Dear Friend,
As the year winds down, I’ve been thinking about how to characterize 2023 for GGWash. Walking to the Metro this morning – a little faster than normal, motivated by the wintry temperatures – I realized a lot of this year boils down to one word:
Movement.
Our work, in a lot of ways, is about movement. We push for policies that make it easy and safe to move around our region on public transit or on a bike or via sidewalks. We supported a slate of bills that will improve road safety in DC, pushed for investments in bus infrastructure, and researched how racial disparities in transportation investments result in negative public health outcomes like increased crashes and asthma rates.
We advocate for reforms that help people to access housing that they can afford and that meets their needs in the places where they want to live. We fought, for example, to prevent the proposed townhouse ban in Prince George’s County, endorsed pro-housing candidates for local office across Maryland and Northern Virginia (most of whom won!), and in Maryland we’re working to reform parking laws, streamline project approvals, and find all the tools we can to help to grow our housing supply.
We’ve also spent 2023 moving forward as an organization. Amazingly, 2023 marks GGWash’s 15th anniversary. We’re growing. We welcomed four interns this fall – our largest cohort ever, and they’re helping to expand our work in so many ways. Earlier this year, we welcomed a new operations manager who makes sure we’re running smoothly and ready to grow. And it’s a good thing: We’ve got more growth in the works that we’re looking forward to sharing soon.
And with your help, we’re building the movement for a greater Greater Washington region, which shows decisionmakers that there’s a constituency for more housing, more affordable housing, fewer trips by car, and the land use policies that support all of the above. Hundreds of thousands of people read our blog each month – and dozens of you stepped up to write for us for the first time. Upwards of 1,000 of you have come to our meet-ups across the region, forging new connections to work together for change. We now have more than 640 recurring donors sustaining our work, a record high.
