Opinion: Election got you down? Focus on what you can do close to home

by Forest Hills Connection

We’re not going out on a limb here: Odds are you voted for Kamala Harris on November 5th. Ninety percent of DC voters did so. And perhaps, you’ve been in a funk ever since. What can you do?

Here’s one answer: Find local ways to be a force for good.

The 51st, a new local news organization founded by WAMU/DCist alums, has published a collection of ways donate, volunteer, and otherwise “stave off dread.”

We have a few suggestions, too.

Get involved in local government. That doesn’t have to mean running for office. You could prepare and deliver testimony at DC Council hearings, or go ultra-local and attend meetings of your advisory neighborhood commission (ANC). ANCs also have committees (these are ANC 3F’s), that with the support and participation of residents, make a community-wide impact on issues including pedestrian safety, housing safety and affordability, and natural resources.

Find local organizations to support with your time and/or donations. NW Community Food is more than a food pantry. It also collects and gives out cleaning and personal hygiene supplies. Distribution occurs Sundays at 4225 Connecticut Avenue.

Goods for Good partners with several local nonprofits on a variety of service projects, all of them assisting people in need.

Van Ness Main Street and other Main Street organizations exist, first and foremost, to provide financial and technical assistance to local businesses. They also offer a variety of ways to give back to the community through programs such as VNMS’s spring and fall Connecticut Avenue pollinator plantings and the new group organizing cleanups and events at Forest Hills Park. (Forest Hills Connection is an editorially independent program of Van Ness Main Street.)

Tools for a 2018 Forest Hills Park cleanup

Volunteers at Forest Hills of DC Inclusive Senior Living (202-966-7623 or [email protected]) and Northwest Neighbors Village provide seniors with critical connections to the larger community.

In offering your time and donations to these and other local organizations, you might not be making a noticeable difference on the national or international level, but you could have an immediate impact on a neighbor’s life, and even your own.