Charles Allen

In his first three terms on the DC Council, Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen has successfully championed bold legislative efforts around education, the environment, safer streets, strengthening Metro, public safety and criminal justice, campaign finance and elections reform, LGBTQ rights, and women’s health. His first piece of legislation, “Books from Birth”, has delivered more than 3 million books to the homes of DC families with a child under the age of five, at no cost to the families, with targeted enrollment of children in communities with lower literacy rates. It remains one of the most popular government-run programs in the District.

As Ward 6 Councilmember, he has focused his efforts on ensuring every student has a great neighborhood school, improving public safety, supporting small businesses, and creating more affordable housing – and in recent years, Ward 6 has created more new affordable housing than any other Ward, with many more homes in the pipeline. He has brought community members together to lead transformations of beloved public spaces, including Eastern Market Metro Park, the Southwest Library, the Southeast Library, and Swampoodle Park and Terrace, as well as nearly all of Ward 6’s public schools and playspaces. His “Vision Zero” and “STEER Act” legislation have pushed the District to move quickly to create safer streets for all. And the Council recently passed his landmark “Metro for DC” legislation to make bus service fare-free in the District and give DC residents a $100 balance on their SmarTrip cards.

As Chair of the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety for three Council Periods, Councilmember Allen led the Council in passing comprehensive policing reform and crime victims’ rights legislation, overhauling the city’s crime lab, banning ghost guns, creating the District’s “red flag” gun safety law, passing landmark second chances sentencing and workforce development laws, and expanding access to justice in the courts. Through the budget process, he created the District’s first-ever Gun Violence Prevention Director and exponentially increased funding each year for critical violence prevention and reduction programs and crime victims’ and reentry grants. Also passionate about elections and campaign finance reform, Councilmember Allen has passed legislation to make vote-by-mail permanent, create the District’s automatic voter registration system and “Fair Elections” public financing program, expand voting rights, and ban so-called government “pay-to-play” contracting.

In Council Period 25, he serves as the Chair of the Council’s Committee on Transportation and the Environment and sits on the Committees on Business and Economic Development, Health, and Judiciary and Public Safety. He is also the Chair of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. In Council Period 24, Councilmember Allen also served as co-chair of the Council’s Special Committee on COVID-19 Pandemic Recovery, tasked with producing recommendations to equitably shape the District’s recovery.

Councilmember Allen graduated from Washington and Lee University and holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He lives in Northeast DC with his wife, Jordi, their two children, and their dog.

Compress biography