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 other families afloat. And it will preserve the health and well being of our children who are already missing the social and educational value of school.
We urge you to act quickly to get assistance into the hands of our families who need it.
Sincerely,
8th Day Church
Adult Education Educator
American Friends Service Committee- DC Peace and Economic Justice
Angel Rose Artist Collective
Asylum Seeker Assistance Project
Black & Indigenous Transgender Safehaus
Bread for the City
Briya Public Charter School
Briya Public Charter School
Calvary Baptist Church
Calvary Episcopal Church
Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle
Catholic Charities
Central American Resource Center
Cleveland Park Congregational UCC
Cochair Washington National Cathedral Sanctuary Committee
Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador – DC Chapter
Congregation Action Network
DC Fiscal Policy Institute
DC for Democracy
DC Jobs With Justice
DC Statehood Green Party
DC Statehood Green Party
Diáspora en Acción
Disciples Refugee & Immigration Ministries
Family Values at Work
First Shift Justice Project
Jews United for Justice
Jubilee Housing, I nc
Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor the Working Poor at Georgetown University
Laborers/LiUNA Local 11
Latino Economic Development Center
Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia
LISC DC
LiUNA Local 11
Many Languages One Voice
Mary’s Center
Mary’s Center
National Center for Transgender Equality
Pawsitive Palz
Plantita Power
Positive Force DC
Restaurant Opportunities Center DC
RESULTS DC
Sanctuary DMV
SEIU32BJ
Showing Up for Racial Justice DC
South Asian Rapid Response Initiative & Justice for Muslim’s Collective
Teaching for Change
The Family Place, Inc.
The Festival Center
The Platform of Hope
Trans-Latinx DMV
UNITE HERE LOCAL 23
UNITE HERE LOCAL 25
United We Dream
Washington Ethical Society Immigtration Team
We Are Family Senior Outreach Network
Yoga con Sazón