In today’s rundown: Your chance to attend a D.C. community forum with the leading candidates for mayor and city council chair this week.  |  Filling the gap for Virginia’s uninsured children.  |  One reason the unemployment rate in one local ward is at about 30 percent.

— On Thursday, Defeat Poverty DC is hosting a community forum where moderators will question the leading candidates for D.C. mayor and D.C. council chair.  The program will be from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. at the UDC Auditorium, Building 46E, 4200 Connecticut Ave., NW.  To attend, RSVP to dcforumrsvp@gmail.com.  Defeat Poverty DC is a coalition of residents and organizations — including The Women’s Foundation — that are putting economic opportunity on the 2010 political agenda.

— With about nine percent of Virginia’s children uninsured, local health care workers are helping out, offering free screenings, physicals and immunizations. They’re also encouraging uninsured families to find out if they qualify for programs like Project Connect, Virginia’s Child Health Insurance program.  Click here for more.

— Employment in D.C. is improving — the jobless rate fell about half-a-point to 10 percent last month.  But in Ward 8, unemployment remains high — at an estimated 30 percent.  As WAMU reports, the disproportionately high numbers could be related to “returning citizens.”

In today’s rundown: Why poverty and education should go hand-in-hand this election season.  And President Obama again calls on the Senate to extend unemployment insurance.

— Schools and education are two of the main topics being addressed by D.C. mayoral candidates this year.  According to Judith Sandalow, executive director of Children’s Law Center, voters who care about education reform should also ask the candidates what they plan to do about the District’s high poverty rate.  Children’s Law Center and The Women’s Foundation are both members of Defeat Poverty DC, a coalition of organizations and individuals who are using the 2010 election season to bring greater focus on the damaging effects of poverty.

— Earlier today, President Obama had a message for Republicans who have been blocking a Senate measure that would extend unemployment benefits to Americans who have experienced long-term joblessness.  The president encouraged the passage of the extension, which has the support of only two GOP senators.  Click here for the latest.

In today’s rundown: New details about the first-ever national plan to combat new HIV and AIDS cases.  |  Long term unemployment benefits will not be extended.  |  News from our Grantee Partners.

— Later today, President Obama will lay out a plan to combat new cases of HIV and AIDS. The plan is expected to have three parts and will direct more money to states with higher numbers of HIV/AIDS infections. D.C. has one of the highest infection rates in the country. Click here to find out what D.C. Appleseed, a Women’s Foundation Grantee Partner, has to say about the new plan.

— It appears that help for Americans who have been unemployed for at least 99 weeks will be off the table when the U.S. Senate resumes the debate about whether to extend emergency jobless benefits.  There are 1.4 million workers who have been jobless for so long that they’ve reached the limit for unemployment insurance.  According to The Washington Post, the number has grown sixfold in the past three years.

— And in its editorial pages, the Post calls the decision not to extend benefits “shortsighted,” arguing that unemployment benefits would be circulated back into the economy which “could benefit from more stimulus spending, not less.”

— If you’re planning on watching tonight’s MLB All-Star game, keep an eye out for the executive director of one of our Grantee Partners.  Mark Bergel from A Wider Circle is being honored at the game as an “All Star Among Us.”  Click here to learn more. And you can follow Mark’s experiences on A Wider Circle’s Twitter feed.

— Another Grantee Partner, ASHA for Women, is presenting a special screening of the film Bhool.  It’s the portrayal of a woman’s struggle to survive life’s unexpected curve balls.  Bhool was created by local artists.  Click here for details.