Social Justice Camp DC: The Cause Behind DC’s Causes

Last Friday and Saturday, I attended Social Justice Camp DC (on Twitter). I’ve spent over a week thinking about what to write about my experience meeting, interacting and learning from these amazing people, and to be honest, I’m still kind of winging it, here. There’s just too much to say.

These people are the cause behind DC’s cause movement. There is no question in my mind that these people are some of the most important people in the District of Columbia.

These people see more pain than anyone else in DC.
These people endure more frustration than the most frustrated politicians on Capitol Hill.
These people work harder than the hardest office workers the United States has ever produced.

These people put in hours upon hours upon hours of back-breaking, mind-numbing, heart-wrenching work, all for a cause. They want to make D.C.–and the United States–a better place to live. They want to make it a better place to work, a better place to eat, and even a better place to get sick. It’s amazing.

I heard comments describing our group last weekend as “a bomb waiting to explode”, a group with “collective momentum” to change the world. One attendee, Greg Bloom, said “Web sites don’t make change, and neither do rallies”. And he’s right. These people working on these causes, right here in D.C., they’re the ones that make change. And I can see it coming. It’s beautiful.

Now after leaving the conference, I began to feel a little overwhelmed. I was thinking back to the people I heard speak, flipping through my notes, shuffling through the business cards I picked up, and I realized that there’s a lot of work to be done. There’s a lot of causes out there. There’s a lot that needs fixin’. And for me, I didn’t even know where to start.

Should I volunteer for DC Food for All and help make D.C. sustainable and feed those in need? Or should I volunteer with Miriam’s Kitchen to feed the homeless? Or maybe I should go out and volunteer with the MLK Library’s Adult Literacy Resource Center and help teach people to read. Or I could even work with the Open Forum Foundation in their push for more open government.

See what I mean? But now I’ve realized that, really, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter where you start, as long as you start somewhere. You’ve got to get out here and do something. You’ve got to pick something you’re passionate about and go for it, help out, put some weekend hours into it. It’s worth it, because this is our city. This is everyone‘s country. And we can help make it better.

Personally, I’m hoping to get involved some this semester, if I don’t collapse under the load of schoolwork. Even if not this semester, though, I’m already formulating a plan for the summer to volunteer with ten different causes on ten different weekends, ten weeks in a row. Rest assured, you’ll hear more about that as it comes close.

In the meantime, I’ve assembled a list of organizations and people I heard about and/or met last weekend. The links for organizations will take you to their Web site, where you can find out how to get involved. The links for people will take you to their Twitter profile, where you can contact them directly. And finally, if you have any questions or want to know more about my experience, you can comment and/or e-mail me at alex.priest[at]mac.com. Click the read more for the full list. Thanks for reading, looking forward to seeing you volunteering one day soon.

I’ve done my best to categorize them–some fit into multiple categories, some don’t quite fit anywhere (Hub DC, for example) but ah well. Here they all are, regardless. Please let me know if you have any causes to add to my list, I’d love to turn this into a good, updated resource for friends/family, etc. Also, if you want to be on this list or want to fill in a missing last name, let me know! Just e-mail me (or comment) with your name, Twitter and/or e-mail, Web site, whatever.

Food DC Food for All (on Twitter) Miriam’s Kitchen DC Central Kitchen Food Not Bombs Rooting DC DC Food Finder Bread for the City (on Twitter) Health Regina Holliday’s Medical Advocacy Blog Education DC Urban Debate League Baha’i DC MLK Library Adult Literacy Resource Center Facilitating Leadership in Youth (F.L.Y.) General Social Welfare Save Our Safety Net The Hub DC (on Twitter) ProgressDC New Organizing Institute (on Twitter) Crisis Camp Government & Politics Open Forum Foundation GovLuv You2Gov Politics Under 30 Sunlight Foundation OpenMeetings.org

People Aaron Ginoza – Social Justice Camp DC organizer Jennifer Bonsall – Social Justice Camp DC organizer Kelli Shewmaker – Social Justice Camp DC organizer Greg Bloom – DC Food For All, Bread for the City, ProgressDC Wayne Burke – Open Forum Foundation George Chriss – OpenMeetings.org Noel Dickover – CrisisCamp, CongressCamp, Gov2.0 Jeri Ekdahl – politics, open government, women’s issues Gabriela – Sunlight Foundation Erica Grigg – environmental David Hale – National Institutes of Health Regina Holliday – health care Ben Merrion – MLK Library, adult literacy Joni Podschun – DC Food for All Alan Silberberg – You2Gov Charise Van Liew – Facilitating Leadership in Youth DC Liz Whitehurst – various causes