Proud DC SCORES Alumna Janeese Lewis George Elected Mayor of D.C.

The next Mayor of DC will be a poet-athlete!

Nearly three decades after taking the soccer field and poetry stage with her DC SCORES team, Janeese Lewis George has been elected mayor of the District. Lewis Geoge joined DC SCORES at Rudolph Elementary School in 3rd grade, where the program helped a once-shy poet-athlete find her voice (you can find her 1998 poem The Yo-Yo in our 30th Anniversary Poetry Anthology!). She went on to serve as Ward 4 councilmember and has long championed out-of-school time programs for D.C. youth. In 2024, she received the DC SCORES Poet-Athlete Award. “DC SCORES kept us safe in ways they didn’t even realize they were keeping us safe,” she said. 

Among the many priorities in her platform, Lewis George plans to make childcare affordable for every family in D.C.;  expand after-school programming across all eight wards; create Community Hubs that connect families and young people with resources; and make it easier for artists and cultural organizations to live and work in the District. 

Read How DC SCORES Inspired a Lifetime of Public Service.