Immigrant workers are outside the Wilson Building this morning asking the D.C. Council to restore the $20 million in financial assistance for excluded workers that Mayor Muriel Bowser took back in her revised 2023 budget proposal.

The money was allocated by the council last year, but hasn’t been disbursed at all thus far. (Story: dcist.com/story/22/05/25…) I asked Phil Mendelson about it yesterday, and he was non-committal on whether he could get the money back.

I'm disappointed to see Councilmember Zachary Parker’s proposal fall short. It pains me that we have not made good on our promise to excluded workers – I will work w/colleagues now til May 30 on finding funds.

We’re at Phil Mendelson’s house today to tell him to keep his promise to Excluded Workers and restore the funds that @MayorBower stole! Join us by taking one minute to send a letter to the Mendo and ask him to not exclude excluded workers again: bit.ly/keep-your-prom…

Excluded workers stand in the council chambers as the council votes on whether they commit to using any excess revenue that comes in to support an increase in SNAP benefits and the $20M that was brutally swiped from excluded workers. #NoMeExcluyas

Please support if you can - Solomon has been a leader with Excluded Workers DC since the start of the pandemic. His leadership has helped win more than $60 million for excluded workers & now he needs support replacing tools for work that were stolen Venmo: Deborah Cruz Vargas

Help Kahssay renew his street vending license so he can support his family! Venmo or cashapp: @yomictin

This year you’ve heard a lot about our advocacy work. Today, we want to introduce you to our work with worker cooperatives and the role they play in the solidarity economy! Over the next few months we will be spotlighting the coops we work with so stay turned! 1/3

Worker cooperatives are an example of a solidarity economy institution in which the workers own & control the business collectively. More than half of worker coops in the US today were created to improve low-wage jobs & build wealth in communities most affected by inequality. 2/3

BCI supports workers in the DC-area to build & maintain worker cooperatives, especially ones led by poor & working class Black and Brown workers, as a strategy for building political & economic power in the DC-area that centers poor & working class Black & Brown communities. 3/3