About Us
Vision & Mission
We envision a District that actively pursues anti-racist policies and practices supported and substantiated by antiracist ideas and narratives. Through this pursuit, the District can repair past and ongoing harms, and produce and sustain racial justice. We commit to uprooting anti-Black racism in particular, which has served to oppress both Black and non-Black residents of color.
Our Approach
We believe the most powerful change happens when sectors move together toward shared goals.
Our work integrates:
Cross-Sector Organizing: Building relationships, creating spaces for connection, and aligning racial justice strategies across nonprofit, philanthropy, and faith-based sectors — with plans to expand to labor, media, for-profit, education, government, and the arts.
Training & Political Education: Offering full-day racial justice training and organizing workshops tailored to each sector, rooted in DC history, Critical Race Theory, Black Feminism, Popular Education, and Queer Theory.
Sector-Specific Strategies: Using data analysis, focus groups, and advisory councils to co-create 3–5 year racial justice strategies that are tailored, actionable, and aligned citywide.
We ground our approach in the realities of DC’s history and current systems, centering the voices of communities most impacted by racial inequities.
Our Focus Areas
Housing Justice: Advancing policies and practices that ensure safe, affordable, and equitable housing for all DC residents.
Educational Justice: Equitably educating all children in schools that affirm and reflect their communities.
Economic Justice: Abolishing gaps in income and wealth while creating pathways for sustainable livelihoods.
DC Autonomy: Securing full self-governance and decision-making power for DC residents.
Health Justice: Eliminating health disparities for Black, Indigenous, and people of color, and ensuring access to quality care.
Youth: Need Description
Our Story
Founded in 2022 by six veteran DC leaders representing housing, economic justice, social services, and more, Anti-Racist DC emerged to meet a clear need: coordinated, citywide racial justice strategy.
Our first steps included meeting with the Mayor’s Office, hosting four convenings in 2022 that brought together community members, nonprofits, government, researchers, and philanthropy, and identifying foundational steps toward equity.
In April 2025, we hosted Shaping Our Future: DC’s Cross-Sector Social Justice Summit, bringing together more than 250 representatives from labor, government, small business, nonprofit, philanthropy, academia, healthcare, media, arts, and more. The Summit proved that organizations are hungry to work together and in need of coordinated strategies — and that ARDC is uniquely positioned to connect them.