by DC Jobs with Justice | Jun 3, 2020 | Actions & Events
Statement from Elizabeth Falcon, Executive Director, DC Jobs With Justice on the experience of DC primary voters Yesterday, I watched as voters in my neighborhood precinct, Emory Recreation Center, stood in line for hours. Wait times for residents who arrived after about 5:00 pm were over four hours, confirmed by the fact that the last voters who arrived before 8:00 pm voted after 12:30 am. Hundreds of voters, mostly Black, stood in line to perform their civic duty. The last voters cast ballots up to six hours after DC curfew started and four hours after the public transit stopped running. These dedicated voters maintained social distance and wore masks. They affirmed their neighbors as they waited together to vote for their chosen candidates. Many have responded to the protests calling for the protections of Black lives over the last week with an urge for civic participation at the voting booth. It is a travesty that in a city where the largest group of voters are Black, that the barrier to voting on Election Day was so high. This situation could have been avoided. And it begins with the agency taking responsibility for their failings. Unfortunately, so far leadership has failed to do so. As reported in the Washington Post June 2, 2020: Michael Bennett, the chairman of the D.C. Board of Elections, acknowledged the election did not go smoothly because the agency’s technology was not able to handle the surge of absentee ballot requests, and because voting on Election Day was higher than officials thought it would be. “The good news is I’m really, really glad we had so...
by DC Jobs with Justice | May 13, 2020 | Actions & Events
This past week DC Jobs with Justice worked with community leaders and policy experts to demand that DC prioritize workers and tenants in the reopening process. Our demands included: Justice for Excluded Workers There are tens of thousands of workers in the District who will not be able to access any form of cash assistance to weather the storm of the immediate Covid-19 crisis. These workers have been excluded because of who they are or the work they perform. Their needs are particularly acute during the pandemic and must be addressed. We joined with our allies in labor and community based groups to call for DC to expand efforts at guaranteeing the economic security, safety, and health of all workers including excluded workers. Recoup Unpaid Unemployment Insurance Taxes and Limit Workplace Fraud Week after week we have seen an unprecedented numbers of workers applying for unemployment insurance and putting pressure on an already overburdened public assistance program. Meanwhile gig companies such as Uber and Lyft–whose workers have seen incomes fall dramatically – continue long-standing practices of worker misclassification and tax avoidance. DC JWJ joined with leading academics from Georgetown, CUNY, and GW to call for DC to hold these gig companies responsible for unpaid unemployment insurance taxes, ensure that workers receive the highest-level of available benefits under traditional unemployment insurance, and revise UI law to apply the “ABC test” across industries. Eliminate Barriers to Unemployment Compensation and Expanded Sick Leave DC JWJ joined with several of our allies in the Just Pay Coalition to call for two urgent actions needed to ensure that all workers have access to basic protections. As...
by DC Jobs with Justice | Apr 28, 2020 | Actions & Events
Meet Eliana Rondon, DC JWJ’s newest organizer! Volunteering in the community for almost twelve years has given me a wide range of experiences. My years of volunteering and working for nonprofit organizations consist of advocacy, youth welfare, community support, racial justice and more. My passion for community outreach stems from being raised by a strong, struggling single mother with five kids. As an Afro- Latina born in DC, coming from an immigrant family, I have encountered my fair share of inequality. As a result of my diverse cultural upbringing, I have multiple communities to account for. Despite my struggles, such as limited access, I’ve always been blessed to have individuals from the community, such as teachers and organizers, who have invested their time in me. At the age of fourteen, I decided that I wanted to give others the support and opportunity, which I was privileged to have. During my years of advocating, I’ve been working hand in hand with many impactful nonprofits and organizations. Through this I have seen a lot of results in the DC communities, but the fight is on going. I obtained my B.A in Communication and Psychology from Trinity Washington University in 2016. I currently have six years of experience in the field of communications. In addition, I enjoy writing and photography, which has continuously driven me to take courses to sharpen my skills. My goal is to help enhance resources, policies, practices, norms, which promotes equality, funding, access and opportunities. Fostering and developing the rights of humans is an essential component to the welfare and the unification of our communities. I am a...
by DC Jobs with Justice | Apr 27, 2020 | Actions & Events
The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the need to imagine alternatives to our rigged system. We hope you can join our allies in the movement on May Day for one or more of these socially distanced solidarity actions and educational events. Shut Down DC – International Workers Day Actionar and Wheat Pasting Friday, May 1st, Exact Time TBA RSVP HERE On International Workers Day, Shut Down DC will bring the stories and visions of working-class people to the nation’s capital. They are inviting all types of working people – healthcare workers, warehouse workers, grocery store workers, solid waste workers, students (students are workers too!), people working in prisons, and laid-off and unemployed workers – to share their stories and visions for the future. They will take those stories straight to the politicians and bureaucrats who are controlling our government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis. Shut Down DC will commit to making sure that every story submitted gets displayed somewhere on the streets of DC – Whether it’s wheat pasted on a bus station or projected on the side of a building. Online, they will hold an essential workers’ town hall to lift up the stories of essential workers who are laboring through the COVID-19 pandemic. WPFW – May Day 2020: Together We Stand! Friday, May 1st, 9 AM – 7 PM Tune in at 89.3 or go to https://wpfwfm.org/radio/ Which side are you on is the urgent question for May Day 2020! The global pandemic has punctuated the fact that workers vs. the corporations is the name of the governmental game. Listen Friday, May 1st, 9am until 7pm...
by DC Jobs with Justice | Apr 21, 2020 | Actions & Events, Projects
English Webinar: DC JWJ’s most recent webinar with Bread for the City, Working Families Party, Legal Aid Society of DC, DC Kincare Alliance, and DC Fiscal Policy Institute. video Recent federal and local legislation have made important changes such as: Expanded unemployment benefits Changes to how we access federal assistance New protections against technology cut-offs New procedures for elections Informacion en espanol DC Trabajos con Justicia/DC Jobs with Justice, Mary’s Center, Washington Lawyers Committee y Bread for the City presenta informacion importante para la comunidad. vídeo Los temas incluyen: – nuevas protecciones para los residentes de DC – cómo acceder a la asistencia del gobierno – cómo cuidarse y detener la propagación del coronavirus – cómo participar en las elecciones de DC para ciudadanos...
by DC Jobs with Justice | Apr 7, 2020 | Actions & Events, Projects
Dear Mayor Bowser, Our residents need assistance. Our organizations touch thousands of workers who are being left to fend for themselves as part of a community response to the deadly and fast-moving Coronavirus. Cash assistance now will stem a humanitarian disaster and mitigate racial inequities that are rising as a result of the pandemic. Excluded workers include tens of thousands of immigrant families and other workers. These people make DC work. They care for children and grandparents so others can go to their offices, they clean hotel rooms to make our hospitality sector strong, they power our new development by constructing our buildings, they keep our offices clean overnight, they wash dishes and keep bars stocked so we can enjoy our cocktails and DC’s fine dining. They are active members of the DC community. It is a matter of racial equity that we ensure these residents can access cash assistance. The population that is not covered by cash assistance is almost exclusively Black and Brown residents. Any negative impacts stemming from the lack of income and assistance will hurt not only these adults, but their children as well, further disadvantaging them. We need a response that is bigger than any of our organizations can do alone. This is the role only government can fill. The federal government has left our neighbors behind. But we cannot. The impact of local assistance to our neighbors will be multiplied. It will help our neighbors Stay Home DC and limit the need to seek informal work, leave safe housing, or leave home to access information. It will circulate in the local economy, keeping...
