(WASHINGTON, DC) - Mayor Vincent C. Gray  announced his appointment of Harold Pettigrew, Jr. to lead the Department of Small and Local Business Development.

The Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture is a non-profit organization serving the Washington D.C. metropolitan region by enabling consumers to access high-quality, locally grown food.

The Arcadia Center's Mobile Market will deliver healthy, affordable fruits, vegetables, and other farm produce to urban ‘food deserts' through established, weekly, conveniently located stops within wards 5, 7, and 8.  The Arcadia Center's Mobile Market will accept payments from SNAP, WIC, and FMNP participants and offer below-market pricing to DC customers.

Just a few short miles from downtown Washington, DC, an exciting and innovative new farming and food project is taking root. Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture is dedicated to growing a sustainable food system and culture in the Washington, DC area and creating a highly visible rallying point and collaborative space for the many local efforts and initiatives around better food.

The Arcadia Center's mission is to have a positive impact on the health of eaters throughout the region by combining education about good food and its sources with better logistical connections between the best local farms and the urban and suburban core of Washington, DC and surrounding areas.

Mayor Vincent Gray and State Superintendent of Education Hosanna Mahaley have announced gains among secondary schools on the 2011 District of Columbia Comprehensive Assessment System (DC-CAS).

Mayor Gray and Mahaley were joined by D.C. City Council Chairman Kwame Brown, Deputy Mayor for Education DeShawn Wright, Chancellor Kaya Henderson, D.C. Public Charter School Board member Darren Woodruff and State Board of Education president, Ted Trabue, for the announcement.

"We have made important progress in all of our public schools since 2007, when we placed our schools under the authority of the mayor of the District of Columbia," Gray said in a statement. "We have much to celebrate and even more work to do. Incremental progress is not enough," he said. "We must ensure each student can succeed and thrive in both the national and global economies."

Since 2007, DC-CAS scores in secondary schools have increased by 13.4 percentage points in reading and 19.9 percentage points in mathematics. Increases in the last year were 1.1 percentage points in reading and 3.3 percentage points in mathematics.

Additionally, DC-CAS scores in elementary schools stabilized in 2011 after a decline in 2010; the long-term trend for elementary schools from 2007 remains positive in both reading and mathematics.