Tzedek DC is honored to receive a two-year grant of $200,000 from the Ford Foundation to support the Tzedek DC Disabilities Community Project, covering 2024-2026. This represents the second such grant of this partnership following Ford’s initial 2021-2023 grant to Tzedek DC.
Led and staffed principally by disabled team members, the Disabilities Community Project at Tzedek DC is designed to meet the specialized needs of disabled people in issues that too often are unaddressed for this community, namely debt, credit, and consumer protection. The Disabilities Community Project provides direct representation of disabled DC residents, conducts community education and outreach throughout DC, and engages in systemic advocacy, all with a disability justice lens that elevates the requirements and perspectives of disabled people. The project is under the leadership of Naji Mujahid Fenwick, a disabled attorney at Tzedek DC. Recent areas of systemic focus have included social security disability benefits and medical debt.
This grant award comes from the Ford Foundation’s path-breaking Disability Rights Program, in recognition of the fact that “people with disabilities continue to face unfair policies that systematize poverty and persistent prejudice that has segregated them from movements and society.” Moreover, individuals with disabilities experience unique challenges within the legal system and when facing consumer protection and financial problems.
Tzedek DC’s Director Ariel Levinson-Waldman said, “We are especially appreciative of this grant. Despite the clear need, no other DC organizations (and very few nationally) focus specifically on individuals with disabilities who face debt-related problems. We are grateful to the Ford Foundation for its renewed vote of confidence in the ability of Tzedek DC’s Disabilities Community Project to continue to fill that gap. We are excited to grow and deepen the work of our colleagues on the project by Staff Attorney Naji Mujahid Fenwick, Communications Manager Caitlyn Hickman, and colleagues.”
About Ford Foundation
Established in 1936, the Ford Foundation has sought to reduce poverty and injustice, strengthen democratic values, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. The Foundation’s Disability Rights Program rests on the premise that to build a world where everyone is equal, we need to recognize how disability interconnects with the issues of social justice and follow the lead of the individuals at the center of the fight. By centering intersectionality and the voices of those most marginalized—from people of color and queer to immigrants and indigenous people—disability justice encourages us to see how society’s diverse systems of oppression reinforce each other and affect every member of the disability community.
About Tzedek DC
Tzedek DC’s mission is to safeguard the legal rights and financial health of DC residents with lower incomes facing the often devastating consequences of debt collection and credit-related obstacles. This mission is carried out as anti-racism work in response to the massive wealth gaps tracking race in DC and nationwide. Tzedek DC serves a client base of 95% BIPOC, 66% women, and 25% disabled community members. Our strategic approach combines three synergistic activities: (i) free legal and financial counseling services; (ii) working in coalition to make systemic change; and (iii) providing community education on debt collection, identity theft, and credit management. Since 2017, Tzedek DC has served over 3,000 client households in legal and financial counseling matters and helped catalyze systemic reforms benefiting hundreds of thousands of DC residents.