Hiya Friend, This is Kristen from Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America (MDC DSA). We’ve enjoyed your participation in the past, whether for Bernie or otherwise. And now we want to see more of you--even if only virtually for now. 🌹🌹🌹In short, We Want YOU! 🌹🌹🌹 Below are a few easy, first steps to get and stay more involved:

🌹 FIRST thing you should do is confirm you’re subscribed to our Metro DC DSA Weekly Update Email and add us [[email protected]] to your contacts list so you never miss one. Also, forward it to friends and encourage them to subscribe. Subscription includes the monthly Washington Socialist newsletter with long-form articles. Anyone can subscribe here LINK by entering their information--And please know we always keep all your data private and protected.*

🌹 EVENTS, ACTIVITIES, ORGANIZING: 🌹

~Please note that all events are currently remote via the internet~

🌹 SECOND, we’ve got various opportunities for you to learn, mobilize and socialize. A key way you can stay involved is to join us on one of two platforms and register for upcoming events. Keep checking back for newly posted events.

Meetup** at www.meetup.com/mdcdsa -OR- Facebook at www.facebook.com/MetroDCDSA/

Once we return to in-person events, please also join us for a hangout after each event at a local bar or eatery. We catch up with old friends and meet new ones.

You want to LEARN? Join a session of Socialist Night School. You can learn and discuss the nature and tenets of socialist ideology, organizing, and action. We have recordings of past sessions. Our upcoming session is:

Mon, May 11th at 6:30 PM EDT

FBI, Political Surveillance, and Repression of Dissent. [Meetup LINK].

Join our monthly General Body Meetings. We not only address agenda items and receive updates, we break into small group discussions so we participate in a heavily democratic process and build community. Usually meetings have a theme. The next meeting is:

Sunday May 17 at 3pm

Theme: Anti-Racism and Socialism [Meetup LINK]

Virginia and Maryland Branches:

If you live in Montgomery County, we have a MoCo Branch of MDC DSA where you can make friends and organize with working people in your neighborhoods. Their site is HERE. They have regular Branch Meetings, typically on the first Sunday of the month. An upcoming meeting is on June 7 at 2:00pm [Meetup LINK]. Reach out via email: [email protected].

Twitter handle: https://twitter.com/MoCo_DSA

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DSAMoCo/

If you live in Northern Virginia you can check out our NOVA Branch of MDC DSA. They have regular branch meetings to attend. Next session is:

NOVA Branch Organizing Meeting

Thursday, May 21, 2020, 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM EDT [Meetup LINK].

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @dsa_nova

🌹🌹WORKING GROUPS:🌹🌹

🌹THIRD, Get active in causes you care about with a like-minded community!

Below are a few of our work-groups you can engage with. Please email or join an upcoming event.

Housing Justice

Some of our chapter’s most activated work centers on housing justice. There are multiple ways to get involved.

Rent Control Working Group: DC’s rent control expires 12/31/20. Our work-group is a local leader in mobilizing demands for the DC Council to protect and expand rent control. Join us as we organize for rent control and fight for housing justice.

Email: [email protected]

Stomp Out Slumlords: On-the-ground organizing to build tenants’ power to fight the landlord class. We partner with the DC Tenants Union and the local housing activist network. During the COVID-19 crisis, we’re involved with a Cancel Rent campaign and rent strikes.

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://stompoutslumlords.org/

Twitter: @StompSlumlords

Migrant Justice

We challenge the apparatus of private contractors that comprise the detention and deportation machine and work to end detentions. We accomplish this through research and actions in partnership with like-minded organizations.

  Email: [email protected]

The NoVA branch and MoCo branches also have localized Migrant Justice Campaigns focusing on issues specific to Virginia and Montgomery County, MD. Check-out NOVA’s upcoming meeting:

NOVA Branch DSA Migrant Justice Campaign

Sunday, May 10th at 1pm [Meetup LINK]

Labor

The Labor Working Group organizes with workers across the DMV to fight bad bosses, build new unions, and turn out for solidarity actions.

Campaigns: Repeal Right to Work in VA - Service Sector Organizing - Unionize Your Workplace workshops - Strike and contract solidarity

Next meeting: Soon to be scheduled so reach out via email or watch Meetup.

Email us at [email protected] and we’ll promptly respond.

Twitter: @MDCDSA_Labor

Website: http://dcdsalaborworkinggroup.com/

Ecosocialism Caucus

This group seeks to build local power for climate & environmental justice with the backing of a national network.

Multiple campaigns: #NoPepco - ShutDownDC - Green New Deal - Reading Groups

Join the next meeting:

Caucus Meeting

Saturday, May 9th at 3pm [Meetup LINK]

Meeting direct sign-up, if possible [LINK]

Topics: We'll give updates on our No Pepco campaign, talk about what we accomplished during the Earth Day to May Day actions with ShutdownDC, and continue our reading club. New and old members welcome!

Please email us at: [email protected].

Publications Team

For those of you who are (or aspire to be!) artists, writers, journalists and historians, the Publications team could always use your help. Publications manages a diverse range of activities that are respectful of anyone’s time commitment or personal passions.

Publications helps manage our website, publish our monthly online magazine (the Washington Socialist), build graphics and art, review and maintain our historical articles and statements, and ensure our weekly newsletters remain informative and compelling.

The group is consistently active in the #publications channel, but feel free to contact [email protected] to ask about how you might get involved!

Electoral Work

Although Bernie suspended his campaign, MDC DSA is on the front lines of electing leftists in the region. DSA put AOC and others in Congress, and we work to replicate that and other successes.

Janeese for DC Ward 4

MDC DSA has endorsed Janeese Lewis George for the Ward 4 D.C. Council race, and we're phonebanking every day from now through the primary on June 2. Once you’re trained, you can join us anytime. Janeese has real momentum with endorsements from DC Attorney General Karl Racine, BLM-DC, unions, and many progressive groups.

Make Calls! Make Calls! Visit our site [LINK] or email [email protected] and [email protected] or send us a text at (616) 795-0187‬.

Mckayla Wilkes for MD-5

MDC DSA endorsed McKayla Wilkes, Democratic Party Candidate for the 5th District in Maryland. She represents the interests of the people, rather than corporate America. The primary election date is June 2. MD-5 covers portions of Prince George's County.

Learn more and get involved by emailing: [email protected]

🌹🌹🌹We want you to become an MDC DSA Member!🌹🌹🌹

🌹FOURTH, we want YOU as an official, card-carrying member. If you live in the District or the surrounding counties of VA and MD you are eligible. Becoming a Member brings you most directly into our community of activists and friends for life. Socialism isn’t just a movement, we’re brothers and sisters that share each others’ ups and downs.

This LINK directs you to the membership sign-up page. Please know that dues are on a sliding scale depending on what you personally can contribute. Introductory dues are $10/month or $45 annually, with suggested amounts lower or higher depending on what you feel you can afford. No one should be prevented from becoming a member due to cost concerns, during or after the pandemic.

DSA members receive our quarterly magazine, Democratic Left, can join us on Slack, have a chance to vote in our elections, and receive a snazzy membership card sure to impress potential romantic partners.

🌹FIFTH, Once you join, please hang with us on Slack, where we centralize much of our organizing, friendships, and memes. Once you receive your welcome email, forward it to [email protected] and ask to be added to Slack. You’ll receive a link to Slack that should immediately plug you in.

To ask general questions or request a call with a Member to learn more, please email us at: [email protected] or call us at (202)-780-6430.

We hope you stay engaged in whatever capacity you can.

MDC DSA is a chapter of the national DSA, the largest socialist organization in the U.S. Our chapter has grown into a potent force for change locally in the DMV, but also nationally as we leverage our proximity to the nation’s capital.

We organize to build workplace democracy, demand a right to housing, confront immigration detention profiteers, stand up to Amazon, ensure a just transition, and fight fascism.

Join us.

*Here’s the DSA USA Privacy Policy. Many MDC DSA members work sensitive jobs where optics matter so we take every additional precaution to ensure that our members’ names and PII are carefully protected--you control how out you’ll be about your affiliation.

**Note: If you want to stay anonymous, your best option is to create an account on Meetup and use a pseudonym.

Follow us on twitter at: https://twitter.com/mdc_dsa

Join us on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MetroDCDSA/