents by increasing their awareness of the Safe Blocks Program 34
whenever possible, including a mandatory bi -annual meeting between Safe Passage and Safe 35
Blocks personnel with the school administrators whose school routes are served by Safe Passage 36
Ambassadors; and”. 37
(2) Paragraph (2) is amended to read as follows: 38
“(2) Receive at least the following trainings, as properly administered and 39
recorded by the CBO: 40
"(A) Monthly bystander intervention training, including conflict resolution 41
and de-escalation techniques; 42
"(B) Cultural competency training, including training on racial , gender, 43
LGBTQIA+, and socioeconomic factors as related to implicit bias; 44
“(C) Training on mental health, neurodivergence, and special needs, not 45
to diagnose conditions or administer specific kinds of care but to have guidance on how to 46
interact positively with students of different needs; 47
“(D) Training on recognizing signs of abuse, neglect, and domestic, 48
intimate partner, or intra-familial violence; 49
"(E) Any other trainings required by the DME.”. 50
Sec. 3. Fiscal impact statement. 51
The Council adopts the fiscal impact statement in the committee report as the fiscal 52
impact statement required by section 4a of the General Legislative Procedures Act of 1975, 53
approved October 16, 2006 (120 Stat. 2038; D.C. Official Code § 1- 301.47a). 54
Sec. 4. Effective date. 55
This act shall take effect after approval by the Mayor (or in the event of veto by the 56
Mayor, action by the Council to override the veto), a 30- day period of congressional review as 57
provided in section 602(c)(2)(1) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, approved 58
December 24, 1973 (87 Stat. 813; D.C. Official Code § 1- 206.02(c)(1)), and publication in the 59
District of Columbia Register. 60