Signed in as:
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About Us
Spirited Activists
We both have been working hard for DC residents for years.
Lark
Few can say they are a second generation Washingtonian and immigrant. Lark grew up in DC, experienced homelessness while pregnant with a 1-year-old and was adopted and raised by an untreated Black mother with paranoid schizophrenia. Because of all these experiences she values very much how DC continues to grow and change without the population she grew up in. She is a part of the steering committee at Fair Budget Coalition and is focused on keeping housing, food, economic and health equitable for the most vulnerable usually unheard populations in DC. She is also a mother of two young adults one is a high functioning autistic trans woman and the other a young man that struggles with ADHD. These issues are her own issues, and she wants to make it clear failing is not an option because it is her only option as well. She joined Ward 5 Mutual Aid in May 2020 and has been doing mostly coordinating picking up and distributing baby diapers, runner and help doing admin efforts. She is thrilled to merge her advocacy work with her mutual aid work and love of art activism.
https://unmaskingamerica.news21.com/portraits-of-survival/
https://fairbudget.org/team/steering-committee/lark-catoe-emerson/
https://issuu.com/capitalcommunitynews/docs/east-of-the-river-magazine-august-2011/33
https://youtu.be/kx179bT0tDA?si=BHS8GmtioE5IlWJa
https://x.com/cuneytdil/status/1107777479752720385
https://x.com/cuneytdil/status/1126879638146490373
https://x.com/OPinDC/status/1126879754215395339
https://dcpl.simplecast.com/episodes/7e3f95c0
https://www.namidc.org/about-nami-dc/board-of-directors/
Leonard
Leonard is a 63-year-old former Marine who lost his middle-management job in 2002 as a result of the economic fallout from 9/11. Suddenly facing challenges with housing, healthcare, food, and legal support, he was referred to Bread for the City (BFC), where he eventually became a client leader and a passionate advocate.
In 2020, Leonard began working part-time with BFC’s Housing Advocacy Department, focusing heavily on housing justice while engaging in various forms of community advocacy. His entry into advocacy began with Participatory Action Research—an approach centered on engaging directly with the community to ask what issues matter most to them. This method involves collaboratively answering the who, what, when, where, and how, followed by designing surveys to gather detailed input from the community.
Leonard’s second major initiative was launching a TimeBank program for BFC clients—a creative effort to challenge the limitations of capitalism for low-income communities. Through this program, community members could earn one TimeBank credit for every hour they volunteered at any organization. These credits could then be exchanged for goods or services from nonprofits, businesses, and faith-based institutions. Some participants accumulated so many credits that they traveled with BFC staff to Detroit, Michigan, for media and organizing trainings.
His third major project was the creation of BFC’s Rooftop Garden and Farm. One year, the garden produced nearly a ton of fresh fruits and vegetables, which were distributed to clients and neighbors. The program also included cooking classes to help participants learn how to prepare nutritious meals using the food they harvested themselves.
Through his work and leadership, Leonard has demonstrated the power of grassroots advocacy to build community resilience. His contributions through Bread for the City and initiatives like Connection COREE have uplifted low-income and marginalized communities by actively dismantling systemic racism and promoting Community Organizing for Racial Equity and Economics.
https://campaigns.nelp.org/leonard/
https://youtu.be/Kt249xnBpjs?si=B_5oqrQruTafzXd0
https://x.com/mediajustice/status/1249003020974723072
https://x.com/mitchryals/status/1107779717376151552