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ONE DC Update on COVID-19 - Resources, Mutual Aid, Take Action to Protect Tenants!

Staring Monday, March 16, the ONE DC office (614 S St NW) will be closed and staff will work remotely.

All scheduled ONE DC meetings and events will be either cancelled or held remotely. Organizers and member-leaders will follow up with more information about the status of specific campaign and committee meetings.

Stay tuned for more info later this week about how ONE DC members can stay engaged, even as we practice social distancing by staying in our homes as much as possible.

We hope you, your families, and communities are staying well. We know this pandemic comes at a difficult time when our communities are already facing a crisis of housing displacement, unemployment and underemployment, and lack of access to healthcare due to a system of racial capitalism that values profit over meeting the needs of people. To support our ONE DC community during this time, we wanted to share the following:

Resources

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Mutual Aid

Throughout DC, people are organizing to help their neighbors through mutual aid. Mutual aid is a form of political participation in which people take responsibility for caring for one another and changing political conditions, not just through charity or symbolic acts or putting pressure on their representatives in government. Instead, this is about actually building new social relations that are more survivable.

You can find out more about ongoing opportunities and sources for mutual aid at the DC Mutual Aid Network.

If you are able to contribute time, energy, skills, or labor, you can fill out the forms below, which will connect you to groups organizing mutual aid throughout the city. You can also use the forms to ask for help, if you need help cleaning, running errands, dealing with prescriptions. Most of us will end up needing to ask for help during this crisis.

  • Ward 1
  • Ward 7 and 8: Call the hotline - 202-630-0336 - for those needing support or looking to volunteer.
  • Takoma/Ward 4
  • Ward 6

More info can be found at the DC Mutual Aid Network.

Take Action to Protect Tenants!

Landlord-Tenant Court is CLOSED through 5/1. All evictions scheduled for May 1 or earlier are stayed. There will be no hearings between now and May 1, all currently scheduled hearings will be rescheduled

Now is the time to demand an immediate rent freeze, so that landlords can't take advantage of a crisis to line their pockets.

Now is the time to demand that tenants are included in any emergency financial assistance.

Precarious tenants will be among the hardest hit by the crisis: workplaces closed, hours cut, jobs lost, tips gone, hospital bills piling up.

Pick up the phone and call the Mayor and your Councilmember to demand a rent freeze NOW! Click here for a script and numbers


Please let us know if you have any questions. The best way to reach ONE DC at this time is by emailing [email protected] or you can call and leave a message or text us at 202.760.4875.

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