The folks at DC Jobs with Justice have published an awesome summary of  grassroots organizing in the District throughout 2011 . I can’t help but feel warm and fuzzy when the larger progressive community recognizes the important contributions toward reproductive health, rights, and justice done by volunteers and organizations like the DC Abortion Fund and the DC Doulas for Choice. On the flip side, it is crucial to remember that our work does not exist in a silo, and that increasing access to compassionate doula care during the termination of a pregnancy is enhanced by the work for justice in the realms of labor, education, housing, gender, food, policing, and more that is being done by incredible activists throughout DC.

Check out the excerpt below and click here to read more about activism and progress in DC!

DC’S 99% PLANT SEEDS, CULTIVATE HUMAN ECONOMY
Facing a perennially corrupt and ineffective local government and several years of national bank bailouts for the 1%, DC change-makers turned to each other. Grassroots projects to create a human economy took off in 2011. The two Occupy DC** encampments churned out hundreds of free, daily meals and provided basic medical care and a library for hundreds of visitors, including some who had been recently laid off or evicted. Other volunteer-run projects like DC Doulas for Choice and DC Time Bank continued to expand opportunities for a human-centered, solidarity economy.

Just a few other examples: A new grassroots, all-volunteer foundation — the Diverse City Fund — distributed $45,000 to 23 organizations led by people of color, and the long-running DC Abortion Fund stepped in when Congress blocked Medicaid abortion reimbursement. Several large housing coops consolidated and began to plan to play roles in spreading coop values & housing rights. New worker and consumer cooperatives began exploratory work, like a potential Shaw food coop, a GWU coop cafe, and cooperatives of day laborers and child care workers seeking greater control over their economic lives. And collective farming projects continued to take root in neighborhoods like Edgewood.