Join our youth partners at Black Swan Academy for their Black Youth Agenda (BYA) Town Hall on Tuesday, March 25!

At this youth-led event, Black youth will speak directly to the systems that impact their lives—offering real solutions rooted in their lived experience.

Topics include: Housing, Violence and Access to Youth Resources

DC is at a pivotal moment as it faces several simultaneous threats to its ability to maintain essential services—and the residents they support—amid deep economic inequality. Now more than ever, we must come together to protect DC’s transformative programs and push for greater investments in racial and economic opportunity.  

Join the DC Fiscal Policy Institute (DCFPI) for a Lunch & Learn webinar, “Policy at a Crossroads: Threats, Opportunities, and the Human Cost in DC.” This timely discussion will explore the biggest policy challenges facing the District, opportunities to advance bold solutions, what’s at stake for residents—and how you can make a difference!  

Event Details: 

Date: March 25, 2025  Time: 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM ET  Location: Virtual (Zoom) 

What You’ll Gain: 

• A deep dive into federal threats, local pressures, and economic shifts affecting DC’s Black, brown, immigrant, and low-income communities. 

• Stories from partners on the ground highlighting the potential human cost of pending threats and mobilizing in response.  

• Opportunities for advocacy—how you can push back against these attacks and support people-centered policies.  

•  A chance to engage with the DCFPI team during a live Q&A. 

We hope you’ll join us for this important conversation. RSVP today to secure your spot and stay informed on how you can help shape DC’s future. 

The Reel and Meal film series at the New Deal Café (113 Centerway, Greenbelt MD) presents the film How I Got Over on March 24 at 7pm. The film depicts the deep traumas of 15 formerly homeless and incarcerated African-American women in DC as they grapple with the social causes of their plight and transform their experiences into a sold-out performance at the Kennedy Center. The documentary covers the group’s development over 12 weeks — from acting novices to crafting an original play based on their lives through The Theater Lab’s “Life Stories” program. Deb Gottesman, Co-Founder/Co-Director of The Theater Lab at the Kennedy Center, will lead the discussion following the film. Register here to attend the film screening virtually.

Mutual aid and community is essential in times like these. The solution to combatting those feelings of hopelessness & fear is to start getting organized in your community. Show up on Monday, March 24th with Ward 2 Mutual Aid and BOL Coop to learn about mutual aid 🌱🫱🏾‍🫲🏻

Are you a federal worker that is worried about what you can and can’t say in the workplace today? Or are you worried what activities you can participate in off duty hours or groups that you can associate with? How about liking that post on social media or donating to a cause?

Come learn about your rights of expression and association as a federal worker in this one hour webinar.

Scott Michelman of the ACLU will be presenting. He has litigated a broad range of civil rights and civil liberties issues, including access to the courts, disability rights, discrimination and selective enforcement, freedom of speech and press, habeas corpus, immigrants’ rights, judicial secrecy, LGBTQ+ rights, police misconduct, political protest, post-September 11 abuse of executive power, prisoners' rights, privacy rights, religious freedom, reproductive freedom, the rights of medical marijuana patients, sentencing law, and unreasonable search and seizure. He has additionally litigated cases about class action law, consumers’ rights, and workers’ rights.

This is part of a continuing series of “Know Your Labor Rights” workshops hosted by experienced labor lawyers and veteran organizers across the metro DC area.

Join us Saturday, March 22nd for an action-packed day of teacher solutions! We have so many pressing needs in DC's education scene and DC teachers have solutions to better serve our students, families, educators and schools. Educators will present poster presentations on a wide variety of education solutions and host four choice sessions on topics like educator wellness and retention, cell phones in schools, improving math outcomes, early childhood educator support and so much more. 

If you're a DC educator and want to present YOUR solution, you can sign up here.

The 2025 Speak Out will feature invited testimony from 18 families who have personally suffered the loss of a loved one to deadly police brutality. These directly-impacted witnesses are from throughout the country, from California to Florida, from Ohio to Texas, and from the Washington DC area. There will be two sessions of testimony, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., with lunch provided between at no cost.

The event will be livestreamed and recorded. After the scheduled testimony, the Speak Out will provide an opportunity (2 – 4 p.m.) for any directly-impacted individual/family in attendance to videotape a statement. Mothers Against Police Brutality will provide a link to their video for all who make a statement, and the videos will be featured on MAPB’s website, on social media, and in other formats.

From Gandhi's Salt March to the Montgomery, AL bus boycotts, movements against injustice around the world have used strategic non-cooperation to gain power and win their demands. 

Actions like these require connected networks of leaders who know each other and understand what's at stake. They also take preparation, practice, and the skilled leadership of many people working together.

On Saturday, March 22, Free DC will hold a daylong training intensive on the key skills involved in effective non-cooperation. Attending one of our Campaign Orientations is a required pre-requisite for this training.

Location information is to come.

Join the Social Housing Working Group for its biweekly organizing meeting. Learn about its latest activities, what they're planning for the future, and how to get involved.

The Social Housing Working Group seeks to educate Metro DC DSA chapter members and the general public about social housing and to facilitate collective action in support of the passage and implementation of the Green New Deal for Housing Amendment Act.

The legislation proposes to create mixed-income, district-owned housing with market rate units that subsidize a larger number of affordable units. It's a pioneering approach that deepens affordability, invests surplus funds into the creation of more social housing, and locks-in financial sustainability. The bill also includes climate and labor standards and elected tenant boards with oversight over building management.

This event is open to both DSA Members and supporters.

In Washington, DC, skyrocketing rents, systemic displacement, and landlord abuses disproportionately harm Black and brown communities. Harriet's Wildest Dreams in partnership with Rising for Justice presents Keep DC Housed: Eviction Defense Know Your Rights Training. This session is designed to equip tenants with the knowledge and tools to fight back against eviction and defend their right to stable housing.

What We’ll Cover:

🔹 Racial Covenants & Housing Discrimination – A history of how DC’s housing policies were built on racial exclusion and how those legacies persist today.

🔹 Housing & the Carceral System – How eviction, homelessness, and criminalization are interconnected tools of oppression.

🔹 Weaponizing the Courts – How landlords use DC’s civil courts to harass and displace tenants, much like the criminal legal system targets marginalized communities.

🔹 The RENTAL Act & Policy Attacks on Tenants – How Mayor Bowser’s proposed rollbacks on tenant protections put vulnerable residents at even greater risk.

Know Your Rights: Fight Back Against Landlords Tenants have rights, but landlords count on people not knowing them. This session will break down:

✅ Your rights as a DC tenant – What landlords can and cannot do under the law.

✅ How to respond to eviction threats – Steps to take if you receive an eviction notice or court summons.

✅ Sign up to get Courtwatch trained – Join our eviction court support volunteers and help our neighbors stay housed.

DC’s housing crisis is not an accident—it’s a strategy. But we can fight back. Join us to learn how to protect your home, challenge unjust evictions, and keep DC housed.

Join the Repro Justice campaign as we meet to discuss our upcoming events, actions, and more. We will be going over our campaign, how you can get involved! RSVP for the zoom link.

This is the bi-weekly meeting of Metro DC DSA's Trans/Queer Liberation Campaign. RSVP to receive the Zoom link and join us to discuss ongoing efforts such as Project Sanctuary, our Gender & Name Change Clinics, and more!

Learn the basics of union organizing from former ATU International Organizing Director Chris Townsend.

Lunch provided.

Workplace power is built from the ground up, and having good stewards are essential in that process. Stewards are the leader and face of the union movement on the shop floor!

This workshop is designed for union members who are stewards or are considering becoming stewards to learn the best practices in this critical role from experienced militant organizers. This workshop will cover a range of steward responsibilities from filling grievances to mobilizing co-workers against management.

Want to know how the District budget works? Want to make sure that the programs you care about like transit, childcare, housing, and education are funded? Come and join ATU Local 689 for a training with the Fair Budget Coalition on DC Budget Advocacy!

All 689 members, retirees, and allies are welcome in this exciting training. If you live, work, or have people you care about in the District, this training is for you!

SATURDAY MARCH 15, 2025 | 12 - 2 PM Black Workers & Wellness Center 2500 MLK Ave. SE

FREE food Childcare, and ASL Interpretation provided! Masks strongly encouraged.

This is an HYBRID event.

Join us as we explore shifting state narratives surrounding public safety and dismantling copaganda as we build community power. We will examine how these narratives influence public perception, win community support for legislation like Secure DC, and increase reliance on policing.

In this workshop, we will delve into whether the police complaints process can address the immediate conditions caused by the perpetual war on Black people while we work towards long-term goals like ending police occupation in our communities. We will analyze how policing, copaganda, and the control of dominant safety narratives serve as tools for social control and the enforcement of oppressive systems.

Building community power in this process means raising the consciousness of our people about the nature of our oppression, developing the means to resist it, and necessary practice to wield it.

See you Saturday!

Zoom Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/1IjvOG1FRziwukrmJunaZw

Poetry Out Loud (POL) is a national competition that seeks to foster the next generation of literary readers by capitalizing on the latest trends in poetry - recitation and performance. The program builds on the resurgence of the oral art form of poetry, as seen in the slam poetry and spoken word movements. The program invites these dynamic aspects into the classroom, where teachers engage students through classroom memorization, performances, and competition.

The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation partnered with the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (CAH) to support Poetry Out Loud, a FREE high school program that encourages the nation's youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation. This dynamic program helps high school students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, learn about their literary heritage, and compete for more than $100,000 in awards.

Participating Schools:
Ballou Senior High School
Bard Early College DC
Benjamin Banneker Academic High School
Capital City PCS
Cesar Chavez PCS
DC International
The Duke Ellington School of the Arts
H.D Woodson
Jah Kente International
KIPP DC College Prep
St. Anselm’s Abbey School
Washington Latin PCS

For reasonable accommodation requests regarding access and inclusion, please contact David Markey (david.markey@dc.gov), no later than 5 business days before the start of this event.

In this info session, we will make space to contend with the current political moment and give you a snapshot of the work Harriet’s Wildest Dreams is engaged in. Our liberation is tied to one another and we need each other to do this work to protect our people — Black people, formerly incarcerated folks, queer and trans communities, and all those at risk of state sanctioned violence.

Being in the nation's capital we are at the center of the empire and also a target for far right extremists. DC is NO ONE’s playground and we must remain vigilant in our fight for statehood, our fight against mass incarceration and the fight for gender liberation and bodily autonomy for all.

If you and your friends are interested in building a better world, free from patriarchal violence, a world where queer is in, then you've come to the right place! Come sit with us as we re-imagine what this world can be and reclaim safety for all of DC.

Who Are We:

We are a Black-led abolitionist community defense hub centering all Black lives most at risk for state-sanctioned violence in the Greater Washington area.

What we do:

Our work includes legal empowerment, political and civic education, mass protest, organizing campaigns, and community care that builds alternatives to oppressive systems.

If you are in need of ASL interpretation please let us know at least 48 hours in advance.

As part of DC Reads, Casualties of Truth author Francis-Sharma will share how reading seemingly insignificant signs of discontent led to her career change from lawyer to writer, and how reading the signs in her latest novel, "Casualties of Truth" about the lasting effects of South African Apartheid, might show us the possible fall-out of our current political divide.   

Want to join the DC guaranteed income movement? Attend a "Community Conversation". Designed to be interactive, the gatherings center people with lived experience and introduce their expertise in neighborhood spaces where these stories are typically absent. Learn from a panel of advocates and pilot participant experts how guaranteed income programs are changing the lives of DC-area families. These policies can liberate people from stress the burdens of poverty by putting unconditional cash in their pockets.

Join the Community Schools Coalition for a rally and day of action!

Community schools provide critical wraparound services to students and families: everything from health care, mental care, and dental care to clothing banks and food pantries. Already, 97% of schools in Baltimore are community schools, but less than a quarter of DC's schools are able to provide community schools programming, and last year, community advocacy showed the city the need to maintain our Community Schools program. The Community Schools Coalition believes all schools should be community schools, and we need your help to make it happen! Join us in our fight to expand Community Schools programming in our city so we can better serve our students and families. 

10:30am-- Rally on steps of Wilson Building

11:30am-1:30pm-- Share your stories with DC Council members

Students, educators, families and community members encouraged to attend!

Sponsored by the Community Schools Coalition: Communities in Schools of the Nation's Capital, EmpowerEd, Latin American Youth Center, Mary's Center, WTU

Join the Bodily Autonomy Working Group for our first ever JOINT CAMPAIGN MEETING, with both the Repro Justice Campaign and Trans and Queer Liberation campaign. We will be dedicating a large portion of time to round-robin introducing ourselves, with the rest of time reporting on our campaigns, what we are doing that works, and what we can improve on.

Please fill out our interest form if you're interested in joining either of these campaigns.

Please email us at bawg@mdcdsa.org with any questions.

For further information, please check out our linktree.

We’re taking over Capitol Hill to save the years of work we’ve done to create a healthcare system that takes care of us all! We're demanding no cuts to Medicaid or Medicare, funding and protection for abortion access and lower drug prices.

Join us March 12 @ 12pm at Columbus Circle in D.C. to push back on the far-right agenda that is putting our lives at risk.

Join MDC DSA Labor for our March working group meeting. At this meeting, we will be discussing updates from ongoing labor campaigns, identifying action steps for solidarity, and sharing opportunities for further organizing.

This hybrid event is open to both DSA Members and supporters. The in-person event will be at the Shaw/Watha T. Daniel Library. Those who wish to attend virtually will be provided a Zoom registration link after registering. If you require any accommodations to participate in this meeting, please email labor@mdcdsa.org.

Mother’s Outreach Network can answer your questions! MON attorneys provide FREE brief advice on the federal Child Tax Credit, the DC EITC, the new local District Child Tax Credit pending for 2025 and more! In partnership with The Caregiver’s D.R.E.A.M @the_caregivers_dream, join us via Zoom on March 11 or April 8th at 5pm for a workshop and 1-on-1 brief consultation advice. Register here: bit.ly/MONTaxClinic2025

Come join Metro DC DSA's Social Housing working group to learn about and plug in to the movement to fight for social housing in DC!

We’re working to create an alternative to the corporate model of real estate development in our city, and to bring deeply and permanently affordable housing to DC. During the meeting, we’ll go over:

• What social housing is and the growth of the movement for it both in the US and abroad

• The history of DC’s fight for social housing & why we’re fighting for it

• Ways to plug in to our campaign to enact social housing in DC!

It’s critical DC turn a leaf on gentrification and displacement - and build housing that actually serves working class people. Join to get involved!

The event will be held at Shaw Library from 2-4 PM followed by a happy hour.

Harriet Tubman’s birthday is March 10, but we’re turning up on March 9 to celebrate her life and honor her legacy. We’re heading to Cambridge, Maryland, to walk in her footsteps, reflect on her impact, and recommit to the fight for liberation.

Join us for an inspiring day dedicated to Practice Kindness, Build Community. This year’s conference brings together educators, parents, and mindfulness practitioners to explore innovative ways to nurture mindfulness, compassion, and connection in schools, families, and communities.

What to Expect:

• Engaging Workshops: Hands-on sessions on mindfulness practices, brain science, conflict resolution, and gratitude.

• Expert Keynotes: Hear from leading voices in mindfulness education and social-emotional learning.

• Interactive Experiences: Participate in activities to build resilience, enhance well-being, and foster community connection.

• Practical Strategies: Gain tools you can immediately use to create a kinder, more inclusive community.

Who Should Attend:

This conference is perfect for:

• Educators and school leaders.

• School counselors and social workers.

• Parents and caregivers.

• Mindfulness practitioners.

• Advocates for social-emotional learning and community-building.

Whether you’re a seasoned Peace of Mind practitioner or new to mindfulness education, you’ll leave feeling inspired and equipped with actionable ideas.