On February 15th, in a meeting with Ward 5 residents, ONE DC facilitated a community learning event on displacement in DC. People were keen to learn more about why certain people are moving in to DC and why others are being forced out. The event gave people the opportunity to have a public dialogue about the causes and possible solutions.

We learned that in the past four years, more than 12,000 Black people have moved from DC, while 27,000 White people have moved into the city. We also learned that someone earning minimum-wage would have to work for 153 hours a week in order to afford the rent for a two-bedroom apartment in DC. Perhaps the most shocking thing we did was to read out a letter that a landlord had sent a tenant, giving them 60 days to leave their home with no explanation. That letter was sent in 2012! When he was reading out the letter one of the participants simply said, "Wow!"

Although the situation is bleak, people were full of possible solutions, including finding new ways to hold our politicians accountable through shared leadership structures where we all participate in the struggle.

Before Mayor Gray submits his final budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2013, let him know that affordable housing should be a priority.

Consider these facts when forming your call or e-mail to the Mayor:

• 47,500 households spent half or more of their income on housing, and approximately about 100,000 households in DC (40 percent) have affordable housing problems-that is, they spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing.
• 26,000 households are on the waiting list for public housing or vouchers.
• 1/3 of government funding for affordable housing has been cut in the past 3 years.
• The number of homeless families in DC grew by 25 percent between 2008 and 2009.

You can email Mayor Gray at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and CC his Budget Director, Eric Goulet at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . The phone number to the mayor's office is202-727-6263.

If you would like suggestions for what to say when you call or what to e-mail, please contact Defeat Poverty DC at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or202-266-0050.

Nearly one in four working households spends more than half of its income on housing costs, according to a new report by the National Housing Conference.

Moreover, despite falling home values, housing affordability worsened significantly for working owners and renters between 2008 and 2010.

The report shows that housing problems cause financial stress and also have a negative impact on health, education and the enviroment.

To go with the report there is a short and accessible blog post which you can read here

On February 1, ONE DC hosted a membership orientation. Boris Ozuna andThomas Neumark Jones, two of our members, wrote about their experiences and observations of the event:

Boris

ONE DC welcomes the new wave of young leaders who are volunteering at our organization this semester. Fourteen new and potential members with diverse experiences and backgrounds gathered at ONE DC for the first new member orientation meeting of the year on February 1. After twenty minutes of ice-breaking exercises and personal introductions, everyone was ready to learn about ONE DC's outstanding mission and the community organizers who help make us meet our goals.

The mixture of color in this new group's ethnicity

is fascinating: black, white, Latinos, men, women, young and old enriched the atmosphere. The awareness of our differences strengthened the group's experience and input during this first meeting. The members of ONE DC shared their roles, which saw women and men working together to communicate a powerful message of collaboration and shared leadership. The young learners responded with openness and enthusiasm, giving the session an A+.

One student asked, "What makes ONE DC unique among the immensenumber of nonprofit organizations in DC?" Someone from ONE DC responded that there was not only one answer, saying that "every person is unique, every group is unique and that is enough to understand why our team is unique. However, in order to answer this question with different lenses, I have to say that our emphasis is in community organizing. We believe that people hold the power to change their reality and our work is helping people recognize that power. We work for fair employment and fair housing rights, two basic human rights that people should access to." The answer left the brilliant minds with deeper reflections on the paradigm of bringing about social change.

Thomas

Washington, DC, is one of the most segregated cities in the United States. But ONE DC is one of the most integrated organizations I have been part of, judging by the orientation event that was held for new members in January. There was a mix of people there, native Washingtonians and newcomers to the city, men and women, black and white.

In one exercise, we considered the successes of previous movements for change, such as the labor movement, the civil rights movement, and the black power movement. One thing we noticed was the way these movements have been developed under hierarchical leadership, quite different from the shared leadership at ONE DC. This left everyone energized by ONE DC's mission to exercise political strength to create and preserve racial and economic equity in the Shaw neighborhood and the District. With this excitement, many of those in attendance signed up to help be part of this new movement.

In December, Ajowa Ifateyo organized a group of people at the EmergenceCommunity Arts Collective to talk about cooperatives. She reported on her experiences gained when working with coops around the country and on her trip to Mondragon -- a complex of more than 100 cooperatives in the Basque region of Spain. Stemming from this December meeting, attended by approximately 30 people, ONE DC decided that to draw on the experiences of the group to learn more about coops of all kinds and to work toward developing more coops in DC.

In January, we met again to review the 7 cooperative principles, hear the experiences of four group members regarding housing, food, and worker-owned coops, and learn about how coops have been co-opted by political parties and corporations. 

We're only at the beginning of the journey: we have a city waiting for the creation of more coops -- health coops, food coops, more housing coops, childcare coops, worker-owned coops, you name it. Send Allison an email to  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you'd like to join us or learn more about coops