Mayday DC

Mayday DC is a radical housing and homeless advocacy organization in the Washington, D.C. area. The group is known for using tactics such as disruption of public events held by politicians, banner hangs, and illegally occupying buildings to make political statements.

The work of the group includes the following:
* Advocacy to reopen or prevent the closure of homeless shelters such as the Franklin school shelter, the Gayle's school, the Randall shelter, and others;
* Copwatch to prevent and document instances of police brutality;
* Services such as weekly meals and providing clothing to the homeless;
* Work to change conditions in shelters that some homeless claim are substandard;
* Anti-gentrification activism to prevent increases in housing prices;
* Increase access for homeless and D.C. residents to city services.

History
Mayday DC was formed in August 2002 by some of the people who had lived in the house of the Olive Branch Community, a longtime homeless advocacy group, as the house was being evicted. Its first action on August 7, 2002, was a housing takeover of the empty Franklin school building to demand that it be used as a homeless shelter. The group made news when one of its members known as "Bork" staged a sit-in on a ledge five stories high within the Wilson building, the city hall of Washington, D.C.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu