What it means to be included for Excluded Workers
By: TamikaSpellman the Policy and Community Engagement Manager for HIPS and the Excluder Workers Coalition Leadership Team
Inclusion: the practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized, such as those who have physical or mental disabilities and members of other minority groups. — Oxford Dictionary
As active and vibrant, hard working residents of DC, the issues street vendors, undocumented workers, domestic workers, sex workers, day labor workers, child care workers and other cash/informal economy workers have faced since the pandemic began are monumental and the least supported throughout the crisis. The paltry amount Excluded Workers received has been a mere drop in the bucket in comparison to what most people received in the variety of ways the federal government provided. Excluded Workers weren’t privy to benefits such as unemployment insurance and stimulus payments. Everyone in the District of Columbia was covered except for the Excluded Workers, and what Mendelson offered was woefully inadequate, and has yet to meet ¼ of the need marginalized communities have suffered through. Council members are saying they don’t have flexible funds this year to support, but would if they did. Thank Bowser for excluding residents, and making it hard to meet those needs.
To date, Excluded Workers received a total of $3000 in the 26 months of the pandemic while many similar sized cities and even states dedicated significant funding to support their populations of Excluded Workers that equaled what federal aid was given. DC chose to give them significantly less than what the rest of the residents received. Just comparing what the typical unemployment payment was an average of $34,000, with the stimulus payments totaling $3,400 for folks who were still working, that pales in comparison to the paltry amount excluded workers received. That my friends is not the definition of inclusion in the slightest.
Mendelson argues that the need isn’t there but we say it is. Many folks risked their lives during the pandemic to feed their families and to pay what bills they could, and have gone into deep debt while others have thrived off pandemic recovery payments and support. The funds put toward housing was not and is not enough because many who received stimulus and unemployment support also got the support for rent, so not fair but something they keep pushing the narrative on. Many receiving unemployment exhausted it before attempting to go back to work while most excluded workers exposed themselves during the whole pandemic, their families and children and loved ones to COVID 19 in order to put food on their tables and to pay bills and are now suffering the effects of long COVID, which is yet to be fully understood as to what that means. And COVID 19 isn’t over, new variants are coming out almost weekly.
The current ask is for $139 million, for the remaining balance from the $41 million awarded last year, what we asked for during the last budget cycle. It is half of what is equal to what was doled out by federal stimulus programs and unemployment. This is money that DC can afford to give because we as a city fared very well financially in spite of the lingering effects of the pandemic that these marginalized community members are still plagued with. Money we have now should not be put off to fiscal years 2024, 2025, 2026 or later when we have massive needs for inclusion now. This is not something mutual aid can change or throwing them a bone with EITC when that too was available to all the others who had access to stimulus payments the Excluded Workers did not, but the ample coffers of our very prosperous city can make this right. The mayor and the council made sure to take care of the affluent; of whom many flourished, buying homes and cars during the pandemic. The job market allowed for many of these folks to stay home, working remotely while these marginalized community members did not have that option. Not very inclusive.
And the mayor has made it extremely complicated to move funds around to meet needs they haven’t deemed worthy, which to us as representatives of the Excluded Workers Coalition balk at because these are residents who are integral parts of how this city has functioned from its founding days. This does not ring of inclusion, nor fairness. What is fair and balanced is supporting all of DC’s residents and not restricting funds for different council committees to move around to fix huge holes in what the mayor said the budget is. That is wrong and very dictator-like and Trump would be very proud of the Mayor. This isn’t what DC is about. We take care of those who make DC what it is. Bowser is wrong, this budget is wrong and residents of DC are going to suffer when we have the means not to let that happen. Vote wisely. Vote for inclusion.