Classic scam, don't even think about doing business with someone who wants a deposit before you sign a lease. You will never see that money again.

Just tracked down contact info for you: https://www.humanerescuealliance.org/bluecollarcats (not currently taking applications)

and https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/animalservices/adoption/freelancefelines.html

Call HRA and see if you can get a semi-feral cat: you put out food and water and the cat hangs out with you and keeps your local rodents scared. Basically a stray that isn't traditionally adoptable.

So there are apartments in your range in Capitol Hill and a number of good schools, as well. Since you work in the area, that's where I'd start. Your kid is entitled to attend his in-boundary school. When we did this a few years ago, I shopped hard for an apartment in our price range in boundary for our preferred school.

If your kid is close to middle school, be aware that middle schools in DC are weak, so you will do well to look at the quality of middle school in boundary as well.

I'd start looking at Watkins, Ludlow-Taylor, JO Wilson, and Brent--I believe they all feed into Stuart-Hobson for middle school, and it's a better option than the other Capital Hill area middle schools.

This is such a Washington question, thank you!

So, I got one too. I called them and spoke to a human, and they verified it's legit. All students at Community Eligibility Provision schools were given a one-time $391 food benefit for summer 2022 as part of the pandemic school funding. You can see a list of the schools in question online.