Let's keep the spirit of #Giving Tuesday - Support our Movement Work!
#Giving Tuesday was this past Tuesday. We can keep the momentum going. Your support keeps our decades-long fight for racial and economic equity in Shaw and the District going. Through it all, we have remained committed to our vision to build power and advantage for communities of color, the working poor, and other groups of oppressed people through grassroots organizing and leadership development.
Based in our new Black Workers and Wellness Center, we are getting ready to open the BWWC to our partner organizations and tenants' associations. We will be hosting political education sessions, supporting the growth of worker cooperatives in DC, and backing the Cancel the Rent and Homes for All movements in the District. Help us cover the costs of furnishing the entire center for our community by donating
Tenants at the Heritage at Shaw are fighting displacement
The tenants at The Heritage at Shaw became aware this fall that MidCity Financial has plans to tear down and redevelop (mostly at market rate) four of the buildings known as Heritage at Shaw (formerly Lincoln Westmoreland II). These buildings are located at 8th & R St, right behind the Shaw Metro.
To do their planned development, they had to apply to DC’s zoning commission for permits to build the high-rise and other building specs. They are claiming that this property was vacant and had been market-rate housing, but we knew this isn’t the whole truth.
ONEDC had been organizing with tenants at this property since before 2014, so we knew that the building had been affordable since the 70s and that MidCity had used shady tactics to forcibly move 32 families out of these buildings (seemingly to prevent people from exercising their right to return to the property). So, we got back in touch with the property’s tenant association as well as many of the former residents and people who live across the street—who fear that tearing down and redeveloping this property puts them at risk of displacement next.
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After a very busy few weeks organizing with ONEDC members and tenant leaders, we testified at a recent Zoning Commission hearing on October 20, 2022. We had several big wins at this meeting
First, we were granted official status, which means that the zoning commission will notify us of all updates to the property and will be required to address our concerns in writing!
Second, we laid the groundwork to secure right of return for tenants at this property and started a larger conversation for the commission about right of return and protecting 1-1 affordability in the zoning commission process.
Third, we’ve built new relationships with tenants, who exercised their political power in community by coming together to share experiences and provide evidence about MidCity’s failures. As a bonus, these experiences were recorded in the official DC record and will have to be addressed before this development can move forward!
Fourth, we have made it much more difficult for MidCity to attempt to use these same shady tactics at the property across the street, the 800 side of 8th and R. We’ve always been watching and telling on them and what they’ve done, but now, the zoning commission is watching too, because we came together, exercised our power, and told our stories.
There’s a very clear process ahead, including meeting with MidCity and reporting back to the commission ahead of the next hearing on December 15. To help organizing with tenants at Heritage at Shaw, email Rosemary [email protected] or Haley [email protected] and we’d love to have your support!
Homes For All DC - October Tenant Leader Workshop
In October, the neighbors at Franklin Arms tenants association gathered together to have their first outhouse style barbeque where residents, led by ms Taniya Rogers, discussed key issues and concerns and also enjoyed fellowship and delicious food! Lots of new folks came out! As of this writing, the Franklin Arms tenants association is officially registered and hosting regular meetings. Their next step is to form a campaign strategy to address issues of mold, leaks, gas, and more. 
The Community barbeque was followed by a tenant leader workshop. Tenant leaders from across the city came together over Zoom for a most eventful and informative October leadership workshop, where we discussed balancing work and wellness as leaders, rent control and just cause evictions, and growing powerful leadership in the community. We had loads of fun and got to have dinner together during the workshop too!
ONE DC Member Appreciation Event - December 17th.
We are hosting our annual member appreciation event on December 17th at the Black Workers & Wellness center, located at 2500 Martin Luther King Jr Ave, SE.
We are inviting you, as we celebrate our accomplishments and lessons learned throughout 2022.
Member Appreciation is a time for our community to celebrate and give collective thanks to ONE DC members, donors, supporters and volunteers for your support this year in organizing for racial and economic equity. Please, RSVP to let us know you will be attending.
Travel to Cuba with Answer Coalition
The Cuba and Venezuela Solidarity Committee is organizing an important trip to Cuba during the winter holiday time. The delegation will travel on a legal general license under the U.S.-permitted category of "Support for the Cuban people."
In addition to cultural and educational visits, they will meet with medical providers in their clinics, and bring medicines for the Cuban people that are in short supply due to the effects of the 60-year U.S. blockade.
They will share conversations with Cubans in all walks of life, from primary school children returning from holiday vacation, to people in their neighborhoods working to improve their community.
The trip begins in Havana on Friday, December 30 and return to the U.S. is Sunday, January 8. They will visit other provinces such as Matanzas, which has overcome a number of challenges in the last year, from the COVID-19 pandemic to the massive fire at the Supertanker oil base. They will also go to Pinar del Río to help work with their recovery.
Like a phoenix, Cuba always rises. Speaking of the COVID pandemic alone, Cuba's scientists developed several vaccines, three of which have covered the entire population with full vaccination, resulting in extremely low positive cases since last year.
The Cuban people are very friendly and welcoming, and in addition to our support, they will learn a great deal on how their free health care system and education works. They will learn from Cubans of their famed solidarity with people around the world and right here in the U.S. And They'll also learn from the Cuban people how they are affected by the U.S. blockade, and what they can do to actively oppose that illegal policy.
You don't have to know Spanish! There will be an interpreter the whole time with them.
To learn more about the trip contact [email protected]