September 18, 2025
By: Karissa Minnich
The Anacostia library is the bomb, and other takeaways from conversations with DC residents.
Photo Credit: Karissa Minnich
Earlier this year, a few of my team members and I spent the day asking residents, one-on-one, about their experiences with DC Government services. We asked them to share two stories—one when they felt taken care of, seen, or well-served by DC Government, and one when they felt misunderstood, mistreated, or failed. By the end of the day, we’d collected stories from more than 40 residents.
We talked about everything, from housing to public safety to education and infrastructure. There was lots of love for 311, the parks and recreation centers, and libraries (e.g. “The Anacostia library is the bomb.” “I love the libraries. They are locked in. Perfect.”— truly the punk rock of government). Public safety and housing were among the places where residents offered critiques. Some felt over-policed, while others felt under-policed. The lack of affordable housing was a common refrain.
But we didn’t ask residents about their highs and lows to identify services as “good” or “bad” because of course, it’s not that simple. What one resident marked as their high, another could—and sometimes did—mark as their low. We did the exercise because we were listening for the “key ingredients” to high quality service delivery, that is, the common elements that made for a positive experience provided the resources themselves are in place. I’d sum up what we heard as this: listen to me; keep me in the know; and treat me with care.
Listen to me – when an agency interaction went poorly, it was often because the resident felt talked over. “Why can’t we talk on the same level?” asked a woman who had a challenging experience with benefit access. A man experiencing homelessness said it all when he told me, “I need someone to hear me. To see me.”
Keep me in the know – a common frustration was feeling lost when seeking help. A returning citizen shared, “I did the things I was told to do to get permanent housing,” but felt like, “no one ever contacted me back.” But another resident had a very different experience accessing housing assistance because of the simple communications from her caseworker like acknowledging receipt of emails from the resident. Those little communications gave the resident confidence that they weren’t forgotten.
Treat me with care – so many positive experiences centered around staff who took care of a resident as another human being. A mother of two in NW spoke highly of the libraries and their staff who helped her book a study room and print materials as she job-searched. A DC native living in SE talked about the team at a domestic violence shelter who, “mothered me and kept me on my toes” ultimately getting her into a stable living situation.
From where I sit as a District employee and resident, here are a few more examples I’d offer of the seemingly small ways that District agencies deliver on these values:
Keep me in the know - DC Water who provides you with live updates on the emergency repairs in your neighborhood because knowing roughly when water will return makes the inconvenience more palatable.
Treat me with care - the Metrobus driver that provides a courtesy stop because it’s late at night and they want you to feel safe.
The public library staff that make the Books from Birth program available in Spanish because you want to read to your child in your native language.
These stories remind us that providing great service is always within reach. It's in the everyday moments when someone listens, communicates, and shows respect.