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Charles Allen on one solution to close achievement gap in Our Town~\n\n" 'Books From Birth,' . . . delivers a book to every kid in the city, five and under, once a month for free. For a lot of . . .kids in the city, you don't see any books. There's not a book in the home. . . and what was important to us though, is as we figure out which books these are, we've put more than 400,000 books into homes across the District in the last two years."\n\nCharles Allen - Councilmember DC Ward 6 and Andy Ockershausen in studio interview\n\nAndy Ockershausen:\tThis is Andy Ockershausen, and this is Our Town, and I have a great guest to talk to today. A man I met for the first time. I really didn't meet him in person, but he made a presentation at a Southwest BID, a breakfast, a luncheon at Arena Stage, and I was so impressed with his presentation and what he is. He is chairman of the Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety. He's made so much for our city and Our Town, and his commitment has been great. He has overseen the building of Washington in so many ways, and we're delighted to have Councilman Charles Allen on Our Town. Charles, welcome.\nCharles Allen:\t Thanks, Andy. Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it.\nAndy Ockershausen:\tOur podcast is heard around the world, I hope you know that. Seriously, we have people that listen to us all over the country that used to live here and they moved, and they shouldn't have. But Charles, what you have overseen, incidentally, in reading your resume, you live at 15th and D.\nCharles Allen:\tI do.\nAndy Ockershausen:\tI grew up at 13th and D.\nCharles Allen:\tDid you really?\nAndy Ockershausen:\tMy neighbor, I'm a Northeast guy from way, way back, Eastern High School, Elliot, the whole thing. That Kingsman School, and what's happened in your, that's your ward now, correct?\nCharles Allen:\tThat is. That is, absolutely. You should come by and visit the old 'hood.\nAndy Ockershausen:\tThere used to be a Car Barn there, you know, and-\nCharles Allen:\tStill there.\nAndy Ockershausen:\tIs it still?\nCharles Allen:\tIt's now housing.\nAndy Ockershausen:\tStreet cars, and it was such-\nCharles Allen:\tNow it's all-\nAndy Ockershausen:\t... a wonderful . . .\nCharles Allen:\t... apartments and condos, but yeah.\nSpeaker 4:\tYeah. Huh.\nAndy Ockershausen:\tWalking to school to Elliott and Easton and ... I'm glad to see 15th and D is still on a map. You and Olive, the dog.\nCharles Allen:\tThat's right, and then, of course, Jordi, my wife, and our two kids, Cora Neal and Everett. And our sweet Olive.\nAndy Ockershausen:\tBut you're not a Washingtonian, but you're a Washingtonian by choice. I think Janice and I are Washingtonians by choice too, because we've both moved out and did other things, but we came back to Our Town, and you went to the university in Alabama.\nFrom Birmingham, Alabama to Virginia's Washington and Lee University to Our Town, Affordable Healthcare Issues and Ward 6\nCharles Allen:\tI grew up in, I was born in Birmingham, Alabama.\nAndy Ockershausen:\tOh, Birmingham, right.\nCharles Allen:\tThat's right. And went up to school, went to college in Virginia, went back to Alabama for a-\n\t... Master's degree. Yes. Went, got a Master's degree in Public Health and then, luckily, got a post grad fellowship up here in DC. I knew this is where I wanted to be. Started working for the federal government, for HHS, for a little bit. Quickly realized I did not like the federal government, but had fallen in love with DC. And I knew that's where, that was going to be home, and so I switched up, started working for a local nonprofit doing healthcare work. Actually, this was a time when DC General was closing. We were kind of converting to The Alliance, trying to help figure out how to take care of our uninsured and low-income residents. So I-\nAndy Ockershausen:\tDC General was in your ward?\nCharles Allen:\tAt the time, DC General was. DC General is now in Ward Seven.\nAndy Ockershausen:\tYes,