Since the pandemic hit, Greater Washington’s unemployment rate has grown from 3.5% in to 8.5%. Our Black and brown neighbors have been amongst the hardest hit, especially immigrant workers and women of color. These populations are also disproportionately employed in low-wage, essential jobs, exposing them to COVID-19 at much higher rates than those working at home.
Throughout the pandemic, we’ve stayed in conversation with our community about how we can care for our region’s workforce in the short-term—and how we can create greater equity in the long-term.
Tune in below for several recent events we hosted or participated in, which examine urgent workforce justice issues in our region.
VoicesDMV Social Justice Town Hall
Ensuring Equity for Small Businesses and Entrepreneurs
In our recent VoicesDMV Community Insights survey, we found that more than 1 in 6 of our Black and African American neighbors rated the availability of good jobs in the area where they live as poor. As part of our VoicesDMV Social Justice Town Hall series, we invited local thought leaders to discuss how small business and entrepreneurship can be tools for addressing unemployment and ensuring economic equity.
The Urban Institute’s Evidence to Action Series
Responding to the COVID-19 Crisis: Providing Direct Cash Assistance to DC Residents
In this Urban Institute virtual event, our President and CEO Tonia Wellons joined a panel of Urban Institute and local nonprofit experts to discuss the THRIVE East of the River program. THRIVE provides direct cash and food assistance to help DC residents weather the pandemic.
This conversation explored what people living on low incomes in Ward 8 are experiencing amid the pandemic, and provided context for those experiences, especially the history of structural racism and segregation in Washington, DC.
WAMU’s Kojo Nnamdi Show
Low wage workers: the pandemic’s forgotten
Our local economy depends on thousands of low-wage workers, but many lost their job when the coronavirus pandemic shut the region down, and they were unable to pay their rent. Rent protection has expired in Virginia, and it is set to expire in D.C. and Maryland.
Are we at the cusp of seeing a massive increase in evictions and homelessness, and food insecurity for low-wage workers?
Join Kojo Nnamdi, along with our President and CEO Tonia Wellons; Radha Muthiah, President and CEO of Capital Area food Bank; Dipti Pidikiti-Smith, Deputy Director of Advocacy, Legal Services of Northern Virginia; and William “Sandy” Darity, Samuel DuBois Cook Distinguished Professor of Public Policy, Duke University to discuss.