Join & Support EMPOWER DC: Organizing Community Power!

Celebrating Eight Years!

EMPOWER DC

Organizing Community Power!

1419 V St, NW Washington, DC 20009 (202) 234-9119

 What does an Empowered DC look like?

  - Residents confidently advocate for themselves

- People directly impacted by issues are leading the decision making process

- Low/moderate income people are organized and effectively use their collective power to influence city policies and hold elected officials accountable

 If you share this vision, we ask that you help Empower DC!

 Renew your membership and make a donation to support Organizing Community Power!

This is an exciting time for Empower DC!  We are celebrating our 8^th Anniversary on a high note, having achieved many milestones in our development that will help secure the future of our organization. We continue to be known for Organizing Community Power among the residents in our city who are most impacted by issues of social injustice and poverty.

The Child Care for All Campaign is led by dozens of parents and providers, predominately in Wards 7 & 8, who are engaged in year-round creative action around the message “DC Doesn’t WORK without Child Care!” as they fight to save the Child Care Subsidy Program.

 The Affordable Housing campaign is building the leadership of tenants in subsidized housing like the 288-unit Tyler House Apartments in Ward 6 and helping them advocate to preserve funding for badly needed rental assistance programs in our city, where the cost of housing has skyrocketed.

The Education Campaign has empowered residents in Ward 7’s River Terrance to fight the proposed closing of their neighborhood school, and in Ward 1 the parents at Bruce-Monroe at Parkview have won improvements and continue to fight for badly needed modernization to address issues in their school building which are compromising the health of students.

In Ward 5 Empower DC is helping the Ivy City community rebuild their Civic Association, document neighborhood history, and fight for the restoration of the Alexander Crummell School (People’s Property Campaign) as a workforce and youth development center.

 
Hundreds of residents have participated in our free monthly Empowerment Circles Series, which provides training on topics like “Community Organizing 101” and “How DC Government Works.”  And the Grassroots Media Project has trained over 25 members to create audio and video stories that highlight the issues and struggles taking place in our city, which are posted online at www.grassrootsdc.org.

 As we continue to build on our successes we are excited to announce our strategic organizational goals for the coming year:

- Strategically building our base in within the Wards,

- Incorporating youth voices, and

- Fighting proposed public school closures

In addition to our ongoing campaigns, we will be mobilizing our base to fight the next round of proposed public school closings, and demand equity and investment in our low performing public schools.  Stay tuned for more info on how you can be involved in this important city-wide effort! 

As always, we remain committed to our mission to uplift DC residents most impacted by issues of social injustice and poverty in our city.  We do not accept government funding and that independence means we are not afraid of holding the elected accountable, whatever it takes.

With your involvement, we can build real collective power and bring about sustained improvements in the lives of DC residents.  Will you support the work of Empower DC by becoming a dues-paying member and donor?  Dues are only $10 per year, and donations are needed no matter how large or small! 

On behalf of everyone at Empower DC, thank you for your support!

Parisa Norouzi, Executive Director –  Parisa@empowerdc.org

Linda Leaks, Affordable Housing – Linda@empowerdc.org

Daniel del Pielago, Public Education – Daniel@empowerdc.org

Sequnely Gray, Child Care – Sequnely@empowerdc.org

Liane Scott, Grassroots Media Project – Liane@empowerdc.org