From powerful panels to community connections, it was a day rooted in justice and collective action.

DC Broccoli City Festival

We hosted a booth at the DC Broccoli City Festival, during which we engaged people in culturally relevant ways to contribute to the vision of an antiracist DC, rally them to the cause, and sign them up for our newsletter and engagement list for future events and our larger body of work. 

Learn about a project that began in 2014 to document the former extent of racially restricted housing in DC, along with other historic mechanisms of segregation and racialized displacement. Covenants laid the basis for demographic patterns reinforced by exclusionary zoning, redlining, and unequal investment. They helped make residential segregation the norm. Audience members were invited to sign up to help map covenants in Southeast and Northwest DC, including Ward 3.  Led by Historian Sarah Jane Shoenfeld, co-founder of the public history project Mapping Segregation in Washington DC and a member of Undesign the Redline DC’s Community Advisory Group.

How is racial and economic displacement shaping the Ward 3 we live in today? What might it look like for Ward 3 to shift that exclusionary trajectory? This panel will explore creating a positive vision of the future for Ward 3–one that will compete with negative narratives and highlight a potential path for creating change. The Washington Interfaith Network (WIN) is a city-wide, multi-racial, multi-faith, nonpartisan citizens’ power organization that represents 45 faith and other institutions from all eight wards of the District, organizing our communities to give voice to the underrepresented. Affordable, healthy, and safe housing has been WIN’s signature issue since its WIN’s founding in 1996. WIN’s Ward 3 team is working to bring more housing opportunities to upper Northwest DC for households earning a wider range of incomes.  Anti Racist DC is a coalition of individuals and organizations committed to building an antiracist DC. This means a District that actively pursues antiracist policies and practices buttressed and substantiated by antiracist ideas and narratives. Through this pursuit, DC can repair past and ongoing harm and produce and sustain racial and ethnic equity. Anti Racist DC has committed to uprooting anti-Black racism in particular, which has served to oppress both Black and non-Black residents of color. Panel members included Erica Williams, Executive Director, DC Fiscal Policy Institute; Rev. Ryane Nickens, Founder and Director of the TraRon Center; Alison Dunn-Almaguer, Executive Director, WIN; and Abel Nunez, Executive Director of CARACEN in Washington, DC. Anti Racist DC Organizing Committee Member Kimberly Perry, Executive Director of DC Action, moderated the discussion.

Funder Briefing

The purpose of this briefing was to introduce you to our vision and plan for DC to become an anti-racist city, share with you information and updates about the initiative and our accomplishments to date, and how you can partner with us to achieve the vision going forward.  

Private Film Screening & Strategy Session

We held a private screening of critically acclaimed and award-winning filmmaker Merawi Gerima’s Netflix film “Residue,” followed by a conversation with Merawi and DC’s top thought leaders to respond to the current moment and reimagine an anti-racist DC that can be sustained. During this exclusive event, participants heard from filmmaker Merawi about how his upbringing in DC shaped his film "Residue" and will share their insights about what it will take to realize this vision of an anti-racist DC. 

Cross-Sector Engagement

On Monday, February 6, 2023 members of the organizing committee had the pleasure of a dinner-conversation at RIS hosted by fellow organizing committee member Alex Orfinger (Publisher of the Washington Business Journal), and Richard K. Bynum (Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer for PNC Financial Services Group). They both committed their time to learn about the Anti-Racist DC Vision, the Campaign, and personally invited their colleagues at other large corporations to join them that evening. The ten business leaders in attendance came from large corporations representing healthcare executives, professional business consultants, developers and property management executives, in addition to other financial institutions. 

Anti-Racist DC Convening

Building a Foundation for an Anti-Racist DC with special guests David Lubell of Welcoming International and Elizabeth Reynoso of Living Cities.

Anti-Racist DC Convening

Advancing Antiracism in Organizations: The good, the bad, and the stuff no one talks about. Guest speaker: Tori O'Neal, Principal, O'Neal Consulting.

A discussion about how we co-create and achieve the vision, including, as a starting point, shared learning experiences and mapping existing anti-racist and equity initiatives.

A virtual conversation with a cross-sector panel of leaders from across the country about what anti-racist work looks like in their communities. Guest speakers: Brion Oaks (Chief Equity Officer, City of Austin), Julie Nelson (GARE), Dr. Rashad Jefferson (Mary's Center), Amber Hewitt (Chief Equity Office, DC), Rachel Godsil (Perception Institute), Kellee Coleman (Office of Equity, City of Austin), Lee Anderson (Minnesota Coalition on Racial Equity), and Mayor Muriel Bowser.