Responding to the COVID-19 Crisis
The COVID-19 crisis is hurting all of us in shocking and unprecedented ways. How we deal with this crisis now is an urgent matter of life and death and financial survival for many. The impacts of the crisis also will dominate DC budget and policy decisions long after the pandemic is over.
Read more about Ed’s vision for what DC needs to do to protect DC families as we recover from this crisis.
For those seeking help
The most up-to-date and comprehensive source of information about DC-wide resources is coronavirus.dc.gov.
- For those who need help with groceries or food, please see DC’s map of all food distribution sites, or contact the Capital Area Food Bank
- For help navigating the services available to you, call the mutual aid hotline in your ward: Ward 1: 202-681-9183 • Ward 2: 202-688-5812 • Ward 4: 202-681-3098 • Ward 5: 202-643-7030 • Ward 6: 202-683-9962 • Wards 7 & 8: 202-630-0336
- If you have lost your job or need to apply for unemployment, please see these unemployment resources from DC Councilmember Elissa Silverman, and learn more about your employment rights from DC Jobs with Justice
- If you worked for cash or are an immigrant denied federal help, please get in touch with Sanctuary DMV for information on the help available to you
- Information for those seeking domestic violence assistance is available here
- If you are a small business or landlord and are looking for information on the financial resources available to you, please consult DC’s website for business recovery
For those able to offer help
- Please consider donating in support of those who were left out of local and federal relief bills:
- Relief Fund for Immigrant Families (organized by Sanctuary DMV and others)
- Relief Fund for Sex Workers (organized by No Justice No Pride, HIPS and other #DecrimNow organizations)
- Sign up to volunteer or donate to the Mutual Aid Network in your Ward
- Donate to the Capital Area Food Bank
The policy and budget steps we need to keep DC residents and businesses healthy and economically secure
The inequities that were evident in DC before are growing even wider in the COVID-19 crisis. The health, financial, and educational impacts of the crisis are falling hardest on people of color, low-income communities, immigrants and other marginalized populations.
How we deal with this crisis now is an urgent matter of life and death and financial survival for many. Making smart and bold decisions to protect public health and the financial well-being of residents and businesses is not only the right thing to do now, but it also is critical to recovering from the pandemic as quickly and fully as possible. These decisions must be made with equity in mind — with a focus on those hurt the most because they are part of a vulnerable or marginalized community — so that we don’t let the crisis widen DC’s already tragic racial and economic inequities.
Grossman, Lewis George, and Lazere, Candidates for DC Council, Seek Answers From the DC Board of Elections to Ensure Safe and Fair Elections in Light of COVID-19
The candidates are seeking answers about the Board’s planned public education campaign, the processes surrounding absentee ballot requests, and how the Board will ensure the safety of in-person voters during the June 2nd Democratic Party, the June 16th Ward 2 Special Election, and beyond.
Protecting DC Residents and Businesses Should Be DC’s Top Priority
What’s happened so far? Who’s left out? What else is needed? April is here, bringing new rent and mortgage bills. DC residents who have lost their jobs in the coronavirus crisis or suffered reductions in income, as well as small business owners, are wondering how they will be able to
Statement From Ed Lazere on DC Council and Mayor Bowser’s Decision to Leave Immigrant Workers and Others Out of the New DC Relief Package
Today, the DC Council is prepared to pass legislation negotiated with Mayor Bowser that intentionally and shamefully ignores the needs of immigrant workers and other residents who work for cash. Our leaders say the District “doesn’t have the money” to help these neighbors, who already have been excluded by the
DC needs to take steps now to protect homeless residents in Coronavirus crisis
Mayor Bowser and the DC Council have taken swift, decisive, and necessary action to pass emergency legislation to help residents and small businesses in DC. However, as we look ahead to the far-reaching consequences of this emergency, I believe we will need to do more.
DC could be doing more on COVID-19
Mayor Bowser and the DC Council have taken swift, decisive, and necessary action to pass emergency legislation to help residents and small businesses in DC. However, as we look ahead to the far-reaching consequences of this emergency, I believe we will need to do more.
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