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2017 SESSION

17101344D
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 418
Offered February 16, 2017
Commending Tenants and Workers United.
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Patron-- Kory
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WHEREAS, for more than 30 years, Tenants and Workers United, a grassroots community organization in Alexandria, has successfully advocated for living wages, affordable housing, health care access, and public education; and

WHEREAS, Tenants and Workers United was established in the 1980s to protect the rights of low-income renters in the Arlandria neighborhood of Alexandria; the group won a class-action lawsuit and stopped the mass eviction of thousands of community members; and

WHEREAS, Tenants and Workers United continued to strengthen the community by working to create limited equity cooperative housing in Alexandria, resulting in the 282-unit Arlandria-Chirilagua Housing Cooperative, which is owned and democratically operated by its predominantly low-income residents; and

WHEREAS, Tenants and Workers United continued to grow and now addresses citywide issues, such as access to health care and education and support for day laborers and immigrant families in Fairfax County; the organization cofounded the Right to the City Alliance, a coalition of more than 40 organizations fighting for urban rights throughout the United States; and

WHEREAS, in addition to organizing annual health fairs, Tenants and Workers United helped secure discounts for uninsured patients in the Inova Health System, helped expand access to subsidized child care for low-income families, and eliminated more than $1 million in medical debt for low-income Alexandria residents; and

WHEREAS, Tenants and Workers United also supported efforts to raise the minimum wage for municipal workers and the creation of a living wage law that resulted in a total wage increase of $450,000 for the lowest-paid workers in Alexandria; and

WHEREAS, Tenants and Workers United increased access to a good education by convincing Alexandria City Public Schools to hire bilingual liaisons to help parents, teachers, and students communicate; and

WHEREAS, over the course of more than three decades, Tenants and Workers United has provided a voice and a shared stake in the community to countless low-income residents of Alexandria; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, That Tenants and Workers United hereby be commended for work to support low-income residents of Alexandria by advocating for living wages, affordable housing, health care access, and public education; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Tenants and Workers United as an expression of the House of Delegates’ admiration for the organization’s legacy of service to the members of the Alexandria community.