March Newsletter: Continuing a legacy of Black resistance, resilience, and self-reliance against all odds.

A Word from Iris

There’s so much going on ya’ll. Countries and folks we love experiencing war, famine and genocide, an upcoming presidential election that is breeding fear and anger and a world that seems less and less interested in creating real liberatory change. If we’re struggling it’s because we aren’t meant to be excelling in times of peril. 

In the spirit of Women’s History Month and with the revolutionary energy carried over from Black History Month, I want to pause and recognize some Black led organizations we’ve worked with that are continuing a legacy of Black resistance, resilience, and self-reliance against all odds. Get involved or support them if you can. And if you can’t, let this be a reminder to connect with those around you and recommit to communal liberation.

IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
Black Lives Matter DC

The member-based abolitionist organization uses diverse tactics to support the liberation and empowerment of our communities, and centers the Black people most at risk for state violence in D.C. BLM DC does incredible activism and communal care work, including funding housing stability for Black trans women, funerals for those lost to violence, legal representation for folks arrested during direct actions, and much more.

Black Swan Academy
This non-profit mobilizes and makes room for the empowered Black youth of D.C.’s least-served communities. BSA youth learn skills and tools to not only succeed throughout life, but also become active social catalysts in their communities today. 

Bread for the City
This DC non-profit provides food, clothing, medical care and legal and social services to reduce the burden of poverty. Bread for the City knows poverty has its roots in racism and works to end it both internally within their own organization and externally through incredible community advocacy and organizing. 

Critical Exposure
This DC youth serving organization teaches young folks photography as an organizing tool to express their voices. They are helping to create an incredible generation of folks working towards educational equity and social justice. 

East of the River Mutual Aid
In 2020, a coalition between Black Swan Academy, Peace House DC, Peace Fellowship Church, Black Lives Matter DC, and others formed to provide fresh produce and other groceries, cleaning supplies, diapers, hygiene items, and COVID vaccine access to folks across Wards 7 and 8, at no cost. EORMA is an entirely volunteer-run operation and has made tens of thousands of deliveries to date.

Harriet's Wildest Dreams
This Black-led community of abolitionists engages in a broad range of efforts toward community defense and liberation in the D.C. area, including legal empowerment and defense, political and civic education, mass protest, community organizing campaigns, and community care. Their various training programs have created an intergenerational wave of skilled organizers, medical observers, cop and court watchers, and other righteous disruptors who are equipped to make their communities safer. 

OUTSIDE D.C.
Black Dirt Farm Collective
We are so energized by this collective of farmers, educators, scientists, agrarians, seed keepers, organizers, and researchers working to restore the severed relationship between Black and brown communities, and our afro-diasporic roots in agricultural science and activity. With race, gender, and class justice as a center, BDFC’s initiatives throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast offer training, and seek systemic solutions to empower frontline communities against environmental injustice.

Black Feminist Future
In this Atlanta-based advocacy group, Black women, girls and gender-expansive members choose the agenda, then gain the leadership and civic skills needed to advance these social justice goals. Using a Black feminist lens, the organization develops leaders, promotes Black feminist thought in mainstream spaces, and builds strategic networks for liberation throughout the country. 

Brooklyn Movement Center
The BMC is a Black-led, direct-action and community organizing group focused on jobs, healthcare, and housing access, quality public education, and putting an end to policing and incarceration. Founded in 2011, the organization has done so much to advocate for the needs of Black and brown residents as New York descends further into the effects of gentrification and oppressive policing policies.

Land Based Jawns
Inspired by the lessons of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower, this organization trains Black women, femmes, and non-binary people on agriculture, land-based living, safety, and carpentry. Through collaborations and partnerships, LBJ offers programs to help ourselves and our communities become collectively self-sufficient, self-reliant, and self-determined.