August 2003: Poor People's Right to Housing March Helps Unite City's Poor to Get Our Voices Heard:

Poor people's groups from across the city, and the nation, marched from the National Mall to Freedom Plaza to say that we aren't going to take it anymore. The march was part of the weeklong Bushville organized by the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign and KWRU. Friends and Residents helped organize this march to amplify the voices of all the poor.

• More information
  Housing Day Front Page and Photos
  Washington Post article on Agnes, member of F&R (outside link)

August 2003: Message to Property Owners: We'll Fight Eminent Domain with You...
Friends and Residents recently announced that it will help property owners facing hostile takeover of their property for the HOPE VI project. We will work with them to stop the government from seizing property for a project that clearly will result in the removal, and not assistance, of the current residents. more

Kelly gets near-failing progress report: On the same day that DC Public Schools issued progress reports for city students, Friends and Residents delivered a progress report of their own to Michael Kelly, executive director of DC Housing Authority.

• More information:
  Media page
  Progress Report page 1 pdf
  Progress Report page 2 pdf

May 2003: DCHA Kicks Youth and Other Residents from May 7 Community Meeting:
Anyone under the age of 18 was removed from the May 7 community meeting. Residents were threatened with arrests if they "disagreed at the meeting" and organizers were barred from participating. more

Free Speech Radio News Coverage
Links to Free Speech Radio News May 8 broadcast, we are covered in the first 3-4 minutes in the "headlines" section

 

07/21/03
Planning for Tent City

The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign is planning a tent city following a march from Mississippi to DC. The march and tent city are to commemorate the 35th anniversary of Dr. King's poor people's campaign, march and tent city. Friends and Residents is working closely with KWRU and other organizers to help host the tent city. On July 21 we hosted a community meeting to bring organizers from throughout DC to start planning logistics and other details of the event.

Tent city planning meeting photo gallery... (click to enlarge)

07/19/03
2003 Leadership Retreat

We took some time away from our daily struggles to stop and reflect on where we have been, how we got there and where we're going. The retreat was at Todd's house and lasted all afternoon. We made personal maps that recalled how we got to be involved as leaders in Friends and Residents, and then made a timeline of our organization. A lot of time was spent listing our lessons learned and how to apply these lessons in future plans. We plan to have more retreats in the future, as we develop an overall strategy to ensure that the human right to affordable housing is met for all people.