On May 15, 2010, over 125 local organizers and activists representing a diverse range of issues came together to discuss the state of the local progressive movement and provide a vision for the future. Participants of the Greater DC People’s Assembly began to create a People’s Agenda, which they brought to the US Social Forum in Detroit for endorsement and action.

Hazal Yolga, an intern with the Washington Peace Center, put together the above video promoting the People’s Assembly. Hazal took advantage of the free training in video editing (specifically Final Cut Pro) offered by the Grassroots Media Project to any Empower DC member interested in producing media that improves and promotes the self-advocacy of low- and moderate-income DC residents. Besides being posted here, the video is being sent out over the People’s Assembly listserves and to their Facebook invite groups.

On August 7, the DC People’s Assembly met again to report back on the US Social Forum and to plan their next steps. In keeping with the goal of bringing together progressive activists to share expertise and work together on overlapping issues, three working groups were formed.

The Days of Action planning group is putting together events related to the October 2nd One Nation March. Contact Ben from Empower DC ben@empowerdc.org for more information. The People’s Agenda working group is finalizing the list of priorities and collective demands of the DC Metro Social Forum. To contribute to that discussion contact Anna Duncan of the Latino Economic Development Corporation aduncan@ledcmetro.org. The Community Media working group plans to establish an independent media forum dedicated to the pursuit of social justice. Greg Bloom from Bread for the City is heading that up and can be reached at greg.bloom@gmail.com.

As the producer of this blog, which I’d like to think is itself a media forum dedicated to the pursuit of social justice, I have joined the community media working group on behalf of the Grassroots Media Project. In fact there are a number of local media forums dedicated to the pursuit of social justice. DC’s Independent Media Center and the Washington Peace Center site both have been supporting and reporting activism for well over a decade. DC Watch is an on-line magazine about politics and public affairs in the District of Columbia. There are also several smaller sites whose content is dedicated to specific topics. DC Food for All and Beyond Bread cover issues relating to hunger and poverty in the nation’s capital, Save Our Safety Net covers issues pertaining to social services. Etc.

The problem is that for most of these blogs, this one included, the content is too specific and the audience too limited to make a substantial impact. Commercial blogs like DCist and the City Paper have a wide audience but they have no dedication to social justice. Like the more traditional news sources, commercial blogs and even many of the neighborhood blogs rarely look to DC’s low- and moderate-income residents as experts on the effect that legislation and public policy has on their lives.

Because the Internet has become a powerful way to influence our elected officials, social change activists need to use it. Although blogs and Youtube videos don’t always reach the low and moderate-income constituents that we social justice advocates work with, they do reach the middle- and high-income residents who hold sway over the city’s political leadership. Wouldn’t it be sweet if we had a forum with an audience as large as DCist, posting stories that educate DCs progressives about where our issues intersect and empowering our constituents to better advocate for themselves.

To that end the Grassroots DC will provide training in radio and video production to help participants build content for the site that the community media working group is currently calling DC Commons. The Washington Peace Center has agreed to connect their extensive social justice calendar to the site. But as of now, there are only a few organizations dedicated to providing content. We hope to change that at our first meeting, which is scheduled for Tuesday September 21, at the Empower DC office, 1419 V Street NW. For more information contact the Grassroots DC coordinator, liane@GrassrootsDC.org.