2022 Eat Well, Do Justice Recap: Soup for the Soul!

Last week, Tzedek DC held our sixth annual Eat Well, Do Justice celebration. We are enormously grateful to everyone who supported this event, which helped us raise a record $431,000—and still counting!—in support of our mission over the course of a fun, substantive, and tasty soup-themed evening. A huge thank you to all who made the evening, the first back in person in three years, a special one!

Tzedek DC supporters together enjoying Eat Well, Do Justice 2022: Soup for the Soul!

(Left to right) Chefs Donna Henry, Doron Azrad, Rachell Bitton, Taryn Pellicone, and Valerie Zweig in front of the beautiful view of the U.S. Capitol Building from the event

The program kicked off with a hilarous compilation of soup-related clips from popular culture, followed by welcoming remarks from Tzedek DC’s Board Chair Rachel Kronowitz. Founding President & Director-Counsel Ariel Levinson-Waldman also spoke and introduced a beautiful video from Tzedek DC client Norris Harvey, who also shared his wonderful news in a message to attendees that his DC driver’s license is finally being restored after more than a decade! Attendees also had the opportunity to hear virtual remarks from U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who sent her support for Tzedek DC all the way from Boston!

Tzedek DC Founding President & Director-Counsel Ariel Levinson-Waldman addressing the crowd

Senator Elizabeth Warren sharing remarks, including “it is an honor to fight alongside [Tzedek DC]”

The five stellar soup chefs, recruited by Honorary Chair Bonnie Benwick, stole the show that evening, however, each with their own unique creations. Andrew Allen of Caruso’s Grocery showcased a hearty Tuscan Bean Soup with Smoked Tomato and Zhug perfect for the weather, Marilyn Polon & Sara Polon of Soupergirl fame debuted a brand-new (and delicious) Classic Tomato Gazpacho, and Taryn Pellicone & Valerie Zweig of Prescription Chicken proved they excel at more than just chicken soup with a Caramelized Onion Soup with Mini Matzah Balls and Gruyere Challah Crostini.

Two soups shone especially, though, in the first-ever tie in Eat Well, Do Justice history! The Cashew Chickpea Soup with Shiitake Mushrooms from Donna Henry of Soup Up and the Moroccan Harira Soup from Doron Azrad & Rachell Bitton of Kosher Sustenance were both too good for attendees and judges to choose between.

EWDJ 2022 Chefs (left to right): Andrew Allen, Valerie Zweig, Taryn Pellicone, Sara Polon, Donna Henry, Rachell Bitton, Doron Azrad

EWDJ 2022 Winners (left to right): Rachell Bitton, Doron Azrad, Donna Henry

We are especially grateful to guest judges Nicole Austin-Hillery, President & CEO of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation; Sarah Hurwitz, Author and Former White House Speechwriter for President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama; and Ryan Moore, Executive Chef of Sababa and winner of Eat Well, Do Justice 2021: Spread Hummus, Not Hate. The soups were all so good, some of our judges even tried to vote for two! The Soup Up Cashew Chickpea Soup ultimately took the judge’s vote, however, while the Kosher Sustenance Moroccan Harira Soup won the heart of the audience.

EWDJ 2022 Judges (left to right): Nicole Austin-Hillery, Sarah Hurwitz, Ryan Moore

An EWDJ 2022 attendee casting their ballot

The event was co-chaired by Annie Binder, Laura Kumin, June Kress, and Nina Simon. The Host Committee and Sponsors were also instrumental in the evening’s success. For those who were unable to attend, links to the videos of Norris Harvey and Senator Elizabeth Warren’s remarks are available above, as well as to the text of Ariel Levinson-Waldman’s remarks.

As announced at the event, gifts to Tzedek DC this month are being matched two times on the dollar for gifts above $1,000 and dollar for dollar for gifts below $1,000. This match, thanks to the extraordinary generosity of anonymous donors, will extend up to $50,000 and has not yet closed. Please consider donating now to double or even triple the impact of your gift!

As in past years, this Eat Well, Do Justice event sold out days before the event. Make sure to secure your tickets for EWDJ 2023 when they become available next summer!

Tzedek DC Testifies to DC Council on Algorithmic Fairness

Tzedek DC Equal Justice Works Fellow Jennifer Holloway and Founding President & Director-Counsel Ariel Levinson-Waldman testified to the DC Council Committee on Government Operations and Facilities at a September 22 public hearing in support of the Stop Discrimination by Algorithms Act of 2021.

The testimony highlighted the urgent need for systemic reform to help ensure fairness in the algorithms used to determine access to credit, loans, and housing. Algorithms in a variety of areas perpetuate historic patterns of discrimination in making the decisions that most greatly impact the lives of DC residents. The bill would promote greater transparency in how algorithms shape access to important life opportunities and holds those who use such algorithms accountable through annual audits and a private right of enforcement.

Read the full testimony here.

Tzedek DC and Venable File Suit Challenging DC’s Continued Enforcement of Payment-Based Driver’s License Scheme

Today, Tzedek DC and Venable LLP filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the District of Columbia’s continued enforcement of its wealth-based driver’s license scheme. Part of the so-called “Clean Hands Law,” this scheme punishes DC residents who are too poor to pay more than $100 in parking, traffic, or other fines and fees by automatically disqualifying them from obtaining or renewing a driver’s license.

The lawsuit, filed along with a motion for a preliminary injunction in District of Columbia Superior Court, is on behalf of five DC residents deprived of driver’s licenses because they cannot afford to pay off aging parking and traffic tickets. These individuals allege that enforcing the Clean Hands Law against them violates the Constitution’s Equal Protection and Due Process guarantees. They seek to prohibit the District’s Department of Motor Vehicles and the Office of the Chief Financial Officer from relying on the Clean Hands Law to deny them driver’s licenses based on their debts.

“Because the harms inflicted by the Clean Hands Law fall disproportionately on Black DC residents, the law exacerbates racial inequalities,” the lawsuit states. “The Clean Hands Law also disrupts the workforce, harming both workers and employers. It needlessly exposes individuals to criminal punishment, again with a disproportionate impact on Black DC residents. And it diverts finite public safety resources from addressing violent crime.”

“The Clean Hands Law forces DC residents of limited means to struggle with essential daily activities like getting to a job, health care appointments, childcare, the grocery store, and the laundromat. It not only punishes DC residents for their poverty but also intensifies the instability of their everyday lives. Both the Constitution and the public interest support our clients receiving relief from this rule now.” said Tzedek DC’s Director-Counsel Ariel Levinson-Waldman.

Last week, the DC Council passed a law that will reform the Clean Hands Law to no longer automatically disqualify District residents from getting or renewing their driver’s licenses based on unpaid debt. But that law will not take effect until October 1, 2023, at the earliest.

“Wealth should never determine whether someone can drive lawfully,” said Seth Rosenthal, Chair of Venable’s pro bono committee. “Enforcing the Clean Hands Law against DC residents of limited means based on their poverty is callous. It is also senseless: you cannot coerce debt payment from those without the money to pay, and taking away their ability to drive makes it even harder for them to hold a job that would enable them to pay. We applaud the Council for prospectively ending the Clean Hands regime. But our clients should not have to wait for more than another year to obtain relief from the ongoing violation of their constitutional rights.“

The attorneys representing the plaintiffs in today’s suit include Ariel Levinson-Waldman and Joshua Levin of Tzedek DC and Seth Rosenthal, Claude Bailey, Andrew Dickson, Spencer Kaye, and Kirsten Bickelman of Venable. They have received terrific assistance from Tzedek DC pro bono legal volunteers Rebecca Azhdam and Jeffrey Nesvet, and Raphy Gendler, Ronald R. Glancz Avodah Jewish Service Corps Member at Tzedek DC.

A link to the D.C. Superior Court Complaint is available here, and the Memorandum in Support of Preliminary Injunction is available here.

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*Update*

See here for the reply brief that Tzedek DC and Venable filed on October 17, 2022, in support of our motion for preliminary injunction against the DC Government

See here for the brief filed by the DC Office of the Attorney General on September 26, 2022, to which the above brief responds

Tzedek DC Celebrates Fines and Fees Legislative Reform

Earlier this week, on July 12, the DC Council unanimously passed a law that, once it takes effect in October 2023, will reform the discriminatory and punitive practice under the “Clean Hands Law” of preventing District residents from getting or renewing their driver’s licenses.

The Clean Hands Certification Equity Amendment Act of 2022 addresses the urgent need for systemic reform to end DC’s current, wealth-based license scheme, under which any DC resident who has unpaid fines or fees totaling more than $100 is automatically disqualified from obtaining or renewing a driver’s license—with no inquiry as to their ability to pay.

As Tzedek DC and coalition partners testified in support of the reform: 

[T]he current Clean Hands system has created a serious issue of racial inequity by tying the ability to drive lawfully to whether a DC resident has paid their fines and fees. The inequity of the impact of the Clean Hands Law lies in the disparate economic consequences—white DC households have an estimated 81 times more wealth than Black DC households, so Black DC residents are disproportionately punished for nonpayment. The associated inequity resulting from the Clean Hands Law is also evident in the criminal justice system, since many residents unable to renew their licenses continue to sometimes drive in order to accomplish critical life necessities. Based on review of MPD data from 2013-2020, Black adult DC residents are arrested for the offense of driving without a permit 19 times more frequently than White adult DC residents.

“Along with our pro bono partners in this work at Venable LLP, we are honored to serve and support our clients like Evelyn Parham, Norris Harvey, and Salle Void, who, with fellow directly impacted D.C. residents, have shared their stories and perspectives with the Council and public to make this reform possible,” Tzedek DC’s President and Director-Counsel Ariel Levinson-Waldman said. “We are deeply appreciative to the Council for this step towards justice, and especially the leadership on the issue over several years by Councilmembers Kenyan McDuffie, Elissa Silverman, and Robert White. We are also grateful to the broad and strong group of nearly three dozen anti-poverty, anti-racism, civic, faith-based, and legal services groups that came together to help the Council say no to a two-tiered system of justice.”

“That said,” he added, “our clients are continuing to suffer harms on a daily basis from this law, and it is unfortunate that, due to input from executive branch agencies, the bill provides no legislative relief from the Clean Hands Law for more than 14 months from now. We will continue to zealously advocate for our clients’ rights to no longer be disqualified from applying to renew their driver’s license under the likely unconstitutional law that remains on the books for now.”

In its continued enforcement of the Clean Hands Law, the District of Columbia is an outlier. It is the only jurisdiction in the Eastern half of the United States and one of only three state-level jurisdictions in the nation with a law that disqualifies people from renewing their driver’s license as punishment for unpaid debt to the government.

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The April 2021 Driving DC to Opportunity Report by Tzedek DC and pro bono partner Venable LLP details the policy and constitutional problems with the Clean Hands Law and is available here.

Recent stories on the bill’s passage include:

• “Update: D.C. to Allow Residents with Unpaid Debts to Get Driver’s Licenses” (DCist)

• “D.C. Council to let drivers with unpaid tickets stay on the road” (Washington Post)

• “Barrier to renew driver’s license could be lifted” (DC News Now)

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Coalition Members

ACLU of the District of Columbia 

Ayuda 

Blind Justice

Bread for the City 

Building Bridges Across the River 

Capital Area Asset Builders (CAAB) 

CARECEN 

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington 

Coalition for Motorist Rights 

Color of Change 

Council for Court Excellence

DC Affordable Law Firm 

DC Bar Pro Bono Center

DC Fiscal Policy Institute 

DC Justice Lab 

DC KinCare Alliance 

DC Volunteers Lawyers Project 

Fines and Fees Justice Center 

Howard University School of Law Human and Civil Rights Clinic 

Institute for Justice 

Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington 

Jews United for Justice 

Legal Aid Justice Center 

Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia 

Legal Counsel for the Elderly 

Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC) 

Peter Edelman (Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Law and Public Policy, Georgetown University Law Center) 

Pro Bono Institute 

Rising for Justice

Trial Lawyers Association of Washington, DC 

Tzedek DC 

United Planning Organization 

University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law 

Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs 

Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless 

Washington Interfaith Network (WIN) 

Whitman-Walker Health Legal Services

Marissa Ditkowsky Recognized as Next Generation Changemaker

Tzedek DC Disabilities Community Project lead and Staff Attorney Marissa Ditkowsky was recently recognized by both the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and Brandeis University for her outstanding disability inclusion and justice work.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington will present Marissa with the inaugural Capital Chai Award tomorrow at its Annual Meeting. The Capital Chai Award recognizes Jewish young adults under 40 who are working to make the world a better place. Capital Chai honorees represent the next generation of local leaders who are making a difference in Greater Washington and beyond guided by their Jewish values. The 18 honorees were selected for their commitment to tikkun olam (repairing the world) and making a positive impact on the world.

Last month, Marissa was also named one of Brandeis University’s 2022 Bold 9, a group of outstanding young alumni who are driving important conversations, challenging the status quo, and making waves in their respective fields all less than 10 years since graduating from Brandeis. As part of this feature, Marissa stated:

“My personal experiences as a disabled person have led me to my current field. Over the years, I've had trouble accessing accommodations; I've witnessed firsthand the inequitable treatment that disabled folks receive; and I've had to push back, be a self-advocate, and learn what the laws are and where they’re deficient. These experiences inspired me to be an advocate for change in the policy space and educate folks about their rights and litigate on their behalf in the legal space.”

While Marissa focuses on disability and consumer rights, her advocacy and research outside of work, including the publication of several law review articles, span reproductive justice, higher education, and workers' rights. She is also the outgoing executive director of the National Disabled Law Students Association, which seeks to make the legal profession itself more inclusive. She has also been published and quoted in numerous publications and media outlets.

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 racial justice work in response to the massive wealth gaps tracking race in DC and nationwide. Of Tzedek DC’s clients, 90% are African American, 60% are women, and 25% are disabled community members. Our strategic approach combines three synergistic activities: (i) free legal representation and advice and financial counseling; (ii) working in coalition to make systemic change; and (iii) providing community legal education on debt collection, identity theft, and credit management. Since 2017, Tzedek DC has served over 2,500 DC client households in legal matters, saving an average of $2,151 per full representation case—the equivalent to more than three and a half weeks’ wages at DC’s minimum wage—and has helped catalyze systemic reforms benefiting hundreds of thousands of DC residents.

Tzedek DC Celebrates Landmark Debt Collection Reforms

Earlier today, the DC Council passed landmark legislation making permanent changes to DC’s debt collection rules for the first time since 1971, before the District of Columbia Home Rule era. The Council reformed DC’s debt collection law by, among other things, expanding its scope to for the first time include medical debt, requiring debt collectors to substantiate their claims with documentation of the debts they are collecting, strengthening anti-harassment protections, and increasing the protections against debt collectors using arrest warrants to coerce payment by DC residents. 

These changes are essential as debt collection activities in the District have increased dramatically in recent years. In 2016, the five largest debt collectors filed 2,284 small claims cases in DC alone. By 2019, the number of cases spiked by 81 percent, to 4,148 cases. This trend is likely to continue as debt collectors re-start their practice of filing mass lawsuits against consumers facing financial difficulties from the fallout of the pandemic. 

Debt collection is a racial equity issue in DC and nationally. For example, Urban Institute data shows that DC residents living in majority-Black census tracts are subjected to debt in collection at five times the rate of people living in majority-white census tracts—36 percent versus just 7 percent. Similarly, a Pro Publica analysis showed that in cities around the country, debt collection lawsuits are disproportionately filed against Black residents even when controlling for differences in income.  

The bill passed by the Council, titled the Protecting Consumers from Unjust Debt Collection Practices Amendment Act of 2022, seeks to protect DC residents from unfair and unjust debt collection practices by making permanent the temporary protections passed in 2021 and expanding upon them. This permanent legislation: 

• Expands the protections’ scope 

  • Defines protections for “consumer debt” broadly to cover all personal, family, medical, or household debts, which is important because the outdated statute provided protections mostly limited to installment loans, a very narrow category of debts .

• Strengthens anti-harassment measures  

  • Prohibits creditors and debt collectors from making false threats and false reports and from disclosing or threatening to disclose a consumer’s citizenship status.

  • Stops creditors and debt collectors from contacting consumers at unreasonable hours or with unreasonable frequency (capping the number of unsolicited messages per 7-day period and requiring that opt-out requests must be included and complied with).

  • Prevents debt collectors from visiting a consumer’s home or place of employment other than to serve process in a lawsuit.

  • Contains enforcement mechanisms and penalties for violations .

• Limits punitive actions that can be taken against DC residents facing debt collection suits  

  • Generally caps the attorneys’ fees that a plaintiff can seek in a debt collection lawsuit at 15 percent.

  • Protects DC residents from being imprisoned for failure to pay or appear in debt collection cases and raises the threshold for the issuance of bench warrants, an issue that has become increasingly important as certain debt collection lawyers have used the coercive tactic of obtaining arrest warrants in debt collection cases .

• Addresses the underlying causes of default judgments  

  • The U.S. Department of Justice and National Science Foundation have noted that “every day court dockets are filled with debt collection cases that end in default judgments. This reality affects people’s belief in the fairness of the justice system.” The act includes important protections to limit default judgments. These include: 

    • Robust evidentiary requirements that must be met for a debt collector to file a case, win a judgment, or collect on a debt (especially significant for unrepresented defendants as it means that the burden is on the debt collector, not the individual without a lawyer when it comes to the issue of whether the complaint is properly substantiated).

    • Requiring debt buyer plaintiffs to submit affidavits from prior holders of the debt to prove that they are the legitimate owners of the debt and that the original debt was valid.

    • Requiring verification of defendant’s current address immediately prior to commencing an action and proof of service that includes a time-stamped photograph and readable GPS coordinates indicating the location of service.

• Tightens the statute of limitations  

  • Specifies a three-year statute of limitations on debt, regardless of whether the debt is labeled “under seal” .

  • Prevents plaintiffs from suing where the statute of limitations has lapsed .

  • Stops “zombie debts” from coming back to life through payments or affirmations made after the expiration of the statute of limitations.

• Provides language access 

  • Requires initial notices in both English and Spanish unless the contract or initial oral communication with the consumer was in another language, in which case the notice must be given in English and that other language.

• Informs consumers of their rights 

  • Requires debt collectors to inform consumers at key stages during the process that their income and assets might be protected by law and that a legal services provider may be able to provide advice.

These comprehensive protections are the result of years of advocacy by Tzedek DC, our partners at the Legal Aid Society and Legal Counsel for the Elderly, and a terrific group of allies. In the years before Tzedek DC opened our doors in 2017, Councilmembers had introduced several debt collection reform bills. However, it was not until the COVID-19 pandemic and its massive impact on DC residents’ stability that the DC Council finally in 2022 passed these reforms. 

Tzedek DC Founding President and Director-Counsel Ariel Levinson-Waldman emphasized: 

We are particularly grateful for the leadership shown by Council Chair Phil Mendelson, who introduced the bill, Councilmember Mary Cheh, the bill’s co-sponsor, and DC Attorney General Karl Racine and the Office of the Attorney General, which provided key leadership within the government on this important reform. We give profound thanks to the DC residents—like Tzedek DC client Virginia Woodfin and fellow community members directly impacted by the current system—who took the time and shared their experience and perspective with the Council. We are also grateful to the allied organizations that testified and provided expertise, including AmeriHealth Caritas DC, Center for Responsible Lending, Legal Aid Society for the District of Columbia, Legal Counsel for the Elderly, Pew Charitable Trusts, and The Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington, DC. 

The Act is currently being reviewed by Mayor Bowser and, when it takes effect after a period of passive review by Congress, it will apply as of January 1, 2023. In the meantime, the temporary version of the Act passed by the DC Council last year is expected to be continued to avoid a gap in protections for DC residents. 

For more information on the Act, please see: 

• Tzedek DC’s earlier releases regarding the temporary legislation and its November 2021 testimony in support of the permanent legislation. 

• The Council Office of Racial Equity’s Racial Equity Impact Assessment of the legislation, which noted in part that while much remains to be done, “[t]hese reforms will likely make progress toward achieving racial equity in the District of Columbia.” 

Community members or others with questions about the new protections can contact Tzedek DC rg@tzedekdc.org or (202) 274-7386. 

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 racial justice work in response to the massive wealth gaps tracking race in DC and nationwide. Of Tzedek DC’s clients, 90% are African American, 60% are women, and 25% are disabled community members. Our strategic approach combines three synergistic activities: (i) free legal representation and advice and financial counseling; (ii) working in coalition to make systemic change; and (iii) providing community legal education on debt collection, identity theft, and credit management. Since 2017, Tzedek DC has served over 2,500 DC client households in legal matters, saving an average of $2,151 per full representation case—the equivalent to more than three and a half weeks’ wages at DC’s minimum wage—and has helped catalyze systemic reforms benefiting hundreds of thousands of DC residents. 

Equal Justice Works Awards Medical Debt Fellowship at Tzedek DC

Jennifer Holloway, University of California Berkeley School of Law Class of 2022, has been selected as Tzedek DC’s Medical Debt Fellow starting in the fall of 2022, Equal Justice Works has announced. Medical debt is the largest category of debt in collections in the United States, and in DC, community members of color are on average 300 percent more likely than white residents to be burdened by medical debt. 

Through the two-year Equal Justice Works Fellowship at Tzedek DC, Jennifer will provide direct legal representation to DC residents with medical debt. She will also conduct community education sessions to help community members access hospital financial assistance, and advocate for laws, rules, and protocols that improve protections for those facing medical debt.  

In addition, Jennifer will collaborate with area hospitals to help sell written-off debt to RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit organization that buys and forgives medical debt with no tax consequence to the patient (or donor) and takes steps to ensure that the medical debt does not appear on the patient’s credit report. 

“Tzedek DC is an extraordinary public interest center, and we are delighted to once again partner with this organization,” said David Stern, Executive Director of Equal Justice Works. 

“We’re thrilled to have Jennifer join Tzedek DC to further catalyze our medical debt project,” said Ariel Levinson-Waldman, Tzedek DC’s Founding President and Director-Counsel. “We are also grateful to Equal Justice Works for this selection, as well as to the PayPal corporation and the law firm Orrick, which together are underwriting the Fellowship.” 

About Equal Justice Works

Equal Justice Works is a nonprofit organization that creates opportunities for lawyers to transform their passion for equal justice into a lifelong commitment to public service. As the nation’s largest facilitator of opportunities in public interest law, Equal Justice Works brings together an extensive network of law students, lawyers, nonprofit legal aid organizations, and supporters to promote public service and inspire a lifelong commitment to equal justice.

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 racial justice work in response to the massive wealth gaps tracking race in DC and nationwide. Of Tzedek DC’s clients, 90% are African American, 60% are women, and 25% are disabled community members. Our strategic approach combines three synergistic activities: (i) free legal representation and advice and financial counseling; (ii) working in coalition to make systemic change; and (iii) providing community legal education on debt collection, identity theft, and credit management. Since 2017, Tzedek DC has served over 2,500 DC client households in legal matters, saving an average of $2,151 per full representation case—the equivalent to more than three and a half weeks’ wages at DC’s minimum wage—and has helped catalyze systemic reforms benefiting hundreds of thousands of DC residents.

Tzedek DC Secures Relief for Hundreds of DC Residents Harmed by Debt Buyer

Following multiple years of advocacy, Tzedek DC has secured relief for 299 current and former DC residents harmed by abusive and illegal debt collection practices. The relief was obtained through a settlement with Midland Funding, a subsidiary of the billion-dollar multinational corporation Encore Capital that is one of the nation’s largest debt-buying companies. 

Previously, the District of Columbia and 42 states investigated and ultimately entered into a settlement with Midland Funding after the multi-state investigation uncovered practices that violated federal and state laws, including the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and Fair Credit Reporting Act. Midland Funding was alleged to have used "robo-signed" affidavits containing unverified and potentially inaccurate information against consumers in debt collection lawsuits from 2003 to 2009, leading to hundreds of fraudulently obtained default judgments in DC Superior Court.  

The settlement provided $577,783 of relief to DC consumers and required Midland Funding to reform its practices. The multi-state settlement did not, however, address the judgments that remained on the DC Superior Court docket. Accordingly, following the settlement, the DC Office of the Attorney General referred hundreds of individual DC resident victims to Tzedek DC to help address the judgments that were still on the record in civil court against the victims.  

In 2020, Tzedek DC, together with pro bono co-counsel consumer-side class action law firm Tycko & Zavareei, began legal advocacy on behalf of victims in the matter with Midland. This work has focused on ensuring that the judgments on the court dockets, which often are searched by prospective employers and landlords, would not cause continuing harm to the victims.  

As a result of that advocacy by Tzedek DC, Midland Funding (and several affiliates) ultimately filed 279 satisfactions of judgment—statements that the individual no longer owes Midland Funding any money on the underlying judgments—and 20 additional motions to vacate judgments that Midland had previously obtained and to dismiss those cases with prejudice. The DC Superior Court has now granted each of those motions, and relief for these DC community members has been secured in a total of 299 cases. 

“Tzedek DC’s diligent and effective advocacy resulted in critical relief for District residents. Their work to stand up for District residents, especially those taken advantage of by debt collectors, changes lives,” said DC Attorney General Karl Racine. “Abusive and illegal debt collection practices especially hurt the District’s most vulnerable consumers, who may not have the means or resources to fight a debt collector in court. Thank you to Tzedek DC, I look forward to continuing to work together to hold bad actors accountable and help make residents whole.” 

“Our victory would not have been possible without the extensive efforts of Tzedek DC’s Staff Attorney A.J. Huber and Associate Director Sarah Hollender, as well as our pro bono co-counsel Jonathan Tycko of Tycko and Zavareei,” said Tzedek DC Founding President & Director-Counsel Ariel Levinson-Waldman. “These cases serve as a reminder of the extent to which abusive debt collection practices affect District residents. We also appreciate the confidence shown by the OAG in our office.”

Tzedek DC is grateful as well to the American College of Trial Lawyers Foundation. The Foundation, which is dedicated to improvement in the quality of trial and appellate advocacy, the administration of justice, and the ethics of the legal profession, provided substantial grant support to help make Tzedek DC’s work on these matters possible. 

A major systemic advocacy goal of Tzedek DC’s is to make DC’s debt collection rules fairer to residents with low incomes by ensuring that DC law has basic due diligence requirements that must be satisfied before a debt buyer can file a lawsuit against an individual resident. In today’s marketplace, debt buyers purchase billions of dollars of debt and attempt to collect based on spreadsheets of summary information that are frequently inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated. Failure to verify or correct the information before pursuing consumers for collection often results in collection attempts against the wrong individuals, for inaccurate amounts, or for debts that have already been paid or are beyond the statute of limitations.  

Tzedek DC, the DC Office of the Attorney General, and public interest allies are currently advocating for DC’s first permanent legislation reforming debt collection rules in over 50 years by, among other things, expanding the scope of existing law to include credit card and medical debt and requiring debt collectors to substantiate their claims with documentation of the debts they are filing lawsuits to collect. The DC Council is expected to vote in the coming weeks on the landmark legislation that, if passed, would help protect DC consumers from abusive and unfair debt collection practices going forward. 

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 racial justice work in response to the massive wealth gaps tracking race in DC and nationwide. Of Tzedek DC’s clients, 90% are African American, 60% are women, and 25% are disabled community members. Our strategic approach combines three synergistic activities: (i) free legal representation and advice and financial counseling; (ii) working in coalition to make systemic change; and (iii) providing community legal education on debt collection, identity theft, and credit management. Since 2017, Tzedek DC has served over 2,500 DC client households in legal matters, saving an average of $2,151 per full representation case—the equivalent to more than three and a half weeks’ wages at DC’s minimum wage—and has helped catalyze systemic reforms benefiting hundreds of thousands of DC residents. 

Tzedek DC and Coalition Partners Testify in Support of Fines and Fees Reform

Tzedek DC co-led testimony by 32 racial justice, faith-based, legal aid, and anti-poverty groups delivered to the DC Council yesterday in support of a law that would reform the discriminatory and punitive practice under the “Clean Hands Law” of preventing District residents from getting or renewing their driver’s licenses.  

In addition, DC community members directly impacted by this law provided critical first-hand accounts of the harms to their quality of life caused by being disqualified from a license. 

If enacted, B24-0237, the Clean Hands Certification Equity Amendment Act of 2021, would address the urgent need for systemic reform to end DC’s current, wealth-based license scheme, under which any DC resident who has unpaid fines or fees totaling more than $100 is currently automatically disqualified from obtaining or renewing a driver’s license, professional or small business license, or other forms of DC license or permit—with no inquiry as to their ability to pay. As the coalition testimony notes: 

[T]he current Clean Hands system has created a serious issue of racial inequity by tying the ability to drive lawfully to whether a DC resident has paid their fines and fees. The inequity of the impact of the Clean Hands Law lies in the disparate economic consequences—white DC households have an estimated 81 times more wealth than Black DC households, so Black DC residents are disproportionately punished for nonpayment. The associated inequity resulting from the Clean Hands Law is also evident in the criminal justice system, since many residents unable to renew their licenses continue to sometimes drive in order to accomplish critical life necessities. Based on review of MPD data from 2013-2020, Black adult DC residents are arrested for the offense of driving without a permit 19 times more frequently than White adult DC residents.

You can read the full coalition submission here. 

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The coalition members submitting the testimony include: 

ACLU of the District of Columbia 

Ayuda 

Bread for the City 

Building Bridges Across the River 

Capital Area Asset Builders (CAAB) 

CARECEN 

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington 

Coalition for Motorist Rights 

Color of Change 

DC Affordable Law Firm 

DC Fiscal Policy Institute 

DC Justice Lab 

DC KinCare Alliance 

DC Volunteers Lawyers Project 

Fines and Fees Justice Center 

Howard University School of Law Human and Civil Rights Clinic 

Institute for Justice 

Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington 

Jews United for Justice 

Legal Aid Justice Center 

Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia 

Legal Counsel for the Elderly 

Network for Victim Recovery of DC (NVRDC) 

Peter Edelman (Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Law and Public Policy, Georgetown University Law Center) 

Pro Bono Institute 

Trial Lawyers Association of Washington, DC 

Tzedek DC 

United Planning Organization 

University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law 

Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs 

Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless 

Washington Interfaith Network (WIN) 

Tzedek DC Testifies to DC Council on Clean Hands Law Reform

Tzedek DC Founding President & Director-Counsel Ariel Levinson-Waldman testified to the DC Council Committee on Business and Economic Development at today’s Oversight Hearing for the Office of the Chief Financial Officer. The testimony highlighted the need to reform DC’s so-called “Clean Hands Law” and its current practice of punishing residents with more than $100 in outstanding fines and fees by disqualifying them from obtaining a DC driver’s license or professional license. This testimony outlines five key points for consideration from Tzedek DC’s April 2021 report titled “Driving DC to Opportunity,” which details the problems of the current system which continues to prohibit the issuance or renewal of such licenses based on debt.

Read the full testimony here.

Celebrating Tzedek DC’s Fifth Birthday

A Tzedek DC teddy bear celebrates with a party hat.

Five years ago, Tzedek DC opened our doors. We started with a staff of two, working out of a windowless office at UDC’s David A. Clarke School of Law. We had a strong work plan, a group of supportive volunteers, and a vital anti-poverty and racial justice mission: safeguarding the legal rights and financial interests of DC residents facing debt-related problems.

Since 2017, we have made great strides in delivering legal services to individuals and advancing systemic reforms to help DC residents battling problems with debt—thanks to a stellar 11-person staff, 170 public-spirited, trained volunteer attorneys, a flock of energetic and talented interns, and partnerships with community organizations across all eight wards of DC.

“I knew the legal scene in Washington, DC and was skeptical about the need for another law-related nonprofit.... Tzedek DC [has] consistently surpassed my wildest expectations. Tzedek DC is an extraordinary public interest center.”

— David Stern, Executive Director, Equal Justice Works

In the wake of the pandemic and its accompanying financial turmoil for hundreds of thousands of residents, the need for Tzedek DC’s work has only intensified.

As part of our next steps, we are this year launching a financial counseling pilot program as well as a medical debt project. These additional areas of focus will allow us to enhance our support for DC residents dealing with debt collection lawsuits, credit reporting problems, financial crimes, and related matters over the next five years of challenges.

The effectiveness of our entire, dedicated team rests, in turn, on the shared commitment from each one of you—our 700-plus individual supporters and 35-plus foundation partners. Thank you for embracing and enabling our efforts to pursue justice.

Here’s to the next five years!

Tzedek, tzedek tirdoF
Justice, justice shall you pursue

Associate Director Sarah Hollender Selected for DC Bar Leadership Academy

Tzedek DC is proud to announce the selection of Associate Director Sarah Hollender to the DC Bar’s 2022 John Payton Leadership Academy. Sarah was selected through a competitive process to join other DC attorneys representing a wide range of practice areas and environments in an intensive training leadership program over five months.

The Leadership Academy was established in 2013 and subsequently renamed in honor of the late John Payton, former DC Corporation Counsel, DC Bar President, and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Tzedek DC’s President and Director-Counsel Ariel Levinson-Waldman said: “Sarah Hollender is a stellar attorney, respected leader, and emerging star in the DC legal services community. She will make an outstanding contribution to the academy named after John Payton, who I had the privilege to work with early in my career and whose life demonstrated a belief in the power of law to be a force for positive change.”

Statement in Solidarity with UDC and Fellow HBCUs

On Tuesday, February 1, 2022, the first day of Black History Month, the University of the District of Columbia (UDC), Howard University, and at least fifteen other Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) reportedly received bomb threats. Tzedek DC is proudly headquartered on the clinical floor at UDC’s David A. Clarke School of Law, where we have the privilege of working with UDC students. We at Tzedek DC condemn these threats, continue with our commitment to rejecting racism and hatred in all forms, and are in firm solidarity with UDC and its fellow HBCUs. 

Rahsaan Bernard and Will Tom Join Tzedek DC’s Board of Directors

Tzedek DC is proud to announce the expansion of our Board of Directors through the addition of two new members, Rahsaan Bernard and Willard (Will) Tom.  

Rahsaan Bernard serves as the President of Building Bridges Across the River (BBAR), the nonprofit organization that manages three nationally recognized projects in Southeast Washington DC: Townhall Education Arts Recreation Campus (THEARC), The Skyland Workforce Center, and the 11th Street Bridge Park. Before joining BBAR, Rahsaan served as the President and CEO of both the consulting firm Beyond Excellence LLC, specializing in health management and corporate wellness, and of Beyond Excellence Nursing and Therapy Services LLC, a licensed residential service provider of home health services. He also serves on the boards of Feeding America, Capital Area Food Bank, and the Catalogue for Philanthropy.  

Will Tom is a Partner in the DC office of the international law firm Morgan Lewis. Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, he served in a series of senior government positions, including General Counsel of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Deputy Director of the Bureau of Competition of the FTC, and Counselor to the head of the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Will has been a member of the District of Columbia Federal Judicial Nominations Commission and the American Law Institute, where he currently serves as an Adviser on the Restatement of the Law, Consumer Contracts. 

In a joint statement, Tzedek DC’s Board Chair Irvin Nathan, Board Chair-elect Rachel Kronowitz, and Founding President and Director-Counsel Ariel Levinson-Waldman, said: 

With the rippling impacts that the pandemic continues to have across DC for vulnerable community members, the need for Tzedek DC’s work—legal, systemic, and educational—is greater than ever. We are honored to welcome Rahsaan and Will to the Board. Their unique past and present leadership roles, talents, experiences, perspectives, and public interest commitments will bring additional strength to Tzedek DC’s efforts towards justice. 

About Tzedek DC 

Drawing from the Jewish teachings of “Tzedek, tzedek tirdof,” or “Justice, justice you shall pursue,” 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 responds to the massive wealth gaps in DC and nationwide. Tzedek DC serves a client base of 90% African American, 60% women, and 25% disabled community members. Our strategic approach combines three synergistic activities: (i) free legal representation and advice; (ii) working in coalition to make systemic change; and (iii) providing community legal education on debt collection, identity theft, and credit management. Since 2017, Tzedek DC has served over 2,200 client households in legal matters—saving clients an average of $2,151 per full representation case—and helped catalyze systemic reforms with substantial impacts for hundreds of thousands of DC residents. 

Tzedek DC Testifies to DC Council on Driver's License Reform

Tzedek DC Volunteer Staff Attorney Josh Levin and Founding President & Director-Counsel Ariel Levinson-Waldman testified to the DC Council Committee on Transportation & the Environment earlier this month as part of Public Roundtable regarding the Department of Public Works’ “Enforcement against Vehicles with Substantial Unpaid Traffic Fines.” The testimony discussed a “persistent, troubling assumption within the Executive that punishing DC drivers, by taking away their licenses due to unpaid fines and fees, is sound public policy” in order to achieve traffic safety.

Read the full testimony here.

Happy Holidays from Tzedek DC!

During the holiday season, some celebrate the 7 days of Kwanzaa... or the 8 days of Hanukkah... or the 12 days of Christmas.

We at Tzedek DC invite you to celebrate another set of numbers with us showing the reach and impact of our work during the past year:

• An average of $2,151 saved for each client receiving full representation from us

• More than 310,000 DC residents who have benefited from our systemic advocacy victories (read more here)

• A total of 46 community partners spanning every ward of the District

• The dedication of our extraordinary 11 staff members to going the extra mile on behalf of our client community

• The immeasurable feelings that our clients, like the ones in this video, get from being supported and resolving their legal issues

Of course, all of our accomplishments over another difficult pandemic year (now 643 days working remotely!) are possible only because of the generosity of the 600+ donors and 35+ institutional funders that have supported our work—including two multi-year philanthropic partnerships with the Ford Foundation and Citi Foundation just announced!

However you celebrate during this holiday season, please accept the heartfelt thanks of our entire team here at Tzedek DC.

Tzedek DC Awarded $500,000 Grant under Citi Foundation’s Community Progress Makers Initiative

Tzedek DC has been selected by Citi Foundation as a recipient of the Community Progress Makers initiative, which supports visionary organizations across the U.S. that are working to connect communities with low incomes and communities of color to greater social and economic opportunities. As a Community Progress Maker, Tzedek DC will receive a multi-year, unrestricted grant of $500,000 and other assistance from the Citi Foundation from 2022-2023. 

Through Citi Foundation’s support, Tzedek DC plans to expand the capacity of our team by, among other things, launching a pilot financial counselor project to complement our legal services as well as adding a dedicated community outreach and education professional. These positions are especially vital for meeting community-level needs now that DC’s emergency debt collection moratoria have expired. With the end of these protections, our client community now faces risks from an onslaught of debt collection, lawsuits, plummeting credit scores, restricted credit, and ever more scams and frauds. 

Tzedek DC’s Founding President & Director-Counsel Ariel Levinson-Waldman said, “We deeply appreciate Citi Foundation’s vote of confidence through this unrestricted grant funding, which allows us to expand our work of empowering all DC residents, particularly community members of color with lower incomes and historically lower access to power, to live more financially stable and secure lives.” 

“Six years ago, the Citi Foundation launched Community Progress Makers with a vision of empowering community leaders to grow their transformative impact through unrestricted, trust-based funding,” said Brandee McHale, Head of Community Investing and Development and President of the Citi Foundation. “This kind of approach and support is more important than ever as the U.S. continues to address the root causes and impacts of income and wealth inequality. Through the Community Progress Makers initiative, these social innovators and advocates can continue to look for new ways of addressing long-standing societal challenges at scale.” For more information about Community Progress Makers, please visit www.citifoundation.com/cpm.

About Citi Foundation

The Citi Foundation works to promote economic progress and improve the lives of people in low-income communities around the world. The Foundation invests in efforts that increase financial inclusion, catalyze job opportunities for youth, and reimagine approaches to building economically vibrant communities. The Foundation's "More than Philanthropy" approach leverages the enormous expertise of Citi and its people to fulfill our mission and drive thought leadership and innovation. For more information, visit www.citifoundation.com.

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 90% African American, 60% women, and 25% disabled community members. Our strategic approach combines three synergistic activities: (i) free legal representation and advice; (ii) working in coalition to make systemic change; and (iii) providing community legal education on debt collection, identity theft, and credit management. Since 2017, Tzedek DC has served over 2,200 client households in legal matters, saving an average of $2,151 per full representation case, and helped catalyze systemic reforms benefiting hundreds of thousands of DC residents.

Tzedek DC Awarded $200,000 Grant from Ford Foundation for Disabilities Community Project

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. This project offers legal services, provides community education, and undertakes advocacy tailored to the particular needs of disabled DC residents with lower incomes facing debt and credit-related challenges. The project was launched in January 2020 under the leadership of Marissa Ditkowsky, a disabled attorney and activist at Tzedek DC. Tzedek DC recognized the deep need for such a project among our own client community; people with disabilities make up at least 25% of our clients, and a majority of our disabled clients are people of color.

The grant will allow the project to continue to build out its impact. In less than two years, the project’s initial accomplishments have included:  

• Providing 12 presentations to 230+ total attendees on topics relevant to the lives of disabled audience members so that they can understand and assert their rights and are empowered to make financial decisions for themselves.

• Serving more than 285 clients with disabilities in direct legal services, and for each of those clients in full representation matters saving an average of $2,173, more than three and a half weeks’ wages at DC’s minimum wage. 

• Advocating for systemic reforms of federal student loan rules that affect disabled borrowers, including a now-adopted rule to automatically discharge the loans of any borrower that receives Social Security benefits and meets certain qualifications. 

• Advocating for systemic reforms of DC law to prohibit discrimination against disabled residents when algorithms are used in consumer, housing, and other contexts and to ensure that required notices are provided in accessible formats.

This grant award comes from the Ford Foundation’s path-breaking new 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 because, 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 vote of confidence in the ability of Tzedek DC’s Disabilities Community Project to help fill that gap. We are excited to grow and deepen the work of our colleagues on the project by attorney Marissa Ditkowsky, Communications Manager Caitlyn Hickman, and others.” 

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 90% African American, 60% women, and 25% disabled community members. Our strategic approach combines three synergistic activities: (i) free legal representation and advice; (ii) working in coalition to make systemic change; and (iii) providing community legal education on debt collection, identity theft, and credit management. Since 2017, Tzedek DC has served over 2,200 client households in legal matters and helped catalyze systemic reforms benefiting hundreds of thousands of DC residents. 

Tzedek DC Recognized in Eight 2021 Nonprofit Directories

Tzedek DC has received increasing recognition from the philanthropic community. In just this past year, we were included in eight nonprofit directories, including:  

• GuideStar—Platinum Transparency 

• Catalogue for Philanthropy—One of the Best 

• Compass—Nonprofit Excellence 

• Washington City Paper—Give It Up, D.C. Recommended Organization 

• Benevity—Recommended Cause 

• DC One Fund—Recommended Charitable Organization 

• Combined Federal Campaign—Number 49717 

• United Way—Number 9286 

These recognitions come on top of other recent highlights for Tzedek DC, including a national award from the Foundation for Improvement of Justice that was accompanied by a gift of $10,000. Additionally, Founding President & Director-Counsel Ariel Levinson-Waldman was also recently named a 2021 “Community Changemaker” by the Catalogue for Philanthropy for his work with Tzedek DC. 

Tzedek DC Testifies to DC Council on Protecting Consumers from Unjust Debt Collection Practices

Tzedek DC staff members Ariel Levinson-Waldman (Founding President & Director-Counsel), Sarah Hollender (Associate Director), and A.J. Huber (Staff Attorney) testified to the DC Council Committee of the Whole yesterday as part of a public hearing regarding the Protecting Consumers from Unjust Debt Collection Practices Amendment Act of 2021. The testimony indicates Tzedek DC’s strong support of the bill, which would represent a critical step forward in promoting important access to justice and racial equity principles as well as the goal of a well-functioning civil justice system for DC residents facing debt collection.

Read the full testimony here.