AFGE Local 2978 – which represents workers at the DC Department of Health – plans a noontime rally Monday to protest the closure of DC Healthy Start. “The District’s infant mortality program has significantly reduced the numbers of babies who have died during their first year of life,” says DC Nurses Association Acting Executive Director Ed Smith. DCNA will also be supporting the rally. "Queries to Mayor Gray about this program remain unanswered,” adds Smith. “Specifically, who is going to take care of the mothers and children that DOH is forcing nurses to abandon?" There are also concerns about the pending privatization of the well-established program. Details of the rally will be posted on the Council’s calendar.