What our reporting accomplished this year

Hey there,

I'm still pretty new to The 51st team, but I've been a supporter from the very first day it was an option. As a reader, I saw that the newsroom was busy — but from the inside, I can confirm the work is even more impressive.

This year, our team published more than 400 stories, sent out 63 newsletters, hosted and popped up at more than a dozen events, and surpassed 1 million pageviews on our site. With the support of our readers, we hired two full-time staffers, launched our community connector program (and are about to scale it up!), officially received our 501(c)3 status, and expanded into new coverage areas.

We're always tracking our work's impact — awards we've received, radio appearances and press coverage, legislative or judicial action, and more. But what means the most to us is seeing and hearing that our local journalism is making our neighbors’ lives better.

Think: Hearing that social workers and tenant unions are sharing our explainer on what to do if your apartment doesn't have heat. Getting asked by the city — multiple times — for advice on how to better connect with residents. Reading that our work is answering readers' questions, and following up when new ones come in.

As the year winds down, we hope you've gotten time to slow down and spend time with people you love — and to reflect on what this year has meant for you. Below, you’ll find several stories that had real-world impact on this community, helping to make the year meaningful for us. We're also sharing some of our team's favorite stories from other local news outlets this year.

May community light our way in 2026,

Gracie and The 51st Team

P.S. Want to see more impact — of all kinds — in 2026? Sign up as a paid member before tomorrow, or give a one-time gift. Any support will be doubled thanks to Newsmatch!

D.C. building tenants now face water shut-offs when their landlords don’t pay bills

Earlier this year, DC Water made a policy change. Instead of placing a lien when a building's owner failed to pay the water bill, the agency started simply shutting off tenants' water. Martin spoke with renters who lost access to water at home for weeks as a result.

Four days after this story came out, the D.C. Council amended the city's municipal regulations to say that tenants needed to receive 30 days' notice before water was shut off. Martin also saw the story mentioned (and shown via screenshare!) during a relevant virtual court hearing.

Questions remain about MPD’s work with ICE. Activists want lawmakers to step in

Our team has been covering the local response to ICE's increased presence from early in the year. Days after Martin reported that activists had been calling for the D.C. Council to publicly question the local police department about officers' continued collaboration with federal immigration enforcement, the council's Committee on Public Works & Operations finally scheduled a hearing.

Frozen out: Beloved D.C. ice rink faces uncertain future after $40 million rebuild

Ward 7's beloved Fort Dupont Ice Arena closed for renovations in 2023. It was supposed to reopen for the 2025-2026 season, but serious issues with the construction work — including reported "rain events" and stalagmites inside the building — delayed its grand reopening for months.

Martin dug into the details of the beleaguered remodel, and when the story published, lots of you reached out to say you'd been wondering what was going on. (Earlier this month, the facility officially reopened.)

Our "D.C. Explained" series

We've got to share the credit for this impact: You, our readers, directly requested many of the entries in this series, including our guides on giving and receiving help locally, talking to kids about the federal occupation, changes to the Metrobus system that rolled out this summer, and everything you need to know about the D.C. Council.

We're here to serve our city's information needs, and this series has been one of the most direct ways the team has achieved that goal. We love to hear that these guides are useful, and that you're sharing them with friends and neighbors. Have a question we should tackle in 2026? Send it in here.

D.C. renters face record eviction levels amid dwindling aid and rising housing costs

We were particularly proud of this October piece on rising evictions in partnership with Street Sense and American University's Investigative Reporting Workshop. It covered new data revealing record eviction levels in D.C. in 2024 — the largest increase since the year before the pandemic. Several residents facing eviction shared their personal stories with our team, something that we never take for granted.

Soon after the story published, we celebrated our first birthday — and Melvine Perkins (pictured above) came to the party. She sent us a handwritten card wishing us many more years of local reporting to come!

Opinion: DCPS middle-schoolers should be reading novels

Almost every week, we publish an opinion piece from a community member. Have an idea? You can email us here.

This opinion contribution from a Ward 3 parent expressed frustration with changes to the Alice Deal Middle School English Language Arts curriculum. Aaron Wesolowski's piece made a splash — responses from readers poured in across the comments and social media, including from the Ward 3 State Board of Education representative. Eric Goulet tweeted that he'd address Wesolowski's concerns.

Our favorite 2025 stories from D.C. newsrooms

What we especially loved reading this year.