NOVASEN Members Testify at the DC Council's Budgetary Hearing

On Monday April 27 and Thursday, April 30, 2026, NOVASEN members Kei Lairos and Caroline Meyer testified to the Council of the District of Columbia during a Budget Oversight Hearing in support of allocating funds toward community wealth-building initiatives in Washington DC. The testimony was on behalf of DC Community Wealth Builders, a solidarity economy-aligned organization working in the DMV.

Kei testifies: "I come from a very resilient community. As an advocate at a Immigrant Women’s grassroots organization for victims of gender based violence, I see countless women dream to start or grow their small business to gain financial freedom from their abusers. Unfortunately, they all face serious difficulties when they need to formalize their business. Oftentimes, there are no technical assitance resources in avaliable their languages, within their budgets, or with community sensitivity that is concious of their situation. Worker owned Cooperatives can be the vehicle to changing people’s lives but only if we are willying to commit ourselves to support it.”

Recordings of the hearings are available here: https://video.oct.dc.gov/VOD/DCC/2026_04/04_27_2

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