PP @ !0:27, I've done a lot of research on DC and the special ed department, and I just can't find anything substantial about autism programs or how I could get my son into charter schools. We are still in our current duty station in CA and won't be moving until the summer, so we can't apply for the lottery. We are taking a week long house hunting trip in April, so maybe we can find out some info in person.
My son has always been in dedicated autism classrooms, and that won't change for his entire school career.

I long for neighborhoods like Brookland and Petworth. If I could just get some positive affirmation on schools ... but it's hard, because a lot of the special ed parents on this forum are sending their kids to private schools, which is no help to us.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi, your family dynamics are somewhat similar to mine. I am a single African American mom raising an 8 yr old son, & was looking for that diverse, inclusive neighborhood, as well. It can be challenging. I would recommend getting with your real estate agent to help you identify those areas. If you don't have an agent, I would be able to assist. You can contact me offline at iloveart16@yahoo.com. If you don't want to work with an agent, areas off the top of my head, in relation to your job in Bethesda, would be Silver Spring, and College Park.

An agent definitely cannot help her with demographics

Not demographics, but areas and homes within her budget.

Anonymous wrote:Only my husband will be commuting to Bethesda (Walter Reed). He will be working long and odd hours, so he actually doesn't mind a long-ish commute because he won't be driving during peak times. In general, we aren't scared of driving and a 45 minute commute is normal where we're from and what we're used to.

Montgomery County would be nice, and we've had a positive experience with the school district in the past.

To the PP who mentioned TP, thanks! We're looking there, but inventory seems really scarce and some of the neighborhoods are out of price range, but we haven't ruled it out.

PP @ 10:09, can you tell me a little about Ward 4? We would actually love to live in DC proper, but we're just uncertain about the special ed services.

10:09. We live in Shepherd Park, which is very diverse, good schools, LGBT-friendly, and a quick commute to WR, but homes here typically start around 800K. The ones that start for <650K usually need significant work. There are Ward 4 neighborhoods nearby in your price range--Takoma, Brightwood--however, these areas are zoned for less desirable high schools, which is why I wouldn't necessarily recommend DC in general given your criteria.

If your husband works off-hours, some areas of Takoma Park may be doable. My coworker drives from TP to near WR and it only takes him ~25 minutes--but he leaves early in the am.

In general, Rockville, Silver Spring, and Takoma Park might be the best areas to target given your budget and needs. You also may want to post in the special needs forum re: best areas of MoCo for SN services.

Good luck!

Wish you could make Brookland work OP because I think it's what you're looking for in terms of income, cost, and diversity, but I think a commute to Bethesda would be harsh and the school situation likely won't work. Have you played the lottery? I'm not sure how it works for special needs children, might he get preference at a charter or something? It looks like Eastern has a dedicated Autism program, not sure how you feel about that -- or if it's quality, but that wouldn't take long at all, perhaps 10 minutes?

Anonymous wrote:Hi, your family dynamics are somewhat similar to mine. I am a single African American mom raising an 8 yr old son, & was looking for that diverse, inclusive neighborhood, as well. It can be challenging. I would recommend getting with your real estate agent to help you identify those areas. If you don't have an agent, I would be able to assist. You can contact me offline at iloveart16@yahoo.com. If you don't want to work with an agent, areas off the top of my head, in relation to your job in Bethesda, would be Silver Spring, and College Park.

An agent definitely cannot help her with demographics

We are in Dominion hills in arlington

Hi, your family dynamics are somewhat similar to mine. I am a single African American mom raising an 8 yr old son, & was looking for that diverse, inclusive neighborhood, as well. It can be challenging. I would recommend getting with your real estate agent to help you identify those areas. If you don't have an agent, I would be able to assist. You can contact me offline at iloveart16@yahoo.com. If you don't want to work with an agent, areas off the top of my head, in relation to your job in Bethesda, would be Silver Spring, and College Park.

Capitol Hill, but hoping to move soon

Only my husband will be commuting to Bethesda (Walter Reed). He will be working long and odd hours, so he actually doesn't mind a long-ish commute because he won't be driving during peak times. In general, we aren't scared of driving and a 45 minute commute is normal where we're from and what we're used to.

Montgomery County would be nice, and we've had a positive experience with the school district in the past.

To the PP who mentioned TP, thanks! We're looking there, but inventory seems really scarce and some of the neighborhoods are out of price range, but we haven't ruled it out.

PP @ 10:09, can you tell me a little about Ward 4? We would actually love to live in DC proper, but we're just uncertain about the special ed services.

Downtown Silver Spring or Rockville.

Poplar Run off Layhill Rd in Silver Spring. Great neighborhood! Good luck!

I am white but my inlaws are black- they live in Takoma Park and really love it.

That said, I can't speak to the commute to Bethesda.

We are an AA family in DC, Ward 4. How long of a commute are you willing to tolerate to Bethesda? I'd imagine somewhere in Silver Spring might fit your budget and get you some diversity, although walkability won't be as easy to come by. Someone else will have to chime in about exact neighborhoods.

Rockville, near town center. There are plenty of middle class black families around here. If you ever go to Town Center in the summer, you'll see families there of all different colors. It's as diverse as you can get. My DC also has some friends whose parents are gay.

We are a single income Black family on a modest HHI looking for a decent neighborhood to put down roots. The advice I've gotten from DCUM in general is frustrating at best, as we vastly differ on what's considered "diverse", and I just don't see my family fitting in to a lot of the "preferred" areas.

The neighborhood is important, we like to talk to our neighbors and attend neighborhood events. We have one high school age kid who has autism and needs special education services, that makes finding a good district really hard to pin down, and we cannot afford private.

We want a nice, safe area with a diverse, liberal (Black, White, Asian, LGBT) middle class community with some SAHPs. We would like to walk around and not have people wonder what we're up to or if we belong in the area. We're not religious, so churches and such are not important at all.

Some of the things we are looking for:

Decent school district (I realize that my son's IEP and education issues are complicated, and we're on our own for this)
3 bed/2 bath
Some walkability, but not a huge must have. We have two cars and don't mind driving.
Relatively close to grocery stores, coffee shops, libraries, and maybe some decent restaurants.
Daily commute is to Bethesda, so we'd prefer to stay on the MD side.
Budget is $500k, but we can go to $550k if absolutely necessary.


To add, we've lived in the area before (we're military), in Damascus and we enjoyed our time there, but never felt like the community was a great fit for us. We sacrificed living in a more urban and diverse area because we had a REALLY low HHI at the time, and Damascus offered the best options for housing and schools on our income. Now that we are older and have sent our oldest off to college, we don't want to live in a neighborhood that isolated and far out.