About

Kathy Henderson is a Forty-One-year resident of the District of Columbia and has spent most of her life in DC despite growing up in New York City. Kathy is the proud parent of India A. Henderson, a native of the District of Columbia and the youngest elected official in the nation’s history. Kathy is formally trained as a biologist, underscoring the completion of her studies at Howard University, with a major in biology and a minor in chemistry.
Kathy Henderson is keenly analytical and deeply committed to improving the human condition. Kathy found her true calling to be public service, underscoring her desire to improve the quality of life for others. In 1997, Kathy joined the AMERICORPS VISTA program to teach elementary school children to read. Every child in Kathy’s program demonstrated improvement in reading which, lead to her hire as a project site director for the literacy program when her year of service ended. Kathy was also featured as a part of the national advertising campaign for the AMERICORPS VISTA program.
The call to public service became louder when Kathy moved to the Carver Terrace community in 1998 and her trash was routinely not collected by the city on trash collection day. Kathy Henderson called her advisory neighborhood commissioner, who told her “…you’d better get used to it, that’s how it is over here.” Outraged, Kathy decided to run for the unpaid position and won, ushering in a new paradigm of increased expectation and accountability. Kathy rallied her neighbors, organized community meetings, and serves as an effective sixteen-year advisory neighborhood commissioner.
The road to a better community was blocked with numerous challenges and setbacks, most notably a horribly high crime rate, which included numerous broad daylight shootings and open-air drug markets. Kathy and her daughter were threatened and had bottles and rocks thrown at them by drug dealers. In 2006, Kathy Henderson’s Mercury Capri was set on fire by a known drug dealer, who served a sentence for attempted murder. Kathy stayed the course and encouraged her neighbors to stand with her. Today, her community is safer, quieter, and well along on the road to permanent recovery; underscoring soaring property values. Kathy Henderson firmly believes every resident deserves to live in a community that offers an excellent quality of life and she has a proven ability to implement positive change.
Kathy Henderson understands government and how to garner resources for her constituents. Under her leadership, the Advisory Neighborhood Commission 5B10/5D05 community became a priority to the Mayor, Council, and District agencies. Kathy served as a member of the DC Historic Preservation Review Board, an At-Large Committeewoman for the DC Democratic State Committee, and in numerous volunteer positions for the sheer joy of it. Kathy worked as a registered addiction counselor, former District and Federal Government employee, and is a licensed Realtor and Advanced Toastmaster; Kathy looks forward to using her skills and experience to improve the quality of life for all of her WARD 5 neighbors. Kathy Henderson remains actively engaged in the governance of the District of Columbia as an advisory neighborhood commissioner, member of the Committee of 100 on the Federal City, and in many stakeholder capacities. No one cares more deeply or works harder to uplift the community than Kathy Henderson.