This Month at the DC Alliance

August 2026

We hope everyone has had a restful summer and has a great start to the new school year! The DC Alliance is excited to engage with all of you as we start the school year. Some of our regular meetings and programming were on pause this summer; most will resume in August and September.

  • While the Finance Leaders meetings continued through the summer, the Data Leaders meetings and Communicators meetings will resume in August and the Student Support Leaders meetings and Grants Managers meetings resume in September. LEA Leaders meetings will resume in October. Please look out for communication from the DC Alliance team for more information. 

    • If your LEA has changed POCs, please let Rachel know so we can update our listservs and ensure the appropriate POCs are receiving the emails and invites. 

  • Expert Site Visits, as well as the Fall Academic Leaders quarterly meeting, begin in September. Look out for more info from Noah later this month

Our School Support Team is also planning to implement the initiatives outlined in our 2026 Needs Assessment Report. As we have a new resource or engagement opportunity ready to share, we will contact the appropriate POCs. 

Additionally, check out three new resources in our Member Portal:

  • SBAC Resources Document, with materials from our SBAC sessions last spring → See our Academics Page in the Portal

  • Attendance Summit Padlet, with an aggregation of resources from July’s Districtwide Attendance Summit cohosted by the DC Alliance, DME and DCPS → See the Student Support Page in the Portal 

  • Charter Insights Dashboard (only for LEA Leader access)

Lastly, this budget season saw incredible turnout from charter sector advocates, and sustaining that energy starts with deliberate capacity-building. As you plan your back-to-school professional development, we urge you to schedule a 45-minute Advocacy 010 or a 90-minute 101 workshop for your community or staff before our training schedule fills up. Reach out to Andy to schedule a training session.



Get Involved

There are many ways to get involved, whether you are looking for opportunities to advocate for your students and community or collaborate with other LEA leaders and the DC Alliance team. Here are some great ways to get started:


Check out our meeting spaces list for opportunities to connect, share, and grow with leaders from LEAs across the sector.


Meeting spaces

Head to the advocacy page for opportunities to get involved and resources to help. Or get started with these:




Navigation

Watch the video tutorial for a quick tour of the website

Buttons on the left will help you quickly jump from section to section within the page you're viewing.

All resources are provided through clickable links that will take you directly to the listed resource. Each resource is categorized by type of resource. Here is a quick breakdown of all resource types with a brief description:

Agenda
Overview of an upcoming event or training/meeting series.

Deck
Presentation from a training or meeting on the specified topic.

Explainer
Document or a graphic with a comprehensive explanation of the specified topic.

FAQ
List of common questions and answers related to specified topic.

Folder
Collection of resources/materials from a specific event, training, or on an overarching topic.

Group
Meeting or collaborative space hosted or facilitated by the DC Alliance.

Guide
Document or graphic that provides a comprehensive overview of a topic or process that may include steps, strategies, and/or tools.

List
Curated collection of strategies, resources, or contacts gathered in one place related to the specified topic.

Newsletter
Newsletters originally emailed to our subscribers with time-sensitive updates, opportunities and asks.

Tool
Provides a template, typically Excel or Sheets, that LEAs can use to plug in their specific information to see a variety of possible outcomes.

Video
Recording of DC Alliance event or recorded content related to specified topic.

Use the navigation menu in the top right to:

  • return to the home page

  • navigate between specific content area pages to see announcements, upcoming opportunities, and content-area resources

  • return to this help section

  • search for resources across the entire website

  • manage your account information (change your password, name, email, sign-out)

Help & Navigation

Help

I need help with the Member Portal:

Reach out to Rachel (rjohnston@dccharters.org) if you have any questions or are having any issues with the Member Portal.

I’m not sure who to reach out to with a question:

If you can’t find a resource you’re looking for or have a separate question, you can see to whom to turn and reach out directly.