This is basically our job now,” Mary told me, “protecting the Republic.”
I had just asked her why it was important for her and her partner, Josh, to attend the April 5 “Hands Off” protest at the Washington Monument. Mary carried a sign that said “GOP cowards complicit” on one side and got more explicit on the other. Josh’s sign showed a photo of Russian President Vladimir Putin walking down a snowy street, holding a leash; at the other end was President Donald Trump, on his belly in the snow. “Owned,” it said. Their dog wore a vest that read “Reject Autocracy.” They’d put some time into it.
Mary and Josh live near Garfield Park on Capitol Hill. They had been teaching abroad for years, in Brazil, Japan and Kenya. before retiring and returning home just before the November 2024 Election. “We’ve been upset ever since,” Josh said.
“This is a tough time for everyone in the country, and DC—with the GOP holding up the [DC] budget, it’s something to really be worried about,” Mary said. Both cited their concerns about the welfare of the city and the federal workers they know.
Mary and Josh were two of an estimated 100,000 people who converged on the Washington Monument that day, including numerous residents of the Hill. But although it was the largest visual demonstration of opposition to the policies of the Trump istration in his second term, it was not the only way that residents have shown up to demonstrate dissatisfaction with action taken by the istration, or to work for the good of the District and the nation.
Defending Democracy
One group that attended Hands Off DC the same day as Mary and Josh was Defending Democracy. Defending Democracy is organized as an affinity group out of Capitol Hill Village (CHV), the local organization that s seniors aging in place on the Hill with cultural and services. The group of older adults was created to protect DC home rule, federal workers and defend democracy and felt compelled to be among the crowd voicing dissatisfaction on April 5. Largely composed of individuals over 60, the group brings many talents and skills to the work. Many are retired Federal workers themselves or have children who are in the federal workforce. “We’ve got a big group of seniors who are motivated and can provide specific expertise and perspective, and many of us have decades and decades and decades of demonstrating and political organizing under our belts,” said Barbara Fox, who agreed to spearhead the group after a CHV-sponsored discussion on defending DC democracy in February.
Fox says Defending Democracy is made up of a very organized, thoughtful, ionate group of people. have “a unique perspective for being our age, really,” Fox noted, “because we have arguably less political exposure than people who may be here on visas, or are protecting current job positions, or are custodial parents.” While may be worried about issues that directly affect them, such as the fate of Social Security, they also feel a sense of duty. “We have the ability — and I think, the sense of obligation — to take a leading role in doing whatever we can to help save democracy,” Fox said.
Defend Democracy meets every two weeks to plan and work, and collaborates with other organizations to participate in protests and actions, such as the April 22 demonstration outside the Supreme Court in of LGBTQ characters in classroom literature.
While the group is still formulating precise actions and goals, Fox says that they aren’t trying to reinvent the wheel. They’re tapping into the organizations already doing the work. Many member of Defending Democracy are also of Free DC. Email [email protected] for information or to get involved with Defending Democracy at CHV.
Serve Your City Ward 6 Mutual Aid
The sudden and extreme changes at the federal level already have a tremendous domino effect on families throughout the District It is bound to compound as the ramifications are felt throughout the economy and the city. As federal grants and resources are pulled back, it is the folks with the least that suffer first, said Serve Your City DC/Ward 6 Mutual Aid Executive Director Maurice Cook, and it is their mission to ensure they are not lost amongst the focus on the effect on the well-educated.
“People with resources are understandably hurt by the changes,” Cook said. They are now experiencing fear of an actual material loss that the people that we serve have never not felt because the people usually ed by SYC W6MA have never had many resources to miss. The poorest people are struggling more because their benefits have been impacted, he added, “and because there are less people have the capacity to be in of their well being,” said Cook. “Now, when the givers need themselves, the people who are the beneficiaries are hurting even more.”
Serve Your City DC (SYCDC) has been stepping into that breech for since 2009 and has been the Ward 6 Mutual Aid (W6MA) Hub since 2020. The group of neighbors ing neighbors provides the poorest District families with needed resources and opportunities. Mutual Aid provides critical resources, such as food and household cleaning supplies. They also fill breeches in education, providing a backpack full of school supplies, including iPads or laptops, annually to 2,000 students. Plus, they offer educational and enrichment opportunities, such as after-school programming, tutoring, and food and supply distribution to more than 2,000 people. But Cook says he expects the need to increase even as the resources dwindle.
There are more and more people who need , and there are less resources to provide that , so that is thinner across the board,” he said.
Free DC
Free DC is a movement to win residents of the District of Columbia the right to full self-governance. The group works to protect DC Home Rule and towards a future where DC is a state. Free DC works with other, long-standing organizations such as Harriet’s Dreams and the East of the River Family Collective, drawing on the strengths of each.
In March, Free DC showed up at the offices of Representatives every day for a week to pressure them to restore the District’s budget. Founded in 2023 after Congress overturned DC’s revised Criminal Code, the organization has regular meetings, including campaign orientations for new held twice a month. Free DC has working groups that focus on areas of interest, such as labor or youth. They also have teams in each of the eight wards, which meet once a month.
Jamie attended Free DC’s Ward 6 Community KickOff. She asked not to use her real name, unsure how it would affect her employment. “I’m just frustrated with the chaos that I can see happening in the District and afraid of what the President could do,” she said. “I was so afraid, I just decided: I need to get out and do something.”
She needs to earn a living, but outside of that, she wanted to direct her energy in a positive way. She is really afraid the nation is headed towards an autocracy, and that the District could be the first casualty. She sees Free DC as part of the vanguard in that fight. “This is a time to focus our energies,” she said. Free DC at freedroject.org.
Fighting under the Radar
Some Parent Teacher Organizations (PTOs) have been movers behind recent protest efforts. But they are not announcing this work online or at meetings, because many of the local parent leaders on the Hill are themselves federal workers, or employees of non-profits whose income streams have been imperiled by federal cuts.
Still, they work. In response to recent cuts to the budget, parent leaders drafted a sign-on letter and organized families to attend actions the April 7 Recess at the Capitol where hundreds visited the offices of lawmakers to ask them to restore the District’s budget to avoid cuts to schools and summer programming. That was organized by a coalition including Free DC and Empower DC. But many families answered the call of their parent groups.
They are just one of several loosely connected groups that come together—across schools, churches, and street corners—to plan actions that often appear spontaneous. Other activities are coordinated through social media posts and listservs.
In February, many Hill residents ed “clap outs” to show appreciation for federal workers, including those at USAID and the Department of Education, who were briefly allowed to enter their offices to collect personal belongings. Some participants brought boxes and packing supplies—since none were provided—while others offered snacks, drinks, or held signs with messages like “The World Thanks You.”
Volunteers have also gathered at metro stations such as Federal Triangle, where federal employees commonly commute. With signs of appreciation, they hand out postcards bearing simple messages like “Thank you for your service” and “We love federal workers.”
The impact of these gestures was deeply felt. “You absolutely made my day—and probably hundreds of others’,” one employee wrote in a thank-you message posted to social media. “I walked into my office with happy tears in my eyes. Thank you.”
